Hey, how’s it going? I’m Andy Jones and this is episode 86 of the Photography Side Hustle podcast.
I want to wish you a Happy New Year. 2023 is going to be an excellent year for your photography side hustle. I can feel it in my bones.
The Photographysidehustle.com website is now up and running. There are lots more articles to be posted over the next few months. Plus I’m working on some courses, so stay tuned.
Ok, let’s get started. The title of this episode is …
7 Photography Tips for 2023
It’s called the Exposure Triangle but it should be called the Exposure Settings, or something like that. The triangle image isn’t helpful, I still look at it and draw a blank.
So what it’s trying to show you are the three settings involved in getting a correctly exposed photograph. Those settings are Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO. This one lesson will help you understand what aperture, shutter speed, and ISO do and how they work together. Check out the downloads page on the photographysidehustle.com website, there is an Exposure Triangle PDF that will help you.
A couple of months ago I was watching a landscape photographer on Youtube, I’m not going to reveal his name, but he is British and lives in Canada. So that narrows it down to about fifty landscape photographers. He was with a wildlife photographer taking photos of sea birds, and he wasn’t sure what settings to use, which shocked me.
Now seabirds are fast so he needed a fast shutter speed to freeze the action. I guess he’s been shooting landscapes for so long that he forgot how to adapt to fast-moving subjects. I have to say his landscape images are second to none though.
Being able to understand the exposure settings, allows you to take a photo of anything. If you already understand how it all works, try looking at photos on Instagram and think about what settings you would use to get that image. It’s a great exercise for a photographer's brain. I don’t expect you to get the exact settings, just look at the depth of field and guess what aperture they used. Is the subject still or moving fast? Then take a guess at the shutter speed.
You just need to understand what is needed to capture an image.
Next is …
Once you’ve got the Exposure Settings (Triangle) figured out you need to get your head around the Depth of Field.
Your aperture setting controls the size of the depth of field. The DoF is the distance between the farthest and nearest points that are in focus. To understand how your camera, lens, and aperture combine to give a measurable depth of field you need to use the PhotoPills App. at photopills.com it’s free and very useful.
The Aperture/DoF setting is the first of the three settings to be set when taking a photo. So you need to understand it and know what kind of results you will get before taking the photo.
Ok, I know you shoot in Manual mode, but if you know someone that is still shooting in AUTO mode, they have to stop. All they are doing in AUTO is pointing the camera at things. They are a camera pointer, not a photographer, photographers change the settings to get the results they want.
So if you know someone that is using AUTO, I want you to get them to turn the mode dial to A or Av. This puts the camera in Aperture Priority, which is a semi-automatic Manual mode. You choose the Aperture to get the depth of field you need. You also get to set the ISO. If the shutter speed is too slow you just crank the ISO up until the shutter speed is fast enough.
Or you could, sorry, your friend could just put it in manual mode and get on with it. Yes, it’s a little painful thinking about all three settings, but after a couple of days, you will, sorry, they will be changing settings without thinking about it.
If you shoot JPGs you are missing out on some incredible possibilities. When you press the shutter button and take a photo the camera captures the image in RAW format, then converts it to a JPG file. You are allowing the camera to do a quick edit on your images.
The RAW file gives you more information and captures way more detail and a greater dynamic range of colors. When you edit a RAW file you can always go back at a later date and edit it again. Once you have edited a RAW file you can export it as a JPG ready for printing or showing on the web.
Professional photographers shoot in RAW and so should you.
This is a problem I see every week. People post images for feedback and 99% of the photos I see haven’t been edited.
Even the best images that a camera produces still need editing. Most of the time it needs to be cropped to remove unnecessary parts of the frame. Points of interest need to be placed on the rule of thirds lines. Shadows might need to be lightened, and the exposure might need tweaking.
Taking the photo is only half of your job, the other half is editing. This is extremely important if you want to shoot professionally.
I use Adobe Lightroom because it makes editing so easy. $10 a month for Lightroom and Photoshop is a great deal. Even if you only use Lightroom it’s still an amazing deal.
So you need to learn how to do a basic edit and don’t ever put your images out into the world until they are edited.
Photography equipment is expensive, very expensive, so you need to look after it. A lens can last for decades and make you thousands of dollars, so give the lens a clean every time you use it.
A smudge of grease on the front element can ruin a photo shoot, so buy a cleaning kit.
Clean your camera's sensor regularly and save time removing unwanted spots during editing. Again buy a sensor cleaning kit, your time is valuable.
I’ve mentioned in past episodes that I don’t always carry through when I set goals. I used to use the S.M.A.R.T method, which stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. I think it is an over-complicated way to set a plan.
Now, I like to keep it simple, planning for two months, six months, and a year ahead. I don’t break everything down into steps, I just write down what my aims are. To keep them in my thoughts I print them out and put them where I can see them every day, usually on the wall at the back of my desk. I am constantly changing my plans because life isn’t simple and some non-photography needs become more important.
When you are starting out make yourself a wish list for the way you want your side hustle to unfold. You need something to aim for and now is the best time to make plans.
Ok, that’s it for episode 86, I’ll be back next week with episode 87.
In the meantime, if you have any questions or need help with anything, you can find me in the Facebook group or PhotographySideHustle.com and I’m more than willing to help you out.
Right, that’s enough waffle for this week, Talk to you soon, Bye.