Realizing I’m a Terrible Photographer

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Prime example of my terrible photography. This shot of Trinity College in Dublin includes street signs and part of my sister’s face. Also there’s a date stamp… why?!

When researching and preparing to start the Poky Little Wanderer, I went back through all the old photos on my computer (going back to 2007). In doing this, I realized something: I was a terrible photographer. I can’t even blame my camera(s) since a good photographer can take a decent photo on nearly any camera. In high school I loved getting ridiculous candid shots of my friends, and was constantly snapping random pictures of them. (My apologies to everyone who was victim to my often ill-timed snapshots.) This habit of thoughtless snapping bled into all pictures I took, including when I was traveling. In recent years I’ve really come to admire gorgeous photography and made efforts to take better pictures myself.

Framing a Shot 101

When I noticed how bad my photos were, I started to look up some techniques for taking better photographs. One of the first things I read about was framing a shot and the rule of thirds. A rough definition of the rule of thirds for those of you who may not of heard of it before:

Research into becoming a better photographer introduced me to the rule of thirds as shown in this image.

The rule of thirds is a guideline for composing visual images. The guideline proposes that an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by equally spaced horizontal and vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or at their intersections. The theory behind the technique is that aligning a subject with these points creates more tension, energy and interest in the composition than simply centering the subject.

To help me be conscious of the rule of thirds, I changed the camera settings on my phone to show the 3×3 grid. Ask any number of professional photographers and they might tell you to ignore this rule or that rules are made to be broken. However, as a newbie this has really helped me pay more attention to the composition of my pictures.

I have also started to be more selective with what’s included in the frame of my shots, and adjusting as needed. Patience is also helpful as it’s worth waiting for people to walk past so they aren’t cluttering up your photograph. So simple, yet it makes a world of difference to actually look at what’s included in the frame of a picture before clicking the shutter button.

Getting the Right Tools

While my iPhone takes pretty decent photographs, I want to be able to grow my skills beyond what my phone is capable of. The hubby bought himself a GoPro before we traveled to Ecuador since he wanted to be able to take footage while scuba diving. He did a lot of research and ended up investing in a tray as well as red and orange filters to use while diving. The tray stabilizes the camera and the filters re-capture colors that get drowned out by the blue water. The GoPro worked out great for us since we participated in a lot of adventure activities on that trip and we were able to document a lot more than we would have with only our phones. 

Last fall we also purchased a Nikon D5600 to have a nice camera with which to take higher quality photographs. Like anything in life, we had to compromise on the camera we purchased since I wanted to get a beginner level DSLR, while the hubby wanted to get a top of the line professional camera (typical). After a lot of research and bickering back and forth, we finally agreed on the Nikon D5600.

I’m practicing and hope you’ll enjoy my journey to become a better photographer!

A mid-level camera that will allow us to practice and grow our photography skills. We have picked up a few basic tools to help us along the way, including our favorite so far: Joby GorillaPod Focus tripod with Ballhead. This tripod was gold during our trip to Rome this spring as we used it all over the city to capture Rome’s many landmarks. Take a look at 12 Photos to Inspire You to Explore Rome at Night to see how they came out.

A Work in Progress

The first few days with the Nikon were spent googling the settings to use and taking practice photos of our dog Pandora, who was a pretty good sport about it. However, since then we’ve taken thousands of pictures with it both around home and abroad. While I’m nowhere near the level of a professional photographer, I have learned a lot about taking better photographs and about our camera. I hope you’ll follow along and (hopefully) see my photography improve with time and practice.

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