Practice makes perfect

“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.” – Stephen King

I don’t see myself as a writer, although I do write short posts on this blog but it’s not why I set it up. I’m a photographer and I use words to help illustrate my images not the other way round really. So I looked at this quote and thought about it with photography. I should look at lots of other photographs and I should take lots of photographs. I believe that is true.

Looking at other people’s images helps me see their talent and potential for what is possible. It gives me ideas and inspiration and things like a camera club and their competitions helps me know what others are looking for and what types of things make a good image. There are generic ideas with rules of thirds, framing, lighting and depth of field. But when it comes to the erotic there are stories to be told in images too. How did they get into that position? What is going to happen next? How is the subject feeling? (Tied and plugged for example)

It’s often those extra thoughts and nuances that really make a good photograph a really erotic one. Sometimes what isn’t shown tells more than what is shown.

For all of these things you have to practice and take lots of photographs. At the moment if I do a set up of myself I may take 50 images. I can move and change the lighting and the settings till I’m starting to get what I want and then I move myself, my pose, my shape, my actions and often by the end I’ll have one or if I’m lucky up to 5 great images.

I know I have to keep progressing with my photography. There are certain situations I’ve started to get a real handle on but others I still have no clue and need to practice at. It doesn’t help that I’ve got a new lens and need to spend more time with it to learn what it can do and how best to use it.

Some great images are taken by chance or a stroke of luck but the majority have taken hard work, patience and lots and lots of practice.

Here is a screen shot example of my typical camera roll. (For honesty there has been some editing done on the screenshot) to see another version check out my 99 Red balloons image.