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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AB89rePQiA

Video script:

So you want to take beautiful pictures that 'wow' your friends, get you customers and that you're just proud to look at. I've had a camera since I was 11 and well, let's just say I've come a long way since then. When I look back at how I've progressed, and when I see what my friends do when they try to take better pictures, I can see a couple of mistakes happening over and over again. So let's have a look at 4 mistakes beginners make when they're learning photography.

The actual camera you have does not matter here, I can take great photos with my smartphone too. So even if you're just on holidays and you want some nice memories, with these tips your memories will be much nicer.

Not paying attention to the photos

When I was just starting out with photography, I just liked the fact that there were photos! I could create memories, freeze time and have something to look back to 20 years into the future.

I remember talking with a friend who was asking for advice on the best camera to buy—he was going for a hike in some beautiful nature and wanted great pictures of it. But he wasn't sure if he'd use a big camera often so didn't want to make a big investment. That got me to give the advice of: just use your phone! You can make great pictures with a phone, the cameras in them are amazing these days.

So if it's not the camera, what's the one thing that will make you a better photographer? Well, practice of course. But not just any practice—basically anyone with a smartphone takes thousands of pictures, but they still stay pretty terrible.

It's not just the amount of photos, it's also how much you pay attention to the quality of them. You see, most people look through the lens. They're taking a photo of their friends and they're looking at their friends instead of the photo they're taking! This is the biggest mindset shift for a photographer: it's only about the little rectangle and the blobs of color that are on there—it's not about whatever is going on out there.

You really need to look at the photos as something in and of themselves, not the memories surrounding them. They're more like an artwork and less like a moment in time.

Next to taking a lot of photos, it's very important that you critically look at them and review them! Think about how they could be better. Ideally when you're starting out, find someone who is more experienced—or even just random people—and ask them for advice on how the photo looks. Because again, often, you yourself look through the photo and not at it.

The next time you'll implement the feedback, your photos will get better, and you can do all of it over again. That's the recipe to become a better photographer.

Not checking the edges

The easiest way to ruin a photo is to dismember someone or cut off half of their face at the edge. Actually it can even be an object—if it's painfully cut off, it grabs a lot of attention and distracts the viewer from what's actually in there.

Before hitting the shutter button, I always have a little scan around all the edges to make sure the frame of the photo is clean. Sure you can crop afterwards but this is how you'll actually learn, paying attention as you're taking photos. I promise you this will make a huge difference in the quality of your pictures.

Not holding the camera straight forward

With a phone it's easy to just hold your phone in front of you, roughly point it at the target and snap a photo. But you almost always end up shooting from above. What happens then is that perspective kicks in and all the lines in the photo become diagonal—it's visually a huge mess. Look, this is a picture I took and it's not really good! See how the lamp posts are all skewed? It really takes away from the clean image. I also left wayyy too much space above their heads here.

Here's a much better one: see how all the lines in the background are perfectly straight? The buildings are not crooked! I did not crop or rotate the image—this is straight out of the camera. But pointing straight forward, not up or down, often makes all the difference.

There's a reason why photographers are always crouching down or lying on the floor with their cameras—photos just look better.

Not moving to get the shot

When you see something you're never in the right place to turn it into a nice photo. Something is standing in the way, of it's too small, or it would look better from another angle.

When you're starting out you'll have to force this on yourself: look through the lens as you're moving around and look if the picture is better or worse. Take a few ones and look at them afterwards. Get closer, further, take some steps to the side. Oftentimes something is standing in our way and we don't realize because our brains filter it out. But a camera captures everything, indiscriminately. You gotta look out for the mess and make sure it's not in the frame. Move!

Conclusion

This were 4 of the best tips I could give you when you're starting out learning photography. Now it's up to you to start practicing. The best thing you can do is to just go for a walk with your camera, and try to take good photos.

Make sure you take them straight ahead, move around to get the best point of view, check the edges for any mess and have a critical look at your photos afterwards.

If you're still here, don't forget a like if you found these tips useful. I am Marcel, I make videos about getting the most out of yourself and becoming a universal man. Subscribe if you're curious about that.