The Photographic Touch Blog

Tip of the Week #5 – Photo Challenges
by Jordan Thunquest

Want to better your photography? Try taking up one of the many photography challenges. Whether it’s an A-Z, picture a day, or a little more targeted like a self portrait a day, you’ll be glad you did when you’re done. Not only does this get you shooting, but it gets you thinking about what you’re taking a picture of, instead of just shooting what you see. There’s plenty of them floating around, just search Flickr or Google for one that fits you.

Tip of the Week #4
by Steven Sawusch

This tip is an additional tip when entering a contest.  Research who the jurors will be (if possible).  The reason you want to do this research is because everyone is biased in one way or another.  If a juror is a studio portrait photographer, they will more times than not be biased towards photos with people in them (a animal photographer will be biased towards photos with animals, etc…). If no information is given on who the jurors will be, look at who is running the contest. A studio photography company will again be less likely to select a landscape photo or animal photo over photos with people in them.

Tip of the Week #3
by Jordan Thunquest

When entering a contest, read the rules carefully before submitting. Some contests will claim full rights to your image the moment you enter it (win or not). Make sure that you’re keeping the rights to sell your image instead of handing it over to them.

Tip of the Week #2
by Steven Sawusch

Read your camera’s manual.  It is always good to read your camera’s manual because there are a lot of features that they build into cameras these days.  I tend to find that many features are not highly marketed on many cameras and tend to be some pretty cool features.  For example, in the Canon G10 there is a built in neutral density filter function or in the G9 they had a time lapse movie feature.  If you have read your manual many months ago, read it again.  Often there are features that we have forgotten about and would be cool to play around with now.

by Steven Sawusch

Each week we will try to give a photography related tip to help you improve your photos. Topics will range from photoshop tips, in the field tips, equipment tips and much more.

Tip of the Week #1

Shoot. Just like anything, the more you practice the better you get. Keep your camera with you and take pictures when you can.