When it comes to photography, Ivan Wong is a NYC and LA-based photographer who continues to charm his audience. He specializes in the entire discipline of photography, not just as a photographer but has studied theories and techniques as well, which continues to make his work a class apart.
The state-of-the-art photographer, Ivan believes, "taking a picture is not just taking the camera and pressing the button. When we are first-time in the world of photography, it is very important not to fall into the common mistakes that any beginner photographer pursues. Originality and a good team are as important as good practice when it comes to taking pictures."
Let's get into the main flaws that Ivan Wong believes almost all photographers have in their beginnings:
- Not thinking about the object
After we buy a camera, we often immediately fall into "crazy trigger finger" syndrome and start taking pictures of everything that seems fascinating through the lens. We sometimes forget to consider the object or the background. It is not about making many, but about taking good pictures. Therefore it is convenient to stop to think about what we want to photograph and how we want to capture it in our photography.
- Forgetting the framing
Related to the previous one, the composition in photography is just as important as knowing how to use the camera. You always have to look for aesthetics, and the type of framing or the arrangement of the elements in your photography is not indifferent.
It is about innovating with different camera positions and with new perspectives to achieve an optimal organization within the limits of the image.
- Shooting on auto
Do not get stuck with shooting automatic. The current cameras have many settings to help us take the ideal snapshots that we want. If you still do not know all the possibilities that your camera can offer you, investigating and "fiddling" is the best way to learn. It's important for people to understand the balance and payoffs between ISO, aperture, and shutter speed to visualize their outputs.
- Not measuring light properly
Light is the raw material of photography. Bad lighting can have fatal consequences for our snapshots. The light that the camera receives is not the same as that we perceive through our eyes, so we must always check the histogram of each photograph to make sure that the light is adequate. We can't really appreciate the qualities of the light by simply looking through the viewfinder. Ivan Wong suggests taking photos sometimes that are a little underexposed can still work for the photo since shadows can be recovered in raw, but shooting overexposed makes it harder to recover highlights.
When it comes to photographing, it is important to analyze the light of the scene that we want to immortalize; for this, digital cameras have mechanisms that help us measure it correctly. The shutter, ISO, or histogram will help us achieve the perfect light for each photograph.
- Thinking that Photoshop or Lightroom can fix everything
Often you'll hear people say, "I'll just fix it in post." Photoshop is not a magic wand that can solve any failure of an image. Although it can fix and modify many aspects of a photo, we can never start shooting, thinking that everything has a solution with these programs. These programs are helpful with removing unwanted elements or correcting issues in a photo, but heavy work in post can end up seeming unnatural.
- Giving up
Cartier-Bresson once said: "Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst." Take your time. In photography, patience is your best ally. Although you have not obtained the expected photographs, do not give up, practice makes the good photographer, and sooner or later you will get the snapshots you want.
Although these errors are common to almost all beginner photographers, we cannot forget other basic errors such as not reading the instructions of our camera, not having charged the batteries, not checking the free space on the memory card before leaving or deleting the photos on the camera without waiting to see them on the computer. What mistakes have you overcome successfully?
