5 Common Photography Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

[@mikewinn2907]

1 in every 100 "never tell me the odds"-Han Solo. I've committed all these mistakes many times. My biggest was not using a polarizer when shooting outside, so my blue skies were just white and had no detail in them. Lesson learned there.

[@reinhard8053]

You can do composed single pictures with a digital camera, too. IMHO you can even learn more easily because you can control the result immediately and not after a week when you forgot what you even did. You see how everything changes the picture. Using some small cheap disposable camera will not help you learn using a real camera because you have no control and can barely see what you are shooting. That's wasted time and money. If you really want to test film buy a cheap SLR where you can control the settings. You always take single shots if it is a normal not moving object (e.g. a building). Bursts make no sense in that situation. But be ready to use bursts if something is moving. Especially sports (like the mentioned cyclist) are very difficult to get with only one shot. In these cases use bursts to get a selection of pictures. Of course you should set the camera up before and choose the right settings. But what happens in the moment of action is (mostly) not controllable. Getting a lucky shot is exactly that. Only the most experienced sport photographers who watched a sport for thousands of hours may have the intuition to get the right moment with one picture. And even they have no control over everything. I come from film starting with a simple completely manual camera and then got more modern cameras. When I started with Digital I still was in the old mindset and made too few pictures. Until now I rarely use the highest speed of bursts because the film mindset is there. And that is a problem. If there is fast movement use what ever the camera offers you. And sometimes just press the shutter, if something interesting happens. If you analyse everything and try to get the correct settings the moment might be gone. And if you have more than one chance you still can do the considerations. With modern cameras many of the settings can be left to the camera which will get a good result for most situations if you don't have the time.