7 Photography MISTAKES that are EASY to avoid

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So in this video i go through seven  more mistakes that i've made myself   and i see other photographers make all the time morning everybody it's fantastic to see you all  again so i'm really excited one i'm getting out   more doing more photography i don't know  if you saw my midweek video i was by the   coast with the new nikon lens that was  fantastic we had some amazing light   i made some mistakes myself in that video if i'm  honest the photos weren't amazing but i was in a   little bit of a rush what i want to do though in  this video is go through your photos i asked on   my newsletter for photos to critique and also in  the masterclass facebook group and i got loads of   photos too many to go through but i tried to pick  some that sort of fitted to some categories of   mistakes that i see all the time really now if  you haven't seen the video that i did before   um then you can check it out here i it's nearly  had two i think it said two million views which   is incredible um and a hundred thousand likes  so i think people liked it i wanna go through   some different mistakes now though and um sort of  reiterate some things i've also said before so i'm   going to get straight into it i've got my ipad  here and hopefully i can go through these images   i think um the first thing to say though before i  do that is these are my opinions critiquing photos   is very subjective um more often not i'm wrong so  you know take it with a pinch of salt this is just   my opinion on these photos um i feel like um it  is helpful though to get people to critique your   photos so you know if if you do anything from this  just ask somebody else for some critiques i always   think that's useful okay on to the first mistake  and that is just not allowing people to be kept in   an image and having lines with an image that lead  you out of an image so this is a good example here   from joe robbins um it's a lovely scene this lake  and he's got some nice foreground here but i feel   that that there's just if you look the lake just  goes out and this line here just goes off the edge   of the frame and i feel that that sort of leads  you out in this direction and joe if anything   you could have just moved maybe a little bit to  the left and tried to get a little bit of a gap   here i think that would have just that small  thing would have created a difference in   in this image here's another one this is from  andre um i'm probably saying all these names wrong   this is a lovely shot of a waterfall i really  like you got this moving water going through   here but because you've got the the fern and the  rock on the left-hand side here your eye sort of   goes here follows the water and there's nothing to  keep you in on the right hand side so if anything   just having something down here maybe in this bit  so you have sort of a triangle to sort of keep   your eye into the image would really help i think  just another bush here and then your eye would go   between these three items and this water would run  nice and neatly but at the moment i feel like it   just drifts out of the right-hand side okay on to  the next one this is henrik goosen again the same   mistake i mean i say mistake loosely but um  because it's it is a nice image but i feel   like and there's probably a reason you couldn't  do this hendrick but if you just move to the left   a little bit again i think that your eye gets  led out to the left of this frame here um on on   the left-hand side so i definitely think that  this is one where you probably could have just   maybe gone a little bit forward and moved a  little bit to the left and it would have just   created a more central part for this waterfall  and i think that would have really helped just   a few examples of things i think worked really  well i mean this is an amazing avenue but it's   interesting this because there's no real diagonals  in it apart from on on this image if you look   there's sort of a diagonal leading there and a  diagonal leading there and there's also a bit   of a diagonal there and there i feel from the  trees and that all leads you to this central   area here which i think works really really well  okay on to the next one and this is from stephen   and this is a brilliant example i think of just  again leading your eye and keeping your eye in the   image and the reason that this works is because  we've got this tree here on the right hand side   so your eye goes down this path and if we didn't  have this tree i feel like you'd lead out of the   image here but this tree almost is it's a bit  like um pinball you your eye just sort of gets   bounced back into the hook here beautiful leading  line here i have to say this is an image that was   posted on the facebook um masterclass group and i  pinned this because i just thought it was such an   amazing shot another example of just keeping  your eye in the image and what works is   is this shot here from gerard i feel that you  know probably would gerald if i was critical of   this image i'd say nice to have it in better light  but what i really like is this path leading you in   and then the two houses opposing houses work  really well to sort of almost sandwich your   eye in the middle so you sort of come in and and  that's really nice this gate on the right hand   side here is just a little bit distracting but  yeah this this works really really well um okay   on to the next mistake and this is probably the  most common mistake that i see photographers make   and it's just having the camera horizontal and not  pointing it down a little bit more or pointing it   up as well but it's mostly pointing it down and  i feel like it's because you want to try and get   a reasonable amount of sky in or you  think the sky is quite interesting which   can be valid but i think there's a few images i  want to go through here which could be amazing   if you just pointed it down so this one is  um i think it's a quang in the isle of skye   and this is from peter and it's lovely light the  clouds are amazing but i just feel just pointing   your camera just a little bit down get a little  bit more foreground and a little bit less sky   which actually the tops a little bit boring i  think you know just more foreground around here   would have would have really helped so another  great example here and you know we've got a bit   too much sky and just need a little bit more  at the bottom just to get a little bit of space   often when you have objects like this and they're  close to the edge you just want a bit of space   around them so i feel like beautiful beautiful  image but it would have just been improved just   a slight bit if you turn the camera down again  with this one probably not so much with this one   but this is from um arthur and arthur has done  a good job of again getting some nice light here   but i feel like these grasses just need a little  bit more space and again pointing your camera   down would have been the same again same for  this one as well um from david i feel like   the reflections need space on the bottom you know  that if you could just take some of that sky and   put it on the bottom i feel like this image would  be just a little bit better the other advice i   give if you're taking shots like this is if you're  taking a panorama it doesn't mean you have to take   the biggest panorama you can for so for instance  in this image i feel like just cropping it   to sort of maybe here and then maybe just  a little bit in there i feel like this   um just creates a slightly even you could even  get rid of the snow cap mountain and just have   this island and i think it would be really nice  but i'm going to get on to that a little bit of   time so this image here from julian i think  it's a good example of where you don't need   to point the image down this is a great use of  um negative space so this negative space here   and this one person if the person wasn't it i  don't think it works quite so well but we're   trying to create a sense of isolation tell that  story of how remote it is and how vast it is by   having that one person and then that vast open  um sky and the sky is very dark so it leads you   into the image i think works incredibly well so um  great shot that i really like it and then this is   another good example of just simplicity where you  know you've just got the camera angle at the right   level you don't need any more on the bottom  there's a nice balance between the sky   and the bottom but the thing that i think works  for this is because you have got that rainbow   so there's a need for that extra sky because  if you you don't want to cut that rainbow out   um you want to give it room to breathe in the sky  there's a lot of elements about this shot here   from mark that i really like you know the  simplicity of it that the just all the elements   of it are very simplistic they almost feel like  they've been placed or painted in in the scene   um and it's actually quite uh a difficult location  to shoot this it's blue torn in the lake district   so yeah i really like that so if you're liking  this video so much then it really helps me if   you give it a thumbs up probably won't get to a  hundred thousand like we did in the last mistakes   video um but you never know and um i tell you what  if we do i'll give away a nick on camera so if we   get to 100 000 likes i will give away a z7 camera  and also if you're not subscribed to the channel   and 40 45 of people watch my videos on then  there's a subscribe button below massively   appreciate it if you consider it okay on to the  next images so these are images that i feel um   are where you've just included a little  bit too much um again so this one also   is a little bit dark so i'm just going to  quickly just brighten it up a little bit   um and i talk about dark images in a minute but  i feel like this one's just a little bit dark it   just needs just a little bit more contrast  but i feel that this image these two trees   aren't adding anything to the composition so if  i just move that to there this shadow's okayish   because it sort of doesn't detract your eye it  draws your eye into the image if anything it   creates this nice diagonal here but you could  probably just crop that in i mean it's personal   taste really where you end up having it but i feel  like just having a more simplistic image is is   good it's the same with this just a simple crop on  this just to add um you know usually less is more   just getting rid of these trees on the left-hand  side here i feel like they're not adding a lot to   the image um and i feel like this is a bit better  you might need to crop in on the right as well um   maybe about there so great shot vasa i feel like  just that crops just a little bit better i feel   like this gap on the left hand side to this tree  it feels like you more purposely place that tree   you know usually less is more in photography um  it's difficult because you see all these amazing   things you want to include them but less is  usually more this is a good example as well where   you've got a shot which is actually quite nice  you've got this river and you've got some nice   light but i feel like just going in a bit closer  in this image drastically um changed it so if i   just go in and just shoot there then we've got a  really nice fence that goes in there and this just   creates a much more simplistic image you can see  here that i've got a really nice sort of s-curve   going through now this is a much stronger line you  can see this waterfall it just works a little bit   better than that more complex crop um as we had  before here it's a really nice image mike thanks   for sharing it this is a good example here of  a shot that works really well there's nothing   too complex about it we just shot these trees  nicely backlit it looks fantastic okay the next   thing is just moving left or right it's a really  simple tip but it's a mistake i've seen all the   time this is such an amazing scene to shoot it  is a really nice image as it stands at the moment   but i think you could just elevate it a little  bit just by moving to the right hand side you'd   have done two things there one i feel like this  diagonal would have been further over to the left   you'd have got rid of these two rocks which i feel  like a little bit distracting and then also these   rocks would have been further to the left and  would have created a more diagonal line between   the the mountain and the top and and here so just  moving a little bit to the right would have meant   other things moves to the left the mountain  would have stayed pretty much the same maybe   to the left a little bit and this image would have  worked so much better this is another example like   that this is one of mine actually where um i feel  like i should have shot sort of diagonally through   this this way here and i would have actually  got these rocks and this in and not this rock   and this there's just too much in the scene so  if i just move to the left i think it would have   been better but i was getting carried away i was  running around like headless chicken like we all   do but i feel like that would have improved her  okay the next um mistake i want to talk about and   this is something i've done all the time all  these mistakes are to be honest um and i still   make these mistakes but um it's about use of sun  in your images and making sure that if you do have   the sun it doesn't become a distracting element  in the images i feel like in this one it's almost   okay but because it's blowing out it just draws  your eye to it um and you know it draws your eye   to it quite strongly um i feel and i know it's  difficult to do this but i feel like that balloon   over the sun would have worked because you've got  some sun coming through the balloon i suspect it's   probably difficult to do that because they're  flying low and you need it to be lower to do   that and you don't want to drop off a cliff but  positionally i feel like just not having that sun   so bright maybe you could have moved to the left  and shot away from the sun a little bit um that   would have helped um it's the same with this but  slightly different i feel like the sun works in   this image but i just think the processing just  isn't quite right and this is something i see all   the time where people are blown out the sun and  they haven't blended the sun into the surroundings   there's a photographer that i would go and look  at with two photographers really mass peter   everson is really good at it and actually a three  photographers nick page is good of it and daniel   corden's good at it daniel corden's images are so  good he shoots a lot into the sun but the way he   edits it and creates that soft feeling is just so  nice this image i've just edited quickly and can   you see how i've just softened down that sun there  um hopefully you can see that just on here i've   just softened it down a little bit and that works  really really well um but i like this image this   was from fleming so thanks a lot for sending this  in it's a really nice atmospheric image the next   one again it's just probably this image i would  have got lower use the sun to backlit the dog here   but not have the sun in the image this is from  ramona which again it's just nice use of light but   just i just don't think you need the sun i think  it's all about the dog and this haze down here   i can't really crop it because i think you needed  to go lower to get this shot but i feel like this   is the shot on here the sun doesn't need to be in  the shot is what i'm trying to say just using the   light is often more important than actually having  the sun in the shot here's a good example from jim   um of i think it's bamboo castle and it's it's  using the sun um and shooting into the sun but   having something in the way so it's similar to the  thing to i was saying with the balloon we've got   bamboo castle in the way here we're just using  the glow of the sun behind bama castle and this   is a beautiful beautiful image you know it's got  a nice lining it's got another diagonal in here   and it just looks so nice so yeah i really i  really really like um this image thanks jim okay   the next mistake is something i did talk about  in another video a while back and this is just   thinking about your edges again it's a mistake  that comes up so often when we were judging   the world landscape photographer competition we  discounted quite a lot of images because there   was just distractions on the image on the edges so  this one here this is a shot from stuart i think   with woodland photography what i would recommend  is not going through the middle of a trunk   at the edge of a frame usually that doesn't work  you know if you look at good woodland photography   um from people like mark robbins you i'll put a  link down to mark's work below you'll find that   he doesn't do that that often um i try um not  to do that as well sometimes i do but very very   rarely i feel like it's distracting your eyes led  to this tree here so i think in this image i would   have moved around to the left a little bit um and  trying to compress the space between that diagonal   tree fall and that really nice tree with um the  the i think it's a beech tree with the leaves   this image is again another good example  of that where we've got the sky at the top   and you can probably get rid of that sky i don't  think it adds anything to the image i think it's   just distracting but i feel like then you need  to just get rid of these posts um but i think   you know just having that simplistic image works  so much better so thanks julian for that shot i i   really liked it um it just needed that crop this  is a really good um example of an image where   i know what you're trying to do you're trying to  frame the image it's a little bit dark so we're   just going to brighten it up a little bit um so i  know you're just trying to frame the image um but   the key thing here is that this doesn't become a  frame it becomes a little bit of distraction this   is really nice on the right hand side here we've  got this tree that's nicely framing the image this   tree is beautiful here we've got a nice corner  here you know we've got nice layers but this is   just a little bit distracting now we can crop that  out um but you could have had that tree in but i   just think you need more of it i think cropping  it out is better i feel like this is a stronger   shot even though it's a little bit unbalanced now  um i just feel like it's just it just feels nicer   to look at than than the one with the distraction  on okay the next thing i want to talk about um is   a mistake and i think it's a mistake with people's  brightnesses of their monitors i think everybody   turns a monitor a little bit too bright again i've  done this before you edit something you look at   it on your phone you think why is it looking  so dark or more importantly you print it out   and it looks dark i print a lot so i make sure  that my monitor is set to the right brightness   and a lot of the images that i got for for review  were just too dark so this one's a good example   you can see that um it doesn't look too too bad  but there's a lot of really amazing information   in here that if you brighten i can do two things  to brighten this up i can brighten up the display   so if i just go and brighten up the display then  you can see more of it but that's not the right   way to do it the display set about right um it  should be probably about you know you can you can   up a lot of things on this and that is probably  more like the brightness level it should be   the reason that's important is because you want  your work to be seen by others in the correct way   you might look at it and it might look fine on  your monitor but when somebody else looks at it   on instagram or on your website and they've got  their monitor turned to the correct level then or   you're going to print it then it's going to come  out dark so the really really good mistake that um   a good mistake how can you have a good  mistake but a good thing to think about   and this is an image from scott i really like the  image scott um i i would i'd crop that tree out at   the top though i feel like it just doesn't need  that tree or you just need um you just need to   get a bit more of the trim you know  again this was another shot that we had   that was just you know quite dark i presume  that this looked really good on a monster   but obviously it's too dark this one was too  dark so definitely something to think about   okay the final the final mistake and before i  tell you the final mistake um i've still got   some calendars left by the way and i've decided  that i'm just going to continue with free postage   so even though pre-orders have finished now if you  want one of these um pre-orders are are starting   to go out next week by the way um and and any  orders that are placed now will will go out   around about the same time then i'm going to  do free postage worldwide there isn't that many   left so if you do want one then you probably  need to get to the link below quite quick   okay final mistake so this is all about just  foregrounds and just having a little bit messy   foregrounds but making sure that the foreground's  there for a purpose it's not messy um and it's and   it's just leading your eye through to the actual  main part of the image so if you look at this   image here so this is a beautiful shot of these um  clouds rolling over the hills this is from myamoto   i've said that completely wrong sorry um but the  best part of this image is this part here so this   bit at the back so i feel like the sky and the  foreground should be leading you to that bit   at the back and i'll show you an example of um  a shot i i took that explains how you can make   that happen but that means that this shouldn't be  distracting or there should be just one element   in it that your eye looks and then leads through  to the rest of the image but the problem is that   this rock here is quite dark it's quite contrasty  and your eye goes to that rock all the time and   because it's not separated it's sort of connected  to the bush behind then yeah that that doesn't   quite work um a simple way of doing it is maybe  moving down to the water or finding some grass   that's nice and clean or just concentrating on one  rock this is another example from jeremy and again   you know especially when you've got dull  conditions like this you've got to try there's   no real amazing thing in the background so you've  got to make the foreground the star of the shot   so what i would do is try and find some really  interesting rocks get quite close on them having   them come up from the bottom of the frame and look  at and so you can see the texture of the rocks you   can see the barnacles on the rocks you can see the  seaweed the lines of the rocks that that's that's   what will improve a shot like this it's often very  difficult to do that and it's something that i   struggled with for quite a long time and i still  struggle with it i take lots of shots like this   i'm not criticizing you jeremy i'm just trying to  point out something as i would do in my own photos   this is a good example from arthur where i feel  like he's got that really really well you know   this isn't detracting from the lighthouse it just  leads your eye in it's beautiful in its own right   but it doesn't detract it just leads your eye in  and it's nice and simple and this is an example of   mine that i wanted to show you where all the info  all the detail is the in the middle of the image   the bottom top of the image on trying to draw  your attention away from that they're drawing your   eye into that it's darker at the top it goes to  light there's a line that leads in this grass   doesn't draw your eye away from it and that  helps just to create this more simple image   okay that's it for this week before i tell you how  to get your photos into another critique like this   i'm going to be doing something else that's a  little bit different um then i want to tell you   about this week's sponsor and that is squarespace  you know all about squarespace they're an amazing   domain name and website provider they allow you  to build your online shop share your portfolio   and just write blogs and you don't need any  technical skills that's what's so good about   it i absolutely love it it makes my life so easy  to run a photography business but also i used it   before i did all this just to share my images they  really are easy so if you're looking to build your   own website or you're looking to set up a domain  then you can use offer code nigel to get 10 off   or go to squarespace.com forward slash nigel make  sure you check them out so to get your photos into   another critique video which i will be doing then  you need to be signed up for the newsletter or   you need to be a member of the masterclass um  because i share things like this quite often   on the masterclass group and to do that there's  a link in the description for the newsletter and   also there's a discount code for my masterclass  as well that's it it's been quite a long video   thanks ever so much for watching and until  next sunday or maybe tuesday you never know bye

2022-09-26

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