Improve your Photography using your Mistakes
Wait! Don’t press that delete button too soon! You can actually improve your photography using your mistakes. It is well worth thinking about what went wrong and why you intend to delete the image. You might have an image that is out of focus. So, you decide to delete it. But, why was it out of focus? What went wrong? It might be that there is an aspect of your technique that you can work on to reduce the chance of it happening again. Perhaps you forgot to switch on autofocus, or you used an inappropriate autofocus mode. Maybe you used too slow a shutter speed for that type of shot. There are many reasons why an image might be out of focus. It is worth having a least a brief think why it has happened before you press delete.
As with many areas in life, we can learn the most from our mistakes. They show us areas that we perhaps weren’t aware had weaknesses. Mistakes can be valuable learning tools if we learn to accept and analyse them. Don’t just get annoyed with bad photos – they can be a gift that helps you make leaps forward. If you find that you very rarely make mistakes any more then I’d encourage you to try something new. When we push ourselves out of our comfort zones we can learn so much more. Our skills can be extended and our understanding deepened.
Don’t just sit there and admire your great images (do that too of course!). Discipline yourself to look closely enough to understand what went wrong with an image you’re about to delete. This process can get faster and faster with experience. It doesn’t need to take long.
So, what mistakes are you currently making? How could you overcome them? How could you improve your photography using your mistakes?
© Joe Lenton, March 2016