Do you want to take better photos?  I do too.  So, how do I improve?  At least I am hoping I am improving.  This website is one of the many ways I try to improve.  I am starting a new series that will be in addition to my regular blog posts.  I do not plan on stopping my regular Saturday blog post.  I am not sure how long I will do this series but will see how it goes and welcome to Photo Tips and Tricks (PTT1).  My goal here is two-fold.

1. Share tips with others that are looking for tips.

2. Increase traffic to my blog.

If I cannot meet both of these then this series may not be what is needed.  Either way, it will be fun for me.  I have found that sharing and teaching things that I do know help me understand photography better.  There are many tips that I will share, but today is by far the most important tip that I can give you.  So without further delay here it is:

Go Take Photos

Sound simple?  Maybe.  But that is the most important tip you will ever get.  You can watch videos all day, read every blog you can find, and read every magazine, etc. without getting better.  Compare this to a sport such as a basketball player shooting free-throws.  If you watch videos, will it make you a better free-throw shooter?  Sure, you may get some technique ideas, but that is all they are... ideas.  Until you throw that first free-throw you are no better than before that first shot.

Just like the sports analogy your photography will all be in your head and only theory.  Can you change the aperture, shutter, or ISO quickly?  Have you ever looked through a camera with a new technique?  What about the first time you went to manual mode?  How did that go?  Pretty poorly?  Me two.  I sucked.  However, the more I have my camera in my hand and taking photos the better opportunity I have to improve.  I have sat on my couch just looking through menus to learn what is available.  I have practiced learning how to change my settings without taking photos.  So, my point is you can have a camera in your hand more often than you do today.  Learn how to use your camera.

Don't be afraid to use your cell phone.  It has some settings too - learn them as well.

This may be one of my longer tip articles, but I am sure I may get more in-depth tips that take longer.  If it is too long, I may break it across multiple blog posts.  I will try to keep it to 2 to 3 paragraphs.

Finally, if you made it this far, thank you.  I am ending with a name for this series.  I spent some time trying to come up with a catchy phrase or acronym that unique.  In the end, I almost landed on a question that I hear so often and many photographers don't like to answer to be the title.

WWYS - What Were Your Settings

But that just didn't look good on the blog post because the content of this post and the first tip had nothing to do with the title.  So I scrapped that title in favor of Photo Tips and Tricks.  That will be closer to what I will be writing about.  So stick around to see what's next.  Cya next week.