5 Steps to Improve your Photography

5StepsPhotography

If you have been around this blog for a while you know that I have a hobby of taking self portraits.  While the proclaimed ‘selfie’ has been around since the days of Myspace, taking a simple self portrait is more of an art.  For me it began in last year with a new photography series I wanted to do revolving around one themed self portrait a week with my friends. Every week we had a theme based off a song title or lyrics and we each brought what that meant to us in a self portrait.  Challenges like this can be fun and a great way to keep you accountable as you learn more about your art and craft.  I really push people to start taking self portraits when they want to get better at photography because it can help you grow both technically and creatively.

FIVE STEPS TO IMPROVE YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY
f r o m   B o n n i e   o f   A   C o m p a s s   R o s e

1. Start taking Self Portraits. You never need to find a model or tell someone else how to pose. Forget about needing a tripod or a remote.  I take most of my self portraits without either of these items.  All you need is a sturdy surface and the self timer on your camera.

2. Take One Photo Every Day. There are many challenges out there to keep you occupied with your camera every day.  There are even social media groups that participate these types, including on Instagram.  Perhaps you do not want to be tied down to a specific or limited theme.  Just keep your camera available and shoot what sparks your fancy.

3. Do not Delete. Just because some of your photos did not turn out right, do not rush to delete them off your camera.  Learn from your mistakes.  The best way to figure out how to improve your photography is to study the photos where you did not achieve what you wanted with those where your photo turned out perfectly.  Learning to trouble shoot can take you to the next level as a photographer.

4. Be Inspired. Find ways to inspire your photography.  Look at elements within a photograph and go from there. Perhaps focus on locations. Where can you take a photograph and what mood would it set?  Start being observant to the world around you and find things in your part of the world that make you enjoy photography.  When you love what you do, it shows through your work.

5. Take a Class. Love photography and want to improve?  I offer B.Lux Photography courses and in December I am introducing two new classes, with more to come in 2014.  No matter where in the world you live, if you have have the willingness to learn you can take these online courses.

BLUXB. In Focus | An beginner’s course or a refresher for intermediate photographers who want to take back the control from their camera and learn how to shoot in manual.  We discuss both the technical and the creative aspect of photography as we get to know your camera.  Tired of getting fuzzy or outof focus photographs?  Not sure why the colours never look right? Having a hard time with lighting and want to know how to work with many different types of lighting situations?  Do you want to take better photographs?  You have the technology in your hands and you have the creative mind! Now put it together with this course and really push yourself as a photographer.  This four week course includes a bonus teacher free week with a final project at the end of the course.

B. Retouched | Do you like to photograph people and take portraits?  Not sure what to do with the photos in post processing? In this four week course we learn how to use photoshop specifically for the need of retouching people and faces in your photography.  Learn how bring out their natural beauty and how the steps differ depending on the person’s age.  From spot retouching, to smoothing skin, and even how to apply make up!  The final project in this course will teach you how to take your black and white photo and bring it back to colour with the retouching affects in photoshop.

B. Transformed | An introductory class to photoshop for photographers and bloggers.  Whether you are diving into photoshop for the first time as a photographer or are wanting to take your photos to the next level on your blog.  We get started with learning the basics to help get away from feeling overwhelmed and start getting creative. In this online course you get on screen videos of how to work in photoshop. From working with layers, filters, brushes, and simple retouch & healing tools.  We then look at how you can protect your work, make it web ready, organize and archive your photographs. Help photoshop work with you.

THREE B.LUX CLASSES AVAILABLE!

REGISTRATION BEGINS DECEMBER 2!

 

 

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meetLOUISA

M A K E   F R I E N D S   &   F O L L O W   L O U I S A!
 
 
*photography belongs to Bonnie Rose Photography © 2007 – 2013 All Rights Reserved | www.bonnie-rose.co.uk 


    
 
  • Melissa Hurley

    Do you think Photoshop elements will be enough to learn retouching for your class?

    • http://www.bonnieroseblog.co.uk/ Bonnie Rose

      PS Elements is limited to what all Photoshop is capable of but could be used for the class. With the understanding that I am teaching it from photoshop and there will be some things not unable to be done in Elements.

  • http://www.thewanderblogger.com/ Sarah Shumate

    I’m looking forward to your Lightroom class next year. I’m saving up now and hoping to use a little Christmas money to purchase it. Right now I use a super outdated version of PSE. I think it is PSE6. My problem is that everything even in PSE seemed too technical. I don’t even want to think about how technical the full version of Photoshop would be. I can only do the simplest things in PSE unless I’m using a free action I downloaded. My hope is Lightroom will be a bit more user-friendly.

  • http://photosbylmb.com/ Leanne

    I never thought of taking self portraits to improve my photography, but it may be worth a shot, especially to help me get more comfortable in front of the camera :)

  • http://www.emminlondon.com/ Mandy Southgate

    These sound like great courses Bonnie and I know that your students show great results! Good luck with your next courses.