This is a subject that I could go hours and hours over. To be honest, this isn’t a post about what settings you should be using and why, because every situation is different. This is me, merely telling you that you should get out of auto mode! If you spent hundreds (or maybe even thousands) of dollars on your camera, please oh please stop letting the camera tell you what to do!

If you’ve ever taken an image in auto and thought, “This wasn’t what I wanted!” then you need to fix it! Get. Out. Of. Auto.

Explore your camera’s settings by switching into Program or Aperture Priority mode, or if you’re brave, put that sucker on Manual mode. Then just practice. Most photographers I’ve seen that can’t get their photos to where they want them to be aren’t going out and practicing. I first used rocks, flowers, my coffee cup, and on occasion would rope my siblings into allowing me to take their photos. You know what? 9 times out of 10 those images were barely good enough to make it past the “delete” button. But when that one photo would come up just perfect and the way I would want it, I would study it. Figure out what it was that made that photo into something you’ll cherish, and then keep practicing. Shoot, I still practice all the time!

Just to prove my point, here’s my first ever “ahaaa” moment photo for ya from 2009.

Thanks again to my family for allowing me to practice on them, even when things may not always be perfect.

xoxo

Emily