Whether you are a novice or experienced shooter, there are a number of bad habits that keep us from reaching the higher level of master. Fortunately, all of these habits can be broken by putting in a little time at the range!
Not Having Enough Batteries or Memory Cards
Serious problems are running out of space and running out of battery. The best policy is to just always carry an extra battery and an extra card along with you. If you don’t have enough budget for extra battery and memory card, make a good habit of always charging your batteries, always cleaning your memory cards and reminding yourself of going out with your camera to make sure you have everything you need.
Standing Still
Keeping your feet still when you’re shooting will absolutely limit your creative potential. But it’s easy to form this bad habit, especially when you are using a zoom lens. Instead of shooting a scene from just one perspective, get into the habit of walking around, moving closer and stepping back. Use your feet, and see how quickly you start getting way more interesting perspectives. If you’re shooting a long exposure you can completely ignore this. Standing still is a very good thing in that instance.
Not Learning About Lighting
Lighting is the core of photography, and paying attention to the light is key to shoot great pictures every single time. Try learning as much as you can about good lighting, from natural lighting to shadows and highlights to strobes and light painting. Knowing how to work with light and make the most of it will make the difference between how soon you go from an amateur to an experienced professional photographer.
Ignoring the Background
When we shoot a photo, it is likely to ignore the background. Usually we know an interesting tree, column, or maybe a rock face with flowers, and would like to have it in pictures (along with ourselves). But it’s not uncommon that right behind our object of interest there’s a barbed-wire fence, or that the spot is between a parking lot on the one side and run-down houses on the other.
So no matter how beautiful the person and the place are, remember, a large part of every photo is taken up by the background, and that background needs to be beautiful too.
Centering the Subject
Centering a subject is something that is very common in beginning photography. This may be the hardest bad habit for beginners to break. Learning the rules of composition will help your photography immensely. Centering can definitely be used with to great effect once you know what you are doing, but it is advised to avoid it for a while you are a beginner. With experience you can learn to compose images in other ways that are neither centered nor thirds, but experimentation is necessary, because this is much harder to do well than composing
