Golden rule #4

If golden rule #3 was a little hard don't worry, here is Golden Rule #4: Be your best fan!

Photography is a real nice hobby, but it can be very cruel. You might be thinking "is not a hobby is a carrer". All photographer, even professionals go on vacations caring a camera so it will always be a hobby.

The best way to expand your abilities as a photographer is to look at other photographers work. If you see a portrait that you like study it, look for what is catching your attention, where is the light coming from? what temperature does the picture have? what's the location like? how does the background look? if possible look at the exif data and learn from it.

If you are new into photography don't try to make pictures that look exactly as the ones from profesional guys on the internet. Make pictures that make YOU happy.

"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody." - Bill Cosby

Make your photos following that though. Your photos are an expression of you, you usually not take pictures of something you find boring or uninteresting right? if you take a picture is because you saw something that, for you, is interesting or nice, so try to capture that, spend some time trying to capture that something that for you is worth seeing. When you show the picture, if others don't see it, then that is THEIR problem.

Publish your pictures on the internet, print them, frame them! if you like your pictures then show them!! share them!!! they look really nice on frames trust me.
If someone comes to your house and tells you "hey that's a nice picture" make a copy for them, printing photos is really cheap these days or at least send them the digital copy. You will feel great about your self!

Golden Rule #4 is all about felling good about your work. Remember this is art, is a personal expression, don't try to please others, do shoots that you enjoy and makes you feel good about your self.

Any how, your pictures are yours, the day you start charging people for gear or your work, is the day you should start caring about what they think and it should be ONLY for the pics they pay, all the rest are yours to enjoy.

Great photographer will give you advices, you can improve this..., next time try setting you aperture to ...., if you go a little down .... Jerks (that by the way are usually no that good photographers, most of the time they are just good graphic designers) will say bad things so they can feel better about them selfs.

Golden Rule #3

Especially when you are just getting started, coming back home to review your shots is one of the most exiting experiences, but it can also be very frustrating. You where practicing your manual focus skills and many are out of focus, you where trying to set the correct settings and many of your photos look bad. Don't worry too much about it that happens to all of us as we learn and get used to see for the camera.

One thing that might get you down is when you look at a picture that you like, only to realize that you would like to have taken the picture closer or in a different angle, maybe you took it up side down and now you are wondering if it would have looked better from a side.

Golden rule #2 might help, but here is another one: Golden Rule #3: Be your worst critic.

Whenever you take a picture look at it and tell your self: "This is the most boring and dull picture I have seen in my life". Too mean? Not really, just try to get out of your comfort zone.

Let's say you take a picture of a building, right in front if it. You will tell your self "This is awful you didn't got the top part of the building against that [beautiful | intimidating | colorful | aggressive] sky", now lay down on the sidewalk, make what ever you need to do to capture the building with the sky. Look again at your picture "Are you kidding me? This is the worst picture I have seen of this building. Didn't you notice the beautiful ornaments on the main entrance? You can't see any of that on this picture!" Now force your self to go a grab every outstanding detail on the building. Look again at your pictures and tell your self: "What is this???? This is one of the best locations in this town and there is not a single person walking by" and then "Why so many people??? I can't see the building due to all this people walking by"

Do you get the idea? We could also call this rule the "Be your own client" rule. Try to never walk away with only one angle of your subject, experiment, try new things, get out of the comfort zone, lay on the side walk, find a tree to climb, get on one knee, go to a side, go to the other, do anything and everything (legal … screw it even illegal just don’t get caught) to take the best possible picture of your subject.

When you shoot something think that probably it has been photograph thousands of times so, what can you do as a photographer to show that subject in a way no one has ever seen before.

You will be walking home not only with a huge possibility of getting "good side" of your subject but also with the possibility of creating beautiful compositions back home.

Golden Rule #2

Golden rule #2 is pretty simple but, specially if you are new to photography, will forget often.
When you use a film camera you are limited on the number of shots you can take (by film and money) but on the digital world a shoot is pretty much free so Golden rule#2: Shoot more than once

Is amazing how many things can go wrong with a shot that are really hard to see on the preview screen. You might have moved causing the photo to blur, you might have set the focus on the wrong subject, it might be a little to under exposed, it might be a little to over exposed, you might be really concentrated on getting you subject in the perfect light and the perfect focus and you didn't notice the guy on the background picking up his nose looking straight at you (true story),  trust me the image never looks the same on the preview screen and the computer.

So think about it this way, if you are out there shooting taking what you feel are the most beautiful pictures you have ever taken, what is more complicated, press the shutter button more than once or go home, realize your shot is ruined and then go back to wherever you where shooting to take the same picture again? And of course assuming you can actually go back and your subject will be exactly the same.

Also is amazing how things can change from one second to another, lets face it, good photos are made at least by 25% luck. Lets say you are taking a close picture of a flower, first shot is good, second is good too, on the third a bee comes right in and starts collecting pollen from the flower you picture went from good to great just because you spend 15 more seconds there. A cloud moved and you get an amazing ray of light over your subject or the other way around, a cloud comes in and for a second provides you with that soft light that totally changes the look of your subject.

When you get home with 10 - 15 pictures of the same subject and you start reviewing then, you will notice the differences, you will see that one will out stand the others and you will be really happy that you took that extra shoot.

The golden rules: #1

As I learn photography I discover different "Golden rules", tips, tricks, motos and so on that help me get better at this.

I do photography only because is a passion for me, I have always love photography but didn't really got into it until recently.

So I decided to create this blog in some sort of diary of what I discover about my passion and shared it with anyone out there that might share the joy of just going out and make pictures.

With this in mind I present to you the #1 Golden Rule of Photography: Don't be a jerk!

Wether you are a top class photographer or a point-and-shoot amateur, we all share the passion for photography.

Taking photos is a lot more fun when you are surrounded by other photographers, don't believe me? Go out on a photo walk with people who are not interested in photography and have them wait for you 20 minutes while you take photos of a cat or a rock, advance 5 steps and repeat. Let me know how that goes :)

Also, taking pictures and never showing them to anybody might be a little boring too. So don't be a jerk.

If someone compliments your photos say thanks, don't show your self as "I'm the grates photographer in the world and you should bow before me", share the story, tell them why you choose the photo, why you think is a nice photo and don't use complex vocabulary, if they know nothing about photography they will find you cooky and if they do know, they probably don't need to hear it.

If you see someone else pictures and you think there is something they can do better, teach them, I haven't met a single photographer in my life who is not willing to learn new tricks. Don't be mean, don't be a jerk, telling some one things like "you should sell your gear" doesn't make you a better photographer.

If you are out there with your $5000 DSLR and your $3000 lens and somebody stands next to you with a point and shoot trying to take the same picture as you, give them some space, even try to give them an advice, composition, angle, anything. It will not only make you a more respected photographer, it will make you a better peson.

The camera does not make the photographer but it sure helps, so respect the ones who are just getting started, if they haven't made the investment that doesn't mean they are not better photographers than you.

Well I guess I made my point, enjoy photography, enjoy sharing your passion, live happy, learn from other and teach others. We are all in this for the same reason so we might all as well play nice with each other.

Thanks for reading!