Photography is a wonderful hobby or career that is accessible to almost anyone who is interested. The learning curve can be rough or steep depending on the methods you wish to learn, but for the most part everyone has the potential to pick up a camera and create interesting work right from the beginning. However, there are a few common pitfalls that you may want to avoid so here is a list of the five most common mistakes.

Gear Everywhere!

With all of the photo equipment available, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with all of the possibilities. The list of cool photo equipment is endless- filters, tripods, extra lenses, lights, reflectors and timers and so many others. If you don’t have a solid understanding of what you’re able to do with your camera, you’ll never be able to truly master the use of all of the accessories. It’s best to start off small with a basic digital SLR (or 35 mm film camera if you prefer) if you’re serious about learning photography. Once you’ve gotten comfortable with using your equipment and have goten some great shots, it’s time to start looking at some new accessories.

Not Every Shot Will Turn Out

When you get started, you’re going to miss lots of shots. In fact, not only will you miss a lot of great photographs, you’re also going to mess up on photos you were able to take. That’s why you should generally take every picture (that you care about) at least twice or at least closely look at the digital image in the LCD screen to make sure it turned out. This will help you from missing an important picture and will also help you better understand the inner workings of your camera. Besides, in the day of digital the cost of shooting thousands of images is no more than shooting only ten.

Don’t Use Your Flash

You don’t need it. An automatic flash can prevent you from properly learning how to handle complex lighting situations and sometimes even ruin your images. You should turn your flash off and get used to working with natural light and your camera’s settings so you can further develop your photography skills. You can take pictures without a flash in almost any environment. All you have to do is be a little creative in how you use the light that’s available.

Improve Your Composition

Although you see it done commonly, you don’t need to center your subject in the center of the image. This can create unnecessary space in your pictures and make them less interesting. Try to imagine the frame of your camera as cropping tool and get everything that’s important in there, without any wasted space. Framing your image properly in the viewfinder doesn’t take long to learn but will make a lasting difference in the quality of your photographs.

Point and Shoot

Simple digital cameras with giant LCD screens on the back are certainly tempting, but if you’re hoping to learn about the art of photography and challenge yourself to improve, you’re probably not going to get anything out of a point and shoot camera. Many beginning photographers choose these cameras for their convenience and affordability, which works great if you’re only planning to take pictures of family and friends rather than for artistic or professional purposes. If you want to take great pictures and expand your knowledge of photography, you will need to have the right photo tools for the job.

Overall, these five mistakes are easy to avoid and won’t cause you much harm if you happen to stumble into one now and again. When learning photography it’s important to establish good habits and skills early on so you can continue to build upon a solid base of knowledge going forward. Just keep taking pictures every day and before you know it you’ll be creating images that you’ll be proud to display in a picture frame in your home or office.

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