The post Weekly Photo Challenge – 2021 Goals appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Sime.
Last week we all shared our ‘Best of 2020’ and this week, for something completely different, we want you to reflect on 2020 and your photography (try to forget everything else for a minute!) and think about what you’d like to do with your photography in 2021, and, rather than share an image, just let us know what you’d like 2021 to look like for your photography?
Maybe you want a new camera?
Maybe it’s time for that new lens you’ve been thinking about?
Perhaps you’re thinking it’s time to ‘go pro‘
Maybe you’re going to put the camera away for a while?
Could it be time to try a different genre?
I’ll start! I’ve been photographing food for a little while now, and this year I’m going to focus on portraiture and learning all I can about portrait lighting and photography!
If you’ve already started heading towards your goal, feel free to include a photograph of the journey! We’ll be back to our regular weekly challenge next week.
As ever, comment in the comment’s section below, include a photo as per above, but mostly just tell us what you hope to achieve with your 2021 photography.
Happy New Year everyone, from all of us here at dPS.
–Simon
The post Weekly Photo Challenge – 2021 Goals appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Sime.
The post 4 Goals to Set for Expanding Your Photographic Creativity appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Megan Kennedy.
The new year has come and gone and we find ourselves well and truly into 2020. Traditionally, many significant goals are made around the new year mark. But setting goals is a great way to work towards achieving a desired outcome at any time of the year. So why wait? Here are some simple creativity goals you can set yourself to expand on your photographic practice right now.
Goal 1: try new subject matter
There’s nothing wrong with specialising, but branching out in photography can often reveal surprising creative opportunities.
For the first of our creativity goals, grab a pen and paper. Your task is to list at least 10 subjects that interest you but that you haven’t photographed in a while (if at all). Bugs, aviation, food, architecture… the list can be as varied as you’d like.
Once you’ve finished compiling your list, narrow your results down to the three most appealing (and doable) options. You want topics that interest you, but are also realistic and achievable.
One of my chosen subjects for this goal was insects. f/4.5 1/1600 ISO 640
Once you’ve decided on your top three, set a reasonable time frame to photograph your chosen subject matter (it can be weeks, months or even years!).
You may also need to consider what photographic equipment you require for your goal. And don’t forget to do your research. Good research into a subject and a realistic time frame will help you make an actionable plan to achieve your creativity goals.
Keep your list nearby as motivation. You could stick it on the fridge, or in your camera bag…somewhere that will remind you of your goal. You could even use the list as a check-list of sorts. The point is that you have identified topics of interest and made a commitment to work towards a corresponding goal.
By creating a list of new subject matter, doing the research, and setting an actionable goal, you’ve already created a solid foundation from which to launch into new photographic opportunities.
Goal 2: room for improvement
Goal setting is a great way to check-in with your own creative process. Grab yourself another sheet of paper and a pen (don’t worry, the whole article isn’t about list-making) and jot down two or three aspects that might be hindering your creative practice. Some ideas are:
Running low on time for creativity
Lack of photographic direction or improvement
Difficulty with the technical aspects of photography
Suffering from creative blocks
A decrease in inspiration
Next, write some actionable goals that will make a positive impact in the areas you’ve identified as needing improvement. Here’s my list:
Running short on time – dedicate 30 minutes to creativity a day – 1 week
Creative block – photograph at least one favourite subject each week – 1 month
You’ll notice I also added a time frame to complete or perform these goals – this will give you motivation, and a concrete idea of how your goal will impact your practice.
Again, choose a realistic time frame. You can always elect to tackle a goal for a week and then expand the duration from there.
Photographing a favourite subject regularly is a goal that can keep you motivated within your creative practice. f/4.0 1/100 ISO 100
Put your list on your cork board, in your organiser, as an alarm on your phone…whatever works. The list serves as a reminder for you to make time for growing your own practice.
Do your best to achieve the creativity goals you’ve set, but don’t worry if you can’t get everything done. Goal setting is about gradual growth, and every small step toward your goal is a victory. Just do your best!
Goal 3: try new tools and techniques
Not everyone has a spare camera, lens, tripod, etc laying around. But if you do, setting a dedicated goal to put some of your underused equipment to good use is a great way to expand your creativity. The same goes for testing out some new photographic techniques.
Adopting a goal to take up blurred or abstract photography is a great way to expand your creativity. f/1.8 1/320 ISO 800
You don’t have to set a terribly elaborate goal to make a difference. Committing to experimenting with an old lens can offer a completely new perspective.
Shooting with film for a month can test your photographic approach.
Setting a goal to get out of Auto Mode or tackling a new technique each week in-camera or in Photoshop will grow your practice significantly. Setting creativity goals based around new tools and techniques challenges your photographic approach, thus, building your creative repertoire.
Goal 4: taking time out for inspiration
We touched on this before, but inspiration can be a fleeting phenomenon. One minute you’re bursting at the seams with creativity and then running on empty the next.
Creativity goals inspire us to take the time to do a stock-take on our own creative levels. Everyone feels creatively drained from time to time, but making a dedicated gap in your schedule to check-in with what is going on in the artistic sphere creates more opportunities for gathering inspiration and technical knowledge.
f/2.2 1/80 ISO 200
Start by setting a goal to dedicate at least 15-30 minutes per day for a week to inspiration. Reading books, going to exhibitions, researching websites (like Digital Photography School of course!), filling up a visual diary, and even checking Instagram can all contribute to a greater grasp of photographic theory and execution.
Once your set period of inspirational activities is over, review and make adjustments to your goal so it better suits your daily regimen.
Then…start again!
Soon, you’ll be in the habit of surrounding yourself with inspirational resources that recharge your creative practice and keep you abreast of creative possibilities and solutions.
Conclusion
Goal setting may seem daunting at first. However, once you break the process down, the usefulness and accessibility of goal-making become more apparent.
Goals encourage us to take active steps towards bettering our photographic practice. By making creativity goals, we commit to expanding our creativity incrementally, bettering our theoretical knowledge and practical experience.
Have you set yourself a creative goal recently? How did it go? Share your experience in the comments!
The post 4 Goals to Set for Expanding Your Photographic Creativity appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Megan Kennedy.
The post How to Set Your Photography Goals (and NOT Fail) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Mat Coker.
You can spend many years as a stagnant photographer simply because you didn’t set any goals.
But if you set goals, and work toward accomplishing them, you can grow more than you ever imagined.
Photographers encounter two problems when setting goals. The first is not knowing how to set a goal. The second is not knowing how to accomplish it.
Let’s look at how to set a goal and then be sure that you can accomplish it.
If you need inspiration toward growth and learning as a photographer, look to the toddler. They develop more over 2 years than most adults develop over 2 decades.
How to set your photography goals
I’ll share my photography goals with you and explain how to set your own goals.
Define my creative vision (no more copying other photographers)
Accomplish a photography project I started as an unskilled kid
Learn about light from painters
Study toddler psychology
Help 15 students achieve their photography goals
Five goals seem like a lot, but I accomplished all my major goals last year, so I’m eager to accomplish these goals too.
Toddlers are at one of the crossroads of life. They’re exploding in their abilities but need to have their potential guided by grown-ups and older kids.
You should set your goals based on these 2 questions:
What will I have accomplished when I finish this goal?
How will this goal help me grow as a photographer?
Accomplishment: When I complete goals 2 and 5, I will have fulfilled a childhood ambition and helped other photographers to grow.
Growth: Goals 1,3 and 5 will help clarify my vision and deepen my understanding of light and toddlers.
Set goals that are meaningful to you. Make them small enough to be achievable but large enough to challenge you.
When you first start setting goals, you should set and focus on one at a time. Once you know what you’re capable of you can set multiple goals that cover an extended period of time.
A toddler with a marker, colors on everything without thought. We can be just as directionless in our photography, snapping photos of anything that grabs our attention. Or, we can be purposeful and move toward intentional accomplishment.
Setting a goal is easy, but how do you accomplish it?
After deciding on your goals, use this method to accomplish it:
Describe how life will look when you’ve achieved your goal
Understand the consequence of not completing it
Plot out the steps toward achieving your goal
Create an environment that makes the goal happen by default (so failure isn’t an option)
I’ll use my toddler psychology goal as an example.
How will life look once I’ve achieved this goal? I’ll better understand toddlers, better connect with them during sessions and take more creative photos.
If I don’t complete this goal then I will not have expanded myself as a photographer and I’ll continue to experience the same frustrations during sessions.
The main steps toward achieving this goal will be:
Finding reliable sources that explain toddler psychology
Reflecting on my experience as a father and photographer
Use what I’ve learned to take better photos of toddlers
Write about what I’ve learned (for myself and others)
Many people fail to reach their goals because their environment works against them.
How can I create an environment that will make this goal achievable?
It’s busy running a photography business and I’m likely to forget my goals. But, I’ve written it on my list of goals so that it won’t be forgotten. I came up with a quick list of sources to begin my research. Research time has been scheduled into my calendar.
Creating your environment to make your goals achievable
This is one of the most important steps. If you set a goal and then have the proper space and time to work on it, you’ll be able to achieve it.
Let’s suppose your goal is to learn how to use your camera off Auto Mode. But 30 days after setting your goal you’ve hardly practiced at all. Your life is hectic and your environment will keep you distracted unless you make it work for you.
You need to set aside a block of time every day that is devoted to using your camera. Write it in a day planner or set an alert. Better yet, carry your camera with you all day. It’s hard to avoid learning when you’ve committed to taking a camera with you everywhere you go.
Rubber boots are a passport to adventure for toddlers. With their boots on they can go anywhere and do anything.
Maybe you’re taking a trip this year and hope to take a lot of great photos. But hoping isn’t the same as setting a goal and plotting out the steps to achieve it. Most trips have a very rushed itinerary which is one way that your environment will work against you. Have you set aside time for photography?
Maybe you want a more efficient post-processing workflow. Is your environment filled with distractions that eat up your time? Turn off the WIFI, your phone, and any other digital distractions. Isolate yourself for a block of time or until the work is finished. Banish everything that distracts your focus.
Your goal should be challenging to achieve, but don’t make it worse by having your environment work against you.
Peeking through the bedroom door.
Tell me YOUR goals
One of the best ways to get started on a goal is to tell somebody what you plan to do.
I would love to hear your photography goal. Leave a comment letting me know what your goals are.
The post How to Set Your Photography Goals (and NOT Fail) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Mat Coker.
Last week we wrote about Arsenal, an intelligent camera assistant currently looking for crowdfunding. Since then, the Kickstarter campaign has enjoyed huge success, with over $ 700,000 pledged and still plenty of time left to raise more funds. Arsenal’s creator has issued an update announcing that as stretch goals have been met, additional camera support will be added for launch, along with live histogram and night focus features.
A new stretch goal for $ 1,000,000 has also been set. If that funding level is met, Arsenal’s creators promise it will ship with remote video control and remote video playback.
Below are the cameras added for launch. The video above, posted recently, showcases Arsenal’s time-lapse capabilities.
A wiser person than myself once said that if someone does not know to which port they are sailing, no wind is favorable. I heard that advice early in my photographic journey and it has stuck with me throughout the years. Learning about photography is important. Developing your skills as photo maker is even more important.
However, one of the most important things that you can do in order to grow as an artist (and business person) is to recognize the importance of finding a direction, setting photography goals for yourself. Without a direction or goals, all the passion, skill, and creativity you possess will not be enough to help you reach your full potential as a photographer.
Finding your direction
That is the hard part. Figuring out which direction to focus your energy on can be frustrating and at times extremely confusing. There really are no shortcuts. The key is to shoot, shoot, and shoot some more. Shoot a lot. You won’t know what kind of photography you truly love until you let yourself go and become lost in your own work.
Don’t limit yourself to only one type of photo when you’re just starting out in the art; meaning don’t exclusively do street work or only shoot portraits. Make photographs of anything: people, landscapes, architecture, food, toasters – anything. You might find that your true passion strangely discovers you when you least expect it. The important thing is to keep shooting and keep yourself open to new opportunities.
Bear in mind, however, that directions can and often do change. Even though you may be firmly set on the path you want to pursue with your photography remember that you are not confined to it exclusively. As you grow as a photographer so will your tastes and your inclinations may evolve. Again, keep your creative mind free and be willing to try something completely different if the muse strikes you to do so. You make the photograph…the photograph does not make you.
Applying your direction
For a moment let’s imagine that you have found your direction. You’re elated and you can’t describe how great it feels to have that overwhelming urge to create photographs. Now what? Do you just go out into the world and hope for the best? Of course not. Instead, take all of that excitement and artistic energy and channel it into something tangible.
In short, you must set clear goals for yourself as a photographer. Setting goals for your photography will help you immeasurably. There are so many things to consider when first starting out. At times it becomes shockingly easy to lose your focus which will lead to frustration. Developing goals will keep you grounded in your work and heading in the direction you have chosen. Not only will having clearly defined goals keep you focused but will also keep you motivated and make you more determined to accomplish what you have set out to do.
Learn to set goals which are realistic
No one that I know of ever had their first photograph published on the cover of National Geographic Magazine. If that’s your goal that’s great. But understand that while setting goals is essential to success, they must also be realistic goals.
Find goals for your work which are challenging but attainable. Examples of realistic goals could be learning a new technique or getting your work in a local gallery. Don’t set yourself up for disappointment because you set the bar unimaginably high. Success is a ladder that must be climbed one step at a time.
Confidence
Gaining confidence is somewhat of a paradox because you need confidence in order to find it – think about that for a moment. Boosting your confidence level is perhaps the most important reward that will come out of setting goals for your photography.
Taken as whole, going from a beginner to a professional photo maker is a daunting task to say the least. There is just so much that can go wrong on the journey from point A to point B. Instead of attempting to cover the distance in a single leap, lay out achievable goals that will eventually take you where you want to go. Along the way, with each goal met and overcome, you will naturally build confidence. The next goal will be met and then the next and the next, and so on.
As you become more confident in your work and your abilities each new goal you set will be more and more ambitious. One day you will look back to see how far you’ve come and how much you’ve accomplished just by focusing on each step one at a time.
Be brave
You found the courage to follow your dreams and take up the mantle of “photographer”. It’s not always going to be an easy road, but by simply finding your direction and setting photography goals you will be able to achieve things you never thought were possible.
Learn to understand what it is that truly gives you a spark when you photograph, then develop a game plan by setting small goals to help you along your way. Those goals will be your signposts. With each goal you achieve you will build skill, confidence, experience, and knowledge. As you learn and grow you will undoubtedly change as an artist. Be mindful but don’t fight the natural current and healthy evolution of your own creativity.
Whether the goals you set are designed to facilitate a transition from hobbyist to pro photographer, or to just reach the next stage in your photographic journey, the important thing to remember is to never stop moving. Always strive to learn something new, set new goals, and reach new heights.
What are your photography goals? Please share in the comments below.
It’s a new year and many people start a new year with resolutions. Things they want to change or accomplish, but by the end of January most of those are forgotten or given up on. Alain Briot a regular contributor here on Luminous-Landscape shares with us some step by step suggestions to achieve our goals in 2015 and keep them alive in his essay Reaching Your Goals In 2015.
froknowsphoto.com Before I get into talking about goals I want to thank each and every one of your for your continued support of this community. Over the last year it has grown so much and helped so many people become better photographers. It means so much to me that you guys come back day in and day out to learn, help and even teach me new things. I look forward to bigger and better things to come in 2012. As we 2011 ends and 2012 begins I wanted to share with you my photographic goals for 2012. One of my major goals is to further my photographic education, continue to learn and expand my knowledge. This could be from books, videos or other photographers I work with. If you could take a min to leave a comment about what some of your goals are for 2012 along with your fav video from 2011 that would be great. Video Rating: 4 / 5
Comments Off on Setting Photography Goals for 2012 – Thank You
You must be logged in to post a comment.