Hamltnblue Loc: Springfield PA

Don't stand on the tracks when filming a train.

rizibat8 Loc: Birmingham, AL

Out of curiosity I clicked on your link to David Alan Harvey. I spent the last hour at his site and will be back there as soon as I send this.
Thanks Linda,

Larry

jak86094

Just give the following tip: Go to uglyhedgehog.com

OddJobber Loc: Portland, OR

Pay attention to the background!

kskarma Loc: Topeka, KS

If you were with a friend, and you saw something that made you say..."Hey, look at THAT!!", chances are you are looking at an interesting photo subject. I've found that other people are not the least bit interested in what f-stop, ISO, lens, or camera setting you used, but they DO like shots that tell them something about another place or person. (If that person is THEM or a member of their family, then your shot is twice as good.....[G].!)

anotherview Loc: California

Forget the tripod. Yes, shoot many pictures. Learn from your mistakes and successes.

PAR4DCR Loc: A Sunny Place

Don

paulrph1 Loc: Washington, Utah

[quote=Chaostrain]If someone walked up to you on the street or a mountain trail and asked you for a tip(s) with photography what would you tell them?

Tell them to watch the background because it ruins many a good shot.

Hal81 Loc: Bucks County, Pa.

A great tip.--- He who sits on tack is better off.

Real Nikon Lover Loc: Simi Valley, CA

I love this. It speaks volumes and tells me why I have captured some great photos and not so great photos. Hmmmm. Thanks Linda!

BTW... best tip I have ever had in life.... "Don't take any wooden nickels. And if you do, get a picture of the person that gave them to you. LOL

danersmiff

the best advice I have is 3 parts. (re: digital)
AND
presuming you somewhat know what your doing because you spent some ridiculous frikken money on gear ...

1. Study your camera, and the manual together. Learn the auto focus, iso, aperture, and shutter speed together with your lenses. (PRACTICE)
2. Take that precious camera with you, when ever, and wherever possible. (because you can't ALWAYS).
3. If a subject draws your attention for more than 3 to 5 seconds- photograph it. SAVE IT.

Then you can come back - even years from now and post edit them.
Edit has progressed even as much as cameras and lenses, through the years.

PS- forget the rules. if you can. There are no rules. Make the photo what you see, and feel, and hear and smell...
(I consider it a luxury)

The 4th rule.. don't let the critics scare you.
I sold this picture, on leather, for cash $
The critque was the white was blown out and I should have used a model walking to the light.
And - It's a real true critique, with cause.

there is plenty of room for critics, just make your art.

(Download)

bbrowner Loc: Chapel Hill, NC

A lot of what i’ve read here I would categorize as photographic philosophy... if there is such a thing. And that’s fine. No problem with any of them. But the best (technique) tip here... for me... was the panoramic shooting tip. I would never have thought of that. What a great idea! Thinking about it... you could use the same tip to “group” a series of shots even it is not panoramic.

Thanks for a great idea.

Barry

newtoyou Loc: Eastport

I would be at a loss for an answer, so I would give them a dollar , and take their picture.

Charles 46277 Loc: Fulton County, KY

This reminds me of the question to someone on their hundredth birthday, asking what the secret to longevity is. In one way it is absurd, but in another way--well, we'd all like to know, yes? Part of it lies in our ability to generalize and to be concise about it. George Washington suggested that the one tip any president should try for is to surround yourself with the best people in each area. Of course, that tip could not be followed without also learning how to do that--to spot the best and to persuade them to participate, then listen to what they say and delegate properly.

Some of the old photojournalists with their 4x5 press cameras would say the secret for news pictures is, "F8 and be there." But this has some assumptions--a slightly wide angle lens, presetting focus and shutter for the prevailing light. How does this translate to digital cameras?

Another was, "Expose for the shadows, develop for the highlights." However, this is not just about correct exposure. It is about working with the existing light and deciding what you want the picture to look like. All the tools and skills for doing that constitute assumptions hidden in the maxim. In digital work, the decision of what to capture is still there, if you can visualize what will later be done with PhotoShop, etc., before you trip the shutter.

My own tip has its own assumptions built in, but is the frequently overlooked maxim to select a subject and shoot that. Too often people just shoot a view--without any particular subject of the picture. A landscape (etc.) might indeed be about the view, but there should still be a distinct subject of the view--such as "Moonrise over Hernandez," or "Halfdome," or "Aspens in Winter." Whether you are an impressionist, expressionist, pictorialist, journalist, or other stylist, your pictures should still be about something in particular. (If this applies to graphic abstract images, the subject is also abstract.) This tip also applies to the untrained amateur using the camera as a diary--"Our trip to Grand Canyon." If you want a picture of the family standing in front of the Canyon, don't worry about getting the feet in--arrange the shot to show what it means: the family and the Canyon together. Still, the assumption is a basic familiarity with the camera and how to operate it--a Brownie can be quite good with the Sun behind you. Even Kodachrome will not avail you if you don't know how to put it in the camera, hold it still, wait for sunlight, etc.

The general tip always has a bit of Zen to it--the unsaid parts are the meat of it, or what it is really saying is what it does not say. It points the way to further thought.

anotherview Loc: California

The intention of the photographer for a given photograph does guide his action in the process of photography.

Yes, a tip for guidance (or an approach) in doing photography presumes prior knowledge and context -- and at least a hankering to improve results.

All the instruction in the listing also presumes a desire on the part of the photographer to rise above the status of snapshooter.

Photography as a craft begs guidelines to achieve a satisfactory result. One could even generalize from this standpoint to say that everyone who takes camera and lens in hand wishes to produce a photographic record of something, with the only operational assumption being how to do so.

Another here noted the tone of the replies to the OP's post seemed like philosophy. Photography does induce others to philosophize about it, as if a meaning beyond the appearance of the photograph must inform the viewer and the thinker who delves below the surface of the visual experience. Words, however, can never fully convey the visual voice of the photograph and its range of apprehension by viewers of it.

The expert Ken Rockwell has made the practical point that the graphic quality of a photograph predominates as the first impression a viewer has of it. In other words, human perceptual action produces the first signal in the process of recognition of whatever content a photograph presents. We may presume, then, that this starting-point influences all that follows in the visual response to a photograph, even as it strikes and directs conscious awareness.

Hence, we photographers must attune ourselves in our photography to the jungle level that governs our human visual sense. Call this outlook philosophy or guidance, or both. We must take account of it as a basic.

Let me please refer interested parties to further discussion of human perception, because of its central importance in photography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perception