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Originally Posted by Konichiwaneko
Basic tip five : Keep extra batteries on you at all time. Digital is fun, digital is convenient, digital sucks battery power compared to film camera like a 15 year old high school girl who promised to keep her virginity til she gets married.
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I'll second that one. Keep a spare memory card on you as well. It really sucks to be out in the field, see that great shot, and realize your only capture card is full. And if you don't already have one, invest in a CD burner. Do NOT trust your pics to a hard drive - you'll regret that eventually.
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Basic tip seven : Pro photographers do not have a 100% success rate. You've heard of it before, and it's true. In the times of yore, when photographers carried broad swords and fought scurvy...they would go through 10~100 rolls of film for... 1 shot!. Talk about walking 6 miles uphill both ways for a sharp shot of a bird. Knowing that, make sure you look at your pictures and figure out what you like about them and just keep on shooting.
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Konichiwaneko hit the nail on the head with this one. If you want evidence of that, listen to the next press conference from the whitehouse. You'll hear shutters going off like machine guns, then you'll see one picture of it (maybe) in the paper the next day. It's the same on my side of the photography fence. I'll shoot 10-20 minutes of video sometimes and wind up with just over a minutes worth on the air.
And here's some advice of my own: Remember that pictures should tell a story. This is why everyone looks at the posed photos where everyone says "cheese" and doesn't like them as well as candid photos where we see people doing something. People like stories. When you're shooting people, shoot them candidly. Don't tell them to do things. Shoot them doing whatever they'd be doing if you weren't there, and use your photos to tell whoever's looking at them the story of what's happening. If you go to shoot an event, take a few pics of the event, then turn around to the crowd watching and tell the story - the story is in their reactions. You can have a pic that's perfectly composed with beautiful lighting and that's in perfect focus of some dude saying "cheese" for the camera, and it won't be nearly as good as the pic that's got crap composition, inadequate lighting, and is slightly blurry, if that second pic shows someone genuinely reacting to something that is happening. As long as you keep asking yourself while shooting "what story am I telling here" your pics will be better. And BTW that doesn't mean you can't shoot stuff like those flowers you posted - that also tells a story - namely, it's spring/summer and the flowers are blooming.