Photographing 2013: My New Year's Resolutions

The Big Wheel at Birmingham's Christmas Market: my photographic highlight of 2012

Like half the country, the arrival of 2013 yesterday found me writing down New Year's Resolutions and earnestly committing myself to personal wellbeing and self-improvement. I'm still working on the whole social sharing thing so I'll spare you the serious stuff. Instead I'd like to use my first blog post of 2013 to set out the challenge I've set myself in the area of photography.

As ever, I'd love to know your thoughts on my what I've written. As I am still very much developing as a photographer I would particularly welcome any hints or tips you might have in this area.


Photographing 2013: The Rule of Thirds

Back in the day as a speechwriter in local government I understandably had my work cut out for me in terms of keeping audiences engaged. As a result, I made extensive use of the age-old formula of including no more than three points in any speech or article. All of which is a none too subtle way for me to introduce the three things I want to bring out in my photography this year.

1. Print More Photos

Not Much To Look At: Where I currently display most of my Photos

What's the point of taking photographs you'll never look at again?

Sure, there's always Instagram (although I'm beginning to get cold feet about the service following the recent kerfuffle over its terms and conditions). And if I were to step my game up I suppose I could show them to the serious photographers on the resurgent Flickr. These are all well and good but they don't quite capture the analogue pleasure of seeing a photograph you've taken right there in the flesh.

Marginally better: A framed photo from my recent Morocco holiday, sitting alongside my prize from Google Interactivism 2011

Plus, let's be honest here, most of the photos I take day-to-day around Birmingham would best be described as cult favourite rather than bestseller so I might as well as recognise this fact. So this year, instead of over-sharing my latest photographic masterpiece via the wonders of social media, I am going to print them out and proudly display them Tony Hart style in my flat, where they can be enjoyed by a very select audience. (Please be assured the irony of poking fun at social media in a blog post has not passed me by and  is said in the spirit of jest.)

Target: Print and display at least one new photo a month in my flat

Stretch Target: Make a thoughtful (read: cheap) gift for someone special using one of my much sought-after snaps.

2. Feel the Fear and Shoot in Manual  mode anyway

Dial M for Manual. Photo by Leo Reynolds

I've previously blogged about my forays into the world of photography and how Matt and Pete's Photo School has helped me feel more confident about using the DSLR camera I picked up a couple of years back.  This year I want to build on what I've learned and get to the point where I have the technical know-how to take photographs in Manual mode, controlling the camera in order to get the results I rather than the on-board computer wants.

In their Beginners' Class, Matt and Pete promise to help their students 'switch off Auto with confidence'. At the moment I think I'm halfway there, in that I can achieve interesting results by controlling depth of field and shutter speed.

In 2013 I want to go further and finally answer the following conundrums which have been vexing me for some time now:

• How do focal points work? Where's the best place to focus the camera to achieve quality results in common settings (portraits, group shots, street scenes, landscapes, etc.)
• How can I become more confident about which aperture size to select in a given situation? In photography, aperture sizes are shortened to f stops. Right now I know to select a small f number to achieve a shallow depth of field and a large number to ensure the entire scene is in focus but how do you decide between these two extremes? Ideally, I want to develop a rule of thumb (or should that be rules of thumb?) for deciding which f stops best suit common photographic situations.
•  How do I take control of Exposure settings to make sure I am in control of what a photograph looks like? As part of my move to Manual I want to figure out how to decide which Metering mode is appropriate to the shot I'm taking.

Target: Use the gift voucher my fiancée gave me for Matt and Pete's Photo School to gain practical advice on key rules of thumb for using Manual mode with confidence.

Stretch Target: Get out there and take photographs more often with my DSLR and not just my smartphone. Learn through my mistakes rather than pouring over photographic theory.

3. Get to Grips with Photo Editing

Okay, so it's probably an anachronism to talk about the 'digital darkroom' in 2013 but  I couldn't pass up the opportunity to use this great image. Photo: notnyt

Closely related to my first resolution about actually doing something with all the photographs I take, in 2013 I want to put some time into learning how to make best use of the photo editing and and management software that's out there

I am slowly getting better at deleting duff photos so that at least they aren't cluttering up my external hard disk but with some more effort around cropping and other tweaks I could get more out of my photographs. Hopefully committing to printing more of my photos will force me to spend more time editing and improving my photos but on the basis of previous year's resolutions I may well be kidding myself here.

Target: Moving forward into 2013, edit all new photographs I take using free software such as Google Picasa to give myself the best chance of printing photos I am happy with.

Stretch Target: Purchase and gain familiarity with more advanced photo editing and management software such as Adobe Lightroom and/or Photoshop Elements.