This question “how long does it take to learn photography?” is one I’ve gotten in different forms several times over the last few years….usually by people who are feeling SO frustrated because they’ve spent months learning all they can, but still don’t feel like they have reached their goal.

Learning photography really can be overwhelming and frustrating, and sometimes we feel like we might not ever get there, or we’d just love to skip forward on the learning part and get the photos we want NOW.

So, just how long does it take to get good at photography, or at least good enough to take decent photographs?

Read on, and find out!

Whenever you try your hand at anything new, you are bound to make a few mistakes along the way! And learning photography is definitely no exception.

Although making mistakes can a good thing, as it helps us grow and learn as photographers, that doesn’t mean you have to make them all 😉

You can take advice from people like me, who have spent years learning and practising photography, and in my case, also spent the last seven years teaching OTHER folks how to do it too. That way you get a bit of a leg up so you can reach your goal more quickly, and with waaaay less frustration than the rest of us.

Without further ado, let’s crack on with 7 of the most common mistakes that new photographers make, so you can avoid them.

Have you ever found yourself wondering if the reason your images are always slightly soft or out of focus could actually be down to your LENS?

I know I did! For a while, back when I was just starting out, I missed focus on so many of my images that I began to think that surely my lens MUST be broken.

There is nothing more frustrating than getting the perfect image only to find it is that teeniest bit out of focus, so if you have a nagging feeling that your lenses may be at fault, then there is something you can do: test your lenses to make sure that they are focusing where they should.

If nothing else, this quick test will put your mind at rest that everything is working properly, or, in the worst case scenario, make you aware of the problem so you can fix it!

So, when you’re ready, let’s dive into how to quickly check the focus of your lens for front or back focus issues.

Are you feeling completely overwhelmed with all the things you need to learn in photography?

Do you find yourself confused about where to start, or what your next step should be?

Then you are most definitely not alone! I know exactly what it feels like because I was there too.

I remember feeling like I was being pulled in 10 different directions at once, seeing all these different paths to I thought I needed to go down and learn, with shiny new camera gear pulling my eye away from the prize with promises of better photos.

It can be a confusing and frustrating time for sure, and if you are not careful, you can find yourself wandering aimlessly around the internet, picking up random “tips and tricks”, learning lots, but not actually moving forward and getting better photos.

So I wrote this blog post to help with that, by breaking down the areas you should be focusing on FIRST, because they will help give you that solid foundation on which everything else is built upon.

In today’s blog post, I’m going to give you some tips for storytelling photography, PLUS a framework that you can shoot to that will help tell your story through your images.

But, first, what exactly IS storytelling photography?

For me, storytelling photography is when we go deeper with our photos to not just show a scene, (for example a landscape) but when we actually use our images to tell a story, from beginning to end.

Although in many cases you may be able to tell a story in just one frame, there are many times when we want more than just one solitary picture of an event or activity, or we NEED more simply because one photo just couldn’t possibly get the full breadth of the story across.

This type of photography can be used for absolutely anything - it definitely isn’t limited to “big” days like weddings, birthdays or big adventures! (Although of course those are fabulous times to use this too!) Even the smallest everyday moments like breakfast or bath time can be turned into a story, so without further ado, let’s first go over the 5 step framework for telling a story in your images….

One of the questions I hear a LOT is this:

“Which camera should I buy next? Should I buy this one, or that one, and how do they compare? Is this REALLY going to be an upgrade from my current camera?”

That question is the inspiration behind this week’s post, because I want to really break this down so you can feel confident when spending your hard earned cash. Let’s face it, camera gear is NOT exactly cheap, so making mistakes can be costly.

Making mistakes is all part of learning photography. In a way, it's how we come to realise what we cannot do, and what we need to spend some time focusing on - so you should never feel bad about making mistakes, it's all part of the process of achieving your goal!

In this blog post I wanted to share some of the mistakes that I have made in photography over the years, and most importantly, the lessons I have learnt from them!

I think these lessons are applicable at ANY stage of your photography journey, whether you are a beginner or a more experienced photographer, and will hopefully have the same positive impact on you as they had on me.

Let’s dive in…

Are you still shooting on AUTO, or one of the semi-automatic modes like Aperture Priority?

Are you wondering WHY anyone bothers to make the switch to manual mode?

There are three damn good reasons why learning and using manual mode will improve your photos, and I’ve gone through them all in this video!

My hope is that if you understand WHY you do something, the whole thing will make so much more sense.

Confused about exactly what your Lightroom workflow should look like? Then this video is for you!

As a photographer, the actual taking of the image is only half the work - the other half happens back at your computer. This is when you will upload your images, organise them, rate them or choose your favourites, edit them, then get them off your hard drive and into the world where you belong.

Lightroom Classic CC is simply an amazing tool, because it allows you to do all of that with complete ease!

But you do need to have a good Lightroom workflow in place, so you know exactly what you should be doing, and when to do it.

In this video tutorial, I break down the six main steps, or phases, of a standard Lightroom workflow, so you can use this as a baseline for creating your own. Check it out:

One of the most common frustrations I hear from new photographers is that their images are too soft or out of focus - and not the tack sharp images they dreamt of!

There are so many elements that go into getting a sharp photo, but in the video below I dive into FOUR things that you can put into place today, that will help you get images that you could slice your finger open on 😁

You know the feeling.

You look at your images, and just can't help but notice that they are missing something.

That special "x" factor, or "oomph" that other peoples photos have, but you can't quite seem to get on your own images.

The chances are what they are missing is quality EDITING.

Check out this week's video where I talk about WHY editing your photos is so darn important, plus the different ways you can use editing to lift your images up onto next level fancy pants status ❤️

If you’ve been here a while, you’ll know that I am a HUGE Lightroom fan. Not only it is a fantastic photo editor, but it saves me so much time each week!

I want YOU to love Lightroom too, so that’s why in this week’s post, I’m going to go over 5 Lightroom tricks and tools that are worth their virtual weight in gold, so that you can experience them too.

So you’ve beautifully edited your images in Lightroom, and you’re ready to share your fabulous images with the world…….

But when you upload your image to Facebook, it looks either too soft, too crunchy, or simply a pixelated mess, and nothing like the gorgeous image you saw in Lightroom!

The problem’s not you (or at least not only you) as Facebook and Instagram will compress our images when we upload them if we make them too big, simply to reduce the file size, and save on their bandwidth space.

We want to do all we can to avoid that happening, so in this post I’m going to go over step by step how you can export your images from Lightroom to make sure your images look fab on all social media platforms!

Does this sound familiar? The kids have gone to bed, and you're at your desk or on your laptop, uploading the images you've taken that day.

You are so excited to see what you captured, because you're pretty sure that this time, you nailed it!

Your little cherubs looked heavenly, there was plenty of light, and you even think you got the expressions you wanted.

But as you flip through the images your heart sinks.

So many of the images are soft and out of focus, or are dark and dreary, and absolutely nothing like the light, bright, tack sharp images you thought you'd captured.

As you go through the images one by one you feel like crying, because you were so sure that this time you had got some amazing images, and now you don’t know what you did wrong, and worse, you don’t know what you need to do next time to get better results.

Heck, you might even be thinking that you just aren't talented in photography, so you should quietly give it up, and hope no-one asks why you’ve stopped taking pictures.

If that’s you, I want you to know that you are not alone.

And more importantly, I want you to know what you are doing wrong so you can fix it!

Watch this video below, and learn 5 reasons why your images are not turning out the way you want them to, or how you see them in your head….

We have all thought it when learning photography….is it worth taking a photography course? Will it make any difference? Can’t I just learn everything online for free?

It’s such a great question, and one that I can’t believe I haven’t covered this on the blog up until now!

Having gone from taking the worse photography course imaginable, to trying to learn it myself for free (for several years) to now having taken more photography courses than you can shake a stick at, I have my fair share of experience on the subject 😁

(Plus of course, I have since created my OWN photography course so I also have the benefit of seeing this from the other side too, along with the experiences of hundreds of students!)

So, today we are going to dive into four reasons why a photography course just might be worth it for you, so you can decide once and for all whether to take the plunge or not!