The Pictures You Take Stink? Here's Why

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Why can't your pictures be as dramatic as the ones you see in the National Geographic magazine?

You've got the gear. You've gone to an expensive 5 days short course in photography. You've followed the rules you read online. But for some reasons, something is missing. Yes, the pictures are sharp. Yes, the color looks good. But they lack magic.

Watching a dozen of your photos moves your relatives to tears of boredom. They would rather be watching the re-run of Seinfeld for the 97th time rather than looking at your vacation photos.

And they cry even harder when you spouse tell them that your camera costs more than your car.

So what's wrong? Why can't your pictures be as good as the one you see in the newspaper or magazines?

Here's the Answer

You're actually on your way to become a good photographer. Yes, you are. All you need is time. And deliberate practice.

Those photographers who work for the National Geographic take thousands of photos in each assignments. And from that, only two or three are picked. Yes, they are professional with better techniques than yours. But their secret is in numbers.

Jay Dickman, a Pulitzer prize-winning National Geographic photographer said, ".. while on assignment for a publication such as National Geographic, photographers tend to overshoot, sometimes using two to three rolls [of film] on the same image to make sure they've got it.."

Wait. 2 to 3 rolls on the same image? That's equivalent to around 100 shots.

For one article, they shoot far more than you did on your brother's wedding day.

Take a National Geographic photojournalist, Joe McNally as an example. Jay said ".. he shot about 7500 [digital] images.." for his Aviation article. But normally, "Joe would have shot about 500 to 700 rolls of film on a shoot like this."

That's more than 15,000 shoots - just for a single article.

So that's the secret. They take tons of pictures. But the editor sift through the garbage and show you only the exceptional ones. They don't show you all the throw-aways or the blurry shots. For every pic in the article, a thousand others didn't make the cut.

So, don't worry. Continue shooting. And fix your techniques until they are a part of you.

If you have studied photography, the only thing that separates you and the pros is practice, and time. In fact, if you take a few hours a day just to practice your craft, one day you'll be as good as the pros.

If you have the passion to work your craft, you'll get to the stage you've always wanted. Remember, great pictures has nothing to do with talent. It's practice, practice, practice --- by the truckload.