Photography Cheat Sheet: Top 10 Photography Mistakes to Avoid

You’ve been equipping yourself with the essential photography do’s. Now, it’s time to learn about the don’ts with today’s photography cheat sheet. 

All the previous photography cheat sheets we’ve shared so far have been arming you with essential tips and tricks to get you a step ahead in your photography game. This time, however, we think it’s worth letting you in on the most common mistakes photographers either overlook or fail to account for. So, for today’s photography cheat sheet, let’s take a look at the top 10 mistakes experienced photographers urge us to avoid.

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Tips for Shooting Black and White Street Photography at Night

Ever notice how street photography in black and white takes on a different mood at night? Here are some quick tips to help you make the most out of it.

If you’ve only been shooting black and white street photography during the day, there’s actually a lot of dramatic and compelling images you’re missing at night. In a brief video, Vladimir Pcholkin shares his insights on shooting black and white street photography at night, and shares a few simple tips for making the most out of it, should we decide to give it a go.

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Improve Your Landscape Photos by Embracing the Blue Hour

blue hour photography

We love sunset and sunrise photos, but shooting during the Blue hour can really produce some magic.

Go on Instagram, Facebook, or any social media site where images are shared, and you’re bound to see countless sunrise and sunset images. We love taking them, but most photographers capture the main event and not the gorgeous hour before the sun comes up and after it goes down. After the break, we have a video that shares some hints and tips on why you should be shooting landscaped during the Blue hour.

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Photography Cheat Sheet: Mastering Exposure for Macro Photos

Struggling to get your exposure right when shooting macro? Today’s photography cheat sheet shows how to master exposure through the histogram.

As with any kind of photography, macro photography can benefit considerably from histogram readings. This tool will let you evaluate your exposure more accurately than you would from checking your camera screen. If you’ve yet to master using the histogram for macro shots, we have just the photography cheat sheet to get you started.

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Photography Cheat Sheet: How to Photograph Flying Birds

Want to take better photos of birds in flight? Today’s photography cheat sheet will make sure you nail your shots.

Flying birds may be one of the most popular but challenging subjects to photograph, especially for beginners. But today’s photography cheat sheet tells us it’s actually not as difficult as it sounds. All you need are the right camera settings to achieve the results you want. So, if you’ve been frustrated but ready to give it another go, make sure you bring these helpful tips with you!

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Photography Cheat Sheet: Camera Bag Essentials

Going on an adventure with your precious gear? This photography cheat sheet will tell you what should never go missing from your camera bag!

Whether you’re heading out of town, or braving the great outdoors, it pays to be prepared with what you take in your camera bag. Apart from your gear and other essentials, there’s a bunch of stuff you should take with you. If you’re not quite sure yet, let today’s photography cheat sheet be your handy guide.

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Photography Tips: When to Choose Black and White Over Color

Been struggling to decide if your final image should be in color or black and white? These simple photography tips should be able to help!

One of the most important creative decisions you’ll make when editing your photos is choosing between color or black and white. When does a photo look better in monochrome? What should the highlight of your photo be if you want to go for a black and white image? How do you know which option lends a better mood to your photos? JT of the Run N Gun YouTube channel answers these questions and more in one of his latest rundowns of useful photography tips.

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Learn How to Use Lens Compression to Your Advantage in Small Spaces

If you work in tight spaces using narrow backgrounds, this video will show you how lens compression can help you get the shots you want.

If you work in a studio that is a little short on space and you need to find a way to make narrow backgrounds work, this tutorial from Daniel Norton is for you. After the break, we will share a video that shows why using a longer lens is the way to go, and how the wonderful effects of lens compression will solve a lot of the problems of working in a smaller space.

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Photography Cheat Sheet: 10 Tips for Better Drone Photography

Got a new drone and are wondering how to get better photos with it? We’ve got just the photography cheat sheet with useful tips for you.

With drone photography becoming more and more popular in the last few years, photographers are also becoming more willing to get creative and experimental with their projects. So, if you’ve been looking to improve your drone photography and make the process easier, today’s photography cheat sheet features 10 useful tips you have to try today.

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How to Shoot Your Photos Like You Would Chrome Film

Chrome film is what some of the world’s most famous photographers used to use.

Though one can argue that they can get the look of chrome film by applying a chrome-like preset to their images, I’d state you’d be very wrong. Shooting chrome films is arguably the truest form of photography: you shoot an image and then develop it. Whatever you get is what you get. It’s stupid to try to push or pull a chrome; you have to work with what you get from the camera. Some of the best photographers today shoot the same way they did years ago: like they were shooting chromes.

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The Phoblographer’s Guide to Zone Focusing Your Camera’s Lens

To understand zone focusing, a photographer needs to understand how cameras and lenses work.

If you look at a number of tutorials on zone focusing, you’ll see lots of the same things about how to do it. Understanding the reasoning behind it all is much different. Zone focusing was used for many years, before autofocus was invented, to help a number of photographers capture iconic images that still influence photographers today. It also aided with the creation of some very famous portraits. And with autofocus being the primary use case for many current lenses and cameras, the practice of zone focusing now belongs to a niche culture of photographers. Arguably, it can be much faster than autofocus in the hands of a skilled photographer. Best of all, it’s usually very reliable.

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Photography Cheat Sheet: Nikon’s Photo a Day Challenge

Excited to kickstart another awesome year of photography? Grab some ideas from today’s useful photography cheat sheet: a photo-a-day challenge from Nikon!

Another year, another opportunity to get better at photography! Regardless of the genre you want to specialize in, one of the fun things you can do is to take on photography challenges. Among the most famous of these is the photo-a-day challenge, like today’s featured list from Nikon. If you need some ideas to jumpstart your creative photography, consider this one of the photography cheat sheets to use as reference and inspire you this year. 

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Hate the Magic Touch Bar on the Canon EOS R? Try This

Many Canon EOS R owners believe the magic touch bar is useless, but it’s got one useful function.

While some photographers will endeavor to use the Canon EOS R’s magic touchbar for changing their ISO, that’s not the best use. Personally, I set my lens control ring to aperture and set ISO and shutter speed to the camera’s dials. So, what is the touchbar useful for? Honestly, not a whole lot while shooting. But, where it comes into use is with playback.

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Planning and Patience Are the Keys to Creating Stunning Landscape Pics

Landscape photography

If you really want to take your landscape photography to the next level, you need to understand the importance of planning.

Landscape photography is one of the most rewarding genres of photography for a few good reasons. One, you get to be out in nature and fill your lungs with fresh air. Two, it allows you to explore an area and take in all it has to offer. And reason three is that when all elements come together, there can be nothing more stunning than a well-executed landscape picture. Getting to the location of your shoot is only half the battle, though. To create truly stunning images, you need to plan. Join us after the break to watch an informative video on why planning for great landscape shots is essential.

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Photography Cheat Sheet: Tips for Photographing Moving Subjects

Having a hard time keeping moving objects in focus in your shots? Today’s photography cheat sheet should help!

One of the most challenging and sometimes frustrating parts of photography is capturing moving subjects in sharp focus. It helps to master your shutter speed, but there are also some tricks you can employ to use motion to your advantage. Whether it’s a speeding vehicle, playing kids, pets moving around, or other subjects in motion, today’s photography cheat sheet should be able to help.

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Quick Tips for Getting Started with Flash Photography

Want to get into flash photography but don’t know how? Here’s a video tutorial with some quick tips, particularly for shooting with a Profoto A1X.

Working with flash can open your photography to many creative options, as you’ve probably seen from most studio setups and even some outdoor photography projects. If you’re thinking of finally adding a flash to your tools of the trade, this tutorial has everything you need to know to get started. As a bonus, this will especially be of great use if you’re eyeing the Profoto A1X flash.

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Film Photography Tip: How to Meter for Best Exposures

Been wondering how to properly meter for film photography? This quick video has the answers. 

One of the aspects you’ll encounter as you get further into film photography is metering. It can be intimidating or confusing, but it pays to learn how to meter different scenes and work with either your camera’s built-in meter or a handheld light meter. In today’s featured video by Ohio-based Matt Day, he has partnered with The Darkroom Photo Lab to provide the important information we need to achieve well exposed film photos.

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Photography Cheat Sheet: Making Money as a Photographer

Want to be a professional photographer? Today’s photography cheat sheet suggests 36 different ways to earn money through your snaps!

At some point in your photography stint, you might want to start shooting professionally. Or, you may have ventured into the craft of photography with the eventual goal of making money from your work. Whichever the case, we’re sure today’s featured photography cheat sheet will provide some cool ideas on how to make money as a photographer – 36 different ways, in fact!

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Photography Cheat Sheet: Why Shoot Photos in RAW

If you’re new to shooting with a DSLR or mirrorless camera, one piece advice you’ll often hear is to shoot in RAW. Today’s photography cheat sheet quickly explains why.

We hear pro photographers say all the time that it’s best to shoot in RAW because it gives more room for editing in post later. We can easily apply the edits we want because, unlike JPEG, this format comes with all the information recorded by the camera sensor. This is just a simplified explanation, so we thought of sharing an informative infographic for today’s photography cheat sheet feature.

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Photography Cheat Sheet: How to Protect Your Camera in Cold Weather

‘Tis the season for shooting winter scenes, so take some useful tips from today’s photography cheat sheet for protecting your gear from the cold!

We’re sure many of you will be heading out to spend the holidays in winter wonderlands, and will definitely be busy shooting. As a reminder to keep your precious gear in perfect working condition, we’re sharing some helpful tips from Canon in their quick photography cheat sheet. Make sure to take a look and take notes while you’re getting ready!

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Photography Cheat Sheet: How to Use Your Camera Like a Pro

For those who now have the camera basics figured out, it’s time we share a photography cheat sheet that takes things up a notch.

If you’re a little further along into photography and have mastered the essentials of your camera, you might want to start picking up the pace with some pro tips. Today’s featured photography cheat sheet has a bunch of simple, effective pointers on the next steps to being a pro. The quick guide, put together by Camera Land NYC, outlines seven ways you can use your camera like the pros do. They may seem simple, but they will definitely make a difference either to your photos or your shooting experience.

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