Photographers Need Confidence?

With every photography talk, workshop or course I present I always start off talking about confidence and how it effects you as a photographer. There are many reasons why confidence is so important - every aspect of a photographers work is effected by periods of lack of confidence!  If you are a professional photographer then you have a few more levels because you have to deal with clients, marketing, administration and everything else required to run your business.

In this Blog I discuss the four levels where confidence is so essential and that every photographer has to deal with, no matter your proficiency. 

1. Using your Camera

When you have confidence knowing your camera menus, dials and settings you are in control. But when you don't know your menus dials and settings your confidence wains and your camera (your tool) controls you!

Here is how you can improve:

By following a regime below you will eventually feel and be in control of the tool (your camera), not the tool dictating your results.

• Learn your camera inside out: learn the quick menus, button layout, and what each dial does in auto, aperture-priority, shutter-priority, and manual modes.
• Create a default setup: set a base profile (e.g., RAW + JPEG, ISO Auto with a reasonable ceiling, consistent white balance) so you can shoot quickly without hesitation.
• Practice core operations until they become intuitive: turning dials, changing shutter speed, adjusting aperture, focusing modes, and metering. The goal is to minimize thinking about the gear in the moment.
• Get used to the ergonomics of your gear - use a comfortable grip, sync your eye to the viewfinder.
• Practice your handheld stance so you keep steady to avoid camera shake. Also practice with a monopod and/or tripod for the same reasons.

Practical actions:

• Do regular 15-minute drills (while sitting on your porch): change exposure settings, switch focus modes, shoot RAW, review the histogram, and note what settings produced the look you want.
• Build a “shooting checklist” for your typical sessions (e.g., battery, memory card, white balance, histogram check, focus mode and if you need a tripod?).
• Do a “one-gear” challenge with yourself: shoot a whole session with only one lens or one focal length to learn how to work around limitations.

2. Mastering Fundamentals

Your  photography decisions should be grounded in solid photography principles, not luck!

Here are some ideas to follow:

• Exposure Triangle: Learn in depth about aperture, shutter speed, ISO, how they interact and how they affect depth of field, motion, and noise.
• Focus and sharpness: when to use single-point vs. zone vs. eye/face detection; importance of shutter speed and steady technique to avoid blur.
• Composition: framing, rule of thirds, leading lines, balance, horizon placement, negative space, and storytelling.
• Lighting: natural vs. artificial light, direction, softness, color temperature; how light shapes mood and subject separation.
• Color and tonality: white balance control, color harmony, contrast, and the impact of post-processing on your intent.
• Post-processing ethics: non-destructive edits, keeping a faithful representation, and evolving your style.

Practical Actions

• Have a plan for a month: one week per fundamental (exposure, focus, composition, lighting, color/tonality, editing). Work on those fundamentals until you have mastered them.
• Deliberate practice: shoot the same scene with three different shutter, aperture and ISO combinations to see how each choice changes the image. Study the differences and the effects each choice makes. 
• Analyze images you admire: identify which fundamental choices led to the result (why the subject pops, how a background becomes clean, etc.).

Four BIG mistakes Photographers make!

1. Treating photography as “luck” rather than craft.
2. Ignoring histograms and exposure warnings in the field.
3. Believing only a new camera and lens will improve ones photography.
4. Over-editing or misrepresenting reality in post.

3. How you treat the subject.

In this context “how you treat the subject” goes beyond the subject or model’s physical treatment but has more to do with the aesthetic treatment of the subject!

Framing and Composition

Remember a photo starts before you release the shutter—scouting, choosing the scene, placing the subject, and shaping the mood and much more. Because a photo is made in-camera and refined in post, it is vital to get the aesthetics right at time of capture. Thereafter post-processing becomes straightforward.

Here are some guidelines to help you with the in-camera process:

There are many Composition [rules] Guidelines - but there is no rule that says you must use all the rules (or any) to produce a good photo. However, learning the rules and guidelines sets you up to have a much better chance of producing a good photo.

Here is a short list of some of the common rules;

• Rule of Thirds: Place the subject at a intersection rather than dead center to create dynamic balance and draw the viewer’s eye naturally.
• Leading lines: Use roads, fences, railings, or shadows to guide the viewer toward the subject, reinforcing importance.
• Framing within the frame: Position the subject inside a doorway, window, arch, or foliage to create depth and isolate them from the background.
• Negative space: Leave space around the subject to convey openness, solitude, or tension; use it to imply movement or a story outside the frame.
• Minimalism: Eliminate clutter; a single subject with a clean, simple background emphasizes the story and mood.
• Perspective and angle: Shoot from low, high, or eye level to alter perceived power, vulnerability, or intimacy.
• ....and many more

Story Telling Through Context

This means using the surrounding environment and details to convey meaning, mood, and character without explicit exposition. It is often about what you include or omit in a photo - setting, objects, textures, and gestures - that hints at a backstory or situation. By framing the subject with intentional surroundings, you guide the viewer’s interpretation, or invite speculation curiosity beyond the capture moment. The goal is to let context supplement the image’s narrative, so the viewer infers story through scene and relationship rather than words.

Some examples of this are:

• Environmental portraits: Include objects or scenery in the scene that reveal who the subject is, like tools of the trade, farmland, boardroom, favorite place, personal mementos.
• Moment, not pose: Capture a natural action or gaze that hints at the subject’s life or mood instead of a static posed expression.
• Contextual color: Use color in the scene albeit clothing, background, light etc., to reinforce the story or emotion, Remember warm tones for comfort, cool tones for detachment.
• Juxtaposition: Place the subject near a contrasting element like old vs new, rough vs smooth, forest vs suburb, etc., to highlight character or narrative tension.

Mood and emotion

Mood and emotion in photography are created by how you shape light, color, composition, and movement to evoke a feeling in the viewer. Subtle shifts in lighting direction and quality (soft vs. hard), color temperature, and tonal contrast can convey warmth, sadness, or tension, while framing, gesture, and timing reveal underlying feelings or atmosphere. The goal is to let the viewer sense the emotion conveyed in the scene, often more through suggestion and nuance than explicit detail.

Some examples of this are:

• Direction and gaze: Tie the subject’s gaze to a point off-camera to suggest anticipation, longing, or curiosity.
• Light shaping: Use side lighting to sculpt features and convey texture or mood; backlighting for silhouette drama; soft, diffused light for gentleness.
• Depth of field: Blur the background to isolate emotion (portrait with shallow DOF) or keep more of the scene in focus to tell a broader story (documentary street scene).
• Color grading: Subtly shift warmth, coolness, or saturation to cue feelings: sepia for nostalgia, and cool, de-saturated tones for somber moods.

Clarity and emphasis

Clarity and emphasis in photography mean making the subject and message unmistakable while guiding the viewer’s attention to what matters most. This is achieved through a clear visual hierarchy, thoughtful framing, selective focus, and controlled contrast or lighting so the key element stands out. By simplifying the scene, using depth of field to isolate details, and arranging shapes and tones deliberately, you ensure the story or idea isn’t lost in distractions.

Here are some genre-specific examples:

• Portraits: Use a clean, uncluttered background; position the subject off center; use a catch light in the eyes; vary the angle to reveal a truthful emotion rather than a 'perfect pose'.
• Street/documentary: Tell a story with a decisive moment; include ambient detail (signs, storefronts) to anchor location; shoot in candid moments to reveal authentic behavior.
• Landscape with people/person: Place the people within the landscape to convey scale and relationship to place; choose a horizon that supports the narrative (high horizon to emphasize land, low horizon to emphasize sky).
• Sports or action: Use dynamic framing - like panning or  diagonal composition - to convey motion; shoot at a shutter speed that preserves action while the subject remains prominent.

4. How you treat the outcome

In photography, “how you treat the outcome” is about aligning your shooting choices with the intended use of the image before you release the shutter

You start with a clear sense of the final use — will it be used as a large print, an online slideshow, or a documentary archive? That intention guides your choice of settings you dial in your camera before the shutter is release.

Such settings amongst more will include:

• The exposure and dynamic range needed to preserve detail in highlights or shadows.
• The DOF (depth of field) to help tell the story or add to the mood that suits the medium.
• You choose RAW for maximum post-processing latitude later.
• You choose a clean JPEG if you need a quick, consistent look across many shots. White balance, noise handling, and sharpening are tuned with the end use in mind, as is the composition and moment you capture. 
• By envisioning the outcome, you dial in the shutter speed, aperture, ISO, and creative decisions so the image arrives ready for its next stage—whether it’ is been enhance on post for final form, shared directly from camera to the internet or just a record for archiving purposes.

In Summary / Conclusion

Here are some more thoughts about making a good photo!

• Read the above Blog more than once and let the advice soak in!
• Before releasing the shutter, decide the story you want to tell and the visual and non-visual elements  that will convey your story.
• Scout the location and look at the scene for clutter or distractions and then reposition yourself or remove extraneous elements to keep focus on the subject.
• Take multiple angles and frames - wide context, mid shot, tight detail and so on - then compare later to see which best communicates the story.
• Review with intent on location! Ask yourself, “does this frame tell the story that I set out to say about the subject? If not, adjust what needs to be adjusted while you still at the scene - remember once you get home you are stuck with what you have in camera.
• Learn and understand Photography Rules and Guidelines to give yourself the best chance to use make a cracker image with good composition choices.

Reference links:

Online Photography Bootcamp

Photography Flashcards

Keep on Shooting!

Rory Baker - Photography Mentor and Coach