Photography isn’t about the camera

It is amazing how many times people say to me ‘yeah, but you have such a good camera’. What I always say is that it isn’t about the camera. Most of the time nobody believes me and thinks if they get a better camera with more megapixels and bigger a lens they will take better photos.  That isn’t true, successful photography is about 3 basic things.

- The light - the most important thing to create a stunning image.  95% of my photos are taken at sun rise or sun set.  The light in an image makes a massive difference and saturates the colours and creates a more dramatic image.

- The composition – All good photos have great composition.  Photos should be easy to look at and your eye should be guided around the image.  Great photos have great composition

- Timing – even landscape photography is about timing.  This maybe the time of year, time of month or time of day.  Timing is crucial – sometimes you have to wait for the correct light, the correct weather or the position of the sun and moon. 

I often take photos on my iphone – to record a location I want to go back to.  Ok – the iphone is never going to be great for creating an A2 print.  But – it is amazing the quality of photos that you can get.  Take a look at 3 photos I have taken recently… 

St Ives at dusk - Taken with iPhone 4 

Millenium Wheel, London - Taken with the iPhone 4

Coniston, Lake District – Taken with iPhone 4

All these photos were taken with an iPhone 4 and only cropped – no other editing was done.  They all follow the 3 rules above – light, composition and timing.  So – don’t go and buy a new camera or lens – use what you have got and concentrate more on your technique – you may be suprised!!