tips & tricks | photography

We're starting a new monthly series here on Fernweh, of tips and tricks relating to a different topic each month. Different staffers will contribute ideas and then in the comments, please leave your thoughts and advice. This month we're kicking off with something very important to all of us--photography!

Abbey says light & shadow are your friends.During those days when I was just beginning to dip my toes into the sea of DSLR photography, light and shadow was something that scared me. I remember only wanting to shoot during the late afternoon, when shadows were scarcely cast. For some reason, I had this assumption that the darker spots would 'disrupt' my photos. I soon learnt otherwise. If light and shadow were so important in my paintings, surely they were important in my photos, too. Shadows create depth, and light alone can tell a story. As documenters and photographers of daily life, let's not be afraid to experiment.

Hannah says stop looking at images by other people and start looking at your own. Figure out what makes you tick, what kind of photos click with you, why you do what you do -- then do it. Make art that you love, art that matters. Begin to see your work as valuable and unique for what it is, and embrace your style and voice. Recognise that your photos will never look like such-and-such's, but they will look like yours. Celebrate that and make photos that you love. Ignore the trends and fads and dig deep. Pretend that you only have five shots to take -- how would you take them? What would you highlight? What would you leave out? How would you compose it? Pay attention to light, always light. Photography is about light. And stay true to you.

Katie says focus is so crucial. It doesn't have to be perfect, and especially if you're using a manual focus lens, it rarely is. But. The focus changes the entire tone of the photo. I took these two pictures sometime last year. In each of them, the focus is obviously different, and that changes the whole photo. Keep an eye out for what you're focusing on versus what you want to focus on.

Libby says take your camera everywhere. I cannot stress this enough! Take it to your grandparent's house, on walks with the dog and even out shopping. You'll come across incredibly opportunities and a change of scenery from what you can photograph at home. And taking your camera out with you will help you build up confidence too. You might feel a bit silly, acting all fancy and 'only' using a point and shoot, or maybe think that your DSLR is too heavy to carry around, but trying bringing your camera out once or twice and month and documenting a journey or a different house. This can really open your eyes to so much new creativity. And sometimes my photographs of my hometown, like the one above, aren't the most exquisite, but they mean so much to me, and they remind me of the place where I am right now. Stretching the boundaries of your photo-taking locations is so important.

Please share your tips, tricks and thoughts below.