People sometimes ask me, “How can I improve my photography?”  There are, of course, many answers, depending on the questioner’s current skill set.  However, one tip can usually be followed: take more photos!

Sometimes, a little direction can help.  For instance, one of my friends regularly holds photo challenges.   The most recent challenge was “The first signs of spring” (yeah, this was a few weeks ago!)  The reason this was a good idea for me is that I might not have taken spring-themed photos otherwise!

Here’s the photo that I submitted.  One of the restrictions was that we tried to get the photo as good in the camera.  This is difficult for me because I’m used to doing some post-processing on all of my photos (I could write another entry about post processing!) but actually this is another good exercise.  Though it may seem counter-intuitive, restrictions can be helpful.  They can force you to try something new, another angle or way of seeing things.

Here are some other photos from my spring outing (post-editing… I can’t switch all my processing style at once!)