For some reason that's presently obscure to me, most self-help articles tend to riff on odd numbers of things you can do. “The ONE thing that you need to do to get better images”, “THREE tips to improve your photography”... Well I've only got two, but they're genuine and I'm not going to add a third just to meet some arbitrary metric. Unless one occurs to me while I'm writing.
The great thing about my TWO THINGS is that you can do them pretty much where you are, from the comfort of your own armchair so-to-speak. The two things that are really propelling my photography at the moment are (1) writing a photographic journal and (2) printing your work.
(1) Journal Your Photography
At the end of 2023 I made the difficult decision to stop singing with the best choir I have ever had the privilege of belonging to, one of the top male choirs in Germany. This left me at a bit of a loose end in my spare time and I started looking around for alternatives. I wanted to continue to improve my photography but wasn't quite sure how to go about it. I ended up signing up for an online masters degree in photography with the Arts University of Bournemouth. So far it's been an excellent experience with a variety of modules tailored to photographers from many genres and walks of life. As well as trying to understand who we are as ‘togs and what our niches are, so far we've looked at presenting in galleries and exhibitions as well as essential skills in branding as artists.
One of the practices they instilled in us during the first module was reflective journaling; writing down what we're doing, what works and what doesn't, notes on what inspires us as well as thoughts on the course teaching. So many times I've had to re-learn painful lessons as a photographer, simply because I hadn't noted something down, relying on memory to do the heavy lifting without making the effort to remember. Best aperture settings to maximise depth of field, testing a new lens, composition and exposure tips, that sort of thing. Even if you're not actively involved in formal education as a photographer, if you are actively out there taking photos, you are probably learning a lot more than you realise and would be a shame if that knowledge went to waste.
So what do I recommend noting in a journal?
Picture analysis
First off, I would keep a note of photo analysis. Get into the habit of looking at your own photos with a critical eye. What worked and what didn't? What was your intention with a given shot and what was the outcome? If you take as many photos as I do, it'd be completely impractical to perform this analysis for each and every shot, but how about analysing three of the best and three of the worst from any given shoot? I've created a list of basic questions to ask myself depending on whether it was a keeper or something for the bin. You're free to use and modify it as you think best, but whatever you do, spend some time thinking and writing about your successes and failures:
My template for picture analysis:
Shots that worked | Shots that didn’t work |
What caught my eye: Why I think it works: What could be done better: | What caught my eye: Why I don’t think it works: What I could have done differently |
This is my template to encourage me to reflect on my images. The specific wording is secondary, its purpose is to provoke critical thought. Feel free to adapt and use for your own journal.
One that worked
 |
What caught my eye: Flash of colour in an otherwise monochrome scene Why I think it works: Although the picture is busy, it breaks down to three simple elements; the twigs, the background and the birch trunk. The colour, whilst subtle, is strong enough to stand out and adds a warm tone to an otherwise simple image. The dof is well chosen. What could be done better: Not much! Might need to bump the exposure a little. |
One that didn't work
 |
What caught my eye: Trees in the mist Why I don’t think it works: Mist too thick at the closest point What I could have done differently: Get closer to primary tree |
This isn't about beating yourself up for your bad photos. It's about learning from mistakes and learning about the limitations of your equipment. It's also about learning how the eye and the camera see the world differently. The eye is able to blot out much due to our stereoscopic vision coupled with the fact that we only see sharply in a very narrow arc; anything beyond about 15° from our focal point we conveniently ignore - even less if you're male, and significantly less again if you're married😝. Unfortunately, the camera sees everything from corner to corner, and if it was in the plane of focus it will be as sharp as a tack in the final image.
The important thing is to not get frustrated by your (inevitable) failures, but to channel that frustration into the energy to learn from your mistakes. And curiosity. Let them fuel your curiosity.
YouTube
The second thing that I note in my journal is useful tips and tricks. If you're anything like me, a lot of your photography learning is from YouTube. Yeah, yeah, we save interesting videos to a watch list, but have you ever gone back to watch any of them? If anything, you'll have remembered a fragment of the message and then wanted to re-watch months later only to completely have forgotten where you saw it. This has happened to me with an interview with one of my favourite contemporary photographers Gavin Hardcastle. In a rare moment of on-screen seriousness, he talks about his motivation in capturing the awe he feels when out in nature. Re-finding that interview has proved to be a challenge.
If I'd made a note of it in a photography journal, I'd have been able to search through it to find exactly where that interview was.
Other Inspiration
Of course the notes need not be restricted to YouTube videos; books, blogposts and even striking images from other photographers can be noted down and commented on for future reference. I read all day every day for work and so over the years I've lost some of the voracious appetite for reading in my earlier years, but with the course I'm having to read more and more (and benefiting from it). Note down the things that you read that impress or strike you for future reference.
Equipment analysis
Lastly, note down anything you learn when putting new equipment through it's paces. What's the closest focal distance of that new lens? Which aperture is the sweet spot for sharpness? How many photos do you need for maximum depth of field for focus stacking macros? Note it all down in the same place. I can't remember the number of times where I've thought to myself 'ah yes, I'll remember that next time!' and then completely forgotten.
I also use my journal (in my case it's a massive Google Drive document) for noting stuff that I've been learning from the course, but that's not going to be something that everyone is involved in.
(2) Print Your Images
The second thing that is propelling my photography in 2025 is printing. I was given a high-end printer/scanner - low-end photo printer for Christmas last year and have started printing my images. The first thing I noticed when trawling through my photos was how few were truly print-worthy. There's also a huge difference between the impact of an image depending on whether it is back-lit (computer monitor or phone screen) or whether it is lit by external light. Darker images such as some of my astro shots are really impactful on a screen but fall completely flat printed out. The sort of paper you use, the size of the paper, the frame and the light used to illuminate the image also all play significant roles.
The excitement of watching my first A3 sized image roll off the printer cannot be underestated and it still gives me a buzz. The next challenge of course is what to do with all of the images? Even in our big house there's a limit on the amount of wall space.
Of course, you don't need to print everything A3 immediately, in fact I always do either a 10x15 cm or 20x15 test print first to make sure that the colours come out right; printers have a much narrower palette of colours than your screen does and dark areas of an image are especially difficult to print without loosing all detail. There's a lot of trial and error involved, even after I calibrated my screen using a Calibrite display calibrator.
Having started with a relatively high-end printer (Canon Pixma TS 9550 in case you're interested), I quickly came to realise that although I can get really good prints from it, it does have its limitations when it comes to colour management. Whereas I can get a usable print from most images simply by boosting the exposure by half a stop, the colours in the shadows really need a lot of work and I often need to do several rounds of small test prints to get things right. I guess it's like tripods; if you buy cheap the first time, you'll just end up buying again and again. So now I'm trying to decide between the new Canon Pro 310 and an Epson 8550.
If you've got any questions about printing, I'd refer you to Keith Cooper's YouTube channel. The guy's an absolute coryphae when it comes to printing and if you can't find a video of his that addresses the issue, I'm certainly not going to be able to help you!
(3) The THIRD THING
Actually there is a third thing that sprung to mind as soon as I thought about the fact that items one and two can be done from the comfort of your armchair, and it's this: get out and shoot.
Even if you're an absolute beginner, you will take better photos than the best professional if you get up off your butt, go out and take photos and they don't. The difference between a good photographer and a great photographer has more to do with persistence than skill; if you're committed to getting the image, you'll generally do better than someone with all the skills but who isn't prepared to get out there.
Nine out of ten times, commitment to the image will result in a better photo than complacent competence. What do I mean by commitment to the image? I mean being prepared to go the extra mile, to wait 30 min for the light to improve, to go back to a composition that you found at midday at sunset because the light will be softer, to return to a scene with fresh snow because it will transform the forest from a dark mess to a delightful whitebox.
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