Photography 101: Viewing the World with a Photographer’s Eye, II

In part one of “Viewing the World with a Photographer’s Eye,” photographer Ming Thein talked about the basics of what makes a good photograph. In today’s part two, he takes a look at the little things you can do to make your images stronger — shot discipline, selection — as well as common mistakes and things to practice for the future.

There’s the small matter of shot discipline to think about. If you’ve ever wondered why some people’s images look crisper and punchier, it’s probably because they’re taken care the whole way through the image-making process. Shot discipline covers everything from eliminating camera shake to choosing the optimum apertures, processing RAW files and saving uncompressed versions. It also extends outside the technical disciplines to editing, and this isn’t the same as post processing (or what’s commonly thought of as “Photoshop”).