Stop listening to too much advice on the internet!

I want to talk about this as I think it’s spot on and if you haven’t already, subscribe to the Northrup’s on YouTube. This is no affiliate marketing but they’re right. When you start out with photography you’ll hear a lot about rules of thirds and which mode to shoot. When I started out I knew the basic concepts of Shutter-priority, aperture-priority mode to be dangerous.

And I think this is the most important part. You should know when which mode can help you get the result you want. If I’m out and about and I want to focus on depth of field, I make sure to control my aperture so I can either make the background blurry or more in focus.

I only shoot full manual in landscape shoots at night when I need to focus manually, set the ISO to 100 and then get the shot I want. Otherwise, even on my film cameras, I shoot in aperture-priority mode. It’s what works best for me most of the time. But when you start out, the best thing in my opinion, is this:

Rule 0 - Ignorance is bliss

Rule 1 - Just get out and shoot and experiment, have fun

Rule 2 - Find your style This will take time. But remember, it should be enjoyable and don’t drive yourself crazy by wanting to nail every shot.

Even after 15-plus years, there are shots I mess up, or I forget to change a setting back to default. Practice makes you better. And it’s also important to laugh about your mistakes. No mistakes, no improvement. And here’s the video I want you to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBwdRQiUSIk