Since the New Year is now upon us, I'm sure many of us have made resolutions to eat better, exercise, be more thoughtful, etc. etc.  Perhaps you made a resolution to improve your photography in the coming year, we'll I can't help you with the eating and exercise, but allow me to provide some suggestions on improving you Photography in 2008.

One of the things I did in 2007 that had an amazing impact on my images was taking a week long photographic workshop with Freeman Patterson and Andre Gallant.  This was an incredible experience for a number of reasons,  not only were the instructors world class master craftsmen, but it's the first time in my life I spent an entire week spending every waking hour working on photography.  This type of focus can really take you up a notch just from the practice alone.  Add a quality instructor or two on top of that, and you might make some substantial steps forward in your work.

Another thing that has substantially improved my work is using manual focus almost 100% of the time.  Autofocus just doesn't provide the creative control or accuracy I require in my images.  While I have rather poor vision I still can focus better than my camera can.  I'll bet you can too if you just take the training wheels off and stop using autofocus. Particularly if you are not taking action shots, manual focus will result in many more images in proper focus than if you use autofocus.

Certainly adding stability to your camera like with a sturdy tripod complimented with a shutter release cable will ensure crisp images with little blur from handholding your camera.  I'm sure you've heard this a hundred times, and you might even occasionally bring your tripod along.  The tripod and shutter release will encourage you to slow down and examine the view before taking the image.  Taking your time when composing your image will also prevent you from wishing you had shot the image correctly later on, or spending tedious time working with Photoshop correcting carless mistakes.

Of course spending some time with NVPS in 2008 will help your images also.  Educational events, fabulous field trips, and exhibition opportunities are just a few of the items NVPS offers that can help you either as a new photographer learning the ropes, or an experienced photographer rededicating themselves.

In review, here's the short list for some possible improvements in your photography in 2008.

1.       Consider a week long workshop
2.       Try Manual Focus
3.       Tripod and shutter release when shooting
4.       Slow down and carefully compose your image
5.       Spend some time with NVPS in 2008

May the New Year bring us all peace and prosperity filled with beautiful images in sharp focus.

Scott Musson - President NVPS