Quarantined Photographers! Level UP Your Photography Without Going Outside!

So currently we're all under house arrest right now with what's going on in the world and believe it or not saying certain trigger words would actually get videos demonetized on YouTube. We talk about this global issue that we're having right now. Even Facebook is removing certain posts because it can be deemed as spreading fake news. Anyways, I just want to throw that out there. In case you're watching this at a certain point in time, let's say after March 2020, just know that during this period of time, the world is going through some stuff right now. And whatever I'm talking about in this video will still have value for a lifetime pretty much. Now, the title seems a little bit weird, right? I mean, how to improve your photography without actually taking any photos. I mean, it goes against the try and true idea of the only way to get better at something is by constantly doing it. And that's very true, you know, put in the work, put in the time and you will eventually get better at something. So how the hell are you going to improve your photography without actually taking a single photo? However, because we can't really go out and take any photos, or perhaps maybe you're watching at a different point in time where you're just feeling a little bit uninspired, this is the time right now to level other aspects of our photography without actually using a camera. So I'm putting together five tips on what I personally do from time to time to improve my photography. Tip number one is to look at photos with style that is drastically different from yours. Looking at very similar style photos that are similar to the style that you take can be very boring, especially when the growth and inspiration that can come from this photo can be very little. Let's say, for example, you're a off-camera flash portrait photographer, right? If you see another person doing sort of the same thing, you're not going to get too much inspiration or excitement out of that. It's something that you can probably take on your own. But if you look at another type of photography that's kind of drastically different from yours, maybe you can pick out something small from that particular photo and incorporate it into your next photo shoot. Much like how musicians listen to other types of genre than the music that they usually produce. Maybe a rock musician listening to an electronic music and incorporating some electronic elements into their songs because it's trendy. Going back to the portrait example, instead of looking at another off-camera flash portrait, maybe you want to look at a hyper-realistic portrait. One that comes to mind is the work of Benjamin Van Wong. Now, I'm not much of a portrait photographer myself by any means, but seeing his work like this one right here where he took a bunch of recycled computer parts for this photo, holy cow! Now, would I ever shoot something like this? Maybe. And that is a tiny maybe. But I really do appreciate how he has some behind the scenes of how he shot it, so I can probably draw some ideas from that. Perhaps a certain way that he uses his lighting, or a certain trick that he used to apply to this photo shoot. You know, these types of problem-solving ideas that I can probably learn from is going to help me for my next photo shoot. Which leads me to the second point. Learn from the masters. So here's a three-parter for you. Now, you could look up some renowned master photographers on YouTube. I mean, there's a reason why they're considered master photographers. They're pretty damn good at what they do. Like Benjamin Van Wong. But let's just say you do want to be inspired by a type of style that you actually shoot. For example, after interviewing Lucas Polka for one of my videos on street photography, he turned me to checking out Saul Leiter's work, a renowned street photographer who inspires Lucas. Before the lockdown, I was at my local bookstore where there's an actual physical album book of Leiter's work, and I just kind of flipped through it for like 30 minutes and got huge inspiration from that. And of course, you'll be able to find a lot of these master photographers on Google. But here's the second parter. They don't necessarily have to be masters per se. They don't really have to have a bunch of published work or a lot of awards or anything like that. Just someone who has enough credibility for you and enough to get your creative juices sparking. For example, Vivian has been obsessed with photographers on TikTok. And one in particular is this Jordy co-elected guy. Bonus points, he shoots Sony himself, but his stuff is really creative. And a lot of his TikTok shows behind the scenes where you can easily replicate the type of photos that he takes. So here comes the third parter. I think most seasoned photographers, most seasoned filmmakers would also say the same thing. I mean, there's still so much more to learn from other people. Other people might have masteries on different genres, different types of styles and all that stuff. And it might pay to kind of help learn from what they got going on. So you may not completely agree with this concept right here. But if you can and you have a little bit of a budget, buy a tutorial from one of your favorite photographers. Now, it's important that you buy a tutorial from your favorite photographer because otherwise you end up wasting money. Let's say, for example, you hop on those websites, like CreativeLive or Skillshare.com or whatever, right? And you look up a posing guide, you know? It's probably a pretty good guide. And whoever is hosting that course is probably a very credible photographer. But let's just say, for example, their style of photography or posing might not really mesh well with yours. So by the end of watching it, you'll be like, I don't kind of not really like this. And it has happened to me before. I have bought several courses and I'm just like, this isn't my style, this isn't my taste. So it's very important to be buying a tutorial from a photographer that you really kind of aspire to have your work to be like. Now, I'm going to be honest, I personally myself have not bought any type of photography tutorials. But in the past, I have bought some film tutorials, lighting tutorials, lighting for films especially, and video editing guides that tremendously help my video production a whole lot. So there are a lot of values in buying a tutorial from your favorite creators. And let's just say you're at this point in time where you can actually travel. Maybe consider taking a workshop from a creator or photographer that personally inspires you. Last year, right before my Japan trip for the autumn leaves, I actually discovered this amazing landscape photographer whose name is Daniel Corden. I believe he's a Nikon ambassador. Anyways, so I was doing my research on the best spots to shoot autumn leaves in Japan, and obviously his photos pop up. Coincidentally, at the same time, he was hosting workshops in Japan in a lot of places that I was already planning on going to. And unfortunately, the places that I was going to, I was in the same spots where all the tourists were at. But he, I was stalking his Instagram stories, he took his workshop attendees to a more remote isolated areas where they got some amazing photos. And he also had access to like certain parts of like the temples where he can get in a little bit earlier with his attendees to take photos. I'm like, dang, I'm so jealous. So this year, I'm heavily considering maybe signing up for his workshop, his autumn Japan workshop, and just kind of learn from him. Now, he does have a landscape horse that he's selling on his website for about $150, $200, which isn't too bad. I could benefit a lot from just watching his editing workflow. But I'd rather much attend his workshop just because I could pick his brain as to how he finds certain spots, maybe learn how he get in contact with getting, securing spots for early access and all that. So I think those are going to be a lot more valuable for me. His editing style, maybe how to use certain filters to get the best landscape shots would be a bonus. Anyways, we'll see. Let's go ahead and move on. Tip number three, re-edit some of your old photos. Now, this tip might sound super obvious, but like most obvious advices, we tend to forget them. How many times have you sat down with a friend where they're just telling you about their terrible relationship and you're just like, gosh, leave them already. You can do so much better. They're just like, yeah, yeah, I know. But they don't do it. Same thing. So go re-edit some of your old photos. Jeez, that's a terrible example. Anyways, go back and find a photo that you've taken years ago, or perhaps you just started in photography quite recently. Just pick a photo that you shot recently and keep re-editing them. Re-edit to a style that you like right now, or perhaps you're still trying to find your footing in your style. Look up some YouTube tutorials or tutorials from the web. They're free. Follow along. And it's a good time to start re-analyzing the photo that you've taken and see how you can improve for next time to take a very similar shot. And you might learn some new editing tricks along the way from the tutorial that you're following. Which brings us to today's sponsor, Luminar 4. Last month, I posted a video re-editing some of my favorite photos with Luminar 4, a standalone AI photo editor that can make photos instantly pop and do easy sky replacements with a few clicks in case you shot a photo with a boring sky. And they wanted me to let you guys know that they just launched their new 4.2 update this month, implementing their new AI augmented sky tool, which if you're more of a digital artist, you can transform your photos to look out of this world. Like a rocket ship blasting out of the city or some giraffes hanging out in the sky. Someone should totally do a Lion King Mufasa one after seeing this photo right here. Again, everything is super easy to do with this AI software. It just takes some creativity and a few clicks. Try Luminar 4.2 right now for seven days. By the way, if you do want to purchase a license, the software is a one-time payment only, so it's going to be yours forever. Use my code JasonVong10 to save $10 off your purchase. Have fun with this software during this quarantining moment. Now back to the video. All right, let's carry on. So if you found the other tips boring, like, ugh, research. I don't want to do any research. Well, here's a good one for you. Watch movies. Damn it is a good excuse right now to catch up on the movies that you've been meaning to watch. But, but, regardless if you're watching a brand new movie or revisiting some of your favorite ones, I want you to start paying attention to certain scenes in your movies. Movies are a different medium than photography, but they do end up sharing a lot of the same principles. Start paying attention to composition, framing, lighting choices, and color tones. Because these are elements that you can work into your next photo shoot. Now, this is going to sound super generic to current and past film students, but I love watching Wong Kar-wai's films back when I was studying in college. Studying film in college, that is. And I've been seeing a lot of stills from his movies pop up on social medias, and it's for good reasons. The color tones in his movies are just pure go's, not only for film, but for photography as well. If you caught my latest interview with Nico Pasquale, who did the cinematic Japan photos, he listed Wong Kar-wai's movie as one of his sources of inspiration for his Tokyo sets. And if you need recommendations for which movie to watch, I would say go for In the Mood for Love or 2046. And just a fair warning, the movies are in Cantonese, but you'll find English subtitles, no problems for his movie. And even if you can't, just really watch for the cinematic imagery, because then you will really pay attention to the color tones and the lighting choices. All right, and tip number five, create a mood board. Now, it's not enough to just look at some pictures and watch some movies. You have to save them, because otherwise you're going to forget about them. Instagram has a great save option, but obviously it only works on Instagram. So if you have photos or stills from your computer, it's not going to work too well. But Pinterest allows you to save images from different sites. Now, it's very common in the wedding photography community that either the photographer or the wedding couple to have a mood board. It's where we can kind of mutually understand what the other person wants in terms of visual examples. Same principles for inspiration, saving a bunch of stuff now that we can refer back to in the future when we're lacking inspiration or motivation will reignite some creative fire again. Have an album for poses, have an album for framing, lenses, color tones, anything. Categorize them so the next time you need some ideas, just simply open them up again. So hopefully this has helped you guys out. Tag me on Instagram story at jasonvmedia. Some of your current inspiration right now, maybe you see something cool on the internet and you're just like, yeah, I want to do something like that. Snap it, post it on Instagram story, tag me in it because I want to be inspired myself. Guys, thank you so much for watching. I'll see you guys in the next video. Peace.