Portrait shooting problems & tips

Worst thing that could happen to you as a photography enthusiast: Your friends keep asking you to take their pictures for some purpose. Of course, you might think it's not all that bad, and you might be right, as sometimes those pictures you take when you're asked to might be a good training for future. But on the other hand, if you think about it, it might be not appreciated enough. Well, it's up to you to decide if it's worth it, but no matter what, you will find yourself shooting portraits even as a photography enthusiast whether or not you iniciated it, or you were asked to.

G.A.S. - Gear acquisition syndrome

It's just not about equipment. And creativity itself won't do much without any equipment. But the equipment you really need it's simply the one that you are going to use to present your work. Gear acqusition syndrome is not just a photohraphy thing - it's everywhere. We do live in materialistic and competitive society.

If you do have G.A.S. you will probably know about it. But at first you won't think of it as of a big deal. You might even believe it's going to help somehow to your work. But the truth is a bit different, and you will know it is. You're just going to deny it for some time.

Being a photgrapher Vs. owning a camera

Let's put it the simple way - being a photographer assumes owning a camera. But owning a camera doesn't lead to being a photographer unless you try hard enough. And if you like taking pictures, it's not that hard at all. 

There is a wide spread phenomenom of people owning DSLRs and using it only on AUTO or other programme modes. There are people taking pretty average or even under average shots putting a huge watermark over it. There are people thinking taking a selfie with a DSLR equals being a photographer, and others thinking it just equals being cool. But there are so many reasons why you shouldn't be bothered by all these facts. People were weird since the beginning of time as we know it. After all a photographer is, by definition, the one who is taking pictures. Professional photographers are another thing, and so are photography enthusiasts.