With photography becoming more accessible to the public, and it being so easy to pick up and use a camera, many people are taking a shot at becoming one of the Greats in photography. But what makes a good photo? Or better yet, what makes a good photographer?

First of all, this is a very subjective topic. Your favorite photographer might not be someone else’s favorite. But like any art form, small universal skills can be found in many great photographers.

Mastery of the Basics:

As a photographer, you need to master the basics from lighting to composition, and everything in between. Going to a shoot and having one thing fall apart, be it the white balance or the wrong F-Stop, can ruin your entire shoot. So mastery, or competence with the basics, can go a long way.

If you have trouble with the fundamentals, that’s perfectly fine. Photography basics are easy to learn, yet very hard to master. Most photographers take years to make adjustments on the fly during a shoot. And that leads me to mynext point.

Being Capable of Improvisation:

Being able to improvise is a very underrated skill; and in photography, it’s one of the most necessary skills to have. You can plan all you want, but not everything will go according to plan. So being able to problem solve on the fly can save an entire shoot.

But this skill comes from a great understanding of the basics. To know what to do if something goes wrong, you’ve got to know how it works, inside and out.

Being Open to Failure:

Being able to push yourself to be better and putting yourself out there is a massive part of learning, But you aren’t going to nail each landing, and you won’t always get a perfect shot.

But that’s how you learn and how you grow. Most great photographers would spend hours every day just taking photos, and their good days would be taking one keeper out of 35 shots. Hours would be wasted just taking shots of random things, yet the professionals would say that is productive, because they’re learning.

Experience and failure are life’s greatest teachers.

Last Thoughts:

Overall, giving yourself time to learn and to develop these skills, being patient with yourself and being able to let yourself fail is going to help you excel in the world of photography, and the art world in general.