We see the world in color, and cameras can reliably record the colors we see. Despite this, a black and white conversion will often make a photo better. When does black and white pay off?

We all often examine the work of other photographers, professionals, and the best in our field so as to capture and absorb at least a part of their skill, so we can apply it later in our own pictures. Let’s try extending our study of the great works one step farther outwards, to painting. What can painters’ great works offer photographers?

The days are quickly getting shorter, and so even for us night owls, it’s worth heading into the streets with our cameras just before dawn. That’s because the morningtime city offers a feast for the eyes. In the empty and half-empty streets filled with still-waking light, pictures are a joy to find.

In 2013, the Oxford Dictionary declared “selfie” the word of the year. The selfie is in short the photographic phenomenon of our age. But people, and artists especially, have been doing self-portraits since long before the birth of that word, or even the birth of photography.

The internet is full of various guides for producing “perfect” pictures. Zonerama Magazine isn’t the only place where you’ll read about things like the right way to compose, what lenses are good for what kinds of photos, and how to edit a photo using a histogram curve.

Metropolises are more than just streets lined with glass and steel skyscrapers—they’re also living organisms full of endless motion and commotion. Almost never-ending streams of cars flow through the streets—the urban arteries—and human figures rush by on the sidewalks. Motion is the city’s essence. And you can express it in your pictures using a fairly simple technique—blurring the picture.

Street photography is dynamic and full of surprises, once-in-a-lifetime moments, stories, and faces, as well as unexpected enchanting corners. It throws the cover off of day-to-day life and details that we normally overlook. And meanwhile you can do it practically anywhere. You just pick up a camera and head out into the street.

Feeling a little photographically uninspired? Then start up a photo project. With these projects, you can build a variety of photographic skills and have fun doing it. You can also try out things you haven’t found the nerve for before or get your creative juices flowing when you’re feeling uninspired.

Does it sound crazy to you to use a black-and-white preview in your camera instead of color? Try it anyway. This preview will keep your eyes more focused on composition, making it easier for you to notice compositional flaws. That enables you to fix composition errors on the spot, instead of crying over your ruined pictures at home on your computer.