Everyone has advice for you when you start taking photos. What “looks good,” what “gets likes,” or what you “have to do” to be successful. But following the crowd isn’t always the best way forward. Sometimes it’s more important to tune out the noise and trust your own direction. Here are five reasons why ignoring advice might be the best advice you ever get.  

Every photographer eventually asks themselves what they want to say with their photography. It’s not about chasing trends or what’s popular at the moment. It’s about you—what you know, what you feel, and what you want to share. Finding your photography theme isn’t something you can figure out overnight—it’s a long process.   

The holiday season is one of the busiest, but magical times for any photographer specializing in family portraits. Photoshoots with dozens of families mean creating unforgettable memories for them. But, you also have to deal with the challenges this type of photoshoot entails.

I have traveled to various countries and regions for nearly two decades. I’ve spent the last two years on the road. Nothing has ever happened to me...until now. You guessed right—My camera was stolen. This article is inspired by a true story. Any resemblance to actual persons is coincidental.

A photoshoot is like a movie. You need to direct the scene in order to get the best picture possible. Giving good instructions as a photographer takes skill. A photo that’s been properly set up looks good when the subject feels comfortable and beautiful. Generally speaking, people want to look good in photos. And a photographer should know what to say and do to achieve that.

Halloween is one of those photographic opportunities that we most look forward to. It’s a creative and imaginative time full of costumes and jack-o-lanterns. That’s why this year we’ve put together for you a Halloween-inspired photoshoot with a witch, her broomstick, and pumpkins. 

“The photos just don’t do it justice.” Have you ever found yourself muttering this disappointedly when trying to describe the way the colors of the sunset reflected in the mountain lakes below you? Or that special shade of blue in the water of a glacier-fed stream to your friends after your adventure? You tried to take a picture to capture the moment, but the results were somewhat unfulfilling to say the least. Is it actually possible for travelers who are not professional photographers to end up with great photos of their trip? To find out, my fellow travel enthusiasts and I at 10Adventures decided to try Zoner Photo Studio X.

A medium format camera is one with a chip that is similar in size to medium format film (typically 6 × 9.6 × 6 or 6 × 4.5 cm). It offers significantly more resolution than full frame cameras, and it has a high dynamic range. But it costs many times more than ordinary DSLRs. Do its advantages make up for its price? We tested this in practice with the Fujifilm GFX50s.

We all want gorgeous photos. But sometimes we send our efforts in foolish directions. Clichés—endlessly repeated motifs and approaches—trap us in the talons of simple visual ingratiation and leave us creating photos that might look nice at first sight, but are otherwise uninteresting. Which clichés are these, and how do you avoid them?

Definitely don’t throw out that old Leica gathering dust in your attic! Or any other film camera you’ve got. Considering today’s super-sensitive sensors with an ever-growing megapixel count, the old analogs might look like dinosaurs riding a modern retro wave, but they actually can serve better than you think.