Top Ten Photo a Day Tips

Posted by Dean Shareski on in flickr, fun, Personal

Taking a photo a day is not only a significant commitment but it can get downright onerous at times.  The daily satisfaction was one thing but after viewing them a few times on New Year’s Day and sharing the joy with family and friends made me realize it was worth it. Still there were many days when it wasn’t easy.

I’ve noticed a few new members to this year’s pool so I thought it might be helpful to share a few tips that I found helpful in sustaining the project.

  • Carry a camera with you all the time. This sounds obvious but it was a rare occasion I did not have my camera with me. I bought a simple carrying case that I hook on my belt. Ladies, your purse is your friend. 🙂
  • Use a cellphone. While not the greatest quality, it became my backup.
  • Shoot tons. You never know what will make a great photo. Sometimes I’d shoot the same thing 20 times using various settings to get something of interest. This is how you learn your camera.
  • Determine a workflow. I tried to download photos everyday and was successful most days but the rare occasions I waited more than a couple of days meant culling through more images than I wanted. I’d rather take 20 minutes at most to view a day’s worth of images than having to go through dozens over a few days.
  • Light editing is usually all you need. You can always do more but playing with levels and some basic cropping is usually good enough.
  • Find an easy upload tool.  I use iPhoto and this tool is the best exporter to flickr I’ve found and it’s free.
  • Tag within iPhoto. I didn’t do this right away but the exporter tool maintains all tags and titles so I now do it within iPhoto and flickr uses them too. In my previous life as a Windows user, I edited in Picasa and found this tool a nice way to directly upload from Picasa.  If all else fails, the flickr uploadr tool works too. It’s just one more step.
  • Subscribe to the group.  After about day 9 you’ll start wondering what to shoot. Believe me, you’ll have many days like this. Feeding off the work of the entire group, you’ll find a great resource and inspiration.  I’m sure if you scan the pool you’ll see some similar shots. I think that’s a testament to the power of community. Without this, you might as well just do this on your own and forget the group.
  • Have some ideas in your holster. Hopefully most days, you’ll always capture a few moments that have some real meaning but for those days when it seems like nothing happened, have a few ideas that are not time sensitive that you can use when you’re in a pinch. Otherwise you just end up taking photos of your ear.
  • Involve your family and friends. If they know what you’re up to, they often provide inspiration and ideas for you as well.

I’ll also cross post this to the pool discussion forum. Feel free to add your tips or ask questions in either space. It’s really great to have more people excited about this effort.

26 thoughts on “Top Ten Photo a Day Tips”

  3. Bob Cotter

    Thanks for the tips, particularly the Tag within iPhoto one. I have not done that before and will in the future. Plus, I will now go back and tag some of my older shots. You prompted me to look into how to do that and I also have created a Smart Album for the first time. I’ve been an iPhoto user for a very long time and never explored this possibility before. Cheers… Bob

  4. Dean Shareski Post author

    @Bob

    Smart Albums are great. I usually create them for a Monthly album which is really handy when showing pics on my iphone

  5. angelesb

    Thanks for sharing these tips. I’m a newby in the group even though I was following pictures from Twitter since last year.
    I commented with my kids about the project because at first they were laughing about me taking photos but see me happy and now they want to know waht is the project about.
    I was looking for something interesting to do and I love this project.
    Best,
    angelesb

  6. Barbara Ganley

    Thanks, Dean. Great tips–I’m especially appreciating the link to the uploader tool. I’ve been using iPhoto to Photoshop and then to the Flickr uploader for years. While I will continue to do that for subtle editing, I love this one-step uploader! Have you played with picnik for some of the photos? The easy interface with Flickr makes it appealing if you want to mess around.

    ~bg

    Barbara Ganleys last blog post..A Process Experiment

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  8. Shaun Wood

    Thank you, I have found a new enthusiasm for photography this summer and want to extend my knowledge and experience of digital photography. I look forward to sharing and learning from all the other visual communicators out there.

  9. Pat

    Thanks for the tips. I’m new to this Photo a Day and was wondering if those who have done it had any words of wisdom. I will definitely be using your suggestions.

    Pats last blog post..My Top Ten Memories of 2008

  10. Sue King

    Any suggestions for a good quality digital camera? I do not want anything too fancy, but would like to have a few options for taking some different types of pics.

  11. Dean Shareski Post author

    Sue,

    I love my Canon SD 750. I think you can get them for less than $200 which is amazing. An SLR would be the next step but the compact,handiness and quality of this Canon makes it tough to beat.

  12. Sylt Ferienwohnung

    You know it’s my dream to own a camera this year. One that can capture even while on the move. You said it right. Camera can be considered a “basic” commodity because of its usefulness. Earning some bucks is also eminent if views taken are one-of-a-kind.

  13. Sharon Brennan

    I see what you mean. I’ve participated for 7 days only and already need to look at what others have done. I hadn’t actually thought of my ear.

  14. Paul C

    I’ve stumbled upon your site through several links. I just uploaded my first shots to Flickr which I use a lot to find pictures to complement my blog. Interesting to read about the 365 challenge and your Top Ten suggestions. I’ve got a sister who lives in Rosthern close to your neck of the woods? Tonight I blog about what I learned.

    Paul Cs last blog post..CBC Radio Invitation: Obama Play List

  15. Dean Shareski Post author

    @Barbarba,
    I have used picnik and should have included it as a tip. It’s a great way to do some basic editing without software.

    @Paul
    Glad you’re taking the plunge. Rosthern is a bit out of my area but we did have friends that lived nearby and often went through it.

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  23. inverter air conditioner

    I love photography. I am not a professional photographer but I carry my camera where ever I go. Don’t know when there will be a chance to capture a good picture. Your tips are excellent. thanks!

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