We take a look back at some of best inspirational tips from the Picfair community in 2021
1 Don't pay too much attention to social media counts
"Don’t get caught up in how many likes you might get, or how your Insta grid needs to flow, post what makes you happy. Once you realise your passion, you understand that you are doing this for you, and once you move away from trying to post what you think people will like, you start to post what YOU like. That way, you can create your own style, whereby your photography personality can really shine through." - Pete Griffiths
2 Get out and active
"Don't be lazy, don't find excuses, go out, explore, and feel inspired by nature."- Prim Paul
3 Don't worry about gear
"Don’t stress over having the best gear, In my opinion, it’s the moment that makes the picture. And if you can add in some great light too, then you’re winning!" - Denise Slark
4 Be Curious
"Let your curiosity drive your knowledge, not the other way around." - Michele Carioggia
5 Composition is key
"My best tip would be to master composition. When starting out I think a lot of amateur photographers overlook the impact of good composition and tend to get bogged down by the technical aspects of photography like settings, exposure, focus etc instead. Whilst I appreciate these are important to making good images, for a picture to be considered successful it should be able to hold a viewers attention for as long as possible. I feel it's much more desirable to have a compositionally sound image with a few technical flaws than to have a technically perfect image that nobody spends more than a few seconds looking at because of poor composition." - Tom Lowe
6 Shoot as much as you can
"This is quite hard as I have never been one to really follow the advice of others, and maybe that is a tip in itself. Otherwise, I would say it is important you are the master of your gear (not its slave) and shoot as much as you can, there is no substitute for experience." - Tiberiu Sahlean
7 Get out your comfort zone
"If you want to be a good photographer and take original and inspiring pictures, you have to take photographs in terrain that goes beyond your comfort zone." - Lukáš Veselý
8 Don't fear bad weather
"Everyone likes to go out and shoot the golden hour when the weather is nice, but most people won’t go out when the weather is bad. Some of my favourite images that I've taken have been on rainy, dull days . You can get some really dramatic moody images when the weather is poor." - Mark Callander
9 Take pictures for yourself
"In all honesty, I feel like a photography fake, I know nothing about cameras, I barely know how to use mine and I have rudimentary processing skills. So my tip would directly relate to that, take pictures because you enjoy it, regardless of how much you feel you do or don’t know. I take pictures for myself and if anyone else happens to like them too, that’s a bonus." - Al Coldrick
10 Know your gear in and out
"My best tip is to learn your camera inside out. Practice swapping between different settings, apertures and shutter speeds as quick as you can. It’s heartbreaking seeing a shot go by because you couldn’t dial in your settings quick enough." - Jack Evans
See all the the tips from Picfair's Photographers of the Week in our dedicated blog category here.