Photo How To

There are a ton of rules and conventional wisdom about photography, and some are very helpful to understand. But according to one respected expert, several of these notions are really toxic and can ruin our craft.

Miguel Quiles has been involved in photography for over 15 years as a working pro, author, and expert instructor. In the eye-opening video below, he explains five of these “dreadful opinions” that need to go away if you want to elevate your work.

Florida-based Quiles begins with the popular trope that, “You can’t take a bad photo of a beautiful subject.” He says, “There’s a lot about this opinion that is short-sighted and just plain wrong.” The flip side of the coin is that many great portraits are made of normal-looking everyday people.

Quiles explains that terrible photos of beautiful people are taken every single day, and the culprits are often photographers who are either unfamiliar with their gear, socially awkward, or lack the technical skills necessary to make quality images. As with the other toxic notions he describes, Quiles has suggestions for rectifying the problem.

Another detrimental opinion that gets Quiles all worked up is a photographer’s ego-driven claim that his or her work is superior to someone else’s. If you’re guilty of this, Quiles says, “Your ego is your enemy.” As most of us know, the value of an image is a very subjective matter, and his advice is to follow your passion and never tell another photographer that their imagery sucks.

Another opinion that causes Quiles’ blood to boil is that image editing is somehow wrong or a bad thing to do, and we should always present our photos straight out of the camera. As he says, photography is a form of expression and art, and we should feel free to express ourselves and our work any way we like.

To hear more about these and other toxic opinions, just watch the video and then STOP.

You can find much more of interest on Quiles YouTube channel, so be sure and take a look. Then check out the tutorial we posted from another pro, explaining a big mistake to avoid when shooting winter landscape sunrise photos.