Photo How To

One great to improve our photography skills is by learning from past mistakes. But an even better approach is to learn from a pro that has made numerous mistakes throughout his career. That way you don’t have to make them yourself.

The 10-minute video below offers this invaluable opportunity, and pro Jacques Gaines modestly shares 10 errors he’s made over the past 10 years, “so you can save time and get better faster.” He breaks his tips into three main categories: Technical errors, gear mistakes, and what he calls “philosophy mistakes.”

On the technical side, Gaines begins with the perils of crooked photos—when vertical or horizontal lines are askew. And oftentimes a quick tweak with the crop tool is all that’s required to rehabilitate the image. In fact, Gaines says, “This is the first thing you should do when you first open an image in Photoshop.” He also explains why it’s sometimes better to shoot in Auto mode, contrary to the notion that Manual is the only way to go.

After offering a few more technical and post-processing tips, Gaines moves on to common mistakes in choosing the right gear for the job. Here, he discusses the importance of focal length choices, and why he’s not a big fan of zoom lenses. He also laments that, in the past, he paid too much attention to camera bodies instead of investing in better glass. In blatant terms, no matter how great your camera is, “If the lens sucks, the image sucks.”

We don’t want to give everything away, so to learn more about the foregoing and the philosophical mistakes Gaines has made, you’ll have to watch the video. And you’ll be very glad that you did. You can see even more from Gaines on his YouTube channel, and don’t miss our recent story with seven more mistakes common among beginning photographers.