Critique your results Being honestly self-critical in evaluating your photography will serve you well on the way to improving your technique. Unfortunately, most of us are not the best evaluators of our own work. It's difficult for us to separate our images' artistic merits from the physical effort and emotion invested in capturing them. Seeking the candid opinions of others gives you a completely different perspective and helps you see things you might otherwise miss. In the beginning, honest criticism of your art might and share information about equipment with fellow workshop students. You'll find that you're not alone in your experiences. Learning the art of photography is absorbed more through osmosis than the deliberate study of explicit directives. Acquiring knowledge and ideas comes by way of continued exposure until it becomes almost unconscious in nature. The process of trial and error provides the most direct route in developing the skills necessary to produce pleasing images on a consistent basis. Countless times, photographers capture what they think is the final results when they get home and view it on the computer. And just as often, they're surprised to find that an exposure they didn't have high hopes for in the viewfinder turns out to be the best image. The moral: Don't be hasty in making judgments about your compositions in the heat of the moment. You should be in acquisition mode while working in the field. Wait to evaluate your images after you've downloaded the files to the computer and you have more time to turn a critical eye on them. The mindset of the photographer differs completely from the mindset of the editor.