12 Questions You Should Ask Yourself Before You Release Your Shutter

In my personal quest to improve my digital photography skills, I am constantly seeking guidance.

Recently I ran across what I consider to be a very important guide.

Twelve very important questions I think all photographers should ask themselves before each shot. Considering these questions can and will improve your photography skills.

Utilizing these questions has greatly improved my efforts to produce impressive imagery. You should consider:

The Purpose
The Story You Wish To Tell
The Position You Should Take
Orientation
Background
Is the composition Straight?
Framing
Light
Focal Point
Eye Flow
Movement Within The Frame
Color/Contrast

Commit To Memory

Excited about the expected outcome from my next photo adventure, I immediately committed them to memory in the order given.

Eager to see the outcome from my newly acquired knowledge, I began using them, in the exact order given.

After trying this for a while, I realized that I was struggling to get through the process. At first, I could not understand why the process was so difficult for me. Suddenly a bolt of lightning struck and I realized that the order in which the questions were given did not fit my slowly developing style. Causing, my shooting process to become slow and difficult.

Make Adjustments

Even though each question needs to be addressed, the order just didn’t match my style. So I decided to experiment with the sequence.

My new sequence looks like this:

Purpose
Story
Light
Position
Orientation (Landscape or Portrait)
Framing
Focal Point
Eye Flow
Background
Color/Contrast
Streight
Movement

This is my personal sequence, and so far it has served me well. I can see a dramatic improvement in my photography.

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For a final note, I must interject two thoughts. First, I sometimes let light lead me to my story, after all, photography is all about light. And finally, I have learned to always shoot both orientations. You will be surprised at what you may come up with.