Opinion: Stop 'spraying and praying' and you'll improve as a photographer

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Spray-and-pray won't help your photography! If you shoot first and ask questions later, try a more considered approach

Opinion: Stop 'spraying and praying' and you'll improve as a photographer
(Image credit: Courtney Cook on Unsplash)

When Tiger Woods hits a golf ball, he doesn’t just take the shot. He has a few practice swings and then stands behind the ball to visualize where it’ll land; only then does he step up to the tee, plant his feet and swing. This pre-hit routine is more than just a ritual – it affords him the time to relax, take stock and set himself up for success with his shot. 

Similar tactics are replicated, physically and mentally, throughout the sporting world and beyond – and I’m willing to bet that us photographers can learn a thing or two by implementing them into our own shooting routines. Now, I’m not suggesting you bend your legs and cup your hands like Johnny Wilkinson every time you take a photo, but I am suggesting that you take the time to visualize and assess what you want to achieve, periodically during each shoot.

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Mike Harris
Mike Harris
How To Editor

Mike is Digital Camera World's How To Editor. He has over a decade of experience, writing for some of the biggest specialist publications including Digital Camera, Digital Photographer and PhotoPlus: The Canon Magazine. Prior to DCW, Mike was Deputy Editor of N-Photo: The Nikon Magazine and Production Editor at Wex Photo Video, where he sharpened his skills in both the stills and videography spheres. While he's an avid motorsport photographer, his skills extend to every genre of photography – making him one of Digital Camera World's top tutors for techniques on cameras, lenses, tripods, filters and other imaging equipment – as well as sharing his expertise on shooting everything from portraits and landscapes to abstracts and architecture to wildlife and, yes, fast things going around race tracks...

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