David du Chemin

Some of my favorite posts...

One recurring theme in his writings is that buying new gear doesn’t always improve your photos, but changing your thinking when taking photos can improve your keeper rate. He also encourages experimenting while shooting, find a different perspective, or change up the exposure. I’ve listed two articles that I found to be helpful, but his website has many more that you may find interesting, so take a look.

New Thinking > New Gear

I kept thinking if I wanted different photographs, I needed different (read: better) gear.

If you want more creative photographs, you need to learn to think more creatively: not different gear, but different thoughts. Here are three ideas for how you might do that.

  • First, you’ve got to learn your craft and know your gear.
  • Second, it’ll help if you think in combinations; rarely does one technique or element make or break a photograph.
  • Third, consider identifying your rut.

Forget the new or different gear—I’ll take different ways of thinking any day.

Who Says There’s No Un-Suck Filter?

“I still believe there is no Un-Suck filter, and there’s little to be gained by polishing our turds in post-production when we’ve mucked things up in-camera.”

So he proposes using these “personal filters”

  • Filter One: Wider and Closer
  • Filter Two: Slower Shutter
  • Filter Three: Backlight
  • Filter Four: Under-Exposed