Very Quick Photography Tips – 105 Things Worth Knowing

I like lists of stuff. I decided to produce a big list. And this is the first one.

If you want to learn a heap of very quick photography tips then you are in the right place. Here are 105 things worth knowing – each one is a one liner!

These are things that I have plucked from the dark depths and recesses of my mind – quite a scary place to find myself delving I have to say!

I hope that you find these tips helpful, and at the end of this post I point you in the direction of more in-depth photography stuff that I have created which I hope that you will find of interest.

Let me know if you get all the way through my list please!

Enjoy.

10 Photography Podcasts

This Week In Photo – Frederick Van Johnson hosts one of my favourite photography podcasts with great guests and really interesting photography chat.
Peta Pixel Photography Podcast – Sharkey James with a quick blast of weekly photography news delivered with an almost British sense of humour – now that is a big compliment! Next….
No Name Photo Show – Brian Mattiash now flying solo delivering a very interesting mix of photography subjects – I have listened since episode one and still enjoy this podcast.

The Grid – Audio and video versions are available of this excellent photography podcast hosted by the one and only Scott Kelby.
Six Figure Photography Podcast – Now don’t be fooled into thinking that this is just for wedding photographers – especially recently there have been some great business episodes.
The Togcast – Landscape photography podcast hosted by two Brits which makes a nice change, one of them practically a neighbour of mine!

He Shoots He Draws – Another podcast hosted by two Brits combining photography and design in an entertaining weekly listen.
The Business of Photography – Not only a wedding photography podcast every now and then they have some really good podcast episodes on business side of the photography
Simple Pin – A podcast I have just discovered all about Pinterest which is good as this is an excellent social media channel relevant for photographers.

WordPress Photography Podcast – Now I am in the swing of building WordPress websites I have found this podcast an invaluable resource in helping me develop my knowledge of WordPress.

10 Essential Photography Accessories

Platypod – Describing the Platypod as a flat metal plate with a screw in it does not do this great accessory, which I am using more and more, justice.
DJI Osmo Mobile 2 – Movie quality (ish) video capture with a mobile phone is possible with this new version of the very clever DJI accessory which I am going to learn to use properly!

iPhone – The accessory of all things at all times in all places for all people – where would be without the iPhone?
Manfrotto Pixi – A tiny tripod that I take on trips instead of my grown up tripod that I use in conjunction with my Platypod which also works as a grip handle!
Pec Pads – The only thing that I use to clean the delicate parts of my camera, i.e. the exposed front and rear lens elements, along with everything else.

Eclipse Cleaning Solution – And this is the cleaning solution that goes with me everywhere that I put on my Pec Pads to clean anything and everything on my camera.
Loupe Viewer – I bought my Loupe viewer for less than £30 from Amazon and find it invaluable to help me view my screen especially in bright sunlight.
Leatherman – My go to multi function tool of choice that stays in my camera bag at all times apart from when I am flying somewhere and I luckily remember to put it in my checked luggage!

Apple Air Pods – My wonderful Bluetooth headphones that make long days out in the field go much better, also allowing me to take phone calls without having the inconvenience of having to get my phone out of my pocket!
My North Face Red Hat – My favourite hats (I actually have two of them) which have become something of a feature of my self image as these are the only hats I ever wear!

My top 10 Photography Gear things

Canon 6D – I have been using my Canon 6D faultlessly for 5 years now and my go to workhorse for my architectural photography work just keeps on going and going.

Canon 17- 40mm lens – This is the lens that I use for my commercial architectural photography work, just wide enough for authentic and realistic interior photos.
Olympus OM-D EM10 MKii – My new toy, this is the camera that I am using as I begin my journey into micro four thirds photography.
Olympus 12-40mm Pro – And this is the lens that I am using with this great little camera, which I used on a commercial architectural shoot and no one noticed!

Manfrotto Geared Head – I use this geared head for my commercial architectural photography work as I like the precision adjustment this gives me which help get everything level and vertical.
Peak Design Everyday Backpack – My go to camera bag, hand luggage and daily companion bag which goes in the boot my car every day whenever I go anywhere.
Three Legged Thing Corey – Another new toy for my micro four thirds photography venture is this wonderfully compact funky shiny new travel tripod which makes me smile when I use it.

Three Legged Thing Universal L bracket – The bit that fits between my micro four thirds camera and travel tripod allowing me to switch from landscape to portrait instantly without having to recompose.
Manfrotto 229 tripod head – The big old tripod head which has been in my garage for a awhile that I just could not sell on EBay which is clearly due to make a comeback!
Olympus OM-D EM5 MKii – The only thing on this list that I do not have yet is the camera that will be the contender to replace my Canon 6D should I take my micro four thirds journey into my commercial architectural photography work.

7 essential software programmes that I use

Lightroom Classic – Every photo I take is imported into Lightroom where they are sorted, filed, rated, edited and output with metadata added.
Photoshop – I use Photoshop to do the bits that I cannot do in Lightroom, which is mainly removing stuff from edited images using a small selection of tools.
Luminar – Lightroom is work, Luminar is the fun place where I play with photos and editing whilst I learn how to properly use this wonderful software.

Aurora HDR 2019 – Another bit of fun at the moment which I am playing around with to try and get different looks and styles to photos.
Excire Search Pro – This is the software I use to find images in Lightroom using the uber clever search based on analysing every photo in my Lightroom Catalogue.
Tailwind – This is the app that I use to quickly schedule my most important social media output on the Pinterest platform, saving me time and giving me great stats.

Photolemur – My first venture into artificial intelligence image processing which I am going to use for my travel photography images to save me time.

6 YouTube Channels

Income School – This is the YouTube channel that tells you how to build passive income websites which is a process I am working through at the moment – see the website section later for more info

Thomas Heaton – A English landscape photographer who has a really appealing style and a good old fashioned English sense of humour, as well as being a great photographer and videographer

Fro Knows Photo – The first YouTube channel I got into was this one created by Jared Polin, aka The For.

Rick McEvoy Photography – This is my first YouTube channel which contains a vast array of low quality videos taken by me of local places with the odd one of me talking to myself.

Paxos Travel Guide – This is the dedicated YouTube channel for my new travel photography website which is nearing completion at the time of writing this post.

Photos of Santorini – My other website has a YouTube channel with no videos on it at the time of writing – this is a job for the autumn,

10 Photography Books – yes I do read!

How Do I Do That in Lightroom? – This is the most excellent book by Scott Kelby which tells you on one page about doing one thing in Lightroom – perfect format!
How Do I Do That in Photoshop? – You might no be surprised to read that thus excellent book by Scott Kelby tells you on one page about doing one thing in Photoshop.

400 Photographs – The only book that I own by Ansel Adams, and a book that I love browsing, putting back on my bookshelf and picking up again days, weeks and months after without ever tiring of the content
The Photographers Eye – Unusual for me to have a book like this but it is an excellent exploration of one of the most important parts of photography, the seeing bit.
The Photographers Mind – And there is the thinking bit as well which compliments the book I mentioned above nicely.

Photoshop for Lightroom Users – I am a Lightroom user and I only use Photoshop when I have to, which is thankfully not that often, making this the perfect book for me.
Setting Up A Successful Photography Business – OK I have to be honest here and say that I have only dabbled in this book but have found some good stuff and am able to recommend it.
Best Business Practises for Photographers – A very useful reference book that I dip in and out of when I am looking for some direction or inspiration as I seek to develop my photography business.

Canon 6D Manual – Seriously, this book has been invaluable over the years and yes I have actually used it from time to time!
Olympus Manual – I have a new camera (more on this later) and I have started going through the manual from the very beginning in an attempt to actually learn how to use this camera properly!

21 Apps That I Use

Lightroom Mobile – All my photos are in Lightroom, and the ones that I sync to Lightroom Mobile I can access on my iPad and my iPhone, as well as on the web.

Evernote – I pay for the luxury of having Evernote synced to my phone, iPad and PC meaning I can add notes to one place any time, any place, anywhere.
The Photographers Ephemeris – This is an App which appears complicated and fiddly but with not a lot of practise tells you the important thing which is where the sun will rise/ set/ be at any time.
Canon Connect – This is the App that I use to connect my Canon 6D to my iPhone allowing me to take photos with my camera stuck on top of a painters’ pole amongst other things!

Olympus Image Share – This is the Olympus App for connecting my Olympus cameras to my iPhone, which I have just installed and connected the two bits together with as part of my journey into micro four thirds travel photography.
iPhone Camera App – Yes I use the standard camera app that comes with every iPhone as it is pretty impressive, as well as being versatile having video and portrait modes that I use all the time.
Podcast App – I listen to all those podcasts so need something to listen to them on which is where this very functional and reliable app comes in.

EBay – Yep the EBay is one that is getting a hammering especially at the moment as I am in the middle of a mass sale of unused photography gear.
Amazon – Now pretty much the default shopping App that I have on my iPhone and iPad which make spending money much too easy!
Pinterest – Pinterest is the most relevant social media channel as far as I am concerned and the app on my phone is dead handy, especially when paired with something I will mention shortly.

Instagram – The other social media app that I use to share my photos from 4 genres to the mass media bubble that is Instagram.
YouTube – Used to listen to videos when I am driving to be honest as I have never sat down and watched a YouTube video.
Linked In – The business social network where I have just gone straight to the famous folk and connected with them so they can see my weekly blog posts auto shared from my photography website.

Snapseed – I used Snapseed quite a lot to do quick edits of photos but I have got out of the habit of this since I became an avid content creator.
Google Drive – A new discovery that I am using to get videos from my iPhone seamlessly to my PC without any fuss or nonsense, and then I download them onto my hard drive where they enter my backup ecosystem.
Scannable – a great app for very quickly scanning stuff and saving it as a pdf on my phone.

Focus Keeper – Another new one, where I get a ticking clock in the background and an alarm after 25 minutes telling me to take a break – give it a go and you might be amazed by the results like I was first time I tried it!
Planet Rock – My go to Radio Channel, which I listen to every morning between 4.30 and 6.30 while I write and create content for my websites, and during the day when I am not listening to podcasts.
BBC Sport – An essential app for keeping me up to date with the football and crickets news wherever I am.

BBC News – Same as BBC Sport but for the news, I especially love the morning précis titled “In a hurry – what you need to know”
BBC Weather – Now I am not saying that this is the most accurate weather app, having experienced rain when the app was telling me there would be no rain!

10 Websites

Google – Of course, the go to search engine for most of the planet, and the search engine I work so hard to get excellent search results on for all my websites and blogs.

Camera Price Buster – When I am after some gear this is the website I go to first to check prices across the UK – a great timesaver but bad for my gear lust moments.

DP Review – This is the website I go to when I am considering buying a new camera or leans to see if there is a review of that particular item, and also what the review says (of course!).

Kelby One – I was a Kelby One member, and enjoyed the training that they provide, but since my ventures into website creation I have stopped learning about photography, which is a temporary status that will change this autumn.

Income School – Income School is dominating my content creation at the moment, which a member subscription website that offers step by step guidance on how to create niche websites that will (hopefully) generate a future passive income.

Improve Photography – Always one of my favourite websites (and podcast back in the day) which I ended up being a freelance writer for which was an excellent learning and global shop window experience.

BIPP – The website of my professional body, the British Institute of Professional Photography, which has some great information and that ever so important online find a photographer bit.

Google Analytics – I spend far too much time in Google Analytics seeing how many people have visited my various websites, how long they have been on there, what pages they have been looking at etc etc.

Paxos Travel Guide – https://paxostravelguide.com – Well I have too include my own websites in this section, Paxos Travel Guide is, well my travel guide to Paxos website.

Photos of Santorini – https://photosofsantorini.com – And my other photography website, Photos of Santorini, is about, well I am sure you can work that out for yourself!!!!

10 Lightroom Keyboard Shortcuts I Use All The Time

E – brings up the loupe view (full size image)
D – takes me to the develop module from where I am.
Control G – adds images into a stack – I use this all the time

G – takes me straight to the grid view from wherever I am
R – brings up the crop dialogue box, which is the first thing I do when I am editing an image
O – this neat shortcut cycles through the overlays in the crop module which I find very helpful with my composition

P – P for Pick adds a white flag to an image to provide a positive selection
X – X for reject – ok does not work as well as the previous one but is the other shortcut I use to reject images I do not want to keep
Shift Tab – I use this to quickly hide all the side panels giving me a lovely big image that fills my screen

N – N intuitively stands for survey mode, where I can compare similar photos and select the one image of choice out of that selection

10 Photography Blogs I Like

Lightroom Killer Tips – Blog created by Scott Kelby with great Lightroom tips published very regularly which are genuinely helpful

The Phoblographer – The Psychology of Creative Photography is the headline to describe this podcast, if only I could remember how to spell it!

The LawTog – A new one to me that is about law and photography which I am just getting into which is proving interesting!

Photography for Real Estate – Well this is the website for me, all about the work that I do, even though in the UK we call it architectural photography and not real estate photography!

Photofocus – The compliment to the Photofocus podcast is the Photofocus website – Education and Inspiration for Visual Storytellers – loving that!

Creative Live – According to the good folk at Creative Live their website is “Online classes in photography, art, design, craft & DIY, marketing, business, and entrepreneurship. Available on-demand 24-7”

Peta Pixel – One of the biggest and best photography blogs with an accompanying podcast – do you know where the name comes from though?

FStoppers – I am getting into my using websites own descriptions of how they describe themselves, so I might as well continue with FStoppers which is “a community based photography news website featuring the latest industry news and original articles from photographers and videographers”

DP Review – OK – I mentioned this one before, which does beg the question when is a blog a website and when is a website a blog?

Rick McEvoy Photography – Yeay – I had to include myself and my now global website https://rickmcevoyphotography.com, as if I don’t blow my own trumpet who else will?

And finally

Enjoy your photography!

Yes this really is the last thing, and one that it is too easy to forget, which I have certainly been guilty of in the past. As well as photographing buildings I am determined to do more stuff for myself, which will not only help me to improve but will also get me out and about to more nice places.

And I have to say that I am enjoying my new micro four thirds camera and all that comes with it.

Summary

I hope that you have enjoyed finding out 105 useful things about photography – each one a one liner of photographic inspiration.

OK – I know – I will stop there. I can get carried away some times, and that was one of those time I guess.

Please check out the other posts on my photography blog which have lots of in depth information in them on my main subjects which are

Architectural photography

Landscape Photography

Travel Photography

Micro Four Thirds Photography

And also please check out my two other websites which are

Paxos Travel Guide

Photos of Santorini

Last thing for now – please subscribe to my blog to get my weekly musings sent straight to you using the box on my home page!

Rick McEvoy Photography