Hi everybody! This is a place for you all to come and discuss ideas, get help and share your expertise.

There will be those of you out there that are on the brink of leaving your job and going professional with your photography. Those that have already can help a great deal to speak to, this is the place to talk about all matters to help you take the plunge :)

Practice makes perfect! The more you practice, the more familiar you will become with your camera and lighting setups. Ask for help! We have a wonderful and very helpful network of photographers in Norfolk that are usually more than willing to help their expertise. Take your time. Sometimes the perfect shot takes a while to compose. Try different settings on your camera, try changing the settings on the lights. There is no rush :) Make your shots editable. When taking photographs it’s important to think ahead to what you then want to do with them. If you plan to edit them, it’s best to shoot in raw mode. Raw image files are the digital equivalent of a negative: they are not directly usable as an image in themselves, but have all of the information needed to create an image. Raw files capture all the image data recorded by your camera’s sensor rather than compressing it, giving you more control in the processing phase. Try different positions. When taking photographs try varying your position to get a more interesting range of shots. It’s good to get shots from different angles, heights and perspectives. So remember to move around when taking photographs. This will enable you to change the balance between foregrounds and backgrounds and also cut out of the shots anything you don’t like. Keep it clean. Whatever camera equipment you have, it’s really important to keep it clean. If your camera lens is dirty or smudged you will end up with blurry photos. So make sure that you clean your lens regularly and always keep a cloth and lens cleaning solution in your camera bag. Research. Look at what other photographers have done, look at magazines, websites and Youtube videos. You will have an idea of what you like already but researching will help teach you how to achieve what you want. Take photos regularly. Try to photograph something every day. If you can’t do that, make sure you take time to practice regularly, so you don’t forget what you’ve learned. Enjoy the learning process. The best part of having a hobby like photography is never running out of things to learn. Inspiration is all around you. Look at everything with the eyes of a photographer and you’ll see opportunities you never noticed before. Its okay to mess it up! This is digital photography, delete and retake. We learn by our mistakes so getting it wrong is actually getting it right!