5 Unusual Habits of Successful Photographers

The best photographers have a process. A workflow. They’ve developed habits that enable them to produce consistently high-quality pictures, almost every time. Some of those habits may seem a bit unusual to the rest of us.

What can you learn by examining the habits and processes of the world’s best photographers?

Consider the principles behind their habits and develop your own useful photography habits. This will enable you to get consistently better pictures and enjoy the art of photography more.

Listed here are 5 very different photographers. Each with unusual habits that you can learn from. Some are positive examples and some teach us what not to do.

What they have in common is beautiful, creative photography. They’re some of the best photographers of their generation.

Here are 5 unusual habits of 5 successful photographers. Learning from these habits can benefit all of us, regardless of the camera you use.

Let’s start with someone often spoken of as one of the best photographers of the twentieth century.

Henri Cartier Bresson

Habit: Look at contact sheets upside down

Few photographers have contributed to the art of photography as much as Henri Cartier Bresson. He was a pioneer of street photography and was skilled at combining elements of the picture to create what he called the “decisive moment”. His timing of when to shoot was unmatched. His eye for geometric design in a photo was unique.

Cartier Bresson was a French photographer who was first trained as a painter. He turned to photography when he saw a picture that captured an instant when the subject, composition, and gesture expressed the feeling of the moment. He saw photography as a way of painting pictures instantly.

Cartier Bresson saw components of the picture as geometric elements that combine to capture our interest and attention. He used his experience in surrealist painting when composing his images. The composition was everything.

One habit that he developed was to view his prints or contact sheets upside down. A contact sheet was a print taken from all the negatives lying flat on the paper, so you could see a thumbnail image of all the pictures taken on that roll of film. Then you could choose which picture to print and how to crop it if needed.

Why did he view it upside down?

Viewing the image upside down is a teaching method used by both photographers and painters. It helps the artist to see if the image has the right proportions and balance. Viewing the image normally, our brain looks to the subject and doesn’t notice the negative space around it, or the balance of the other shapes in the picture. When you train your eye to see that way, your pictures will improve.

📱 📷 Good for all cameras

You can use this habit to improve your photography regardless of the camera you have. You might use your smartphone or a more advanced camera. This habit is all about improving your composition skills and being more objective when you choose which pictures to print.

You can view single images upside down on your computer or make a digital contact sheet with Adobe Lightroom (or the app of your choice). Printing a contact sheet is even better.

The next time you take pictures, your composition skill within the frame will have improved.

William Eggleston

Habit: Insect view

You may or may not have heard the name William Eggleston but you probably have seen some of his pictures. He is an American photographer, highly admired by many and criticized by some. His color photography built his reputation as an innovator in the 1960s and 70s.

Eggleston was, at first, inspired by Henri Cartier Bresson. Later he developed his own style of shooting everyday objects and places, in a way that gave us a different view of the ordinary.

He once said, “I am at war with the obvious” because he photographed obvious things in our lives. He photographed everyday places and things in a way that was both ordinary and, mysterious.

You may like his work, or you may not. But one of his habits can teach us a fresh approach to photography, Point of view.

In this well-known image of a tricycle in front of a house, Eggleston shot very low to the ground to exaggerate the size of the tricycle. He called this an “insect’s view” or a “child’s view”.

Today many photographers use a similar technique to give us a fresh view of something we are familiar with.

📱 📷 Good for all cameras

Whether you use your smartphone or a more advanced camera, selecting a different point of view can improve your photography.

When approaching a familiar subject, position your camera down low and look up towards the subject. Try different angles. Shoot from below looking up, or from above looking down. By seeing the subject from a different angle, it will take on a new significance in the picture.

Vivian Maier

Habit: Photos never shared

Vivian Dorothy Maier (February 1, 1926 — April 21, 2009) spent most of her spare time taking pictures of the people and architecture of Chicago. She took over 150,000 pictures in her lifetime. She was a brilliant photographer that never shared or published her work. In fact, she never printed many of her negatives.

This is unusual for such a dedicated and talented photographer.

She worked for over 40 years as a nanny and spent her spare time walking the streets with her camera and taking pictures. She has a surprising life story, as you can see in the documentary “Finding Vivian Maier”.

In 2007, two years before she died, Maier failed to keep up with her payments for a storage locker, and so the contents of the locker were up for auction. Three photo collectors: John Maloof, Ron Slattery, and Randy Prow bought the contents of the locker including negatives, prints, audio recordings, and 8mm movie film.

John Maloof, who bought most of her work, could not find any information about the photographer. Finally, a Google search found an obituary in April 2009.

📱 📷 Good for all cameras

What can we learn from this unusual habit of keeping her photos private? Share your photos! Especially if you enjoy photography and take pictures as your personal expression.

With today’s digital cameras, it is especially easy to keep our photos on the computer and not share them. Maybe we fear the opinions of other people. Don’t let that stop you! There are other people out there who will appreciate your artistic vision. But they won’t see it if you keep it hidden.

Ernst Haas

Habit: Blurred motion

Ernst Haas (March 2, 1921 — September 12, 1986) was not afraid of blurry pictures. He used it as part of his art. He knew his craft well enough that he could control what was sharp and what was not.

In 1956 he took photos of a bullfight in Pamplona, Spain. There wasn’t enough light for a high shutter speed with the Kodachrome film he preferred, so the images were blurry. Ernst knew that and took pictures that would show the movement and excitement of the bullfight.

When he submitted his photos of the bullfight to Life magazine, the lab responded by telling him they couldn’t use any of the pictures. They were too blurry. Life ended up publishing a 12 page spread in the magazine.

Haas believed in “transforming an object from what it is to what you want it to be.” That meant showing movement and the feeling of the moment, rather than just a documentary approach to his photography.

📱 📷 Good for all cameras

You can do this too! Regardless of the camera you use, you can selectively choose to make a blurry picture sometimes. Will it always work out? No, but that doesn’t matter. The images that turn out will be unique and expressive.

Learn how to pan the camera, following the moving subject in low light. You will see the blur in the picture but the subject will be sharper than the blur.

Ansel Adams

Habit: Pre-Visualization

Ansel Adams (February 20, 1902 — April 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist who became famous for his pictures of Yosemite National Park and other locations.

He used a very large camera with film that measured 8x10 inches (20x25 cm). The camera could only hold one piece of film for one picture. So he had to be very careful taking the picture.

Around 1939–1940, Adams and portrait photographer Fred Archer developed a system for managing the photographic process with consistent results. They called it the Zone System. It divided the different brightness levels in a black-and-white photo into 10 zones. Zone 0 was completely black and Zone 10 completely white. Everything in between was different shades of gray.

The way you develop Black and White film and paper can change the contrast of an image. The levels of gray can be brighter or darker. So the Zone System enabled Ansel Adams to decide the exposure needed and how to develop the film and paper for a well-balanced image before he even took the picture.

He called this “Pre-Visualization”. He imagined the result, including any adjustments he might make, before he took the picture.

📱 📷 Good for all cameras

Can you use the same principle with your photography? You may not be using black and white film and chemicals, but you have a set of digital tools to produce your image.

Even completely automatic cameras and smartphones allow some control of exposure. The adjustments and filters available in Adobe Lightroom or the Apps on your phone give you a lot of control over the final result.

Get to know how to control your camera. Become familiar with the digital tools for editing. Then “Pre-Visualize” your pictures and imagine amazing results before even taking the picture.

In Summary

We’ve examined 5 unusual habits of some very successful photographers. Meditate on the reasons for those habits and how you can apply those same principles to your photography.

Henri Cartier Bresson looked at his images upside down and trained other photographers to do the same. It trains the eye to see the elements and balance of the picture. We can do that too.

William Eggleston found unique ways of looking at the ordinary things and places in our lives. It helps the viewer see the art in everyday life. We can learn to view our own neighborhoods differently.

Vivian Maier lived for many years developing skills as a photographer and expressing her own vision of the people and city where she lived. But she never shared her work. Only after her death was she recognized for her contribution to photographic art. We should share our photos more while we develop our own photographic vision.

Ernst Haas was a genuine artist with a camera. He used motion blur to express the feeling of the moment and gave us permission to be creative. We can learn not to be afraid of motion blur but to use it as an expressive tool.

Ansel Adams achieved near technical perfection while maintaining an artistic vision. He used Pre-Visualization and workflow methods to control the final result. We can learn more about our equipment and digital tools to create more predictable results.

One parting recommendation for you.

Learn more about the heritage of photography and the great photographers who created such beautiful images with limited equipment and process.

Today there is too much attention on the tools we have, and less attention on the creation of our art.

Focus on your art. It will feed your soul.