 Every year around about now we start to see the shoots of bad photography by photographers who think that they are good because they look at it and they go look I create this work I must be a latent genius at this. So why do all these bad photographers think that they are so good? How's it? How's it? Let's talk a little bit today about why photographers are often prone to overestimating their abilities with a camera? When we kind of understand why this happens then you're going to be better placed to have a stronger grasp about your own actual abilities with a camera. You're going to avoid falling into this trap of letting your ego get in the way of the real development in your photography. The reason so many bad photographers think that they are good is illustrated by what's been going on in the last few years because we have been living through probably one of the greatest examples of the phenomenon that we're going to look at today. We've all seen it you know when somebody reads an article about what's been going on in the world and then suddenly that they have all the answers that it is so simple how could they not be an expert in this because they they got just the tiniest bit of information fed to them through an article that they read and they don't realize just how much about that subject that they don't actually know. You're probably familiar with this and of course it's called the Dunning Kruger effect. Falling prey to it doesn't mean that you are stupid it's just simply a natural human quirk. In 1995 a five foot six 270 pound bank robber walked into two banks in Pittsburgh in broad daylight. He just sauntered up to the teller he made no attempt to hide his face at all he wasn't wearing a mask he pointed a gun at them and just simply asked for the money and walked out. Later that night the police made sure that the footage from those robberies was broadcast on the local news and rather obviously within minutes people had identified the bank robber as MacArthur Wheeler and the police went to go and arrest him. The reason all of this happened was that Wheeler he knew that lemon juice could be used as an invisible ink and he wanted to test his idea that would make his face invisible to the cameras so he put on some lemon juice and squirted all over his face and he went out the back garden and snapped a selfie with his polaroid and lo and behold there was no face in the image so he went off to go and rob a bank as you would. Now the police were never really able to figure out just how there was no face in the photograph that Wheeler had snapped but they came to the conclusion that he was probably no more competent as a photographer than he was as a bank robber. Eventually this story came to the attention of Danny Dunning who along with Justin Kruger embarked on a series of experiments which led to the formation of the Dunning Kruger effect. It's a graph that looks much like this with photographers you know we start right at the beginning then you know pick up a camera and we learn one or two things about exposure and we think that because that was so quick and easy how difficult is it to become a great photographer so their expectation of this build or the way they perceive their skill set is vastly overestimated and they think within their heads that it's taken them just a few days to master exposure and to to conquer composition and for a lot of photographers this is where they stay but after you crest that hump and you go into the valley beyond you start to realize that the more that you know the more that you realize how much you don't know and you get a better understanding of your own abilities with a camera much like a lot of people in the early 20s I thought I had a latent talent to be a genius with a camera because you know I spent a few years at photo school so I knew it all I didn't need teachers to teach me anything you know as far as I was concerned the old adage was true that those who can do and those who can't teach classic Dunning Kruger effect had it you know been coined then I knew a small amount a tiny bit and I vastly overestimated my abilities as a photographer because I was not aware of how bad I was I was closed off to critique I I thought that anybody who said anything different about my work just they didn't understand how good I was so as a photographer it's a really good idea that you have an understanding of where you are on this graph this will help you to not only know whose advice is helpful but also who's well who's isn't one of the great traps that photographers fall into especially in the modern world is going to places online looking for inspiration looking for advice you're looking for feedback on their images and being given feedback by people who think they know more than they do and you know and unfortunately that falls under the realm of bad advice you know and it's bad advice because the people giving it don't know any better and I'm sure there's a scientist or a psychologist somewhere who's doing a study about how people who don't have good advice to share share more advice or something something like that so what can you do to make sure that you don't fall prey to being a victim of the Dunning Kruger effect in your photography well firstly having brazen confidence in something is is great because it gives you a boost a kick start at the beginning gives you enthusiasm to actually get started on this journey which really doesn't have an end there isn't a goal in mind it's just we are on this journey for the for the love of it I used to play a game called world of tanks and I must have played that game for like 10 years grinding through all the tanks and the word grinders is is certainly applicable here and at the beginning when I first picked up the game if somebody told me there would take me 10 years to get some of the tanks unlocked I don't think I would have ever just continued playing it because the idea of how long it would take would just be overwhelming so during that initial rush immediate excitement about photography the quick wins and stuff they're great so you should celebrate them they are they are there for a purpose they they keep you going they keep you motivated and they get you hooked on photography as much as I was hooked on to to world of tanks and they make you feel like you know you have conquered everything that everything is is easy to do and that you know and that you're going to grow so much quicker you know as you always do but obviously then it becomes a slower process and it's a normal and completely understandable reaction to the beginning of this journey the big danger of course is to stop is to stop and go well I know everything now so I'm just going to leave it at that I'm just going to be static in my photography because I'm so good I'm so good at photography I don't really need to improve because I know everything think about some of the photographs that you've taken over the course of your photographic journey are there any that you look back at now and you just kind of go wow those are awful well that's a good thing because this is a sure sign that you are growing as a photographer that you are able to recognize that you weren't actually that great back then at the end of this video I'm going to link to the very first episode of the photographic eye that I ever uploaded because I thought that video at the time was was amazing and now look back at it and it's like oh not so good but it gave me the confidence to keep going to keep learning and to create videos for people like yourself to enjoy and to take on for your bank you know like people mentioned the the comment sections about the the background music so I do listen and I do take on critique now critique is a thorny subject it can be something that a lot of people are quite wary of but it's probably one of the most important things to your development as a photographer and and to stop being a bad photographer I'm sure this has happened to you possibly at some point online you know when you get somebody who's asking for feedback about their photography and they might have a throwaway comment saying like well well I don't need any feedback about my exposure because I know exposure my exposures are spot on they're perfect and then you look at the photograph and you sort of go um well your exposure isn't right I can see what you're trying to do but your exposure isn't correct for what it is you're trying to do and you point that out to them and they they get really or do they get upset the guy don't need you to tell me about exposure and how dare I didn't ask for help with my exposure because it's I don't need any help and you may recognize the voice of experience and then it's like you're trying to help people and and they don't want to know this is a classic example of of the people who remain bad photographers because they're so blind to how much they don't know so feedback needs to be sometimes difficult to hear and the reason that it can be difficult to hear is because deep down deep down you know that the things that are being given as feedback if they're if they're hard to process that they're probably the things that you need to work on the most there is of course of course there is a huge difference between nasty trolling comments just for the sake of being nasty and spiky and constructive criticism if constructive criticism makes you feel uncomfortable if it touches that nerve about your own photography of course that's a good thing as we mentioned so you'll know where you are going to make the improvements and having these constructive feedback you know given on your images is one of the best things that you can do the feedback that I get from the image critiques that I run for the Patreon supporters of the channel and I'll link to that in the description box below is amazing you know the people they they offer up the photographs and getting beneficial ideas about how to improve their photography had to polish their own ideas is really helping them to push on their photography and refine their own vision and photography somebody who's giving you critique and feedback who says well I would have done it this way and you should do it this way because that's the way I did it isn't really giving you feedback you must be mindful about who it is that you look to for advice if you find that asking for feedback or you know some constructive criticism is is a bit scary and it can be especially when you are new and you're kind of also new to the process of being given feedback then something you can do is to make sure that you don't remain comfortable in your photography that you don't just go through the motions photographing the same thing in the same way the whole time because well because it works for you and because you know that that's the way I've always done it that's where the problem comes in that you become static so I'd like you to challenge yourself to try and photograph things for yourself in ways that are slightly uncomfortable for you you know to keep learning to keep pushing yourself forward you know it's like that that old adage about the you know doing the push-ups that is not the thousand push-ups that you do that make the difference but it's the 1000 and first push-up that really makes the difference so that's kind of what this is all about that is it's the little things always always always moving on that photo student that I was telling you about in 1995 he stopped and thought he knew everything so he just you know didn't ever push on his photography and if I look back at the body work that I created over that sort of 10 15 year period it all feels quite samey you know that that's I kind of went well this is my style so you know I don't need to change my style and it was only really maybe in the last sort of 15 years or so that I have evolved a little bit as a photographer because I have what nowadays I have access to the internet I have access to more photographers and discussion about photography in a wider sense you know not just on on technical tutorials and things like that so I can talk to people I can talk to you know people like yourself who leave you know comments in in on the videos talking about people and photographers who I've never heard of that that you know that there are people who give me inspiration to discover new things this joy of learning is what drives the channel and this is what helped me improve my photography and it will help you improve yours as well and just by the virtue of watching these videos that you know you are taking on this challenge of improving the way that you think about photography there is a little brief caveat to all of this and that is that you need to just be mindful online falling into the trap of thinking that fashionable things you know are good photography I'm sure there are lots of photographers on Instagram who get lots of likes on their images and because of this they think that they are are good photographers but all they do really is they're just riding a wave of popularity because of a of a certain style you know a few years ago it was it was you know shooting through you know those prism pieces of glass and lots of cross-processing which you know the style that keeps coming around and these days you know it's very shallow depth of field and things like that now that's you know that's probably a classic example of somebody who does something in an echo chamber that they think then makes them a good photographer and that's the end of it that they don't need to push it on they don't need to explore and develop their photography further so while we all from time to time well you know indulge in fashionable effects and this is the person who used to do slots of sloppy borders and grunge texture layers on his images you know don't think that they are a replacement for learning and developing a you know a growth in your photography it is vitally important that you understand how much you don't know about photography because when you understand that you don't know everything about photography at least then you are open to learning that you are open to developing yourself as a photographer and and I mentioned before this channel has been fantastic at doing this for me and and even if you don't really kind of ever leave a comment or something like that go through read the comments especially on videos like this where people talk about other photographers that are worth looking at worth you know learning from because this is how we improve you know this is how we can always be growing as artists the next time that you are looking at your photographs that you have taken you know you could have been out on a landscape session or something like that think about how you can improve those images you know enjoy them that's you know because ultimately they're made for you if you like them or not it's kind of really the main point here but if you do think this photograph is the best photograph I've ever taken so this is this is great that's that's awesome that's fantastic but don't rest on your laurels look at that photograph there and think okay well I really this is this is great okay but what can I do what can I do to improve it that's something that you should always be asking don't ever think there is such a thing as a perfect photograph by all means celebrate your your wins but keep on keeping moving on one of the ways that I overcome my own complacency in photography and and and stop myself being comfortable is that during those critique sessions with the people who support me on patreon I also include some of my own photography and I found that it's extremely worthwhile to critique my work publicly with other people because I then talk about it in a way that I don't self oh I don't internalize the the the discussion because when you internalize the discussion it can be you can sort of just blur things out so having to talk about my images with someone really helps me you know pick them apart find out what's wrong because then I notice things that I didn't at the time and and that's an interesting sort of concept that you know if you can find somebody to talk to about your photography who's whose opinion you obviously you value then talking about your photographs in a critical way is going to pay you so many dividends and to stop you being that photographer who is not aware of the the the lack of ability and how much they can improve I would I'm going to enlist your help I'm going to ask for your help right if you are seeing somebody who is on that initial climb up and they they they they seem like the person who's eager to learn who wants to to move forward then say to them hey look I know right now it feels like you know it all that that's you know that you think you're great but you can do so much more to improve give them suggestions about how they can you know move their photography forward you know talk to them about your places you know like the channel here and books that have been helpful for you or photographers who you think they may enjoy let's let's get those people let's let's help them and nurture them nurtures the great word actually we're going to nurture we're going to nurture those photographers to get over that him to to discover this wonderful valley that's beyond that hill where they will grow so much better because well first of all there's less photographers there you know and there's more sunshine there's more resources to go around so you know let's put a sign already goes and just be open to learning so back in November 2020 I did that video about Richard Aberdon and at the time I thought it was wow it was this is amazing right so I'd love you go and have a look I'm going to link to over here and and see what you think thanks again once so thanks again once thanks again so much again thanks again again again this is thank you for being here and I'll see you again soon