First Blog: What Makes a Good Photo?

"What makes a good photo?"

It's a hard question. There is no right or wrong when talking about photography. There could be some 'better' photographs but those are still subjective evaluations of the majority. Everyone can have different opinions towards what is a good one. This used to be a hard question for me too since the moment I got into photography.

The first camera I had was the camera in my iPod touch. I was a 10 years old girl who liked to capture a moment of her life. Then, my father gave me my first DSLR camera. I enjoyed experimenting with different camera settings. Friends and families said that I was a good photographer. Over time, however, I realized that I was just a big fish in a small pond. There were so many people out there who liked to take photos and were better than me. I began to think about photography more seriously. I wanted to know what was different about them and what made their works special.

So, I went to Instagram to see the works of professional photographers. Their works had a great composition, good use of lighting, vivid colors, and so on. Interestingly, however, some of the works didn't seem so good. Some were too dark or had too much editing to it that seemed somewhat messy to me. At first, it was difficult to understand that people liked those kinds of photos but as I began to think about it, I realized something. Photography is just a matter of taste and style! After obtaining minimum photography skills, it is all about injecting one's own style into it.

Now, I'm a Junior at the University of Utah Asia Campus and I study Communications. I still enjoy taking photos and my friends still call me a photographer. I'm in the middle of my journey to find my own photography style. In this blog, I will show my works and give tips to obtain basic photography skills. With a bit an effort, everyone can be an amateur photographer. Just try! It will be fun!

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