Outdoor Photography How To

We've all felt this way as photographers. You start off knowing very little about photography but then with some instruction, some practice, and some simple trial and error, you start to see improvement. You may even see dramatic improvement with your photos. (And who doesn't like getting tons of "likes" on Instagram?)

But then, at some point, the improvement stops, and you start to feel like you're getting stuck in a rut. Photographer Mark Denney has been down that road already and in the below video he discusses some of the reasons people feel they're not getting better as photographers.

According to Denney, it not because you're not practicing enough or because you can't take constructive criticism or because you are too obsessed with your gear. The way he explains it, it's about "the perceived illusion of improving one's photography."

"When you first get started with photography you see huge gains in your photographic improvement in a relatively short amount of time, but as time progresses it can feel as if you're no longer progressing at the rate that you once were, thus creating the illusion that you're not as skilled as you think you should be," he says. "But, I've come to the conclusion that this is all just a big mind game that doesn't take into account the actual facts of the matter - let me explain."

In the video below, Denney discusses a common struggle he hears from many new photographers.

"You see one of the main things that motivates us in anything that we do is when we experience progress or improvement within a specific activity, but when our perception of our improvement begins to diminish well that can lead to feelings that our skillset as photographers is diminishing," he says. "However, recognizing the main points covered in this video will certainly squash these types of misconceptions with regards to your photographic improvement."

Check it out below and then go visit and subscribe to his excellent YouTube channel.