Turn Off Your LCD - Better Photos... Now!

One of the main reasons for shooting digital instead of film is the ability to instantly review the photos you just took. With film, you don't really know if you got the shot until you get the film and prints back from the lab. With digital, you just look at the back of the camera the instant you take the photo and you're able to see your composition, histogram and highlights/shadows. Once in a while it's a good idea to just turn your LCD off.

Why would you turn your LCD screen off? What benefit could possibly be realized by losing the ability to review your photos? Let me throw a few out there and see what you think.

When you can't instantly review your photos, you're going to be forced to think about things like composition and exposure a little more carefully. Without an instant review of your photos, you'll probably take a bit more time while composing your photos. When you take more time, you start to notice little things that you might have initially missed when composing your photo.

When you slow down, you'll probably also start to pay attention to other parts of your camera that you might not have looked at before. How's your exposure? How about your focus? Is your shutter speed suitable for your shooting conditions? All of these things are very easy to quickly check without ever taking your eye from the viewfinder, but how often do you actually check them? When you can just look at the back of your camera to see how the photo looks, I'd bet the answer is "not very often".

When you slow down and aren't looking at your viewfinder after every shot, you're more likely to be more engaged with your subject as well. If you're a landscape photographer, the trees and mountains probably don't really mind if you ignore them, but if you're a portrait photographer, your subjects might like some attention. I'm not suggesting you shoot an entire portrait session without reviewing your photos, but it might be nice to spend 5 or 10 minutes just shooting and not worrying what the photos look like. Chances are, if you can get your exposure set, you'll get some great expressions while you're interacting with your subject instead of checking the back of your camera every few shots.

Read all of my DSLR tips here.