1. Clean Your Gear
Admit it, you’re either a constant clean freak or you let things lapse. Most people fall into one of those general categories. If you are the former, then you may joyfully skip on to the next suggestion, but if you don’t clean your gear that often, now is a good time to give it the once and twice over.
For a once over, just take any old clean, damp rag and run it over your camera body, external parts of lenses, camera bag, tripod, flash gear, etc…. Get the dust and grime of what is likely the past year off most major surfaces. Then it’s time for the twice over, a more intense cleaning. For this you will need an array of cleaning tools such as cotton tip swabs, a toothbrush and some form of diluted soapy water. Now take a slow look over that camera body (with lens or body cap firmly in place) and get the dirt out of all the little cracks and grooves. You’ll be amazed at how dirty the toothbrush gets (and please make sure it’s an old toothbrush). A small buffing rag will help with the LCD. The swabs will clear up your eye piece and in general your camera will be much happier.
Continue on to the other gear, remembering to put some grease in the joints of your tripod if need be and especially so if you work around salt water. When done, let it all dry out before repacking. If you’re feeling adventurous, keep the camera body out for a sensor cleaning.
2. Clean Your Sensor
This task isn’t for the faint of heart. Be forewarned, this suggestion is best left to a professional camera shop if you have ANY trepidation at all about what is to be performed. The task itself is pretty straight forward, however, the risk is real that you can cause damage to your camera’s sensor.
This topic can get fairly long winded and luckily there is a great site describing all manner of equipment, techniques and troubleshooting tips on cleaning your sensor. That site is www.cleaningdigitalcameras.com. Learning to do simple brush cleanings yourself does have its benefits. With proper knowledge in hand you can quickly clean your sensor in the field when you may be more than a few days away from a professional camera shop. (learn more on How to Avoid a Dirty DSLR Image Sensor).
3. Clean Out Your Photo Storage
Chances are you have more than a few gigabytes of images stored on your computer or on disc some place. All unneeded images not only take up space, they cost money. The more you store, the more discs you will have to buy over time (or an external storage array) and the more you’ll have to backup. Keeping your image storage lean and mean also helps in the amount of time searches are performed as well as how fast indexing operations run. More data always equals more time.
So use a bit of time now to save time later. Organize your images and cut out the bad, sorta bad images. If you actually go back often and use that last category, then let them be. But if that pile has only gotten bigger over time, it’s time to let it go. It’s hard to do, but deleting all those near duplicates and semi-blurred images will save you time, frustration and money down the road.
Be ruthless. If you don’t have a specific project or a proper manner in which to keyword or tag a particular image, dump it. It does take time so pace yourself. But the time you spend does pay back a little. It’s the same as buying 2 100GB discs (one for the storage and one for the backup) from all that freed space.
4. Ask For Some Critiques
There are wonderful forums for photo critiquing. You can ask for honest judgment on how others accept your work and what might be done to improve the shot. And it’s a great way to learn, not only from your own shots but from reading past threads.
5. Research Your Next Shoot
Since you’re not outside right now shooting, where WOULD you like to be right now? Start planning your next shooting trip, whether it is to a neighbor’s garden or a three week trip across the world. Now is the best time to plan and start the research. Flickr.com is always a great place to start image searches. Just type in your anticipated locale and see what inspiration jumps off the screen.
With the location in mind, make a budget to get you there. Research shows you are far more likely to obtain a goal if you take the time to write it out and keep it where you are constantly reminded. Maybe take one of the images you found and print it out with a simple budget below so you know your goal. Whatever you need to keep yourself reminded of where you’d really love to be shooting right now, do it. Don’t envy other photographers for where they have traveled, follow what you want to do and find a way to make it a reality.
6. Service Your Car
Now this one might not seem the least bit photography related, but it is. If you depend on a car to get you to where you photograph, or to the airport so you can get to where you want to be, then you owe it to yourself to keep your car running well. And it’s easy. Just check your vital fluids; brake, engine oil, engine coolant, automatic transmission, washer fluid. Then check your tire pressure, tire wear (this is as simple as looking at the tire for any obvious damage) and air filter. When you have a bit more time, take your car into a shop to have the oil changed, brakes checked and your battery tested. Most people forget the battery in their car is not exactly the same as the AA batteries in some cameras. It needs maintenance like other car parts otherwise it will leave you stranded.
7. Do some Photography Anyway
Don’t let a rainy day slow you down. Even if you don’t feel like trudging through the rain, umbrella in hand, to take some pictures, there are still plenty of things you can do to advance your digital photography skills.
