In 2004 I found the photography site on the internet called, Naturephotographers.net, which is still online today. I was new to nature photography and was looking for guidance in macro photography from those who were more experienced. With my very first image posted on the site, I was offered help on a few things I was doing wrong, and I was on my way to making better images.
By hanging out at Naturephotographers.net, I was getting ideas for subject matter, ways of composing, and watching how other photographers were post processing their images. It was a great learning experience, and I'm still learning from viewing other photographer's work.
I always tell photographers to get online and join photo groups and get involved in these communities to gain more knowledge and inspiration from viewing other photographer's work. If you ask for help, many of these photographers are happy to help.
As long as photography has been around, photographers have looked at the images of more experienced, or pro photographers, and tried to emulate their works. Ansel Adams is a perfect example of this as photographers flock to Yosemite to capture the exact same images they saw in his books.
Some would say this is not good, because you are copying other photographers work, but I think when you are starting out you need this to help you understand composition, and learning your tech skills. As you progress you can start to develop your own style.
I have evolved over the years with my macro photography, but I still draw inspiration from images I see by other macro photographers, and just like those photographers going to Yosemite to capture the images they viewed from Adams, I try to capture my own version of ideas I've gotten from some of my favorite macro photographers.
One of my macro buddies, Kim Ritzema Mettler captured a backside of a Trillium flower that I was very impressed with, and I wanted to try and capture my own version of the idea. I don't feel I did it as well as Kim did with hers, but I'm happy with my own version (see below).
One thing I always like to do is give credit to the photographer that gave me the idea for an image I produced, as it was not my original idea, and I think that we should give credit where credit is do.
Even if you do develop your own unique style of photography, expect that you will have other photographers wanting to produce similar images. That's gives you validation that you have grown in your photography to the point that people want to emulate your works. Some say it's a compliment to your work.
Get online and each day study the better photographers, and learn from what they are doing. Go to my website and view the images, see if you can come up with your versions of any of mine.
