Most photography advice focuses on technique — how to get perfectly exposed, pin-sharp photographs. 

But sound technique is the foundation of good photography, not the pinnacle.

To improve, most photographers don’t need better technique; they need better taste.

What is Artistic Taste

Put simply, artistic taste is the personal, subjective ability to make judgments about the aesthetic value of art.

It is a step up from simply identifying something as pretty to understanding why it’s pretty.

While art itself is deeply subjective, aesthetics — the philosophical study of beauty in nature and art — tends to follow a series of recurring patterns and principles that feel more universal. These include balance, order, emphasis, and repetition, to name but a few.

Artistic taste is what helps us recognise these principles in practice. It allows us to understand when to apply them, how to use them, and when to disregard them completely.

It is the bridge between simply seeing something as beautiful… and truly understanding the nature of its beauty.

Why is it Important?

Most landscape photographers are interested, in one way or another, in capturing the beauty of the natural world. So, if beauty is what we are trying to photograph, it helps to have a basic understanding of what it is. 

Developing a sense of artistic taste helps us spot potential. It trains us to recognise moments, relationships and patterns that others might overlook. And it helps us represent that beauty more effectively in our photographs.

In short, what separates the great photographers from the merely good is so often a question of taste.

How Can You Cultivate It?

Like any skill, artistic taste can be developed.

The first step is to spend more time studying good work. Not just photography, but paintings, sculpture, films... The more time you spend around good art, the more instinctively you begin to recognise beauty when you see it. 

The second step is to allow yourself to be inspired by it. As Austin Kleon wrote in his book, Steal Like an Artist:

“What a good artist understands is that nothing comes from nowhere.”

Cultivating artistic taste is little more than recognising beauty in someone else’s work and applying it to your own. 

Over time, as you borrow ideas from more and more sources, they begin to merge and evolve into something that feels unique.

Or, as actor and comedian Steven Wright once put it:

“To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.”

Most photographers don’t need better technique; they need better taste.

It shapes what we notice and how we respond. Without it, we struggle to look beyond the obvious — confined to following the herd and repeating cliché.

In that sense, artistic taste is not a vague creative luxury, but the very essence of good photography.

Because before you can make beautiful photographs, you first have to recognise what beauty looks like.