The Fresh Start Photo Audit: What to Keep, What to Ditch in 2026
New year, fresh start, clean slate—except your photo approach is carrying forward the same problems from 2025.
You're still using setups that frustrate you. Still holding onto equipment you never touch. Still following advice that doesn't apply to your actual needs. Still second-guessing photos that are already good enough to post.
January is the perfect time for a photo audit. Not a guilt trip about what you're doing wrong—a practical evaluation of what's actually working versus what's wasting your time.
Here's what to keep, what to ditch, and how to start 2026 with a photo strategy that actually serves you.
Audit Your Setups
Start with the photo setups you've been using. Not the ones you think you should use or the ones that look impressive on Instagram—the ones you actually rely on when you need photos.
Keep: Setups that consistently work. If you have one window light setup that produces decent product photos every single time, that's a keeper. If you have one outdoor spot that gives you good results without fussing, protect that setup. Consistency beats variety when you need reliable results.
Ditch: Setups you dread. If you have a complicated lighting arrangement that requires 20 minutes of setup and still produces inconsistent results, stop using it. If there's a background or location you keep trying because it "should" work but never does, let it go. Dreading the process guarantees you won't do it consistently.
Keep: Simple, repeatable processes. The easier your setup, the more likely you'll actually use it. If you can execute a setup in under 10 minutes and get professional-looking results, that's worth keeping even if it's not the most creative approach.
Ditch: Elaborate setups that require perfect conditions. If your favorite setup only works during golden hour on cloudless days when the wind isn't blowing, it's not practical. Non-togs need setups that work on a random Tuesday afternoon when you suddenly need photos, not setups that require coordinating weather and lighting schedules.
Most people keep using frustrating setups out of guilt or habit. Permission to stop: if it doesn't work consistently, it's not serving you.
Audit Your Equipment
Look at the photography equipment you own. All of it—cameras, lenses, tripods, lights, reflectors, props, backgrounds, everything.
Keep: Equipment you use regularly. If you reach for it at least once a month, it's earning its space. Your phone camera counts. That one cheap tripod you use constantly counts. The basic reflector that lives in your shooting space counts.
Ditch: Gear you're keeping "just in case." That lens you bought two years ago and used twice? The backdrop you thought you'd need but never set up? The lighting kit collecting dust because it's too complicated? If you haven't touched it in six months, you're not going to start using it in 2026.
Keep: Tools that solve actual problems. If a simple tripod eliminates blurry photos, keep it. If a white poster board bounces light into shadows effectively, keep it. Practical solutions beat impressive equipment.
Ditch: Equipment you bought to "level up." You bought it because someone said serious photographers need it, not because you had a specific problem it solved. If owning it hasn't changed your results, sell it or donate it. Someone else might actually use it.
The goal isn't minimalism for minimalism's sake. It's eliminating the mental clutter of owning things you don't use but feel guilty about ignoring.
Audit Your Learning
Think about all the photography advice, courses, tutorials, and tips you've consumed. What's actually improved your results versus what's made you feel inadequate?
Keep: Advice that solved specific problems. If you learned one lighting technique that fixed your indoor photo struggles, that's valuable. If someone's composition tip consistently makes your photos look better, keep using it. Actionable, results-focused learning deserves space in your brain.
Ditch: Advice that made you feel behind. Photography education loves making people feel like they're not doing enough. Not shooting in RAW? Not understanding the exposure triangle? Not using prime lenses? If the advice made you feel guilty without improving your results, forget it.
Keep: Solutions tailored to your actual goals. Product photography tips when you shoot products? Useful. Portrait lighting advice when you need family photos? Useful. Landscape composition rules when you're shooting jewelry? Useless.
Ditch: Generic "become a better photographer" content. If it's teaching you to appreciate photography as art or understand camera mechanics for their own sake, it's not serving non-tog goals. You need results, not education for education's sake.
Most people's heads are full of conflicting photography advice they've never implemented. Clear it out. If you haven't applied it within a month of learning it, it's mental clutter.
Audit Your Habits
Look at your actual photo habits—not what you think you should be doing, but what you actually do when you need photos.
Keep: Habits that reduce friction. If you shoot all your product photos in one batching session instead of one-at-a-time as needed, and it works, keep doing it. If you always shoot near the same window because you know it works, keep doing it. Efficiency habits that get results deserve protection.
Ditch: Habits that create unnecessary work. If you're re-editing the same photo five times hoping it'll look better, stop. If you're taking 200 photos when 20 would suffice, stop. If you're shooting multiple complicated setups when one simple one would work, stop. Busy doesn't equal productive.
Keep: The "good enough" standard. If you've trained yourself to post photos that are clear, well-lit, and fit-for-purpose without agonizing over perfection, that's the habit that matters most. Protect it.
Ditch: The perfectionism loop. If you're shooting, deleting, reshooting, second-guessing, editing, re-editing, and still not posting—that habit is killing your productivity and confidence. Break it. Good enough photos that get posted beat perfect photos stuck in your camera roll.
Audit your habits honestly. If what you're doing isn't producing consistent results or is making photography more stressful than necessary, it's time to change it.
Audit Your Expectations
This might be the most important audit: what are you expecting from your photos, and are those expectations realistic?
Keep: Outcome-focused expectations. "My product photos need to clearly show what I'm selling" is realistic. "My family photos need to capture this moment" is realistic. "My headshot needs to look professional and approachable" is realistic. These expectations drive practical decisions.
Ditch: Comparison-based expectations. "My photos should look like [competitor/influencer/professional]" sets you up for failure. Their photos might require equipment, editing time, or technical skills you don't have and don't need. Your photos need to serve your goals, not match someone else's aesthetic.
Keep: "Good enough" as the standard. Photos that are clear, well-lit, and ready to post are successful photos. They don't need to be portfolio pieces or artistic statements. Good enough is actually good.
Ditch: "Perfect or nothing" thinking. If your standard is so high that you rarely post photos or you agonize over every shot, your expectations are actively harming your business or content consistency. Lower the bar to functional excellence, not unattainable perfection.
Your expectations shape your experience. Unrealistic expectations make photography frustrating even when you're getting decent results.
What to Add in 2026
This audit is mostly about subtraction—removing what's not working. But there's one thing worth adding: intention.
In 2026, before you take photos, ask yourself: "What do I need these photos to do?" Then make every decision—setup, lighting, composition, editing—in service of that specific outcome.
Intentionality eliminates the random hoping-it-works approach that wastes time and creates inconsistent results.
You don't need more techniques, more equipment, or more complexity. You need clarity about what's working and permission to stop doing what isn't.
Start Your Audit Today
Pick one area to audit this week. Your setups, your equipment, your habits, or your expectations. Be honest about what's actually serving you versus what's just taking up space.
Then make one change based on what you discover. Ditch one frustrating setup. Sell one piece of unused equipment. Break one unproductive habit. Adjust one unrealistic expectation.
2026 doesn't need to be the year you add more to your photo process. It needs to be the year you eliminate what's not working so the things that do work can actually help you.
Ready to fix the most common photo problems fast? Download my free "Easy Lighting Guide"—it gives you 5 simple lighting setups that work for products, people, and everything in between. No complicated equipment, no technical overwhelm.
