|
The Secret.
Posted 62 months ago.
(permalink)
|
 |
Matthew Roe Does Not Exist [deleted] says:
Take as many pictures possible.
Posted 62 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
take pictures. view others pictures. find someone being able to provide honest and constructive critique. challenge yourself with new themes.
Posted 62 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
All of the above, particularly take as many pictures as possible, but last week I had the unique opportunity, by chance, to see Lensflair's pictures taken of the same area that I had taken them on the same day. His were much better than mine and it was neat to look at them and see what he did differently so to sum up:
Look at other's photos of the same subject and consider their approach, what is different? What is better? Why is it better?
Posted 62 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
I have heard that Olympus are working on a hardware/software upgrade that can be downloaded directly to the brains of evolt owners, unfortunately they won't be available until next July! (at least).
Posted 62 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
Don't rush. Number one rule. I tend to make my best stuff when I'm alone on a business trip. No kids clambering at my heels, no wife breaking out the honeydo list etc.
For what Grant was talking about, when I was there, I took about 10 minutes to look around soak in the atmosphere and then stroll around shooting.
I don't think there's any one formula for making a great photo. Sure there are the standard rules of thumb, but those alone will not do it. There are alot of photo's I've taken which I thought - wow I love this - but yet received zero comments. While others came close to the trash bin, but received lots of praise. What makes one person better poised to comment over the other? I think if a photo appeals to them, what it really does is appeal to the compatibility of their particular style. I'm not saying that input isn't valuable - actually input can help you refine your own style.
I am one to admit that I'm one of my own harshest critics. Muzz I think you sit in that category yourself. Your work is awesome - but you seem to be not happy with your stuff. I think your 4x6 portfolio is world class and nothing to be ashamed of. I don't even think the PROs take 5 shots and make 5 magazine covers.
I think I finally understand you brother. I've done the Flickr circle of life myself (like I think you've done), the 12 step process so to speak...
1. join Flickr
2. take pictures & post
3. hope to get feedback
4. get feed back
5. give feedback
6. make Explore for the first time
7. join some "theme groups"
8. strive to get on Explore so more
9. become disillusioned with all the steps above
10. become jaded
11. stop giving a sh!7 what others say.
12. start taking photos for *you*
Last weekend I was at step 8, now at step 11.
Thanks for breaking out this discussion - this group has been stale for a while...
PS. I concede to you. You were right about post processing. It can really make a good photo into a great photo.
Posted 62 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
I think I'm on 12, Jack, but I still care what others think. It just doesn't make or break it anymore.
I think in the film days, there were three kinds of shooters:
1. People who brought their film to the drugstore and had a machine print it for them.
2. People who took their film to a custom lab and paid extra for a certain look.
3. People who developed and enlarged their own film, agonizing over every print.
PP just allows us to move from the first group to the third with relative ease. If you eschew PP, you are artificially handicapping yourself. In effect, you are saying that the little computer in the camera knows better than you do how you want your image to look.
There is no reason to be married to the idea of recording exactly how a scene looked, unless you are a crime scene photographer. Otherwise, I think one's images will improve if one also pays some attention to recording how a scene felt.
/rant
Originally posted 62 months ago.
(permalink)
Muzzlehatch edited this topic 62 months ago.
|
|
|
Frivolity aside, Jack makes good points. Patience IS a virtue, if you take the time to look AND see, the chances of getting a good pic increase dramatically. I reckon, unless you are shooting for a client, the great pics are the ones that YOU like. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, some like the fat whilst others like the lean etc.! We have all posted pictures that we've been pleased with only to have them virtually ignored by the masses!! Back to step 12!!
Posted 62 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
|
The answer for me is simple: merciless deletion.
Delete, winnow, delete, winnow. Take your best 100 photos and pick only 5. Throw the rest away.
Posted 62 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
If I really deleted my photos as Muzz just describes, I'd have nothing to show you folks!
Posted 62 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
|
heh heh... well, things might be different at the upper levels.
Also might not apply to travel shots, where everything means something to you.
Posted 62 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
|
I guess I go in reverse. I take a bunch of shots, then categorize them as pick or no pick. I then go over them again and then star rate them 1-5, usually keep the 4's and 5's. I never delete though. Digital is free.
ps. I use Lightroom/Bridge to rate.
Posted 62 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
Matthew Roe Does Not Exist [deleted] says:
I have a very similar system to Jack. I also never delete.
Posted 62 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
Mr Weatherbee [deleted] says:
Try out different kinds of ease at your local hard-working camera shop then order some ease from Amazon since it's cheaper. I agree... improving your photography with ease is the easiest way to go.
Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with ease, or for that matter, anything easy.
Posted 47 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
I'm becoming pretty brutal on the deletion. Mainly because I've a huge amount to learn and my expectations are high and my hard disk small.
Posted 47 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
Buy an expensive camera, lenses, tripod, and studio strobes.
Oh wait...
The catch is that you have to completely master all of those things which will take you approximately your whole lifetime.
Originally posted 47 months ago.
(permalink)
JeffStewart edited this topic 47 months ago.
|
|
Skunk.Punk [deleted] says:
I have to agree with Jack here, but unfortunately even if I tell people I'm past step 11, I'm not. I have a friend of mine who loves my work, and all the pictures he favors are probably the ones I like least.
He shoots as well, and now made it "pro", gets paid jobs. He told me go past step 11 before I even saw this topic. I'm still working on that... and it seems to be "The Secret".
Posted 47 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
Take about 300 shots and hope for two or three good ones:)
Just kiding, i have know idea thats why i'm here.........
Posted 47 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
|
I don't know about all those steps. But flickr helps because you're putting those photos out for the world to see. It might not matter so much what other people say, but just putting them out there makes a difference.
Because if you're shooting from the heart you have put something of your private self in every picture you post. You have to believe in yourself to get that far for long. Or, alternately, you have invested nothing of yourself in the photos, in which case posting them must be tedious and pointless feeling. Either scenario would make you want to quit posting: not believing in your vision, or not caring about it.
I think flickr has completely changed the way I see, because knowing that others will look makes me want to really communicate something.
Posted 47 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
I love what Boots796 said " I have no idea that's why I'm here" haha I thought of myself as well =D
Posted 47 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
How to Dramatically Improve Your Photography With Ease..........I'm just trying not to back slide to fast!
I would like to think that I am on step 12, but I would be counting by 3s...(but never been on Explore)
But where I really am is learning the technical side of "digital" and sort of learning to "see" again after years of barely shooting at all and loosing much of my skill.
What flickr dose is gives me a place to showcase what I am working on, and motivates me to shoot something new. I have stacks of 11X14's, 16X20's 24X30's and even a few 30X40's laying around collecting dust. There's no where to put them, hence no one to see them ether, I am shooting100 times more now since joining Flickr than I have in years!
I'm not really putting as much of "me" into my photos as I would like to, I still shoot and run most of the time, but I am slowing creeping in.
Posted 47 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
"The life so short, the art so long to learn, opportunity fleeting, experience treacherous, judgment difficult". Apart from that its a walk in the park...
Posted 47 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
composition.
light.
gesture.
== compelling.
Posted 47 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
Time. I don't think of myself as a 'slow learner' but I can read all the stuff out there (and I do that but I'm not avid) but it takes a while to sink in.
I'm trying to describe 'doing something cos you read about it' and of course you see the results, (or not) versus doing it cos it feels right.
Strange, I would have thought that photography was about seeing but the more I do it the more it becomes about feeling.
Or maybe I'm mixing things up here, the feeling comes when you view the image later, as I seem to be too damn busy taking a photo to feel stuff at first!
A complicated business either way. When it feels totally natural I'll know I've reached the peak of my abilities.
Posted 47 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
Let us all hope that none of us ever reaches the peak of our abilities!
Posted 47 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
Use the FORCE, Luke!
Posted 47 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
|
f/5.6 and be there!
Posted 47 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
yup..like Muzz said.Flickr does gives me the chances to see the world without being there.. seeing others the way they see the world :p From their point of view.... For me shooting the pic is my way of seeing things around me..my way.. while learning from others. :)
Posted 47 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
To dramatically improve your photography...get out of the house. Go out and take photos!
Posted 47 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
|
you can take photos in the house as well!
Posted 47 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
1. Take the lens cap off,
2.Remember your camera card
3. Charge your batteries
Posted 47 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
I am an information junky! I read...and read a lot! I read my camera and flash manuals. I go online and look up articles on the camera or equipment I'm using. I look at pictures and EXIF data. I take pictures and doodle with all the buttons to see what happens when I do this or that. I ask questions if I'm unsure. I'm willing to make mistakes. I take advice by more seasoned photographers into consideration. I watch and learn.
I've only had a good digital camera since March 15th. I upgraded to the E-510 June 25th. I think I was able to get some good shots because of everything that I mentioned above. I have a lot more to learn...but I think that you have to get lots of information, experience, trial and error, and time behind the lens in order to improve. I'm not sure if it will come with ease. But I'm a pretty determined person and I'm sure improvement will come. I'm actually expecting it!
Posted 47 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
|
Combine what you're doing with shooting what you love, and you can't miss, IMHO.
Posted 47 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
Going back to the same place more than once, and reviewing your shots will help also. You also start to see the scene differently as you improve.
Ask questions, ques, and more questions, take give and except criticism.
Challenge yourself often. ,';0)...
Posted 47 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
@akabilk
"Or maybe I'm mixing things up here, the feeling comes when you view the image later, as I seem to be too damn busy taking a photo to feel stuff at first!"
Taking a second look at photos that at first glance seem a little uninteresting and being prepared to crop/edit them (sometimes aggressively). I've done this with some otherwise 'failed' pictures of my kids and its totally changed the composition of the picture and they've become my favorites.
The same pictures were not very sharp etc (technically poor) but happened to encapsulate my sons personalities, so I love them. My absolute fav happened to be a quick exposure-check test snap I took in a poorly lit hall at a nephews birthday party and it came out almost black. When I cranked up the exposure out of curiosity I realised I had taken a perfect picture of my eldest son in terms of capturing his personality.
Now its a 'grainy', moody B&W portrait of how he was at age 7 that damn near hit the bin. It technically sucks but provokes the strongest emotional response for me.
Posted 47 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
just lower your standards.
:)
(i'll get my coat...)
Posted 47 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
TheRealTiefling [deleted] says:
Without having read everyone's reply, so at the risk of redundancy I write this. This formula seems to work. I used it as a mostly self taught photographer.
1) Gain an understanding of the key nomenclature of the subject.
2) Shoot pictures while studying this nomenclature to get familiar with it ... i.e., if you are studying about aperture, turn on AP, take shots at different A's and take note on the effects. (Well I used to take note before digital with a little carry book, now everything is imprinted on the digital negative).
3) Gain an intimate knowledge of your tool ... whatever camera/lens you use, read up on it, get to know what it can do, do this by yourself practicing as well as seeing what others can do ...
4) Never assume even after all of this that you know everything now. That will inhibit you from learning anything else.
5) Be creative ... the trick is to attempt to duplicate something you see and get it onto the negative. Or it's to get the picture into your mind duplicated on the negative. ie., you wont see spinning lights, but you can visualize that by knowing what setting changes u can affect in your camera to create that effect in the final photo.
6) Don't get lost in books. Before I understood the first word, I had shot a hundred rolls and was already learning. It was much easier to pick up and have some reality on what I was reading about having already been somewhat familiar with effects I had created.
7) Study other people's work. Everyone is different and has different ideas. You can dissect how they did something if you know the basic terms, gears ... usually. You can also become more creative by viewing other people's creativity.
8) imo there are the "rule of thirds" and various things, but really to me this subject is very subjective. It does happen to have a certain energy to it though where things just look better to the eye if done in a certain way ... like the flow of energy throughout a house. So while criticism can be helpful, it can also be counter-productive based on the fact that photography is subjective. Something else may look good to someone else not you and vice versa ... too much criticism may just end you up with a bunch of stock photos in the end. Don't let your creativity be molded into the "norm" ... be different here and there.
Can't think of anything else atm ...
Originally posted 47 months ago.
(permalink)
TheRealTiefling edited this topic 47 months ago.
|
|
There's the technical improvement and the creative improvement. Improving technical part frees you up to be more creative without fumbling around, but the resulting freedom to be creative doesn't mean you will be.
Here's a method that has worked well for me on the occasions I have tried it, and I plan to try it some more. See a photo you like that seems technically challenging. Try to take one just like it. Keep trying till you succeed. Then use what you learned to go do something new.
Posted 47 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
shootamins [deleted] says:
Experiment with no idea on what you're doing, you'll get a fine photo if you do with just a few shots, modify/combine other photographer's work to catch a fine photo, free shoot by not looking at the viewfinder while walking, and get fantastic shots with angles you wouldn't even think of when looking at the viewfinder.
Point is... Be Creative!
Posted 47 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
Give your DSLR a week break and shoot 35mm film, this way you will focus on composition, lighting, patience as not to waste shots.
Posted 47 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
Mr Weatherbee [deleted] says:
-Shoot with the sole purpose of making it into Explore
-Send each shot to as many groups as flickr will allow... hint: it's a lot
-Add Roberto Carboni as a contact
-f/2 and be really, really close to there
Posted 47 months ago.
(permalink)
|
Would you like to comment?
Sign up for a free account, or sign in (if you're already a member).
|
Olympus E-System Community /
Discuss
Combine what you're doing with shooting what you love, and you can't miss, IMHO.
Feed – Subscribe to Olympus E-System Community discussion threads