A trick to improve...

[MediaMagic]

Here's something that may or may not be of help to others:

When I first purchased my 10D, I was very disappointed with the "softness" of my lenses. So, I purchased a bunch of L glass. My shots instantly improved, and have gotten better all the time. So, end of story, right?

Nah. I came up with this idea a few weeks ago (I'm sure others have thought of this before me, but I'm kinda slow sometimes), sort of related to the "shoot 20 rolls of film" study approach. I reverted to the lens with which I was most unhappy. For one week, I put my worst lens on the camera and made a deal with myself to work with the lens and not swap regardless of how disgusted I became with the results.

This basically forced me to slow down and really *think* about every single shot. I even took a notepad with me and would write down everything about the scene I thought was important and "designed" my shot on paper before I squeezed the shutter. By the end of the week, the shots from that "bad" lens were looking quite excellent. My photog "feel" improved immensely. I started getting a real "feeling" for the light, the composition, compensation, etc. Now, this has transferred quite nicely back to the L glass, because I am thinking and designing the shots in my mind prior to shooting so the good glass is just a bonus. The thought process, which is so important, has become second nature. Rather than depending on the camera/lens to make my shots, now I have confidence in myself to use any camera/lens combination as a tool to create the shot I want (which is what I should have been doing all along).

Of course, I still have *plenty* of room to grow. I still have a ton to learn, and the majority of that will only come through experience, and then more experience... and that's half the fun of this hobby.


Please add your own comments or "lessons" you have used to improve.

David

[Scottes]

Sounds like a good plan. Really helps you *make* the shot rather than taking it. Good way to force yourself to learn a lens' strong points rather than fighting against it's weak points.

Of course, this would probably be easier with a 35-350. :)

[robertwgross]

Many of us who shoot digital cameras have become lazy. There is no film cost, and there is no processing cost. So, why not shoot ten or twenty frames of the subject and then hope that one comes out good?

In contrast, a guy I know shoots an 8x10 view camera. In color, it costs him about $20 per frame (film+processing). He studies each subject, meters it closely, then studies it again ten ways to Tuesday. He's had to brace the wooden tripod legs, and he has the viewing cape up over his head. Then he studies it more.

(Of course, just as he is ready to snap the picture, the wind comes up and rattles the camera!).

Photographer skill had better be appropriate for the gear that you use.

---Bob Gross---

[Jesper]

Photographer skill had better be appropriate for the gear that you use.

Photographer skill is important if you want to make great photos, whatever gear you use! Even if you use a digital camera on which a shot costs nothing, you won't get great photos if you don't know what you're doing.

David, what did you do exactly with your notepad - did you make a quick sketch of how you wanted to make your photo look?

[Scottes]

Many of us who shoot digital cameras have become lazy.

Bob, I'm kinda confused. It sounds like you're slamming him for taking a gazillion pictures looking for one good one. To me, it sounds like he's taking a gazillion pictures in order to learn how the lens works, and so on.

[scottbergerphoto]

Excellent post. I had a similiar experience a few months ago, where I was doing landscapes and I brought my Sekonic meter and forced myself to think about what I was doing with each shot.
Thanks for sharing,
Scott

[robertwgross]

Bob, I'm kinda confused. It sounds like you're slamming him for taking a gazillion pictures looking for one good one. To me, it sounds like he's taking a gazillion pictures in order to learn how the lens works, and so on.

I said nothing of the kind.

Besides, how many is a gazillion?

There is another old saying:
"We learn from our mistakes.
We've been learning a lot lately."

---Bob Gross---

[Sketcher]

Many of us who shoot digital cameras have become lazy.

Bob, I'm kinda confused. It sounds like you're slamming him for taking a gazillion pictures looking for one good one. To me, it sounds like he's taking a gazillion pictures in order to learn how the lens works, and so on.
I didn't get that at all from Bob. In fact, I think he acknowledges the OP and lends contrast to shooting in a medium where a "learning curve" is immediatly and harshly felt on the pocket book. There's more, but that's the gist I took.

MediaMagic, excellent post. Thanks for re-freshing the pursuit of photography.

[Scottes]

I apologize for my confusion, Bob. I think I've been reading too many posts on photo.net...

Gazillion: An indefinitely large number. Approzimately the number of pennies Bill Gates has.

[iwatkins]

Nice thread.

I was out at the weekend in Gloucester several months ago walking around the docks looking for photo ops.

The camera club from the area was there doing their thing. So I got chatting to an old boy there (must have been in his eighties).

He was shooting using (I think) a G5. He told me he had been a photographer since he was a boy and went digital last year mainly as his hands are now not so good and can't really load/wind 120 roll film etc. so easily.

He had one of those Canon portable printers (CP300 ?) that puts out 6x4s. He was actually taking shots and printing them out there and then. Told me it focused the mind because the paper for it was "bloody expensive". I couldn't argue with his method.

------------------------------------------------------

My little rule for landscape shots with the 10D is that I will not take more than one shot a minute. This way I can spend more time thinking about, framing, actually looking. I'm sad enough to admit that I actually have a countdown alarm on my watch that I set to ensure that it happens. Doesn't mean I don't take them more often (or less often), it just helps me to slow down a bit and think more. :oops:

Of course, for things like motorsport, that goes out of the window and I just tape the shutter release down and have CF cards on "auto-load" :D

Cheers

Ian

[Vegas Poboy]

I agree when I first got my 10D I had the mind set of the the fastest shooter around. But after taking 300 shots one day and only seeing a 3rd of them in good focus or composition I've decided to slowdown & act like I'm shooting film. Digital is fun but sometimes you have to watch yourself and remember the principles.

[Laziferous]

Great idea David. I've been doing that unwillingly for quite a while now. I have a lowly G2 :oops: I'm hoping that what I'm learning now, while being handicapped with a "less than ideal" camera, will translate when I get a "real" camera.

I've thought about buying some disposable cameras, and seeing what I can do with those. Kind of a cheap lesson in restraint. Just take one with me each time I go out.

Honestly though, I've never gotten into the habit of taking a whole lot of shots just because I'm shooting digital. I think it's because I'm slightly obsessive :shock: That unfortunately works against me however, because frequently, I won't even take a shot of something, if I don't think it's worth it. Sometimes I even do the following... see what I think to be an oppotunity, walk around... look at it from different perspectives... think about different angles... see where the light and shadows are strongest... then just walk away without taking a shot.

I guess I should always take at least one though? Ahh well... I'll learn one of these days :?

[IndyJeff]

Many of us who shoot digital cameras have become lazy. There is no film cost, and there is no processing cost. So, why not shoot ten or twenty frames of the subject and then hope that one comes out good?

In contrast, a guy I know shoots an 8x10 view camera. In color, it costs him about $20 per frame (film+processing). He studies each subject, meters it closely, then studies it again ten ways to Tuesday. He's had to brace the wooden tripod legs, and he has the viewing cape up over his head. Then he studies it more.

(Of course, just as he is ready to snap the picture, the wind comes up and rattles the camera!).

Photographer skill had better be appropriate for the gear that you use.

---Bob Gross---

Back in 90 or 91 I was painting the ceiling over a walkway at a shopping center. They were doing photography work for some ads at the time. The guy who was the photographer had a guy who set the camera on a tripod. The shooter stood back and looked at the shot he was going to take then, he looked at it thru the camera. He had the guy repostion the camera, looked again and moved it back about 10 feet.
This literally went on for 30 minutes and he took 4 shots. They then moved to another end of the center and did the same song and dance. If I remember correctly, the center manager told me the guy was from Chicago and they paid $15,000.00 for him to do this project. I wish for the life of me I could recollect what kind of set up the guy had but, you could tell that when he took a picture, it wasn't just a spur of the moment snap shot. I mean he really looked and studied the shot before he ever looked at it thru the camera.

[dpanicc1]

Sounds like composition and lighting experience improved. You started out by saying the shots were "soft"; how did the experience affect lens softness?

[CyberDyneSystems]

David,..

It sounds like what you are describing is part of the difference between a "photographer" and someone who takes pictures.. if you know what I mean.

You are truly working on the process and the product,. and approaching it from either a techinical or artisitc point of view.. (or more likely a combination of the two)

A wonderfull lesson to share with us...

... I for one, am quite sure that the vast majority of the time,. I am no photographer.. but merely a bloak taking pictures.

As the weather clears,. and I get out more often,. I think I will try and learn a thing or two from your example. :)








//or I can just wait for my new gear and shoot a few gazilian shots at a time at 8.5fps and pray for a keeper or two..... :roll: :wink: