I suck! And I need advice!

[DocFrankenstein]

This is my gallery:

http://andrew4137.fotopic.net/

The most clicked on pictures are the comparisons of different 70-200 lenses. :?

I was trying to select some nice pictures... and I couldn't find that many which I liked. :( Basically these are most of the good ones. There are some more, but I don't want to display them just yet.

What should I do to improve my results?

Mind you... This is the result of around 6000 actuations on S1 IS and around 4000 actuations on the Drebel. :?

[Radtech1]

Doc,

I really dont know how to reply to an "I suck, look at my gallery" post. Please help us help you by selecting one or two shots and post them here. Tell us something like, "I really had high hopes for this when I took it, but it did not turn out how I wanted.", or, "I really like this one, but everyone else says it's lousy."

With specific quesions we can help you with speicfic problems and offer ideas that helped us when we were confounded by a similar shot that we took.

Rad

[Scottes]

What Rad said, verbatim.

[DocFrankenstein]

Well... I am having trouble with realizing that after 10000 exposures... almost literally... I only have 20 pictures which I find interesting...

And not a single one which I truly like. That's not a good realization.

I thought the picures would turn out interesting... and I want to figure out a way to make nicer pictures. But I can't find it.

What I am asking I guess... Is how do I improve at this point? How do I make the percentage of good pictures higher than what it is now?

http://andrew4137.fotopic.net/c346190.html

I mean... my shots are nowhere near stuff like this:
http://www.photoinspiration.dk/

And I want them to be like that... What do I have to do to make them look like that?

[Steven M. Anthony]

It's simple, Doc--just get inspired! :D

[berto]

i had a loot at your gallery and like a lot of what i saw. technically they're good so you have an understanding of that.. i guess you just need more inspiration.

bert

[vfilby]

Look at things from different angles and look at things closer. Always remember that it is light that it is important, not the subject or the scene, but how the light falls on it. It is the lighting that makes a good photo good -- so start looking at things in terms of light and how the lights falls. If you see a good picture, try to figure out why.

[DocFrankenstein]

Thank you.

[vfilby]

Thank you.

Blindly assuming that you are talking to me,.. your welcome. The other thing to remember is that a pro takes a thousand shots and only chooses a couple.

[Skinner]

Doc, I took a quick look at your gallery. You have the mechanics down pat. Please tell me, are you "Massaging" your pics in an application like Photoshop? Your shots all look well exposed and well composed.

Jay Meisel said that you have to develop your eye. The hard part of photography isn't so much taking the picture. That much can easily be learned and done. The hard part is choosing from your selections that which pleases your eye and THEN pleases the eye of your beholder.

I too shoot a TON of pictures. Last week I went out and shot over 250 shots. Only two of them did I think were good enough. If the picture pleases me then I try to use it somehow. Whether the viewing public likes it after that is another question entirely.

[vfilby]

Jay Meisel said that you have to develop your eye. The hard part of photography isn't so much taking the picture. That much can easily be learned and done. The hard part is choosing from your selections that which pleases your eye and THEN pleases the eye of your beholder.

I think it is much more difficult than that. When you are walking and you see aomething that makes you stop in silence and stare for a while you will eventually wawnt to take a photo of it. It you have the task of figuring out why the scene made you stop in awe, figuring out how that maybe captured on film, and then mastering the technical details for accomplishing this.

The technicalities are subjective and personal. Every photographer is going to have a technique that works best for themself, the only thing you can do is go out and try. Always experiment, keep notes and never be disheartened or think you will fail before you have clicked the shutter just because it isn't exactly as you have envisioned. Sometimes that unexpected element is what will really make the picture.

In the words or a friend and stunning landscape photographer, "The best photo's are always the ones that find you." Believe me his work is good, he is currently showing in a couple galleries. Many of his stunning photos had unexpected elements, such as fog or otherwise, that in the end just make it a wonderful photo.

[MilesG]

Well... I am having trouble with realizing that after 10000 exposures... almost literally... I only have 20 pictures which I find interesting...

And not a single one which I truly like. That's not a good realization.

I thought the picures would turn out interesting... and I want to figure out a way to make nicer pictures. But I can't find it.

What I am asking I guess... Is how do I improve at this point? How do I make the percentage of good pictures higher than what it is now?

http://andrew4137.fotopic.net/c346190.html

I mean... my shots are nowhere near stuff like this:
http://www.photoinspiration.dk/

And I want them to be like that... What do I have to do to make them look like that?

That kind of level will be harder to aspire to, but i get loads of ideas of what to shoot from magazines ( Practical Photography Film and Digital being one of my favourites) not sure weather they sell it over there but i am sure there will be somthing along the same lines but check out some of the images in it, and then go out and see what you can see in your local area!

[Big_B]

Doc,

Your gallery is meant to display photos, but all of the homepage links are text. If I was browsing through this gallery I probably would give up and go on to a different website. Perhaps you would get more views if you made your photos more attractive on the homepage.

BB

[arumdevil]

Doc,
you may suck, but that's really none of my business ;)

your photos, on the other hand, definitely don't suck. Ok some are a bit boring but we all have plenty of those. But some of them I think are stunning. Particularly some of the ones with the lights etc, and the stained glass windows.

just my 2c

[DocFrankenstein]

Doc, I took a quick look at your gallery. You have the mechanics down pat. Please tell me, are you "Massaging" your pics in an application like Photoshop? Your shots all look well exposed and well composed.
In most of them I didn't touch them... I think I corrected some of the S1 IS samples, but I don't really remember which ones.

Particularly some of the ones with the lights etc, and the stained glass windows.
What are you talking about?

Lights? windows?

[arumdevil]

i dunno, maybe i was looking at someone elses gallery :oops:

I'll go check.

[arumdevil]

ok, my memory sucks!

when I said stained glass windows what I actually meant was these ones (http://andrew4137.fotopic.net/p5425098.html)

and lights, I meant These ones (http://andrew4137.fotopic.net/p5425097.html)

sorry for the bad reference!

[tofuboy]

In most of them I didn't touch them...

As others have said, your mechanics are pretty good. To me though, the pictures just lack that little 'pop' to grab your attention. A little post processing can go a long way.

[Steven M. Anthony]

I think what they lack is a message beyond "look at this." They kinda remind me of (and this will date me) of a parody LP of the Kennedy administration--where Jackie goes through the halls of the White House pointing out all the art by saying "Well, there's this one... and there's that one... oh, and that one over there..."

That's why I jokingly said you just need to be inspired.

Seriously, what do you have a passion for? What attracts your eye? If you jus get into the mechanics of a shot, figure out the most difficult technical shot you can and try to perfect it.

While this can intimidate many people, try to think WHY you like to shoot what you like to shoot. What does it signify to you (and while you might deny that it signifies anything beyond what it is, know that, at a subconscious level, it DOES mean something more). When you uncover THAT for yourself, it will give you clues to how to approach that subject ina way that conveys that meaning to others. But again, this approach is not for the faint of heart!

[vfilby]

I think what they lack is a message beyond "look at this." They kinda remind me of (and this will date me) of a parody LP of the Kennedy administration--where Jackie goes through the halls of the White House pointing out all the art by saying "Well, there's this one... and there's that one... oh, and that one over there..."

That's why I jokingly said you just need to be inspired.

Seriously, what do you have a passion for? What attracts your eye? If you jus get into the mechanics of a shot, figure out the most difficult technical shot you can and try to perfect it.

While this can intimidate many people, try to think WHY you like to shoot what you like to shoot. What does it signify to you (and while you might deny that it signifies anything beyond what it is, know that, at a subconscious level, it DOES mean something more). When you uncover THAT for yourself, it will give you clues to how to approach that subject ina way that conveys that meaning to others. But again, this approach is not for the faint of heart!

I'll second that! Think about what stops and makes you say "wow..." Then start there.

[Scottes]

Or you can take my approach...

I bought the camera to take landscapes.
I **sucked** at it.
So I found something extremely common - birds.
And I like birds anyway, so I shot them.
A lot.
After some time I got better.
And then even better.
Now I'm going back to landscapes and finding that I learned a lot while shooting those easy birds.
I suck a lot less at landscapes now.

So if you suck at what you're doing, find something easy for a while. :D


Just kidding, really, but in a way it proves a point - you have to find something you *like* and work at it a bit. It might not be what you *want* but it's easy to get depressed when you compare your own (your's / mine/ anyone's) shots against a great photographer's shots.

I like birds, but I want landscapes, but I'm no Ansel Adams. And that's not really something to get bummed about - he was absolutely great - but if all I do is compare my landscapes against his... Well, I'll be bummed.

Find something you like - something that inspires you - and shoot it.
A lot.
And you'll get better at it.

[vfilby]

I like birds, but I want landscapes, but I'm no Ansel Adams. And that's not really something to get bummed about - he was absolutely great - but if all I do is compare my landscapes against his... Well, I'll be bummed.

It happens all the time with adults. They know what great is and they want to be there instantly. Even when they make great improvements they still don't perform with like the master.

I know I find playing the violin frustrating in that way (and with pictures too!). I hear how Michael Rabin played when he was 14 and how I play now and I think that I will never be any good. While the truth of that matter is this: I have been told by players that I am an excellent violinist given that I have only been playing for a year and a half and I am performing in an orchestra. My own achievements seem so small when I compare them with the greats of the ages.

[tofuboy]

And I like birds anyway, so I shot them.

In everyday chit chat, you won't hear that too often ^_-

But along the lines of what Scottes said, try a few different things and just have fun. If you are having fun, then the end result doesn't matter too much... and when you get that photo that makes you just say "wow", it's just icing on the cake :)

[Steven M. Anthony]

LOL! I like birds, so I eat them (well, some of them...).

[CDickinson]

Like everyone else seems to be saying - you gotta find your passion, whatever it.....then you gotta find some way of linking your passion to a communication style......and content....maybe through in some basic philosophies, ethics, morals, standards...they all work together when you're making art.....no matter what art is....sometimes, it helps to try something else for a while and step away from photography...do some clay, take a bronze casting class...then go back because your perspective will change.
Go the nearest library and look through some art history books. Find some artist you like and figure out why --- content? design? colors? lighting? I've stumbled around the art world for a long time...and a year ago read a biography on Caravaggio.....I like his life so I looked at his paintings. A lot. That dark canvas with muted shades and odd lighting hit a passion spot for me and when I look at my work lately, I can see the move towards those muted shades...
So, stumble around for a while and look at all kinds of artwork...something will catch your eye.

C

[arumdevil]

And I like birds anyway, so I shot them.
A lot.

LOL! I like birds, so I eat them (well, some of them...).


Stop these obscenities at once!! :shock:

:o

[Aylwin]

Doc, I think I'm in a similar situation as you. I believe I have the ability to take technically acceptable photos but I rarely take a photo that I would call good. As mentioned above, I lack inspiration and a good eye.

I've been trying to work on those 2 things. As Scott explained, he concentrated on birds. Shooting a subject you're interested in should inspire you and hopefully allow you to produce better results. In my case, it's my kids and I take lots of pictures of them. While they're not really the kind of photos I can always show off and post in the Share section, I enjoy taking the photos and eventually I'll get good at it.

As for developing an eye for photos... well, I believe some are born with "the eye" while others need to work hard to develop it. I'm in the latter group and I realise it'll take a long long time before I get where I want to be. Actually, by my estimates it'll take around 20-25 years. :(