This place will ruin 'ya

[Celtic Tiger]

Had my newbie "duh" moment over the weekend. My kid brought home his school pictures. They turned out ok. Pose was good. Lighting was good. But as I'm looking at them all I can think is they're a little "soft".

Then I realize, I'm no longer comparing them to photos the family would shoot (and in such comparison the professional school photos always trumped); I'm now comparing them to what I see here and the comments and critiques applied thereon. Further, many of the posters here are pros. Finally, I was probably being too critical in that the time spent on a mass produced school portrait packet is nowhere near the time some here spend making their work look spectacular. So my comment to my kid was "these are great". Well, he is very handsome.

Just thought I'd share how impressed I am with what I see here. Carry on.

[gjl711]

I too have found that my standards have changed significantly since joining POTN a few years back. I have become much more critical of my own work and my keeper rate has plummeted. I easily dump %75 of the shots I come back with. It use to be because the quality of the shot technically was poor, out of focus, motion blur and such, but these days I pay attention to background and if it's uninteresting it gets tossed. Bokah, if it looks crappy it gets cut. General composition, if the pic did not work as I though it might when I was composing it, it gets dumped.

[egordon99]

I took out my sister's Bat Mitzvah album over Thanksgiving...It was back in 2002 so probably still film. Wish I remembered, it was still during my "hiatus" from photography.
Things I noticed - Focus on background instead of subject (ie MY family :lol: )...Blown out faces of subject from direct flash....yada yada yada

Did the same thing with our wedding photos (medium format film, but that's all I remember about the setup) from the same year...Album prints came out good, but in looking through the proofs (we got EVERYTHING he shot), lots of similar snafus.....But I'm sure I could NEVER do an event with film (35mm or MF) as I rely too much on chimping :lol:

[GenuineRolla]

Does anyone else find themselves looking at the lighting on movie posters and other pieces of advertisements more...?

[egordon99]

While watching movies, I notice the bokeh now on long telephoto closeup shots....

Does anyone else find themselves looking at the lighting on movie posters and other pieces of advertisements more...?

I remember there was a picture of one of the Bush daughters on cnn.com, and I said "wow, that's some nice bokeh!"

:lol:

[Celtic Tiger]

While watching movies, I notice the bokeh now on long telephoto closeup shots....
:lol:

This is so true! My wife got me to take her to see Revolutionary Road a couple months back (not a lot of car chase scenes if you know what I mean ;)). So I spent much the movie noticing what was in focus and the bokeh etc and how it contributed to the message the director was trying to deliver.

[Bkolowski111]

I remember there was a picture of one of the Bush daughters on cnn.com, and I said "wow, that's some nice bokeh!"

I laughed very hard.

It is interesting to me to go back and look at some of my pics from the past. I have those "What was I thinking on this shot?" moments. It's so encouraging to see how I have improved, but I still have a long way to go. I have learned so much on POTN.

[EasyPic10D]

next time your kids picture day comes up ask him to ask what ISO the camera is set to it will stump most all the people that take the pictures, when i did i was at least into my photography for a month and i still knew more than a guy who had been there for five years. they just "hit the button" and print them out.

[Larry A]

I agree. I find myself doing this all the time.

[Angdvl089]

I wouldn't say ruin. A lot pickier with your new opinion of what looks good. The time spent here ruins me...

[mrbojangles13]

every picture i see im looking at the lighting... i spend so much more time in the store looking at the product shots on the boxes.. i thought my vision was getting worse just to find out that my standards of sharpness have jumped derastically...

[xoldboy]

ever since i picked up a dslr, my every thought process towards banners, magazines, company logos, advertisements have been dramatically changed. i look for imperfections, composition, sharpness etc. its like a disease made for photographers!

[kencas]

Probably one of the worst things I do now is go through the Wedding pages of our Sunday newspaper and slowly, methodically, and ruthlessly critique each and every image in my mind!

Really need to get out more...:o

[Bkolowski111]

Probably one of the worst things I do now is go through the Wedding pages of our Sunday newspaper and slowly, methodically, and ruthlessly critique each and every image in my mind!

Really need to get out more...:o

Hilarious!!! I do kind of the same thing with all of the pictures in our Sunday newspaper.

[izthistaken]

Bumping this because I do this all the time. :lol: It's too funny. I comment to other people with me who dont know anything about photograhy. I'm not even good and I notice this stuff. :/

[anthonyi]

Does anyone else find themselves looking at the lighting on movie posters and other pieces of advertisements more...?

All the time. It's a constant reminder to me to stay focused on learning to 'see the light'.

[710 Studio]

Wow... I'm relieved to see how many people actually do this. I thought that I had just turned into an overly critical snob. As it turns out, I've just raised my standards. We just had a new photo studio move into our area. As I was pouring through their online portfolio, I kept cringing, noticing all of the blown out areas, washed out colours, poor composition, and the fact that all of the shots looked like they were taken with her cell phone. Of course, I felt like a snob critiquing these photos in my mind, but on the other hand, I am happy I do this, because I critique myself with the same eye.

[HQP]

I feel a lot better now. Almost like I've just joined a support group.;) Thanks for starting this thread!

[pantherphotos]

Hilarious!!! I do kind of the same thing with all of the pictures in our Sunday newspaper.

Ok, this is too funny! I do the same thing nowadays. I'll even comment to my wife on certain images and show here what "sucks" about them. She's like, "Ok, hon." LOL

I guess its good to get more critical b/c I notice I am just as, if not even more, critical of my own images. I absolutely love all I've learned here on POTN!

[Chris]

Every movie and every tv show I'm looking at the light. There was a show on last year I think. October Road or something like that. All I could do was notice the lighting of the indoor shots and the composition of the outdoor shots down main street. It is as interesting to me as reading and posting on POTN

[Paul Li]

I am in China right now. Watching the little TV shows and such, it hurts me to see that they seem to always be using ambient lighting for many of the shows...

[egordon99]

Every movie and every tv show I'm looking at the light. There was a show on last year I think. October Road or something like that. All I could do was notice the lighting of the indoor shots and the composition of the outdoor shots down main street. It is as interesting to me as reading and posting on POTN

That was a pretty good show....Some nice cinematography, lots of great Fall colors.

Just recently saw "Rachel and the Wedding" and that had some really great "photography" I would notice when moving into a room with bright windows, the exposure would just blow out the windows to properly expose the subjects. So it was a great use of "natural lighting" Normally the lighting folks would put ND filters on the window and/or add supplemental lighting for the interior.

Oh, another movie I saw recently with photo stuff was "Transiberian"

The lead actress played an aspiring photographer and had a Rebel (XTi?) with the kit lens and the 70-200 f/4 (not sure if if had IS or not) AND she put it all in the LowePro MiniTrekker...I was shouting to the TV "Hey, that's my backpack!"

[fryefoto]

I have a double whammy. I am an ER nurse. Constantly evaluating people's veins and what size IV I can start on them. AND, since I've gotten into photography, evaluating advertising photos for sharpness, lighting and trying to guess what lens was used...

[egordon99]

I have a double whammy. I am an ER nurse. Constantly evaluating people's veins and what size IV I can start on them. AND, since I've gotten into photography, evaluating advertising photos for sharpness, lighting and trying to guess what lens was used...

Why you looking at my arm all funny? ;)

[fryefoto]

Why you looking at my arm all funny? ;)

Who said I was looking at your arm?

[egordon99]

Who said I was looking at your arm?

I was trying to make a joke, but I must have failed.....

I was referring to you saying you were always looking at people's "veins" and sizing them up for IV needles and stuff. I was talking about the veins in my arm... :oops:

[fryefoto]

I was trying to make a joke, but I must have failed.....

I was referring to you saying you were always looking at people's "veins" and sizing them up for IV needles and stuff. I was talking about the veins in my arm... :oops:

I know. (nice jugular you got there-the blushing makes it stand out).:p

[izthistaken]

^:lol:

[johngalt_ny]

As for me, the C&C areaqs of POTN have raised my standards but not ruined me.

It's the FOR SALE thread that has ruined me.:rolleyes: