Are you ruined for life?

[MrGibbage]

How many of you professional, semi-pro, and serious amatures can't take a simple snapshot at a family re-union any more? Photography for me is nothing more than a hobby, and will not very likely ever go much more than that, but since my daughter was born six months ago, I guess I feel like I want each of my snapshots to look like they were shot in a studio. Is it even worse if you do this for a living?

Skip

[Jon, The Elder]

I try to avoid these type shots - so many have point and shoot cameras in the family - why ruin their fun?

More to the point regarding your new found intensity. As you gain knowledge and experience, your images reflect those qualities. It is the rewards of concentration and practice. This is what photography is all about - not just the gear involved. And...it just gets better !

[PhotosGuy]

Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet & take whatever you can get! One of these shots was a 5% crop, but if I hadn't taken it, she wouldn't have had ANY shots at all! So, no pro results, but the "client" was very happy with 4X6" prints. ;-)
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=75062&goto=newpost

[Bruce Hamilton]

Like Skip, photography is my hobby and if I suspect something may result in a Kodak moment, my camera goes with me. I suspect if I was shooting to put food on my table, I wouldn't care if I ever saw a camera outside of work.

[CyberPet]

Nothing spoiled yet... but I'm a happy amateur and does not do this for a living. Even if I will shoot some weddings each season, I don't see me as a professional and don't aim at it either. But yeah, I don't shoot snapshots of the cats, it has to be very special pictures of them to show them to others and hubby complains I never show him any shots I take of him (well some, the ones I'm happy with). :D

[DocFrankenstein]

It's not that I can't take a snapshot... It's just now that I know what the thing is going to look like makes me cringe.

[rent]

i'm concious about not letting my camera gear becoming the focal point of gathering of friends or family. in fact, i usually just grab my *eh-hum* panasonic FX-7 P&S to record whatever embarrassing moments my friends have or the obligatory family reunion type of poses.

the primary concern when i'm with my frends or family is to have fun and enjoy the company; so photography as either a craft or work is the last thing on my mind.

guess i'm not ruined? :p

-alex

[CyberPet]

My friends and family are so used to me having a camera with me anywhere I go, either it's my old Nikon Coolpix 995, the old Coolpix 5700 or this new Canon 350D. They relax after the first 2 minutes of "oh, don't take pictures of me, my hair looks awful!". Then I can snap away all I want. :D

[tim]

I cringe most times I see a photo taken by most people, with simple digital cameras. Since i'm so used to critiquing my own photos, and others sometimes, I immediately spot problems. Usually it's basic stuff, like the image being massively out of focus, motion blur, or massive red eye - often it's all 3.

For a while I went thru the stage of saying "damn, I wish I had my real camera here", and now I just take it when I go to an event. For example I took the 20D+550EX to the resturant for my girlfriends birthday and i'm glad I did, I got some good photos that a P&S just couldn't have gotten (using bounce flash). Sure it's a bit large and unweildy, but it only takes a few seconds to set up, and it hides in a small backpack otherwise. I also took it to a party recently and i'm so glad I did, I got some great shots, including a guy drinking beer out of a girls high heeled shoe, great shots of the dancefloor lighting, etc :)

Am I ruined for crappy photos? Yes. Is it a bad thing? No!

[MrGibbage]

These are some great stories. I didn't know there were so many amateurs here. But I can definitely feel for all of you. As I get better I find myself looking at the entire world differently. I am always "framing my shot" at work, walking in the mall, at home, everywhere. I also take my camera most places (not to work though), but when I see other people taking what I know will be a bad picture (ever see someone use a flash to take a picture of the moon?), I just bite my tongue.

Take care everyone, and happy shooting.

Skip

[PhotosGuy]

(ever see someone use a flash to take a picture of the moon?), I used to laugh at that when people in the top row of a stadium do it, too. Actually, I still do, but even though they don't know what they're doing right, some "consumer" cams will switch to a lower shutter speed for flash, & they will get a better pic because of it. (If they hold it steady) ;-)

[KevC]

You know... I'm at the stage where I know what a good picture looks like. No, let me correct myself. I know what a *bad* picture looks like, and I can criticize to no end. But when I make my own pictures, I try to make it look good, but I don't concentrate enough so I end up making really careless errors. Cutting off digits or even hands, busy background, etc etc.

So I'm on my road to being ruined for life :) I always bite my lip looking at poorly composed shots (the worst is when the subject is tiny and at the bottom half of the frame!)

[MTalley]

On a related note, I had no reservations of just taking snapshots with my P/S camera. But, once I spent some "big bucks" on a DSLR, lenses and such, I feel like I'm cheating my investment to not try to make every picture "worth it". Seems like I should carry our inexpensive Canon A510 in my bag for snapshots.

[skyphix]

I have trouble when I find snapshot type photos on my CF card. I usually want to delete them.

I've found that if I am going to a family event, unless requested, I dont bring my 300D. I bring my girlfriends A75. Im never disappointed with the snapshots I take with that.