I am my worst critic

[lbcyalater]

When I first started with photography I just took pictures of everything and I had so much fun. Now When I take pictures I just hate almost everything I do, mainly because its become to technical (didnt get the right focal point, lighting was off, the composition wasnt good, pic was to soft) and I just critic it waaay to much. has this happened to anyone else? If so what are some of the things you did to overcome this problem. On the other side I feel it actually makes me a better photographer, its just I dont like anything I do and its frustrating.

[nrellas]

Its actually a great thing....if everyone were their own worst critic that would remove a lot of the bad postings on here

As for the technical...that comes with time, those thing will just be like riding a bike, and then you can get down to the more creative aspects.

Dont be discouraged, call them growing pains.

[lbcyalater]

thanks I appriciate the words...I was thinking no one was gonna respond to my sad post lol

[heycow]

It took me years to not hate my photos and hate photography (though I stuck with it). It really is a matter of understanding the relationship between the main parts of a photograph. I know the lens I want, the aperture I want, and the lighting I want before I take a shot. I don't think I can pre-visualize a shot, but I can definitely eliminate a ton of variables so I'm much more comfortable when it comes to pressing the shutter button.

For me, photography is about 3% art and 97% technical knowledge. I know understand why/when to use a large aperture, or a slow shutter speed. I know how my gear works (this is huge) and know that I almost always need +1 FEC (and know what FEC is now).

I'd say make it as simple as you can. You have fine gear, get to know it. I have taken at least one (and usually ~40) photos every single day for the past 818 days (I'm taking a daily photo of my daughter since the day she was born). It has forced me to learn how to take a photo under less than ideal conditions.

Sorry for rambling a bit, but honestly I think that almost everyone has gone through what you're going through. If you enjoy photography, I say stick with it, stop stressing and just shoot shoot shoot. Join a PAD (photo a day) Flickr group and make a goal to share with the world one photo every single day. It will force you to be less (or more) critical of your shots and will get you good feedback on how to improve.

Everyone sucks at photography, we all just suck to different degrees.

[c2thew]

post processing is where you make up for your mistakes. if you can post process shots well, you can do practically anything to a bad photo... well at least make it half decent.

[rumplepigskin]

time to quit when you hate it... why did you start in the fisrt place ? remember that