Time, Processing, and Vision

I haven't had much time lately to pursue photographic endeavours, but I have had time to think a good deal about my involvement in this pastime. I have a few general topics that some of you more experienced photographers might shed some light on for me and other newbies or amateurs.

First, how do you find time to pursue this passion? Are any of you young(ish) adults, a few years into careers NOT in photography, with small children running around? In what ways have you found time for regular photographic pursuits? I guess my chosen subject matter (nature, landscapes, eventually wildlife) makes it a bigger challenge since I can't very well take a 6 year old, 2 year old, and 4 week old on a 5 mile hike and still expect to focus at all on photography. Perhaps it is a simple matter of making it a priority and figuring out how to make it happen. But how? Additionally, what amount of time do you guys spend making images versus processing, organizing, 'developing', and printing images? I find that I can get an hour here and there to shoot, and maybe an additional fifteen minutes to load them onto my computer and back them up. But then they sit there for years and never get processed, never printed, never see the light of day. Any advice on workflow as far as how it relates to time management? When I get that one hour a week of free time, I tend to want to go out and shoot, not sit at the computer for the 63rd hour that week (desk job).

As far as processing is concerned, I know that this is an area of huge opportunities for growth for me. I look at images online that I love, and I realize that no one shoots images like this straight out of camera. I have Photoshop CS5 but I have no clue where to begin learning processing techniques. My images tend to be somewhat soft, drab, and they don't have the punch, vibrance, or contrast of the images I am drawn too from other artists. Any suggestions on where to begin the learning process? I think this is a reflection of my not wanting to sit down and work on images (see above). I guess my photography won't get to the next level without me making this effort. Should I use online tutorials, trial and error, books (any authors or 'must have' books or reference material)? Is PS the right tool or would I benefit from having LR4? Totally lost here.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, can anyone shed insight on the concept of finding one's vision? As previously mentioned, I enjoy nature and landscape photography. What I typically accomplish is simply documenting what I see, sometimes with technical success, often without. What I want to learn to do is present, in my images, what the scene made me feel. To somehow document the scene in such a way as to portray more than just what was there, to make the viewer feel what I felt. In this way I hope to create images that are more about me and my relationship with the outdoors, and less about the same trees, mountains, skies, rivers, etc. that anyone else with a camera could capture. I am not sure if any of this paragraph makes sense, but if it does, any advice on how to begin learning this process? This might be a question only I can answer, since it is so personal, but if any of you guys, especially landscape/nature photographers, have had similar internal monologues, I would appreciate any insight you might have.

I know this is an odd, lengthy, and varied post, but I thought I would start a thread asking for advice, input, response, reaction, thoughts, and anything in general that can add to the conversation. Thanks in advance for your offering.

bmaxphoto wrote in post #15108178
I haven't had much time lately to pursue photographic endeavours, but I have had time to think a good deal about my involvement in this pastime. I have a few general topics that some of you more experienced photographers might shed some light on for me and other newbies or amateurs.

First, how do you find time to pursue this passion? Are any of you young(ish) adults, a few years into careers NOT in photography, with small children running around? In what ways have you found time for regular photographic pursuits? I guess my chosen subject matter (nature, landscapes, eventually wildlife) makes it a bigger challenge since I can't very well take a 6 year old, 2 year old, and 4 week old on a 5 mile hike and still expect to focus at all on photography. Perhaps it is a simple matter of making it a priority and figuring out how to make it happen. But how? Additionally, what amount of time do you guys spend making images versus processing, organizing, 'developing', and printing images? I find that I can get an hour here and there to shoot, and maybe an additional fifteen minutes to load them onto my computer and back them up. But then they sit there for years and never get processed, never printed, never see the light of day. Any advice on workflow as far as how it relates to time management? When I get that one hour a week of free time, I tend to want to go out and shoot, not sit at the computer for the 63rd hour that week (desk job).

As far as processing is concerned, I know that this is an area of huge opportunities for growth for me. I look at images online that I love, and I realize that no one shoots images like this straight out of camera. I have Photoshop CS5 but I have no clue where to begin learning processing techniques. My images tend to be somewhat soft, drab, and they don't have the punch, vibrance, or contrast of the images I am drawn too from other artists. Any suggestions on where to begin the learning process? I think this is a reflection of my not wanting to sit down and work on images (see above). I guess my photography won't get to the next level without me making this effort. Should I use online tutorials, trial and error, books (any authors or 'must have' books or reference material)? Is PS the right tool or would I benefit from having LR4? Totally lost here.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, can anyone shed insight on the concept of finding one's vision? As previously mentioned, I enjoy nature and landscape photography. What I typically accomplish is simply documenting what I see, sometimes with technical success, often without. What I want to learn to do is present, in my images, what the scene made me feel. To somehow document the scene in such a way as to portray more than just what was there, to make the viewer feel what I felt. In this way I hope to create images that are more about me and my relationship with the outdoors, and less about the same trees, mountains, skies, rivers, etc. that anyone else with a camera could capture. I am not sure if any of this paragraph makes sense, but if it does, any advice on how to begin learning this process? This might be a question only I can answer, since it is so personal, but if any of you guys, especially landscape/nature photographers, have had similar internal monologues, I would appreciate any insight you might have.

I know this is an odd, lengthy, and varied post, but I thought I would start a thread asking for advice, input, response, reaction, thoughts, and anything in general that can add to the conversation. Thanks in advance for your offering.

yes, you need to make the effort to learn post processing skills. You can start with the digital processing section here and then move on to the Photoshop forums (of which there are many). Or buy a book that includes the DVD and follow the steps.
On an unrelated note I see you're from Blacksburg - go Hokies !

I started my photographic career as a hobby many years ago well in the film era. I was lucky with my wife because she supported it and in fact she bought me a Pentax 6x7 before we were ever engaged. I was never quite satisfied with 35mm film and wanting to freelance I couldn't in good conscience deliver to customers what I felt was an inferior product. I did have some of the best 35mm you could buy at the time but medium format just blew it away. My wife supported my hobby and when I started doing weddings on my own (after a few year stint working part time at a studio) she was right there with me helping me out.

I can appreciate your position in respect to your children. They just don't mix with a good photo outing until they reach teen years and then they are more apt to want to hang with their friends than with dad. Its a matter of priorities, or at least it was for me and there was no contest, photography came in second once we started to have children. I still did weddings and other paid work but the days that I could throw the gear in the car and go trudge around the mountains were very limited. Once the children were a little older we did take them on day trips but it is not quite the same. Its great to have a passion for this but you really have to decide with your spouse if it is something that you can chase and to what extent. Just as digital was coming in to being our children were heading off to university and we once again had that time to commit to it. My wife passed away suddenly while I was in my late forties and photography was the one thing that I could really sink myself in to in order to find some happiness. It was once again my main priority and I bought all the gear I wanted and needed in order to go full time. Each relationship is different and I was indeed very lucky to have spent 28 years with my wife. Sure there were disagreements when I wanted to go somewhere to shoot that she didn't want to but you resolve those through understandings and compromise. I feel like it all balanced out in the end with both of us giving as she did understand my love for this.

I had a full functioning dark room in my basement which equated to today's post processing. Again it was hard to fit this in with family time but I tried to involve my wife in this as well. Quite honestly I simply went down there for hours after everyone had gone to bed or early in the mornings. You learn to work around your family commitments. I would imagine the same would apply with Photoshop. Photoshop CS5 will serve you just fine and the way I learned Photoshop was to watch as many online tutorials as I could and then try and replicate them with my own images. I joined NAPP which had a whack of good tutorials even though some of them may not have been specific to an image it was the process of using the software that got me understanding it more and more. They are not the only game in town and if I had to do it over again I might not have joined them. I doubt that I will renew my membership to them. Everyone learns differently, some like to read and try, I like to watch a tutorial and try. Even a few hours a week at your keyboard trying things in Photoshop will get you a long way towards being proficient. When I had to do this in the darkroom I had to make sure I had several hours of uninterrupted time or I was wasting alot of chemicals, Photoshop makes this much easier. The only thing I can suggest is to practice and practice more. It doesn't happen overnight but it does happen.

Everyone's vision of what they are shooting is going to differ. It sounds like you are trying to appease yourself more than anyone else by having this fantastic sounding vision. Put yourself on the other end of your images. The people that see these, what are they feeling? I've always tried to tell a story to some extent with my personal shooting. My personal passion is wildlife and old decrepit farm buildings. The latter is easy to tell a story particularly if you take the time to find the history. I enjoy writing as well so it is easy for me to do this. Trying to tell a story with images only so that it is understood by your audience can take some time. I wouldn't get yourself all wrapped up in this one. If I look back over the years that I have been shooting it just sort of evolved. It sounds like you want to have some sort of "photographic mission statement" and then shoot towards that. I think that you are making this part way harder than it should be. Go out and shoot when you can and that story that you want to tell will come in time. Not every outing is going to end up with that perfect image or story. Many times I go out and come home empty handed, particularly when chasing wildlife. Shoot and enjoy the satisfaction of a great image and let people put their own story to it.

It sounds like you want everything to fall together in perfect alignment right away and rarely does life work like that. Enjoy your time with your family while you can (they will be gone before you realize it), shoot and process when you can. I've known a few fellows that sold their gear because they couldn't get their spouse involved or their buy-in to their passion for this. Digital is a very low cost hobby once you have your gear and software. Its nice to be shooting all the time but life reminds you every so often that this isn't going to be possible while raising a family. I don't think that I have any real new words of wisdom here, just relating my experience. I hope you find that common ground that lets you be happy with both your photography and family life.

Thanks to you both. I definitely need to take the time to learn processing techniques. It is as vital a part of quality images as all the other, more fun, aspects of actually shooting.

Thanks Sheldon for the information. I am sorry to hear about your loss, that is tragic. It also gives me some perspective. Thanks for sharing and thanks for all the great advice. Means a lot.

Time management is something you need to figure out for yourself. I know exactly how you feel about not being able to find the time to shoot and I don't even have kids yet!! Some things take sacrifice. I have no idea about your family dynamics as everyone has different support systems. I suggest looking what's close around you and find something to capture. There is great landscape opportunities all around you. See what's near your residence and make an effort to go and shoot it.

Post processing is something you'll get better with practice. I find understanding the basics of processing and reading/watching tutorials has helped. There are so many great resources online. Just take your time and don't feel rushed to finish a shot too quickly. Take a step back at times and assess your photo. I have a bad habit of wanting to finish it quickly and after a few days I find something wrong with it whether it's too saturated, unbalanced exposure, etc... The beauty of it all is that everytime you practice you learn so much the next time around. I actually can't wait to process my next scaping attempt!

Creating your vision is well quite frankly the most challenging thing to acheive. Heck most people lack greatvision, let alone able to execute it. I feel overtime you vision will continue to grow and if you're like me may feel that the lack of opportunity and your current work does not reflect your true vision. Best thing to do is go out and shoot more. Find successful photographers you admire and study/analyze/evaluate their photos. Picture yourself in their shoe. Study their compositions, use of light, timing, technique, anything and everything.

Anyway that's some of my 2 cents. I consider myself a rookie too and feel that my vision has grown tremendously, but I just lack the time to shoot to see if I'm able to pull it off or not. I also feel my processing has improved quite a bit, but I'm no where near where I want to be and I can find more things I dislike about them then I do.

Find the time so you can go out there and shoot.

Call it "developing" photos not processing. Developing is a much sexier and more correct term. The processing of film was largely automated and I'm sure you don't automate the photos you take when you develop them further.

I have three kids at home too. Fourth one is old enough to be not at home.
Why search for wildlife on trails, while it is at home already?
At least, it is Zoo.
And my wife do landscapes right at our back/front yard.


Young adult...., your kids will grow up and gone from home in no time. They never the same, compare to wildlife and landscapes. Trees are trees and ducks are ducks always.

Grow up with your kids, take thier pictures as much as possible.
Once you'll start doing this, you'll realize PP is not so important, compare to good glass, right exposure and perfect light.

It will helps a lot with landscapes and wildlife later on, but it takes time to learn.

bmaxphoto wrote in post #15108178
First, how do you find time to pursue this passion?

Listen to kf095 above & don't be the photog who only has a few crappy shots of his kids. ; )

CS5 is all that you'll probably need for a decade. Start with the forum "Sticky"s. Most everything we think is important to start with is in there.
As far as "soft, drab, and they don't have the punch,..." images, are they sRGB, or aRGB? Are you shooting RAW which I think is very important in your situation.
The Power of RAW in The Hands of The Unskilled

And, I assume that you've taken the first step to calibrate your monitor & are using a color managed browser? If you haven't done both, then what you're seeing is most likely not what some of the rest of us are seeing.
Even if your monitor is calibrated, your browser can make a difference: WEB BROWSER CHECK - Test Page - ALL FILES have embedded ICC profiles Photoshop Color Management

Have you calibrated your monitor?

And maybe starting with a known standard image will help to zero in to any problem.
Test images for printing and lens resolution

Just keep shooting & trying different things. For instance, how many landscapes have you shot at sunrise? At sunset?
Remember, light is what we work with?

Good luck!

For me photography definitely takes second place to being a mom. But when I have a bad day, my husband hands me my camera and kicks me out of the house. I don't get out often, but I do make sure to take some time to myself once in a while, and when that happens I take my camera along. Same goes with post-processing. If I have free time and the light isn't good or I'm not feeling inspired to shoot, I sit down with the computer instead.

As far as my "vision" goes...I don't know that my shots have any standout style to them, but when I shoot I try to keep in mind WHY I am shooting it. What makes it awesome or unique or interesting to me? And then I try to make decisions that emphasize those characteristics of the subject.