Skill Plateau

Anyone ever feel they've plateaued skill-wise? I've been feeling it lately. I've developed as a photographer (no pun intended) a lot over the last two years, but lately I feel like my work is ho-hum. I get some good snapshots, but nothing I'd print large and hang on a wall.

I know athletes hit these plateaus and even dieters reach them. There are techniques for them to get past these flat spots. Anyone know of some for photography? I've read books and gone through tutorials and so on and that has gotten me where I am now, but I need to move to the next level. Maybe a class? Maybe devoting more time to each shot to get it right in camera? I don't know. Suggestions?

I get that way and then I find a new technique and then I get the itch all over again. When a dieter reaches them they have to push themselves a little harder. I know, I've been there.

Speaking of technique... Try something different. Get a film camera and this will help you compose your shots better when you go back to digital. That works rather well. I think I'm to the point now where I need to get about 4 rolls of B & W and get the 35mm out of the closet. That always helps me too.

I learned to shoot with a 35mm. Bought my first Canon AT-1 in '77. Then two A-1's. No such thing as spray and pray then, although I find myself taking too many shots to make sure I get a good one lately. So yes, I need to get back to shooting for quality. But even there, my best shots don't do much for me. I look through some of the threads here and I'm blown away by the awesome images. That's the level to which I aspire. I'm about 2 or 3 levels below that now (in my own estimation). Good equipment is helpful, but you can't buy your way to that level of competence. It takes an artist's eye. That's where I have a lot of learning to do.

What do you shoot? I mean, what types of subjects? You've said that you're blown away by some of the photos posted here. Which ones? I am curious to know what kinds of images you want to create.

Sounds like a little bit of burnout as opposed to a plateau. Maybe trying something else, like painting or drawing? Or fiddling with video?

I'm an artist (painter) and when I'm feeling that way with art, I focus more on photography. Or maybe I'll try a new technique with painting even if I know it's not a strong suit, such as realistic life drawing. It ALWAYS helps and I'm always happy to get back to what I do best, and continue to grow and learn from my frustrating blah-burnout times.

All. The. Freaking. Time.

When I look through my photos, I see minimal improvement over the last couple years. It became most pronounced when I sold my camera over the summer and was flipping through all my photos since I started (roughly six years ago) looking for salvageable photos.

I tried not to beat myself up over it, though. It's to be expected; I really attack things at the beginning (when I'm clueless), so I experience a huge curve early on and then "plateau."

The greatest help I have found is picking up different gear - whether a new lens, body, or medium altogether. I've cycled through quite a few lenses over the years, tried (and failed) to leave the 5D lineup, and my favorite plateau-helpers are my film cameras. I picked up a few soviet 35mm bodies and a pentax, and it reignited the spark in me like crazy. I've been passionate about photography since I was a little kid, and I still get just as giddy going to pick up developed film now as I did when I was five.

Sorry for the long-winded response, but I definitely hear you and hope I could help at least a little bit. "This too shall pass," but it doesn't hurt to try and fix it if you're impatient like me.

It has happened so often to me and I have learned to cope with it that it doesn't bother me much anymore.

More often than not the solution involes refocussing my efforts. If I'm bummed out on shooting I work on processing, if I feeling blah about lighting I focus on composition, if I'm tired of shooting portraits I shoot sports. There are so many angles to approach photography at that don't seem to have a problem finding at least one of them that is exciting. Knowing when to swith your focus seems to be the only problem for me at times.

doidinho wrote in post #15128273
It has happened so often to me and I have learned to cope with it that it doesn't bother me much anymore.

More often than not the solution involes refocussing my efforts. If I'm bummed out on shooting I work on processing, if I feeling blah about lighting I focus on composition, if I'm tired of shooting portraits I shoot sports. There are so many angles to approach photography at that don't seem to have a problem finding at least one of them that is exciting. Knowing when to swith your focus seems to be the only problem for me at times.

I agree, I'm always looking for situations where I can push my personal limits. Sometimes it's fun, & sometimes it's more like work, but it's never a waste of time.

Night Air Show, part #2. Aircraft & Fireworks... lotsa' fun?

Honey bees in flight & yellow daisies

Dream Cruise Friday Evening

56 Minutes with a 2002 Peterbuilt.

Are you sure it is skills? And not vision and creativity blocks? I live in NYC. I am tired of living in NYC. Yeah, I am finding it hard to find interesting subjects to shoot that I like in NYC. Right now, I am getting into medium format film and hopefully this old school medium can allow me to see photography differently.

A few things that have helped me: first, taking a lot more shots--counterintuitive perhaps, but I just got back from a week in Acadia National Park where I took about 1400 shots. Those 200 shots a day immersed me, obviously, but it also made me think about what I could do not to get bored and what I could do to see things differently.

The second thing that has helped me is to see shots before I take them--go places without my camera and envision them so that when I set up the shot, it looks like it did in my mind's eye. For me, this happens a lot when I "see" a shot in black and white instead of color.

The last helpful thing has been to limit myself to only a certain type of shooting or even just one lens for a while. I'm sure you've heard people talk about having a day of shooting with only a 50mm, etc. Things like that...

Hope something in there helps...

Thanks folks. Some good ideas here. And it's comforting to know I'm not the only one who feels this way.

TooManyShots wrote in post #15129479
Are you sure it is skills? And not vision and creativity blocks? I live in NYC. I am tired of living in NYC. Yeah, I am finding it hard to find interesting subjects to shoot that I like in NYC. Right now, I am getting into medium format film and hopefully this old school medium can allow me to see photography differently.

This is most likely the issue. I take shots that are technically competent, but lack pizazz. I just got back from the UK and I have lots of shots of London landmarks. In the weeks I've been back I've seen images from others of the same basic subjects, but with much more of a Wow factor. It all comes down to that "artist's eye" for the shot setup.

There's a saying in the literary world that "First you read, then you write." The idea being that you learn style from others and use that knowledge to develop your own. Maybe I need to really start looking at images that grab my attention and figure out why they grab my attention.