Changing what I shoot..... maybe

At the moment I shoot a little of everything, except people. It's kind of interesting when I look at my IG account and see the different photography moods I've gone through. I'll shoot mainly macro for a while and then do abstract for a bit, switch over to landscape and then BIF for a while. I'd probably be better if I just picked one or two things but I guess it's good to be well rounded.

But I'm seriously thinking that maybe I should eliminate something. As much as I like shooting BIF I find that my 400mm lens is kind of limited to that or moon shots. In hindsight I think I would have been better off with the 100-400.

Lately, I seem to be wanting to do more landscape and would like to get much better at it. I've been wanting to upgrade my body for a long time now and if I sold my 400mm and 60D I'd have the cash to upgrade to an 80D.

I just listed the 400mm for sale on a local site so I'll see what happens. If it sells then I can trade in the 60D when I get the 80D.

Or perhaps I should be looking at other bodies too since one of my reasons for going 80D was better AF for BIF.

.
It seems like you are kind of all over the place, so to speak, and don't have clear vision of exactly what kind of photography you want to do. Evidence of this is the use of the word "maybe" in your title, as well as the fact that you want an 80D because it has better AF for BIF, but that you are going to sell your BIF lens in order to get the 80D.

It is fine if you are at a stage where you just love photography in general, and haven't settled in to a specific genre and style. But being in this stage will make it really difficult to figure out what the best gear is for your needs, because your needs are diverse, and the gear that is great for one of your genres will be ill-suited for the others.

Is your love for photography subject-driven, or is it driven by a love of the medium itself? I mean, are you so excited by one particular thing that your passion for that thing makes you desperately need to photograph it? Or, is it a love for photography itself that makes you want to go find things to shoot?

If the former, then it probably won't be long before you settle in to a certain genre and style, and your gear decisions become more clear-cut. If it is the latter, then you may always have difficulties deciding what gear to get, and your manifold interests will cause you to need to keep a lot of different gear on hand.

shane_c wrote in post #18391082
At the moment I shoot a little of everything, except people. It's kind of interesting when I look at my IG account and see the different photography moods I've gone through. I'll shoot mainly macro for a while and then do abstract for a bit, switch over to landscape and then BIF for a while. I'd probably be better if I just picked one or two things but I guess it's good to be well rounded.

But I'm seriously thinking that maybe I should eliminate something. As much as I like shooting BIF I find that my 400mm lens is kind of limited to that or moon shots. In hindsight I think I would have been better off with the 100-400.

Lately, I seem to be wanting to do more landscape and would like to get much better at it. I've been wanting to upgrade my body for a long time now and if I sold my 400mm and 60D I'd have the cash to upgrade to an 80D.

I just listed the 400mm for sale on a local site so I'll see what happens. If it sells then I can trade in the 60D when I get the 80D.

Or perhaps I should be looking at other bodies too since one of my reasons for going 80D was better AF for BIF.

You have a fine body and great lenses for just about every kind of photography. You might want to add the 10-18mm for ultra-wide shots. Then just go out and shoot! There is no need to rush to a specialty. Have fun and see where your interests take you.

Thanks for the reply. I was initially trying to decide between the 7d2 and 80d because I was doing a fair bit of BIF but thought the 80d would be better since I shoot a variety of things. I've decided that I will stop BIF shooting as an attempt to stop being so scattered so that's why I'm selling the 400mm. So since the fast AF is no longer a priority I'm looking to see if there are other options.

I just enjoy shooting. I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing to shoot a variety of subjects but it certainly makes it more difficult when trying to decide on a body. I've been shooting for over 20 years and have always been scattered in my type of photography, depending on what I'm feeling. So I can't see me ever settling into just one genre. But I do know that I want to do more landscape photography (I used to do mostly landscape in the film days) but will still be doing my other stuff too (except BIF).

shane_c wrote in post #18392325
I just enjoy shooting. I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing to shoot a variety of subjects but it certainly makes it more difficult when trying to decide on a body. I've been shooting for over 20 years and have always been scattered in my type of photography, depending on what I'm feeling. So I can't see me ever settling into just one genre. But I do know that I want to do more landscape photography (I used to do mostly landscape in the film days) but will still be doing my other stuff too (except BIF).

It certainly is not a bad thing to have a wider variety of photography subjects/themes to focus one's attention upon...being limited to BIF certainly means that in winter you might not get out to shoot when so many birds have flown away for the winter, so it is good to be able to turn to a more indoor oriented activity like indoor sets and product photography lighting.
The real trick is to find out what it takes to 'master' a subject/theme, and not merely to shoot thousands of 'by chance' images without the realization of what makes for a mediocre vs. an eye-catching photo of the same subject. And if you can develop a mastery of multiple unrelated areas, that is a good thing.

Halifax, NS is one of the best Canadian cities. Telling it after visiting, working in all of large cities in Canada. It is one of the few major Canadian cities which was not vandalized yet by under controlled, unregulated, all for sale overdeveloping. You have so many opportunities for street photography in Halifax. With people or not. Use it, it will not last for long...