Progression

Hi all, glad I'm here, seems like a great place with all sorts of wild ideas running around.

Ok, I'm a photographer for 3 years, all digital, and over the past 6 to 8 months, I've been becoming more and more aware of certain things. A, I'm not cropping much if at all on most images. 2, I've been noticing after the shot, i.e., at home in the computer, that I'm composing some very nice lines, ones that I wasn't aware of when I made the photos (see below). and C, on the technical front, I've become completely dialed in on my exposure and photoshop skills, like I know what I'm doing it's not at all random anymore. I go into a particular shoot expecting to get a great shot now, whereas I used to hope for one. The photo below is just one example of this:

This shot is uncropped, and when I made it, I didn't take into account the background, although I do remember framing the skateboard like that. That's whats tricky to me, because to get to the next stage (gotta be looking forward not back, right haha?) would be recognizing these things while I'm making the photo or before even.

I feel like I've really upped my game, like turning a corner. I'm sure most people who stick it out for a couple of years reach this point. If you feel you haven't gotten to this stage, I hope reading this helps you get there. I know that I'll never be as great as I want to be because no matter how much I learn, theres always one more thing. And thats awesome, because why else strive for something unless perfection is out of reach? Iunno, thoughts? Thanks guys

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

I think that's the great thing about photography. It's a hobby (or job) that you will always learn something new or improve on your skills. Its been my hobby for about 1.5years (got my DSLR last christmas) and I've gotten past the "frustrating" part of the learning curve- most of my images come out the way I hope they will, and if I shoot in RAW usually I can correct them and have a good % of keepers. Of course it depends when I shoot as well, I'm not really into sports or anything that moves too much just stationary objects. It's great fun and I look learning much much more in the years to come. Although I feel that I can take pretty good pictures, I feel that I've only learned 10% of what I am capable of.