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Frustrated amateur
I am a frustrated amateur. I take a lot of photos but compared to images at Getty's mine are terrible. Photography courses are too expensive and practising just reinforces what I am doing wrong.
How can I become an amazing photography?
What steps should I take?
Any advice please? :dunno:dunno:dunno:dunno
How can I become an amazing photography?
What steps should I take?
Any advice please? :dunno:dunno:dunno:dunno
0
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For example, say you like photos of people. Focus on taking great portraits. Read books about it, do online tutorial, submit your photos for critque (and try out some suggestions).
There is a great tutorial here on dgrin over in Monthly assignments for portrait work (just as an example).
Look at photos you like and try to figure out how they did it. How did they get the light there, or the depth of field, etc.
When first learning thing, I find that the best way to try and replicate something that I like that someone else already did. Once you can do that, you can stretch yourself and make new things, but the tecniques you figured out will be priceless for you.
If practicing isn't helping you, then you probably need to work on how you practice.
Pick one type of shot you are interested in (people, landscape, sports, macro, wildlife, etc...) and go spend two hours shooting that. Then, come back to your computer and pour over the photos you took. Find the best five photos and make a list of what you like about them and what you don't like about them. For the things you don't like about them (exposure, composition, color, contrast, whatever) make a list of things you would like to do differently next time or need to learn about. Go to Google and do some searches on the things you need to learn about. There is so much on the web about photography that it's not hard to find very good reading material on a particular topic in a few clicks.
If you're really stuck as to what to do differently to fix the things you don't like, then post a picture or two here and ask for some advice. If you have an attitude that you are hungry to learn and you ask good questions and you put some effort into your shooting, chances are you will get lots of helpful advice here. Then take some of that advice and go try to apply it in another two hours of shooting on the same type of subjects. Repeat the process.
Practice with self feedback, then an effort to learn some new things in the areas you don't know what to do differently, then trying to apply those things in another shoot, then repeating the process works really well if you put the effort in.
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Dont look for a school that will teach you the 3 third rules of a boat on the water with some sky....it will slowly but surely drown your sole in a tar pit. Look at crap no other person looks at. Bring fear & horror & controversy to your photos.
You MUST have that imagination on fire or its back to crochet.
Keep practicing and you'll get better also. jfriends advice is great.
Keep shooting,
Eric
It's better to be hated for who you are than to be loved for who you're not.
http://photosbyeric.smugmug.com
Cheers,
- Time of day
- Location
- Where's the sun
- Camera settings
- What you were trying to accomplish
- Why you thought all the above would do the job
I'll grant that some of the above will be in the EXIF data, but you need to see it all in one place when attempting to duplicate good/great results.My Photos
Thoughts on photographing a wedding, How to post a picture, AF Microadjustments?, Light Scoop
Equipment List - Check my profile
I can also highly recommend More Joy of Photography by the editors at Eastman Kodak Co, 1981. It is an amazing book of techniques and ideas, and it never once mentions the rule of thirds, (!) instead discussing ways to create tension in your photographs. It also barely mentions white balancing, and has several photos that glory in their color casts! Worth searching the used book stores to find. It's also a good read when you're home with the tummy flu.
You should also check out the Whipping Post on these very forums! Take your very best and post it up there. You'll get some very blunt feedback that should hone your critical eye.
Taking a small number of photos probably won't work to well. When I started a year ago, if I took 500 photos, maybe 4 or 5 were good. Now after a year later I can take 500 photos but only 200 or 300 are good. Sure 200 or 300 seems like a lot, but percentagewise, that's still roughly 50%.
It takes a LOT of practice. Don't focus on your photos that are bad. Look at the ones that are good, and look at what you did well and why it works. You're probably going to delete your bad photos anyway so why linger on them?
PS. I've taken one course, and it didn't teach me anything I didn't already know. I still say practice is the best method. Just don't get too frustrated.
While I can appreciate that many private courses, and workshops are beyond your, (mine too) budget, you may want to look into your local community colleges.
Look at joining a local camera club. Read, read, and read more.
Unfortunately there are some costs involved in photography. While one doesn't need the latest, and greatest one does need a to get to a certain minimum equipment wise.
Provide as much information as possible. What type of photography are you interested in? Define what you want. Post images that reflect what you are striving for. Post the very best images you have that reflect an effort to achieve this. Try to learn how to articulate your questions, and make them as specific as possible. No one can answer open ended questions. IE: What is the meaning of life.
The key word, I think is focus. Don't just run around pressing the shutter button. Think, what are you trying to capture? Do you want motion blur? Blurred background? Crisp clear background? Large DOF, or narrow DOF. Is what you want within your equipments capabilities?
Sam
to everyone who has replied so far - a big thanks. I will take up your suggestions.
De
http://slinky0390.smugmug.com
I spent hours and hours at the library (I was married and had children running amuck at home and the home was tooo small to ahve a truly quiet area)......I read and read and I bought books and traded books but mostly I just read at the library....then I ran into a book about Glamour Photography by Photographer Peter Gowland and his wife Alice.......this book showed how he set up shots and shoots in his studio, pool and on the beach.....since nearly all the photos were nudes I had to keep the book under wraps from the small children.....but probably the greatest help was when I made a call to him and spent many hours asking questions and he actually told me to just copy his style and everyting if I wanted too as that would be a fantastic compliment to him ......over about a years time I spent several Saturday evening on the phone with him and I incorperated his poses and such into even my wedding shots.....
Study the work of a Photographer you admire and study them close......then emulate them and then make them your own......
I used to carry a pen/pencil and pad everywhere and every shot was documented.....then I moved to micro tape recorders that were vox operated and now I am back to pencil (no pens...as I lost 3 weeks of notes in one Czech rain storm....all my sharpie notes turned into a beutiful purple abstract, now I have almost 30 rolls of film and only know where a very few frames were shot) and pad...even with the exif info I still document at least location....that is until I get my Nikon and GPS cable......
It might help us more if we knew where your interests lay.........
Also if you think formal study is too cost prohibitive look into correspondence course {NYIP has courses for around 30.00/month} or look at your local college for uncredited adult courses these usually range in price from $5 / meeting to $100 or so for a 6 wk course....this is thru the continuing education departments and are taught by a local photographer who just wants to share his knowledge with others........