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06/29/2008 03:05:42 AM · #26 |
| Let's try a different track here. If you really, truly wanna learn about how a good photograph is a good photograph and how to make your own, try this. Take some time to make a lot of comments on photographs that are already here. Not just good photos or bad photos, all photos. And I don't mean your basic 'nice shot', 'what were you thinking' comments, I mean try and do some critiquing of photos. Really get into it. What makes the shot great. What makes the shot not so spectacular. How could the photographer have made it better. Do this enough times and you start thinking that before you release the shutter... That's how I learned the most about photography. |
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06/29/2008 04:56:08 AM · #27 |
Originally posted by Nullix:
First off. Watch this. |
LOL...it's all easy when you already know what you're doing ala Gary.
How do you improve when you've made it past noob level though ?
Is there only so far one can go ?
bazz. |
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06/29/2008 05:07:19 AM · #28 |
Originally posted by Nullix:
First off. Watch this.
Realize, it's not really about your photoshop abilities, it's about your planning. Good photographers don't take pictures, they make them. There's a lot of preplanning involved.
No, go make a picture. |
I'm sorry, but when someone asks about how to become a good photographer and answer that with a photoshop tutorial, that is very weird. |
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06/29/2008 07:29:59 AM · #29 |
Originally posted by sir_bazz:
Originally posted by Nullix:
First off. Watch this. |
LOL...it's all easy when you already know what you're doing ala Gary.
How do you improve when you've made it past noob level though ?
Is there only so far one can go ?
bazz. |
On dp I think there is only so far one can go. You either have a style that is popular or you don't. If you want to shoot for dp, you will be limiting yourself to stagnation, unless you go beyond it. I have to use Bear_Music as an example. He knows how to create ribbon winners (I don't, but I will continue to try.) However, he is also having fun jumping out of the box and creating some images that aren't popular with dp, but are wonderful to explore and try and stimulate him as an out of the box photographer. He is willing to take that risk because scores aren't all that it is about, and he knows this. Look at his page and see what I am talking about.
I have climbed way out of the box on the outside. I have created a card I give to subjects when I shoot their picture. My card reads "Impromptu Portraits and Street Photography." They have their image posted on one of my photo pages, and if they want a print, I sell them one. So I have found my focus. However, it isn't dp style.
I also am working on several farm projects. I am creating books on Farmers Markets and selling them at the farmers market I am photographing. It includes stories on the farmers, their portraits in their environment, etc. Not a dp style.
I am creating a recipe book put together by cancer survivors, or those touched by cancer. Photos of their favorite recipes and their stories. Not a dp style.
So you see, there is life beyond dp. Once you get yourself focused and finding what you really care about, don't let dp stagnate your photography. It is a waste if you allow that much power to any site. You can learn so much, you can try photos you see, you can make comments and improve, but to be a good photographer doesn't mean online stuff only. It is fun, it is great to share, but it isn't all there is. Just remember that when you get yet another sub 5 score. I have 50% of my scores under 5, but I don't let it stop me from exploring beyond dp.
Message edited by author 2008-06-29 07:40:31. |
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06/29/2008 07:59:03 AM · #30 |
Check out  DrAchoo . He has his tips linked and also has a website with his photography linked. I would personally start with the basics and try to master them before I started trying to photoshop everything. I have not yet mastered any of this and am still learning myself. Good luck! |
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06/29/2008 08:30:06 AM · #31 |
Originally posted by Mick:
Just do it! But don't do what I do cuz it don't work. :)
I've been doing photography for 40+ years and the best advice I can offer you is to learn as much as you can about art. All kinds of art, but mainly the visual arts. The things that make a drawing or painting look good are the same things that make a photo look good. You can know all about the technical aspects of photography, but if you don't have an artistic eye then you're just someone pushing a button on a camera.
Mick |
yes, yes and yes. mick has 20 years on my photo life, but i feel exactly the same way. shoot, shoot, shoot (when i did my bfa i shot 10 rolls of film a day), and look at lots and lots and lots of art.
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06/29/2008 08:32:45 AM · #32 |
planning doesn't have to be part of it. what is one of the most important things is to make the camera a part of your body - shoot so much that you don't need to think about the camera technicals - then you can truly react creatively and instantaneously. it's the same as practising the piano - it's only when the physical side of it becomes perfectly natural that the beauty can come through.
not to say that planned images aren't beautiful, but knowing what you want and how to get it are so important.
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06/29/2008 11:06:01 PM · #33 |
Originally posted by biteme:
Originally posted by Nullix:
First off. Watch this.
Realize, it's not really about your photoshop abilities, it's about your planning. Good photographers don't take pictures, they make them. There's a lot of preplanning involved.
No, go make a picture. |
I'm sorry, but when someone asks about how to become a good photographer and answer that with a photoshop tutorial, that is very weird. |
Oops. Maybe that wasn't a good example. I was just impressed on what went into that shot. The planning, the different collection of pictures, and the composition (putting it together). Not the actual photoshop skill.
Point being, don't take pictures, make them happen.
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06/29/2008 11:33:04 PM · #34 |
Originally posted by option:
As Henri Cartier-Bresson said, "your first 10000 frames are your worst."
Shoot lots, make mistakes, and shoot more. It all comes down to practice and experience. |
Totally agree, I think it was about 10000 before I started to like my own images!
I don't consider myself good, but I've come a long way in the past year in my understanding of photography. Much of it simply from scrolling through all the images on this site, as well as, reading and looking through books at other images. Look at the top end of a chaalenge, and then the bottom end, i.e. what worked, what went wrong. The middle is usually filled with technically good images that did not inspire the voter for whatever reason.
I pretty much take my camera with me whenever possible, and always to work. I try use it daily even if it's going for a walk or goofing around with the kids. As with anything, practice is best.
Learning to post process has come through books and tutorials, and again, practice.
Common theme, generic advice, but it works! |
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06/29/2008 11:58:17 PM · #35 |
Originally posted by TooCool:
Let's try a different track here. If you really, truly wanna learn about how a good photograph is a good photograph and how to make your own, try this. Take some time to make a lot of comments on photographs that are already here. Not just good photos or bad photos, all photos. And I don't mean your basic 'nice shot', 'what were you thinking' comments, I mean try and do some critiquing of photos. Really get into it. What makes the shot great. What makes the shot not so spectacular. How could the photographer have made it better. Do this enough times and you start thinking that before you release the shutter... That's how I learned the most about photography. |
I was about to suggest the same thing. This technique helped me improve tremendously.
Also listen to the comments you receive. Most were saying your image is too dark, so work on lighting, read everything you can about it and improve just that one area. The next challenge you submit will have comments about something else, go learn about that topic and improve on it in the next challenge, etc. And do submit at least a challenge a week. It's a great learning tool.
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06/30/2008 12:31:51 AM · #36 |
Like Moose said, most of the comments on your first image were about it being too dark, and I agree. It may be your monitor. If you can look at that image on another computer besides the one that you used for preparing the image for DPC, you will know if that is the problem. I had my G5 Mac monitor set bright, and it was making my images on line look dark to everyone except me because of that.
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06/30/2008 12:46:19 AM · #37 |
Originally posted by Moose408:
Originally posted by TooCool:
Let's try a different track here. If you really, truly wanna learn about how a good photograph is a good photograph and how to make your own, try this. Take some time to make a lot of comments on photographs that are already here. Not just good photos or bad photos, all photos. And I don't mean your basic 'nice shot', 'what were you thinking' comments, I mean try and do some critiquing of photos. Really get into it. What makes the shot great. What makes the shot not so spectacular. How could the photographer have made it better. Do this enough times and you start thinking that before you release the shutter... That's how I learned the most about photography. |
I was about to suggest the same thing. This technique helped me improve tremendously.
Also listen to the comments you receive. Most were saying your image is too dark, so work on lighting, read everything you can about it and improve just that one area. The next challenge you submit will have comments about something else, go learn about that topic and improve on it in the next challenge, etc. And do submit at least a challenge a week. It's a great learning tool. |
That's a good way to start out but most people just look at just the technicals. Eventually you'll want to start looking at photos more on an emotional level. After all the point of photography is to produce an emotional response not showcase sharpeness or various levels of luminosity. A good thread that focuses on this aspect is the Reaction Club.
Edited for spelling.
Message edited by author 2008-07-01 19:20:27.
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07/01/2008 05:23:51 PM · #38 |
haha, i wish i could remove my first image because it was terrible. i had an idea, but i couldn't execute because i had nothing but a D40 and the kit lens. no tripod, no flash, no remote trigger nothing. I propped the camera up on some cabinet, had to use the timer, no model except myself so I couldn't focus correctly, used some lousy flash light to create some dim lighting.
i thank everyone for their thoughts so far.
Message edited by author 2008-07-01 17:25:02. |
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07/01/2008 05:37:57 PM · #39 |
Mick's suggestion about studying art is excellent. Similar to that is drawing. Drawing really helps you "see" something - you don't have to be good at it.  xianart's advice to shoot and shoot until you can play the camera like you play the piano without looking at your fingers is equally excellent. I should practice these things! |
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