Giving up.

I can't get composition right.

I can't get exposure right.

I can't get the choice of lens right.

I feel I've tried so hard, but I'm seriously thinking of just not bothering
any more.

There must be something that a photographer needs that I just haven't got.

Or is it the same for everyone ie; one photo out of a thousand is tolerably
presentable?

Perhaps I'll take up golf instead.


--
Pablo

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wibbleypants/
The below is a link to an ad for an apartment
for rent. It may or may not be of interest to photographers.
Follow the link at your peril.
http://paulc.es/piso/index.php

On 11/03/2012 10:13 AM, Pablo wrote:
I can't get composition right.

I can't get exposure right.

I can't get the choice of lens right.

I feel I've tried so hard, but I'm seriously thinking of just not bothering
any more.

There must be something that a photographer needs that I just haven't got.

Or is it the same for everyone ie; one photo out of a thousand is tolerably
presentable?

Perhaps I'll take up golf instead.




I consider myself a pretty decent photographer.

If I get one photo out of 500 that is good...I am happy

Since you get only one good photo out of 1000 I suggest you
really look at the whole frame before you snap the shutter.
The mind tends to just see the main subject and ignore the rest.
Before you snap, look to all four corners of the frame.

I prefer photography to golf. The last time I golfed was 1967
and I hit a parked car.

--
https://www.createspace.com/3707686

Andrew MacPherson escribió:

(Pablo) wrote:

Perhaps I'll take up golf instead.

Photography is the modern equivalent of hunting. Unless you're very good
you have to chase a lot of deer in order to catch your next dinner.

For me the chase is what's exciting. If every picture I took was superb
I'd be... well, the most respected professional photographer in the world!
But I'm definitely not. Far, far, far from it. :-)

When I stop getting excited when I load a card's contents onto my PC --
and then depressed when they nearly always turn out to be 'snaps' -- I'll
know it's time to give up.

Ah. Worse - bodged snaps.

I nearly cried when I saw that I'd chopped half a bug's head off. I was
convinced that I'd got a great picture until I loaded the damned thing onto
the PC.

--
Pablo

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wibbleypants/
The below is a link to an ad for an apartment
for rent. It may or may not be of interest to photographers.
Follow the link at your peril.
http://paulc.es/piso/index.php

"Pablo" wrote in message
...
I can't get composition right.

I can't get exposure right.

I can't get the choice of lens right.

I feel I've tried so hard, but I'm seriously thinking of just not
bothering
any more.

There must be something that a photographer needs that I just haven't
got.

Or is it the same for everyone ie; one photo out of a thousand is
tolerably
presentable?

Perhaps I'll take up golf instead.




That's a good idea. Quit. For a week or two. Or a month or two. Or a
year or two. Wipe photography from your mind. Golf may not be the best
flight into activity, but I suppose it would do. Once you've cleansed
yourself, go back and look at some of your work. You'll be pleasantly
surprised at how much better the images are than the way you remembered
them.

Your inner landscape changes from moment to moment, the standards you
currently hold as "rules" evolve as well. It all takes place in such
small increments you don't notice. Take that vacation, go on hiatus,
suddenly the differences between before and after are much more
dramatic. Not always in the better-feeling direction, but definitely
more perceptible and manageable.

At some point it becomes a matter of trusting yourself. If you have a
vision, be true to it. If you have only the ambition to meet others'
standards of "good", some activity like golf, or bowling, or pinball -
something with countable results - may be a more comfortable
preoccupation.

How many pictures did van Gogh sell while he was productive? The
distance between recognition and obscurity is fraught with the influence
of chance, as well as talent, integrity, and fortitude.

The best people possess a feeling for beauty,
the courage to take risks, the discipline to
tell the truth, the capacity for sacrifice.
Ironically, their virtues make them vulnerable;
they are often wounded, sometimes destroyed.
-Ernest Hemingway, author and journalist,
Nobel laureate (1899-1961)


--
Frank ess

In article , Andrew MacPherson
says...
Photography is the modern equivalent of hunting.

More like fishing - you never know what you will catch. Being in the
right place at the right time plays a big role.

We went out for dinner and I wasn't planning to shoot anything. I just
brought the camera with the light 35mm lens on it, just in case. And I
ran into this sunshine:
http://www.molon.de/galleries/German.../img.php?pic=5
--

Alfred Molon
------------------------------
Olympus E-series DSLRs and micro 4/3 forum at
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/MyOlympus/
http://myolympus.org/ photo sharing site

On 2012-11-03 08:13:17 -0700, Pablo said:

I can't get composition right.

I can't get exposure right.

I can't get the choice of lens right.

I feel I've tried so hard, but I'm seriously thinking of just not bothering
any more.

There must be something that a photographer needs that I just haven't got.

Or is it the same for everyone ie; one photo out of a thousand is tolerably
presentable?

Perhaps I'll take up golf instead.

I think all of the above all of the time. However, I have learned that
while each of us tends to be our own strongest critic (there are a few
blind, egomaniacal exceptions) we miss producing many good to great
shot because we over think the entire process.

You have provided a list of areas which frustrate you and certainly
frustrate and bewilder all of us from time to time. Usually the
solution to that frustration is to cut yourself a bit of slack in each
of those areas and rethink how to approach them.

Composition:
While many believe that all composition should take place within the
viewfinder, including all the "rule of thirds", horizontal horizons,
vertical central lines, lines of sight, subject placement, etc. doing
this dates back to the "get it all in one shot" school. This takes a
particular mindset and dates back to the philosophy of the classic view
camera photographer with limited resources.

With today's cameras and the digital darkroom, it you give yourself
room, you can ease away from the frustration of trying for the perfect
composition through the viewfinder. Many of us tend to overuse the long
end of the modern zoom lens by zooming in of the center of our
attention at the moment of image capture thereby constricting the
ability to compose well.
Give yourself some options, take that zoomed in on shot, then zoom out
and take several more shots with a wider view. Memory cards are cheap.
In your digital darkroom, in the wider shots look for the elements of
the scene which first caught your eye use different aspect ratio and
sized crop frames and re-visualize the composition on your computer
display.

Look for the great image within your capture, if you shoot too tight
you will never find it. There are times when zooming in on a subject
cam produce a great result with great impact, but conditions and
circumstances have to be right, otherwise you are shooting for the
magnificent accident.

Exposu
Tough subject, but today we have a tool which makes life a lot simpler,
the digital camera.
If you are having major issues with finding the "right" exposure for a
given scene, let your camera work for you. Don't try to find the
perfect manual settings. Don't test the extremes of your camera and
lens's specs. If you don't want to shoot auto, the best bet is to use
aperture priority keeping things between f/5-f/9, many stay around f/8,
and let the camera do the rest.
If you have an exposure bracketing feature in your camera (you should
have) then shoot a three shot bracket set, one normal, one over
exposed, and one underexposed. This approach gives you two advantages
when you get home. Three different exposures of the same scene which
you can choose from, and heaven forbid! a three shot exposure set to
consider for HDR processing, which can at times save an image.

Lens selection:
All I can say is minimize your choices except for special needs.
Each of us has our own taste and needs depending on the type of
photography we engage in. The wildlife, portrait, landscape,
generalist, and snapshooting tourist each have our real needs and have
to make compromises.

Personally my general use, walk-around lens is my Nikkor 18-200mm VRII.
It gives me results I can work with. In my bag I also carry three other
lenses, a 35mm f/1.8, a 70-300mm VR, and my Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8.

Here are some side-by-side comparison shots comparing original with one
of my final results. In each case I wish I had a longer or different
lens, I could have done better with regard to exposure selection, but
each was somewhat fixable to reach something I could be happy with.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/lx56l61b7...ison%20Shots-2


....and then there are the real accidents. Here I put my camera on a
table in a restaurant and accidentally tripped the shutter.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1295663/Fil...eenshot_57.jpg

So, my best advice is, slow down, simplify, and give yourself
composition room and room to breathe.
Always make the best of what you have available.


--
Regards,

Savageduck

On 11/3/2012 8:13 AM, Pablo wrote:

I can't get composition right.

Remember the rule of Thirds. Most of the time it will work for you.


I can't get exposure right.

Exposure is simple, set the camera and let the camera determine
exposure. Lighting (or the type there of) is what's extremely important.


I can't get the choice of lens right.

Just about 90% or 95% of your pictures could be taken with one good
variable lens.


I feel I've tried so hard, but I'm seriously thinking of just not bothering
any more.

The secret to success is to do the best you can with the knowledge and
tools that you have and let the future evolve as you gain in both
knowledge and equipment.


There must be something that a photographer needs that I just haven't got.

When taking a picture look to tell a story. For example, a simple
dramatic (B&W or color) picture of a wooden fence post, gate lock, door,
shuttered window, train or train engine, doll house, etc... may tell a
story in the mind of an observer.

Envision the picture in your mind first before attempting to take the
picture. A lone fence post with snipped barb wire located on the prairie
could tell an imaginative story in the mind of an observer.

Instead of randomly taking an occasional shot try adopting a theme and
take pictures that compliment the theme. Take shots of bugs, if you like
bugs; spider webs, old cars, abandoned factories, ships, beaches
(including what one may find there), etc.. The most important thing to
remember is to do what /you/ want to do and not be concerned with what
others may think.


Or is it the same for everyone ie; one photo out of a thousand is tolerably
presentable?

There were times when I wished I was so lucky as to be in a position of
opportunity and have one good shot that was technically correct as it
told a story that imaginatively and emotionally moved an observer.

Remember this, even when someone tells you your pictures are crap,
consider yourself successful. A least the observer has been moved to
display an emotion. Silence or indifference can be most intimidating.


Perhaps I'll take up golf instead.

Been there, done that. Golf never gave me the satisfaction of creativity
that comes with a hobbyist's love of photography.

Nick

On Sat, 03 Nov 2012 16:13:17 +0100, Pablo wrote:
: I can't get composition right.
:
: I can't get exposure right.
:
: I can't get the choice of lens right.
:
: I feel I've tried so hard, but I'm seriously thinking of just not bothering
: any more.
:
: There must be something that a photographer needs that I just haven't got.
:
: Or is it the same for everyone ie; one photo out of a thousand is tolerably
: presentable?
:
: Perhaps I'll take up golf instead.

Thinking you're not getting things right means little. Everyone feels that way
to some degree.

Compare your current work with what you were doing two years ago. If it's
consistently better, you don't need to worry; you're headed in the right
direction. If it isn't, you need to do a more rigorous job of examining what
you're doing wrong and trying to improve.

Golf is a silly game. It's expensive; it isn't very good exercise; and it
produces nothing lasting to remind your successors that you were ever here.
Photography is much better.

Bob

On Sat, 3 Nov 2012 19:10:55 +0100, Alfred Molon
wrote:
: In article , Andrew MacPherson
: says...
: Photography is the modern equivalent of hunting.
:
: More like fishing - you never know what you will catch. Being in the
: right place at the right time plays a big role.
:
: We went out for dinner and I wasn't planning to shoot anything. I just
: brought the camera with the light 35mm lens on it, just in case. And I
: ran into this sunshine:
: http://www.molon.de/galleries/German.../img.php?pic=5

Point made.

Bob

On 2012.11.03 17:15 , Robert Coe wrote:

Golf is a silly game. It's expensive; it isn't very good exercise;

If you walk it (as you should) it is a great walk - about 7 - 8 km.
Though in much of the US that could be hard in the hot summer months. I
recall staying at a resort in AZ in late June and watching the golfers
trying to get in 18 before 10:30 - using electric carts of course (I
didn't play - was there on business).

A scratch player makes 54 athletically challenging strokes (swings) and
usually as many practice strokes. Most players aren't scratch so pile
the extras on too.

I've done 36 holes in a day a few times. That's a lot of walking and
swinging (not to mention language that would make a salty sailor blush).
Usually not worth it as the errors pile up with the fatigue on the
final 9.

One feels a little worn after 18 (walked holes). It is therefore good
exercise.

and it
produces nothing lasting to remind your successors that you were ever
here.
Photography is much better.

Most golfers have mementos, photos and so on. Not that that is much of
a monument to ones self.

Even golfers do other things.

--
"There were, unfortunately, no great principles on which parties
were divided – politics became a mere struggle for office."
-Sir John A. Macdonald