Beginners frustration
- This topic has 17 replies, 12 voices, and was last updated Jan 21, 2009 at 8:50 pm by
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I’ve seen the recent posting on getting started with the recommendations for books, working with someone more advanced and so forth, but I’m still lost and frustrated.
I bought my first SLR (Canon EOS) a few years ago with the goal of learning outdoor photography. Last year I went digital with the Cannon Rebel so now I don’t have the excuse of the cost of film keeping me from practicing.
I know that I will never take the really fantastic kinds of shots some o you get – I am basically a scientist with no creative eye for composition so I approach things analytically. I do get some good photos – but I think it’s a combination of luck and good gear. But then I’m not sure I have the right gear!
I’ve read a few books, tried unsuccessfully to find a course at the local community colleges, and I don’t seem to be any further along that knowing the settings and functions of my camera! I study the details of the settings on photos like the ones in Zak’s photoblog but how does one know what filter to use, when to change from auto to manual, etc.?
So, does anyone have any advice beyond read more and practice a lot? Are any of you in the eastern PA area (Lehigh Valley). I fish the East and West Branches of the Delaware River primarily.
Thanks!
You don t have to be really creative to get good shots, and as you say you did read books etc so i think you already waited for the good light and ran around your fishing friend all day or evening. In that case they can’t be that bad.
I did experience a few fantastic fishing photo moments, to bad i was holding the rod instead of the camera 🙂 (still had fun though)
Now i go out just bringing my camera an a friend with a rod and hope he will get in a fantastic fishing photo so i will be there to make it a shot of a lifetime.edit: like Lee said post some pics here
Michael, just like with your scientific equipment, you really need to become more intimate with knowing your equipment and how it works. The absolute best way to expedite the learning curve is to set EVERYTHING to manual. This will force you to learn how to use it properly and prevent that point of stalemated growth in your advancement; it is also a great way to take advantage of your analytical skills.
The other thing is to study, with an analytical focus, art works; not just photographs. Knowledgeable and accurate critique is another terrific tool that everyone needs, no matter how advanced they may be. Once you learn to do everything in manual, including Kelvin adjustment for WB, you can then use the automated functions for better use in an application that you fully understand better.
Shoot everything and shoot often, change the settings then study only the photographs that you liked( Including the metadata for these shots). This will help you develop that mental database for your own style and approach. Also, study those best images and ask for critique on what you can do to make them better and explain what you wanted them to look like.
Study your images for best crop and store that into your mental library, this will help with future framing. Study the shots and analyze where the best real composition is and what/why other artifacts distract from it, then go back and reshoot the shot with better framing/settings and compare to the original. Keep doing this until you get it right for your taste.
If you really want to advance in your ability to both develop great composition with natural lighting. Use one single empty chair and practice with your angles, framing, settings and natural lighting, until you find the spot where everything falls into place. Your goal is to give the final image the feel that a person is in the frame or just left it; only not seen physically in the composition. Composition is all about conveying emotional thought.
Michael.
I won’t tell you to practise more, what I will tell you is that on average I probably take 100 to 200 pics every Sat/Sun. Sometimes more, sometimes less, depends on whats in front of me. I spend about 12 hours on average each weekend *trying* to get shots, from 6 or 7am to 11 or 12. Last Saturday/Sunday it 20hrs.every weekend.
Then I spend my weeknights processing them, etc. Some weeks I have 1,000 shots to weed through.So I guess what Im trying to say is that each week I probably devote somewhere near 30/40hrs into it. Not really counting reading books and articles on different techniques. Some weeks its alot more than that.
Getting to know your camera so that you can change something on a whim, do it in the dark, when to shoot stopped down, or wide open, add a CP….whatever the case may be is largely a product of experience.
*******If you can find someone to go shooting with that will help alot. Doesnt have to be fishing related…I spent 2 years with “Birders” learning the basics and then some more advanced photography. Then it was just a matter of translating what I had learned from Birders, to hunting and fishing.
Still feel I have a lifetime of stuff I could learn and in fact Im giving alot of thought to taking some coarses from accredited institutions.
To me thats one of the best parts about it, theres almost no limit to it.
Ive yet to even touch Studio, Portrait, astrophotogrpahy and even IR.
*******Heres my suggestion if you want some hands on fast tracking.
Find a local “birding” group….They are extremely popular, no so more than these days with the advancements in digital photography.
Google “hawk watches” or Bird counts or even local conservation areas.If you can find 2 local bird watching hotspots, you’ll find photographers, from rank beginners to advanced amateurs there that can and will (atleast in my expereince) be more than willing to help.
I am basically a scientist with no creative eye for composition so I approach things analytically. I do get some good photos – but I think it’s a combination of luck and good gear.
Michael, DUDE, as a scientist you are perfect for photography. I too am a scientist and a real geek at that. The analytical skills you have are tailor made for photography. Once you get a few months under your belt and struggle with your setup and lighting and take copious notes you will be amazed at how much progress you make. Seriously, you will blend your analytical mind with the creative side and then increase your odds of getting the shots you want on command when it counts and that is when you will start to love photography.
Go here http://www.itinerantangler.com/cgi-bin/board/YaBB.pl?num=1226136248 and read a few of my scientific notes. Try approaching your photography with a scientific method and I guarantee you won’t struggle as much. Have fun!
Here’s a piece of advice someone gave me that has served well, “The only real difference between an amateur and a professional [in any field] is that the pro has paid the price to learn the principles in an effort to increase the odds of getting a desired result more often.”
In the end, you need to take lots of pictures. I am still not happy with most of my pictures but I keep practicing and taking notes.
By the way, listen to anything Ben tells you.
In the end, you need to take lots of pictures. I am still not happy with most of my pictures but I keep practicing and taking notes.
Aint that the truth.
Thanks guys – you are all most gracious and fantastic.
One consistent suggestion – which other beginners might heed – is putting the camera on full manual and experimenting. I shall do that.
I am only 40 minutes from Hawk Mountain, PA – a major stop in the migration path of raptors – so in the spring I’ll head up there. Ironically, I see several bald eagles whenever I float the Delaware. Would love to photograph them in a way that does them justice.
I did buy a new lens last summer – the Cannon EFS 17-35 with IS. I’m trying to figure out what my next addition should be. Telephoto?
More advice is welcome. And, if anyone gets to NE PA, I’ll float you down the Delaware in my wooden drift boat.
LC,
Good advice. I actually have no interest in selling my work. I simply believe that if one chooses to do something, you should do it to your best of your ability. And to that end, I want my photography to be on the same level as my fly tying, boat building or my casting.
Micheal, have a look at some of the old work of the masters like Ansel Adams or Weston for example – a lot of them had very rigid, scientific methods in their work and were not arty farty types.
A lot of the pro advertising and landscape shooters I know are very scientific as opposed to creative as well.
As posted above, I would learn manual settings and work towards understanding how the camera and lens are working at different settings and how that is best applied to specific situations.
here’s a great website for tutorials and info on all things geeky photographic:
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/Have fun !
www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
All good advice.
But there are a few simple things you can always have in your mind when shooting that will make it easier to get interesting images.
1. Change your perspective. Use an extreme angle, down low, up high, silhouette profile etc…
2. Fill the Frame with the subject.
3. More than fill the frame with subject, get real close and crop parts of it out. For centuries the Japanese have believed objects look more beautiful if you can only see a part of it.
4. Don’t be afraid to minimize the subject in a corner or low in the frame and capture mostly sky, background or foreground. Sometimes by minimizing the subject you can make it more important or dramatic.
Several others have commented on it here and I agree completely, visiting art galleries is one of the very best things you can do. You can learn all the technical shit, especially if you have a scientific mind, but the creative side is another thing altogether.
Find what you like in an image and try to understand why, the reverse is true as well, be critical, edit ruthlessly but not randomly, study some of the real basics of photography and shoot, shoot, shoot.
There’s nothing we can get good at without practise. 😉
Morsie
This is a great thread! Most of us, Michael, struggle with many of the same challenges that you do. The advice shared on this thread will help all of us.
I’ve had an SLR for over 20 years, but have gotten serious with my photography only in the last decade. I still have lots to learn and many areas of photography to explore, which is what makes it fun.
Here are a few things I have learned over that time:
1. Take lots of shots. Not mindlessly, but the best way to learn is by doing, so the more you shoot, the more “data” you generate to analyze, and the more you learn.
2. Always keep your camera handy. Don’t be caught wishing you had it along. Part of getting the good shots is just being in the right place at the right time with a camera in front of your face.
3. Go to a photo school, if you can find one. Nikon, Canon, Photoshop, and other organizations run “photo tours” with weekend classes in most major cities each year. I’ve attended a couple of “Nikon Schools,” a class on outdoor photography with Rod Planck, and am scheduled for another photo weekend in March at a class sponsored by the Rocky Mountain School of Photography. These are places to meet fellow photographers, learn from experts, and be inspired to keep growing as a photographer.
4. Find more experienced photographers with whom you can share your work. I’ve been fortunate to find one of those, since the woman who is the program coordinator for our state’s Casting for Recovery retreats is also an accomplished photojournalist who teaches at a nearby university. She has shared with me the course syllabi for her photo classes, including the “exercises” and projects she assigns to aspiring photographers. She also critiques some of my photos.
5.
Mick,
Thank you for the thoughtful and encouraging advice. Your mention of your state’s Casting for Recovery program was interesting. I am a “two-time-survivor” who has worked as a ‘buddy’ in the program in PA.
Michael
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