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Do your pictures suck?


pierces
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Tony and Chelsea Northrop did a video on "Why your pictures suck". Harsh verbiage in the title at first glance but the video is entertaining and makes some good points to consider, even if your photos don't suck all that badly.

 

 

It triggered a little introspection and I wrote down my own thoughts on the 10 reasons. Watch the video and think about it. Feel free to share your thoughts.

 

1 You're new

 

I gave up that excuse decades ago. Can't use it. Wait! New camera? Nope...basic rules still apply. Dang it!

 

2 You don't practice enough

 

I like this one. I take pictures often. not quite obsession-level but a day seldom passes where I don't take a photograph of some sort. This is why I'm always on here harping on all of you to go out and use your camera. Practice may not always make perfect but it makes better.

 

3 You're not telling a story

About half the casual pictures I take are the result of my internal caption generator going off and telling me to illustrate the little story that popped into my head when something caught my eye. It is why I like to include a story with my Picture-A-Week images.

 

4 You don't use your photos

 

I constantly review my photos. I go back and look at travel pictures when I'm going to the same place again so I can see what I took and how I may have missed the mark. I have photos stored on Amazon Photos so i can use them as a Fire TV screensaver. We have prints and the TV-As-A-Picture-Frame project will expand that. You do a lot of self-reflection on your photo skills while choosing what to print.

 

5 You don't study new techniques

 

This explains why I buy cheap lenses and adapt them or experiment with all my settings. I really love trying new stuff with photography and it really has helped me with my day-to-day shooting. Knowledge gained by pushing the envelope is a good thing.

 

6 You don't appreciate the work of others

 

Every time any of you post photos or links to galleries, I will go look. I like to see if I could do the shot better and often I'm impressed and wish I could have made the shot. When I plan on a day trip, I sometimes Google images of the place or something like it before I go to see how others saw it. I often tell people the best way to develop an "eye" is to look at other's photos and figure out what you like. Try to emulate them and grow from there.

 

7 You don't know history

 

Growing up with film and no internet, I did a lot of reading about photography. Ansel Adams, Walker Evans, Art Wolfe, Galen Rowell, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Weegee Fellig. Read about people like these and how they impacted the world of photography. I learned most of my digital manipulation from reading about Ansel Adams' Zone system and writings about his darkroom wizardry.

 

8 You don't listen to constructive feedback

 

A lot of the constructive feedback I get is from the voices in my head. I am a harsh self-critic. My family seems to be free of inhibitions when it comes to "helping" me make my photos better. I know that many of the pictures I post here are in need of some good ol' constructive criticism but y'all are too nice. Maybe we should start a thread for that purpose? Constructive criticism from folks here would be more useful than the hating from the trolls on the dedicated photo forums.

 

9 You don't collaborate enough

 

I don't. Not sure what to do about it. May not actually apply to non-pros like me? Maybe I'm just not good at playing with others.

 

10 You're afraid to fail

 

Got over that a long time ago. My first 150 images with the Lensbaby are in Deletion Hell. Every one of them. The percentage has improved but I still fail more often than not. As I mentioned in #5, I like to try new things and that makes failure a constant companion. If I try something and I'm bad at it, I will only give it up if I find I don't like it. If I like it, I'll work on that practice thing mentioned in #2. Usually lowers the failure rate.

 

Anyway, good video with good things to think about. I have now adopted my new daily mantra to repeat when I get out of bed: "Don't suck at photography!"

 

It replaced my old one: "First the pants, then the shoes..."

 

Happy Shooting!

 

 

Dave

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I've watched it before. Definitely food for thought.

 

1. You're new.

We've all been there. I ruined entire day's worth of pictures by having the settings wrong. I learned a lot about good subject matter by taking hundreds of boring pictures. But for certain genres of photography, I'm still brand new.

 

2. You don't practice enough.

This really hampered me for the first few years of my photography. I didn't use the camera at all between vacations. You really don't want to be learning how to use a new camera while you're on vacation. With my current camera, I've been keeping a list of features that I still need to test out, even for practice, before we leave on vacation.

 

I'm most of the way through the list ... and we're close to the vacation.

 

When I have spare time (like when my wife's out of town), I like to schedule a "photography morning." I pick a place, go out, and shoot golden hour.

 

3. You're not telling a story.

I'm not always trying to tell a story. I am (usually) at least trying to capture an illustration for a memory. My best photos tell their own story, independent of the one I might verbally tell along with them.

 

4. You don't use your photos.

On my desk at work, I keep a running slide show of 500+ photos on my electronic picture frame. I also make (slightly different) slide shows to put up on the TV when we have guests. (An 8" frame is more forgiving than a 55" TV, among other considerations.) I use photos to illustrate emails about vacations. I use them as conversation starters (or illustrations for something I'm describing).

 

The most useful use is probably the electronic picture frame. I get to constantly critique my work. (It's my favorite photos, not my crap work, but it's in my face nonetheless.)

 

5. You don't study new techniques.

If something interests me, I'll study it. I can't always generate interest in a genre. This partly ties into #4. Two days ago, I saw a young man who would have been an excellent subject for a street photo. I didn't even bother to pull my phone out of my pocket. (I did momentarily think about it.) I can't make myself feel passionate about street photography ... or even interested in pursuing it. After editing the photo, I never would have used it.

 

But in the past few weeks, I've worked on portraiture and studied the basics of infrared photography. (My IR filter should arrive in the next week or so.) Last month I started tackling macro photography. (Flowers are too easy ... and therefore boring. Bugs are interesting. Other stuff ... it's a toss-up.)

 

I'm also interested in listening to someone who might tell me something new about a style of photography that I've done for years (landscape, travel, or underwater).

 

One of my harshest critiques is of the people who can't even bother to read the manual of their camera.

 

6. You don't appreciate the work of others.

That's never been my problem. I enjoy looking at great photography (ever since I saw my first National Geographic). I might not be able to name my favorite five photographers, but I can name more than that (including some lesser known, amateur local photographers) whose work I highly respect.

 

7. You don't know history.

Definitely not my strong suit ... to the extent that this vaguely smacks of elitism.

 

However, I definitely think anyone who mastered the craft, particularly the pioneers, has something to teach about the artistry of photography.

 

This may boil down to my own personal philosophy. I don't need to know (or believe) Jesus' personal pedigree to recognize the wisdom of what he taught. The same holds true for photography (but more so).

 

8. You don't listen to constructive feedback.

Not one of my strengths. Other than my wife (who is a talented, but less practiced photographer), I don't engage with too many people with whom I can really sit down and critique my photos.

 

Part of this is a time-management thing. Photography usually ranks as my 3rd-4th favorite hobby. (Currently, it's hit an all-time high of 2nd favorite.) I haven't committed enough time to pursue it that far.

 

However, like Pierces/Dave, I do critique my own work. To the extent I've repeatedly gone back in the photo editor to see if I could improve the photos on my electronic picture frame. I tackled about a dozen last weekend. And I definitely know how I'd re-shoot a number of my photos.

 

9. You don't collaborate enough.

Guilty. My wife is the closest thing I have to a collaborator. She has a good eye for photos, even if she takes far fewer than I do.

 

One of my greatest leaps in skill was when I trained myself to think, "What photo would my wife take if she was here?" We inherently focus on different photos in the same location. I see the big picture. She sees the detail shot.

 

If she sees a particular shot and points it out to me (not an infrequent occurrence), I'll definitely try to capture it. But my learning curve has slowed, since I've already learned the lesson she had to teach. (She hasn't studied photography since the 80s ... and she doesn't pursue it as much as I do.)

 

I'm not knocking her skill. On a per-shot basis, she take more winners than I do. However, that's partly due to me taking more risks.

 

10. You're afraid to fail.

Nope. Failure costs nothing. (At least with digital photography.) And every failure is a chance to learn.

 

A few weeks ago, I tried out candid photography at a party. I mostly learned that my camera absolutely sucks for candid photography in that level of light. 300 to 400 photos that were mostly crap. Six that had enough charm to outweigh their obvious deficiencies.

 

I look forward to trying again when there's more light.

Edited by FlyingFlip
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For those wanting to improve their knowledge of photography, I found an excellent blogger on YouTube, Phillip McCorddall. The man knows is stuff. He covers the whole spectrum from beginner to pro level techniques. He has not posted in the last 9 months so I hope he OK. It would be a shame if he is unable to continue posting.

 

IMHO a great source.

 

https://www.youtube.com/user/pmcc150/videos?view=0&shelf_id=1&sort=dd

 

framer

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Here a sample of one of Phillip McCordall videos. He showing how to do a still life shot and control the light using simple stuff around the house. This is how I was shown to do it 50 years ago working at a studio as an apprentice photographer.

 

 

 

 

framer

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1 You're new

No way I can use this one. I started working as a photographer/photo-journalist in 1969 when I graduated from college....

 

2 You don't practice enough

 

I used to notice some fall off when I took time off, time away from photography early on but as I grew, as photography became more ingrained in me and my brain I realized that I am always looking at things and thinking about making pictures. How would I shoot that to make it more interesting?

 

3 You're not telling a story

Even in travel photography and landscape photography my background in journalism always has me thinking about what is this image going to say.

4 You don't use your photos

 

The best thing I had done since retiring is making coffee table books so my pictures don't just sit in drawers or on hard drives. I also spend time going back and looking at old work and realizing how I could have made it better.

 

5 You don't study new techniques

 

There have been a few changes in photography since I started. The technology changes are dramatic in so many ways but the bottom line is we are trying to capture an image that we see. Wether we are doing on film or on a digital sensor should not make a lot of difference in the thought process of how we try to shoot something. The whole post process thing raises lots of issues on ethics when it comes to journalism but that is a topic for another thread. Yes, I do work on all of my images and do some post processing but I also work hard to to get them right in the camera.

 

6 You don't appreciate the work of others

 

Looking at others work is important. I try to use it as a learning tool but I also try to not copy it. I think the worst thing we can do as photographers is just copy someone else's great image. I am always thinking, looking, trying to improve on it and on my own work. A wise, old photo editor once told me "there is nothing new to shoot, just new ways to make the old stuff interesting so think before you shoot".

 

7 You don't know history

 

I know history, I recorded a lot of it myself in my 30 years in newspapers. History is life and it is up to us as photographers to tell the story of the history with our pictures.

8 You don't listen to constructive feedback

I was lucky enough to get an interview with Bob Gilka when he was the director of photography ant Nat Geo back in the 60's We had a good talk, well he talked and I listened as he took my work apart piece by piece. In the end he encouraged me to keep going and keep learning and listening. His parting words, "Just remember, these are my opinions and opinions are likes *******s, we all have them and most of them stink. Now go out and keep growing". Yes, please, look at my work, share your thoughts because I am always open to learning something new.

.

 

9 You don't collaborate enough

 

But I do collaborate. I talk to a lot of my friends who I have worked with over the years. We talk about the past, the future, we share images and ideas. Some are still working and still making incredible images every day and sharing them so we can keep the conversations going.

10 You're afraid to fail

 

If I had a dime for every time I failed I could have retired twenty years sooner. I am I afraid? no, do I like it? Nope but it happens and it usually happens because I failed in my planning. One of the greatest lessons I have learned is that if I take care of all of the little details, the big stuff will just fall into place. If the camera is always ready, batteries are always charged, card in place, ISO set to my standard, mode set to my standard etc when something suddenly pops up I am ready to react. It happened on our recent Norway cruise. I was out looking for pretty scenics around dusk...10pm and it was crappy and gray as we cruised down a fjord so I gave up. 20 minutes later my wife looked out side and said "did you see this?".....the sun had broken out, the colors were unbelievable and I had about 10 minutes to shoot.....it worked because I planned the little stuff. Why? Because there were times in the past when I did not and I failed, so I learned.

 

 

 

Thanks for sharing Dave

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