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05-08-2018, 03:06 PM   #16
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for what it is worth - here is my 2 cents:

1 I am a newbie

2 I have been lucky enough to be allowed by my spouse to get good equipment since 2015

3 if I am being honest I could improve my photography tremendously by

- learning the basics of photography and using them

- concentration and memory - know what my camera settings are when I take a photo and remember them so if I get something I like I can repeat the experience

- knowledge and technique can beat the " latest and brightest " equipment

to prove that statement look at this thread and see what others can do with equipment some might think obsolete - prime, prime, everywhere a prime... - Page 4 - PentaxForums.com

4 the only person I really have to please with my photography is myself ( although I do delight in the " likes " I have received here ), I can endeavor to get as good as " X " but in the end so long as I like it, that is enough

5 photography is a hobby for a lot of us, a fun experience , if it isn't take a break or find another hobby

IMHO, YMMV

05-08-2018, 03:25 PM - 2 Likes   #17
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I think everyone who's creative goes through an identity crisis. Or two. Probably many identity crisis’s. I know I have.

For me there’s a couple of approaches I take to kick my butt out of the doldrums. First, I bring out the camera and use it because it’s therapeutic. I find peace in chasing light, looking at shadows and shapes and color. In whatever form they may take. Without the intention that I may ever do anything with those pictures. Secondly, there’s the inspirational side. Where I look at photos others have taken and I say to myself “I want to do that.” Or “How did they do that?” And then I see if I can, just so I can understand the process, and see if there is something new there that I can use. Sometimes successfully, sometimes not so successfully. But either way, I had fun and I learned something.

There’s also something to taking a photo that, yes, everyone else has taken. My wife and I were on vacation, and I got up before dawn to drive out and take sunrise pictures. She questioned my sanity and said that there were a dozen postcards with that sunrise picture, I could just buy one of those. I agreed, she was right, I could just go buy one but that was not my intent. My intent was to go take my own damn “postcard” sunrise. And I did. And I had a great time taking it. And it’s one of my favorite pictures. And I’ve gotten a lot of complimentary mileage out of it over the years.

A step beyond the “inspirational” photos is workflow. There’s workflow with getting the shot, and there’s workflow with processing the shot. I’ve spent a lot of time over the years refining and redefining my both of those workflows. It’s easy to get stuck in a workflow that “works” but it may not yield growth. Last years “great” photos are this years “good” photos. The workflow hasn’t changed, it is still the same workflow. Tried and true. Steps laid out in stone. So what’s changed? Our expectations. The “great” photos from last year just aren’t good enough today. And that disconnect can be very disheartening.

I typically shot landscape and architecture, so when I started shooting wildlife, specifically birds in flight, my shooting “workflow” for getting the shot didn’t work. I had to learn a whole new way to shoot. Which also meant I had to learn how to get more out of the equipment I was using. Because as much as I wanted better, newer, fancier gear, it wasn’t happening. And what gear I had was more than sufficient. It wasn’t about the gear. It was about me and what I did with my gear.

When HDR hit the scene years ago, I was “wowed” by many of the images. So I watched some videos, did an online workshop, and made crunchy pictures for about a year, ha! But what I really did was change my processing workflow (I wanted to know how they got those images). Ultimately adapted what worked for me, discarded what didn’t. And I keep changing it. Adapting, modifying, learning. Repeat. And I’ve often come back to my basics, (I recently retook a Dave Cross video workshop on Photoshop Basics, just to recall what I’d forgotten).

Anyway… I hope this wordy response helps a bit.
05-08-2018, 04:03 PM   #18
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Printing has changed my assessment of my photography and boosted my motivation (and made me take a lot less pictures in the process). Plus, I get to talk with a knowledgeable artist in her own right.
05-08-2018, 04:23 PM - 1 Like   #19
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Do what you love. Be where you want to be at the best time to be there. Be around people who you find interesting or that you like. Go to an event that inspires you. Enjoy food at the restaurant that you've been wanting to go to. And then take a photo of it. I find it easier to take a photo of things that I love, things that I'm connecting with. And that's what I love about photography - it gets me thinking of the things I find joy in and then I try to figure out how to take a photo of it.

And sometimes I purposely restrict my choices by, for example, just bringing 2 prime lenses. I've found this restriction of choice makes it easier to take photos and not agonize for too long of what would be "perfect". Instead of looking for the finish line, enjoy the journey. And if you're combining the things you love with photography, at the very least you'll be enjoying the things you love

05-08-2018, 04:24 PM - 1 Like   #20
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QuoteOriginally posted by Zephos Quote
I had a hard time answering the question of why I was doing it.
At my Age (73)The most important "WHY" for me is the stimulus to my memory and my family's memory to our common past that a photo creates. And the lack of pictures for those life altering moments that I don't have any or but 1 photo to help with the stimulus leaves me feeling empty. After filling this void for the last 30 + years with lots of shots as a side line I enter contests, sell prints, done commercial work and if it doesn't work out ; so be it.
e.g. I just got notice today that none of my 6 prints were accepted in the Royal Photographic Society's 161st International Exhibit (over 7000 entries). Feeling a little disappointed I found a site with samples of photos that were accepted and my disappointment soon disappeared when I realized that after 158 years those folks didn't actually know a fine photo when they saw one. Their loss

The photos that I have but 1 of; wishing that I had shoe boxes full so my family could relate to the hundreds of stories attached to each : 1 Photo each but starts 100's of stories:

Photo 1 : My Grandfather 23 years (around late 1800's to early 1900's) in the Royal Navy; Honorable discharge at 36 years old. Yes he was 13 years old when he joined.Born on the Island of St Helena's Royal Navy Station. His parents probably there when Napoleon was interned there. Sailed all 7 seas and the picture was taken in Australia.
Photo 2 : I worked 4000 ft under ground in a gold mine at a place called Pickle Crow at 19 years old.
Photo 3 : Royal Canadian Navy Reserve WW III C (cold) early 1960's Rank :ABSMXS

Last edited by honey bo bo; 08-07-2018 at 04:30 AM.
05-08-2018, 09:57 PM   #21
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Inspiration comes and goes. We are all different.
I shoot because I always want to learn and improve.
I shoot because people turn to like my pictures.
I shoot because when I get a gig I get scare as hell, then when I have finished I am completely satisfied. Till the next gig.
I shoot because life can be boring without having hobbies that are expensive
I shoot because I always have to find a nice reason to tell my wife why I need a to buy a camera or lens.

Culture
05-09-2018, 04:35 AM - 1 Like   #22
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When shooting from your own impulses, as a hobby, chasing after incredible image quality (including the obsession with "sharpness") is folly. Any pastime is only interesting as long as you are learning something. What do you learn from pursuing ultra-sharpness? How to pixel-peep? How to read DxOMark scores? That's not my idea of fun. I'd rather pick up a $90 (and arguably overpriced) Sprocket Rocket, spool in a roll of Kodak Ektar 100, and walk around the local flea market or junk antique shops, and turn some ordinary scenes into very funky images. That's only one possible example. You don't need expensive gear to play around with photography and learn something. You just need some imagination and an impulse to try something you haven't done before.

I think a fair bit of what we shoot as shutterbugs tends to be stuff that has no real purpose except to show off to other shutterbugs. And that's OK. Writers do that. Musicians do that. It's a normal creative impulse, and it's an itch that's much easier to scratch now in the age of the internet. (Uhh, is shutterbug still a word? Or is it photonerd now?)

Another thing I like to remind myself from time to time is that subjects and content matter, and so does the perspective of the viewer. Mundane subjects shot around my home will always look mundane to me. However, there's always somebody on the other side of the world who thinks I live in the most exotic locale imaginable and will find those photos far more interesting than I do.

05-09-2018, 06:57 AM - 3 Likes   #23
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QuoteOriginally posted by Zephos Quote
Hi everyone,

I have taken a break from photography for the last year, after pursuing it as a hobby for a few years.

I think the reason was because I kind of had an identity crisis about my photography. I had a hard time answering the question of why I was doing it. There are so many better photographers out there. They are more skilled, as well as better equipped, and all the places and things I would want to photograph have all been visited and photographed by these people before.

And yet, I still feel the urge to take my camera out and use it. I just don't know how to justify it though Also, I have always wanted to achieve the stunning results of people I see here and other places but I have always struggled to do so, despite studying, practice, etc. Sometimes I feel like I have to buy gear I can't afford and that is another reason I have put my camera away... I have a K-50 and some basic lenses and I just feel like it is a huge struggle to try and get good results with entry-level equipment. I know the K-50 is a good camera, but I often fall into the trap of thinking better equipment will somehow solve my issues. I find myself thinking that spending tons of money on a better lens will make my pictures stop being soft, or getting a higher resolution sensor will make my pictures sharper. Here is the thing - there is some truth to that - but I can't really go out and buy a new camera at the moment so I am left with the frustration of pictures that just never turn out well. The right thing to do is to just make do with what I have, I know, but how do I get into a better mindset about it?

Has anyone else been here? How do you get past this? I appreciate your responses.
Cartier-Bresson said your first 10,000 pictures are your worst. And he said that when he shot film. Today with our digital cameras I'd bet it's more like your first 50,000 are your worst. Or maybe 100,000 since I must have shot about 50,000 by now and I don't see as much improvement as I would like

So let's see... from your list:

Does everybody else seem to take better pictures than me? Check. Especially those who know how to manipulate light sources like strobists. Or those people with a fantastic eye for landscapes. I'm still stuck at trying to come up with interesting lines and points of interest in my pictures. Been there for over a year, haven't progressed all that much. But at least it's something I'm working on

Does everybody seem to have better equipment? Check. I have a K-S1 (can't complain about the IQ on that one, reallly) and a K10D that is slowly failing (most of the time half the buttons don't work, but sometimes they do...) The K10D will likely be substituted by a K50 that should be coming my way next week... but I might keep using it here and there until it dies completely because I just like the way it makes the pictures look, especially in good light.

So I guess what I am trying to say is, most of us feel the hindrances you feel (others are better, our equipment isn't good enough) but the truth is, if you see photography as something you can practice and get better at while at the same time keeping good memories, then keep doing that. If it's a burden that's not fun at all, let someone else do it, and find somethig you enjoy more. Life's short to keep doing something you don't enjoy.

As an anecdote, I found this photographer from Australia that takes pictures I really enjoy seeing. Such an inspiration. He found his niche by shooting with a Fuji 6x17 camera and his pictures are breathtaking. So I decided to see who else takes pictures with that camera and found this one other guy, I think he's here from the US, and the pictures looked nothing like the ones from the guy in Australia. But he would put comments in his pictures like "I shot this picture at F11 because I am such a perfectionist and anything over F11 will bring diffraction which I can't stand when I pixel peep". Not the exact words but you get what was going on: while this guy from Australia was taking gorgeous landscapes at f32 and f64, this other guy was taking pictures that looked like a panorama made of flat cell phone pictures and worrying about diffraction. Completely focusing on the wrong thing! That taught me a lesson... being a gear nerd won't take you anywhere. Find something that works for you and just do it. Learn composition, find interesting subjects, spend more on traveling than on gear. Who cares about the gear. I'd rather see an *istD picture of an interesting place than a 645Z picture of someone's cat or backyard.

Good luck!

Last edited by ChristianRock; 05-09-2018 at 07:05 AM.
05-09-2018, 09:17 AM - 1 Like   #24
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QuoteOriginally posted by ChristianRock Quote
Cartier-Bresson said your first 10,000 pictures are your worst. And he said that when he shot film. Today with our digital cameras I'd bet it's more like your first 50,000 are your worst. Or maybe 100,000 since I must have shot about 50,000 by now and I don't see as much improvement as I would like
This issue that experience creates expertise is universal in all fields of human endeavor.

Chip maker Intel has this problem every time they start up a new chip factory or start manufacturing a new chip. Initially, the yields are quite low in terms of the number of useable chips they get. Only after they gain experience with the manufacturing process do they improve the yields.

But here's a key lesson that Intel learned about getting that experience. What mattered more than the number of chips they tried to make was the number of chips they carefully sent through the quality control processes. Analyzing the output enabled them to accelerate improvements in their process.

In photography, experience is NOT measured by the number of shots taken. Experience is measured by the number of shots that are careful analyzed to see what what worked and what didn't. Without that analysis, it's too easy to just repeat the same mistakes over and over again. Back in the days of film, many photographers were taught to keep a notebook and jot down what they did, how they metered the scene, what apertures & shutter times they used, etc. Looking at the results and checking the notebook helped the photographer learn what worked and what didn't.

These days, EXIF keeps the notebook automatically although it does not record the photographers thoughts about why they tried what they tried. That still needs a notebook or a good memory. But not many people really go back and analyze their images to figure out what went right and what went wrong. That's too bad because with digital, it's so easy to takes lots of pictures and review lots of pictures quickly.
05-09-2018, 10:54 AM - 1 Like   #25
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QuoteOriginally posted by photoptimist Quote
In photography, experience is NOT measured by the number of shots taken. Experience is measured by the number of shots that are careful analyzed to see what what worked and what didn't. Without that analysis, it's too easy to just repeat the same mistakes over and over again.
+1. This reminds me of Bloom's Taxonomy:

Bloom?s Taxonomy | Center for Teaching | Vanderbilt University

If we have the knowledge and understand how and why to apply that, the shooting will get us to the "application" stage. But if our goal is ultimately creativity or mastery, analyzing and evaluating our own work IS essential. That is where sharing work on PF for feedback or less directly entering contests, is important to improve and progress.
05-09-2018, 12:22 PM   #26
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If your photography is stuck in a rut, get another lens and learn to use it. No need to spend big money, there are many manual focus bargains out there. K mount or M42 mount, the choice is yours.

You don't say what you do have, so I will take a guess based on my own experience. A nifty fifty is nice to have. Try the M 50mm in f/1.4 (about $100) or f/1.7 (about $50). They are also available in A which means your camera will work in program mode, but these are a little harder to find. The shallow depth of field is a revelation compared to the 18-55mm kit lens. The larger aperture also means that some low light adventures can be had.

Also consider an ultra wide or a super telephoto. The former is not easy to do on the cheap with a crop body, but the latter is. A 300mm or 400mm prime will give you some serious reach for sports or wildlife.
05-10-2018, 05:28 AM   #27
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QuoteOriginally posted by photoptimist Quote
This issue that experience creates expertise is universal in all fields of human endeavor.

Chip maker Intel has this problem every time they start up a new chip factory or start manufacturing a new chip. Initially, the yields are quite low in terms of the number of useable chips they get. Only after they gain experience with the manufacturing process do they improve the yields.

But here's a key lesson that Intel learned about getting that experience. What mattered more than the number of chips they tried to make was the number of chips they carefully sent through the quality control processes. Analyzing the output enabled them to accelerate improvements in their process.

In photography, experience is NOT measured by the number of shots taken. Experience is measured by the number of shots that are careful analyzed to see what what worked and what didn't. Without that analysis, it's too easy to just repeat the same mistakes over and over again. Back in the days of film, many photographers were taught to keep a notebook and jot down what they did, how they metered the scene, what apertures & shutter times they used, etc. Looking at the results and checking the notebook helped the photographer learn what worked and what didn't.

These days, EXIF keeps the notebook automatically although it does not record the photographers thoughts about why they tried what they tried. That still needs a notebook or a good memory. But not many people really go back and analyze their images to figure out what went right and what went wrong. That's too bad because with digital, it's so easy to takes lots of pictures and review lots of pictures quickly.
Very good points (as usual). I wish I had the time and discipline to write things down. My analysis has to be much quicker (got work to do, family with 3 young boys, and other activities). But as you said, thank God for exif
05-10-2018, 08:48 AM - 1 Like   #28
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QuoteOriginally posted by ChristianRock Quote
thank God for exif
+1. I must say metadata makes teaching digital a lot easier, as my film students understandably hate keeping a photo log.

Itʻs also one reason I love my Pentax 645N; one of the few film cameras that records metadata on the film. I believe the only other film cameras that did this were a few Contax models and the Nikon F6.
05-20-2018, 09:32 AM   #29
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The Nikon f4 would do it with the data back, so I’m guessing the f5 had something as well. For my film shooting, I use an iOS app called photoexif to record my notes and add then to the scans later. There is something similar for Android.

My biggest problem, photographically, was autofocus and auto exposure got so good that I’d use the K3 as a point and shoot. I’d let it focus, maybe I’d be on aperture priority, but I paid no attention to what shutter speed it was picking. The biggest improvement for me was to start shooting film again. Something where I had to focus myself and I had to care about exposure—partly because it was manual and partly because I wouldn’t know if I got the shot for a week. It hasn’t make all my shots great, but it has slowed me down to pay attention to everything. My ratio of keepers is higher, and I am more inspired. I don’t know if it would work for others though.
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