[NaClH2O]

Hi Tia,

Of course you suck at this! You've been doing it for all of two weeks! But you're not alone, everybody's stuff sucks in the beginning. 95% of my first 500! shots were poop. The few decent ones were pure luck. Photography is a craft and an art form. For me, kinda like music. I play most of the woodwinds, some of them I play at a professional level. And I sucked at every last one of them in the beginning. View your efforts as "learning". Look at the shot, and look at what you did in the EXIF. Is it overexposed? What was the aperture? What was the shutter speed? What kind of metering did you use? I guess what I'm trying to say with all these words is...relax, play with the camera, play with the light and the subject, remember that it's a craft and it takes a while before you are comfortable. And shoot lots! and lots and lots. Don't worry about the poop that comes out, look at it and think "what could I have done differently to make it better?"
You may never make the cover of the National Geographic, but I can guarantee that if you put some time and thought into it you'll get a LOT better than you are now. And remember you are just where you should be at this point.

NaCl(I'd be more worried if you said "look at how great I am" )H2O

[bymy141]

Hi Tia,

Of course you suck at this! You've been doing it for all of two weeks! But you're not alone, everybody's stuff sucks in the beginning. 95% of my first 500! shots were poop. The few decent ones were pure luck. Photography is a craft and an art form. For me, kinda like music. I play most of the woodwinds, some of them I play at a professional level. And I sucked at every last one of them in the beginning. View your efforts as "learning". Look at the shot, and look at what you did in the EXIF. Is it overexposed? What was the aperture? What was the shutter speed? What kind of metering did you use? I guess what I'm trying to say with all these words is...relax, play with the camera, play with the light and the subject, remember that it's a craft and it takes a while before you are comfortable. And shoot lots! and lots and lots. Don't worry about the poop that comes out, look at it and think "what could I have done differently to make it better?"
You may never make the cover of the National Geographic, but I can guarantee that if you put some time and thought into it you'll get a LOT better than you are now. And remember you are just where you should be at this point.

NaCl(I'd be more worried if you said "look at how great I am" )H2O

I agree completely, and remember, you are not shooting with costly film. So, all that poop is trown away at no cost! Read a book, maybe ask some advise here or from someone you think makes good pictures and keep on experimenting.
That's why this is a hobby

- Bert

[Mallee Boy]

Hi ZoomZoom,
Please post some shots.

[Arpe]

And I sucked at every last one of them in the beginning.

Er.... shouldn't you have been blowing?

Sorry, back to topic.

[Bramela]

Hi
I know how you feel. I am in the 'out to pasture' brigade (retired over 60). Recently got into Digital photography. I am still learning and , boy do I come up with some s..t shots.
Just reading and trying to remember all the advice at times regarding all the switches and buttons on my K10d is mind blowing. But I am getting there, and enjoying the learning experience.
Experiment, try things outside the square, and just remember you are doing it for the enjoyment. One plus to remember: you are not wasting film as may have been the case in the past.
It will come together and you will reap the rewards

[PDL]

One of the issues with getting into this addiction is finding a set of guidelines to follow in judging the qualities of both your images and others. This page is a place to start 12 Elements of a Merit Image - Professional Photographers of America, Inc.

However, in order to get going - find a workshop and meet other people. There is nothing like sitting in a dark room when one of your images is projected on the wall - and you hear the reaction of other people (not family - who think everything you do it the best thing ever - remember they have issues telling you that your stuff is just plain bad). Sometimes it is WTF is that? but more often than not it is Wow, or Great image followed by discussion of the subject matter and some tweaks to make it better.

Edit: When I attended a National Geographic Photography Workshop in 2005 - we spent 20 minutes talking about camera equipment, the rest of the week was subject and composition. (I used both my Fuj*ca 35mm and my Pentax *ist Ds Digital)

Picking keepers is the hardest thing to learn, go out and interact with other people. In my case the images I like = everyone thinks stink - the ones I do not really care for, people go gaga over them. I need a good editor, someone to praise and kick my vertical smile when necessary.

PDL - nit is all about the image
Keepers PENTAX Photo Gallery
Losers http://pdlanumimages.shutterfly.com
hangers on PDLanum Images

[TaoMaas]

There is nothing like sitting in a dark room when one of your images is projected on the wall - and you hear the reaction of other people. Sometimes it is WTF is that?

I attended a workshop where we were told to bring in shots that didn't work out like we'd hoped. It was called our "What was I thinking?" day.

[Mike Cash]

I agree completely, and remember, you are not shooting with costly film. So, all that poop is trown away at no cost! Read a book, maybe ask some advise here or from someone you think makes good pictures and keep on experimenting.
That's why this is a hobby

- Bert

A big amen to all that you said!

90%+ of my shooting is done with my K100D, and I try to make sure that an equal portion of my learning gets done the same way! I love to take out my vintage 35mm and medium format cameras when just out walking around doing equal parts enjoying the walk and enjoying the photography. With 35mm I don't worry about the cost so much, but with medium format I don't like to waste costly exposures on experimenting and guesswork. Costs me from a dollar to a dollar and a half every time I press the shutter button! Consequently I expect of myself a much higher percentage of "keepers" and have to choose my subjects and set up my shots accordingly. Goodness knows I couldn't begin to afford to do it without my beloved K100D to practice and learn with.

[PDL]

I attended a workshop where we were told to bring in shots that didn't work out like we'd hoped. It was called our "What was I thinking?" day.

Great idea. During introductions at the Workshop (while at dinner the evening before the first day) the instructor said that he expected "some magnificent failures" to occur. Some did - mine were mostly just plain old failures, but I did have some reasonable succeses.

From my point of view, the most difficult part of this addiction is knowing what to keep and what will appeal to the viewer. Have I been able to connect with the viewer in the way I intended. The mechanics of taking images is relatively easy to get a grip on - it's the creating the connection between the photographer and the viewer that is the hard part. And since it is hard - it does not happen every time.

Here is a quote from the late curator of photography at MOMA:
"The truth is that anybody can make a photograph.
The trouble is not that photographs are hard to make.
The trouble is that they are hard to make intelligent and interesting”
John Szarkowski 2000 1925-2007

Says it all.

PDL - it is all about the image

[zoomzoomfan]

WOW! OP here. You know, I thought I'd messed up somehow when I first posted this thread and couldn't find it in the listing afterwards. And then, all of a sudden, a few days later and there it is.

Man, what awesome responses. I must admit that I feel a whole lot better now at being a complete noob to photography.

Ok, pics. Here's my Flickr page: Flickr: Photos from Haroon Chowdhary

Everything past page 3 was taken with my old Point&Shoot, so we really are just looking at the first 2.5 pages of pics that are taken with the K100D.

About my pics: So far my main subjects have been my three children (well, the older two) and my wife (on the odd occasion when she allows me to take her picture). I've been out to the airport a few times to snap a few shots (really to learn the camera) and also out to a water-side location. Kids get fresh air and get to roam, wife gets some peace and quiet with the new baby, and I walk around snapping shots.

If you find any of the shots mundane or unappealing, I have a good hunch that I know what the issue is: composition... I just don't understand what to place in a pic, or what to subtract. To me everything looks good, so I try to capture it all. I really must learn to view the world as a photographer, or an artist (which is what good photographers are) and not like some average Joe who's never taken pics before (i.e. me).

To atupdate who posted some very useful links. Thanks. Reading "The art of subtraction" was a big help.

I also immensely enjoyed seeing pics from other posters, and gave me ideas on how to approach the composition problem.

About the backlit scene issue. I seem to have deleted those pics, or filed them on my external HD. The issue was basically this:

There's a huge suspension bridge that crosses the Fraser River near my house in Delta, BC. I am actually able to walk from my house to the foot of that bridge and pass underneath it. I was attempting to take pics of the bridge against the sky from a vantage point near the foot of the bridge (so basically looking upwards), but everything was turning out crappy. I understand now what the issue was: First of all I was probably not in spot metering mode. Secondly, I was exposing for the sky and blacking out the bridge.

Thanks again for all the replies. Each single post had something useful I could use.

This comes as a stark contrast to my Mazda enthusiast forum (which is my other hobby) where most posts are badly composed, words are misspelled, and people are generally more uncultured than on this forum

Love to hear about my pics, but please go easy on me

[Bramela]

I must say, looking through that gallery, your doing alright. Some of those family shots are pretty special, photos that you will really appreciate for many years.
Love some of the photos of the mountains as well.
Only thing I would add, and of course, I dont know the circumstances at the time, but taking photos through the windscreen of the car is very restrictive. Every mark etc on the windscreen shows up as well. I wouldn't recommend this too often. If you can get out and snap your picture, it will help a lot. I notice too that a great number of your shots were taken in pretty dismal conditions, rain cloud etc which does not help in producing crisp clear results.
The plane shots are really great!!
Well done.

[qdoan]

zoomzoomfan, i see you've found your way over here from the Mazda6club. The guys and gals here often have awesome input, ideas and feedback for ya. practice makes perfect, so just keep on shooting!

[zoomzoomfan]

Thanks Bramela... the mountain pics were taken with the old P&S and most of them were snapped by the wife in the passenger seat.

gdoan... yes, M6C member for 3 years now with 3000 useless posts on record

Are you over there too?

Thanks again for the comments.

[Mallee Boy]

Hi Zoomzoom,
Thanks for the link, it gives us a much better idea of what you are doing.
Firstly, I am not a pro, just a mug amateur like most of the other inmates here.
So, on that basis, my observations of your work are: pay attention to focus, a number of your shots are just a little off with focus. Check that your diopter is set to your eye sight and be sure what is your point of focus when composing your shot. Learn about depth of field.

Try and shoot away from the sun, if shooting into it be aware that lens flare etc can impact on your shot and re-think your exposure as a lot of other factors come into play.

When I started out I initially would set the camera to 'P' to get a light reading and then experiment from that point.
My father-in-law IS a pro (and a damned good one) and he gave me a very simple 'rule of thumb' years ago...he maintained that the 'best shot' would come from f8 & 1/125 to 1/250...so I try and keep as close to this as possible. His reasoning was that any lens is at its best at f8, something often repeated on this forum by other pro's, and that anything slower than 1/125 required a tripod.

I always use AV when shooting.

Composition is something I can not help you with, as every person will see something differently, what you may see as appealing and interesting... the person alongside you yawns at.
What is important, in my humble opinion, is that you capture what YOU see, if you can make yourself happy, the rest of 'em can go jump.

From what I can see from your link you are off to a good start, now be patient and learn by experimenting, the improvements are at the margin and by degrees, rarely are they giant leaps forward.

A good learning reference is the book that came with camera, sit down on a quiet morning with the book and the camera, and go through it page by page, referring immediately to the camera.

Good luck.
Grant

I am not an expert neither and as you I am struggling to get the pics that I imagine in my mind. My only advice is to follow what I think Frank Cappa said: you cant never get too close.