Feeling disillusioned with photography..

[elizpage]

Regardless of where we are in our photography career, we all will hit that creative wall where it seems like we're stuck. We all have been there.

For me personally, photography is about capturing not just what I see but how I see it. It is my vision of what's in front of me. I'm not just catching the moment but creating a mood for the viewers to feel that moment with me as if they're there. At least that's my goal for my own photography.

What is your goal for your photography?

Hi there. Thanks for your encouraging reply. This feeling of being stuck though has lasted half a year. I want to make people feel beautiful and comfortable in their own skin. I want them to have that one photograph that they can look at and really like the way they look in it. I want to capture life and all its nuances. But recently, I've just been getting either OOF images or

Out of focus is a purely technical problem. You can fix it by better shot discipline. Alternatively by checking the calibration of your hardware, because if you get it all the time, it might be a problem of your lens or camera being miscalibrated.

Alternatively, you can switch to a manual focus camera (modern mirrorless like the Sony A7* cameras are pretty good at that) and nail focus precisely, by hand, with either the manification or the focus peeking (Fuji X also offers the digital split screen in some of the newer models). Magnification of course is extremely precise, but also a very slow method.

Getting inspiration is a variant of creativity in general. If the pictures you linked are from yourself, you arent too bad at it.


The pictures you linked are very soft in 100% view, but as far as I can see, thats because of a poor quality lens, not because of missed focus (something else is sharp) or camera shake (the blurr is uneven, has direction).

They also appear, as you say, "flat". Unless thats because of post processing, thats a general feature of small sensor cameras. It means they do not have much precision in the way they determine colors. Its what DxOMark calls "color depth". Our eyes have about 8 bit of precision for red and blue, and 9 bit of precision for green; thus an ideal camera would have color depth of 27 bit (3*9 bit, since for the camera its not possible to have different precision on different channels). At the moment, only medium format cameras really get close to this value.

There are however photographers who make such "flat" pictures with great effect, such as iNeedChemicalX@devianart, though many of his pictures also have higher image quality, so I think its more a question of post processing.

The completely blow out sky in your pictures is also typical for small sensors of poor performance.


Either way, the pictures you linked are IMHO very good.

The OOF photos are due to lack of skill on my part, and nothing more in my opinion. I shot the photos with a 50mm f/1.8, however. Since I hadn't yet upgraded to the 50mm f/1.4.

What do you recommend that I upgrade to in order to improve the quality and color depth? I have a Canon 60D body already. Is that considered a small sensor? They always say it's the photographer and not the equipment as long as you have a decent body.

Thank you for your kind words. And yes, the photos are 100% from my myself.

 

[elizpage]

Also guys. I want to say to all of you I didn't expect such a supportive reply from you all. I feel a little less disillusioned now, and I'm feeling more inspired to work harder to get the results I want

ps- I wasn't able to answer right away because I was in a Chinese village.

 

[elizpage]

@elizpage, you're underrating your results. #7093 is very strong.

Yes, totally agree
you have caught her in the middle of a thought and, while we cannot know what she is thinking, we have an idea.
the picture is more than a record, it captures a bit about her.

Good prints in which people are the subject, particularly when a single person is the center of interest, can over-ride minor technical defects. They can do this by showing us 'more than just a likeness.' They can tell us something about the person, through pose, choice of clothing, facial expression, milieu or any of a number of visual clues.

Much of photography is craft. Much of getting craft right is through repetition. So shoot, shoot some more ... and at the end of the day when you think you're done shooting ... shoot again. Unfortunately, you have to be your own worse critic. But use that to you advantage, if something isn't quite what you want, get angry, get analytical and get motivated to shoot it again ... but don't get disillusioned. Good photography, consistent photography is comprised of attention to a bunch of little details. Over time, one learns what details need to be given greater attention and tweaked in order to attain the photogs mental image of how the final image should look. People grow differently, many new photogs grow evenly over time ... others I know grow in spurts. They keeping hitting the growth wall over and over and appear not to be getting better ... then suddenly, a door opens and they're a level better. So don't give up, keep shooting.

Craft is sooo important but not for what it may first seem.
Craft is important so that you can emphasize what is important in the image, de-emphasize what isn't and then the technical stuff becomes transparent as the viewer sees through the two dimensional picture into the pictured reality. The craft works to make that passage easy.

I think that you are not looking hard at your pictures to see what is important and what is distracting.

for example #6330.

Gorgeous face, very symmetric, nice skin.
The darkest spot - and what jumps out to the viewer is her cleavage.
What if that is cropped and slightly rotated so her eyes are level
then sharpened a bit.
On another layer I removed her freckles and then lowered opacity so that the freckles are visible but less prominent so she knows it hasn't been PSed.
Now the beauty and symmetry of her face and skin are apparent and important.

Look hard at your photos and analyze them.

View attachment 97742[/QUOTE]
Thank you Lew, for these edits.. I caught her in a middle of a thought, so I thought this one was worth keeping. I think she felt so comfortable because she was a close friend of mine. And yes, once I'm looking back I can see those weaknesses. It's just hard to think about while shooting.

 

[Nettles]

I've read some odd things in this thread, imo. You're not using "poor quality" lenses. They will get you excellent results, as I've pointed out earlier. The sensor in your camera won't hold you back in any way.

Just giving your confidence a boost is what you need most. I can see you're capable of good images. It's not a gear problem, and you've got the talent.

Shooting wide open can be tricky. Sharpness settings in-camera are something to think about if you just shoot JPEGs, but don't go too far. (Camera software sharpens before compression, which is helpful.)

You can give your shots more bite in software using layers. You can target just the faces for example if someone is wearing something bright.

 

[Ibatou]

I know I'm just getting started comparatively, but it's so frustrating to not be able to produce anything other than mediocre work.. I just wish I could focus on SOMETHING. I almost want to to just give up and sell my camera.

The following are examples of some of my "work" and my website is just shitty now. **** everything.

Not so. No one is as critical of our work as our selves. Don't try to shoot masterpieces, just have fun shooting. If you just shoot and try different things with no expectations you'll soon find images that will appeal to you. If you are just starting then you have no idea what your style is. Shoot and let your style develop. (Pun?)

 

[The_Traveler]

No one is as critical of our work as our selves.

You haven't met my wife.

 

[syaudi]

read my signature and believe in yourself. making other people beautiful needs you to see the beauty in everything. stop, drop, and stare. look for things you'd like to capture without a camera in your hands. feel the emotions that rise in your heart when you gaze upon a scene of beautifully arranged light and colors. beauty is only seen once it's felt, and it's only felt when it's not seen reflected off a mirror.
your photos are gorgeous, don't compare them to each other. that's like saying a mountain is better than a valley. they're not meant to compete with each other, but to convey a certain sense of feeling to the viewer. a photo doesn't need to be tack sharp and in focus to do that.

 

[The_Traveler]

read my signature and believe in yourself. making other people beautiful needs you to see the beauty in everything. stop, drop, and stare. look for things you'd like to capture without a camera in your hands. feel the emotions that rise in your heart when you gaze upon a scene of beautifully arranged light and colors. beauty is only seen once it's felt, and it's only felt when it's not seen reflected off a mirror.
your photos are gorgeous, don't compare them to each other. that's like saying a mountain is better than a valley. they're not meant to compete with each other, but to convey a certain sense of feeling to the viewer. a photo doesn't need to be tack sharp and in focus to do that.

I'm thinking seriously of printing this a bunch of times on soft paper, then grinding it up and sprinkling on my garden.

 

[syaudi]

read my signature and believe in yourself. making other people beautiful needs you to see the beauty in everything. stop, drop, and stare. look for things you'd like to capture without a camera in your hands. feel the emotions that rise in your heart when you gaze upon a scene of beautifully arranged light and colors. beauty is only seen once it's felt, and it's only felt when it's not seen reflected off a mirror.
your photos are gorgeous, don't compare them to each other. that's like saying a mountain is better than a valley. they're not meant to compete with each other, but to convey a certain sense of feeling to the viewer. a photo doesn't need to be tack sharp and in focus to do that.

I'm thinking seriously of printing this a bunch of times on soft paper, then grinding it up and sprinkling on my garden.

at least it'll actually be useful to someone that way because hORSE MANURE

 

[table1349]

Remember, if it were easy everyone would be doing it and would be making a 7 figure living from it to boot.

 

[elizpage]

read my signature and believe in yourself. making other people beautiful needs you to see the beauty in everything. stop, drop, and stare. look for things you'd like to capture without a camera in your hands. feel the emotions that rise in your heart when you gaze upon a scene of beautifully arranged light and colors. beauty is only seen once it's felt, and it's only felt when it's not seen reflected off a mirror.
your photos are gorgeous, don't compare them to each other. that's like saying a mountain is better than a valley. they're not meant to compete with each other, but to convey a certain sense of feeling to the viewer. a photo doesn't need to be tack sharp and in focus to do that.

Thank you for this.

 

[Derrel]

A good overview book, one that covers theory, technique, and lighting, and how to find lighting situations, or how to create lighting situations, and then how to position yourself, your subjects, and your camera in relation to the light would be a big help. I would suggest this book: John Hedgecoe s Complete Guide to Photography Revised and Updated John Hedgecoe 9781402716539 Amazon.com Books

The problem with a great deal of internet-era "instruction", or what passes for instruction, is that in-the-field strategies and techniques are often omitted, or glossed over and there is a HUGE emphasis on trying to "fix it in Photoshop", OR even worse, the so-called instruction focuses on being what I call a "recipe book" approach, which is where the author tells readers all about how to work a specific, current software application, or a current, specific camera model, and almost all of the emphasis is on a very specific process using specific tools. The problem with this recipe book approach is that the overall base of knowledge, and how things fit within the whole, are typically omitted. For example, you don't need a book about how to better use Lightroom...you need a book that will show you more about how to better use light. How to compose and not leave so much head space above subjects. Why eye direction is important, and how to avoid placing subjects so they are looking out of the frame. And some tips on what f/stops and shutter speeds are actually safe for photographing people with a hand-held camera. I am referring to images from your website; there are images there that the Hedgecoe books would show you how to make more easily, more perfectly, more comfortably. His books are some of the finest field manuals I have ever read. he was a master teacher of photography, and his type of books are sadly missing in today's software-drive world of photographic writing.

 

[Designer]

I know I'm just getting started comparatively, but it's so frustrating to not be able to produce anything other than mediocre work.. I just wish I could focus on SOMETHING. I almost want to to just give up and sell my camera.

I don't know your background, so it's difficult to offer any specifics.

In general, the technical side of things is something that one learns, one step at a time over time. It can be quite frustrating what with all the different aspects of equipment and lighting and all.

The other thing is the artistic side, which IMO is actually much harder to learn, and learn well. To get some help in this, you might consider some general art classes or books.

Good luck!

 

[sashbar]

Your photographs are flat because the light is flat.
I can not say if it is the case here, but a lot of relative beginners and intermediates are getting stuck at some stage of their development simply because they ignore the importance of light.
Are you always consciously using the direction, amount and quality of light in your work. Do you stop shooting because the light is not what you want?
If not, then you camera aside for some time, buy a couple of books about the light in photography, read it and try to analyse the work of great masters purely from this angle.
Start with "Chasing the Light: Improving Your Photography with Available Light" by Ibarionex Perello.

 

[elizpage]

A good overview book, one that covers theory, technique, and lighting, and how to find lighting situations, or how to create lighting situations, and then how to position yourself, your subjects, and your camera in relation to the light would be a big help. I would suggest this book: John Hedgecoe s Complete Guide to Photography Revised and Updated John Hedgecoe 9781402716539 Amazon.com Books

The problem with a great deal of internet-era "instruction", or what passes for instruction, is that in-the-field strategies and techniques are often omitted, or glossed over and there is a HUGE emphasis on trying to "fix it in Photoshop", OR even worse, the so-called instruction focuses on being what I call a "recipe book" approach, which is where the author tells readers all about how to work a specific, current software application, or a current, specific camera model, and almost all of the emphasis is on a very specific process using specific tools. The problem with this recipe book approach is that the overall base of knowledge, and how things fit within the whole, are typically omitted. For example, you don't need a book about how to better use Lightroom...you need a book that will show you more about how to better use light. How to compose and not leave so much head space above subjects. Why eye direction is important, and how to avoid placing subjects so they are looking out of the frame. And some tips on what f/stops and shutter speeds are actually safe for photographing people with a hand-held camera. I am referring to images from your website; there are images there that the Hedgecoe books would show you how to make more easily, more perfectly, more comfortably. His books are some of the finest field manuals I have ever read. he was a master teacher of photography, and his type of books are sadly missing in today's software-drive world of photographic writing.

Thanks so much Derrel. You're always a help. Is it available for iBooks?