Grrr..I think I'm getting worse instead of better

Dionysus

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LOL. I was so much happier w/ the pics I took during my first week, than the pics I've taken the past week. I don't know if it's just because i've been trying to get used to the new 50mm (all i've been shooting in lately), or if its just because i'm becoming more critical of myself, but i havent really been happy with anything i've taken the past few days.

i have a lot of reshoots lined up, b/c a picture would look fine on the lcd after i take it, but i'd get home and it'd be a little out of focus.

Need more practice I guess.
 
probably becoming more critical, because you know what you want but are not quite getting it. watch shutter speeds-up the ISO if needed and with the 50mm don't forget you don't have to use f1.8 al the time (like I did) because the DOF is very small and I couldnt work out why part would be blury and part very sharp LOL
 
lol i know, thats all i shot in the first couple of days i had it, at f/1.8, just because i loved that dof. but i've been using it in other apertures as well now. I was just aggrevated because i happened across a scene earlier that was perfect. the colors were pop out awesome, the sun was just right, nice blue sky and puffy clouds..it was literally a perfect shoot...then i get home and everything was just a touch OOF.

oh well..good thing the place is across from my driveway LOL, but the other reshoots are a little bit further.
 
Zoom in on your LCD after pre-viewing the pics. It's a handy feature and means you don't waste time taking boat-loads of shots only to have the majority be wrongly exposed or out of focus.

Also, I'm assuming the nifty fifty isn't your only lens. Bring your other lenses too, and if you especially like a shot, take it with more than one lens.

Also be careful, because that DoF on the 1.8 can be very temperamental. You might have been focusing correctly, however your DoF was so narrow that the areas surrounding the focus point quickly fall out of focus.
 
Zoom in on your LCD after pre-viewing the pics. It's a handy feature and means you don't waste time taking boat-loads of shots only to have the majority be wrongly exposed or out of focus.

Also, I'm assuming the nifty fifty isn't your only lens. Bring your other lenses too, and if you especially like a shot, take it with more than one lens.

Also be careful, because that DoF on the 1.8 can be very temperamental. You might have been focusing correctly, however your DoF was so narrow that the areas surrounding the focus point quickly fall out of focus.

How often do you change lens? ATM I have my kit lens 18-105mm, but getting the 50mm soon. I'm sure I won't be using the 50mm all the time. How often do you clean your lens/camera?
 
I'd say you are just becoming more critical. I hit that myself, pretty severely. I used to be pretty proud of some of the shots I'd take, and now, looking back at those, I am like "haha what a no0b I was!"

I think with more education and experience, a better ability to critique ones own work inevitably follows, and it's easier to get more education than it is skill, so your ability to critique improves faster than your ability to get good shots, so you start disliking what you shoot.

Ok yeah, that was a bit of a ramble there, but I am sure you'll get my point.

Just keep shooting! :p
 
thanks for the suggestion, i'll keep that in mind next time.

as for myself, i change lenses as necessary. if i need to go wider, ill use the kit 15-55, if i need to reach something ill use the 75-300 (or if i want to take a pic of something really 'up close' since i dont have a macro lens). just lately i've been playing w/ the 50mm mainly because i want to learn to be effective with it, b/c i love how crisp the pics are when you get it just right. but getting it just right consistently is the problem.
 
I'd say you are just becoming more critical. I hit that myself, pretty severely. I used to be pretty proud of some of the shots I'd take, and now, looking back at those, I am like "haha what a no0b I was!"

I think with more education and experience, a better ability to critique ones own work inevitably follows, and it's easier to get more education than it is skill, so your ability to critique improves faster than your ability to get good shots, so you start disliking what you shoot.

Ok yeah, that was a bit of a ramble there, but I am sure you'll get my point.

Just keep shooting! :p


nah, not a ramble at all..good points.
 
I've considered drawing some kind of a graph to show this... my theory is that your photographic ability doesn't naturally go up quite as fast as your ability to critique.

Eventually your critique ability sharply surpasses your photographic ability... at which point you hit one of these "OH MY GOD I SUCK!" situations.

Then, you either quit or you intensely focus on getting better. If the latter you get a slight bump in your photographic ability which exceeds your ability to critique for a time, but since your ability to critique grows more rapidly, it will eventually catch up, and you repeat the cycle.

Of course, both of these ability levels must naturally start to plateau at some point, which means you are getting better, but you'll probably still hit those occasional OMG moments. :)
 
i've hit these periods in a lot of times in my life w/ various things, so i recognized it right away for what it was. I'm not one to quit, and I love doing this too much to do so, even if i wanted to, so the only option is to get better. I'll get through it but thank you all of your words of wisdom, they're not wasted.

The wife and I and our kids are going to the Corning Museum of Glass this weekend so it should make for a great opportunity to take some nice photos, and some abstracts. Can't wait.
 
just be patient. now you know what you dont want in your picture, the next step you will know how to do it..
 
"If I knew how to take a good photograph, I'd do it every time." -Robert Doisneau

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Robert Doisneau&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

It's easy to work when the inspiration is flowing. What sets successful artists apart is their ability to continue to work through the slumps. :) I would agree with the opinions above; the more I learned, the more critical I became.


lol there's a quote like that for every activity, and it's so true.

"..if you caught a fish everytime, it wouldn't be 'fishing', it'd be 'catching'"
 
Don't forget the small DOF you can get with the 50 makes it much more difficult to get the focus right. The other lenses you have will have a bigger margin for error as far as focusing due to their smaller apertures. Try not shooting the 50 wide open all the time.
 
I've considered drawing some kind of a graph to show this... my theory is that your photographic ability doesn't naturally go up quite as fast as your ability to critique.

Eventually your critique ability sharply surpasses your photographic ability... at which point you hit one of these "OH MY GOD I SUCK!" situations.

Then, you either quit or you intensely focus on getting better. If the latter you get a slight bump in your photographic ability which exceeds your ability to critique for a time, but since your ability to critique grows more rapidly, it will eventually catch up, and you repeat the cycle.

Of course, both of these ability levels must naturally start to plateau at some point, which means you are getting better, but you'll probably still hit those occasional OMG moments. :)

I definatly agree with this assessment!
After a while you will start to realise what you are doing right in the "fluke" events and start improving your overall shooting skills.
Personally I feel this also ties in with confidance and having the confidance to be able to set your camera to settings and know (roughly) what result you will get with your shot - you can't get there overnight you just have to keep shooing in different lights and situations. An experieced photographer knows how to shoot partly on understanding of theory and partly on being in the situation before and having experience to draw from.

Also I feel that there comes a point for many where you find you can't get any better (or don't feel to be improving) and if/when you hit this I would say seek out a tutor to get some inthe field comments and advice. Its worth the money I feel - going out with mates can work as can attending meetups - but the atmosphere is always different there more relaxed - a paid tutor has to earn their worth in the field.
 

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