I feel Inferior

chris82 · Oct 15, 2006

I thought that once I got an SLR that I would be taking good shots!But that is not the case.All my shots are below average at best compared to the shots I see everybody else taking.For the most part I cant seem to stop camera shake.I stand and hold the camera like im suposed to but still most of me shots are blurred.Then when I do manage to get god DOF the shot just dosent look right,So I change angles,and POV...still dosent work.When I finally do get a shot I realitivley happy with,my editing lets me down.Because of all this I find myself now doing what I said I would never do ,And that is taking hundreds of shots and just hoping to get a few decent ones.I dont plan what I want to shoot any more,I just take my camera out and shoot until I have filled the CF card and hope for the best.What should I do?

mysteryscribe · Oct 15, 2006

shoot, shoot, shoot, then when you have time shoot some more....

Most of what you talk about is just seeing what is right and wrong with your work to do that you need a large body of pictures or to shoot with someone who is already accomplished at it. As for camera shake if you are shooting below 1/60 of a second with a conventional lens and camera system you probably need to prop against something. Anything 1/15 and lower you are almost always going to get camera shake.

If you have shake at 1/60 or up then you most likely need to see a doctor. My father in law had a familiar tremor. He is the only man I ever met who had camera shake at 1/60 of a second.

If you get down to 1/15 find something to prop the lens on. I carry a bean bag to soften the cushion. I don't know many people who can handhold a shot that low without this new anti vibration system.

As for editing edit edit edit, read about what you can do then edit edit edit some more. Most everything is repetition learn what you can then practice.

Most of all dont feel inferior to anyone.

Alex_B · Oct 15, 2006

chris82 said:
I thought that once I got an SLR that I would be taking good shots!But that is not the case.All my shots are below average at best compared to the shots I see everybody else taking.For the most part I cant seem to stop camera shake.I stand and hold the camera like im suposed to but still most of me shots are blurred.Then when I do manage to get god DOF the shot just dosent look right,So I change angles,and POV...still dosent work.When I finally do get a shot I realitivley happy with,my editing lets me down.Because of all this I find myself now doing what I said I would never do ,And that is taking hundreds of shots and just hoping to get a few decent ones.I dont plan what I want to shoot any more,I just take my camera out and shoot until I have filled the CF card and hope for the best.What should I do?

First of all I saw some shots among yours where I did like composition, or colours, or something else. Keep trying and you will get shots where everything is right. OK, take random shots, many ofthem, but spend at least some brain. or spend the brain later when you analyse your good shots and bad shots.

As for the images being blurry ... can you try one thing, and that is use a sturdy tripod and the timer of your camera and take some sample shots. if you don't have a tripod use something solid you put the camera on.

and then check if they are sharp... if not, then something else might be wrong and it is not camera shake!

I don't now much about your camera autofokus, but it is like on my DSLR, then there in fully automatic mode the camera decides which autofocus sensor to use. When I took my first shots with that new DSLR, I never was happy with the focus. Only when I switched all other AF fields but the central one off, then I got what I wanted in terms of focus.

third possibility would be that either your camera'S AF or your lens might have to get adjusted by a shop/Canon.

Did you ever try manual AF? Do you get sharp images then?

tempra · Oct 15, 2006

a mistake I made when I first went digital was trying to use ISO100 (or 50 on my powershot) on everything and trying to get a deep DOF. I learned that quite often my shots were crap and blurred. and I felt the same as you.

Try using a higher ISO and a wider aperture - AV mode is good, but watch what the camera is telling you - if it's telling you that you'll probably get shake, more than likely you will - adjust your settings accordingly.

Some of my favourite portraits have been shot at ISO 1600 or 3200 so don't limit yourself to low ISO or small aperture - you haven't got to develop film, so experiment - same with PS, it's not an overnight thing, and I know it's only a few weeks since you got the cam, so give it time. It will come.

Alex_B · Oct 15, 2006

one more things Chris, many people in here shoot SLR for quite a while, and they only show what they consider their good or at least OK shots...

So don't despair

.. besides that most people put their own work lower than it is .... including myself as you know.

Here just two example shots where you can see that we all have our problems mastering DSLRs. Those were taken within the first two weeks with my DSLR, and I had a lot of film SLR experience before! No, I am not proud of those two images... and there would be more of them which I will not show though

http://www.imagevault.eu/tpf/rubbish_1.jpg
(totally overexposed sky, horrible colours due to mucked up white balance, boring composition)

http://www.imagevault.eu/tpf/rubbish_2.jpg
(sky blown out, wrong exposure for the foreground even, is there any focus? camera shake is an issue here too, well, let us not talk about composition here

)

oldnavy170 · Oct 15, 2006

What? I don't think your photos have been bad at all. The last series you posted I thought were great. To be honest I am actually jealous that you have come so far. You and I started on this forum about the same time and I still have a crappy digital camera and you already upgraded to a SLR.

So, KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK CHRIS!!!!

EBphotography · Oct 15, 2006

Cheer up Chris! Everyone needs to get used to their cameras and editing software. Even after you mastered it, everyone has an off day! I somedays come home from just taking photos somewhere and I say to myself "Wow Eric, you've lost your edge!" But I know it's not true. If anything is a learning experience it's photography. You're using an advanced camera and I think you're doing a fine job for a starter, and clearly I'm not alone.

Maybe if you take a break and come back to it so you aren't so frustrated.

:hug::

ladyphotog · Oct 15, 2006

Another idea you could try is to concentrate on one thing when you shoot, for instance, composition, lighting, DOF, movement or whatever, concentrate on just that and shoot until you get it right. Then celebrate when you do. Once you have gone over the basics you can incorporate all of it into your photography. Find a good book that covers the basics and follow what they say. In other words, give yourself a lesson. Say, the rule of thirds, go shoot just for that, don't worry about anything else except having composition on the thirds. Keep doing that until you are happy with each of the 'lessons' that you have given yourself. Do the same with the editing, concentrate on one thing at a time and go from there. Believe me when we all started shooting we were all bad and thought we should just forget it. But you will learn to see it and feel it. And you have to celebrate the small victories. Good luck and keep your chin up.

LaFoto · Oct 16, 2006

Oh Chris, don't make yourself worse than you are. Your photos are not so bad as you claim they are!!! And it took me months of time to get acquainted with my 350D ... and actually, to tell you the truth: only after I got myself acquainted with the DSLR did I finally and after YEARS get to know my SLR better!!!

There I had spent 6 whole years with my EOS 500N primarily using it in the automatic mode

oops: ), watching motif and composition most of all but never the technicalities of the photo, I finally came to learning about that, too, through this forum, through the freedom that digital photography offers you (mostly so the freedom of shooting total bloopers), and through taking MANY photos!

And believe me: I will ONLY show you those frames that I personally find show-worthy. The BIG majority of my pics you will NEVER see!!!!

W.Smith · Oct 16, 2006

chris82 said:
I thought that once I got an SLR that I would be taking good shots! But that is not the case.

Of course not! An SLR is an intricate, sophisticated, high-tech piece of equipment. It takes intensive training and a loooot of experience to be able to use intricate, sophisticated, high-tech equipment effectively. Compare it with a Formula 1 car: even if you could afford one do you really think you could even make it through the first corner? Think again!

All my shots are below average at best compared to the shots I see everybody else taking.

They've got more training and more experience under their belts than you do. Patience!

For the most part I cant seem to stop camera shake.I stand and hold the camera like im suposed to but still most of me shots are blurred.Then when I do manage to get god DOF the shot just dosent look right,So I change angles,and POV...still dosent work.

Look at the EXIF data of those pix. Are the shutter speeds (well) below 1/100th sec? Then that is why your shots are blurred: subject movement. If not, then it's not the movement of your subject, but the movement of your camera that is the problem. I.o.w. your stance!

When I finally do get a shot I realitivley happy with,my editing lets me down.

Editing applications are also intricate, sophisticated, high-tech 'instruments'. They also require intensive training and a loooot of experience to be able to be used effectively. Patience! All that doesn't come overnight. It takes years!

Because of all this I find myself now doing what I said I would never do ,And that is taking hundreds of shots and just hoping to get a few decent ones.I dont plan what I want to shoot any more,I just take my camera out and shoot until I have filled the CF card and hope for the best.What should I do?

You will soon tire of snapping hundreds of snaps, only to trash 98%. Too time consuming and too dissappointing. So before long you will give up on photography altogether. And your expensive SLR system will be dusting away in a corner.

So, either be prepared to invest a lot of time, effort and close attention in this hobby (you've already invested enough money...), or forget it, bury your SLR in a deep closet and pick up a Point & Shoot camera again...

chris82 · Oct 16, 2006

W.Smith said:
You will soon tire of snapping hundreds of snaps, only to trash 98%. Too time consuming and too dissappointing. So before long you will give up on photography altogether. And your expensive SLR system will be dusting away in a corner.

So, either be prepared to invest a lot of time, effort and close attention in this hobby (you've already invested enough money...), or forget it, bury your SLR in a deep closet and pick up a Point & Shoot camera again...

After reading all your posts,This quote espeacilly.I think I have been to impaitent with my photos,It took six years of learning and screwing up with my guitar before I became a decent player(Yes thats right,Im a player baby) :lol:

"Said with cheesy american accent"So how can I expect to take good shots in just 2 weeks with my DSLR.Thanks for all the advice and incouragement from all.I see what you mean Alex with your shots.

Alex_B · Oct 16, 2006

Thanks for not giving up Chris

So posting my embarrasing shots was not all in vain .. maybe I better remove the links now

Cheers mate!

EBphotography · Oct 16, 2006

chris82 said:
After reading all your posts,This quote espeacilly.I think I have been to impaitent with my photos,It took six years of learning and screwing up with my guitar before I became a decent player(Yes thats right,Im a player baby) "Said with cheesy american accent"So how can I expect to take good shots in just 2 weeks with my DSLR.Thanks for all the advice and incouragement from all.I see what you mean Alex with your shots.

Thats the spirit! Keep it up!

DocFrankenstein · Oct 16, 2006

You just need a more expensive camera.

The funny thing is that I've never respected photography before I actually picked up a camera. What's there to it? You point it and voila - get a cool picture.

For some reason I just though I'd visualize the scene and the light will happen somehow.

A friend of mine has been shooting a saucer and a fork for 3 months non stop - trying to light it every which possible way. It was a cool exersise.

W.Smith · Oct 16, 2006

chris82 said:
[...] It took six years of learning and screwing up with my guitar before I became a decent player(Yes thats right,Im a player baby) "Said with cheesy american accent" [...]

Cool!
It took me six years of learning to play MP3...
But I started learning about photography 45 years ago and still feel I've only scratched the surface.