Never Satisfied

[Gary A.]

Remember that feedback/critiques are generally all opinions. Take what works for you but remember that even if it doesn't work for you, someone, (in this case moi, lol), took the time to offer you advice.

 

[bratkinson]

In looking at the 3 photos posted, I'm going to say that it seems you are shooting everything at or near wide open at f1.8 giving a very thin depth of field. I'm thinking that the majority of your shots are thin DOF, which gets pretty boring after more than a handful. For my indoor work, I'm forced to shoot at or near wide open perhaps 30-35% of the time, and most of those I delete because having so many of that 'look' gets tiring. Perhaps you need to try taking more shots at, say, f4 or f8 with the subject further away for 'bigger' DOF. For what it's worth, I think of f-stops more in the terms of 'more or less DOF than 'more or less light'. I'm not the kind that thinks about '+ half a stop on this and - half a stop on that', etc. I think more in terms of DOF, shutter speed to stop motion (or blur slightly), and lastly, ISO speed to get a decent exposure out of it. Of course, there are times I have to make compromises to get the shot I want.

Another common thread in your pictures is that the out of focus bokeh looks too heavily altered during post processing. Perhaps the 'rough' or 'gritty' look is what you desire, but, like thin DOF, it gets old fast.

Lastly, the shot with the woman overlooking the freeway has too much noise in it. The two big culprits are ISO speed too high for your camera and underexposure. Perhaps improved noise-reduction handling during post processing is called for. I downloaded a paid, add-on, noise reduction software product that does far better in 'standard' (eg, full auto) or with some of its pre-set options than I could ever hope to do with Lightroom or Photoshop Elements.

Bottom line, I actually -do- like your work. Your creativity and mood in each of the photos is noticeably better than many of the shots I've seen on various photography forums and especially my other hobby, railroad forums. I'm thinking you need to find more diversity in what you shoot, such as street photography, or landscapes, or even some local sports events. Doing the same thing over and over works for assembly lines, but not for artistic endeavors.

 

[DavidVote]

Is it normal to never be satisfied with snapshots you take? I mean, I go onto Flickr looking at these awesome pictures that people take, then after browsing around for a while, looking back at mine I just cringe. Sometimes I want to throw my camera at a wall and be done with photography. Granted I've only been shooting for about half a year but what other people could achieve in their photos is just unbelievable and is both discouraging and encouraging at the same time. I've gone weeks without shooting a single picture and find it so hard to get the motivation to knowing that next picture isnt going to satisfy me.

Several decades ago I was in my favorite camera shop buying something. Probably spending money on a few dollars worth of film and hoping for a few hundred dollars worth of advice and encouragement The shop was a single store, family owned business which had been around since the mid 20th c/. It is now long gone, which is too bad. They not only had excellent gear for any budget, they catered to the moneyed populace of Dallas but would take time with anyone at any experience level and usually had at least one professional photographer behind the counter who would work in the store every now and again just to keep their heads in what the public was talking about and to discuss what they enjoyed doing. The shop sponsored camera safaris where the pros could work with a crowd or one on one with the clientele. They also handled the processing of the film so they saw lots of shots go through their business everyday. Dozens of the most memorable photos taken by the shop's regular's lined the upper shelves around the store's interior. One shot in particular (a late summer in West Texas, Big Sky Country, sunset full of dazzling colors and dramatic light levels back and top lighting a weather worn mesquite wood fence with the Davis Mountains range in the background) caught my eye as I was talking and discussing, learning and taking in all I could manage on a slow, cold and drizzly grey as grey afternoon where the store was mostly empty of paying customers. The photo was, to be short, SPECTACULAR! in my estimation. A shot that, had I taken the photo, with that one image alone I would have called myself a photographer. I asked the pro how one goes about taking such a shot.

Knowing, of course, that I had been struggling with a few of the finer technical aspects of shooting which we had been discussing for the last hour, he withdrew the stub of a cigarette from his lips, flicked the long ash onto the floor and without hesitation he said, "You take one thousand shots before that one ... and you throw away most of them." The implication was obvious, there would always be the one thousand you take before "THAT" one comes around and there would be the hundreds you discarded. Great luck, the virtue of patience to wait and to look - possibly for days - for just the right timing, lots of talent and immense skills all had to come together at just the right moment to get "THAT" shot. "THAT" shot was not a one off, pack it all up and go home in time for dinner shot. However, as suggested in another post, a lot of planning, waiting, thinking, walking around looking and trial shots had gone into "THAT" one shot. And it all paid off because that shot was a keeper of the timeless sort.

Keep in mind when you see an image that intimidates you or that humbles you, there were probably dozens, maybe dozens of dozens, of shots taken by that photographer of the same situation. Hundreds in preparation for THE shot. And hours of patience to see just what the photographer wanted to capture on film. With digital equipment this is especially important IMO since you can shoot one thousand images and toss out 999 without costing yourself a dime. The skill, the talent and the patience are what's going to cost you. None of that changes the fact many (none?) of the images you see which cause you to want to throw your camera against a wall (really?!) were ever one time around and you get the brass ring situations. Quite honestly, I don't know how you - or anyone new to cameras - could possibly be pretty adept at the technical aspects of photography after just a few months. Not to say you may not understand them but getting them in your head to the point you can recall them without really thinking about them and translating that innate knowledge to your hands and eye is not something that just comes IMO. No more, that is, than the student musician who has been studying for a few months should expect to be playing like the musician who has dedicated years and even decades of study and practice to their work. Even if you had the great skills to have all that in your head by now, getting it on the printed image is something else entirely.

I would say, until you become wildly famous and recognized so widely to the point dark images become your trademark style ... Eh! You should work to please yourself, of course. However, until that time and that fame comes around, you should consider your audience too. Ever go to a college theater department performance? Filled with students pleasing themself but not at all making their intentions known to the paying audience. In a world filled with an overabundance of contrarians, most folks just don't and won't take the time to work out what the rebel is rebelling against and how they are doing it.

There are several threads on the forum which basically cover how people have learned. Same questions being asked on dozens of other forums depending on which skill and talent is being combined; playing an instrument, cooking, golf, etc. People who have been at something for months wanting to know when their product will be as good as ... Since we all learn and assimilate information in our own way it's probably best if you just sort of spend some time with those threads trying to find your spark and inspiration.




Can you put into a few short sentences why you became interested in photography? What made you pick up a camera? What are your goals for the next month? Six months? One year? Long term? Surely, you must want more than to throw cameras at walls.

How have you gone about your learning process up to now? Formalized and structured? Or, scatter-shot and whatever interests you today? What do you plan on doing to achieve the goals you have set out for the future? Saying something like, "I want to shoot great images", isn't a goal. Most likely, we all do. Most of us will only ever have a handful of shots, at best, others will remember. Goals need to be within your reach if they are to be achieved. Sometimes you simply need to be taught how to set realistic goals which you can achieve through a planned approach to learning. Learning is a process which takes this week's lesson and builds upon learned skills from last week's lesson and so on and so on. Only after a very solid and well structured foundation has been laid down and proven worthy does the process begin to build upwards and outwards. Expanding one level at a time until the project is completed. No one starts by building the fiftieth floor first.

What's your process and how do you plan to achieve your goals?

I have no idea how to respond to your response. But be assured that I read it over 5 times. Thank you for taking the time to write that.

My writing skills aren't strong but.. I'll try to come up with a coherent response to your well written one

"Can you put into a few short sentences why you became interested in photography? What made you pick up a camera? What are your goals for the next month? Six months? One year? Long term? Surely, you must want more than to throw cameras at walls."

It was all just timing to be honest. I moved to a different school last year, right before my senior year, at the end of my junior year. All the relations that I've tirelessly built, all of the people I have gotten to know, just disappeared with the move. I don't make friends really easily in person.

But before this, I've never actually liked photography or gave it much of a thought. The only thing I knew was what images I liked. However, I couldn't tell you why, or how, or what made them special to me. Since there wasn't much else to do because of the move, I just decided, that I would just play around with this idea of photography then it was a rabbit hole to this. My mom was kind enough to give me the money to buy a budget DSLR camera. Before this, I spent hours after school doing my readings on the technical side of photography; how ISO affects shutter speed affect aperture affect ISO. When I got my DSLR though, I wasn't sure what style of photos I wanted to take, but what I was sure of is: 1. Definitely not senior portrait style pictures. Don't get me wrong, I've seen many excellent and amazing ones but they just don't speak to me. 2. They were definitely going to be portraits.

After shooting for a few months (its probably October by now), I realized why I liked the pictures that I did so much. They speak to me. The emotions that they communicated aligns with how I felt. In those pictures that I have uploaded in this thread (with the exception of the second) and on my flickr (with the exception of a few, especially the earlier ones), are all shots in which I've poured all my emotions into. Photography to me is a way to communicate... (though I have picked up a lot of social skills on the way) ... me. Truthfully, these shots in which I was talking about are special. But why am I so cynical? There are people who is able to do it much more effectively than I could. Why? How? What do I need to do to get onto their level? Is it because of their way of post processing? How much time and effort did they put into the shot? The location in which they shoot at, does it matter? How much? How about their gear?

In short, to answer the first part, I picked up the camera out of curiosity, which now progressed into a way for me to speak about myself.

"Can you put into a few short sentences why you became interested in photography? What made you pick up a camera? What are your goals for the next month? Six months? One year? Long term? Surely, you must want more than to throw cameras at walls."

I've given this much thought. Becoming a pro isn't going to be my thing. This is special to me, and I would like to keep this a hobby. I know you just said that shooting great photos isn't a good enough or realistic goal, but this is exactly my goal more or less.

How have you gone about your learning process up to now? Formalized and structured? Or, scatter-shot and whatever interests you today? What do you plan on doing to achieve the goals you have set out for the future? Saying something like, "I want to shoot great images", isn't a goal. Most likely, we all do. Most of us will only ever have a handful of shots, at best, others will remember. Goals need to be within your reach if they are to be achieved. Sometimes you simply need to be taught how to set realistic goals which you can achieve through a planned approach to learning. Learning is a process which takes this week's lesson and builds upon learned skills from last week's lesson and so on and so on. Only after a very solid and well structured foundation has been laid down and proven worthy does the process begin to build upwards and outwards. Expanding one level at a time until the project is completed. No one starts by building the fiftieth floor first.

I haven't gotten much formal training before this. Before I actually got the camera, I read up on as much as I could in preparation. After getting the camera, I immediately had it set to RAW and Manual everything to get the hang of it.

Again, thank you, for this amazing response. And thank you everyone in this thread for helping me up to this point.

 

[DavidVote]

In looking at the 3 photos posted, I'm going to say that it seems you are shooting everything at or near wide open at f1.8 giving a very thin depth of field. I'm thinking that the majority of your shots are thin DOF, which gets pretty boring after more than a handful. For my indoor work, I'm forced to shoot at or near wide open perhaps 30-35% of the time, and most of those I delete because having so many of that 'look' gets tiring. Perhaps you need to try taking more shots at, say, f4 or f8 with the subject further away for 'bigger' DOF. For what it's worth, I think of f-stops more in the terms of 'more or less DOF than 'more or less light'. I'm not the kind that thinks about '+ half a stop on this and - half a stop on that', etc. I think more in terms of DOF, shutter speed to stop motion (or blur slightly), and lastly, ISO speed to get a decent exposure out of it. Of course, there are times I have to make compromises to get the shot I want.

Another common thread in your pictures is that the out of focus bokeh looks too heavily altered during post processing. Perhaps the 'rough' or 'gritty' look is what you desire, but, like thin DOF, it gets old fast.

Lastly, the shot with the woman overlooking the freeway has too much noise in it. The two big culprits are ISO speed too high for your camera and underexposure. Perhaps improved noise-reduction handling during post processing is called for. I downloaded a paid, add-on, noise reduction software product that does far better in 'standard' (eg, full auto) or with some of its pre-set options than I could ever hope to do with Lightroom or Photoshop Elements.

Bottom line, I actually -do- like your work. Your creativity and mood in each of the photos is noticeably better than many of the shots I've seen on various photography forums and especially my other hobby, railroad forums. I'm thinking you need to find more diversity in what you shoot, such as street photography, or landscapes, or even some local sports events. Doing the same thing over and over works for assembly lines, but not for artistic endeavors.

Could you elaborate a bit more about the bokeh? You probably explained it well but I might just be stupid and not sure what you mean

 

[Gary A.]

Just a few comments David. You are on the mark. Photography is all about communications (period). I was trained as a photojournalist. I was taught that there really isn't a difference between a photograph and the written word.

"... I've given this much thought. Becoming a pro isn't going to be my thing. This is special to me, and I would like to keep this a hobby. I know you just said that shooting great photos isn't a good enough or realistic goal, but this is exactly my goal more or less. ..."

Every single time I raise the viewfinder to my eye, I look for the exceptional photograph ... I shoot for the exceptional image ... I attempt put all my experience and skill into every image I capture. If you are passionate about your photography, shooting for the exceptional image the only way to shoot. Remember, that while it may be impossible to capture a truly great photograph ... capturing an image which is your personal best ... pushing your skills and images to the next level of proficiently and consistency, is certainly attainable and why most of us are on this forum ... to share, learn, help and grow.

 

[Mr.Photo]

You have gotten some great advise from everyone here so far. I started out much the same way as you did back around 2003 or so. I shot many simple snap shots, and was never truly happy with what I was getting compared to other stuff I saw. When I finally got serious about photography around 2010 and got my first DSLR, while I had the technical side (Shutter Speed/Aperture/ISO) understood I still was only taking well focused and exposed "snap shots". I worked for nearly two years and more than 20,000 photos before I really stared to grasp the concept of the "rule of thirds", composition, and "reading the light". to make a great "photograph".

Today I'm still learning new things, and one thing I've learned is that if you're wanting to get serious about doing portrait photography then you will want to invest a significant amount of time and effort in to learning flash photography. Flash (both on camera and off camera) are how most photographers create those wonderful shadowed moody shots (along with some Photoshop work in some cases).

Start by getting a single speed light for your camera, and learn the basics of on camera flash, and then invest in a pair of inexpensive Yongnuo wireless triggers to start learning off camera flash. A useable multi flash setup can be done fairly inexpensively. I currently have 4 flashes, 4 wireless Yongnuo triggers, two light stands, and two white umbrella's and have less than $500 invested in that setup. I built that setup over the course of about two years as I learned more and more about doing flash photography.

 

[soufiej]

"Can you put into a few short sentences why you became interested in photography? What made you pick up a camera? What are your goals for the next month? Six months? One year? Long term? Surely, you must want more than to throw cameras at walls."

It was all just timing to be honest. I moved to a different school last year, right before my senior year, at the end of my junior year. All the relations that I've tirelessly built, all of the people I have gotten to know, just disappeared with the move. I don't make friends really easily in person.

But before this, I've never actually liked photography or gave it much of a thought. The only thing I knew was what images I liked. However, I couldn't tell you why, or how, or what made them special to me. Since there wasn't much else to do because of the move, I just decided, that I would just play around with this idea of photography then it was a rabbit hole to this. My mom was kind enough to give me the money to buy a budget DSLR camera. Before this, I spent hours after school doing my readings on the technical side of photography; how ISO affects shutter speed affect aperture affect ISO. When I got my DSLR though, I wasn't sure what style of photos I wanted to take, but what I was sure of is: 1. Definitely not senior portrait style pictures. Don't get me wrong, I've seen many excellent and amazing ones but they just don't speak to me. 2. They were definitely going to be portraits.

After shooting for a few months (its probably October by now), I realized why I liked the pictures that I did so much. They speak to me. The emotions that they communicated aligns with how I felt. In those pictures that I have uploaded in this thread (with the exception of the second) and on my flickr (with the exception of a few, especially the earlier ones), are all shots in which I've poured all my emotions into. Photography to me is a way to communicate... (though I have picked up a lot of social skills on the way) ... me. Truthfully, these shots in which I was talking about are special. But why am I so cynical? There are people who is able to do it much more effectively than I could. Why? How? What do I need to do to get onto their level? Is it because of their way of post processing? How much time and effort did they put into the shot? The location in which they shoot at, does it matter? How much? How about their gear?

In short, to answer the first part, I picked up the camera out of curiosity, which now progressed into a way for me to speak about myself.

"Can you put into a few short sentences why you became interested in photography? What made you pick up a camera? What are your goals for the next month? Six months? One year? Long term? Surely, you must want more than to throw cameras at walls."

I've given this much thought. Becoming a pro isn't going to be my thing. This is special to me, and I would like to keep this a hobby. I know you just said that shooting great photos isn't a good enough or realistic goal, but this is exactly my goal more or less.

How have you gone about your learning process up to now? Formalized and structured? Or, scatter-shot and whatever interests you today? What do you plan on doing to achieve the goals you have set out for the future? Saying something like, "I want to shoot great images", isn't a goal. Most likely, we all do. Most of us will only ever have a handful of shots, at best, others will remember. Goals need to be within your reach if they are to be achieved. Sometimes you simply need to be taught how to set realistic goals which you can achieve through a planned approach to learning. Learning is a process which takes this week's lesson and builds upon learned skills from last week's lesson and so on and so on. Only after a very solid and well structured foundation has been laid down and proven worthy does the process begin to build upwards and outwards. Expanding one level at a time until the project is completed. No one starts by building the fiftieth floor first.

I haven't gotten much formal training before this. Before I actually got the camera, I read up on as much as I could in preparation. After getting the camera, I immediately had it set to RAW and Manual everything to get the hang of it.

Again, thank you, for this amazing response. And thank you everyone in this thread for helping me up to this point.

]




I appreciate the honest response. From what you write I assume you are under 20 years of age. To some extent your physical age will determine your skill level and how far you may have developed your talents. While I never served in the military and have never gone to war, never been canon fodder for someone else's reasons, my youth has been spent, by the many long months at times, in hospital ICU's. I've technically died several times, seen dead relatives saying it was not my time and known the value of a new day every day. Now, decades later, I've known too many friends and relatives who have died to soon, those who had lived too recklessly and too dangerously and I've loved those who have been kind beyond words to all they encountered. I've seen discrimination and I've experienced acceptance. And I remember my senior year as one which was mostly about me. At that point in a life, it's difficult not to be all about your own feelings and your own experiences since you have little else to call on. My guess would be most of us who have experienced life for decades beyond our senior year look back at that time as the beginning of our movement towards broader, more complete comprehension of what life is about.

I have no comments regarding your specific photos. While they are needed in order to assess your stance in photography, IMO, critiquing these images would be mostly pointless. You've received many encouraging words from various members and, while I have no intention towards being negative, I will likely be the outlier here. Why shoot at noon if you're intending to provide an image of something other than a midday photo? Remember the patience I mentioned in my earlier post? Consider the ability and the willingness to wait, to think and to see in numerous ways when the moment is right for the image you have in your mind. They are of the utmost value and ever so important when you are using only available light. IMO what those personal qualities bring to an image cannot come in the darkening of a noonday image to achieve a false reality. Just on a technical basis, the light seen at noon is not the light seen at dusk. The shapes seen as illuminated by a sun high in the Southern sky are not the shapes seen when the sun in low in the Western sky. Light unobstructed by objects is not the same as light pouring between buildings and mountains.

Therefore, your shot can be nothing other than false to those viewing it. Yet, had you the patience to wait, to think and to see the effects of the day along with the technical knowledge of how to best implement those basic lighting differences, you would have recognized those qualities prior to taking that shot and you wouldn't have taken "that" shot to begin with. You would have recognized it as being false to the reality you wished to illustrate. Your "inner compass" would have said not to do what you did. All of which comes from inside you and shooting one thousand shots before "THAT" shot.

No doubt good photography can be good communication. Yet communication is a two way street, you cannot have a good conversation with only one person doing the talking. Though, during your senior year doing the talking is often what life is about. Consider though, if you are beginning to recognize photographs which attract your attenton, just why they are doing so. I would assume it is not because of a photographer's single voice expressed in the image. It is more likely the photographer's capacity to express shared experiences, universal intentions and common themes. Even when they are taking you to a place where you have never been before. Looking at these three of your shots alone, it is simple enough to determine what your emotions are when you were conceiving these images. Yet, not to be unfair, they are too self absorbed in what you are feeling and they fail to say much beyond senior year angst. You are too anxious to tell us your story without being concerned about our reactions. Or else you would have waited beyond noon to take that one shot. If you were in an acting class, it would be the difference between knowing your lines and having the audience believe in your performance.

What I see in your images is a young person wanting to be an artist. And your question to us is, why am I not an artist? Do you think James Dean was an "artist" in his senior year in high school? You indicate you have no formal lesson plan in your training. You've read and studied the technicalities associated with photography, but without a camera in your hands. If you wished to learn how to cook, do you suppose you could do so by never getting your finger's burned? If you were a musician, do you think after six months of study you could stop the show with your solo? It is one thing to comprehend the blues scale and to technically grasp the bending of a string. It is another completely to implement the technique to communicate the emotions which can come from your box of strings. There's a well known site for guitar players called "four note blues" in which only those four notes which fall on two strings within the fifth and eighth frets are used to play a very credible solo. The idea is to encourage young players to realize how they play is as important if not more so than what they can play. Economy of materials encourages a less is more effect. You might want to visit that site and see if what is happening on a guitar has any relation to your desires with a camera.

IMO you are rushing things. You want to be an artist without ever asking yourself. what is art? What is photography? Not very image you present with your camera will be "art". Though every image you present should strive to be "artful". And you are coming at this from your inner world which is not extending outward to others. You are, in other words, a senior. At this time you can be nothing other than a senior. You have yet to learn how to see from any viewpoint other than that of a senior. So, with that in mind, do you think most of those images which make you feel humbled are coming from seniors in high school?

You are wanting to be more than your technical and artistic skills can allow. That's understandable and it is a very common thing for students of any interest. While Hamlet was a teenager in the "reality" of the play, no teenager ever plays Hamlet. Simply because they cannot. Watching a senior attempt to outwardly play an internal dialogue through a soliloquy can be painful. If the student stays at it, takes the time to educate themself in the technicalities of acting to the point they can leave the technicalities behind, there is potential which can be tapped. Though Hamlet will still be played by someone twice the character's age.

My advice to you would be to find a mentor. Do your homework with your camera in your hands. Do not attempt Hamlet. Learn first how to say, "Hello, it's good to see you", and have me believe you mean those words. Start with the foundations before you build upwards. If you want this to be a hobby, don't compare yourself to professionals. If you are seeing photographs which appeal to you, analyze why you find those images attractive. Imagine how the shot was taken; what were the settings on the camera? what was the location from which the photo was taken? what was the photographer intending to say? how were light and shadow manipulated to the advantage of the shot? and so on. Begin at the beginning, not by playing Hamlet. Enroll in a class where you are given specific assignments and you must work within the constraints of those ideas. (The forum has monthly assignments which you can use if you don't know where to begin with this idea.) As I said earlier, work to please yourself. Simply remember you are not the center around which all else revolves. Crawl before you walk, walk before you run. Avoid the over done and try to be unique while communicating with the average joe. Capture a moment in time which you have studied, not one you have created after the fact. Tell me a story, show me an event, do not force one upon me. Take other classes which put you in a situation where you must express yourself outwardly. Immerse yourself in the work of others. Combine what you see as the best of many into what will become your own.

You have the time many of us wish we had taken advantage of.

 

[soufiej]

Don't know exactly what I did there. Please hit the "expand".

 

[DavidVote]

I appreciate the honest response. From what you write I assume you are under 20 years of age. To some extent your physical age will determine your skill level and how far you may have developed your talents. While I never served in the military and have never gone to war, never been canon fodder for someone else's reasons, my youth has been spent, by the many long months at times, in hospital ICU's. I've technically died several times, seen dead relatives saying it was not my time and known the value of a new day every day. Now, decades later, I've known too many friends and relatives who have died to soon, those who had lived too recklessly and too dangerously and I've loved those who have been kind beyond words to all they encountered. I've seen discrimination and I've experienced acceptance. And I remember my senior year as one which was mostly about me. At that point in a life, it's difficult not to be all about your own feelings and your own experiences since you have little else to call on. My guess would be most of us who have experienced life for decades beyond our senior year look back at that time as the beginning of our movement towards broader, more complete comprehension of what life is about.

I have no comments regarding your specific photos. While they are needed in order to assess your stance in photography, IMO, critiquing these images would be mostly pointless. You've received many encouraging words from various members and, while I have no intention towards being negative, I will likely be the outlier here. Why shoot at noon if you're intending to provide an image of something other than a midday photo? Remember the patience I mentioned in my earlier post? Consider the ability and the willingness to wait, to think and to see in numerous ways when the moment is right for the image you have in your mind. They are of the utmost value and ever so important when you are using only available light. IMO what those personal qualities bring to an image cannot come in the darkening of a noonday image to achieve a false reality. Just on a technical basis, the light seen at noon is not the light seen at dusk. The shapes seen as illuminated by a sun high in the Southern sky are not the shapes seen when the sun in low in the Western sky. Light unobstructed by objects is not the same as light pouring between buildings and mountains.

Therefore, your shot can be nothing other than false to those viewing it. Yet, had you the patience to wait, to think and to see the effects of the day along with the technical knowledge of how to best implement those basic lighting differences, you would have recognized those qualities prior to taking that shot and you wouldn't have taken "that" shot to begin with. You would have recognized it as being false to the reality you wished to illustrate. Your "inner compass" would have said not to do what you did. All of which comes from inside you and shooting one thousand shots before "THAT" shot.

No doubt good photography can be good communication. Yet communication is a two way street, you cannot have a good conversation with only one person doing the talking. Though, during your senior year doing the talking is often what life is about. Consider though, if you are beginning to recognize photographs which attract your attenton, just why they are doing so. I would assume it is not because of a photographer's single voice expressed in the image. It is more likely the photographer's capacity to express shared experiences, universal intentions and common themes. Even when they are taking you to a place where you have never been before. Looking at these three of your shots alone, it is simple enough to determine what your emotions are when you were conceiving these images. Yet, not to be unfair, they are too self absorbed in what you are feeling and they fail to say much beyond senior year angst. You are too anxious to tell us your story without being concerned about our reactions. Or else you would have waited beyond noon to take that one shot. If you were in an acting class, it would be the difference between knowing your lines and having the audience believe in your performance.

What I see in your images is a young person wanting to be an artist. And your question to us is, why am I not an artist? Do you think James Dean was an "artist" in his senior year in high school? You indicate you have no formal lesson plan in your training. You've read and studied the technicalities associated with photography, but without a camera in your hands. If you wished to learn how to cook, do you suppose you could do so by never getting your finger's burned? If you were a musician, do you think after six months of study you could stop the show with your solo? It is one thing to comprehend the blues scale and to technically grasp the bending of a string. It is another completely to implement the technique to communicate the emotions which can come from your box of strings. There's a well known site for guitar players called "four note blues" in which only those four notes which fall on two strings within the fifth and eighth frets are used to play a very credible solo. The idea is to encourage young players to realize how they play is as important if not more so than what they can play. Economy of materials encourages a less is more effect. You might want to visit that site and see if what is happening on a guitar has any relation to your desires with a camera.

IMO you are rushing things. You want to be an artist without ever asking yourself. what is art? What is photography? Not very image you present with your camera will be "art". Though every image you present should strive to be "artful". And you are coming at this from your inner world which is not extending outward to others. You are, in other words, a senior. At this time you can be nothing other than a senior. You have yet to learn how to see from any viewpoint other than that of a senior. So, with that in mind, do you think most of those images which make you feel humbled are coming from seniors in high school?

You are wanting to be more than your technical and artistic skills can allow. That's understandable and it is a very common thing for students of any interest. While Hamlet was a teenager in the "reality" of the play, no teenager ever plays Hamlet. Simply because they cannot. Watching a senior attempt to outwardly play an internal dialogue through a soliloquy can be painful. If the student stays at it, takes the time to educate themself in the technicalities of acting to the point they can leave the technicalities behind, there is potential which can be tapped. Though Hamlet will still be played by someone twice the character's age.

My advice to you would be to find a mentor. Do your homework with your camera in your hands. Do not attempt Hamlet. Learn first how to say, "Hello, it's good to see you", and have me believe you mean those words. Start with the foundations before you build upwards. If you want this to be a hobby, don't compare yourself to professionals. If you are seeing photographs which appeal to you, analyze why you find those images attractive. Imagine how the shot was taken; what were the settings on the camera? what was the location from which the photo was taken? what was the photographer intending to say? how were light and shadow manipulated to the advantage of the shot? and so on. Begin at the beginning, not by playing Hamlet. Enroll in a class where you are given specific assignments and you must work within the constraints of those ideas. (The forum has monthly assignments which you can use if you don't know where to begin with this idea.) As I said earlier, work to please yourself. Simply remember you are not the center around which all else revolves. Crawl before you walk, walk before you run. Avoid the over done and try to be unique while communicating with the average joe. Capture a moment in time which you have studied, not one you have created after the fact. Tell me a story, show me an event, do not force one upon me. Take other classes which put you in a situation where you must express yourself outwardly. Immerse yourself in the work of others. Combine what you see as the best of many into what will become your own.

You have the time many of us wish we had taken advantage of.

This is the advice I'm looking for. Thank you.

 

[mariappj]

Just signed up and read the whole thread. I've been interested in photography since the time of the very first cam phones. But I only got a dslr late last year. I didn't take it seriously though because I was happy enough to take snapshots for my digital scrapbooking. However, upon realizing what a waste it would be to use my Nikon D7100 for that purpose only, I thought i should really start learning, get some help, and start doing more. Seeing how people here are very helpful, I am now motivated. Thank you!


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