Advice?

[Mustlovedragons]

I did a search which turned up no results. I hope it's not a repeat. Anyway, what would you say is the best photography advice you ever got? It could be something you read in a book, saw in a forum, got in a critique, heard from your dad or "Uncle Joe" or whoever else or whatever source.

 

[Bram]

I had an international florist photographer who has won many awards, once tell me what DoF was. I knew what it was but he explained it to me in a way I could understand, he also briefly touched up on bokeh. This man is about 70 years old, decided to do this for fun and went international with it. He made it big all due to these two simple things.

 

[baturn]

I believe someone once suggested I would be happier with a different hobby.

 

[oldmacman]

Great question, but I can't think of a good answer. Information comes in small tidbits at a time and then it takes more time to use that information well. Sorry, maybe I shouldn't have posted, but I am interested in seeing what other people post.

 

[Mustlovedragons]

I believe someone once suggested I would be happier with a different hobby.

LOL...cuuuuute.


@Oldmacman...I'm really interested to hear everyone, too. Sometimes one little thing can make a world of difference.

 

[Mustlovedragons]

Hmmmm...and here I was, really excited to read all the cool answers (sigh).

 

[KmH]

Get closer!

 

[changoleon]

Rules can be broken (rule of thirds)

 

[Derrel]

" f/5.6 at 1/500 at ISO 400 "

 

[table1349]

Take Pictures.

The person that told me this was also a fan of Mark Twain. One of his favorite sayings was:
..the person that had took a bull by the tail once had learnt sixty or seventy times as much as a person that hadn't, and said a person that started in to carry a cat home by the tail was getting knowledge that was always going to be useful to him, and warn't ever going to grow dim or doubtful.
-Tom Sawyer Abroad

You can learn a whole lot just by doing.

 

[skieur]

Rules can be broken (rule of thirds)

Rules can NOT be broken, unless you can create an OUTSTANDING shot, by doing so.

skieur

 

[Mike_E]

f8 and be there.

 

[bigtwinky]

As in my signature...if your picuture isn't good enough, you are not close enough

 

[HeadshotLondon]

I believe someone once suggested I would be happier with a different hobby.

That's funny

Well I think you should follow your dreams and persevere. You will get there if this is something you were born to do and something you love doing.

+ In portrait photography you have to take time to understand the person you photograph...I mean really get them and also get what they want.
If and when you do, the pictures will look much nicer than if you would just start snapping away for the sake of snapping.

 

[LaFoto]

Oh, I still remember SOME of the hints and tricks my dad tried to teach us when we were little.

"Get closer" was definitely one of them.
"Fill the frame" goes with the first.

"Get some foreground" for landscape photography is another hint I remember clearly.

Later on I learned through trial and error.
Like when I first had the chance to use an SLR and could put on a 300mm lens, to only find out when the photos came back that they had all turned blurry.
That was when my sister explained to me that shutter speed would change considerably when you take photos with a telephoto lens. I had never even THOUGHT about that before! I remember how she said: "Imagine yourself looking at something through binoculars: you will find it really hard to hold it really, really still."

My sister also critiqued some of my early photos with the words: "Have there always been earthquakes when you where there?" Some of my pics were soooo crooked... !

So, yes, with me it's like with oldmacman, the hints and tipps and tricks came in little pieces, so it's hard to say which of those was the most valuable.