Candy Tetris

[nickzou]

So I've been keeping up with my New Years Resolution, doing the Photo A Day challenge and realized I hadn't shot anything for today. I looked around my house and found these candy things. I found the shape interesting and thought about what I could do with them. C&C welcome, most of these Photo A Day shots are quick snap shots I took, didn't strive for technical perfection.

Pansonic GF2
Panasonic G Vario 14-42mm@14mm
f/3.5
1/25s
ISO 400

 

[gsgary]

They would have looked better if you had stood them up

 

[jake337]

I thought the purpose of doing a 365 or photo a day was to work on advancing your skills, both technically and artistically. Just taking quick snaps may improve your eye, but if you are not striving for any technical advancements whats the point. I mean, I can take 365 photos as fast as my buffer lets me fill my card with no pre-thought or ambition to achieve. So what would the difference be if I spread those across a whole year? Maybe some better compositional skills. But, if you work at the technical as well, those skills will grow equally or more.

Not trying to be an ass, just trying to motivate you.

 

[nickzou]

I thought the purpose of doing a 365 or photo a day was to work on advancing your skills, both technically and artistically. Just taking quick snaps may improve your eye, but if you are not striving for any technical advancements whats the point. I mean, I can take 365 photos as fast as my buffer lets me fill my card with no pre-thought or ambition to achieve. So what would the difference be if I spread those across a whole year? Maybe some better compositional skills. But, if you work at the technical as well, those skills will grow equally or more.

Not trying to be an ass, just trying to motivate you.

Hmmmm... that's definitely not how this challenge was described to me. I was told, do this even if this is on your Blackberry camera. I was introduced to it as a way of getting people in the habit of shooting.

 

[jake337]

I thought the purpose of doing a 365 or photo a day was to work on advancing your skills, both technically and artistically. Just taking quick snaps may improve your eye, but if you are not striving for any technical advancements whats the point. I mean, I can take 365 photos as fast as my buffer lets me fill my card with no pre-thought or ambition to achieve. So what would the difference be if I spread those across a whole year? Maybe some better compositional skills. But, if you work at the technical as well, those skills will grow equally or more.

Not trying to be an ass, just trying to motivate you.

Hmmmm... that's definitely not how this challenge was described to me. I was told, do this even if this is on your Blackberry camera. I was introduced to it as a way of getting people in the habit of shooting.

Well nevermind then.....

 

[tom_anderson18]

I like the idea behind this picture and also I like the idea of the photo each day challenge although I've missed a few days I may do the same thing.

 

[rexbobcat]

I've spent the last 5 minutes trying to figure out how there is a lone orange block in the right corner.
I forgot how Tetris is played....I Googled... :meh:

I do like the concept, though. It's more creative than something I would come up with.

 

[nickzou]

I've spent the last 5 minutes trying to figure out how there is a lone orange block in the right corner.
I forgot how Tetris is played....I Googled... :meh:

I do like the concept, though. It's more creative than something I would come up with.

lol say if you have a Z block that you stand up vertically, and you eliminate the two bottom rows, you end up with a lone block. Don't worry, I sat there thinking "I don't have the right number of blocks" for a few moments too.

 

[GnipGnop]

This may force you to get in the habit of shooting, but what's the point if you potentially end up producing crappy work?

I would strive for quality over quantity. There are many 365 picture projects that produce mediocre results.

Instead, I propose you scour places like flickr, 500px and similar sites and try to recreate the techniques you find in your favourite photos. Look at the EXIF data, message the photographers to ask their technique or look up the effect used in google to try to recreate it. The point is not to be able to copy a photograph, but to add a technique to your artistic arsenal should you choose to use it in your photographic future.

Or, look up photography techniques and practice mastering them. There are lots of tutorials on the Internet, and you would benefit much more doing this than simply teaching yourself to potentially take a lot of boring photos.

Happy shooting!

 

[nickzou]

This may force you to get in the habit of shooting, but what's the point if you potentially end up producing crappy work?

I would strive for quality over quantity. There are many 365 picture projects that produce mediocre results.

Instead, I propose you scour places like flickr, 500px and similar sites and try to recreate the techniques you find in your favourite photos. Look at the EXIF data, message the photographers to ask their technique or look up the effect used in google to try to recreate it. The point is not to be able to copy a photograph, but to add a technique to your artistic arsenal should you choose to use it in your photographic future.

Or, look up photography techniques and practice mastering them. There are lots of tutorials on the Internet, and you would benefit much more doing this than simply teaching yourself to potentially take a lot of boring photos.

Happy shooting!

That definitely sounds like a different project. What I found so frustrating about photography a few months ago was that my room was basically a studio, my lights were always up. It looked like a jungle of light stands. I had models in a few times (even though the room is small) but I was mostly trying to perfect lighting techniques. My room more or less still looks like that. But it was getting to the point where it was draining. And part of the problem is that I was stuck in perfectionist shooting mode. The problem I found is that I was starting to like it less and less. Shooting only one way and the way everyone else wants you to shoot. I took a break for about two weeks when my friend brought in his little S90 to class and at that time I was all "pppfffffhhh... compacts" and "no DSLR, not real photographer". But he lent it to me and I found myself shooting a lot more, knowing that I wasn't going to get the depth of field of an APS-C sensor and knowing that the DR was going to be terrible at high ISO's was freeing. I had the experience of walking home one night from my friends place and I came to an underpass that had some nice graffiti. I didn't have my D7k, all I had was my camera phone. I spent about the next two hours sitting there, ISO 800, with practically no dynamic range, sitting on the cold pavement as the winding was howling telling me to get back inside before my fingers froze off, shooting. Just shooting. I don't want to sound like that guy, but first and foremost it has to be a hobby for me, otherwise I start to hate it. And the limitations of crappier cameras bring out the joy of photography for me. The limitation of this crappy kit lens allows me to accept the fact that this image isn't going to perfect. And that I don't have to bring a tripod everywhere to get those long exposure shots at night. Because honestly, before that, I always had my tripod one me, so at night I would always shoot ISO 200. But it was heavy and it was cumbersome, and i hated carrying all this stuff around just to get "the perfect shot". When I shoot, a lot of the times I don't even review the image anymore, I don't even dump it on my hard drive. The simple fact is that the act of composing the shot and actuating the shutter is all I need.

It's funny that you mentioned happy shooting. Because that's definitely what I've rediscovered with a smaller sensor and crappy kit lens. Chasing perfection is fine but that can't be defined as the joy of photography for me. I have a lot more respect for iPhone shooters now than I did a few months ago. There's an aspect of photography that I totally forgot about when I started getting into gear and equipment. The simple zen act of composing and taking the shot. That's what the 365 project is to me.

What's really annoying and I'm sure for all those iPhone photographers too is that "gear"-enthusiast photographers constantly try to define what photography is for them. I'm not trying to make money off of this. The same way that I'm not trying to hone my skills when I doodle in a notebook (and I do this A LOT) is the same way I'm not actively seeking to get better by what is ostensibly "doodling" with a camera. The act of doodling and letting the pen glide across the page is soothing. The same thing with the viewfinder (or LCD screen) and the shutter.

And it's not like no thought went into this shot. I thought about the framing. I was cautious about the fact that the light was overhead and me hovering over it was blocking a lot but at the same time I didn't want parallax distortions so I had to find that happy medium. This isn't the JPEG that came off the camera. I corrected the colours the way I wanted it. I could've done better, I could've grabbed my tripod, I had my Vivitar downstairs from something else I was working on ready to go. But that's my point, just because I had the means to achieve perfection doesn't mean I always want to.

P.S. Yeah, my art teacher gave me crap about my doodles in highschool as well. "Why isn't the lighting perfect?" "You should be using 6B for that section of shading." "That's the wrong pen nib for this type of line." "Where's your french curve? Why aren't you using it?" Simple answer: It's JUST doodling.

 

[GnipGnop]

I agree with most of your post.

I almost exclusively shot with my Canon S90 for a year and a half teaching myself proper technique. No dSLR not a real photographer. Phewy I say. Lots of people are posers with their big expensive dSLRs almost permanently attached to a tripod for no apparent reason. And that's fine, but I do hold a little bit of contempt to those who still think you need a dSLR to be serious.

I told myself I wouldn't upgrade to a dSLR until I felt I had outgrown the camera's abilities. A year and a half later (roughly) I feel I mostly had. It is an amazing little camera, and have had a photo taken with it shown in a gallery in Toronto. I'm a firm believer that you don't need the best gear to get the best pictures, since photography is not about reproducing reality, but interpreting it. The perfect shot depends on who you're shooting for.

That being said, I did recently buy a Pentax K5 (after literally months of researching the 60d and 7d Canons), but I'm going to exploit the 18-55 lens that came with it until I've pushed it's limits and know it inside and out before I purchase any more glass. If I know the glass I have, I'll be making photos instead of worrying about which lens to use. My creativity will guide me, not the specs of a lens.

My comments were written because you wrote C&C. I always strive to come at pictures with a critique and constructive comments, instead of comments and critiques. That's why I wrote what I wrote.

 

[nickzou]

I agree with most of your post.

I almost exclusively shot with my Canon S90 for a year and a half teaching myself proper technique. No dSLR not a real photographer. Phewy I say. Lots of people are posers with their big expensive dSLRs almost permanently attached to a tripod for no apparent reason. And that's fine, but I do hold a little bit of contempt to those who still think you need a dSLR to be serious.

I told myself I wouldn't upgrade to a dSLR until I felt I had outgrown the camera's abilities. A year and a half later (roughly) I feel I mostly had. It is an amazing little camera, and have had a photo taken with it shown in a gallery in Toronto. I'm a firm believer that you don't need the best gear to get the best pictures, since photography is not about reproducing reality, but interpreting it. The perfect shot depends on who you're shooting for.

That being said, I did recently buy a Pentax K5 (after literally months of researching the 60d and 7d Canons), but I'm going to exploit the 18-55 lens that came with it until I've pushed it's limits and know it inside and out before I purchase any more glass. If I know the glass I have, I'll be making photos instead of worrying about which lens to use. My creativity will guide me, not the specs of a lens.

My comments were written because you wrote C&C. I always strive to come at pictures with a critique and constructive comments, instead of comments and critiques. That's why I wrote what I wrote.

I would be down for some C&C if it were about my picture, not my method.

 

[GnipGnop]

I was just conversing with you and offering a different perspective. I'll leave the critiquing of snapshots to others.

Good luck on your 365! Happy shooting.