Is there hope??

IByte

No longer a newbie, moving up!
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With anything I do whether it is for fun or investing my profession, I try to do things the right way. When I slowly got into this hobby mind everyone I have an analytic/technical mindset. The creative portion is pretty much in idle, and I have been trying to grasp the Exposure Triangle before I start "seeing" the photograph.

I want to touch base with everyone that regardless your disposition on this hobby/profession, I give a lot of respect for people's hard work, hence why I feel I can't judge other people's work, it's just not fair. Most of the time I don't ask questions, because someone else had/has already asked it or I search the almighty Googles, and Youtubes(thank you Mark Wallace). But I feel with time permitted I am at least putting some reasonable effort when I take photographs of various fields of photography.

So without further whining here are a couple of pictures I have taken this afternoon. Are they interesting? Not in the slightest, but I was mainly concentrating on the triangle and WB. Listen, be honest, be brutal, be vicious and tear it down I'm too damn old to crying or holding someones hand for comfort. The main point of this topic in a nutshell, is there hope for me to continue this hobby, or should I take my equipment to the backyard and give it an honorable death? Thanks in advance for everyone's input.

The candle is supposed to be the main subject. The WB was preset to sunny for some reason as I meant to it to place it on incandescent.

$Candle1.jpg


Candle 2. was taken with a custom WB I used an 18% gray card(again thank you Mark Wallace).

$Candle2.jpg

Alright got my notebook, pen and my scotch. Happy Father's Day whether you are taking care of a pet or have children doesn't matter it's all the same to me.
 
There's nothing wrong with wanting to get the technical side down pat. Give it time... keep at it... and the creative side will be released.
 
If it's any consolation, that vast, vast majority of photographers ALL went through a rocky start. I supposed there are a few prodigies that picked up a camera and immediately starting producing masterpieces, but I've never heard of one.

Photography, true photography and not point-and-shoot snapshot photography, is not easy. Several things have to come together and each of them can be tricky. Exposure, which in and of itself is enough of a challenge, focus, and composition all have to be right or the shot is just another shot. Most people I've known seem to struggle with one and not have problems with the others. Many people just cannot understand exposure, others cannot get good focus, and yet more cannot "See" a photograph until someone shows it to them. The one thing I have never run across is someone who couldn't eventually get it all to work if they just kept with it.
You have two huge advantages that many of us didn't have. First, you have the internet with the wealth of knowledge that is there for the looking and asking. You have tutorial videos, you have instructions and manuals, you have everything imaginable available if you just take the time to look for it.

Second, you have a camera that DOES understand things. Trust it and use it. Forget about custom and sunny and incandescent white balance, and use automatic. 90% of the time it will be right. I see people all the time who can't understand exposure but they are bound and determined to use manual mode. Likewise I see people complaining about lack of focus and they are not using autofocus. Put some faith in the people who built your camera.

The doesn't mean shoot everything in automatic. Think of how you would have set the camera or actually set it up and shoot it, then let the camera do it. Look at the difference and learn to understand WHY the camera picked settings that you didn't pick and what differences they made in the photograph. Which was closer and why?

Sooner or later the Exposure Triangle will click and you'll wonder what in the world was so difficult about figuring that out? Suddenly your focus will start to work or your composition will make sense. It always does. People who shoot magnificent photographs are no better than you are, they've just been doing it longer and learned the things you're still struggling with. Give it time, there is no hurry.
 
Ibyte,

Your images are as good (and often better) than many I see here. They are also superior to those I see in many Blogs! Keep on shooting... reading and posting, you will improve! Sometimes you stall... and then suddenly will have a "Eureka" moment, where something momentous occurs in your thinking, shooting or processing... just takes time!
 
I'm an amateur, and always will be. I don't give many critiques because I don't feel I know enough, but I will say what I like (and don't like) about photos.

They seem to work as an exercise in exposure and white balance. They could be a starting point in an exercise in DOF.
As they are currently set up, they are not very interesting to me, personally, but that's not really the intended purpose. I think the first one has some things in it that could make an interesting photo (a candle, a book, what looks like a lens.)

As for the question of continuing or not, only you can really answer that. Do you enjoy it? If so, then keep going.
 
Perhaps, but I also think there is too much information and I tend to over analyze.

Not interested in tips and tricks,reason I stayed with Adorama TV tutorials lol.

But I think another issue is just time to practice, practice, practice!
 
Is that the way you want it to look?

The only important technical issue is if the picture looks the way you want it to and the technical aspects do not interefere with teh viewer's enjoyment or understanding.

So white balance, sharpness, etc only support the image and aren't the end point.
 
Ibyte,

Your images are as good (and often better) than many I see here. They are also superior to those I see in many Blogs! Keep on shooting... reading and posting, you will improve! Sometimes you stall... and then suddenly will have a "Eureka" moment, where something momentous occurs in your thinking, shooting or processing... just takes time!

I appreciate the support Charlie. My main goal is to have a hobby when I am able to retire, and can no longer power lift. I even have a tutor here trying to do this hobby justice.


Edit: I hope I did not offend the younger generation or people who makes a living from this field.
 
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It looks like the screen (is that a computer monitor?) in the background turned on between shots, which so the colors in the scene have changed radically. This means that your white balance comparison isn't apples to apples.

I rather like the first one better, in terms of color palette, since it's warmer and feels more indoors. The second, with its perhaps more correct white balance, feels neutral-to-daylight lit, which isn't consistent with the warmth of the candle.

The first one also has the book underneath and seems generally more pleasingly framed.

Watch your backgrounds. These pictures are almost entirely clutter. You've used your relatively open aperture to show us what you think is important, and to make the background clutter subordinate by placing it out of focus, but it's still background clutter which does not strike me as serving any purpose in the picture, and my there is a great deal of it.

If this IS a picture of the clutter of your desk (or whatever it is we're looking at) the candle is too dominant.
 
Thanks A.M. and I was pondering what Traveler was saying about desired effect while I read your minor critique. I understand from what you are saying about the clutter and busy background and way too distracting. Right now I am juggling the Exposure triangle and hopeful I can include the background.

My approach to photography overall is how I code. I study in chunks, I take a section read about it, study it apply it, then run it. Once it runs and they're no syntax and/or run time errors I go ahead and proceed with the next section. Once I know understand it then I can start being more creative as to what Traveler was asking earlier. As someone said in another thread "Once you understand the fundamentals, you can bend/break the rules to your liking."

Also, I think I will start posting more.
 
Absolutely.

One of the things I learned sailboat racing is the concept of cognitive load. Your brain can really only handle so much crap at once, so you learn skills and make them instinctive -- whether it be trimming a headsail for maximum speed, or managing your exposure in camera properly. Once you have those things made easy or automatic, then you can add more cognitive tasks: some simple racing tactics, or worrying about your backgrounds.

Not to worry, I mentioned the background not because you suck and should quit! You don't and you should not. It's simply on the short list of the next things you'll be worrying about, so time to start keeping it a little in your mind.
 
Absolutely.

One of the things I learned sailboat racing is the concept of cognitive load. Your brain can really only handle so much crap at once, so you learn skills and make them instinctive -- whether it be trimming a headsail for maximum speed, or managing your exposure in camera properly. Once you have those things made easy or automatic, then you can add more cognitive tasks: some simple racing tactics, or worrying about your backgrounds.

Not to worry, I mentioned the background not because you suck and should quit! You don't and you should not. It's simply on the short list of the next things you'll be worrying about, so time to start keeping it a little in your mind.

Ok I guess I vented enough
 
The problem with technique is if you serve it alone, you have nothing but a scientific study. There are plenty of people on here who care more about the science than art of photography. If that's your interest, you can join them. The other problem is which technique is correct? Creatively, there's no correct answer. So, do you have it right? I have no idea. Depends on what you were going for. There's nothing creative going on there so we can't judge any creative merits of the image. The WB looks like it might be more natural in #2, but again without any context of what you were going for it's hard to say any more. What matters is did you achieve what you wanted to achieve? My advice is become a student of light, and if great pictures are your goal, don't get lost in the science. In the words of Jet Li in "Forbidden Kingdom": "Learn it all, and then forget it all." If you think too much about technique, the image loses something.
 
The problem with technique is if you serve it alone, you have nothing but a scientific study. There are plenty of people on here who care more about the science than art of photography. If that's your interest, you can join them. The other problem is which technique is correct? Creatively, there's no correct answer. So, do you have it right? I have no idea. Depends on what you were going for. There's nothing creative going on there so we can't judge any creative merits of the image. The WB looks like it might be more natural in #2, but again without any context of what you were going for it's hard to say any more. What matters is did you achieve what you wanted to achieve? My advice is become a student of light, and if great pictures are your goal, don't get lost in the science. In the words of Jet Li in "Forbidden Kingdom": "Learn it all, and then forget it all." If you think too much about technique, the image loses something.

And if you don't have technique to start with, you have nothing! ;) Technique is the basis on which all else should be built....
 

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