Is this a "phase"

[Bram]

Hey guys and gals.

Was just pondering to myself here at work bored as heck, am I stuck in a phase?
Let me start off by saying I don't need inspiration or drive or anything to do with that. I got all that already. What I was wondering is this. I know the basics of my camera and the basics of photography (so i'd like to think). Thing is, when I get out there to shoot, I see an opportunity, I prepare the shot, I take it. But as i'm taking it I ponder and think hey that's not the right setting, is this composed correctly. All that wondering if it's right or not.
I'll take the photo, check it out and it looks tacky. I'll prepare again and give it another go. Yet I still wonder about all the settings. I know they're right for the situation just alot of thinking.
I'm curious to see if i'm stuck between the beginner-noob and maybe the advanced beginner/ amateur. I don't know how else to put it.
To me when I shoot Manual, I seem to wonder about settings and tend to shoot semi-manual? I tend to NOT change the WB or light comp, or that business.
Am I stuck in a phase>?

 

[Overread]

Sounds like a pretty common phase to me - you've still got to learn the skills until they are more second nature to you. That take time and practice - lots of it - and you can't get it any other way. You'll find as you get better and more experience you'll have less things worrying you as you compose and take the shot because things will be more second nature to you.

 

[Bram]

Hmm thanks for the quick reply overread. I was out yesterday with a buddy at the lake when it was getting dark. I was setting up my tripod and such to take a long exposure of the lake with the houses on the other side. (wicked spot but need a wider lens) Anywho as I was setting up he was askign me all the stuff I was doing, for example: What ISO I was using, What BULB mode was, and what WB I used. As I told him what I was doing he asked how I knew all this stuff. I told him about TPF and he made an account this morning lol. So I know the basics of changing the settings now it's just getting it done as per say.

 

[enzodm]

Check here where you are : Stages of a Photographer › John Mayer’s Blog › John Mayer - Battle Studies

 

[pgriz]

Well, the beginner phase lasts until you know, technically, what all the buttons do and what all the DOF, FOV, IS, VR, ISO, Av, Ts, etc. mean. Then somes the part when these technical issues basically fade away - you know what 85mm vs. 38 mm look like, and you know when to set what setting. The real awakening of the giant within happens when you can give your images a reality that is more insightful than what one would get if we saw the scene ourselves. That is the emergence of emotion and power - taking your viewers beyond the boundaries of the frame of the image and pulling them into whatever reality you've created for them. Really good photographs, for me at least, make me forget the "photograph" and focus on the subject.