Novice Photographer lost in the world, please help me hit a golf ball

[Theantiquetiger]

In the past year or so, I have purchased nearly $4000 in equipment, watched hours and hours of blogs, videos, but still cannot get that shot. I treat images like a golf shot, anyone can hit a golf ball, it takes hours of correct practice to hit it consistently and make it go where you want it to go. In the 1000's of photograph golf balls I've hit, I've only hit it correctly a half dozen times. I have an eye for subject and I know what I want to accomplish, but still my images just look like snap shots, not works of art.

People tell me to watch this blog or that blog, but I know what and how to do what they are talking about.

I do feel I get out there to shoot and lose my mind, cannot remember a thing, like writers' block or psyching yourself out when you step to the plate in baseball.

Any suggestion?

 

[tirediron]

How about posting a couple of your images and then describing what your vision was, and how the final image missed that vision? It's very difficult to provide useful without something of a starting point.

 

[Theantiquetiger]

How about posting a couple of your images and then describing what your vision was, and how the final image missed that vision? It's very difficult to provide useful without something of a starting point.

When I saw this guy, I knew he was a character. The surrounding garden was amazing, his beard, hair, and clothes were just the exact opposite of the manicured garden. The chair may or may not take away from it, but he is watering the chair as well as the garden. It just looks like a snap shot. I did some PP, but I am not the greatest at it

Here is my photostream: Flickr: Theantiquetiger's Photostream (don't mind the images in link without borders

 

[TATTRAT]

How about the part of golf where you just loosen up, and swing naturally? The "granny swing", maybe you're trying too hard and getting bogged down in the details you are dumping on yourself (hence the choking when the time comes)? It's not rocket science, but I know you have to know SOMETHING, but just relax.

 

[tirediron]

Okay; well, looking at this, the main issue I see with it is that the foliage is much "hotter" than the man who is the main subject. Remember that the eye is naturally drawn to bright objects. Ideally, the way to shoot this would have been to expose so that the overly-bright foliage was correctly exposed and then added a fill light (reflector, OCF) to reduce the shadow on his face.

 

[Derrel]

I went to your Flickr stream. You're way over-exaggerating how bad you are. You'll get better. You're still feeling your way. You must be over-thinking things...slam it into Aperture Priority auto, set the ISO at 320 or 400, and get out there and SHOOT,shoot,shoot. Feel it, don't think it. Do it, don't worry about it. It's like dancing; if you sit off to the side and worry about how you'll look, you'll never do any dancing.

 

[globeglimpser]

$4000 of gear: please elaborate

 

[KenC]

It's not a bad photo. As mentioned, the light is very harsh and the bright spots are not helping it. Two things you could do in a situation like this that would help: (1) in light like this, set you EC to about -2/3 - your meter sees mostly middle-dark areas so your highlights will end up being overexposed, and (2) watch your background! Seeing the bright foliage to the right of his head, you might have tried moving to the right to get him against a more uniformly dark background.

Another thing - are you shooting raw? If not, start doing it. Highlights are much easier to handle starting from a raw file. If you let the camera create a jpg file it may make the highlights brighter than you would like and it is very difficult to fix at that point.

 

[Theantiquetiger]

$4000 of gear: please elaborate

Canon 60D kit $1300
Tamron 70-200 $1600
Tamron 18-55 $650
Canon speedlite $300
Software $500
plus all the smalls (filters, mono-pod, tripod, etc) $500+

 

[Mike_E]

Most shots outdoors are going to be disappointing unless you take them an hour before sunset or an hour after sunrise. It's called the golden hour for a reason.

Put your camera down for a bit and study the hows and whys of the light. This info is on the net too btw

 

[runnah]

How about the part of golf where you just loosen up, and swing naturally? The "granny swing", maybe you're trying too hard and getting bogged down in the details you are dumping on yourself (hence the choking when the time comes)? It's not rocket science, but I know you have to know SOMETHING, but just relax.

Exactly. You're not trying to kill the ball but rather presuade it to be 200 yards down the fairway

 

[globeglimpser]

$4000 of gear: please elaborate

Canon 60D kit $1300
Tamron 70-200 $1600
Tamron 18-55 $650
Canon speedlite $300
Software $500
plus all the smalls (filters, mono-pod, tripod, etc) $500+

The reason I asked was because I saw some wildlife shots and wanted to see if you had an appropriate lens - The 70-200 is a bit short but is a quality lens.

I think your shots are good and you seem to have mastered all the basics. Maybe you just need to find your niche to get a sense of direction. Have a flag to aim your golf balls at...

You want to be creative so start there. Creative ideas start out of the camera, the camera is just a medium. Focus on one creative shot idea and spend all your energy making that one shot possible and then take it from there. Soon creativity will flow from you.


Personally I am not that creative. I prefer African wildlife photography where all the fun and difficulty is in tracking and finding your subject. However, there are many professionals with creative wildlife shots achieved through shutter speed manipulation, shooting through dust and other interesting ideas. The only way for me to get anywhere near what they are capable of is to keep shooting - a good habit you have gotten yourself into

 

[ann]

Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst. Quote from Henri Cartier-Bresson

 

[DarkShadow]

In the past year or so, I have purchased nearly $4000 in equipment, watched hours and hours of blogs, videos, but still cannot get that shot. I treat images like a golf shot, anyone can hit a golf ball, it takes hours of correct practice to hit it consistently and make it go where you want it to go. In the 1000's of photograph golf balls I've hit, I've only hit it correctly a half dozen times. I have an eye for subject and I know what I want to accomplish, but still my images just look like snap shots, not works of art.

People tell me to watch this blog or that blog, but I know what and how to do what they are talking about.

I do feel I get out there to shoot and lose my mind, cannot remember a thing, like writers' block or psyching yourself out when you step to the plate in baseball.

Any suggestion?

Wow man I looked at your flicker page and IMO your pictures are far better then any snap shots I have seen and far better then anything I can do.Have a glass a wine relax have fun and dont beat your self down.

 

[jake337]

Looking at your Flickr I don't see anything that bad. I think you overdid a lot of the vignettes though but that is just personal preference.