Stopping for that Perfect Shot...

[St0nefrog]

I see alot of Threads about cameras and their specs, lenses, and such. This is a thread to kind of break up all the complicated mumbo jumbo.

I was just curious about what a serious photograper does to get that "perfect shot".

What I mean is, for example. I was driving today back towards my house and saw a nice sunset so I naturally stopped to take a couple photos. They came out nice, but that got me wondering. Do some of you just come across photo's more often then making time for photo sessions? It seems to me whenever I find something worth taking a picture of it's always by chance, and it doesnt happen as often as I'd like it to. For me the hardest thing is choosing something I would enjoy looking at as a picture, because I know a good 70% or more of my photo's will be pictures that only a few people besides my self will get to look at considering i'm not a professional photographer.

 

[darin3200]

Well, I you have the trouble defining "perfect shot" because it is so subjective.

It all depends on a person's particular style, I tend to carry my camera everywhere and take pictures of what I see, while other like to do more planned out and set-up shots.

 

[craig]

Again few shots are perfect. In my personal work I generally like to go on photo adventures. They are in the mornings. The location and subject are never decided upon 'till after I have had some coffee. I have great shots from commercial shoots. These photos are usually out takes and shooting while I am waiting for the client to show up.

My motto is too always be shooting.

 

[Marctwo]

Great shots are always there; You just have to take your time and be creative in the way you look at things.

Sometimes they do jump out at you and say "hey, look at me. I'm a great shot!" but quite often it'll just be the same great shot that everyone else is taking. It's still a great shot but it's just not that special.

There was a recent thread about shooting sunsets and someone (sorry, can't remember who) said "don't forget to turn around and shoot what that gorgeous light is falling on" - which pretty much sums it up for me.

 

[jstuedle]

The perfect shot is in the eye of the beholder. To shoot the perfect shot the beholder needs to "see" it and have the creativity for it to be captured, perfectly.

 

[St0nefrog]

An exellent quote by jstuedle. "The perfect is in the eye of the beholder."

 

[Hertz van Rental]

If perfection were attainable it wouldn't be worth having.
When anyone asks me what I consider to be my best shot, I always reply 'my next one'.
If I was ever completely happy with anything I did there would be no point in continuing.

 

[jstuedle]

An exellent quote by jstuedle. "The perfect is in the eye of the beholder."

Duh! Our mod Van Hertz recently said something like " Good English is not a requirement for membership to TPF." Thank goodness!

 

[Hertz van Rental]

Duh! Our mod Van Hertz recently said something like " Good English is not a requirement for membership to TPF." Thank goodness!

But it will lose you points when we come to do the marking.

 

[danalec99]

If I was ever completely happy with anything I did there would be no point in continuing.

My exact thoughts this morning.
I do not want to find that 'perfect shot'. The next step then would be quitting photography.

Do some of you just come across photo's more often then making time for photo sessions?

depends on the subject and the mood. It is usually a random session for me. But sometimes I revisit the place when the settings (clouds, lighting etc) change.

 

[Wally]

Some Random Thoughts,

I feel the key to a "perfect" shot, is to shoot as much as you can. Ansel Adams once said that if he took a dozen good pictures a year, it was a good year. This is from a man who went to some of the most beautiful places in the US and shot full time, just about every day. Yet if he had 12 good shots a year he was happy. I am just amazed by this.

Ansel also said this "Sometimes I do get to places just when God's ready to have somebody click the shutter." perhaps this happened around 12 times a year?

 

[panzershreck]

Do some of you just come across photo's more often then making time for photo sessions?

well it depends, if you don't usually take photos, then you'll probably have a lot more occasions when you see a good photo when you're doing something else, simply either statistics or because you weren't looking for photo-worthy moments - not paying attention to not getting photos (and because nature doesn't wait, looking for photo-worthy moments can cause you to miss out on the great ones, best thing to do is not care if you miss one unless you really had a chance, because you're always missing ones all the time - even right now they're lurking... hiding... waiting... watching your every move... :shock: )

on the bright side, if you miss one you could've easily gotten, or don't get any at all, there's always beer