ticked off!!!

[PiMpPiStOl]

so, im bout to quit photography. i can never get the results i want. NEVER. i thought maybe buying a 8 mp pixel camera would help...but no. still just as crappy as a dang 3.2 something mp camera. the freaking flash makes everything too dark, or reflects off something too bright, and without the flash its too bright or too blurry. any of the settings, liek close up stuff and all that dont work unless i hold the cam perfectly still...no not even then will it work. no matter what the f i do, unless the flash is on, the picture is crappy and blurry. am i doing something wrong??? why cant i do anything with cameras???

 

[Sw1tchFX]

Get patient, get a tripod. Your problem sounds like camera shake. When you do long exposures such as 1/4-1/60th of a second, you should mount your camera on a tripod and use the timer, cable release, or a remote to trigger the shutter.

 

[cal_gundert05]

Sorry to hear about the difficulties you've been having.

I assume you've read your camera's manual (and hopefully some photography books, as well), and that you understand the technical theory. Is that right?

The difficult part is applying that theory while you're "in the field" to get a good shot.

I'd advise you to take it slow, and learn to apply these theories one at a time.

For instance, you mentioned using the flash and getting blurry pictures. You don't need the flash if you shoot with enough natural light. Try taking pictures of objects in sunlight on a sunny day, ignoring the flash and focusing on getting sharp shots in your camera's auto mode. Then, use aperture priority mode and learn to change your depth of field with different apertures.

I'm no expert, but I hope that gets you started in the right direction.

 

[PiMpPiStOl]

Sorry to hear about the difficulties you've been having.

I assume you've read your camera's manual (and hopefully some photography books, as well), and that you understand the technical theory. Is that right?

The difficult part is applying that theory while you're "in the field" to get a good shot.

I'd advise you to take it slow, and learn to apply these theories one at a time.

For instance, you mentioned using the flash and getting blurry pictures. You don't need the flash if you shoot with enough natural light. Try taking pictures of objects in sunlight on a sunny day, ignoring the flash and focusing on getting sharp shots in your camera's auto mode. Then, use aperture priority mode and learn to change your depth of field with different apertures.

I'm no expert, but I hope that gets you started in the right direction.

well i mean im not lookign for such professional stuff right now. i kinda read the maual, the important sounding stuff. and the stuff i can understand. but not books. eww. and yeah it works fine in sunlight. thats about it. like, right now, im trying to identify a watch, but i cant take a pic of it.

flash on - cant see anything but a white spot in a watch shape....
flash off - blurry as crap and hard to tell what it is
close up mode - blurry and cant see anything.



and to the other dude, i dont need a tripod yet. i mean, its a lil too much for right now. but i mean, like i was bored so i tried setting my cam on a flat desk, and taking a picture of it.

flash on - too dark
flash off - blurry as crap
close up - blurry as crap


ive taken some good pics but there all in the sun. and i cant take the sun everywhere i go.

 

[Jeremy Z]

I don't know. If you're losing patience and not reading books or manuals, there may be no hope for you.

 

[PiMpPiStOl]

I don't know. If you're losing patience and not reading books or manuals, there may be no hope for you.

i said i read the manual...and i doubt i need books for just taking pics of lil things. i dont wanna be big right now if ever.

just nevermind

 

[Azuth]

I see the problem. Horse + Water = Thirsty Horse next to water.

 

[Tyson]

What kind of camera ?

 

[LaFoto]

The impatience of youth!

Ah well, you cannot seriously have expected that buying an 8 mp pixel camera suddenly might do the trick for you?

Here and there on this forum we are discussing the question when and in how far photography is an art. And have come to the conclusion that it can very well be art, if only the one person who uses his camera as his tool of expressing him/herself artistically WELL and WITH KNOWLEDGE.

If you call reading a book on the basics of photography "being big", while all you want to photograph "lil things", then I really don't know how to help you.

Just this photographing the little things, indoors, with the given light, is a CRAFT. It cannot be learned and done on the fly. It needs to be studied.

You are studying it, so it seems, and you apply the method of try and error, since all you want to do, I quote, is taking photos of the "lil things". OK and you get many more errors, too many for your patience.

When you get told that it is possibly all very much a matter of camera shake - which is the most normal thing to happen if you try to handhold the camera in low light with long exposures - and someone suggests you use a tripod, and you go all "Blah, tripod, I don't wanna go that big as yet", then how can we help?

I mean, there are those little table tripods (that might not be able to really hold the new camera that you got yourself and that now refuses to "do the trick"), and they cost next to nothing! It is no big investment at all and yet your results might suddenly be 100% better?

And if your light situation is so low that your camera cannot focus at all, then bring in more light. It is necessary for photography. Light is the KEY element.

And check the camera and lens on how close you CAN get to your objects AT ALL. Some cameras cannot focus any more if you get closer to the object than about 50 cm. Others allow you to get much closer.

There's so many things to observe, you should really read more than the "important (to you!) sounding stuff" in your manual - for reading the manual for the camera you bought is not "professional stuff" - it is necessary.

Else you will have to live with the amount of errors you get out of your trial and error approach and you must not moan and groan and say you chuck it all in.

 

[Groupcaptainbonzo]

O.K. ... Maybe I'm missing something here but...

Firstly it is the person who makes the picture NOT the camera, or any other piece of kit. So asking what gear is perhaps a little premature..


Getting to the point is often a good start . So in that vien.....

What are you after?

What are you taking pictures of, and what do you want to do with them when you have them.

I ask this because someone who wants to take family pictures on a brightly lit beach so he/she can post them on a web page for other family members to view (which is something that I do quite often myself). Is going to require a totally different approach, and a whole different style and kit to the person who wants to make pictures of microbes that live in caves under natural light conditions so that they can make 12 meter by 16 meter posters of them... If you catch my drift.

If your Idea is (as I think it may be) to capture general pictures as best you can, so that your photos look a little better than most peoples then you could do a lot worse than buying a good photo mag and reading it cover to cover for a few months. But the basics will essentially be the same.

As much even light as pos. As steady a camera as pos. The flash mounted on a compact camera will not fill the whole room. That is why people spend hundreds and even thousands of pounds on good high powered flash kit. Although if you are taking a picture of your mate in a bar having a laugh, it will provide enough light to record just that... The same applies to any other equipment that you use.
You need to know what it does, What it does NOT do, and what you need to provide the results that you are looking for.

So drop us all a reply outlining just what it is that you want to produce, And what you have in your possession in order to produce it. And we will get together and see if we can come up with any advice that will be helpful.

 

[Groupcaptainbonzo]

Can I reply to LaPhoto and all the others on a small but important point . He said ...

"Here and there on this forum we are discussion the question when and in how far photography is an art. And have come to the conclusion that it can very well be art,"


This is the oldest chestnut of photography, and has been fought over since 1840...

And is entirely erroneous ! ! .

The fact is that photography is NOT and art.... There you go ... One hornets nest firmly stirred up...

I would go as far as to say (in the same vein), that Painting is not art either...... (Boy, does this guy know NO bounds).

If I was to paint the Forth Bridge (at this point feel free to substitute any local land mark that you feel comfortable with). It would not necessarily be ART.

If I painted it in oils on canvass it would be Art. (As I am hopeless at painting, it would be poor Art. But it would be Art).

If I painted it in acrylic on silk, it would be Art. (Just as bad, but just as much Art)

If I painted it in Red Lead undercoat on the Bridge Stanchions, It would be Maintenance.... NOT art.

Painting , Like photography, is NOT art, It is a Medium.

 

[Jeremy Z]

OK, maybe we're being a little hard on you. I'll try to be more helpful, even though I have this feeling that you've already left...

When I suggested you didn't read the manual, it was because you said you're getting blurry photos. If you read and follow the manual, you will not get blurry photos. They may not be award-winning, composition wise, but they will at least be sharp. There are all kinds of warnings about camera shake. So the first order of business is to either use the built-in flash, or a tripod and longer shutter speeds. (or both, in some cases!)

If you follow that advice, your pictures will sharpen up immediately. In the meantime, try not to lose your cool. Millions of people have taken sharp pictures in low light successfully, and with junkier cameras than yours, so stick with it. Be willing to take the blame when your photos don't come out as you expect. Buying a better camera & lenses, as you have done, will allow you to take better pictures, but it won't take them for you.

So for now, buy a table-top tripod for $5-10. Try what I've said. (use the self timer, so you don't shake the camera on the tripod when you press the shutter release) It will work, then you can come back and show us your results. If you do try this, and you do come back, we will know that we're not wasting our time and will help you more.

Remember: patience. Nothing in life is really rewarding if you're not patient enough to see it through.

Cheers!

 

[PiMpPiStOl]

ok...ill try it. but i wnot be able to get it till atleast tomorrow afternoon. we live so far away from town. like an hour away. but my mom works there, so i might ask her to get one today if i can reach her before she leaves. if, not ill ask her when she gets back to get it tomorrow.

and i have a kodak. the easy share thing. it was 200$ at radioshack, but they talked us into paying 250 for alot of other stuff. i thought we were getting the starter pack thingy with the tripod but i got home and my mom got the other one. but i will try. and no i didnt leave. i just forgot about the post yesterday cuz i was doing other things.

 

[ksmattfish]

Hilarious! It goes from "I can't take a picture, and refuse to learn!" to "Painting isn't art." We have a long way to go in 2007, but this one already gets my vote for most ridiculous thread of the year.

Anyone who is interested can go to dictionary.com and get the accepted definitions of the word art. It's a very vague word that can be used to describe almost anything. My favorite definition is #13: trickery; cunning. I always knew the art world was just a bunch of BS. There is no info there on how to operate a camera though.

 

[PiMpPiStOl]

so out of like, a thousand pics yesterday, this was the best...

http://www.freewebs.com/pimppistol/watch.jpg

and then i was holding the cam. i also tried, like i said, putting the cam and the watch on the desk, and doing it liek that, but you cant even tell its a watch. i put it on close up and all that. i actually got one really good picture...the lil green hand means its not blurry, and the red means its really blurry. it had a green hand!! but i looked at it, i couldnt make out anything! but i looked closer...the reflection was perfect! you could see my room. it was kinda funny.

but yeah, that was the best i could get. i told my parents to get the tripod tomorrow. they thought we already had one, it was for our OLD video cam. so ill get it tomorrow.

and also, if you know where i can find out more about that watch, and how much it is...please tell me. if not thats cool too.