Where to go from here?

Landscapenut185 · Nov 10, 2016

Hello everyone,
So I've been lurking around the forums for a while though, this is my first my first post. I have been into photography my whole life but never thought I had the talent to produce a nice picture. And we'll my very supportive friend told me to give it a try. So a while back I found a nice Pentax k01 mirrorless camera and have surprised myself on some of the pictures I've took. I have watched a ton of YouTube videos and read a ton of books and am very pleased with where I am now compared to where I thought that I would be.

My focus is on landscape photography I absolutely love it. I love being out in nature.

But here lately it's like I want to make other interesting photographs. But it's like I hit a creativeness cliff and it's straight up climb that I can't get over.

With landscape photography it's not to bad I just drive to a location with a waterfall or cliffs, even nice woodlands or a pond or river and I can find nice shots. but things that are not obvious like signs small things or other creative things that others make into amazing pictures I tend to look over, saying that wouldn't make a decent photograph, or just not see all together.

I want to grow as a photographer but how do I see all this amazing stuff that others see. Sure everyone know a photo of a waterfall or flower or lake will be nice if properly composed but I want to see those other things that no one else would see and think what a photograph that would make.

Gary A. · Nov 10, 2016

Welcome to the unlurking part forum Landscapenut185. Growing in any craft is individualized. We all see the world differently and we all develop our craft differently. I have a friend who wasn't growing/getting measurably better. He was shooting, shooting, shooting and it felt to him that he was just hitting a wall, then he'd back up, make an adjustment start running and hit the wall. But he didn't give up and one day, viola! He had broken through and was measurably better. It was all very odd because it wasn't an incremental growth but a burst, like he walked through a door and he was much better. Then it started again ... he was hitting that wall and no getting better then one day ... he's on the other side.

For most of us, the best, only, most tested way to improve is to:
1) Shoot;
2) Shoot some more; and
3) At the end of the day when you think you're finished, shoot again.

I take a daily walk with the pooch and I am armed with a camera. The same neighborhood and the same park(s) and I am on the alert to shoot sometime different, different lighting, different subject, different lens ... something I overlooked the day before.

astroNikon · Nov 10, 2016

Gary's right.
I've been taking more Cloud photos with the sun and some people see them and ask me where I took the photo. I tell them right in my backyard. LOL

Learn more about perspective and add it to your image. Something from down low, off too the side, etc. Many times I see photos that are just taken straight on, just like any "snapshot" from a tourist.

Learning how to get a starburst with a camera on an ordinary image of clouds in the sky can really change a photo. Or getting the clouds colorized or backlit, learning to better balance lighting in a landscape scene, or better postprocessing. So many things you can add as you try to expand your horizons (pun intended).

Never stop learning and trying.