Do you ever?

lizzy23

lizzy23

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Liz
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Go back and have a look what you used to get when you started photography?

I've noticed a few threads on here from people who are despondent with their hobby, not getting the shots they think they ought to, and striving for a perfection that i don't believe exists, i've also seen people getting ars**y over some of the c & c they've received.

I've just gone back and had a look at some of the photographs that i posted on here when i joined, and i'm amazed at how far i've come and how much i've improved, and its all down to practice and taking on board what was sometimes Harsh crit.


So i suppose the point of this thread is for everyone that is feeling this way, go back and look at your beginnings you maybe surprised, or for those at the beginning keep posting take on board what people are telling you and you will improve, i know i have
 
Yes I frequently look at the snaps I took in the 1950s
 
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Before I went digital my only SLR lens had a max aperture of f4 and many of my shots were taken in dingy venues. f4 plus low light equals higher ISO's and probably longer shutter speeds too but my pictures looked ok despite the lighting conditions and bands and people moving because they were small prints. Same with my RF and compact shots and many were taken with cameras with no focus and just sunny and cloudy settings. They'd be rubbish by today’s standards

These days people print large, or claim to, and view their images at 100%+ on screen and notice every single fault. Many faults went unnoticed years ago.

That's the biggest difference for me, that and being able to change my ISO between shots and use many different and wider aperture lenses.
 
The difference a year makes. Same corner, different gear :-)

2011
6490119003_b74cd6368c_b.jpg
[/url] McGuinness by AidanPlace, on Flickr[/IMG]

2012
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[/url] Paul Shoesmith Superstock by AidanPlace, on Flickr[/IMG]
 
I go back every now and then and have a look, I still take the same sort of photography so its good to see how I have improved over the last 3 years or so
 
Perhaps i'm being modest but 2011 was a 400D with a Tamron 70-300 4.5-5.6

2012 was 7D with 70-200 IS2

The bikes are close to 120mph at that point and the Tamron really struggled. I think I came back with 20 shots that were in focus in 2011 as opposed to about 600 in 2012

Massive difference in gear but skill levels and understanding of what I needed to do have also moved forward, so I think it's a bit of both.

Aidan
 
I always go back to some of my early images.

I'm better now but I some of my best images of when I first started, the difference is that now I'm much more consistent with producing good (by my standards) images.

It's nice to know you improve at something :thumbs:
 
Not a lot I could learn from my early pictures. Hard to dig up EXIF or similar from film! My kit was extremely limited back then too - even once I had graduated to an SLR, I only had a 55mm lens for a couple of years so had to rely on footzoom (where possible) and selective enlargement (where footzoom wasn't possible). By the time I had EXIF etc, I had little to learn!
 
Nod said:
Not a lot I could learn from my early pictures. Hard to dig up EXIF or similar from film! My kit was extremely limited back then too - even once I had graduated to an SLR, I only had a 55mm lens for a couple of years so had to rely on footzoom (where possible) and selective enlargement (where footzoom wasn't possible). By the time I had EXIF etc, I had little to learn!
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I don't think its about learning, its about confidence building, in some of my early ones i can see the exposure is off, the composition is crap etc, but at the time i thought they were brilliant, when i compare them side by side to some i have taken just recently i can see how much i have learnt and improved in two years, i'm now sat looking at some of my own photos framed and hung, never thought i would be good enough for that:):):)
 
I've got all the photos I've taken with my DSLR's on my computer and I sometimes go through the early stuff and end up deleting a bunch of 'duffers' that I thought was good when I started. My shooting skills have definitely improved but some of the improvements have been down to the gear I'm now using.

I can see the IQ difference between airshow pics from 2011 and 2012 and my gear went from a 550D and Tamron 28-300 VC (2011) to a 5D3 and Sigma 150-500 OS (2012) but I can also see the improvements I've made in composition, framing, use of shutter speeds and aperture etc.
 
In my landscapes my own quality control is a lot better, when I look back I'd get to a location and photograph it regardless of the light, and try and make a shot out of it. Now my camera stays in my bag if conditions aren't perfect, I know I'd rather come home without a shot and go back and do it justice when conditions are better than make a bodge job of it.
 
In answer to OP's question - yes, absolutely. In fact only just last week I went back through all of my older shots and did a bit of cropping and PP-ing to see what was "good".

I've not been taking shots for that long (very sporadically over 4 years), and I've found that my composition is a lot better, and my familiarity with what is required to get the shot that's in my head is better (e.g. shutter speed needed to freeze an image, or aperture required to get something to "pop!").
I've also found that my PP skills, although perhaps skills is too strong a word :D, have improved and I can use Lightroom vaguely competently to make an acceptable image better.

I've still got a lot to learn though and I'm looking forward to a week that I've booked off all to myself in May so that I can play with my camera!
 
Sometimes I feel I was better a few years ago when I wasn't over thinking things. Overall, yes i've improved though.
 
Steve said:
Is the difference really due to gear?

Or is it due to an increase in skill and expertise.

I really hope it's the latter.
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Awesome!

I've been into photography for nigh on 10 years now, but I've been practising it for about 5. I've loved every minute of it and I look back on what I made and only ever comment on how I could of done it better :shrug:
 
I was just looking at photos I took at a wedding in 1978 on a Practika!! After all these years I think that I've improved quite a bit. Saying that its a bit difficult to compare now and then.

Each year I spend a couple of days looking back at all my work critically and am always surprised to see how much my style changes through the year.
 
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