in need of a confidence boost

Knock the iso up a little for sunset shots, and set the white balance to cloud or flash to warm it up a little, shoot handheld with is on whilst leaning against something :-)

Also might pay to go into your local town centre and have a wander about, look for graffiti or buskers or patterns in buildings? Plenty stuff out there :-) don't give up, I spent a day out with my camera last week at a nature reserve and hated every picture I took. Nothing seemed to go the way I wanted, All part of learning :-)
 
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Don't worry... Just took 140 pics at silverstone and 138 went in the bin, I guess we all have to start somewhere, I'm sure the posters who show their stunning images on here had a lot of heartache in their learning curve
 
Can you post some of the images so we can see what they are like and offer some advice?
 
Keep trying and don't give up, we can all suck sometimes. You just have to get out there and try again. Do some research on settings etc and try to learn from the mistakes you made last time. You may suck the next time too, but you will be learning and that's the main thing.
 
Do you think pros only take one photo and it's a winner
I don't think so

They take many more than what they show the world
Many will go in the bin
 
Just keep at it, when I first got my DSLR in 2009, I mostly used the auto modes, then started to experiment with 'A' mode and had quite a few images that went straight to the bin.

Keep shooting, have a look at other peoples work for ideas, I was useless at composition and from doing the above and deciding that I would only shoot in Full manual mode to really learn how to use my camera I improved quite a bit.

Since then (now 3 years later) I've sold quite a few prints, and even had one blown up to 6 meters long so don't expect to take amazing pics straight away.

As an example, alright not the best of shots, but the pic on the left was shot in auto when I first got the camera, the one on the right a few months later when I revisited the location in similar weather but using manual mode, metering correctly and improving the composition.

6209_226913495273_6574294_n.jpg
 
johnsy said:
Just keep at it, when I first got my DSLR in 2009, I mostly used the auto modes, then started to experiment with 'A' mode and had quite a few images that went straight to the bin.

Keep shooting, have a look at other peoples work for ideas, I was useless at composition and from doing the above and deciding that I would only shoot in Full manual mode to really learn how to use my camera I improved quite a bit.

Since then (now 3 years later) I've sold quite a few prints, and even had one blown up to 6 meters long so don't expect to take amazing pics straight away.

As an example, alright not the best of shots, but the pic on the left was shot in auto when I first got the camera, the one on the right a few months later when I revisited the location in similar weather but using manual mode, metering correctly and improving the composition.

6209_226913495273_6574294_n.jpg
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Yeah a really see the big difference in the second one

I've been using mine in Av mode and my portrait photo's come out very nice sometimes but tonight just knocked me back abit

But I think ill go back out every night this week and try them again
 
birrew said:
Hi All

Had my DSLR for a week And I've taken Pictures of almost every thing around the house, so I tried my hand at sunset photo's this evening but they didn't turn out very good at all and think its knocked my confidence

can anyone recommend anything that taken photo's that may help boost my confidence again?

Cheers

Wayne
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Try setting yourself a theme.. something simple.. let's say "Red". Your mission this week is to look for interesting ways to shoot the colour red, or anything that is red.. etc. Make it fun... don't get stressed about being brilliant, instantly, because you won't be. No one is, or ever had been. If anyone thinks they are, they're a fool. We're all still learning, and I'm still learning after 30 years of shooting.

Pick a theme... go shoot stuff... have fun. Read a lot.. then shoot some more and please don't let people bully you around with sage advice about what you can and can't shoot. Just get the fun back into it.
 
so I tried my hand at sunset photo's this evening but they didn't turn out very good at all
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if everyone took fab pics all the time photographers wouldnt be able to earn livings out of it..... mistakes just make you better so plod through them and the other side (whereever that happens to be) is far nicer when you get there!

maybe try experimenting with some filters and or longer exposures perhaps??
 
Being rather new to all this digital image taking myself I can honestly say you will only learn by getting out with your camera as much as possible.

I set myself a task of getting a good panning shot at a local motorcycle meet recently and took over 800 shots at different settings to find out what worked.

I can honestly say 750 of them were deleted as oof, blurred etc etc
 
Relax, don't try and do too much at once, or learn too much at once, you'll just burn yourself out. One of the downsides of the internet is the sheer overwhelming amount of information available, the complete opposite from a few years ago when I bought my first digital camera.

If it's any comfort, it took me several years to get to the point where I was happy with what I was doing, a week is but a blink of an eye!
 
birrew said:
I wasn't looking for anything spectacular...but im going back tomorrow and wednesday night to try again
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That's the spirit..... I might be heading for the seafront as I am in a hotel at Glenrothes on Thursday night so will be chasing the sun!

I found that when I went out in a group of 10 - 15 like minded people they were willing to give pointers which improved my pictures and confidence.

Ste
 
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I live in Bolton, and have done for 10 years, and just this week have got some pictures which I think are the first decent pictures shot of the area near(ish) to my house.

It's all about trial and error - although with me its the more I try the more I error!

Like the sunset pic of the Tay though!

Cheers,

Ste
 
When you go out tomorrow / Weds, pick your best couple of shots (even if you aren't totally happy) and ask on here for Critique - look for the positive aspects of peoples opinions - the majority of people on here are very helpful.

Cheers,

Ste
 
I got my first camera when I was eight years old. I turned 65 last month, still learning how to get better.

Within the last couple of months I've bought my first DSLR, a Nikon D7000. A lot of what I learned from all those years of shooting film and long sessions in the darkroom doesn't apply any more; I've got to learn how to use a DSLR properly and get to grips with Photoshop. It'll take me a long time before I feel as confident with the 7000 as I did with my old F2SB or my F90X. But - and this is the point - nothing worth knowing is learned overnight. If it all worked perfectly straight out of the box it would be boring.
 
Summerstar said:
I got my first camera when I was eight years old. I turned 65 last month, still learning how to get better.

Within the last couple of months I've bought my first DSLR, a Nikon D7000. A lot of what I learned from all those years of shooting film and long sessions in the darkroom doesn't apply any more; I've got to learn how to use a DSLR properly and get to grips with Photoshop. It'll take me a long time before I feel as confident with the 7000 as I did with my old F2SB or my F90X. But - and this is the point - nothing worth knowing is learned overnight. If it all worked perfectly straight out of the box it would be boring.
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Wow thats some amount of time in photography suppose you'll have more trail on error now than you would have had with film camera's
 
I'd recommend getting the book 'Understanding exposure' by Bryan Peterson and then working through the different chapters in that. You'll then learn bit by bit, and there are bits on Sunrise \ Sunset if I remember correctly.

What you can also do, if you are using the manual mode, is take the picuture the way you think it should be, but then change the settings until you find what works. With a DSLR it's all free to do this and there is a certain amount of trial and error - don't forget to review the histogram.

Good luck - as others have said keep practising, put your photos up for critique with an explanation of what you want to achieve and you will get there. :thumbs:
 
Siilver said:
Do you think pros only take one photo and it's a winner
I don't think so

They take many more than what they show the world
Many will go in the bin
Click to expand...

Yep,years ago when i was working as a pro, 6-12 shots out of a 36exp kodachrome :)
 
Siilver said:
Do you think pros only take one photo and it's a winner
I don't think so

They take many more than what they show the world
Many will go in the bin
Click to expand...


This man is right.
I've been shooting for 30 years, and pro for over 25. I still bin a great deal of stuff. All that changes over time is that it's not binned for technical reasons any more as that becomes automatic after a time, but stuff still gets binned all the same :)
 
Thank you all for your kind words

Well I managed to pull myself out of bed early this morning for my sunrise shoot

I gathered my camera tripod and my trusty dog for company and set off for the local waterfront,save to say it was bitterly cold

took a few photo but they weren't great once I've put them on the computer but i'm no letting that beat me (well not know).
 
Couple of thoughts, Wayne.

You've had your camera virtually no time at all and you expect to get good shots from the word go.

I've had a look at your photos on Flickr and the exposure on them looks good to me.

As already said just take loads of photos and you'll learn loads.

Dave
 
When I was starting off in photography the chap who taught me always said what you need is practice, patience and persistence.

One thing I used to do was look at my photographs and write down what I liked about it and what I didn't like about it then remember it when I was out with the camera again.

But don't give up - I'm sure you'll get that special shot soon.
 
Don't worry if your sunrise and sunset shots aren't looking right just yet, they're a difficult thing for a camera to capture, a big dynamic range (the difference between the lightest bits eg the sun, and the darkest shadows) so without filters or exposure blending they are difficult to do justice to.

Keep at it, the more you do the more you'll get used to what works and how to do it, your compositions will get better and you'll know your kit a lot better and what it can, and can't, do.
 
You may be underestimating the amount of post processing that goes into a lot of landscape shots and setting yourself an impossible target possibly ?
 
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