Time

Let's see a few of these LD shots you're not happy with and see what we can suggest!
 
Try doing what I'm doing. I'm picking one type of picture or technique for about 2 or 3 weeks, reading as much as I can on the subject and then go out and just shoot that technique or style until I'm reasonably happy that I vaguely know what I'm doing and have a few decent examples.
 
Hi Nick,

This regularly comes up, either due to lack of inspiration, perceived lack of ability/output (hyper-critical or striving for perfection?), the wrong time of year....and so on.

Not having been into Photography long myself, just coming up to a year in fact, I have had phases where I haven't picked up the camera for weeks on end. I always get back into it soon enough though, more often than not my enthusiasm is sparked and I seem to produce more pleasing shots with seemingly less effort. Probably down to the fact that I'm enjoying it though.

Maybe try doing different types of shots, i.e. outside of your comfort zone or alternatively get back to doing what you know best and let others be the judge of your pics. :thumbs:

All the best,

Steve :)

EDIT: If you do 'bin' the kit....let me know! :lol:
 
I think lots of people go through stages like this.

I know I did when doing a college course last year, everything I did was rubbish, could not get motivated, was going to bin the course. In fact I actually put all my camera gear away out of site out of mind.

Was like that for 6-7 months, played Xbox, read things, got back into history stuff.

Then like a someone turning a light on everythng clciked. I did my course and passed, people who saw my stuff on the wall like it, so I felt rejuvinated again :D

Put your gear away in a cupboard (DONT SELL IT YOU WILL REQRET IT IF YOU DO) then in a while you will see a picture and everyone will love it and you will think "I can do better than that" and hey presto your making classic images again :D
 
If you sold your kit what woud you do with the money, invest in another hobby youve always wanted to do?.
WOuld you buy a point and click just to take snapshots when your gear is gone?

If the answer is yes, then its worth a second thought.
If it's NO, then your just in a rut, lost your mojo or whatever. read some of the magazines to regain the buzz, or like slimboy has sugested just choose one theme and stick at it until you like the results.

Good luck.....!
 
Hang in there and you will get inspiration from somewhere-I reckon everyone suffers from this, in all areas of life-not just photography. I found this summer, that gong out with another photographer, Hashcake, has meant we could bounce ideas off each other and see things from another toggers point of view. Perhaps do the same and see what happens? Rob
 
I felt the same as you a few months ago, sold everything, bought a point and click which is a great camera but felt it lacking so thought about another DSLR, now have a 40d again and a small selection of lenses. Wish i had never given up but just left it a while. I'm now more eager than ever to get out there and take some shots.

So my suggestion would be to put you stuff away and don't think about it for a while. If you feel you want to carry on then you have the gear ready to go.
 
Yes, we've all been there. We enter competitions but win nothing, upload images to forums and no one comments etc etc etc.
With me personally, I lack the get-up-and-go and regret it later. Then I pick up a magazine and perhaps one article is all it takes to flick a switch and I'm out shooting again.
Strangely enough, I sometimes find it therapeutic just pressing the shutter button. I have loads of unedited RAW files lurking on my hard drive.
 
whatdoesthisbutt said:
If you sold your kit what woud you do with the money, invest in another hobby youve always wanted to do?.
WOuld you buy a point and click just to take snapshots when your gear is gone?

If the answer is yes, then its worth a second thought.
If it's NO, then your just in a rut, lost your mojo or whatever. read some of the magazines to regain the buzz, or like slimboy has sugested just choose one theme and stick at it until you like the results.

Good luck.....!
Click to expand...

It keeps me interested and learning. For example, earlier in the year I knew I was off to watch some rallying so I read up on panning and then just shot mostly panning shots all day whilst I was there to try and crack it. I got about 5 shots which would look awesome blown up and on my wall, so in my book it was a complete success.

Airshow today and tomorrow so we'll see what happens there!;)
 
Knikki said:
I think lots of people go through stages like this.

.......
Put your gear away in a cupboard (DONT SELL IT YOU WILL REQRET IT IF YOU DO) then in a while you will see a picture and everyone will love it and you will think "I can do better than that" and hey presto your making classic images again :D
Click to expand...

This is really good advice. Many, many of us have spells like this. we get hypercritical of our work and decide we are rubbish at it........but we are not! Perhaps maybe further down the learning curve than some, but most definately not rubbish! Go easy on yourself and give it a complete rest. Your mojo will come back, just don't try to force it.

:hug:
 
Any creative individual be it a photgrapher, musician or painter goes through a 'dry' time. My guess is that you are proberbly trying to hard , setting standards for yourself that are impossible to reach then kicking yourself when you do not acheive them.

My advice to you is put your camera away and get on with other aspects of your life , enjoy your family and take the pressure off yourself, after all it is a hobby not life and death.

Go out and kick a football in the park :thumbs:
 
RE Lake District photos and you not happy with them.
I went on a Wildlife Photography day course last October. I shot well over 300 images of red squirrels, woodpeckers etc but only had about a dozen that I was happy with and printed. So nowadays if I get 1 shot I'm really happy with, I'm delighted.
 
If it is a "Phase" then get yerself out of it !!. I felt the same as you , fed up , cant do this , cant do that . But there is a way out !. I`m no expert in any sense , I just enjoy what i do . Try not to compare with others !.Just do you`re own thing and believe me , it just gets better as you go along . Take care . Photography is fun , not life or death . ENJOY !. Regards . Ron
 
To be honest, Landscape shots are particularly hard I would say. That's where you have to get composition spot on which you might be lacking. Show us the shots.
 
to be honest i bought a canon 350d a few yrs ago when they first came out but after about a yr i give up photography as i got bored with it so i sold my stuff on and now a coulpe of yrs l8az i totally regret it so i would say pack it up store it away and have a break then see what happens so i am agreeing with your wife you will regret it...:thumbs:
 
nictry said:
I think this is part of the problem, I do tend to try and take shots of things I know I am not great at! I got some filters to try and aid my in camera shooting of landscapes as I don't particular enjoy PP (and am not great at it either!) but even with the filters I just can't seem to get the balance right :(

I have just take a look through my Flickr whilst you all have been kindly suggesting your comments (which I know are all correct) and I suppose there are some half decent shots in there but it just feels that for 3-4 years of photography I haven't even got stuff there that comes close to what some of the other folks on here produce (and I am talking about the more general Togs not the super wizs who I can only aspire to being as good as!)
Click to expand...

It's clear from your last paragraph that you are being hper-critical. What kind of shots do you aspire to? What would you like to achieve?

With types of photography I am not used to, I usually either leaf my way through a book (i.e. Understanding Exposure) or get a mag and follow tutorials (there are some good ones on the net too). The only way I progress is to make mistakes, learn from them and then eventually get to feel comfortable and in some kind of control!
 
I've just taken a look at your Flickr. There's some good stuff there but I guess I can understand your disappointment.

Don't sell your gear. Your wife is correct - I think you would regret it!

I just got back from a holiday in Croatia. Last year I came back with loads of keepers. This year I didn't get so many. Different locations and I just didn't feel so inspired this year. One or two shots I did 'pre-visualise' came out OK though.

Look at this like a 'dip in form' a bit like sportsmen - footballers and cricketers. The more you push at it the harder and possibly worse it will get.

Take some time out. relax, and then go out and do some stuff you enjoy and are good at!
 
I'm sure if you got rid of the kit you would regret it after a while. even if you are using it to take family shots only - and why not? they are more important in the long run.

Maybe get a little point and shoot as well to compliment your main kit, and take that out instead of the DSLR sometimes, then see how you feel when you compare the end results.
 
Try and hang in there. If you must take a break don't sell your kit. I did that and a few years later caught the bug again, but I had sold my Nikon bodies and a range of prime Nikkors. Major mistake.
 
Nictry I think you just need to crack the egg with one image your happy with and it will all drop into place for you,
bear in mind David Noton (landscape king) can spend 2 weeks in one location and return with nothing.. so dont be disheartened if youv'e spent a weekend or day and done the same.. mr noton makes a living from it and if he cant do it in a 2 weeks.. well you get the picture..
my advice would be to shoot a winning shot and by that I mean find a shot you really love from the gallery on here be it landscape portrait etc then go and recreate it same angle same settings give or take but go and try and recreate it possibly even ask the guy or gal who took it to take you to the spot and shoot it with you... you wont come away with an identical outcome because you never can but youl come away with some thing that you and others will go wow... once youve got that you can just keep going.. guidance can be huge help from a more experienced tog willing to share there time, im not saying im a pro and far from it but my mate keith got a point and shoot camera and felt the same as you so i took him to thee local country park one evening advised the settings and what would make the shot stand out and he captured this.http://www.flickr.com/photos/39000251@N07/3655714894/sizes/l/
since then i cant get a camera out of his hands and he now wants an SLR
Hope this helps.
 
I'd agree with the others and say don't give up. Take an afternoon without the family so you don't feel under any pressure to rush and see what you come back with.

Maybe something to look at here:

Brian Peterson,
Learning to See Creatively
Amphoto Books, October 2003, Paperback: 160 pages, ISBN: 0817441816

John Shaw,
John Shaw's Landscape Photography
Amphoto Books, 1 April 1994, Paperback: 144 pages, ISBN: 081743710X​

Similar level to Understanding Exposure so it could be stuff you already know -- might be worth taking a look at them in a bookstore.
 
nictry said:
These are probably the better ones and still very poor, flat and boring in my mind

3841524985_43f710b6d7.jpg


Original: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2647/3841524985_ec5218a8d8_o.jpg

3842315050_d7a762f3e8.jpg


Original: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3570/3842315050_ac981a410a_o.jpg
Click to expand...


The second one is just badly done because of the trees in the middle left. It is distracting and also you have kept the foreground, middle and background all in an exact third, which in contrast to the "rule of thirds" won't generally work well when done like that as it looks too equal with no focal point in the shot.

As for the first one, it looks like you just haven't defined to the viewer what the subject is. Maybe if you cropped it more like this:

recrop.JPG
 
Having only got into photography a few short months ago I have been on the TP site every day picking up information and tips that are I think really helping me get to grips with the basics. To try to produce images matching some of the people on here can be quite daunting. I like to be a little out of my depth as this makes me try that little harder to think of why I'm out with my camera, What i want to achieve and what settings on my camera I may need to achieve this. I really think your problem is that you have gone out and bought top kit in the hope that it will produce top photos, this is not going to happen. What I think you need to do is NOT put your kit away for a couple of weeks or months but to put away all your flash kit and keep only a kit lens and your main camera and go out and get back to basics, put some time into technique and instead of picking up a book and skipping the basic stuff re-read that too. If you learn one thing it will have been worth it. Also go out with like minded people, look in the meeting place forums on TP and go out with fellow TP'ers and as you will no doubt be chatting about photography techniques all day and you will improve no end. I was at Windermere recently and it is a fantastic place on it's day but when it is bad weather then it can be frustrating to come home with 4gb of cr** images as I did.

I hope I haven't rambled on too much and really hope you can find your passion again.
 
You may be about to give up or....you may be ready to step up a level. Super self criticism can lead both ways, If it's landscape you are doing then I suggest that you pre-visualise and plan your shots. Figure out locations from the comfort of your home, study sunset/sunrise golden hours, then work hard for a month trying to get the shots you want. They don't just fall into your lap as you wander about, you have to work at it.

I speak as though that's something I do myself. I don't, but know that I should.
 
I owned a 300D. I too regretted selling my gear.. I now own a 1kD and wish I hadnt sold the L lens. I took pretty crappy photos back then, and still do! ;) but the crappy photos are alot better than the crappy ones on my point and shoot.

my recommendation, dont sell. If you do decide to sell, be sure to keep your lens.
 
Personally I think that the cropped version is terrible. I much prefer the original as it shows the farmhouse(?) in its surroundings.
As you have mentioned, you weren't blessed with the best light but I bet if it was a lovely sunny day we wouldn't be having this conversation today.
Stick with it mate and don't give up.
 
nictry said:
I think this is part of the problem, I do tend to try and take shots of things I know I am not great at! I got some filters to try and aid my in camera shooting of landscapes as I don't particular enjoy PP (and am not great at it either!) but even with the filters I just can't seem to get the balance right :(
Click to expand...

I have come across many people with 'all the gear' but they don't have 'the eye'. I have also met many people with very basic kit (my son included) that capture really great images.

What I am saying is knowing how to use all your kit is important - however inspiration plays a very important part in taking photos that you are happy with. If you can match these two ideals up, you should be on your way to getting back (hopefuly you were there once!) to being a keen tog.

I don't know what offerings there are for Nikon users, but Canon users have things like Experience Seminars (http://www.experience-seminars.com/) and they offer an excellent range of courses for both technical stuff (your kit) and inspiration (actual project courses). It might just be that you need to be taken out of your comfort zone, or just be guided a little.

Whatever you do - don't dump / bin / sell your kit - you will so regret it. It will just be too expensive to get back into later, and inspiration can come at any time.

Good luck
 
I was suffering from a similar problem a couple of months back. It was a case of taking a little bit of time out to work out what I wanted to achieve from each photo, and as such, now when I go out, I have a target of the image I want to achieve, and I aim to do this. I may not do it every shot I take, but I feel that I learn from every time I pick my camera up.

I won't be the greatest photographer in the world, but if I can influence someone in the way in which they take their photos, then thats good.

Don't lose faith.

Rob.
 
nictry said:
As you can see from my sig it is not through lack of kit as I have some pretty good stuff so by definition it must be lack of talent/ability (and I really feel a lack of ability to 'see' a shot :shrug:
Click to expand...

Best advice I can give it to put your camera away and get a copy of this book The Photographer's Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos .

I found reading this a bit of an epiphany.

Helped me loads to understand what it was that I needed to do to improve my photography.

HTH

David
 
Photography, to me, is all about bringing out some emotion in whoever is viewing your photographs. If you're taking a photo of something which doesn't bring any emotion out in you, chances are it won't bring out any in the viewer, either.

What do you love in life? Sports? Cars? Arcitecture? Music? People?

For me, one of my guilty pleasures is people watching. I love watching the body language, people's reactions and interactions. When I started getting into photography, I'd sit there watching people interact and photograph them. I do this mainly at parties, dinners and suchlike where I know people but occasionally do it when I'm sitting outside a coffee shop enjoying a cup of mud and a muffin.

I love these photos; something unique that can never be captured again. A permanent record of a moment gone in an instant. I look at the photos and, as there is emotion (implied or otherwise) in the photo, it brings out emotion in me and other people viewing the photo. If the photos were taken at a friend's party I'll pick my favorites, get some prints done and give them to the friend. Chances are, next time I go round there, the prints will be hanging on the wall. That's a fantastic feeling; seeing your work decorating your friend's home. Even if they don't like them, though, I love them and I'll hang them in my own home.

What I'm trying to say, in a long-winded roundabout way, is that you need to photograph something which you love. If you love or enjoy what you're capturing, you will see it in a way that nobody else can and your photographs will be glorious as you show people what you captured in a way only you can.

What do you love? What is it about that thing that makes you feel that way? Figure those things out and capture it. You might need to take some time away from the camera to figure it out but don't sell your gear whatever you do!

Hope this helps!

George.
 
photography has nothing to do with the equipment and everything to do with the way you compose your shot. heres a few tips...use the rule of third grid. try not to take picts head on take them from an angle - i.e. from above or below
 
btw when you do sell your equipment...i'm ere for you!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top