why i think im out of my depths in photography

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Ashers

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Ash
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:'(:gag:1. i dont even know what 400D means in my camera
2. i dont understand what F is or ISO
3. i dont understand about the modes TV means television to me
4. i just point and click on the automatic settings like portrait etc
5. i dont understand the differences in lenses
6. i cant even afford the rocket thing to clean said lenses.
7.i cant even begin to imagine wat aperature is lol. and the search function to me is about as useful as a bicycle is to a fish, coz i dont know what the names of things are for things, so i cant search things when i dont even have a clue what they are called.


thats why i am out of my depth. :help::bang:
 
Ashers said:
:'(:gag:1. i dont even know what 400D means in my camera only canon know that
2. i dont understand what F is or ISO thats the point of the forum....ask and ye shall be rewarded
3. i dont understand about the modes TV means television to me means the same to me....or it could be TIME VALUE...thats shutter priority to everyone else
4. i just point and click on the automatic settings like portrait etc at least you take pics
5. i dont understand the differences in lenses thats probably the cheapest way to stay in photography
6. i cant even afford the rocket thing to clean said lenses. thats good...because then you'd want new lenses to clean with it
7.i cant even begin to imagine wat aperature is lol. and the search function to me is about as useful as a bicycle is to a fish, coz i dont know what the names of things are for things, so i cant search things when i dont even have a clue what they are called. the aperture is like the pupil in your eye, it gets bigger to let more light in...thats quite handy in photography


thats why i am out of my depth. :help::bang:
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Enjoy the forums m8...........you'll be making money with your camera before the end of 2008 ;)
 
i wish i dont even think i have an eye for it. and u see all the people on here bragging about their different lenses, and equipment. i have a tripod with two legs lol. and i have no confidence in the things i produce. and i wont have my camera back till febuary lol. all the people on here do great photos. lol mine arnt good at all lol. i try my hardest, and i love doing it, i just feel inadequate. i cant even get to go anywhere to take photos as i cant afford to travel. i just dunno. i want to take good photos. id like to get my own portfolio together. lots id love to do. and lots of equipment id love to have. lol i think my main problem is my photographs get critisised on here, and laughed at in real life so i wont show my pics i take or if i do i dread it.
 
Hey, as long as you enjoy 'doing it' then what's the problem, you've got a whole wealth of photo oppertunities on your doorstep, you just need to train your eyes to see a photo.
As for the attitude of not showing your photo's, the only real way you will learn is by taking the criticism on board and learning from it. Remember, none of us are perfect, and we a re a friendly bunch, nobody here is going to laugh at your work. I can guarantee most members on here only have a very small 'keep' rate of photo's, i went to Whitby a few weeks ago, and out of 200 odd photo's i kept maybe 10 of them.

Just keep reading, learning and asking questions. It will all click together eventually.
 
If you're here, you enjoy photography and would like to do well.

Everyone who wants to do well in photography will show promise. If you like photos, you know what a nice photo looks like - and when you know what a nice photo looks like, you can start to think, is this going to be a nice photo? Is it going to be a nice shot if, perhaps, I stand over there instead and look up at the branches? Then stand over there: if it's a nice shot, you'll know straight away, so take a picture :)

As for the technical bits - ISO, aperture, camera modes - well, it's science, but it's science anyone can pick up in an hour or two. We'll do our best to explain anything you're not sure about. There's no such thing as a silly question.

When you understand the technical stuff, you're free to think about how to make photos as good as, and better, than everyone else's. The greatest photographers started with a disposable Tesco camera and no idea about how to use it :)

Is there a particular thing - for instance, exposure - that you'd like us to explain, to get the ball rolling?
 
Ashers, sounds like your emptions are all over the place just now!!! Take it easy, and try and relax. I haven't a clue what i'm doing either. I went out today and took 300 photos, and I have maybe 10 that I want to keep, and thats at a push - the ten are crap too. I spent all day looking at some amazing scenery, and what I have captures just does not do the areas I visited justice.

I'm not letting it deter me, I will simply read more, ask more questions here, and experiment more. I hope to nail it at some point!!!

I understand your camera is screwed which is obviously not good. In the mean time, why not read lots and try and download a bunch of images from the web and have a muck around in the trial version of photoshop.

Either way, relax, and try and cheer up! I know you don't like xmas, so I won't wish you a merry one!! ;)

Gary.
 
your outlook and the tone of your signature won't do at all old bean :nono:

There is only room on here for 1 digitalfailure......so you'd better do some reading, attend some meets and raise your game before I release the dogs !!!

However...your quite welcome to change over to film and be a filmfailure......;)

Everyone starts somewhere :thumbs:
 
Asher, I know just where your coming from:woot: I am very much in the same boat but at least you have a DSLR, I am still waiting to see how my finances are after Xmas. Stick with it my friend cause I need to know I'm not the only non functioning budding photographer out there:lol:. Tell you what, lets try and understand all this jargon together, we can do it:bonk:
 
well i blagged my way and got a photographers job, at the blackpool tower over last summer, even tho id never even held a camera until then, and really enjoed it. that was wen i descovered zooming, and focusing. i didnt even know cameras cud do that. id never taken a photo until that job i rerally enjoyed it, and although i didnt know anything about the techincal side i was taking pictures and selling them, so people must have liekd them, and loved it. i love taking photos.i filled a whole 1 gig card in a graveyard i only kept the few i put on here. i normally take all photos using the portrait setting or landscape, no matter wat it is. its the settings on my cannon 400D i dont understand and all the numbers and stuff that u can fiddle with.
 
Gazbag said:
Asher, I know just where your coming from:woot: I am very much in the same boat but at least you have a DSLR, I am still waiting to see how my finances are after Xmas. Stick with it my friend cause I need to know I'm not the only non functioning budding photographer out there:lol:. Tell you what, lets try and understand all this jargon together, we can do it:bonk:
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well lol i dont have a DSLR at the moment ill be getting it back from the chop shop around febuary lol
 
Ashers said:
well i blagged my way and got a photographers job, at the blackpool tower over last summer, even tho id never even held a camera until then, and really enjoed it. that was wen i descovered zooming, and focusing. i didnt even know cameras cud do that. id never taken a photo until that job i rerally enjoyed it, and although i didnt know anything about the techincal side i was taking pictures and selling them, so people must have liekd them, and loved it. i love taking photos.i filled a whole 1 gig card in a graveyard i only kept the few i put on here. i normally take all photos using the portrait setting or landscape, no matter wat it is. its the settings on my cannon 400D i dont understand and all the numbers and stuff that u can fiddle with.
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Dude, what is your problem!!!?? You had a job as a photographer and you enjoyed taking the pics, and your customers loved them - I bet bucketloads of forum members would have loved such an oppertunity, and reponse from customers, I know I would!!!!!

Well done, are you going to be able to shoot for them again?
 
nope i left there, to go back to uni. i didnt tell them i was leaaving, and so we didnt part on the best terms
 
i didnt even get to keep any of the pics i took. i also did it at loius tussards wax works for them.
 
Ashers said:
i didnt even get to keep any of the pics i took. i also did it at loius tussards wax works for them.
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Again, another well done! You can't be bad at taking photos if you get jobs in such high profile tourist attractions! Sounds like you have a lot to smile about when it comes to your skills.

G.
 
Capture that spirit! It's just the same, whether you use the numbers and letters on your camera to your advantage or not!
 
lol it was for minimum wage wasnt that high profile lol
 
i enjoyed it didnt enjoy the pressure to make the sale £7 for a 6 by 4, £4 for a keyring or f magnet lol £10 for an a4
 
lol ok ok u win i was a photographer, for 3 months
 
Ashers said:
:'(:gag:1. i dont even know what 400D means in my camera
2. i dont understand what F is or ISO
3. i dont understand about the modes TV means television to me
4. i just point and click on the automatic settings like portrait etc
5. i dont understand the differences in lenses
6. i cant even afford the rocket thing to clean said lenses.
7.i cant even begin to imagine wat aperature is lol. and the search function to me is about as useful as a bicycle is to a fish, coz i dont know what the names of things are for things, so i cant search things when i dont even have a clue what they are called.


thats why i am out of my depth. :help::bang:
Click to expand...

I rekon that most people on here did not know what some if not all of these things mean when they joined, but I'll bet they do now and the best thing about this fourm is if you ask people will reply and try to help :)

1. 400D is the model number, it does not matter. its like a car e.g corsa, vectra etc

2. F is short for aperture. ISO is the speed the higher the number the grainer your image will be, but you need more light to work at lower numbers

e.g Bright sunny day plenty of light = Low iso100 or 200

Indoors, dull days not alot of light = high iso between iso800 and 1600.

3. TV means that your aperture is set correct for you. So if you pick a shutter speed of 1/500th the camera will caluclate the correct aperture for you (e.g f2.8) to get a properly lit photograph. Other modes like Av are the same thing but you set the aperture and the camera calulates the correct shutter speed e.g 1/500th

4. Does not matter.

5. The longer lenses e.g 500mm get you closer to your subject they are telephoto lens. where as shorter lens e.g 18mm allow you to get more into the frame they are wide angle lens. Lens that have a larger aperture e.g 2.8 allow more light so you can get a faster shutter speed or a lower iso or a shallower depth of field.

6. Does not matter.

7. Your aperture controls your depth of field. A Smaller aperture gives a bigger depth of field and bigger aperture gives a smaller depth of field. Depth of field is how much of the image is sharp. If you have a person standing in front of a bush, you use a small aperture e.g f16 the bush and person will be in focus but if you use a large aperture e.g f2.8 the person will be sharp and the bush will be out of focus.

HTH :)
 
I was/am the same. I just read the forums like crazy. Read tutorials. Read books. Ask questions in threads I didn't create lol. What I haven't done enough of is actually shooting. Mainly because I lack the creativity to see something and capture it. That and the lack of confidence which keep bringing up hoping someone will say "hey there's this great thing you can buy in Jessops which gives you confidence". :p
 
I'm as bad as you, all I have ever done before is with a little point and click where I chose an icon and type of shot, aimed and clicked!!
I now have a camera thats way ahead of my ability, but I have read the Collins Digital SLR handbook which has helped as it explains things in idiots terms, every picture has the setting beside them and it even tells you how to take the picture so it was perfect for me! and I am hoping I am getting Understanding Exposure as a christmas present which will hopefully help more.

Other than that I read a hell of a lot on here, look at the gallery pics especially the sport ones as they seem to have more settings and lenses used with them, and I have just gone out and taken a load of totally rubbish pictures at various settings to see what happens at those settings and I can assure you when I say rubbish I mean it :lol: I have now semi worked out the depth of field and manual focusing thanks to my garden fence, a bag of rubbish and next doors tree, neighbours probably think I have finally flipped but I will get there one day. You are a long way ahead of me - I don't think anyone will be paying me to take their picture in the near future!! Between now and when you get your camera back read all the books you can on photography, read read and read again the manual, until you know where on the page everything you may need to know will be so that you can go to the right place straight away if you need to look anything up - and then when you get the camera back go out and use it, take pictures learn from them and delete them until you get one you like, at least with a digital you are not spending loads on film while you learn!! I reckon you will be posting pics from your camera before spring is out!!
 
Tis funny Ashers, I have a camera and I know b****r all about it too..:(

I blagged my way on to this forum and made friends CT/Jonnyreb/Digitalfailure/matty and a host more but they have now gone and turned their back on me..:'(

What am I gonna do..:(






CHEER UP AND LEARN THE BASICS MAN..

ITS CHRISTMAS..

And whats more..

littlestoryrj6.jpg
..:thumbs:
 
ashers. dont fret.
its called experience mate. you dont pick up a guitar and expect to play like van halen in a week.
yes i probably know a bit more than you do about the technical stuff. two or three years ago i got stress with a point n shoot.i learn a LOT from my mrs whose got the letters n stuff after her name, city n guilds n stuff.
i,ve picked up a lot of usefull stuff from this forum too(thanks peeps).

WE ( me n her) have a fair few lenses.but we didnt buy em all at once. and we had to work for the cash to buy em.
30 odd weddings last year and i drive a lorry for a living too.

ask questions and i,m sure we,ll try to answer em.
cheer up and i hope you have a good christmas.:thumbs:
 
ive got 15 guid off a reletive, sooo i can afford one of those desktop tripods :) or a rocket lol
 
Ashers, you sound like me 3 years ago. I went out and bought a DSLR knowing absolutely jack about photography. All I wanted to do was to take some good photographs, and I naively thought a bigger, better camera would do this for me :$ I didn't have the foggiest what any of the functions meant, and when someone started talking to me about F stops and ISO etc, they may as well have been talking in a different language.
Three years down the line, and I still don't know what all the functions mean/do on my camera :lol: but I have learnt lots of things along the way. Boring as it sounds, reading the manual that comes with the camera really does teach you lots. Don't worry about different lenses etc yet - you need to learn to walk before you can run, so to speak.
You don't need to have to money or travel in order to take photographs. Go out locally, look at what you take for granted around you and snap away!
 
minimeeze said:
Ashers, you sound like me 3 years ago. I went out and bought a DSLR knowing absolutely jack about photography. All I wanted to do was to take some good photographs, and I naively thought a bigger, better camera would do this for me :$ I didn't have the foggiest what any of the functions meant, and when someone started talking to me about F stops and ISO etc, they may as well have been talking in a different language.
Three years down the line, and I still don't know what all the functions mean/do on my camera :lol: but I have learnt lots of things along the way. Boring as it sounds, reading the manual that comes with the camera really does teach you lots. Don't worry about different lenses etc yet - you need to learn to walk before you can run, so to speak.
You don't need to have to money or travel in order to take photographs. Go out locally, look at what you take for granted around you and snap away!
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Listen to her, lots of truth and sense in there!!:thumbs:

Walk around your house tomorrow, do nothing technical apart from bumping ISO up to, say, 800 and shoot some household items from unusual angles.

This should cost you nothing but some battery power and should do a lot to develop your "photographer's eye"

Post some examples!:thumbs:
 
Oh dear.. i cant work out if you mean it or are after some sympathy!! it all sounds like a little bit of self pitying...

Anyway.. Christmas aside, how'd u manage to sell pictures if they were all bad? i wouldnt have bought one thats for sure.. so they couldnt have been as bad as you say.. who would employ someone as a tog if they couldnt take a pic?? let alone keep em on for 3months!!.. again, they couldnt have been so bad..

Anyway, your a grown man sounding like a teenager.. ur doing alright.. if it were quite as easy as you'd like it to be then EVERYONE would be a tog.. iv been doing photography on and off for over 20 years!! Im STILL banging my head against a brick wall shouting 'WHAT AM I DOING WRONG!!!' but i now understand most of it.. i just struggle to put it into action.. be thankfull your not learning on FILM!! if you think you're skint now!!! thank god for digital..

Right, thats my 'Kick up the ass' speach over..

Btw, i like some of ur Gallery pics..
 
:lol: Fraggle tells me off like that too!!! Hurts dunnit? :lol: So when he does, I strop like a proper girl, sigh, pick myself up, sigh again, grab my camera and try my damned hardest to prevent him from calling me stupid in the future by taking better photographs!

Stop stropping and get reading! If you don't have a camera at the moment then that's the best thing you can do.

Minmeeze - I think I may quite possibly be you 3 years ago :lol:
 
i guess.i am self pitying i guess, but i also feel under-qualified for it as well. and i lived in northampton for 2 years. that didnt improve my mood lmao. id say some from column A some from column B
 
Ashers,

In my opinion the best thing you can be doing right now is get and and practice. Get yourself a good book (understanding exposure) or similar and sit and play with the camera, try different settings until you become used to your camera.

And the most important point of all is to have fun while your doing it matey!! :)
 
Get down the Library.. your Uni should have a fairly big one!! and read up on stuff..

You just cant sit there and expect to know it all and get the hump cos you dont!! We ALL live in the real world and unfortunatly it dont come with kid gloves attached.. the People on here are VERY helpfull.. unfortunatly when most of us started in photography this forum didne exist.. if fact most of us here started BEFORE the Interweb !!!!

How did we pick things up?? well, my first camera (Canon) came with a little book.. it explaned everything to do with the camera in very simple speak.. but in doing that its actually explained the PRICIPLE of ISO and Appeture ect.. if your camera didnt come with that book maybe someone can send you a copy of it.. anyway, goto the library, take out a beginniers guide and start there.. you seem to know a fair bit anyway.. im not sure you even realise it! Sometimes you gotta just get out and help yourself.. people will respect you for it.. you will never win friends by whinging.. but were here to help non the less, and if there is something that you cant work out then ask.. but do SOME working out for yourself too.. you'll feel better for it.. a book on the subject can be more benificial..

Im sorry if iv come accross a bit tough.. im not trying to upset you.. just help you to help yourself and build some self reliance/belief and outlook on life.. what sort of Social worker are you going to be with the way you look at things?? Put a happy head on and the world will seem aa better place.. :thumbs:
 
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