Next level

[lovephotos]

Hi all. I'm studying, practicing and just generally working my butt off trying to be a good photographer... but's that's not enough for me. I want to take my photography to the next level. I avidly follow other quality photographers, ask questions, try new things but somehow I'm not satisfied with what I'm producing. I've taken workshops, joined a local photo group, go to exhibitions and have had a few small successes with selling some of my work. It crossed my mind that if I went to a different area, then maybe... but I realize that you can take a pic of a garbage dump and make it look good. So I realize that location isn't everything.

Here's a sample of some of my stuff:

Flickr: JannieGirl's Photostream

Can any one suggest anything that will help me make it over this hump?

Originally Posted by lovephotos

Can any one suggest anything that will help me make it over this hump?

Err.... Don't suck?

[lovephotos]

Gee that's real helpful. Do you have any other suggestions or are you just generally an @ss?

Originally Posted by lovephotos

Gee that's real helpful. Do you have any other suggestions or are you just generally an @ss?

Well, yes I am.... wait.. .this is about you, not me... quit changing the subject!

[lovephotos]

LOL okay now that we got that out of the way. Seriously, do you have any suggestions, cause I'm not going to go away.

[CheaperKings]

Practice! Practice! And then, when you think you have it, practice some more! That's really all you can do. You can read websites, watch videos, whatever. But you're only going to really learn by doing...

[calebkerr]

Do a 365 project! It's done incredible things for my photography - just quickly browsing your photostream my suggestion would be to try to add context to the photos. Tell a story. Give me a reason to linger on your photo. Whether that's an interesting pose, dramatic light, emotion, etc, make sure to focus on what you are trying to relay. Don't just capture the pixels. Make them say something and speak for themselves. Also, I avoid adding elements with Photoshop like the plague. This is photography. I absolutely DO adjust my photos in post (Photoshop, Lightroom, or Nik Software) but I try to enhance the photo based on what's there, not by adding graphic elements that never were there in the first place.

I'd try dong some portraits putting someone into a context so I have more to look at than simply a face of someone I don't know. Something to make me look twice.

Good luck.

[klam]

What do you like to photograph?

I viewed all your photos on your Flickr and I will say that people portraits is not your strong suit. You do wonderful landscape/ scenery and still life photos. Concentrate on that part of photography, you have an eye for it.

[NicoleScraps]

Originally Posted by klam

What do you like to photograph?

I viewed all your photos on your Flickr and I will say that people portraits is not your strong suit. You do wonderful landscape/ scenery and still life photos. Concentrate on that part of photography, you have an eye for it.

I agree. Your landscapes and still life shots are really nice.

[Jim Bryant]

Yup........nice landscapes and still life. You have a nice eye for shapes, colors and design.
Some of your people shots are pretty good. But for some, you need to move in closer and crop in the viewfinder. Change your angles, shoot, low, high and ground level. Basically, you need to practice more. I know this might sound discouraging, but sometimes we'll never get to the point where we wanta be or think we should be. We all get in slumps and want to get over that hump, have patience grass hopper. It'll come in due time.