Do you get worse, before you get better?

[faeriegodess612]

I've noticed lately that my photos don't have the impact that they did when I still had just my point and shoot. I'm wondering, is it because I still really don't fully understand my camera like I did the P&S. Is it because I can't zoom in as far as I want to, to get the composition that I want to, since I only have the kit lens. It seems that more of my fly by shots are better than my thought out ones. It almost seems the more I learn, the worse I get. Or is it that I just can't produce what I want if I'm not truly feeling what I'm shooting. If I don't love it, I don't usually love the shot of it.

Does this all make sense to anyone? I guess I just need to upload my shots to Flickr and post them in critique. I want to post something to illustrate what I mean. Hopefully, the mods won't move it because of it.

This shot was what I had originally semi walked all the way out to this point to get,...even though I'm still not completely in love with it, it's one of the better ones from today. I haven't done anything to this photo yet except straighten it a tad,...I know it could use a few edits.


As opposed to this one. That I really don't like and is pretty certainly going to be trashed.


I had hoped to capture a brilliant sunset, in a beautiful display of colors reflected on the water. Possibly using the pier for the control of the tiny lil dam release as a silhouette against all that in another shot. The idea was there, but nature didnt comply.

I did find a really cool old Texaco gas station with old pumps and an old sheriffs deputy car. There were signs posted for trespassing. So I made a note in my phone of the phone number on one of the signs, to see if that was the owner, and if they would allow me access for photos. And while I was walking to the control pier, I had this sweet old gentleman ask me if I was in any kind of trouble. I guess he saw my car parked a bit back, and wanted to make sure that I was ok, and didnt need a ride somewhere.

Anyways,...Like I asked in the thread title. Do you tend to get worse, before you get better? Can you see what I mean? If you really want to get an idea,..check out my Flickr sets. I have a set named P&S Portfolio, and one named D3100 Portfolio. Sometimes, I think my compositional vision was better with the point and shoot when I was still very green. What do you think?

[ravncat]

I experienced that when I moved from my point and shoot to a dslr. I found that I missed the look of my point and shoot. I think there are many reasons, one of which is that point and shoots have much greater depth of field at wider apertures. I also shot jpg back then, and the defaults for a point and shoot had much greater saturation and contrast than my dslr. When i moved to raw, it was very very bland - because I had been used to the programmers cooking for me.

=D

[jdepould]

I think this may be your problem:

[scootermcq]

What I can see is the image needs some pp... please don't be upset, but I grabbed your image and adjusted the levels. You could do other things as well, but I wanted to see what it looks like not so washed out.

Are you shooting raw or jpeg? It appears like a raw without any incamera settings saved. Learning some post could really help you like your images more. I am deleting your image as soon as this is posted.

[windrider86]

As you gain more knowledge you'll tend to go thru fazes. Over analyzing everything because you've now learned more and are trying to do everything "right". At least that's what happened with me.
Just do what you do. Photograph what you find interesting. Dont worry about the rule of thirds, exposure and everything else you're told. That will all come naturally with time

[faeriegodess612]

Originally Posted by scootermcq

What I can see is the image needs some pp... please don't be upset, but I grabbed your image and adjusted the levels. You could do other things as well, but I wanted to see what it looks like not so washed out.

Are you shooting raw or jpeg? It appears like a raw without any incamera settings saved. Learning some post could really help you like your images more. I am deleting your image as soon as this is posted.

I wouldnt have been upset with you grabbing it and PPing it. I know that it needs some PP, I just hadn't done any to it yet. I wanted to boost the saturation just a tad, and warm it up just a bit. I'd like to see what you did, but the image was gone by the time I was able to check this thread again. I've been shooting in fine JPEG, I havent found a RAW converter that I'm happy with yet. And I don't like that you have to go thru so much work, just to get a file that you can work with once your satisfied. Especially since I tend to resize for web afterwards anyways.

jdepould- I've seen that, and thought of that when I posted this thread.

windrider- Thanks, thats actually somewhat encouraging. The RoT kinda comes without thinking much about it. Depending on what I'm going for. I think that these images were shot in Shutter Priority because I needed the shutter open longer.

[nickbedford]

Originally Posted by faeriegodess612

I wouldnt have been upset with you grabbing it and PPing it. I know that it needs some PP, I just hadn't done any to it yet. I wanted to boost the saturation just a tad, and warm it up just a bit. I'd like to see what you did, but the image was gone by the time I was able to check this thread again. I've been shooting in fine JPEG, I havent found a RAW converter that I'm happy with yet. And I don't like that you have to go thru so much work, just to get a file that you can work with once your satisfied. Especially since I tend to resize for web afterwards anyways.

jdepould- I've seen that, and thought of that when I posted this thread.

windrider- Thanks, thats actually somewhat encouraging. The RoT kinda comes without thinking much about it. Depending on what I'm going for. I think that these images were shot in Shutter Priority because I needed the shutter open longer.

Post processing is half the fun. Contrasting vivid images always happen because of some "processing" settings, whether its in camera or on a computer. It's being done whether you want to admit it or not so I say go all out and develop those raw files yourself to produce amazing photos out of seemingly plain exposures. Most photos can be made to look boring and dull and at the same time vivid and amazing by simply doing the right processing.

I shoot exclusively raw. This gives me the latitude to be able to create any sort of treatment I want out of a raw file. Not only that, but it allows me precise, non-destructive control on a large colour accurate screen.

You can do similar and much more limited processing by using the camera settings, but then you're stuck with it if it doesn't turn out that great on the computer.

I would much rather boost the contrast, make a black and white high contrast treatment or whatever by using a mouse than a destructive JPEG conversion on camera and lose the option altogether.

Not only that, but it's a pretty vital skill in the grand scheme of digital photography. If I hired a professional and they said they shoot JPEG straight onto CD, I'd go somewhere else.

[NicoleScraps]

Yep, I went through this not long after I switched from P&S to dslr. I thought that images were actually worse. And they kind of were. But I found that I was concentrating to much on the technical stuff, ie; learning how to use the camera and NOT allowing myself to equally focus on the creative part. Once I got really comfortable with the camera, things started looking up.

[BuddhaPi]

keep shooting nerd lover! we all go thru stuff like this, after reading your post the first thing i thought was I sucked way back when, and I still suck today..differenrce being i used to get 1 decent shot out of 1000, not i get 1 out of 100..so yeah i still suck, but i've improved upon it ; ) sometimes i think the more I learn the more complicated I make things. Windwider hit it on the head for me to, just do what you do and keep it simple..

[faeriegodess612]

Thanks guys. I edited the two images some in Picasa. Here's the results.





You can kinda do a side by side comparison on my Flickr.

I still don't Love them,... but I think they look better. I do learn things when I take my camera out on my photo outings. Last time I used it in Austin, I was taking some shots of some guys at a BMX park. Had it in Sports Mode. The trip before that, I learned how much Exposure Comp really does. I tend to shoot in Shutter Priority and Program still. But I'm gettin there, kinda.