Finally it's clicked (I think)

[SwissJon]

I've been merrily snapping away, taking as many photos as I could in a given time frame, and wondering why so few of my photos turned out right.. Reading mags I read techniques and "sort of" do them, but wonder how the photogs in the mags have time to do everything they tell you about in the time they have (sun going down, changing light etc.) and finally today I've realised, it's not how many photos you take that makes the difference, it's how long you take over the photos (within reason) setting them up, thinking about what you want from the photo, and how you will achieve that.. I've a photoshoot tomorrow.. It'll be interesting to see how I implement this revelation...

[Hill Country Hack]

Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner folks! I too find myself taking more time setting the shot than before. It can get a bit dicey when time is critical. I get to where I'm going early as to not rush the set up and such. I then take photos over time and adjusting, if needed, between shots, I never do well when I have poor time management.

[sk66]

Today is the time to be "setting up" your shots.... It's called "having a plan", "pre-visualizing", "a mental walk thru"....
It's the difference between being an "artistic photographer" and a "creative photographer" (my definitions).

Probably nothing will go 100% according to "the plan", but it shouldn't take much to adjust and get the most out of it.

[prince]

Here's a post by James Brandon that applies to your situation (Blue is just to distinguish the post)
Waiting...waiting...waiting

I haven't shared much client work here on G+, so here's a home I photographed for a local builder to be shown in D (Dallas) Magazine. I had to get to this location a bit early to scope things out and figure out the best angles, compositions, etc.

A photographer for D Magazine had come out a week before but came around noon, took a few shots, and left within 20 minutes. The builder was not pleased with the image quality so they reached out to me through a referral.

I arrived there well before the sun started going down and I could have easily gotten a useable shot and left with the same paycheck. Remember this though:

"To the degree that you take shortcuts, that's the degree at which you will develop."

I got my shot set up, got the lighting spot on, the composition where I wanted it, and then I waited. When the sun started setting behind the camera, it cast a warm and golden hue on the front of the house. I had the owner turn on all of the outdoor and indoor lighting as well. Finally, I waited for the large cumulous clouds to move into the frame before taking the shot. The whole shoot took about 2 1/2 hours compared to the 20 minutes the D mag photog spent. The result: A set of images that the client was blown away by. I spent just about as much time in their office showing the images while they had every employee gather around. It's a great feeling to exceed a clients expectations, but sometimes it means doing more than what's required.

So, don't be lazy. Don't cut corners. Take the time to really nail the shot at the best moment possible. You'll never regret it :-)

I realized as I developed my photography that it is greatly beneficial to "plan" and think ahead about what kind of photographs you are going to take. This will not only minimize noise but help you capture images closer to your vision.

[Elmo]

Thank goodness I am OLD. When I started serious photography the camera was big and heavy and not designed to be hand held. So it was set up the tripod, mount the camera etc. Focus insert the film, remove the dark slide and wait for the moment you previsualized. Sometimes things did not work and you never clicked the shutter.

Today it seems many folks point and shoot in burst mode and hope for the best. So sad how many great images are missed this way.

[Saralonde]

I know what you mean. I started out with film and cost, plus the inability to "chimp", made me consider each shot more carefully. It is easy to fall under the spell of digital and the low cost of taking a ton of shots hoping one will turn out and believe me, I do that more than I should. But time spent setting up the shot is better than time spent going through a bunch of so-so shots and then trying to edit them into something presentable.

[NgaiHill]

There is a NZ landscape Photographer called Andris Apse who takes some stunning landscape shots. I went to a talk he gave a couple of years ago and found it very interesting. The upshot is he is all about the light. He will scout a location, decide how he would like the light to fall, where he wants the sun to rise/set then check his almanac to come back at the right time of the year for the light that he wants. He would sit on a mountain side for 6 days waiting for the right light & could go home without taking a shot if he's not happy with how the light is falling. He refers to photographers who snap away like crazy as 'shotgun photographers'. Personally I would've snapped a few shots anyway after 6 days but I guess that why he's a professional photographer & I'm not!
So what I got from his talk is that it's all about previsualising, setting up the shot and patience.

[milosh]

I know what you mean Jon. I've been like that for some time now, and that combined with my personal high standards makes it even harder to find a scene/composition that I'm sattisfied with.

P.S. There's an interesting story about what you're saying at the beginning of this article:
Previsualization -- Part I

[prince]

Originally Posted by milosh

P.S. There's an interesting story about what you're saying at the beginning of this article:
Previsualization -- Part I

Thanks for the share. A very nice article. I am doing a baby shoot coming weekend and hope to use some previsualization of what kind of shots I want.

[RichardTaylor]

Jon.

See this thread.

I wish I'd known that when I started...

and this one (more examples relating to my post in the above thread.

One evening at Newcastle (Australia)

---------------------------------

I agree, although you can sometimes get "lucky", the more you put into a photograph the more you get out of it. It doesn't really matter what you are shooting be it birding/landscapes/motor sport etc.

For landscapes you may find the David Noton Book "Full Frame" of interest.
ISBN-10: 0715336142
ISBN-13: 978-0715336144