Shameless request for encouragement

[First Light]

I got my DSLR just about 6 months ago. Personally, I feel like I've learned a TON. I know how to use my camera in AV or Manual now, and that is all I ever use, so my images are truly mine, not what the camera "thinks" they should be. I shoot all in RAW. I think my shots are getting better, but I'm feeling insecure about it lately. Whenever I take photos of the family/kids, everyone just expects them to be a certain quality now, but no one seems to be very impressed these days.
Particularly my husband. We are working on re-painting the house, and as we go, I would like to put some of my work on the walls, but he isn't excited enough about any of it for me to actually order any prints.
I try to enter the weekly challenges here on DPS, and sometimes I think my shots are pretty good, but they don't seem to get noticed.

Am I just kidding myself? Do I really have any talent, or I am just like every yahoo who buys a fancy camera and thinks that means they can take great photos?

I could really use a pat on the back (or a reality check).

J

[metallion58]

I've just checked your Flickr and here's my take on this.

The pat on the back:
I've seen some very nice pics there and some definitely worth hanging on a wall. You do have an eye and it shows.

The reality check:
You're still pretty new at this so if you decide to hang some on your wall, keep in mind that you are getting better all the time and you might want to change those pics once in a while.

I've got a few of mine hanging here and what I've done is this. I've chosen simple black frames of a nice standard size. That way, when I come up with a better pic, I have it print and just change one.

Elegant solution IMHO.

[Bruce A]

Originally Posted by metallion58

I've just checked your Flickr and here's my take on this.

The pat on the back:
I've seen some very nice pics there and some definitely worth hanging on a wall. You do have an eye and it shows.

The reality check:
You're still pretty new at this so if you decide to hang some on your wall, keep in mind that you are getting better all the time and you might want to change those pics once in a while.

I've got a few of mine hanging here and what I've done is this. I've chosen simple black frames of a nice standard size. That way, when I come up with a better pic, I have it print and just change one.

Elegant solution IMHO.

(+1) I agree with Mark. You definitely have some very nice shots, but you must remember you are still a babe when it comes to photography - so am I. Still so much to learn and less and less time to learn it in

Seriously, it's your hobby, not your husband's so don't let others make you feel despondent about your work. Keep learning and practising and your talent will become more obvious to you.

[Hill Country Hack]

You do have some nice ones there. Why not have some printed and hang on the walls?

I printed a few from Mpix (or whatever other printing service you choose), and added a luster coating for UV protection. I went to the craft store and purchased foam board at $3.00 a sheet, spray adhesive, mounting clay, ruler and an exacto knife. Spray the back of the print, mount on the foam board, use the straight edge and knife to cut out the mounted print, use a small pice of the mounting clay and stick it on the wall. No nail holes in the walls, move them wherever you want. No fuss, no muss. I must admit it did provide a bit of satifaction hanging my own work. Now if I had any friends they could come over and check them out.

[RichardTaylor]

Definately developing an "eye".

From just a very quick look at your Flickr stream:

(1) Unless content dictates otherwise, don't publish any pictures that are not up to scratch technically. I'm mostly thinking of some of the flower pics.
If you have a similar series just publish the best ones.

(2) Decide what your subject is. Move in close to fill the frame wit the subject (and remove any distractions), isolate it by shallow DOF or lighting or POV

At the end of the day who are you shooting for, yourself or somebody else?

Hope this helps

[ajax_andy]

Your photo's are very nice, no harm at all in putting them on your wall IMO

The only thing I think lacking in them a little is your post production skills to take them from a photo to more of an art picture.

For example the pics below were altered using various techniques... now I'm not saying by any means these are amazing but I think it's sometimes easier to explain something using pictures rather than words:

Pic 1 - Use of dodge and burn on the blue areas to make the 'patchyness' stand out more



Pic 2 - Curves adjustment to deepen the blacks and then boosted the vibrance lots to make the sky more colourful



Pic 3 - B&W conversion, selective use of dodge and burn and used the threshold tool




Again i'm not saying my pics are amazing, more showing how post production techniques can create a slightly more artistic 'feel' to an otherwise good photo

[First Light]

Thanks everyone. This is just what I needed to hear.
J

[mrteacherdude]

A couple of other people already stated this, or eluded to it, but print out some of your favorite photos and hang them on the wall. After all, it is your hobby and you are likely shooting for yourself; at least you started that way. You have put yourself "out there" in this forum and other places on the web and you have survived the critiques and grown from the experience, and will continue to grow as long as you continue to go forward. I know how difficult it can be when those who are closest to us don't seem to appreciate our work and/or interests as those who are, for the most part, total strangers other than we share a common interest.

Many, maybe all of us, go through a similar cycle I think. We're excited, we're learning, we get better, our family experiences that with us. Then... well... hmmm... the excitement kind of wanes; a plateau of some sort has been reached. It's not new anymore, we don't get significantly better for quite some time, and it starts getting more difficult to really improve. Maybe the family starts to get kind of bored with the whole thing and starts to hide when the camera comes out, especially if you're not just uploading all the day's pics to FB every night for everybody to consume, because you are actually trying to get good at doing this.

So maybe it's time to take the next step without the initial encouragement of the family, and you may have already made this decision by now. That's what I started doing; printing and hanging that is. I now have several walls of my house full of photos that I've taken. Some of them stay, some of them get cycled out and replaced with others as my skills improve and I realize that they were not as great as I originally thought they were. At this point in time I don't worry about them being worthy of a gallery or anything like that because I know they aren't, so I invest a relatively small amount of money in them. I work over my photos and submit them online to my local Costco and pick up my prints on the way home from work. I buy cheap frames from Michaels to put the photos in and then I start hanging things. No, it's not the best quality stuff but I don't care that much at this point because I know my photos aren't the best quality photos; I just want some of them on my walls so I can see them that way. And believe me, it's way different when you see them hanging on the wall rather than seeing them on your computer monitor. And there is also a new, and potentially very frustrating, learning cycle that is introduced when you try to go from monitor to print and have the prints come out the way you really want them to.

Different people have different foci and take different types of photos of course, so you will want to pick what appeals to you most and start with those. However, you may want to consider those that are likely to appeal to your family as well because it sounds to me like they are your most important source of encouragement and support at the moment. For me, I mostly print my travel photos and hang them in "public areas" of the house as those are the ones that I initially spent the most time on, and also have the potential to appeal most to my wife. She acknowledges my interest in photography but really isn't that interested in it. This has actually provided a new connection of sorts between us though as she is intensely interested in traveling, but doesn't really care about the recording of the trip. Without really coming out and saying so directly to me, I have come to learn that she actually likes most of the photos and likes seeing them there. If I take one down, she notices that it is gone and asks what happened to it. Occasionally she will look at one of the walls and say "that's one of my favorites, I want to go back there." I don't believe this would have happened if I had not taken the step to start printing and hanging. It also helps my hobby be more acceptable to her and eases the tension when I want a new camera and/or lens that is going to cost a lot, especially since she can look up at the wall and see the improvement cycle.

I'm not sure if I've actually responded to your original request, but just an acknowledgement I think I know what you are going through and encourage you to continue moving forward. Go for it! Print your favorites and hang them up to see where it takes you. I wouldn't wait for your family to do it for you. If photography, other than snapshots, is new to you and your family, what you want to do is probably foreign to them and you will likely need to take that next step forward. I hope it works out as well for you as it is for me so far

[SwissJon]

Ok.. Quick feedback on Flickr..

You seem to like photographing flowers.. Your depth of field is to big, so your backgrounds are distracting, You're not isolating them enough, and you tend to shoot them straight on with the light behind you.. Try using the light at an angle, and photographing the flowers at an angle, and arranging the frame a bit better, they all seem to be centred.

Your portraits seem to be a strength, I like particularly the kid looking at the horses.

Strengths: People and Landscapes.

Weaknesses: looking around the frame and seeing past the subject. Your backgrounds are distracting in a lot of cases. Don't just concentrate on the subject, check the whole screen.

For someone new to photography, I think you've got a good eye. You're still developing, that's obvious, but it's not something that should hold you back.

If your hubby isn't keen, why don't you say "What kind of things would you like on the walls?" and go out and shoot some especally for him. That way you get your stuff on the walls, and they mean something to him too.. The challenge will make you concentrate more..

[First Light]

Thank you for the feedback SwissJon, that is also extremely helpful. You chose my second-favorite shot of all time (I haven't posted my fave anywhere public b/c it shows one of my boys' faces)!

Originally Posted by SwissJon

If your hubby isn't keen, why don't you say "What kind of things would you like on the walls?" and go out and shoot some especally for him. That way you get your stuff on the walls, and they mean something to him too.. The challenge will make you concentrate more..

Ummm...Yeah. Here's the problem with that: I DID ask that question. His response?

"I like Ansel Adams."

(So do I, but A: I'm a loooooooong way from that quality, and B: that's not really MY style!)