Camera Labs

Its a question I'm asking myself a lot recently and I wondered what advice you guys have.

I don't think I take bad pictures but I don't think I take good pictures. I see some images posted here that are great images.

Now some people just have the gift, they see the world in great images and seem to be able to capture that using a camera as if by magic.

Well thats not me so I need to learn.

What suggestions do you have on the best ways to learn?

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Canon EOS 550D (with Magic Lantern)
18mm - 135mm Kit Lens, 50mm f1.8, Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM
430EX II Flash with Phottix Strato Wireless Tigger Set
Manfrotto 190CXPRO3 with 496 Ball Head. Gorilla Pod SLR
Canon Powershot A720IS with CHDK and intervalometer script. Pentax Optio W90

My Blog - http://www.ianganderton.wordpress.com

Two things:
- Read books. Or better yet, get photo books and study the works of others.
- Post your images and try to get feedback. Post them someplace where you'll get proper critique ('wow, nice shot' doesn't teach you much).

That should get you started. And then it's time for the most important step:
Practice, practice, practice, practice, practice...........

- Bjorn -

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Street and documentary photographer | Google+ | Twitter | Blog | Tumblr

Leica M9-P (my article on Camera Labs) | Leica D-Lux 5 | 50mm Summilux

Bjorn,

Where is best to post them? Critique here seems limited.

Practice doesn't make perfect it makes permanent, only perfect practice makes perfect.

What is perfect practice in photography? Musicians practice scales

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Canon EOS 550D (with Magic Lantern)
18mm - 135mm Kit Lens, 50mm f1.8, Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM
430EX II Flash with Phottix Strato Wireless Tigger Set
Manfrotto 190CXPRO3 with 496 Ball Head. Gorilla Pod SLR
Canon Powershot A720IS with CHDK and intervalometer script. Pentax Optio W90

My Blog - http://www.ianganderton.wordpress.com

What Bjorn said... reitterating practice practice practice...

I would only add, while you are learning, leave yourself room to play during processing. What I mean by that is too often everyone trys to frame the image perfectly only to view it after and not like the composition. As you are learning try shooting the image leaving space so that later during processing you can crop the image in a way which suites you best. If you have left yourself lots of head room you can usually play with several different compositions. This gives you room to tweek the compostion after the fact which can help a lot. Once you begin to grasp the ideas behind composition using this process you can start applying it directly while out in the field.

Many times you will hear ppl say "fill the frame" which is a great concept but to achieve this one must have a firm grasp on compostion which for me is best practiced with the method above.

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Canon 7D + 50D + EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM + EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM + EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
Pelican // Black Rapid // Think Tank // Manfrotto // Garmin

Reflections On Canadian Wildlife
My Flickr

Practice practice practice indeed

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Canon DSLRs: 5D Mark III, 7D
Canon lenses: 17-40/4L, 24-105/4L, 24/1.4L II, 50/1.4, 85/1.8, 100/2.8L Macro, 70-200/2.8L IS, 100-400L
Other stuff: Canon 580 EX II, Canon 430EX II, Velbon Sherpa 600R
Apple: MacBook Pro 15", iMac 27", iPad III, iPhone 4S, Apple TV

My deviantART

I couldn't agree more. I feel like people need to be more critical and objective on this forum. Perhaps a dedicated "critique" or "tear apart my photos, please" forum needs to be generated. I guess that's what the purpose of "Photography Showcase" category is, but as said before... people aren't critical enough.

... In my opinion

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Trevor Harris

Nikon D200
SB-600
YN-560 II
YN RF 603 x 4
Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8
Nikon 50mm f/1.8

Its interesting thinking about this. Just googled 'critique' and this phrase in the wikipedia page stood out



Its not just a case of folks tearing my photos apart, what I'm after is people who's opinion I trust and value providing "disciplined, systematic analysis of" of any images of mine. This would be extremely helpful but how does 'one' find that?

_________________
Canon EOS 550D (with Magic Lantern)
18mm - 135mm Kit Lens, 50mm f1.8, Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM
430EX II Flash with Phottix Strato Wireless Tigger Set
Manfrotto 190CXPRO3 with 496 Ball Head. Gorilla Pod SLR
Canon Powershot A720IS with CHDK and intervalometer script. Pentax Optio W90

My Blog - http://www.ianganderton.wordpress.com

Agreed. In regards to my statement about tearing photos apart, I meant that lightly. What you ask is exactly what I ask.

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Trevor Harris

Nikon D200
SB-600
YN-560 II
YN RF 603 x 4
Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8
Nikon 50mm f/1.8

well there is google "photo critique" circle, and now with circle sharing it cant be easier to get CC.

I dont know if i have any pictures here, but on other slovakian site i posted a few and nobody wants to critique it. It seems good photographs dont care about work of new guys.

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I'm new to DSLR's, so please be patient and take my opinions with reserve. Thank you : ) Yes, i am Canon man.
Google + My picasa photos My 500px album
Canon 60D + 15-85mm f3.5-5.6 IS, Canon 70-200 F2.8L IS II, Canon 430EXII, polarizing filter 72mm,
Canon AT-1, 50mm FD F1.8
Canon A430,

Find a college or school with night classes / weekend classes or short courses that will help you to learn the basics about photography, the camera, the composition.

Youtube is awash with videos and with some very talented people, you will even find Gordon Laing from cameralabs there

Read, Watch, Ask, Shoot.

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Mark Osborne
My life through an iPhone

I actually like posting my photos here for feed back. If I just post a photo I get a few comments, but if I ask for comments I usually get what I'm looking for

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Mike "The Squirrel"
Canon 550D | Canon EF 35mm 1:2 | Canon 50 f/1.8 II | Sigma 18-125mm DC OS | Tamron SP 70-300mm Di VC USD | Canon 430EX II
Military Issued Canon 40D | Canon 55-250mm IS

Practice & N-Joy!


For me Just like what everyone said here. There is something that I want to add in, tag along or seek mentoring with Experience photographer. Depending on their availability & also depending on their specific photographic profession such as wedding, Nature, Wildlife, Street shooting, Portrait & many more and that is up to your interest style of shooting.

From my experience tag along with my friend who are profession in wedding photography, I did ask want to mentoring to me & he really did contribute it. It is really helping & also gain experience from him.

Only disadvantages with it most of them are really hard to contact with or reluctantly to help you out mentoring or just simply excuse that they busy with their work. Availability base on luck & its not really easy to get this kind of these opportunity

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Soon.....

“Individually you can pick holes in any photo you take, that’s the nature of photographers”: Timothy Allen

Critique is good for improving photography skills but one must be aware of personal bias. This bias is not malicious, it's only the personal perceptions in some cases. On occasions I disagree with some critique comments on the forum, then again it's my personal perception. There are enough web photos for you to see which you would like to emulate.

I agree with the above, practice, but decide before you shoot what you want to practice and then evaluate to see if you achieved your objectives.

Most important of all, don't get caught up in shooting/processing the perfect photo which only you may like, just have FUN doing it.


Cheers

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Nikon D7000, D40X, Nikkor 18- 200 VR II, f3.5-5.6, 70-300 AF non VR, Kit Lenses.

I'd also just recommend the practice practice practice, as well as posting in other forums.

It's not really fair to post the names of other forums in a public thread on here but PM me and I'll let you know my findings from posting on the internet for the last couple of years.

Some places are over polite, some generally rude, and it's difficult to get balanced critiques. Also, this depends massively from area to area of some forums (i.e. from People to Black and White)

Another thing is to try different ways of learning. We're coming into good weather soon, so how about joining photo walks. They are mainly in Dubai, but people are always travelling up to RAK and this broadens your horizons. You'll find you're not always shooting in your comfort zone, and picking up hints and tips from other people as they learn.

Also, try getting some space in your calendar for visiting Dubai in mid November. GulfPhotoPlus has a photo weekend with a few courses (not as good this year as in previous years) but they also host seminars for a nominal cost which last an hour or so with some good pro photographers. They also have discounts for products, DVDs, learning aids and accessories so it's well worth a visit.

Phil,

While looking myself for answers to this question I've been looking at the GPP website and seen the FotoWeekend 2011. I've emailed them asking about it and some more general questions.

I did one of their photo walks in May and it was an excellent learning experience and one I aim to repeat. Blog Post

Where else runs workshops and photowalks round and about these here parts?

Making the effort for this months 'On Assignment" has been very interesting too and I'll make the effort again and again

I just googled "how to provide objective critique to photos" and I'm trawl through some of the results that look very interesting.

Critique is an interesting one. Its very hard to do properly, to give the quote that was expressed here in its more polite form

I know I've looked at your photos posted here, Phil, and thought "WOW, great photo". As someone lacking experience I often dont say anything as anything I have to say seems irrelevant or trite. I know the lack of comment, here, to your photos, in recent posts, has frustrated you.

I wonder if a like button is possible on the forum. If an image generates enough +ve feeling from someone for them to want to "like" something then that in itself is good feedback. In terms of learning you'd be getting +ve reinforcement for something done well, it could be argued that this is better for learning than criticism for something done badly.

Thank you to all of you for the time you've taken to post answers to this question of mine, it really is appreciated. Please keep your advice and opinions coming

Ian

_________________
Canon EOS 550D (with Magic Lantern)
18mm - 135mm Kit Lens, 50mm f1.8, Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM
430EX II Flash with Phottix Strato Wireless Tigger Set
Manfrotto 190CXPRO3 with 496 Ball Head. Gorilla Pod SLR
Canon Powershot A720IS with CHDK and intervalometer script. Pentax Optio W90

My Blog - http://www.ianganderton.wordpress.com