What made you a better photographer?

[audriusm]

For me very good motivation to take photos everyday is microstock photography. Before I was strugling with few things - i like take photos everyday, but how can I use them? Are they only payload in my computer?
But later I found microstock photography where I can sell almost all my pictures that are created on my everyday life or training photography techniques. I think it is very good motivator that you can try any photo technique, lighting, subject etc and not only master your skills but as well upload to stocks websites and get earnings if someone likes them.
At the moment I am contributor of 6 stock agencies:
Shutterstock: http://submit.shutterstock.com/?ref=1865198
Deposit photos: http://depositphotos.com?ref=1756291
Dreamstime: http://www.dreamstime.com/register#res6959677
As an example I was having photoshoot with me client on food photography. Later I have plenty photos of it. I have asked if client don't mind if I would upload photos online and resell them. Actually all they want was food menu for the restaurant so they have had no issues if I could reused them. Actually those photos earn me more than client had paid for that assignment.
As well I like to upload all photos from me trips and journeys. If its good memories why they can't earn money too.
For me stocks photos is really good motivation to improve quality and try various techniques, as well there is no special content required so you can sell anything from nature to objects, jewelry, portraits.

[mknittle]

Nothing, I am still a poor one.

Really though I think working with the glass table top has helped. Every reflection shows in the glass and visa versa. It made me notice how much other objects effect the subject I am shooting. Not just inside but in all my images. Of all things I never thought I would like "still life" but it is a lot of fun. Mike buckley and Terry(loose cannon) among others have inspired me to give it a try.

[AlwaysOnAuto]

Trying to make the best photo with what I had at hand has helped me to become a better photographer.
When I was laid off and decided it was time to retire, I dug out all the cameras in the house. To my surprise, I found 13 of them. When I really started to look at some of the ones I inherited I found I was sitting on some well respected cameras. I also quickly discovered I couldn't afford to shoot them as film is just not in my budget these days. So, the problem became how do I go about making use of the lenses, which, after all, lend their character to the photos made with them, in a digital manner.
Well I'm happy to say that this year, technology has finally caught up to my needs. I now have a camera that not only can use the lenses it also has the latest technology for shake and auto focus too. I have found, a lot like computers, as the technology increases and eliminates the operator from the equation, ie the hardware becomes more invisible to the creative process, the easier it is for the operator to concentrate on the creative aspect of the adventure. That is why I feel my adventure is just now starting.

And I might add that this site has helped immeasurably too, as it has helped me take a more critical look at what I'm trying to convey in a photo.

[LePetomane]

I'd like to think I am becoming a better photographer. I have found a lot of things to be helpful. Viewing pictures here and the critique that follows (as long as it is not too far over my head) has helped quite a bit. Taking "one on one" workshops has helped too. Having nice gear has helped as well.

I compare the advancements in digital photography to the advancements in regional anesthesia. When I started back in the dark ages it was pretty simple. We knew where the nerves were supposed to be and would inject local anesthetic in the area. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't and one had to resort to other techniques. Now with the advancement in ultrasound one can localize the nerve, observe the path of the needle and injection of local anesthetic, all resulting in a better result. Am I a better anesthesiologist because of the technology? Definitely.

[RBSinTo]

Study, ask, practice, study, ask, practice, study, ask, practice, study, ask, practice, study, ask, practice, study, ask, practice, study, ask, practice, study, ask, practice,study, ask, practice, study, ask, practice, study, ask, practice, study, ask, practice, study, ask, practice, study, ask, practice, study, ask, practice, study, ask, practice, study, ask, practice, study, ask, practice, study, ask, practice, study, ask, practice, study, ask, practice, study, ask, practice, study, ask, practice, study, ask, practice, study, ask, practice, study, ask, practice, study, ask, practice, study, ask, practice, study, ask, practice.....
Continuously repeated.
Robert

[Tronhard]

Like any endeavour, I believe that there are components of talent and learned skill. Each of those elements is applicable to the main components of photography: artistic awareness, creativity and composition; and an understanding and application of the principles of the technology that delivers our images. In other words someone who can engage with the ying and the yang of art and technology...

My own experience is that those who have a grounding in art appreciation or its creation have a bit of a head start in the creative side, while having had an interest in science is useful in appreciating the intricacies of the technology. Interestingly I have found a significant number of my peers in IT and engineering take to photography as a creative outlet, as I once put it "I need it to maintain my sanity." (I may have failed there! )

I think people absorb knowledge better in different ways. For some it is reading about the principles, analysis of those and application, perhaps on their own. Others want to get that knowledge in an interactive but structured teaching environment where they can learn by asking questions of a leader. but also gain from the interaction with other students. More and more I see a generation who absorb information via multimedia, using the powerful tools of video, social interaction and sharing on line.

At some point we have to take the leap into taking images. The question is then if and how we share them. For some the sharing never happens: for example Vivian Maier, the eccentric nanny who took thousands of amazing images but shared very few of them, yet after her death her work was discovered and greatly praised. I suspect there are many others who love photography but for whatever reason never share. Heaven knows what genius has been lost in the clear-outs of attics, homes and storage lockers...

Some of us thrive in the stimulus of competition with others, using that spirit to strive to be better next time. Others not so much. I am one of the latter as I believe that once one gets past the technical aspects of creating the image, the artistic side is a matter of opinion. How one can compare a macro shot of the eye of a bee with a portrait of an old man, or an amazing landscape and say that one is definitively better than the other is beyond me. I quite often disagree with the judges and would keep ones they score low and frankly trash some of the ones that get prizes. For me, considering the merit of an image needs an appreciation of the purpose of an image, and the context within which it was taken. That said I am a keen voyeur of others' images to learn from them and hopefully make my own efforts better and I am brutal in criticizing my own images, and merciless in discarding the ones I don't consider acceptable.

For most of us, sharing and getting feedback in a positive and constructive manner is our path to improvement and self-appreciation as a photographer. That is where CiC has its strength: it is a respectful and collaborative environment where we can present our work to be appreciated and critiqued by very talented, skilled and experienced peers. This is a very precious thing...

In the end we have to take photos, and for me that means carrying a camera with me at all times. Having better technical equipment can be a huge advantage, although speaking for myself, some of my favourite images have been taken with fairly humble equipment. I am glad I grew up in the age of film ("You remember it was in all the papers"! I like that...). It was in some ways technically a simpler environment where one had to just worry about ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture (and choose the right film). While digital has doubtless expanded our possibilities and has made the capture process more interactive (I can see right away if the image requires a reshoot and can make corrections), it has introduced a lot of other issues that have more significance with the new technology. I do love that it has made image capture cheaper and I am no longer constrained by how much film I can carry and that I might not see the image for weeks after when I reached civilization and it was too late to go back and re-shoot. That discipline of economy has stayed with me and I find I shoot way fewer images than my associates who grew up with in the digital age...

However, while I think a photographer gains some advantage from technology, simply getting better equipment does not make one a better photographer, despite the impression that the tech companies might like to leave. The better we know how to use what we have the better we become: as several people have said, making the gear part of ourselves means we can focus on the image.

I had a great experience learning recently, finding some transparencies from 35 years ago and getting them processed to digital. While the digital images has quite a bit of noise in many of them (in part to the slides' storage perhaps), I was able to look critically at the layout of the photos and see, in hindsight, if I liked what I had captured. It was an interesting exercise because one does not often walk away from images for such a period and then go back to evaluate them with a fresh perspective, but I think there is great value in that.


This image, from a slide that was thrown out by mistake and rescued from a skip, had some marks, but despite its flaws it remains one of my favourite images of the time. Yet it was also taken with a comparatively unsophisticated camera, an Olympus XA...


The Olympus XA

I now sweep through my images and cull from them the ones I am not happy with. I put those in a separate storage because I have learned that often what may be considered an inferior image may have value later. I LOVE looking at images of the day to day world shot a long time ago: they bring to life the environments of our forbearers and what is, in many ways, a different world.

I also get great inspiration from the works of photographers whom I admire, and enjoy going to exhibitions such as the NatGeo World Wildlife Photographer of the Year when I can.

One last thing... you have to ENJOY taking photos: if you don't, whether you are a pro or an amateur, it shows...

[rpcrowe]

When I began reding this thread, I thought "Great, Colin Southern is back again" Then I looked at the date of his comment which was 2012

[Tronhard]

Some discussions, it would seem are timeless and enduring ...

When I began reding this thread, I thought "Great, Colin Southern is back again" Then I looked at the date of his comment which was 2012

[rpcrowe]

May I turn this round, with tongue only half way in cheek? What made me a worse photographer was getting my first zoom lens (a long time ago!). I just got lazy with composition, and maybe sometimes still am

I feel just opposite to Dave regarding my experience with zoom lenses. I compose better with a zoom that I generally do with primes because I can crop in the camera more easily. I very seldom do much cropping in post production with one glaring exception.

I shoot all of my dog portraits in the horizontal format because I often need horizontal images for the calendars I produce, square images for many of our rescue websites and vertical images for some others...

[IzzieK]

I have yet to read this post but I will start with -- I am not a better photographer..yet. So much to learn and since years is advancing quicker than a twinkle of the eyes, I am sure others are better than me...and try to lessen the good accidental shots with careful planning more times than not. When I can claim to be a better photographer, I will tell the world about it. Deal?

[rtbaum]

I have yet to read this post but I will start with -- I am not a better photographer..yet. So much to learn and since years is advancing quicker than a twinkle of the eyes, I am sure others are better than me...and try to lessen the good accidental shots with careful planning more times than not. When I can claim to be a better photographer, I will tell the world about it. Deal?

It's a deal.....but you are being hard on yourself, you are a better photographer

[kristent]

being willing to shoot terrible photos...and then learning from them. humility is a great teacher.
asking stupid questions...because we all know that no question is really stupid.
putting myself in places I wouldn't normally go because it looks like there just might be a great shot there.