Is it true: good photographic talents, have it or dun have it?

Paul_Yeo · 24th January 2005

I dun mean that technically sound photographic skills ("correct" exposure, good knowledge of equipment etc)

but I mean those artistics sense....to produce photos with the x-factor, those photos with impact....

someetimes me wondering if the way to see things can be trained?

also, does reading up help? as photography is an art....thus, can creativity be taught anyway?

(I am asking bcos I think I have no talents in phototaking

)

Paul_Yeo · 24th January 2005

also, if i post photos here for comments, i am actually, learning from the talents of you guys and eventually, i just learnt and not really my own creativity right?

( imitating your talents?)

If i read up on "what's a good photo" , i am also imitating the author interpretation of a good photo right?

so, in the end, still true that this arts cannot be trained but either I have it or dun have right?

The_Cheat · 24th January 2005

In order to produce good music, you need to know what good music is and to be able to appreciate them. Similarly in photography, in order to produce an artistic picture, you need to know what and why some pictures are artistic while others aren't. So, when you are appreciating an artform, you are actually training yourself to acquire a certain kind of taste. Yes, it is a kind of training.

So, after understanding what an artistic picture is, the next will be trying to understand how to make such a picture. This is the most easily achieved by imitation. Is it limiting creativity? Well, no way. It's still creativity after all, as there's really no protocol in taking a certain piece of photograph. Conditions vary and mood vary as well. Thus, what started out as an imitation project would be transformed by your own creativity to become a sort of innovation. Mind you, no two piece of photographs will ever be the same.

reno77 · 24th January 2005

I believe photos convey the personality of the photographer. James Nachtwey would never do fashion photography and I cant imagine Russell Wong shooting war photography. If your photos suck maybe its because you are taking the wrong kind. For me I cant take fashion and portraits. I prefer journalistic (dont know if i'm good though) and abstract.

zaren · 24th January 2005

yes, photographic vision can be trained to some extent, but a lot also depends upon practice and self-critique. be influenced by the photographic styles of the day, but also use them to develop your own unique view of the world.

khairi · 24th January 2005

ok...

i admit...i've copied from various ppl's work...views...ideas...influence...ever since i join CS...went ard asking and looking at how others view their photo, how proud they are of their work...i continued copying until today...so am i talentless?

nickmak · 24th January 2005

Every person on this planet has a different perspective on how they see the world. So you do too. Talent is a convinience. If you don't have it, you just train yourself about photography and nuts and bolts about it.

'Show the world how you see the world from your persespective.' As quoted from my Physics teacher.

ndroo · 24th January 2005

Originally Posted by khairi

ok...

i admit...i've copied from various ppl's work...views...ideas...influence...ever since i join CS...went ard asking and looking at how others view their photo, how proud they are of their work...i continued copying until today...so am i talentless?

same here. guess by learning from other peoples' photos, you see what are the things that attract you. why does it look good to you. then from there, the next time u shoot, improvise ... try to make it different from what you saw, instead of applying a 'photocopy' technique.

bottomline, i am talentless, tasteless, hopeless ... i just copy ideas and try to improve on my own version of it.

Paul_Yeo · 24th January 2005

so...all of u think that photographic visions can be trained to a certain extent & thus, i am not hopeless ...

espn · 24th January 2005

I only shoot girls if you realised, I hardly shoot anything else

so just keep shooting... I find that most are diversified, wanna shoot everything.

Paul_Yeo · 24th January 2005

i admit i love to photoshoot a lot of things. i love to take pic of kids, pet, babies, weddings, landscape, street....

any advice from u guys? shld i just concentrate on one? but a bit boring leh...... think phhotography shld be fun right?

foxtwo · 24th January 2005

How about exposing yourself to other forms of Art? Gaining a better sense of what 'Artistic' is to oneself surely makes for better control over the Art one produces.

Petf69 · 24th January 2005

we are man after all....shoot girls and more girls.....

khairi · 24th January 2005

Originally Posted by renegade

same here. guess by learning from other peoples' photos, you see what are the things that attract you. why does it look good to you. then from there, the next time u shoot, improvise ... try to make it different from what you saw, instead of applying a 'photocopy' technique.

bottomline, i am talentless, tasteless, hopeless ... i just copy ideas and try to improve on my own version of it.

ha ha...we can be the tasteless brothers...he he he...

well, all photog assistant learn from the main photog...and eventually, the assistants dev their own taste and style. so, no harm copyin and understanding y you copy...but it's harmful if you copy and still say "that's the standard, i dunno anything else other than that style"

not all photogs can cover everything...some r specialised some are not...some prefer to work in pairs some alone...

khairi · 24th January 2005

Originally Posted by foxtwo

How about exposing yourself to other forms of Art? Gaining a better sense of what 'Artistic' is to oneself surely makes for better control over the Art one produces.

spot on...that's what i always do...

i'm always into Dadaism, surrealism, subtractions n mathematical approaches of art. those 3 influences me a lot cos studied them in art school.

ndroo · 24th January 2005

Originally Posted by khairi

i'm always into Dadaism, surrealism.

what are those? well i didn't go to art school ... i m only into alcoholism

Amekaze · 24th January 2005

Talking about imitating, what can be called original and what is not? Ideas, inspirations and styles are drawn from everywhere all the time. It's up to an individual on how he/she mixes everything and create it as his/her own. The ideas and everything aren't original... but the style is innovative.

Imitating others' works are a great way to learn. It's a process I believe everyone goes through. One imitates from many different sources and one day starts to find that he/she inclines to a certain style. And after much refining and improvements, one has innovated his/her own true style/perspective.

Talent is just a stepping stone that gives you that added boost, but without hard work, even a talented genius will go nowhere. And perseverance is a very key factor. You may not get results now, but you have to keep trying and don't give up. If you keep trying, you will just get it one day.

Just keep shooting! And you'll find what you're inclined to one day.

ellery · 24th January 2005

It is actual more difficult to make a perfect exactly the same copy than to produce a derivative. There is always some of the thinking/feeling that a photg puts into a strong shot that can not so easily be carbon copied. Think of the imitating as exercises to strength your own vision.

Strong photos are a combination of chance, being prepare (technically), being open to the flow, and being 100% there when shooting. The input of everything flows thru you and get transmutated if you got focus and vision to some thing other than a documentary shot.

Look at the good stuff - it changes as you change so what was good a year ago may be so so if you progress in your seeing.

It is I think possible to train one's level of photo talent but it needs a certain ruthlesss kind of drive to make it go up fast.... I call this the photo obessive whose lives revolve around perfecting the craft.

fengwei · 24th January 2005

Read here:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/howto.htm

Although I don't agree some of his points, but mostly I agree

Cheers and happy shooting ...

zaren · 24th January 2005

Originally Posted by renegade

what are those? well i didn't go to art school ... i m only into alcoholism

no wonder u r so good..... "drunken camera"

24th January 2005	#1
Paul_Yeo Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Sengkang Posts: 2,156	Is it true: good photographic talents, have it or dun have it? I dun mean that technically sound photographic skills ("correct" exposure, good knowledge of equipment etc) but I mean those artistics sense....to produce photos with the x-factor, those photos with impact.... someetimes me wondering if the way to see things can be trained? also, does reading up help? as photography is an art....thus, can creativity be taught anyway? (I am asking bcos I think I have no talents in phototaking ) __________________ www.boo.sg

24th January 2005	#2
Paul_Yeo Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Sengkang Posts: 2,156	also, if i post photos here for comments, i am actually, learning from the talents of you guys and eventually, i just learnt and not really my own creativity right? ( imitating your talents?) If i read up on "what's a good photo" , i am also imitating the author interpretation of a good photo right? so, in the end, still true that this arts cannot be trained but either I have it or dun have right? __________________ www.boo.sg

24th January 2005	#3
The_Cheat Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 2,263	In order to produce good music, you need to know what good music is and to be able to appreciate them. Similarly in photography, in order to produce an artistic picture, you need to know what and why some pictures are artistic while others aren't. So, when you are appreciating an artform, you are actually training yourself to acquire a certain kind of taste. Yes, it is a kind of training. So, after understanding what an artistic picture is, the next will be trying to understand how to make such a picture. This is the most easily achieved by imitation. Is it limiting creativity? Well, no way. It's still creativity after all, as there's really no protocol in taking a certain piece of photograph. Conditions vary and mood vary as well. Thus, what started out as an imitation project would be transformed by your own creativity to become a sort of innovation. Mind you, no two piece of photographs will ever be the same. __________________ Send me a PM if you need me to comment on a picture or a series.

24th January 2005	#6
khairi Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: yishun Posts: 2,469	ok... i admit...i've copied from various ppl's work...views...ideas...influence...ever since i join CS...went ard asking and looking at how others view their photo, how proud they are of their work...i continued copying until today...so am i talentless? __________________ blog: inbloomphotos.wordpress.com

24th January 2005	#7
nickmak Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: London, UK Posts: 2,366	Every person on this planet has a different perspective on how they see the world. So you do too. Talent is a convinience. If you don't have it, you just train yourself about photography and nuts and bolts about it. 'Show the world how you see the world from your persespective.' As quoted from my Physics teacher. __________________ *The equipment can only bring you so far - the rest of the photographic journey is done by you.*

24th January 2005	#4
reno77 Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Bedok Reservoir Posts: 880	I believe photos convey the personality of the photographer. James Nachtwey would never do fashion photography and I cant imagine Russell Wong shooting war photography. If your photos suck maybe its because you are taking the wrong kind. For me I cant take fashion and portraits. I prefer journalistic (dont know if i'm good though) and abstract.

24th January 2005	#5
zaren Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 7,688	yes, photographic vision can be trained to some extent, but a lot also depends upon practice and self-critique. be influenced by the photographic styles of the day, but also use them to develop your own unique view of the world.

24th January 2005	#10
espn Deregistered Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Planet Nikon Posts: 22,045	I only shoot girls if you realised, I hardly shoot anything else so just keep shooting... I find that most are diversified, wanna shoot everything.

24th January 2005	#12
foxtwo Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: singapore Posts: 1,707	How about exposing yourself to other forms of Art? Gaining a better sense of what 'Artistic' is to oneself surely makes for better control over the Art one produces.

24th January 2005	#13
Petf69 Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Singapore Posts: 3,310	we are man after all....shoot girls and more girls.....

24th January 2005	#17
Amekaze Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Sembawang Posts: 154	Talking about imitating, what can be called original and what is not? Ideas, inspirations and styles are drawn from everywhere all the time. It's up to an individual on how he/she mixes everything and create it as his/her own. The ideas and everything aren't original... but the style is innovative. Imitating others' works are a great way to learn. It's a process I believe everyone goes through. One imitates from many different sources and one day starts to find that he/she inclines to a certain style. And after much refining and improvements, one has innovated his/her own true style/perspective. Talent is just a stepping stone that gives you that added boost, but without hard work, even a talented genius will go nowhere. And perseverance is a very key factor. You may not get results now, but you have to keep trying and don't give up. If you keep trying, you will just get it one day. Just keep shooting! And you'll find what you're inclined to one day. Last edited by Amekaze; 24th January 2005 at 05:47 PM.

24th January 2005	#18
ellery Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 785	It is actual more difficult to make a perfect exactly the same copy than to produce a derivative. There is always some of the thinking/feeling that a photg puts into a strong shot that can not so easily be carbon copied. Think of the imitating as exercises to strength your own vision. Strong photos are a combination of chance, being prepare (technically), being open to the flow, and being 100% there when shooting. The input of everything flows thru you and get transmutated if you got focus and vision to some thing other than a documentary shot. Look at the good stuff - it changes as you change so what was good a year ago may be so so if you progress in your seeing. It is I think possible to train one's level of photo talent but it needs a certain ruthlesss kind of drive to make it go up fast.... I call this the photo obessive whose lives revolve around perfecting the craft.

24th January 2005	#19
fengwei Moderator Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Bukit Gombak Posts: 9,067	Please Read: How To Make Great Photographs Read here: http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/howto.htm Although I don't agree some of his points, but mostly I agree Cheers and happy shooting ...