what is the way to become a "Photograher"?

[wayne_sui]

any Pro can point a direction? I've owned my D70 more than half year le, but i've hardly seen any improvement on my skills. after coming back from shootings, often i am almost not satisfied with any of the pictures. feeling very frustrated.

[espn]

Take a break, put down the camera, and just enjoy life, once you have the inspiration, start shooting, shoot more often, try different ways to look at things or find out what you like to shoot and focus more on it

[yklim]

Come down NUG more often... talk to ppl there and can share ideas... etc..

[benedium]

flip through photography magazines and books on famous photographers also... look at other visual art works and imagine how you'd recreate them or their style with your camera

[jamestan]

Originally Posted by wayne_sui any Pro can point a direction? I've owned my D70 more than half year le, but i've hardly seen any improvement on my skills. after coming back from shootings, often i am almost not satisfied with any of the pictures. feeling very frustrated.

What is your definition of "skill"? What is a "good" photo? Take a look at the galleries here and I'm sure you'll notice a common theme: One man's meat can be another man's poison.

You are using D70. Have you tried post processing? I an using D100, and my raw pictures almost always sucks!! (under-exposed, lousy compostion, etc). I post-process them, and oftentimes, the results are much better.

No need to get the best Photoshop software. Nikon Capture 4 will do most of the tricks.

[wayne_sui]

Originally Posted by espn Take a break, put down the camera, and just enjoy life, once you have the inspiration, start shooting, shoot more often, try different ways to look at things or find out what you like to shoot and focus more on it

sometings i thought i got inspiration, but after i shot, i found it was far from my expectation.

what i like to shoot?
i like to shoot scenery and people. but i often feel my compositions are stiff. and when on street, a bit shy to shoot people

[wayne_sui]

Originally Posted by yklim Come down NUG more often... talk to ppl there and can share ideas... etc..

NUG? u mean here? or any gathering?

[arttl]

Appreciate life and everything around you.

[wayne_sui]

Originally Posted by jamestan What is your definition of "skill"? What is a "good" photo? Take a look at the galleries here and I'm sure you'll notice a common theme: One man's meat can be another man's poison. You are using D70. Have you tried post processing? I an using D100, and my raw pictures almost always sucks!! (under-exposed, lousy compostion, etc). I post-process them, and oftentimes, the results are much better. No need to get the best Photoshop software. Nikon Capture 4 will do most of the tricks.

frankly speaking, i only do very minimum post-processing and only when i feel it is very necessary. bcoz i thought i should shoot a "good enough" picture before doing any PS. very stupid thought, right?

[King Tiger]

Originally Posted by wayne_sui frankly speaking, i only do very minimum post-processing and only when i feel it is very necessary. bcoz i thought i should shoot a "good enough" picture before doing any PS. very stupid thought, right?

Join some outing organise by some good CSers.

Face to face and hands-on, your skills will improve day by day.

[wayne_sui]

Originally Posted by arttl Appreciate life and everything around you.

sure, ur homepage is showing me ur opinion indeed. a great work~~

[wayne_sui]

Originally Posted by King Tiger Join some outing organise by some good CSers. Face to face and hands-on, your skills will improve day by day.

last time my friend (female) went to Angkor. with a Pro's help, she shot pretty good pictures on the sun rise / set there with A70 only~~

hands-on teaching is really a good way. but how can i join such events?

[espn]

Look out under the photoshoots subforum, alternatively you can start a D70 outing I will join if I can

[ortega]

Originally Posted by wayne_sui last time my friend (female) went to Angkor. with a Pro's help, she shot pretty good pictures on the sun rise / set there with A70 only~~ hands-on teaching is really a good way. but how can i join such events?

Try this

http://forums.clubsnap.org/forumdisplay.php?f=49

just click on something that interests you and join, no fees just fun.
After which post your pictures and ask for comments.
Take the good with the bad, self critique and ask questions.

Make mistakes and learn from them.

Happy shooting.

[ortega]

Originally Posted by wayne_sui NUG? u mean here? or any gathering?

NUG is "Nikon Users Group", if I am not wrong,
they are a bunch of like minded Nikon users who have a gathering
to discuss everything and anything "Nikon"

Someone care to explain further?

[simon80]

join courses .. join outing .. join talks .. flips all sorts of magazines
post lots of pictoos for pple to comments ..

[wayne_sui]

Originally Posted by espn Look out under the photoshoots subforum, alternatively you can start a D70 outing I will join if I can

hope to see u Pros around soon and learn from u~~~

[wayne_sui]

Originally Posted by simon80 join courses .. join outing .. join talks .. flips all sorts of magazines post lots of pictoos for pple to comments ..

hei, what is the course u r referring? i heard Nikon has some free courses for its customers. useful or not?

[dawgbyte77]

I agree. I'm also a newbie but spending my weekend learning. Sometimes doing it alone is not enough. I'm joining some outing so that at the end of the day, I can compare what the other photographers saw that I did not, and how they made the photo compared to mine. It helps a lot.

At first, I also don't like to PS. Don't know but I sense that Fuji has good color and sharpness and PS is just to "enhance" but my Nikon is mostly not so sharp and color is so-so.. could be my fault though.

[wcsiaw]

Since there are so many D70 newbies around.. maybe we should start an outing for all D70 people... Anyone organising? I'll be the first to sign up!