Do you think that improvement in photography is gradual? Have you noticed improvement in your photographic skills in the past years? What do you think contributed to it?
Improvement in photography is gradual?
- Thread starter Sion
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past years, yes... imagine about 3 years ago i bought my 1st digital P&S den start snapping but it doesn't shoot... den read the manual & notice that i actually need to 1/2 press down & wait for focus lock... b4 that i always thought cameras are press & pictures are WYSIWYG...
i guess it depends on which stage u are at imho...
if you just started out photography and have a real passion for it, at the beginning you might find your pictures improving by leaps and bounds.
but when u get to a stage when u develop an own style, seems to be harder to see improvement as u start to take "safe" pictures in ur own style. But there are pp who gets inspiration and goes on to another level altogether.
if you just started out photography and have a real passion for it, at the beginning you might find your pictures improving by leaps and bounds.
but when u get to a stage when u develop an own style, seems to be harder to see improvement as u start to take "safe" pictures in ur own style. But there are pp who gets inspiration and goes on to another level altogether.
1 trend I notice is, in the old days the photography newbie would spend many hours doing experiments and checking results and write down notes etc, nowadays the photography newbie will just post the question on forum and ask for a quickie answer.....
My biggest jump in photo quality is a mental jump... after a french photographer told me my photos sucked... after that, a lot more thought is put to photography..
willyfoo said:
I second tat ... that is difficult and can takes years to cross the barrier ... :sweatsm:
Astin said:
You forgot we got to print out the prints and study it ... dun knows how many long hours had been spent inside the darkroom and yet prints still come out crap ...
oso spend time in the library looking for questions we have in doubts ... not now just throws on the net and you get immediate answers and comments .. :bsmilie:Sion said:
A photographer must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind. I sense much fear in you.
The improvement is huge in the beginning.
From don't know a single thing to be able to understand the effect of aperture, iso and shutter speed on a photo.
When all the basic is learnt, improvement slowed down or even degrade..
Sometimes, the pic appear from bad to worst.
Like learning kungfu, level 1-8 very easy.. But if you wanna master "Wan Fuo Chao Zhong", it can take a lifetime.
From don't know a single thing to be able to understand the effect of aperture, iso and shutter speed on a photo.
When all the basic is learnt, improvement slowed down or even degrade..
Sometimes, the pic appear from bad to worst.
Like learning kungfu, level 1-8 very easy.. But if you wanna master "Wan Fuo Chao Zhong", it can take a lifetime.
The technical stuffs is the least of the worries.
Its people that are unable to come to terms with their style of shooting thats the hardest obsticle to cross. We always look at other people style as the "standard", but as photography is an art, how is it possible to have a standard at all?
Once coming to terms with your own personal style, together with the basic foundation of the photography technical, you will find the pictures you take to be of "your own standard". Of course, if you want to earn a living from it, then you must be prepare to learn a few more style of shooting :X
Its people that are unable to come to terms with their style of shooting thats the hardest obsticle to cross. We always look at other people style as the "standard", but as photography is an art, how is it possible to have a standard at all?
Once coming to terms with your own personal style, together with the basic foundation of the photography technical, you will find the pictures you take to be of "your own standard". Of course, if you want to earn a living from it, then you must be prepare to learn a few more style of shooting :X
gradual, well yes and no, depending on how you see it. things have improved over the years, but often there are these periods when i find a big step forward has been taken, usually in just days or weeks.
started out just anyhow point camera, as long as got what i want somewhere in the picture can already. after awhile got sick of how ugly my pictures turned out and gave up on cameras.
one day, took a small camera on a trip. was travelling alone, so started to try to take interesting pictures just for something to do. in the end, the result was quite different from the older pix. then got a digital camera, another jump in framing/composition. taking pix started to become less of pointing camera at something and more of trying to capture how i saw something.
recently upgraded to a prosumer. partly cos of all the new functions, technical skills improved, became more aware of exposure, dof, pix also much sharper than in the past.
now working on post-processing skills. have gone thru old photos and realised that less is more, no more of those oversaturated, oversharpened, horrible pix.
so yah, gradual. but for a newbie like me, still can see distinct stages... wonder what the next step will be...
started out just anyhow point camera, as long as got what i want somewhere in the picture can already. after awhile got sick of how ugly my pictures turned out and gave up on cameras.
one day, took a small camera on a trip. was travelling alone, so started to try to take interesting pictures just for something to do. in the end, the result was quite different from the older pix. then got a digital camera, another jump in framing/composition. taking pix started to become less of pointing camera at something and more of trying to capture how i saw something.
recently upgraded to a prosumer. partly cos of all the new functions, technical skills improved, became more aware of exposure, dof, pix also much sharper than in the past.
now working on post-processing skills. have gone thru old photos and realised that less is more, no more of those oversaturated, oversharpened, horrible pix.
so yah, gradual. but for a newbie like me, still can see distinct stages... wonder what the next step will be...
It can depend on a variety of factors from one's exposure, passion, depth in one's thought in photography, inspiration, etc....
A person's progress can be gradually slow whereas on the other end, he can also experience a quantum leap given the right circumstances and enlightenment -- scientifically speaking, could be the rapid creation of neurological pathways in this specific field.
A person's progress can be gradually slow whereas on the other end, he can also experience a quantum leap given the right circumstances and enlightenment -- scientifically speaking, could be the rapid creation of neurological pathways in this specific field.
Hmm.... Initially I used my P&S and take. Think very sat kee liao until I got my DSLR, I thought I'll be king of the world until... I turned to P mode and fired my first shot....
I nearly fell off my chair! Its SOOOO HORRIBLE!!!! Until I realised that I had not learnt 'em all as I'd thought myself to be, so had to go back to basics and shoot again.
Recently started shooting again, and realised all the damned mistakes again, especially handshake. Saturday I'm going to Turf City, come back post photos. And plz tell me that my photos look like crap if not I'll never improve.
I nearly fell off my chair! Its SOOOO HORRIBLE!!!! Until I realised that I had not learnt 'em all as I'd thought myself to be, so had to go back to basics and shoot again.
Recently started shooting again, and realised all the damned mistakes again, especially handshake. Saturday I'm going to Turf City, come back post photos. And plz tell me that my photos look like crap if not I'll never improve.
Sion said:
Yes it's gradual if you are not stubborn to learn and adapt new technology.
Second it's that mental block that always elude us all. If you can surpass that, then you are on the way.
Learning with a positive attitude will move you forward with each single step and gradually towards your desired goal.
However a person learning to hold the camera is making a positive step towards learning photography but when he discovers that there is no other way to keep the camera still during short exposures....he ponders.... but still refuse to get himself a better tripod. In this circumstances, is he learning gradually?
Very often most learners of photography can't even see the stars when it is dark enough for they won't believe that in school they get the lesson and then take the test.
But the better photography learning programs learners take the test and then get the lesson.
-------------------------------
Photographers lacking charisma
can often be seen in their work
and this is usally fatal to them.
However a person learning to hold the camera is making a positive step towards learning photography but when he discovers that there is no other way to keep the camera still during short exposures....he ponders.... but still refuse to get himself a better tripod. In this circumstances, is he learning gradually?
Very often most learners of photography can't even see the stars when it is dark enough for they won't believe that in school they get the lesson and then take the test.
But the better photography learning programs learners take the test and then get the lesson.
-------------------------------
Photographers lacking charisma
can often be seen in their work
and this is usally fatal to them.
Sion said:
Sometimes, technology can drive sudden improvement - usually when it overcomes limitations that photographers had learned to live with, but never really liked.
To pick the obvious example, relatively few people used to have their own darkroom for a variety of reasons, but most households already have a computer.
Where it used to be that the average photographer would hand off the film to a photofinisher (and, if s/he was lucky, get it back without scratches) and was completely at the mercy of the operator or an automated machine on how the picture was printed, now pretty much everyone is in control of how the prints will turn out. Finally, people get the picture they wanted, not an averaged-to-middle-grey mass product, at a very affordable price.
This kind of enabling technological change empowers people. Give people better tools, and they will put them to good use.
Similar changes have happened in the past: when plates became more sensitive, people started photographing dynamic scenes; when cameras became small and lightweight, reportage photography and non-arranged photos became practical.
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