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acetylcholine

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not sure if this shld be at kopitiam, anyway do relocate this thread if necessary.

I feel like quitting.

the reason for this is because for a while, not too long, i feel i've reached a plateau in my learning curve. not making progress and possibly ,in some instances, gone into decline. i cant blame anyone but it's just tht when i take pics i dont get any constructive replies. only the views at times, even my dad doesnt seem to bother much. plus there are so much limitations from my cam for the pics i love to take. even when i edit them, it's to salvage and not improve the pics. plus, not all can be salvaged or something.

i am just tired of doing the same amt of processing as everyone else where others are trying to improve their photos while i am only salvaging them. i dont feel i am learning anything. most of the time, reviews are given to the pros and they go "this is good! Nice composure"etc. for the rest, as i said earlier, it's "0 replies, x views"

i am quite tired of badgering with my dad abt getting a new cam even though he's not even sponsoring me a UV filter for starters. plus i would be using my own moola to get it. no offence to fellow lumix users but my dad really thinks my cam uses leica lens. go figure, how much does a real 1 cost ? when i showed him the noise and such of the photos i took from motorshow a few mths ago, he kept quiet and left the room. ok this is not abt dad-bashing nor am i putting him into the equation for quitting.

as much as i would love to challenge myself by submitting photos to contests, there is 1 major limitation, pixels. usually they require photos at least 4MP and abv. mine's 2MP. and my dad still tells me " nonsense, why do u need so many pixels, are u going to print all of them ? dont waste money. enlarge the picture lah"
so now, the first criteria i look at is, min size of photo. not age or other criteria.

right..2MP to 4MP.

i must admit, i've made alot of friends because of this hobby and i've seen alot of beautiful things, but i want to take, not just see, beautiful things.

goodbye
 

u still have the fm2 rite? why don't you go with that instead?
 

I see this as a culmination of your previous thread "How to convince him?" and apparently you've decided to give up. Perhaps it is for the better, saves your frustration of working with cameras you deem below your standard, and saves him from your badgering.

Hope that you can buy what you want, eventually, with your own money, and get back into photography.
 

Let me ask you, why did you pick up photography?
I believe it is either, a) you want to capture photos and keep it for remembrance, b) see other photographers very stylo and wanna be like them but now realised that you really suck at it.
I don't see a need to post all your pictures here to ask for comments but in the end no one bothers. I take pictures for my sake not others. So what if no one commented on your photos? if you really want to learn, print it out and show it to your friends or bring it down to SEED and I can guarantee that you'll learn from your mistakes and improve your skills.
Ask your daddy to buy you a new cam? I would rather save up my pocket money or go earn some and buy on my own.

Don't give up if photography is your interest, work harder. Nothing comes easy, and that's just life.
 

if i am you..i would just "buy first, talk later"....

but then..there are some fz1 users who can take noiseless photos..so its not the camera..but the person behind the cam.
 

Drudkh brings up a good point ... it sounds to me like you're trying to please others through your photography, and not yourself. And getting hung up on equipment rather than figuring out how to use what is on hand.

Take a step back (and quit for a while, if you must), figure out what's important, and use what you have. If you sell of all your gear and end up with just a disposable, that's fine. Learn how to use that disposable to capture images that *you* like.

Note that I said "capture images", not "take photos". Forget about rules on composition, style, zone systems, etc ... if what you captured pleases you, that's the battle won.
 

Seen many posts like yours before...

If u wanna quit, then quit. No point posting a thread here, hoping that people will pull u back into photography.

If you're angry with your dad (looks like quite a lot of people here are), you don't have to tell the whole world.

If you think you can take better pics with better equipment, then save some $, go find some part time job. Come back another day.

If U wanna jump off the building, give AdamGoi a call, he'll counsel U.

If you don't want to help yourself, no one else is going to help you.

Welcome to the real world.
 

Ha ha ... (A)Reality Bites ! :bsmilie:
 

Hello acetylcholine, I once felt the same. pictures from my ol' sony s85 just won't impress me anymore. recently i took some long shutter pics and the noise was just too much. And spending on film doesn't really sounds good when i use my film slr. I am still saving up for a D70.

I suggest you save up too. Don't quit just because you don't have a camera that is up to your expections. People can still write nicely with a 20cent pen to a thousand dollar exclusive pen. Cheers.
 

don't give up! there are much more left to be explored in photography. you mean, you have reached ur own plateau, doesn't mean there isn't anything left to learn. trying shooting purely in manual focus, and get at least 90% hits. trying exposing slides accurately without the aid of a light meter. work on your traditional b/w process/printing. learn about other alternative process .. albumen printing, bromoil print, polaroid transfers...argyrotype, platino-palladiotype, cyanotype printing processes...heck, i don't even know what i'm typing!! read up photography books and learn how you can approach your subjects differently. assist a professional photographer and learn tricks of the trade - learn a different camera system(MF, LF); understand light, lighting and how to manipulate them to create different moods. then maybe, you will start to approach photography in a fresh and exciting way again. the next time you pick up your camera, you will wonder...hmmm...how can i make it different this time?

then again you can just give up all together. you selling your FM2?
 

Stereobox said:
don't give up! there are much more left to be explored in photography. you mean, you have reached ur own plateau, doesn't mean there isn't anything left to learn. trying shooting purely in manual focus, and get at least 90% hits. trying exposing slides accurately without the aid of a light meter. work on your traditional b/w process/printing. learn about other alternative process .. albumen printing, bromoil print, polaroid transfers...argyrotype, platino-palladiotype, cyanotype printing processes...heck, i don't even know what i'm typing!! read up photography books and learn how you can approach your subjects differently. assist a professional photographer and learn tricks of the trade - learn a different camera system(MF, LF); understand light, lighting and how to manipulate them to create different moods. then maybe, you will start to approach photography in a fresh and exciting way again. the next time you pick up your camera, you will wonder...hmmm...how can i make it different this time?

then again you can just give up all together. you selling your FM2?

:bsmilie: :sweatsm: :sweatsm:
 

Seems after all this time you didn't take anyone's advice. In fact i didn't know you had an FM2. Is shooting with film really so degrading? Is it really beneath you? If it is, by all means shoot with digital. If noise is a problem, shoot in bright sunlight only. Don't try to shoot every single thing if your equipment doesn't permit it.

No money? Don't shoot sports and nature. Go for streets, landscape, still life. for 4MP versus 2MP? Heck i was recently told by a friend that his A3 prints produced by d30 images and 1ds images could not be told apart. Heck, i've even heard of 9m enlargements with a 4MP D2H? Can't 2MP produce a4 prints at least? Reexamine yourself. Some people own less than an FM2 and don't constantly whine on the forums. In fact, an FM2 is a popular manual cam and some pros do use it as well as many members of this forum. As you can see by Stereobox's enquiry, it's in demand.

Stop complaining about your equipment, I'd rather you complain about your technique instead. If you're not learning anything and think you're not getting anywhere with photography, quit and don't whine so much.
 

I am no phographer if compared to 1 percent of what you find on CS... but SO WHAT! . I still take photo's and believe I will improve with each photo I take.
The real critic is me in the end. If I am happy with my results, then I don't need someone to tell me so. I take photo's because I like to.

If you have a chance to do so; pack your camera away and go somewhere by yourself for a day or two with out it ... TOTALLY ALONE. During that time I am sure you will see things that will cause you to think :think: if only I had a camera... any camera.

That, or take up knitting. :bsmilie:
 

acetylcholine,

i've looked through your old posts, but i hardly see much posts. frankly, the images you posted didn't mean a thing to me at all, because i'm not an abstract shooter, nor landscape guy.

i went through a major disagreement with my dad before over the camera a year and half ago, but now things are back to a-ok (and i owe him $$$). i've hardly been shooting at all right now for the past month, only with occasional trips to shoot now and then. I've only shot on 6 occasions of my own will in September, only 5 times on October. But each time, I set a goal for myself, can I come up with images that are different from what others can come up with? Personally, I don't think anyone got a similar photo of the Action Asia Challenge last weekend that I got:

2004-10-24-actionasia-img_4430_std.jpg


A very good friend of mine taught me some things that I won't forget:
1. If I look into a magazine, the first thing I'll read are all about the cameras, then I'm a hardware-freak, and not a photographer. It would be a shame to call myself a photographer if I weren't!

2. Everything can be seen as art. This one I haven't grappled with yet, because I don't have "artists' blood" in me... yet.

Personal challenge is an important aspect of anything that an individual wants to excel in; but is it intrinsic or extrinsic? Too little, no kick; too much, too much stress. Gotta learn to handle it. I used a 640x480 webcam when I first started, just using that as a device to capture moments/places/people/events where I was, so that I can kickstart my memory when I'm older, but I looked through at the photos I shot then, and realized over 1/2 of them are just rubbish, and just me being arty-farty without the art and the fart :bsmilie:

Make the most of what you have now. Challenge is something you give yourself, and can control. :)

P.S. Photoshop was used to enhance the superduper underexposure that I did, to brighten things up a little for that photo, in case you're wondering what I did with it...
 

I think you're the one limiting what the equipment can do, not the other way round. If you can't master even a lumix it doesn't matter what you go up to next, the results will be the same.

If you feel an upgrade is the only way to break through, you're wrong, it doesn't, at least not for me, the only things I get out of it, is as what you mention now, less noise, better manual controls and more post processing effort.

Better images? No..., sorry to burst your bubble... but it doesn't work that way. :)
 

sometimes people don't reply because they think it's not nice to say "this is badly taken", or they can't find anything constructive to say.


camera limits you to a certain extent only. find a way around it. a DSLR doesnt make you take better photos, though i feel it did help me to take more photos and improve along the way.


anyway for me, i take photos to please myself. it's like mas************, in case you're too young to know what's that. self-satisfaction. if you like it it doesn't really matter if anyone else likes it or not right ? it's just a bonus if someone out there likes it too.



all the best in your future endeavours, i'm sure there'll be people willing to buy your fm2 at a good price.
 

Instead of asking what Nikon can do for u, show others what u can do with a Nikon.

Your signature already answered your question. While I don't deny equipment plays an important role in getting what you want. However if you're really can't afford to upgrade now, try shooting what you can with your current equipment. If photography is your hobby then don't think too much about contest now. You should take pictures that satisfy youself first. You still have long way to go, you'll have lots opportunities to own better equipments.

I owned 1.5MP digicam and produced very good looking picture, my colleaque who owns a 4MP was envy when he looked at my pictures. I've seen many pro looking pictures taken with compacts and really lousy ones taken with DSLRs.

When I started shooting birds I found my prosumer camera is very limiting in many aspects. While I can afford a DSLR, I can't justify the spending compared to my family needs. So I don't limit myself with birds, now I shoot more flowers and macros and still very happy :)

I believe your dad is in same position, IT'S NOT EASY TO RUN A FAMILY HERE.

Agree with AReality, get part-time job and buy one with your own money.
Borrow photography megazines from library, check the "profiles" section, you'll understand what a 30 yr old classic camera can do for you :)
 

my parents never paid for my cameras too.
i won my first camera.
my 2nd camera came half free because of sponsors.
it was a PnS 2MP IXUS V2 that i've used for nearly 3 years and have mastered it so well i can take even better pictures with it than with my current 3.2MP A75 that i saved so hard for and bought myself. yeah. i had to save money to get an A75 when many other first-timers here can buy 300Ds and D70s at the drop of a hat.. and they're younger than my kid brother. i still love the A75 though.

how do i know i've done well with my V2 photos? they got praised by many here in these forums actually. very simple, haha. i have friends who own DSLRs and cameras that cost more than twice my cam and all they can take are bloody snapshots that can be done with cheap webcams bought at SLS. the good ones come out nice partly because of their cameras, and luck. but noooooooooooo, their cameras are expensive leh, MUST BE GOOD ONE. I've seen far too many awesome 2MP shots and these are the masters, sometimes they even surpass the qualities given by those with huge ass cameras.

i kinda miss my V2 at the moment actually because i'm still grappling with the controls of the A75. it's never the camera, NEVER. go take a break or something, save money, eat less, just do something else. then come back after a while and see what you can come up with. sounds like "Photographer's Block" to me, if such a thing even exists. :sweat: :bsmilie:
 

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