How to become a better photographer

Originally Posted by bmattock
I think there are too many navel-gazers who worry altogether too much about how they might improve their abilities as a photographer.
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That's right people, just grab a camera (any camera) and get out and shoot! How you gonna learn photography when you sit around gazing at your bellybutton all day?
 
digitalintrigue said:
Indeed. When I do the Livestrong rides, there are many people with $6k Treks and Postal Service jerseys. (Well, now that the Postal team is gone, there are Discovery jerseys, and now Discovery is gone.) Many of them have rather large bellies and their bikes aren't properly fitted. The fast guys on the other hand usually have nondescript bikes and generic jerseys.

What's the difference between say an M8 setup and a $30K DSLR setup, when a $450 D40 is more than enough for 95% of the world?
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Gee, I guess my "White Clay Bicyle Club" jersey wouldn't be cool. When I rode a lot back in the '90s I didn't get spending $75 or $80 for the replicat pro jersey when the local club sold one of theirs for $30...

And since I'm 6'2", I was only faster than the out of shape poseurs who show up at many rides.
 
Its not about limiting yourself, but about having a purpose.
Simplifying things is fine until it becomes a straight jacket.
Shooting loads is great for learning until it becomes a waste.
I think the single most important thing - at least it was for me - was to learn more about myself; why I was doing what i was doing; why I was compelled; what was lurking beneath the surface and then pulling those things together with my technical skills to make images that make sense to me. In that context my own critique and that of others became so much more valuable.

Aimless practice with lots of feedback will tell you what precisely? shooting with one lens, when it might not fit in with your goals, might not help but inhibit. I think it starts with purpose/ideas. Maybe a lot of experimentation is required early on to decide the direction you want to go, but wandering about with one camera and one lens is not going to help that process.

There's only one way: your own. You either sink or swim. Embark upon lots of photography with no purpose or ideas ad get advise and critique from lots of people - oh my goodness, I can hardly imagine a recipe for more confusion. Follow your passion, enjoy what you do, and make your photography about you rather than everyone else.
 
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digitalintrigue said:
Indeed. When I do the Livestrong rides, there are many people with $6k Treks and Postal Service jerseys. (Well, now that the Postal team is gone, there are Discovery jerseys, and now Discovery is gone.) Many of them have rather large bellies and their bikes aren't properly fitted. The fast guys on the other hand usually have nondescript bikes and generic jerseys.

What's the difference between say an M8 setup and a $30K DSLR setup, when a $450 D40 is more than enough for 95% of the world?
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I like the parallel with cycling you've drawn, and it's one I can relate to quite a bit. Don't know how I missed it reading the thread first time around.

They look at you funny when you show up in cutoff jeans, riding a dirty, beat-to hell track bike. Don't like it when you're faster than they are, either.

Sort of like showing up to shoot a cycling event with a 400D for a magazine and people looking a bit mystified about the lack of "professional" equipment.

People spend so much time worrying about what to use for whatever and too little time learning how to do great things with what they already have.
 
David R Munson said:
Not sure about the "utter crap" part, but otherwise this is the truest thing said in the thread so far.
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Oh, come on! That's like saying If you want to be a better carpenter, you should only use Cobalt tools. The ONLY proven way of getting better as a photographer (or pretty much anything else) is to work like a dog at getting better. There are no shortcuts. A certain camera will not make you a better photographer, whether it be a Leica or an H2D. You'll just be a bad photographer with an expensive camera.

If you have poor compositional skills, for example, how exactly is looking at the scene through a Summicron instead of a Xenon going to help you to improve? If you don't know jack about lighting, how is holding an M6 going to help? If you haven't quite got the hang of depth of field, equivalent exposures, freezing/blurring motion and don't really know how aperture and shutter speed work, is a holographic instructor going to beam out of your Super Agulon, like Princess Leia from R2D2, and deliver an impromptu lecture on the subject? I can't think of one single instance when using a Leica -- or any other brand of camera of the same type -- would help a person to be a better photographer. All in all, the original post is truely epic in the annals of blatantly fallacious reasoning.

On the other hand, all of the woes mentioned in the previous paragraph (along with innumerable others) most certainly can be cured through hard work. Unless you are profoundly stupid, you can't shoot thousands of photos, looking hard for what went wrong, without finding a few of those things and drawing some conclusions. After seeing your own shadow cast on a few hundred subjects, for instance, most people are finally going to slowly get the idea, just maybe, that shooting with the sun directly behind them might not be the best idea they ever had. Whether they are looking at photos taken through an Elmar or a Skopar isn't really going to matter.
 
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FallisPhoto said:
Oh, come on! That's like saying If you want to be a better carpenter, you should only use Cobalt tools. The ONLY proven way of getting better as a photographer (or pretty much anything else) is to work like a dog at getting better. There are no shortcuts. A certain camera will not make you a better photographer, whether it be a Leica or an H2D. You'll just be a bad photographer with an expensive camera.
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Wait, what? I'm of the opinion that working hard is the important part, and that specific equipment isn't necessarily going to help make anyone a better photographer. I think there may be some confusion if you think I'm arguing otherwise.
 
David R Munson said:
Wait, what? I'm of the opinion that working hard is the important part, and that specific equipment isn't necessarily going to help make anyone a better photographer. I think there may be some confusion if you think I'm arguing otherwise.
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Sorry, I was reacting to the "Not sure about the "utter crap" part..." I think it is utter crap.
 
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