We all suck at photo taking most of the time...

Well i think anything that is perfect technically is crappy and meaningless unless it has an emotional aspect and that's what really matters...Like there was yesterday the graduation projects of the cinematographers, and some were perfect technically, no mistake, no i'll tell u just one, except for the technical aspects for the director, the movie was empty...

Some people weren't that great technically, but they made a great impact on people watching, a movie of no more than 10 minutes...ART is shocking, bruising, if it's not then it's not art...

I agree with rudi here, what's good what's bad, yet u cna jusdge ur own photos since u've judged that this could be a shot from the 1st place...
Anyhow, somebody ahs mentioned in a thread that i don't remember that photography(i'm not sure if it was a quote or someone expressing himself) is the art of keeping ur souvenirs in a unique way...So it depends on how u look at it.
 
dim said:
Some people will talk about the Form/Content relations, others will talk about the originality or about the relations between volumes, etc. My perception on this is very vague. I like photos that have something more to see (of feel) from the picture it’s self. I like each one of those who will see them to give their own description of the photo, if possible.

How many photographs have I that fulfill the above? In a year I do photography I have about 90 rolls shot. On these 90 rolls I like about five pictures. This, always in my opinion, is not bad for a newcomer. From the rest, 90% has nothing to offer and 10% has something that interests me and I would like to explore it further.
Click to expand...
A lot of my pictures are triggers to my brain 🙂 ... they release emotions, feelings I had at the time I took the picture. But I learned that this are just triggers for my brain, nothing else. For me there are 90% 'good' pics, for everybody else there are maybe 1% 'good' pics.

What do I learn from this? Nothing. (Now I have a Monty Python song in my brain ... Always look on the bright side of live .... 🙂)))

/rudi
 
For me too, good shots are not equal to correctly exposed and composed ones. Most people here I suspect can take the latter without problems, but most of the time the only impression from looking at them would be "so what?".

A professional shot doesn't mean a good shot either: just a shot of a person who happens to earn money that way (and those tend not to screw up too badly). There are many million news shots done each year by professionals, yet few of them make to the world press photo nominees, or are at least worth a second glance.

I consider my shot good if me and most of the skilled photographers that have a chance to see it would find it good. Occasionally I am overly enthusiastic about some captures, and other's (qualified) opinion to put this in perspective. Then, as time passes the enthusiasm wears off: that helps a lot too.

I strive to get at least one good shot from a 36 exp roll; I consider myself lucky when I have 3 or 4 of them. I shoot consciously however, at times when I see potential in a scene. So I sometimes walk with a camera for a day not taking a single shot; if I was working more chaotic approach I suspect my hit/miss ratio would be pathetic.
 
I guess that every one of Us should define for him/herself what is "good", what is not, and what do we expect from our pictures.
If any or many of my pictures "triggers my brain" (quote) or not, is my personal issue, as long as the same picture would be nothing for other people. No doubts about.

My ratio is low, very low. I must be honest with myself. 1 in 36 is a fair ratio, but sometimes I got 0 of many more...

In another thread I stated that I adhere to the principle that the picture is ready at shutter closure. This holds true disregarding the results. This is something I decided and thats valid for myself, just because I´m trying to improve and have the minimum trouble at printing stage. The only allowance I admit for myself is just a little cropping,
This forces me to be carefull when composing as long as I can, and to expose properly for the effect I wanted to show.
But perhaps, the picture that triggers anyone´s brain is not the best exposed, or the best focused... there is something beyond technical issues what makes a blurred, out of focus or even not perfectly exposed negative either the award winning one, or the picture we can be proud of for the rest of our lives.

I´ve been shooting film since I was 12 y.o. and forty years later, I can see improvements. I started with a folding 6 x 9 foldable, then switched to RF, later to SLRs... and now both of the last types. What I´ve been doing all these years was mostly perfectly focused and exposed pictures, but very few of them were good enough to allow me to say "this one is a real good one".
There was a time when I was travelling a lot for working. Then I decided to buy a small APS just to "travel light". Nothing could be worse: I got only documentary type pictures, nothing exciting... flat... poor, then I decided OK, back to SLRs. After carrying a bunch of lenses I found that I´v been shooting mostly with a 50 mm lens... then, I decided why not to buy a new RF?
I bought a Kiev 4.
And my pictures showed dramatic improvements...

This "limited" camera forced me to think and to do my best not to miss all the shoots.

As long as I can stay in this way, I would improve, and I will.
However, I still admit that actually my pictures leaves a lot to desire!
Best regards to all!
Ernesto.
 
Well, in all this doom and gloom about missing the shot or how the majority of our shots are bad, we are missing one of the most important and rewarding aspects of photography: it makes you see the world as art. It makes you appreciate the beauty in the mundane, brings your attention to light and color, and makes you aprehend the significance of fleeting moments. If you shoot black and white, it helps you look beyond color to see the texture, shape and reflectance of objects. Overall, it makes you engage with the world in a way that most non-artists, writers or photographers are not always wont to do. I think it ultimately leads to a more fulfilling life. Or maybe that's just how I look at it....

I wanted to show three photos too. Just to illustrate a point. What the point is, i don't know.

GOOD
PAR42251.jpg

Cartier-Bresson
BAD
rygg-slam.jpg

Stuart Richardson
GOOD
KateMoss03.jpg

Terry Richardson
 
I don't agree with you Stuart. 🙂 I don't think this one of Matisse is that good, the birds in the foreground are very distracting, and HCB took a much better one in this series that is taken from the side of the painter that clearly shows him holding the bird up (fairly high) and sketching it on the pad.

Also, don't be so hard on yourself - your shot of the table-tennis player shows a nice DOF distinction between figure & background. 🙂

And I hope that Terry Richardson isn't a relative or a forum member but I find that shot of a young woman a bit contrived.

 
Well Peter, it goes to show that taste differs. I think the birds on the cage make the HCB picture. As for my picture, while it is not the worst picture I have taken, it is probably among the worst I have online for all to see. Anyway, I just don't think it is interesting or well executed.

Terry Richardson is not a relative of mine, nor a forum member, but a very successful and famous photographer with a style that some call unique and some call perverse/talentless/porn and just plain awful. He does all his stuff on a Yashica T4 and the above photo is probably among the most professional of his shots. Sure, it is vulgar, but ultimately I think it is a successful image. As for many of his other images....well....I am not going to go there. They are really not my forte.
 
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