What limits you as a photographer? What is your Achilles heel?

I'm with Stewart: lethargy, mostly. Also, I need a purpose for my pictures. That doesn't mean that every single picture is shot for a reason, but I have to have some sort of`publication in mind.

After that, it's just practice, practice and more practice. I don't necessarily agree with the OP that " One must have the ability to visualize the image mentally, then frame it and shoot it," though. That's what the viewfinder is for. Sometimes I visualize a picture. More often, I see it and shoot it. My most successful pictures normally come from the latter procedure.

It doesn't matter much what equipment I use, so I like my gear to be as 'transparent' as possible, i.e. I want to spend more time on framing the picture right than on working the camera, and I don't want to spend much time on either. Most of my best pictures have been "see it; shoot it."

EDIT: Oh, and one more thing: impatience. The longer I have to wait before I think it's the right time to press the shutter release, the less happy I am.

Cheers,

R.
 
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My ratios are all wrong.

The ratio of negatives shot to negatives scanned.
The ratio of negatives scanned to photos printed.
The ratio of photos printed to photos shown or shared.
The ratio of cameras owned to the number that can be used at one time.
The ratio of cameras bought per year to the number sold.
 
Can relate to many posts in this thread especially the ones about being too timid.

Go through life "seeing" all the great shots. Never actually taken one though. I am my most limiting factor.
 
It's the equipment. If I only had M9 Titanium Edition (with that fancy holster from the ad) my photos would be much better!!

Kidding aside, I agree with almost all the posts above. I believe it's the combination of fast paced suburban life and not having the time to go out on my own. I am almost always with someone and can't really take my time to properly take the scene in.

However, I noticed when I go to my holiday house away from busy city life and have a rare chance wind down and venture out on my own in the morning and evening the rate of keepers goes up instantly.
 
I'd say my greatest weakness is that I tend to hurry, not impatience -- I can wait for a picture to happen for a long time (I've been known to sit in a spot for an hour until it happens...not often that happens mind) but when street shooting I can rush and mis-focus, I am getting better by taking my time more.

My other weakness that I am very conscious of is that in suburban situations I don't always have the gumption I have in urban settings to do the people street shots, I eventually get them but I find it much harder going to get there. I'm trying to figure out what it is about an urban situation with a lot of people makes me feel comfortable where a suburban situation where it can be just me and them on the street that makes me a little unsure of taking the picture. I'm struggling to understand why lots of people around make it easier. more opportunity? They're distracted in the crowd because I am one of the crowd? Maybe, maybe not? Safety in numbers?

Also emerging as a weakness as I try to write a foreword for my book is my complete inability to write anything satisfactory about the project. I certainly don't want to write a load of old academic pony, I want something that captures my erm well demeanour which may given some indication as to why I take pictures a certain way, why I'm interested or drawn to certain scenes and being bold enough to write what I think without it taking over the whole passage. It's hard going. I don't want to write a whole splodge of text that's indecipherable babble about composition and social values, societal function and that crap because well, I don't often understand the introductions or essays in photography books (probably my lack of intelligence about the arts and my bloody minded stubbornness that refuses to pontificate just because I now have a small book under my belt, it's not who I am.) So maybe that's my greatest weakness but I just remind myself this is why I take pictures, because for some things, I don't personally have the words or indeed the understanding of what it is I am actually doing bizarre as it sounds as for me photography is something of unabashed enjoyable aesthetics (even of a negative scene, aesthetically I find something I enjoy.)

Now I really have written a load of old pony. :D

Vicky
 
Inability to photograph people / situations without feeling I have their OK. A respect for privacy overrides instincts to capture a moment.
 
Since acquiring an M5 and concentrating so much on the different metering, I was regularly forgetting to focus. Unbelievable. I've cured that now. I agree with the OP: I need to think more photographically about framing and angle of view choices and where to put the shapes in the frame. For Roger this must be automatic, but while we are learning it is important to be deliberate about things that later may become automatic. Part of that training is reviewing my photographs and discovering that ones I've initially dismissed are better than others I preferred after first taking them. There was a great thread on this picture editing issue some months ago. And yep, I missed a beautiful shot yesterday for not asking in a situation where I had a better than even chance of a positive.
 
Really good photographers are driven. They live and breathe photography, and everything else is secondary. I'm not in that league. Work and family responsibilities are my primary concerns and they use up most of my time and energy. What is left can be used for personal pursuits, and laziness cuts into that small portion.

But that's okay, I don't want to be anywhere else.
 
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SciAggie said:
I am curious to hear what you feel your shorcomings are. What is your achilles heel?
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Number one would be a lack of talent as it pertains to the visual arts. The only thing I do worse than photography is painting/drawing.

Number two would definitely be having way too many cameras with no real focus on any particular methodology or system.

Still have a lot of fun with it and probably (hopefully) always will.
 
Over the past year or so I've focused a lot more on collecting and aquiring gear than actually taking photos. I need to go back to shooting with just one camera and lens. I was so much happier with my images when I had that limitation. I think I take much better images when I'm not worried about which camera(s) and lenses to take.
 
Lack of talent as in the ability to see what would make a good image. I've been out a few times with a friend who does have this talent and I'm amazed at what images he gets compared to my drivel.

Ronnie
 
Mostly lack of money. There are certain projects I just can't do right now because they would require too much money. Not insane, unrealistic amounts of money, but when you're broke spending even $500 on a shoot is out of the question.
 
For the last two years.....being stuck in a dead end temp job that has lasted many years longer than it should have where I work 7 days a week and am so drained I have not taken my M8 out in months.

That and problems with depression brought on by said job and lifestyle.

Also getting backlogged with photos that I have taken years ago but have not been able to get around to dealing with.
 
The nagging feeling that somebody else has already taken a shot exactly like the one I am about to, only better.
 
i treat my dslr like a street photographer, so the majority of my shots, while composed and thought through, are not the images i would like so much to explore. the ones where i put serious time and effort into making a photograph as opposed to just taking one. not that i feel like any less of a photographer one way or the other, but thats what i feel i am lacking in my personal portfolio.

is it a crime to have a small dream to pull some la'chappelle-esque shots sometime in my lifetime?

oh, and depending way way way too much on my instruments, i need to be able to fly without sometimes, and i couldnt live without my built-in light meter and instant feed back on exposure via the lcd display right now. it kinda sickens me.
 
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