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I totally agree with all of this. The cult of oversharing has devalued everything to the point of bankruptcy. Twenty years ago I didn't care what you had for

I totally agree with all of this. The cult of oversharing has devalued everything to the point of bankruptcy. Twenty years ago I didn't care what you had for dinner. Including a uncomposed phone pic of it doesn't mean I care now. Twenty once daily bad photos of your cat? No. The photos that I do care about - the well composed image from my semi-pro photographer friend, the photo of the meal celebrating your 20th anniversary or the photo of your animal companion doing something unusual are lost in the sea of mediocrity. I consistently took more pictures when I used a film SLR than I do now. I've almost completely stopped taking photos, and losing interest in photography. When we had film, we'd throw away the bad ones, and just keep the highlights. I'd take 36, and end up keeping just one. Now we take so many that we can't filter. But they're nearly all fit for the bin. Everyone now thinks they're a photographer though. Clearly they're not.

fluxquanta 11y ago
I find these comments interesting, because I'm on the other end of the spectrum when it comes to photography -- I'm just now getting into it more than just casual phone photos. My father was a professional photographer back in the 70's. Not famous by any means, but a number of shots were published in magazines. He's getting up there in age. It feels like photography might be a way that I could connect with him a bit more since we're not super close, and I've been yearning to do something creative and artistic. So I decided to pick it up by purchasing a new DSLR and a few lenses. After refreshing my memory on ISO, aperture, shutter speed and taking a few hundred exposures I realized...photography is not easy. You can take thousands of photos and apply Instagram filters to them to your heart's content, but they just feel empty. So now I'm letting the camera collect a bit of dust while I read about theory and composition, and looking at others' photos to find out what makes them appealing (or not appealing).
- asteadman 11y ago
  I'm just going to throw this out there: If you want to become a better photographer you do it through practice and repetition, not theory. I know it's the counterpoint to this thread, but don't let your camera collect dust, use it every day. Critique and then delete your own work. Get muscle memory to be your friend so you never miss that split second where you have the perfect shot. Obviously there is always more to learn (and you should), and clearly i'm NOT advocating that you upload all of your photos to instagram/facebook. But I am suggesting you will learn more by doing then you ever will reading theory. That being said, I bought Understanding Exposure http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Exposure-3rd-Edition-Photographs/dp/0817439390 http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Exposure-3rd-Edition-Pho... based on some HN recommendations (i think), and it covered the basics of everything I needed to know from a technical perspective. I recommend it if you are starting out.
  - fluxquanta 11y ago
    Just finished that book last night, actually. And perhaps I was being a little over dramatic with the "collecting dust" bit. I've used the camera everyday since I've gotten it, if not just to drill the features and how to access them into my head. And also, part of the reason why I've been reading more than shooting for the past week has been that spring still hasn't come yet up here, and I haven't wanted to stand outside in the below freezing cold during the ~2ish hours of daylight after I get home from work.
    - asteadman 11y ago
      Appears that you're upstate New York from your previous comments. I'm in Edmonton, Canada. For half of the year it is literally dark when I go to work in the morning and dark when I drive home. I'm envious of your 2 hours. (Of course the flip side is that the other half of the year it's never dark).
      - fluxquanta 11y ago
        Ah, okay. I'm about an hour south of Ottawa, actually. Not quite as bad as up in Edmonton, I'm sure, but I can relate to the winter darkness. Between November and March I'm lucky if I get a cold 15 minutes of sunshine on my drive in to work in the morning.
- anexprogrammer 11y ago
  I agree with asteadman. You'll improve far more with practice than reading about theory. The most useful exercises I ever did were in school photography club - most weeks they'd set us somewhere boring to burn a couple of rolls of b&w film with "interesting" shots. I found this really difficult to start - everything turned out terrible. I think that was the point. So take the camera somewhere dull and burn a few dozen shots. For instance go in the kitchen and find some interesting compositions, like a dripping tap. Experiment with unusual angles, framing, depth of field, very long and very short exposures and extreme closeups. Can you get some interesting effect or a sunset reflecting in the chrome at the same time? How can you make it more creative? Go in the garage and do the same with a drill, a saw, or a car wheel. Portraits are a whole new can of worms, so a sympathetic partner or family pet helps. You'll start to use longer lens than phone, be further back, and take much more flattering portraits. I'm sure there's some websites out there with better ideas for learning composition than me. It's a little like the process artists call "learning to see". You'll gain internal awareness of what might make an interesting photo, and see the framing, and notice the light, rather than just taking snapshots. And sometimes none of this applies, the best photo is being there at that moment with a camera :)
  - fluxquanta 11y ago
    Right, I tend to agree, but as I noted in my response to asteadman, the weather hasn't been kind to going out and finding interesting shots outside yet, and my little one bedroom apartment has been getting a bit stale. I've taken at least 20 or 30 shots of my bookshelf, for example. Reading about composition can only help me prepare for spring when interesting things (and people) finally emerge from this frozen wasteland that is upstate New York.
    - anexprogrammer 11y ago
      Yeah cold and dark isn't the best mix for encouraging you! Does sound like you're doing the right things, so good luck with it.

fluxquanta 11y ago

I find these comments interesting, because I'm on the other end of the spectrum when it comes to photography -- I'm just now getting into it more than just casual phone photos. My father was a professional photographer back in the 70's. Not famous by any means, but a number of shots were published in magazines. He's getting up there in age. It feels like photography might be a way that I could connect with him a bit more since we're not super close, and I've been yearning to do something creative and artistic. So I decided to pick it up by purchasing a new DSLR and a few lenses. After refreshing my memory on ISO, aperture, shutter speed and taking a few hundred exposures I realized...photography is not easy. You can take thousands of photos and apply Instagram filters to them to your heart's content, but they just feel empty. So now I'm letting the camera collect a bit of dust while I read about theory and composition, and looking at others' photos to find out what makes them appealing (or not appealing).

asteadman 11y ago
I'm just going to throw this out there: If you want to become a better photographer you do it through practice and repetition, not theory. I know it's the counterpoint to this thread, but don't let your camera collect dust, use it every day. Critique and then delete your own work. Get muscle memory to be your friend so you never miss that split second where you have the perfect shot. Obviously there is always more to learn (and you should), and clearly i'm NOT advocating that you upload all of your photos to instagram/facebook. But I am suggesting you will learn more by doing then you ever will reading theory. That being said, I bought Understanding Exposure http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Exposure-3rd-Edition-Photographs/dp/0817439390 http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Exposure-3rd-Edition-Pho... based on some HN recommendations (i think), and it covered the basics of everything I needed to know from a technical perspective. I recommend it if you are starting out.
- fluxquanta 11y ago
  Just finished that book last night, actually. And perhaps I was being a little over dramatic with the "collecting dust" bit. I've used the camera everyday since I've gotten it, if not just to drill the features and how to access them into my head. And also, part of the reason why I've been reading more than shooting for the past week has been that spring still hasn't come yet up here, and I haven't wanted to stand outside in the below freezing cold during the ~2ish hours of daylight after I get home from work.
  - asteadman 11y ago
    Appears that you're upstate New York from your previous comments. I'm in Edmonton, Canada. For half of the year it is literally dark when I go to work in the morning and dark when I drive home. I'm envious of your 2 hours. (Of course the flip side is that the other half of the year it's never dark).
    - fluxquanta 11y ago
      Ah, okay. I'm about an hour south of Ottawa, actually. Not quite as bad as up in Edmonton, I'm sure, but I can relate to the winter darkness. Between November and March I'm lucky if I get a cold 15 minutes of sunshine on my drive in to work in the morning.
anexprogrammer 11y ago
I agree with asteadman. You'll improve far more with practice than reading about theory. The most useful exercises I ever did were in school photography club - most weeks they'd set us somewhere boring to burn a couple of rolls of b&w film with "interesting" shots. I found this really difficult to start - everything turned out terrible. I think that was the point. So take the camera somewhere dull and burn a few dozen shots. For instance go in the kitchen and find some interesting compositions, like a dripping tap. Experiment with unusual angles, framing, depth of field, very long and very short exposures and extreme closeups. Can you get some interesting effect or a sunset reflecting in the chrome at the same time? How can you make it more creative? Go in the garage and do the same with a drill, a saw, or a car wheel. Portraits are a whole new can of worms, so a sympathetic partner or family pet helps. You'll start to use longer lens than phone, be further back, and take much more flattering portraits. I'm sure there's some websites out there with better ideas for learning composition than me. It's a little like the process artists call "learning to see". You'll gain internal awareness of what might make an interesting photo, and see the framing, and notice the light, rather than just taking snapshots. And sometimes none of this applies, the best photo is being there at that moment with a camera :)
- fluxquanta 11y ago
  Right, I tend to agree, but as I noted in my response to asteadman, the weather hasn't been kind to going out and finding interesting shots outside yet, and my little one bedroom apartment has been getting a bit stale. I've taken at least 20 or 30 shots of my bookshelf, for example. Reading about composition can only help me prepare for spring when interesting things (and people) finally emerge from this frozen wasteland that is upstate New York.
  - anexprogrammer 11y ago
    Yeah cold and dark isn't the best mix for encouraging you! Does sound like you're doing the right things, so good luck with it.