Extremely amateur photography

[LouCipherr]

Y'know what's weird? I agree with everything you said after reading it (even though I would've never thought of those aspects myself), but I planned literally none of that when I took the pic! Seriously, I should be thinking more about composition (and I do a little bit), but when you mention, for example, the railing on the pier terminates right in the top right corner - I wasn't even thinking about that when I took it. Most of the time, I think about the rule of thirds first (although, rules are made to be broken, so that's just a 'starting point') - then I compose with that 'sort of' in the back of my mind and start snapping away. I have a general idea of what I want to capture, and I have a (very) general idea of how to get it - but it's usually not until I go home, dump the pics on my computer and start sorting through them that I find some shots are really good, but most suck. I'm usually not aware the 'good ones' are happening in the moment, it's always later when I review them and say "oh wow! That turned out way better than I expected!" In fact, I think most of the pics I've posted on here were like that! Thanks for that analysis though - it's interesting how outside opinions can make you see clearly when sometimes, on your own, you just 'know' something is ok but you can't quite put your finger on why it's ok. Just to give you an idea of good shots vs. bad shots: I probably snapped off a good 200 pictures on this vacation (remember, they're in groups of 3 shots per photo since I'm doing HDR) and to be honest, I think I probably had about 10 or so "keepers" and the rest were... not "throwaways" per se, but certainly not stuff I would show anyone else. BTW: that 'gold' looking photo of the sunset on the water a few posts back? That photo was 100%, completely accidental. I had no idea it was going to turn out in that monochrome yellow/gold color like that. If fact, when I took it and looked at the preview on my camera, I thought "well, that didn't work" - it wasn't until later I looked at it on my computer and thought "hey, it DID work!" And one other tidbit: that's the only photo in these recent vacation pics that was not HDR. That was a single shot on "auto" setting on my K-x.

[MinionZombie]

Lou - while I've only got a straight forward point-and-click camera (well, it does have a few settings, but it fits in your pocket, so...) - I too just take a bunch of photos and see afterwards what good ones appear. Sometimes I'm just snap happy - like at a party, and I just go mad, but that's usually when you'll get a few really good 'just so' moments ... although, being party shots, most of them are a bit skew-wiff after a few Strongbows. With holiday snaps, again, just grabbing a bunch of shots and seeing what works after the fact as you say. Usually you don't have the time to, well, take your time, as you've got things to be moving on to, something to see, somewhere to be, or there's a bunch of bloody people all over the place, heh.

[LouCipherr]

Yeah MZ, I've realized it's best just to take multiple shots of everything you can and sort it all out later. You will find some nice shots within the 100-200 you took, and a few "wow!" shots, too. Last few... Another sunset/sand dune pic: And finally, this is a shot of the courtyard directly behind the hotel we were staying at. It didn't turn out that good (a bit of light 'poisoning' in the sky, due to a really bright light on the hotel next door), but I figured screw it, you can't always bat 1000. In fact, I'm lucky if I bat a 50, much less 1000. That'll wrap up the Atlantic Beach photos. The ones that were worth showing, anyway.

[Neil]

Thanks, MZ. Interesting story, too. Yeah, I like piers and boardwalks and all - it adds a bit more 'flavor' to the landscape around the ocean. I get a tad tired of staring at sand, sun, and water all day. That pier was about 2 blocks down from where we were staying, so I figured I'd head over there while taking pictures and see what came out of it. Now, as an experiment... Which does your eye prefer, the first photo of the pier I posted or this one: I personally like this 2nd one a tad bit more, but I'll be damned if I can explain why in words. It's really nothing more than a different angle on the thing, but it seems to make a lot of difference to my eyes.   Shame there's not a combination of the two, the length of the second (ie: lots of the peer in shot), with it ending in the middle of the image like the first. If you understand what I mean?

[LouCipherr]

Shame there's not a combination of the two, the length of the second (ie: lots of the peer in shot), with it ending in the middle of the image like the first. If you understand what I mean? Yes, I know exactly what you mean - and I kinda wish I would've thought about that at the time.. d'oh!

[Cykotic]

A few of mine from one of my favorite places in London... the Southbank Skatepark You may have to click on them. For some reason, my pictures uploaded on here as thumbnails... 1157499_10152144283223868_1425632918_n.jpg 945413_10152144284513868_1523395675_n.jpg 1176335_10152157829608868_116638710_n.jpg All taken with a Canon 7D and 18-55mm lenses.

[MinionZombie]

Nice pics Cykotic! You should do photography for skating magazines/websites.

[Cykotic]

I have been offered a few paid gigs because of them lol

[AcesandEights]

All taken with a Canon 7D and 18-55mm lenses. Nice action shots!

[Jeff Hillman]

I see this is an old thread, but it's interesting to track the changes in photography. Photo editing software became more sophisticated and more expensive as a result. What I mean is Lightroom, and its alternatives like Luminar. Some tools, on the contrary, became free like Nik collection. What editors do you use now?