gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

I'll admit it, I'm mostly a snap shooter. Every once in a while I get a good one. But I struggle with the quandary of why I take a particular photo, what it was that drew me to a particular scene. I'm stuck in the snap shooter's box.

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

With respect, I am not quite sure why you posted this. Are you asking for advice or just telling us you aren't a very good photographer. I have photos that come out fantastically great and on the other hand I have photos that just don't come out very well at all. I suspect we all do/did that at one time. If you are using a digital camera most photos can be retaken if the subjects are still present. A few days ago I opened my mailbox to find a juvenile black widow spider inside. I raced into the house, attached my flash to my camera and started taking photos. I needed to adjust the flash so I did that and still did not get my normal depth of field. I chalked it up to having very little room to photograph, the inside of a mailbox, that is. When I got back in the house and downloaded the photos to my computer only 2 of about 20 were useable. I mean useable in that the focus was acceptable to at least see the hourglass on the abdomen. But later I checked the camera which I should have done first as the spider didn't seem as though he was going anywhere soon. Normally for my macro shots I put the camera on manual for exposure settings and manual focus. This time the manual focus was fine but I didn't even look at the exposure settings as I should have. The last time I had taken photos (I thought) was for macro shots so it should have still set up for macro shots, f16 at 250. Alas it wasn't and my photographs were not what they should have been.

The reason I tell you this is because we all forget our settings, we all lose sight of composition at times, we all have our head up our butt occasionally. Take a look at your photographs and see what it is you feel is wrong with them. Feel free to submit them to UHH so our experts can peruse them and come up with what it would take to improve them. For some people composition is a natural thing. Some look at a scene and take a photo and everything is perfect regarding composition. For people who are not like that there are some rules (not hard and fast but guides) that are worth knowing and using. The rule of thirds is one, as is the rule of not splitting your photo in two right at the horizon line. Sometimes this works but not always.

If you are more specific we can probably help you out,

Dennis

Ched49 Loc: Pittsburgh, Pa.

By snap shooter I guess you mean just take a quick picture of something let the camera worry about the settings. A lot of people are like that, i-phone users for sure. Most of the photo's I take, I'm not going to hang them in a museum anyway.

Mike D. Loc: Crowley County, CO.

It might help to take a moment when viewing other's work to see what you like (and conversely) what you may not like to see if you can replicate it.

Also, get out of Auto mode. I'm taking a guess here but when you rely on the camera to may all of the decisions it is not only conducive to staying in 'snap' mode but it really puts your creativity on the back burner.

Just personal experience talking here but don't be afraid to step out of a comfort zone. Yes, there will be some bombs in there but it's part of the learning curve.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

At time of shooting boldly ask yourself, "why am I taking this picture?" Carry a notebook and write down a short description of the reasons why if you think you may have trouble recalling later.

G Brown Loc: Sunny Bognor Regis West Sussex UK

I think it can be a sense that what you remember, the camera didn't capture. This happens a lot - especially if you only take a single composition. Your eye is a wonderful thing - in the sense that it works with your memories to make sense out of 'what is there'. You can be emotionally moved by a scene, But the camera has no emotional setting.

From a large scene you respond to a limited number of emotional stimuli. (you can 'shut out' clutter for example) Sometimes what you see cannot 'fit into the lens' in the way you think it should. Your eye constantly 'scans' by moving around and it also has a very wide angle of sight. You see in Panorama but capture in portrait. By taking several compositions you will home in on 'exactly' what you wanted to capture.

The old movie trick of forming a square between two hands (Touching thumbs) and looking through the square created at arms length (or closer) with one eye closed concentrates what you see in a 'picture frame'.

It could also be a case of 'taking a picture' just because you have the camera with you. You no longer look for 'an interesting or difficult shot' like you did when you first started....'that looks OK ' is now a reason to switch the camera on. A quick troll through the gallery here will get you asking 'Why did someone go to the bother to post that?'. Not saying its a bad image - just boring....(Personal Taste)
Be selective ( I hate people who suggest a 'certain number of shots per day' That is like counting cigarettes when you are quitting smoking) Some times 'there is nothing to shoot!' ....It is OK to keep on walking....If your mood is not right....you are worrying about something non-photographic....stop trying to 'fill your quota'. Enjoy the walk.

Set a task - It is coming Autumn....Find a big old Beech Tree (Or Aspen etc) Capture the leaves - play with that one subject, Dawn in mist or against a sunset. The fall of light: whatever the circumstances elicit in your emotions of that subject. Loose an Hour engrossed in photographing. Take as many images as you can. Once on the computer pick your top three images and delete the rest......Oooh that's Harsh! But NOW you are going to be happy with 'all' of the images you have.

When you were first taking pictures you were very selective - you got rid of a lot that were taken 'wrong' or badly. You had something 'to prove'. Now that the majority of your photo's are 'acceptable to most people' YOU are dissatisfied with them. So restart going for 'quality over quantity'.

Hope something here helps

Go have fun

via the lens Loc: Northern California, near Yosemite NP

...and?...a question? a desire? want to change? simply lamenting your fate?

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Time to get out of your rut. Get up early on these fall mornings, several are now filled with fog, go out and shoot early and also start shooting late into the day. Try something different and move on from there.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I do the same thing. Something catches my eye, and I push the shutter button. Whether I print it on metal at 24 x 36 or delete it is irrelevant. I like taking pictures. Just enjoy the process. Too much thinking can be hazardous to your health.

Brent Rowlett Loc: Atlanta, GA

Good photography happens when you set a goal, properly plan to attain the goal, and apply editing experience to the captured images.

When you spend thousands of dollars to capture that special shot you will start getting serious about photography. Right now a cell phone is all you need.

fourlocks Loc: Londonderry, NH

G Brown nailed it. Part of the problem you (and probably all of us) have, is that the eye/brain combination is vastly superior to even the most expensive camera. The eye provides a telephoto and wide angle lens view at the same time along with an incredible dynamic range and the brain does "post-processing" that puts the most expensive Photoshop software to shame. Routinely when I'm outdoors, I might take a shot what looks to me like a great scene of, say, the sun filtering through the leaves but when I see the result back on my monitor, it's dull and flat. As G said, our brain adds all sorts of enhancements to what we (think we) see and the trick, is to figure out what the camera will see, not what our eyes and brain see. Of course when you have a DSLR with a couple of 16GB memory cards, it's no big deal to shoot first and ask questions later. Just don't post them all, here!

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

A number of us have given good advice to what I STILL don't know exactly what the OP was asking or saying. As yet he has not come back to the thread to let us know if any/all of us were correct in our assumption of what his problem/question/desire was. As far as I am concerned all suggestions offered were just fine but we have no idea if they will work for him.

I can personally say I have taken photos before just because something looked interesting but when looking at the photo on my computer I realized for some reason I was not able to capture the essence of what made the scene so interesting as to have caught my eye. We all take snapshots, at least I do sometimes, when all I want to do is catch a moment in time; my son's first deer, a limit of trout my kids caught for dinner that night, cooked on a campfire. Other than getting a good exposure and everyone having their eyes open at the same time, my goal was only to catch that moment for viewing later. As my kids are gone now those photos are infinitely more important than any artsy photo I have taken since. But artsy photos do count as well. For those photos I TRY to look at the scene and visualize how best to photograph that scene so that my photo doesn't necessarily just mimic the scene but will also emphasize the scene so other viewers will see what made it so special to me. Thinking about what you want your end product to be helps to make a good photograph rather than a snapshot.

I hope the OP will come back to let us know....something.

Dennis

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

Thank you so much G. Brown. This was the perfect response. I needed the reminders.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

I think you are asking yourself questions that a "snap shooter" would not think to ask. Keep questioning and keep shooting.