Jer Loc: Mesa, Arizona

No, no, no. Photojournalists are lucky because they shoot hundreds of photos. They are "lucky" because they know what a good photo is. I started in the day of film (12,24, and 36 exposure). My first press camera was a 4x5 speed graphic. One picture every minute or two.

yes, high frames rates are used but even that depends. Nothing worse than coming back with the speakers eye's closed. So a bunch of frames might solve that.

As photojournalists we aren't paid to fail. Our editors want good photos. Wee won't keep our jobs if we come back without a good photo. Some of my best were one single photo. Then the moment was gone.

Of course, all of our photos won't win top awards but they are something we are proud to show.

Photograph gives you endless variations. Look at others works. Look at art work. Forget about post processing outside of maybe exposure, cropping (if you really need to), and color temperature and take the baby steps to learn the craft. If you are wondering why I say that, it's because in my portion of the field that's all we get to do.

For my personal stuff,I can do anything I want depending on my vision.

Bottom line again.... learn what you can, evaluate your photos and practice..practice..practice.

Jer Loc: Mesa, Arizona

Depends
Probably, 90 to 99.
I've had a few wildlife shoots where I came back with nothing usable. The sun, the clouds, and the animals wouldn't cooperate. But the next week was great.

Of course, weddings are another matter. You might discard 20 to 50 percent.

Jer Loc: Mesa, Arizona

Depends
Probably, 90 to 99.
I've had a few wildlife shoots where I came back with nothing usable. The sun, the clouds, and the animals wouldn't cooperate. But the next week was great.

Of course, weddings are another matter. You might discard 20 to 50 percent.

Stef C Loc: Conshohocken (near philly) PA

This is a copout reply, it hardly has anything to do with post processing. it's shadows and depth of field like the other posters have been saying.

amehta Loc: Boston

One thing to consider is how do you learn? It could be by doing something, watching someone else doing it, attending a lecture about how it should be done, or reading a book about doing it. Having a sense of what combination works best for you will help you spend your time and money wisely as you try to improve.

A second consideration is feedback, either from others or from yourself. If you don't know if you are doing something "correctly", you cannot learn how to do it better. You need to decide how much feedback you can give yourself, and how you can get feedback from others.

Meives Loc: FORT LAUDERDALE

You nailed it! This to me is the best use of the UHH. Feedback. David

bobfitz Loc: Kendall-Miami, Florida

Very good point. I like to compare my photos to people's work that I consider to be superior to mine. Not the only way but a very good way to progress.

MtnMan Loc: ID

Join your local camera club.

Get Scott Kelby's digital photography series of five books.

Then practice!

One of the more subtle things to lean is to pay as much attention to your background as you do to your subject. It will often require you to change your camera position.

Similarly, if taking landscapes to get something interesting in the foreground to lead the viewers eye into the frame where you want them to go.

Then comes the stuff about lighting and exposure.

jethro779 Loc: Tucson, AZ

I thought it was "The harder I work the behinder I get."

MtnMan Loc: ID

That is one of the great advantages of joining a good photo club. You see other's photos and hear the feedback they get. You get to submit photos and get direct feedback from accomplished photographers.

Although I've taken snapshots all my life, including with a film SLR for about 30 years, I only decided to get into digital photography in a big way about three years ago. I joined the local club and got some good equipment.

This year all three of my submissions to the State Fair got ribbons: one blue (first place) and two red (second place). Just goes to show even old dogs can sometimes learn a new trick!

You can do the same or better! Enjoy.

MtnMan Loc: ID

It isn't possible to produce any photo without post processing. All you have without post processing is a digital negative. None would win anything any more than Ansel Adam's negatives.

A first choice is whether you are going to start your post processing in your camera, which is quite limited, or take the RAW file elsewhere where you have much more control on the post processing. A jpeg image from any camera has been post processed.

Then there will be further processing to get something you can see; either a printed image or an image on a screen.

There are some photographers who become so proficient with their camera's post processing limited capabilities that they can get along much of the time with it plus some other aids such as filters and flash arrays. They usually work in a limited range of photography.

jvo Loc: left coast of the east coast

best tool to take better photographs is TIME. time studying photographs and photography OR time with your subject!

jvo

skingfong Loc: Sacramento

I understand where you're coming from. When I first started, all I cared about was getting good shots out of the camera thinking about focus, composition, DOF and lighting. That's first and foremost. You can't fix out of focus or DOF in PP. The old saying goes "garbage in, garbage out". In the beginning, I originally thought if I have to PP every shot, my shooting and technical skills need serious improvement. PP is just a crutch. So I avoided it because I was too lazy to PP every shot. I just wanted to shoot.

Now I've crossed over to the other side. After using Lightroom and PS, I see how it works. I've accepted PP. I've seen the pros use PP to enhance their images. It's just a part of their workflow. It's also another skill one has to learn. Now I think PP is a way of enhancing, not a crutch. It also gives the pros a little extra edge. They're hardly ever satisfied with what's coming straight out of the camera. PP is good as long as it's not overdone.

That's what I should have said in my original post.

bunuweld Loc: Arizona

At least as important as knowing how to use your camera is to refine your vision of the surroundings. Take a subject with different light conditions. Something that attracts you visually, be it a landscape or something else, and photograph at different times of the day. Something photographed at noon on a sunny day may look flat and uninteresting. Taken early or late in the day in a semi-cloudy day the subject may become dramatically beautiful. Our brain tends to see the scene in an analytic way. When we extract the scene .
onto a printed surface by photographing it, the analytic portion takes second place and the partly hidden beauty of the scene becomes more visible. Learning to see what the camera sees is a first step towards good photography.

srfotog Loc: Northeast Pennsylvania

Study, practice and use a tripod, shutter release and mirror up position. Oh, and practice, practice, practice.