RPSteiner

Elegantly put! I'm adding this to my quote list.

RPSteiner

Beautiful photos! I'm especially intrigued by #2. Where was that taken?

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

Never just take the one and initial shot, when you see something like that. Don't rush but take your time. Walk around to see it from all possible angles, you may find one that is even more appealing. That way you give yourself a good chance to walk away with at least one shot you like!

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

Walk Away?

Many decades ago, the first studio boss I work for was hiring new staff photographers. He placed a want-ad in the New York Times and there were many applicants. The boss asked me to help with interviews and screening the candidates. I was young and relatively new to "management" myself so I asked about the criteria. The boss sad "There are photographers who TALK a good job and photographers who actually DO a good job- they are seldom the same photographer". It held true and I never forgot that philosophy so oftentimes I think photographers talk too much about taking pictures instead of taking lots of pictures and perhaps I can expound on the theory and say that some photographers THINK too much instead of trusting their instincts and WORKING the job.

I mean- what do you have to lose by trying. You see something that you think would make a good picture so unless it's a ferocious wild animal that's gonna eat you, a hostile person with a gun who thinks your invading his privacy or an eminent natural disaster or explosion- WHY BACK AWAY? It's not even costing you any materials- remember- DIGITAL?

Let's talk landscapes. So many folks on this forum revere Ansel Adams- did the ever read any of his books? He wrote that if you see a scene that you like and you use a focal length slightly longer than normal, you will get a field of view and perspective pretty close to what you saw. When Ansel wrote that, he was using a big old view camera with a fixed lens. So... most of y'all are running around with at least a cool DSLR or mirrorless camera with a zoom lens or a good selection of glass so why not WORK THE SCENE. Shoot as per that rule of thumb, change the distance to alter perspective, try different focal lengths, various angles. Find the beauty, discover what caught your eye in the first place.

OK, so you have binocular vision and the camera has only one eye so it has no depth perception or dimensionality. Well folks, the whole idea of regular photography (not 3-D or holograms) is to create the illusion of a third dimension on a two-dimensional screen or a piece of photographic paper. You do that with the use of light- the direction of light, the quality of the light, light and shadow, and the rendition of textures. If the light ain't good- you may need to come back when it is better or hang in there for a while.

Of course, your brain interprets what you see and your other senses kick in. A place that smells nice may not look nice. A nice person may not be photogenic- your job is to find the beauty. If you listening to music, a junkyard may seem romantic so you need to hone your visual perception- consider that a challenge. WORK THE JOB!

DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY, FOLKS!- instant gratification or disappointment. But what a great opportunity to instantly analyze what you may be disappointed with and fix it- right on the spot. Most of you have a camera that can do so much- they can practically make your coffee in the morning and tell you what time it is in China. Seriously, folks- you can alter the exposure, bracket, use various menu selection, alter the contrast, rethink the composition, and the image is not even on your computer as yet. The mistakes and corrections you make can be your best teaching experiences- better than any online tutorial or classroom lesson. WORK THE JOB!

Challenge yourself! I have to do that every day as a commercial photographer. Just last week a client came in with a black box with a couple of wires hanging out of it, a few knobs and a digital readout. He told me that it was a special scientific instrument selling for $35,000 and I should make it look "impressive"! Portrait clients come in who don't look like movie stars but wanna look like movie stars in their portraits. Last month it was a plate of Chicken ala King- the stuff looked like someone already ate it and regurgitated- took me 4 hours to make a gourmet ad out of it. Isn't commercial photography always glamorous?

Well- when you do this for a living sometimes you have to" make a silk purse out of a sow's ear" but in all kinds of photography, many times the "silk purse" is already there but the photographer has to see it, find it and capture it.

Photography is not a marksmanship or archery competition- if you miss a shot you don't lose points. It's not a game of "SOOTC or die", either- if you don't like the shot don't scrap it- analyze IT and if you can't fix it by reshooting, hold onto it and salvage it in post-processing. There are too many photographers with what I call false ethics- the thINK anything that is not SOOTC is cheating! OK- it the shot is a complete blooper, consider the post-processing as a postmortem and learn what you did wrong.

So...next time you see that potential image, there is no reason to step away, run away or whatever away. Think about it- whos rushing you- do you have an appointment to get to? Who's watching you or judging you? You are the photographer, you are the artist so hang in there and WORK THE JOB!

cactuspic Loc: Dallas, TX

Great response!

Wallen Loc: Middle Earth

Wallen Loc: Middle Earth

I'm not much of the agonizing kind, I know my limits and when to let go. Rather i'm with the analyzing group so i always ask; my self or others if i find a pebble in the road.
And i'm a hopeless dancer LOL, i kind of swing to my own tune

Wallen Loc: Middle Earth

I Already asked; "What beauty is there that i could not capture?". That was my conundrum.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Thanks Richard!