So, am I doing Ok for a beginner?

[Gerbles]

OK, Simon, it really seems as if you thrive on the drama you’ve created. You keep saying you’re done, yet you keep coming back for more. You strike me as someone who thrives on strife and pity from others. If you really, truly have such a hard time dealing with people, I suggest getting some professional help and getting off the forums.

[JLiu]

“You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks” ~Winston Churchill

[fstopper89]

Dude, when you feel depressed you “want everyone else to feel that way too?” WTF?

Like others have said, you have potential to be a great photographer. You’re going in the right step, and while everyone has their own critique style, none I saw here seemed ridiculous or overly harsh. In another forum, I was basically being ganged up on by a few people, some of who I think were just friends of some of the serious fauxtogs we were poking fun at, and they had NOTHING constructive to say but “this photo sucks” or “this is wrong on all levels.” Duh I was pissed at those comments, because those people obviously knew not of what they were talking about. Either way, the others are right that you may need some help on a deeper level if this is how you react. Don’t put away your camera if it makes you happy! Pick it up, and think of the ideas people here have given you. If you have issues interacting with people you should just hide in a closet… but that won’t get you anywhere in life.

[simoncookerussell]

edit:  pics aren’t working for me.

[JCFindley]

Well, this was an interesting thread to read through on my very first visit to the forum….

Simon, you are doing fine for a beginner. Better than I did at that stage. I have no critique beyond that but will say a little about taking critiques. I recall the first time I set up a booth to sell my stuff, one established pro walked through my tent and hmmphed me. That is not at all helpful. Anything beyond that is pure gold though aside from technical stuff is also purely opinion. Yeah, there are “rules” for composition which are nice to know so you know you are breaking them and why you might break them. My first critiques sent me running to google to look up “rule of thirds” and DoF.

Aside from rules, it is all opinion but that can be invaluable.  No need to defend your choices just listen and take away what you want from it. Heck, I even use selective color now and then regardless of the hatred of the technique. The great thing about “art” photography is you don’t have to please anyone but yourself. Now, if that also gets others excited you might even be able to make a little or even a lot of money doing it but really, it is art for art’s sake, so income is just an added bonus.

 

[JanJan]

Having depression doesn’t excuse you for your poor attitude and your bad reaction to people who are spending their time to help you build a skill that has so much potential. I have depression too, but I don’t go off on people who criticize my work, especially work that I consider my best.

Just keep on shooting. Don’t put that camera away because it obviously puts you in a happier place.

[amber]

I think you are doing great for a beginner.

Keep learning and keep creating.

[cameraclicker]

Simon, in addition to attitude, you have drama.  Your first partner took you back after you left for another woman?  And bought you a nice camera?  And gives you time to use it?  And you have a roof over your head and food to eat?  But you are depressed?  We can help your photography, if you listen to what we have to say.  To help depression you need a mental health professional…  That’s a different site.

I don’t know how the others find this site, I find posts are delayed sometimes, and the last update indicators don’t always match the posts.  It is also frustrating that we can’t respond to a specific post under that post instead of at the end of the thread.  Being able to do that would help but the platform may have limitations.  It certainly has strange behaviour when you add a post, like stripping URL’s and attributes. The delay presenting some posts may explain why we are still commenting on something after it has seemingly been resolved.

Our attendance here is pretty much “best effort”, no one is paying us to be here and no one is guaranteeing our time or opinions.  You offered to post a default conversion from a raw file while I was not around and by the time I got back, the conversation had moved on.  I don’t see the need to look at a default conversion because your exposure looks alright.  Focus is usually not bad.  I have a personal dislike of out of focus foreground objects and several of your flowers have the near petals out of focus.  The “rule”, however, is that something must be in focus, and that is the case in your photos.  Some photos work with a lot of saturation, and others do not.  And saturation is up to personal preference as well.  At 500px, there are many photos that have a lot of saturation.  I think that helps them stand out on the thumbnail pages because the ones without saturation do not seem to get views.  They have a magic formula that takes time, views, comments and likes into account to generate a “love” rating, so you can post a photo and see how it does in that community.

Most sites have their own personality, and at most of them you have to give comments to get comments and everyone is trying to be very nice and polite to not offend anyone, so there are a lot of comments like “you take very nice family snapshots”, which may make you feel good but don’t actually help you.  And many don’t get that it could be a backhanded slap.   This site is refreshing because it is much more forthright.  Some other sites offer critiques but at most of them if you responded as you did here, an administrator would delete your posts.  The other way to get a fairly honest assessment of your photos is to enter contests, but the indication is hard to read because either the judges think you are in the top three or four, or not, and if not, they usually don’t comment on your entry.  Some photography clubs that you attend in person require you to print and mount each entry and they critique each photo as it is being judged but it is a question of volume, you will be there all night if someone has to critique each of 200 entries while judging.  A less direct way to learn from critiques is to look at the critiques done for other photos and decide if you agree or disagree with what was said.  That might be a good thing for you to do as there is no confrontation if it is someone else’s photo and critique.

As with dont.care, sympathy is in limited supply.  That you are a beginner is not too relevant.  You have been looking at photos your entire life.  Six months is long enough to figure out how to operate a camera and perform simple editing.  If there is something fairly specific you are having trouble with and you can show us a sample of what you want and a sample of what you are getting, we can probably work out, and tell you, what you need to do.  If you ask us what we think, we will provide a pretty unvarnished response.  The photo has to stand on its own, or as a contributing piece of a larger work.  No one picks up a magazine, then says “Oh, that’s an excellent photo!  That’s because the photographer has been doing photography for 10 years.”  Most people look at the photo and either like it or they don’t.   Most people don’t know and don’t care that a magazine like National Geographic will have a photographer shoot 30,000 photos, then the photographer and a bunch of editors will whittle them down to 20 or 30 that actually get into the magazine.  Most people however will agree that the photography in a National Geographic magazine is excellent.  Fashion magazines do a lot more with Photoshop, and again, most people don’t seem to know or care.  It is the final image everyone sees and judges, not how long the photographer has been taking photos or what camera was used.

[JCFindley]

Very well written clicker!

 

[simoncookerussell]

Clicker, as you can imagine, the “other woman” story is more than likely, a little more complex than the simplicity you made it seem here, so if we are at all to get along here, don’t make comments on situations you have no clue about. So, as you put it, it’s seems like I got a good deal, but it came at a very heavy cost. Drama? A mother load. I’m just grateful that the girl I’ve been with for 16 years, is a cut above the rest, but we will leave that subject here.

Now I have to tend to my sick dog., and that’s been a long sad drama.

Thanks for the help.

[Loke]

wow I didn’t even bother to read everything else..what are you doing here? Shoot man! This is what photography is about…….more than anything photography should be soothing to the soul. So get out there and keep shooting…Again, opinions are like assholes everyone has them…..you take em or leave em. I had an editor at the LA Times pretty much rip my portfolio for my events shots, but thought my sports shots were OK….did I let that get me down? I thought I took some pretty good events shots, but when I thought about what she said I tried a different approach.she gave me great feedback……I keep on shooting, I don’t take it personal (it’s hard to do but you just gotta let it go)  and I really don’t care what other people think of it in the end…I shoot because I love photography period, I shoot for me.  If people are on board with me that’s great and if people aren’t well so be it!

[simoncookerussell]

Cheers Loke. And sorry Clicker, I re-read your comment again and saw your perspective, so disregard my previous comment.

I should be grateful and in a better place yes, but I wish it was that simple.

[dstone81]

I agree with Loke and Clicker. I have learned a lot from the photographers here. I come here with an open mind and want their honest opinion about my pictures. I want them to pic them a part and tell me their reasonings for it. I have learned more from them than reading on my own on tutorial websites because I can take what they tell me, apply it and then get feedback on whether or not I achieved what they were just explaining to me. I don’t get all bent out of shape when they tell me that my photo just doesn’t do it, because I know that they will usually explain to me why it doesn’t work.

In the photograpy/art industry you have to have thick skin because there are gonna be haters. And there are gonna be critics. The key is just learning to take what they say with a grain of salt. You can either take what they say and learn from it or you can take it as an insult and sulk about it. I personally choose to take what they say and learn from it.

[Olafs_Osh]

Loved this thread. All this drama and defensive attitude by calling names. Goes well with morning’s tea and sandwiches.

[Will]

Simon:
To answer your question: Yes, I think you doing OK as a beginner.  Listen to the critiques here however of an attitude they may have. I am noticing photographers are like anyone else- they are imperfect and there are some who will overly criticize to make them look better (that or they simply have no social or communication skills).

Everyone seems like they are wanting to be a photographer now and there is A LOT of bad work out there (my first photos are YANAP worthy) and if I listened to the harsh criticisms I would not have improved and quite.  There is much to learn for a photographer on ANY level but there is a certain standard other photographers like to see before new photographers start telling potential clients what “good” photos are.  When that happens, the standard of photography drastically decreases and hurts photography business owners like myself.

[Author]

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