take better pictures

I signed up for a community black and white photography class and learned a TON. Now I’ve stopped taking pictures except during events, reunions, dinners out, visiting with family, etc. I want to get back to taking photos because I love to learn about photography and I love freezing a tiny moment in time that will never come again.

So I’ve joined a bunch of groups and have been putting pictures up. Its not much , but its a start. I’m also trying to read a bit about photography but its a bit hopeless at this point. I’m hoping that picture taking is like writing, as long as I keep at it, I’ll get better.

Click on my flickr pics and give me feedback, please?

The only way to improve your craft is to practice. We are handicapped by the automation built into our cameras – we point and we shoot without understanding the physics at work in the innerds.

At the very least, every photographer should understand:

- What f-stop means.
- The relationship between f-stop and depth of field.
- ISO – why is lower generally better.
- Backlighting

I am no pro. I did grow up with film and manual cameras and am astonished at little some folks owning new Nikon D3’s know about the craft.

Contrary to what some believe, owning and carrying around a DSLR does not automatically make you a skilled photographer.

Earlier this year, I managed to get a great deal on a used Canon Digital Rebel. It’s fairly old, but it was hard to turn it down at just over $200 (with kit lens). I’ve always wanted to get into photography, and the point and shoot I own no longer cuts it.

Now that I have the Rebel, though, I’ve realized that I’m pretty much shooting full auto. That kind of defeats the point of owning it. I’m close to putting it up for sale, but I hope to give it a fair shot and learn the basics of photography before then.

buying cool cameras and never learning how to REALLY use them. My pictures suck.

im improving, the more pictures i take, the better they are. I so happy about my new camera, in fact is the only thing that makes me happy lately. I have to get out there and shoot more pictures!

“Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.” Henri Cartier-Bresson

You should learn the rules of photography and experiment with different types of photography. Digital, Medium Format, Pinhole and then pick what kind of format you want to work in. If you keep shooting you will get better- photography is one of those fields where you mature with time.

cheers
jeff.
www.curbsandstoops.com

A new camera recently, a good good one. Been dreaming about it for over a year and i am so happy. I am learning to use it and love that proccess of discovering all the posibilities I have now or doing more artistical pictures : ) I could say that i have taken a couple that are better than the ones i did before but still have a long way ahead.

OK, so last week I went through and read about aperture and ISO, etc… I am going to use that knowledge this week and play with the images.