Timeline for How do I make my photos have more impact?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
23 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Aug 14, 2019 at 16:45 | comment | added | Opflash | @tfb thank you for the clarification! | |
| Aug 14, 2019 at 11:03 | comment | added | user82065 | @Opflash: Leicas are cheap when considered as something you rent which is how Mike meant it. If I want to do a film Leica year, I might go to Ebay today & buy, say an M7 with a 50mm Summicron for £3,500. I use them for a year, and look after them well, and in a year sell them on ebay for, say, £3,500. My cost of ownership is now the Ebay commission along with whatever my cost of money is: I might even make money (or I might lose it if the market for film Leicas falls). | |
| Aug 14, 2019 at 10:42 | comment | added | Opflash | Mike's advice to buy an analogue Leica and go out shooting is inspiring to re-enliven one's gusto for photography. However, his claim of Leica's being practically cheap is hard to reproduce. Over in Europe at least, with bodies being sold for hundred(s). | |
| Aug 2, 2019 at 9:25 | history | edited | user82065 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Added @LightBender's alternative approach, and some thanks.
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| Aug 1, 2019 at 21:00 | comment | added | LightBender | @tfb Be my guest :) | |
| Aug 1, 2019 at 19:09 | comment | added | user82065 | @LightBender: the last big comment of yours is really good: it;s an alternative viewpoint but a good one I think. Would you be OK for me to add some kind of summary of that to my answer (or alternatively you could add another answer!)? | |
| Aug 1, 2019 at 18:24 | comment | added | LightBender | We have strayed off topic though, my goal was to offer an aspect of my method that might help focus the evaluation process in yours, which is very good. My apologies for the tangent. :) | |
| Aug 1, 2019 at 18:18 | comment | added | LightBender | I know how you feel, I chose this method when I was starting out specifically because I'm predisposed to reevaluation of my past work. Any highly structured method must have a cost, and that cost to me was knowing that once I rejected something, it was gone forever. This focused my decision making and forced me to evaluate every image more carefully. I will note that I only used this method for active professional development. The rules did not apply to my professional work. (I've probably made $100K over the years by selling setup frames from outdoor shoots as landscapes). | |
| Aug 1, 2019 at 17:40 | comment | added | user82065 | @LightBender: there are photographs of mine I rejected out of hand at the time, which I have since gone back to, printed and shown. So for me not looking at old rejects (in my case, old contact sheets) would have been a really bad mistake, and one I am glad I did not make. | |
| Aug 1, 2019 at 17:35 | comment | added | LightBender | Of course, but only in one direction. As I said, the images you select are always up for re-evaluation and you will, and should, eventually outgrow them. If you outgrow your successes, what chance do your failures have? Throw away rejects, not because they are bad, but because they were rejected. The benefit comes from forcing yourself to choose between images you like. I usually teach this to work at a 90% threshold. So you must discard 90% of the images. This level of discipline is what facilitates the change by forcing you to differentiate, not bad from good, but good from great. | |
| Aug 1, 2019 at 16:32 | comment | added | user82065 | @LightBender: this is just opinion, but I disagree with that. I think people can shift sufficiently far as they progress that what were rejects may become selected images, and selected images may become rejects. In other words the work of mine I once thought was my best I may no longer like at all. | |
| Aug 1, 2019 at 16:22 | comment | added | LightBender | @Mast that's a good thought, but the method is designed to identify patterns in your work and create a self-improving feedback loop. I recommend against dwelling on or even reviewing your rejects. Images rejected a year ago are still rejected today and, therefore, have little to offer. Instead, compare your current work to the best work of your past self, that is where you will see your improvement. Eventually you will get to the point where you will reject, on sight, things you would have put into your portfolio a year or two earlier. | |
| Aug 1, 2019 at 14:51 | comment | added | user82065 | @Mast: Thanks, that's a good idea as well, I've added a mention that you could do that. | |
| Aug 1, 2019 at 14:50 | history | edited | user82065 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
you can take notes
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| Aug 1, 2019 at 13:26 | comment | added | Mast | @LightBender You could even go a step further and start attaching notes to your images. Makes it easier to remember why you rejected something a year ago. | |
| Jul 31, 2019 at 7:39 | history | edited | user82065 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added thing on making conscious decisions, from @LightBender
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| Jul 31, 2019 at 7:36 | comment | added | user82065 | @LightBender: that's a good idea: I will add that! | |
| Jul 30, 2019 at 20:43 | comment | added | LightBender | I also find it very helpful to say, out loud, the reason you are keeping or rejecting each image. The difference between "I don't like this image" and "I don't like this about this image" is powerful. By saying both the good things and the bad thing out loud, you will reinforce them in your mind and by extension your work. As you improve over time, "this is out of focus" will give way to "I don't like how the use of the short Rembrandt lighting pattern makes this shot a bit too dramatic, which distracts from the lightheartedness of the subject." | |
| Jul 30, 2019 at 20:07 | comment | added | Ilham | I quite like the 1C1L1T1Y structure and think that I'm going to start putting it into practice right away. mayhaps it was a bit too hasty to think I'd be brilliant from the start, so I'll be sure to practice lots. And I agree with what you said about popular people and photos. the content I've been exposed to has made me unknowingly raise my standards and, by default, begin to look down on my own photos. Oh, and I'll also try some new method with my editing. Thanks! | |
| Jul 30, 2019 at 19:59 | vote | accept | Ilham | ||
| Jul 30, 2019 at 18:00 | comment | added | OnBreak. | I went ahead and turned my comment into an answer. What's funny is that, at least imo, is that one should begin learning digital post pro exactly how it was done in a darkroom. Start with global exposure and contrast. Then local changes like local contrast, burn and dodge. Then just go on from there! | |
| Jul 30, 2019 at 16:04 | comment | added | user82065 | @Hueco: I agree. However because I do almost all my work on film (and spend a lot of time in the darkroom as a result) I don't think I have anything useful to say about digital post-processing. Except, perhaps, that if you start with a bad photograph then however much you muck around with it you will almost always end up with a bad photograph, so being able to take good photographs matters a fair amount. (Obviously: in my opinion!) | |
| Jul 30, 2019 at 11:17 | history | answered | user82065 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |