88
votes
I know what a bad photo is, so why do I keep taking them?
Practice, practice, practice. This is something I set myself to do and it is progressing although not as easily as anticipated.
Like you, I decided to simply not take the poor shots after having ...
- 103k
73
votes
I know what a bad photo is, so why do I keep taking them?
Totally not a photography expert, but I would still like to offer my 2¢.
The mistake I often do is include way too much of the part of the image that isn't relevant to the scene, just because there's ...
67
votes
Accepted
Is it normal business practice for a contest site to solicit submissions and then, later, ask for a fee?
Legit contests which have entry fees have those fees because they get too many entries. Sure, they may offset some expenses, but basically the payment exists to make people think twice about entering. ...
- 143k
47
votes
Accepted
Why is "The Steerage" hailed "one of the greatest photographs of all time"?
Stieglitz and his photo, "The Steerage" are hailed as great not because of its compositional excellence (at least one aspect of the composition is brilliant, and some of the lines in the frame can be ...
- 176k
16
votes
Is it normal business practice for a contest site to solicit submissions and then, later, ask for a fee?
It's a scam.
They're trying to get you to pay them money for giving your images to them.
Not only are they trying to bilk you out of some cash, the mere act of sending them your image(s), and ...
- 176k
15
votes
I know what a bad photo is, so why do I keep taking them?
Your photo looks a lot like my "wish I'd done better" photos as well. The first thing that comes to mind is that you're trying to balance a couple of ideas/rules and end up with bland. Like the person ...
- 491
12
votes
I know what a bad photo is, so why do I keep taking them?
Well the first thought I'd have is that this is begging for some post processing.
You're completely wasting the highlights in that image that hide a fabulous sky. There are many ways to pull those ...
- 6,384
11
votes
Is it normal business practice for a contest site to solicit submissions and then, later, ask for a fee?
Is this normal business conduct and am I safe to consider
participation?
I'm sorry, but why do you want to win this "competition"?
You received an unsolicited message, asking you to upload one of ...
- 12.6k
9
votes
I know what a bad photo is, so why do I keep taking them?
I'm going to add my 2¢ too even if it's probably repeating what others have said.
POST PROCESSING FTW!!!
You shouldn't be ashamed / scared of post processing. Even before digital professional ...
- 528
6
votes
I know what a bad photo is, so why do I keep taking them?
This is the same picture cropped to follow the rule of thirds. You could keep the rule of thirds in mind when first taking it.
In the original photo, the left half is water and the right half is land,...
- 211
6
votes
I know what a bad photo is, so why do I keep taking them?
Your question and explanation involves why. I can't begin to answer such a question here. Nobody can. It might even be off-topic; but, it's one of the most intriguing questions.
Every photograph ...
- 5,527
6
votes
Why is "The Steerage" hailed "one of the greatest photographs of all time"?
To me, it this picture is a masterpiece because its author basically invented the concept of "telling a story with a photo", while working with a fairly new technology. As (relatively) inexpensive ...
- 684
6
votes
Large double onion ring in the middle of shoots when i useing Sigma 35mm f1.4 DG HSM Art lens on my Canon 6D mark ii
Yes, DG lens serie from Sigma are compatible with fullframe cameras. About the effect seems like you enable in-camera lens correction. And this correct do not work well with 3th party lenses. Check ...
- 12.4k
5
votes
I know what a bad photo is, so why do I keep taking them?
Close one eye before taking the photo. Some images may look spectacular when seen in the glorious 3-D that your two eyes give you, but are a bit duller or more boring in the flattened 2-D that appears ...
- 151
5
votes
I know what a bad photo is, so why do I keep taking them?
Things to think about:
Mastering technique is paramount. Forget about "art". Reread the manual for your camera.
Have you color calibrated your camera? Did you measure the light levels in the scene? ...
- 1,874
5
votes
Can anyone identify this (allegedly) Ansel Adams photo of an ornate interior?
According to search results I was able to find, that is the Persian court of John Drum in San Francisco (not the Ahwahnee in Yosemite) as photographed by Ansel Adams ca. 1929. So, you may very well ...
- 51
5
votes
Large double onion ring in the middle of shoots when i useing Sigma 35mm f1.4 DG HSM Art lens on my Canon 6D mark ii
This is a known issue when using certain third party lenses with certain Canon cameras that have in camera lens correction enabled. It seems almost totally random which camera and lens combinations ...
- 176k
4
votes
How do I use an infrared filter to photograph underwriting on a painting?
If the E-510 you purchased is not modified for IR work, it may not be the appropriate tool. Digital cameras these days come with UV/IR blockers over their sensors to keep colors true (UV/IR ...
- 52.7k
4
votes
I know what a bad photo is, so why do I keep taking them?
I am a street photographer and so my ratio of 'good' shots is trivial (perhaps 1:100). My definition of a good shot is not just a shot that is in focus or decently composed but a shot that is more ...
- 730
4
votes
I know what a bad photo is, so why do I keep taking them?
Long short, photography is different from human vision. The brain does a lot of pre-processing, post-processing, filling in the gaps, etc. It produces an "idealized" image in the mind. The camera is ...
- 781
4
votes
Accepted
Why are the Becher typologies considered artistically valuable?
From the Bernd and Hilla Becher entry on Wikipedia:
They are best known for their extensive series of photographic images, or typologies¹, of industrial buildings and structures, often organised in ...
- 176k
4
votes
Accepted
What's the ultimate objective of photography?
I'm going to avoid talking about the goal of art overall — partly because I think that's explored nicely at What makes "fine art" fine art?, but also because the specific question of the of ...
- 143k
4
votes
How can an amazing photographer grow business and visibility outside of the Indian market?
She is on her own and has categorically amazing artists on her team. They pay attention to minute details to create an experience for their client.
Which is it...she's on her own OR she's got a team?...
- 20.5k
3
votes
I know what a bad photo is, so why do I keep taking them?
The answer to why is because understanding a good photo and taking one are different skills. Think of it this way - can you tell when someone plays a musical instrument poorly? Probably. Can you play ...
- 2,903
3
votes
I know what a bad photo is, so why do I keep taking them?
About 15 years ago I took a photography course. We were still using film, since digital SLR cameras were much too expensive. One of our teachers told us to expect not more than one good shot per roll ...
- 130
3
votes
Podcast Cover Art Help!
885x1024 sounds like your contact emailed the image to you and his email software/system has resized the image.
Ask them to zip the image file and send it again, or use an online service like dropbox ...
- 9,739
3
votes
Can anyone identify this (allegedly) Ansel Adams photo of an ornate interior?
As previously noted, this is the Persian Court of John Drum in his penthouse apartment in the Freemont Hotel in San Fransisco. There are at least 7 different images that were done by a young Ansel ...
- 31
3
votes
How to avoid reflections on glass pane in museum?
Your only remedy will be careful selection of the camera position and mounting a polarizing filter. As you are composing and focusing, you rotate the polarizing filter for maximum reflection ...
- 39.5k
3
votes
What's the ultimate objective of photography?
If seen from the purist viewpoint: Making a somewhat permanent copy of the visual impression an incidental or staged scene provides, for aesthetic or emotional enjoyment of the result, enjoyment of ...
- 7,242
2
votes
"Digital Art Frames": crop / fill / what? content to a fixed aspect ratio? (16:9 or 9:16)
I don't know of any standards. I agree that it's frustrating. The ubiquity of cheap 16:9 panels design for television makes it understandable that these digital frames aren't available in more ...
- 143k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible