No one is born knowing this statement that you have heard hundreds (or thousands) of times, and it is true. Every activity requires learning and is complex, any learning provokes moments of frustration, because when it seems that you have taken one step forward, you take two steps back and, of course, it is very infuriating. So much so that there are many. of people who end up throwing in the towel. This can have two readings, if you only take one step forward and two steps back, you will not move forward and will inevitably give up.
However, if these backward steps help you get started, your evolution will be firmer and more fulfilling. And how do we do it? Well, analyze the problems, put aside the mistakes and learn to solve them, the obstacles must help you grow, always. You can’t just complain, cry because you can’t have a better team, because you can’t find the photos you’re looking for, because you don’t have the perfect settings or ideal patterns or because your photos aren’t. Perfect Everything has solution and problems can make you stronger (photographically speaking) if you know how to handle them.
- It is important to know that the frustration of the amateur photographer is normal.
- That we all go through it.
- The knowledge will help you not to give up.
- Another thing that can help you is knowing what problems others have encountered before you and how they have solved them.
That’s why in today’s article I’m going to tell you the three that caused me the most headaches along the way: the first was that my photographs were empty, then they went extinct, dirty, dark?and the third, have a huge amount of photos on the computer waiting to be edited and with a lot (very luck) to print.
The first and main problem that I encountered in this photographic ocean that I immersed myself in a few years ago was taking pictures of patterns that seemed interesting or attractive to me but that resulted in an empty and soulless image. . . Some may have a certain aesthetic appeal, but they generally tend to look very unattractive to others. As much as I thought and wondered why my photos were so bland. I have not found the answer. Over time I understood. It was a double problem. On the one hand the composition failed, on the other hand my way of approaching photography. When I saw many photographs of other authors, recognized or not, but that attracted me a lot, I realized that I was trying the impossible. I was trying to capture a reality that seemed beautiful to me between the four edges of my frame, nothing more. Big mistake. This reality has innumerable variables that make it beautiful and that cannot be reproduced as it is through a camera. To see “as is”, it is better to look directly with our eyes (and the rest of our awake senses) and not through a spectator or on a square or rectangular paper. As a photographer, should I go further and bring my grain of sand, my artistic side, my emotions, my feelings to the scene? Everything that exists in me that struggles to express itself. Photography consists of interpreting this reality through your camera adding your essence to it and this is done by playing with composition. I learned a lot, as I have already mentioned, by looking at the photographs of others, but also by reading about the rules of composition. Knowing them is essential and as much as it is not mandatory to use them, it must be to know them by heart because even if you don’t believe it, you can see the difference between an image that intentionally breaks the rules and another that does. it is out of ignorance. On the blog there are a lot of articles that can help you if you are having this same problem, for example playing with lines, rhythm or perspective, or even mastering focus.
Notice the difference between these two photographs taken by me, the first is a landscape that at that time seemed magnificent (I am not very used to seeing snow in my land) however the resulting photograph does not interest me. The second is from such an everyday scene that at the moment we may think that there is no reason to shoot but I think with a good composition (and increasing the contrast a little when switching to black and white) I got an interesting result. :
The other part of the problem was that they lacked soul, yes, yes, you read it right, soul. Photographs must have a soul, tell a story, provoke a feeling, or get excited. It can’t be so cold in your eyes, that they pass you by. As long as you don’t understand this, your images can be very perfect, but you’re too far from “fat” in photography.
As perfect as you are, they will not interest others, here I want to emphasize that we are talking about the point of view of photography as entertainment, from a more artistic point of view, not as a profession. to this and have to do, for example, a product catalog, then the discourse is completely different?
Going back to the “touching” photographs, I must admit that I had a hard time seeing it at first, but once I learned my lesson, I realized that it’s like a drug, when I go there with my camera I look with different eyes, look for messages, emotions in the air, visual stories?I don’t always make it, I still have a lot to learn, but do I know I’m on my way?If you want to know some tips or ways to accomplish this, you can check out these blog posts:
Another problem that gave me more headache was seeing my photos very boring, lifeless, dark, sad. I was looking at other pictures and I thought, “Wow, what clarity? And sometimes I was frustrated to think it was because they were using better equipment than me, until I realized that there were even those who were taking better photos with a camera like mine, so the problem should have been me and not the equipment (yes, what better equipment helps, but it doesn’t always solve) so I started analyzing my photos and realized it was a light handling problem (among other things). If you don’t control the light in the photo, you’re lost (or lost) but completely. Photography is light, in theory and in practice, technically and artistically.
The only possible solution in this case was to control the light, for which I had to train with spot, center-weighted, and matrix metering? (Are there times when I still feel dizzy?), Learn to expose well and use the external flash when the occasion calls for it (the one built into the camera is useless), differentiate between hard light and soft light, know the tonality high and low, well use the contrast? In addition to all this, I found that you should not know how to use light only on a technical level, but it could also be a perfect creative element, see this example:
Here is the link to some articles that can help you on the subject of light:
I think we’ve all had this problem sooner or later. It has a lot of photos on your hard drive waiting to be edited or printed, or both. So you want to look for one and you don’t find it, or you get angry because you have a hundred similar photos and you feel sorry to delete them but all you get is to fill the memory and someday, you have to start erasing like crazy because you have problems with your computer or you have to buy another device to keep downloading the images from your camera?The thing is, when we start shooting, there’s no one to stop us and we do it over and over again more impulsively than with our heads. That’s why I had to be serious about myself and do things like this:
These are my problems, they shouldn’t be yours, but if you feel identified, I hope my experience has helped you and if you share it, it can be helpful for someone else Thank you for reading so far and until the next one!