What would have made these better?

[Curious]

ok a couple of more things

first, i am NOT holding myself out as a great, or sometimes even good, photographer. linking my profile was vain but also to show what mediocre performance is like. i shot more for fun than anything else and seldom take the time to do fancy setups or use even a third of the equipment i own.

second, there are those here who really spend some time on their shots. they have good skills, a good eye and good equipment and it shows.

third and last but by no means least don’t get lazy. you will see the results of that in a lot of my stuff. i just shot it and hoped. bad idea. want good or great results? beyond practice learn from it. internalize the results, good and bad. be the finished shot. in essence be ansel adams. try to see the finished shot as it will be presented. what works at 3000 pixels doesn’t necessarily work at 640 pixels. and vice versa of course. this is a direct correlation to point two. great photos seldom just happen.

/rant

[orionid]

Hmmm…. here’s my two cents on the situation. But first, What everyone else said… Especially SilverStag and No Big Deal.

I’ve been taking pictures for as long as I can remember. I’ve been photographing for alot less. My mom used to curse me when she’d pick up a developed roll of 110 from the K-Mart processing center to find half the shots taken up by things like the cat’s backside or a funny shaped stick in the woods. My senior year in high school, my dad gave me his old pentax MG (fully manual 35mm SLR) and told me I was on my own for film. This was right before a two-week trip to Australia. So I decided I had to learn and learn fast. That whole trip was a lesson in learn as you go and what the different settings do (and what that fricking flashing light (internal light meter) meant). I’m still very much learning (and the last 11 months in Farktography have helped alot), but I’ve developed an interesting thought process that begins with “what am I shooting for?”

If I’m just doing shapshots for fun, hanging out with friends, whatever, you know – facebook photos, not much thought goes in at all. Set the ISO to something reasonable, aperture priority, auto focus, and click away.

If I get an idea of an artistic shot or I see something pretty that I want to capture, I’ll stop and think about all the camera settings and do the Ansel Adams be the picture thing.

But for farktography, the rules change a bit and I have to ask more questions…..
1) Is it an in the box theme, or an outside the box theme?
2) If it’s an in-the-box theme, can I make it an outside the box theme?
3) How interested in the subject matter am I?
4) What might everyone else do?
5) Is there potential for a pun or inside joke, whether obvious or subtle?

Once I get some ideas that seem interesting to me, I’ll treat it like an engineering problem.
1) How can I do this?
2) What do I need to do this?
3) Do I have the time/money do do this?
4) Can I do multiple similar subject shots to make the time/money more worth it?
5) If I have to make something, can I make it modifyable to use with future projects?

But I always remember to have fun. One example of the engineering aspect that is now one of my favorite photos (but didn’t do very well with votes) is this one from The Shadow Knows. You should have seen my living room. Extension cords running all over the place, six or seven lights, a DJ nightclub strobe modified to be used as an external flash, a white sheet hung on the wall, and a cardboard sillhouette of a dude with a baby duct-taped to a kitchen chair. It took lots of test-run shots over the course of several days, but I was working second shift that week and had the time. But it was fun, and I liked the results, so that’s all that matters.

And if all else fails for farktography, if I didn’t get a chance to get out and shoot (as has happened alot recently, this week inclusive), I’ll dig through my archives and see what can apply. Even by using an old photo, you can learn one more bit of correlation between “what I like” and “what voters like”

/gets off soapbox

[Author]

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