Clutter, clutter, clutter ... aaaarrrrgh!

[Lawrence]

What is wrong with me?

This month and next I am trying to concentrate on landscapes and no matter what I do I can't seem to compose anything. So frustrating.

I am inspired by Lars Van de Goor and his photos are really simple but very compelling. Something anyone would want to hang on their wall.

Ok so camera in hand with all my lenses (and tripod) I hop in the car and head out in search of something simple.
I travel for miles on a route I have not traversed before. I drive slowly stopping often as I see something with perhaps some potential.
I don't shoot Willy Nilly (in fact I don't shoot any Willy or Nilly) but I do come home with about 30 photos.

Seems to me that travelling for a couple of hours (about 4 for the total roundtrip) is an awful waste of time to collect clutter which ultimately ends up in my trash can never to see the light of day!

Now if only I could find a way to market clutter ...
Maybe start a new craze of some sort.

 

[Felisek]

It's not only you. It's all of us. I have it all the time. I see a potential somewhere, take a picture, come back home and when I check it on my computer it is nowhere near what I imagined.

I had a quick look at Lars Van de Goor pictures. Most of them are about light and air. The light is spot on and there is something in the air, a little bit of mist. I bet each of these simply looking pictures required a lot of travelling to the same place and waiting for the right moment. I've heard about photographers going to the same location every day for weeks to capture this one moment.

Don't expect to go for a random trip and bring great photos home. :sorrow: Landscape photography is about being in the right place at the right time. Like getting up early for sunrise. I'm just too lazy to do this.

 

[Michael J.]

Are you expecting to much?

I dropped my 52 project, cos I felt it pulled me down to make photos. I just took photos to fulfill my 52 project. Now I am watching some landscape VDO's to get ready for my Christmas vacation in the North of Thailand.

I know it doesn't help you but maybe it gives you an idea to do something different to get your eye back

 

[paul04]

I find that when I go out looking for photo opportunities, I can never find any,

I noticed this a few months ago, when I kind of got photographer's block, and nothing really inspired me, so a few weeks away from photography did the trick, then just took out the Nikon J1 which I could put in my pocket, and just take shots of things that caught my eye.


I find I see pictures better when they are random.

 

[mikew_RIP]

Its a difficult decision to make but i made it for myself a long time ago,my images are not influenced by any one as far as i know,obviously they are but not knowingly,there is only one person i have to please and i would never do that if i chased others styles,the perfect bird picture is a pose with smooth rich bokeh in the back ground,the places i go its impossible to get that deliberately,i get it on occasion but thats as much luck as any thing.
Yes by all means look at others images but as you cant get into there mind or be the places they are at the times they are, its not going to happen,be your own photographer,take what pleases you,yes we all want our images to be liked but not at the cost of losing our individuality as photographers.
I suppose ime not serious about my photography ime too happy doing it to get seriousi accept that often shows in my work but i repeat i take pictures to be happy,when ime not the camera will go and the fishing gear will come out.

 

[Blacktop]

It's good to look at other photographers and gain inspiration from them (if you're not inspired enough on your own) but trying to copy them will not give you the satisfaction you're after.
I looked at Lars Van De Goor's photo stream on Flickr.

 

[Lawrence]

Its not that I am trying to copy anyone - I certainly couldn't replicate Lars' images but i would like to be able to "see, compose and create" simple yet striking images.

Mine seem to be full of clutter (see heading and make loud aaarrrrgh sound) and focused on being sharp.

I know what I want to create but am struggling to do so.

I love my photography when I am shooting but when I get home and download I am mostly very disappointed.

I guess I could just have fun and shoot - the part I enjoy, and then delete them.

Now there's a thought

 

[gustafson]

FWIW I bet this Lars guy has a ton of cluttered pics that he isn't showing us


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Horoscope Fish]

Its not that I am trying to copy anyone - I certainly couldn't replicate Lars' images but i would like to be able to "see, compose and create" simple yet striking images.

Mine seem to be full of clutter (see heading and make loud aaarrrrgh sound) and focused on being sharp.

I know what I want to create but am struggling to do so.

I love my photography when I am shooting but when I get home and download I am mostly very disappointed.

I guess I could just have fun and shoot - the part I enjoy, and then delete them.

Now there's a thought

I think I understand where you're coming from. I enjoy the act of shooting but what really satisfies me is "nailing the shot"; getting the photo on my monitor to match the shot I had in my head. When it all comes together and and I say, "Yes... THAT'S the shot!"; that moment, for me, is the real rush.

I'll offer the following by way of advice, though what works for one may not work for another:

When you're about to take a shot, stop...

Ask yourself, "What is my subject?" If you don't know, neither will your viewer. Too many photos I see, landscapes in particular, try to cram too much into the frame and leave my eye wandering around wondering what I'm supposed to be looking at. Rule 1: Have... A... Subject. A clear, strong, subject.

Before popping the shot, look at the whooooole frame in your viewfinder, not just the subject IN the frame. Methodically go from the upper left corner to the upper right corner and then down to the left again and zig-zag back and forth and really look at every little bit of what's in your frame. The WHOLE frame. Pay special attention to the corners and edges; elements in the corners, and anything that breaks your frame at the edge, is potentially dangerous and a probable distraction from your Subject. I call that trash. So, ask yourself, is there any trash in your frame you can remove? Anything you allow in the frame, besides your subject, is either strengthening your composition or weakening your composition. Work the shot. Look at your subject from different angles and find what it is about your subject that drew you to it in the first place. Keep your eye to the viewfinder and walk around your subject; often times the right composition will suddenly just jump out at you. When in doubt, simplify. You may not always get the BEST shot possible this way, but you'll get MORE, shots that are BETTER.

Or forget everything I just said and go out and take snapshots. We all have to decide for ourselves what photography means to us and how far we want to pursue it.
....

 

[Lawrence]

I think I understand where you're coming from. I enjoy the act of shooting but what really satisfies me is "nailing the shot"; getting the photo on my monitor to match the shot I had in my head. When it all comes together and and I say, "Yes... THAT'S the shot!"; that moment, for me, is the real rush.

I'll offer the following by way of advice, though what works for one may not work for another:

When you're about to take a shot, stop...

Ask yourself, "What is my subject?" If you don't know, neither will your viewer. Too many photos I see, landscapes in particular, try to cram too much into the frame and leave my eye wandering around wondering what I'm supposed to be looking at. Rule 1: Have... A... Subject. A clear, strong, subject.

Before popping the shot, look at the whooooole frame in your viewfinder, not just the subject IN the frame. Methodically go from the upper left corner to the upper right corner and then down to the left again and zig-zag back and forth and really look at every little bit of what's in your frame. The WHOLE frame. Pay special attention to the corners and edges; elements in the corners, and anything that breaks your frame at the edge, is potentially dangerous and a probable distraction from your Subject. I call that trash. So, ask yourself, is there any trash in your frame you can remove? Anything you allow in the frame, besides your subject, is either strengthening your composition or weakening your composition. Work the shot. Look at your subject from different angles and find what it is about your subject that drew you to it in the first place. Keep your eye to the viewfinder and walk around your subject; often times the right composition will suddenly just jump out at you. When in doubt, simplify. You may not always get the BEST shot possible this way, but you'll get MORE, shots that are BETTER.

Or forget everything I just said and go out and take snapshots. We all have to decide for ourselves what photography means to us and how far we want to pursue it.
....

Thanks Paul - someone understands and that is excellent advice

 

[Scott Murray]

I haven't shot an image for days...

What I tend to do is use a road trip as a scouting trip and look for locations, also not everything will line up right there and then. DO NOT look too hard otherwise you will not find what you are looking for, photography is art so go out and make some art. DO NOT try and replicate others photos as 1, they live in a different country 2, they think and see things differently. But do use it for inspiration.

PS you live in NZ, you have lots of scenery at your door

 

[nikonpup]

i sometimes use google image search to get me going. Pick a park, town, beach or mountain, go there and walk around. Walking slows u down, every step the view, light and subject changes. You may be looking for nice landscapes but do not let that keep you from other subjects. I love shooting the grand tetons, it doesn't stop me from shooting some interesting lichen on a rock.

 

[Don Kuykendall_RIP]

Shooting on my vacation at all the national parks I had a lot to choose from BUT what is pretty to the eye does not always come across in the photo. My best shots were when I found a foreground object to anchor the vast canyon in the background. horoscope fish is correct though. Slow down and see instead of just look. Stop and think before you shoot. this is something I have been forcing myself to do in the last couple of months. I am shooting less than half the photos I was shooting but getting more usable shots.

 

[Sandpatch]

One trick I sometimes use is to NOT delete the pictures. It seems that I'll sometimes arrive home, view what I've shot and give up on everything in disgust.

Then a week later, I'll come across the shots again and my initial appraisal is reversed. It's hard to explain why, but it sometimes pays to walk away and come back to view the same shots another day.

 

[Whiskeyman]

In your photographic endeavors, seek impact in/from a scene and compose from there. In addition, sometimes you have to "see" what the scene becomes in different light and skip the shot at the time in order to come back later when the light will be "right". After you return home, show your photos to someone who can really critique them and learn from the expose. In addition, let someone else have some of the shots to do post-processing on them to get a different perspective on the work.

However, never travel without your camera if you can help it, and don't be afraid to use it.

WM

 

[Lawrence]

OK so i went out for a couple of hours and concentrated on a couple of things:

1. Taking the sort of photos that I no longer usually take
2. Taking photos of different shades of light
3. Continuously adjusting my CPL filter (I have been very slack with this in the past - sometimes I wonder why I have it on as I mostly forget it is there)
4. In most cases under-exposing so as not to have blown out highlights.

I also popped in to 2 art galleries for inspiration and spent some time talking to one owner who is the sole artist exhibiting in her shop.

I am about to download the photos I took to see how they came out.

 

[Lawrence]

Here's the first one - it's of the artist's pallette where she mixes her colours to paing.
Pretty cool abstract.

 

[Lawrence]

Based on exposure I am happy with these as of late I have been losing detail in highlights and today was also an excercise in avoiding that.
None will get printed and hung on the wall.