I Am In Awe ….

I have been reading a few posts around this forum and looking at a lot of photos and I am in total awe at the knowledge and skill of so many folks on this forum.

I have only had my DSLR for a few months and have had the odd lucky photo that has turned out satisfactorily but these are rare and definitely few and far between.

I honestly do not check half the things that are mentioned on the various forums. Even when I am looking through the viewfinder I don't pay attention to the information that is right there before my eyes. I am too focused on focusing and composing to even think about whether my White Balance is correctly set or not, never mind ADL, focus mode, focus area, focus point, over/under exposure compensation and a myriad of other things.

I seemed to be rushed into the shot; fearing that it will disappear before I have snapped.

All this became very evident earlier today when I was trying to photograph an insect and the results, with 2 different lenses, were horrible. Of course if I had time to change lenses I shouldn't have been in any sort of rush. The subject was very compliant and simply sat there. In the end I lifted it up and let it out the window!

Does anyone have a fixed routine or mental checklist that they run through for each shot?

At first it is a mental check list. In time it will become second nature to check and set up your shot. Before long, especially doing a 365, the repetition will eventually get you to the point of not even thinking and just doing. Keep it going!

I think I have got the "not thinking" down to perfection …..

I generally go out specifically to shoot. I know where I am going and what I plan to shoot or at least what I want to shoot. I go through the gear before I leave the house and check if I have a charged battery and what lenses I plan to carry. Then I go. Before I get out of the car I look at the camera. I check ISO, Mode, and just in general I set the camera for what I think will be what I need to shoot the photos at that location. Then I get out of the car and forget it all.

Yep, just try to think about a couple things at a time. Later add some other element. I compose, check meter, focus lock, snap. I try to keep it simple and shoot manual, auto white balance because I also shoot raw that be corrected in post processing. So it's really about creating a habit and it will become second nature. It will take a thousand or two shots to get that habit down, well it was for me but I am pretty dense sometimes.

Just keep shooting, review your pictures and figure out what you can do better the next time.

We all do this. I usually go out with a certain intent so I try to get my settings ready before I walk out the door. Things like making sure I'm set to bracket for HDR and I'm in continuous mode. Also make sure I didn't leave some crazy settings on from my last outing. It takes a while to develop a mental checklist and there will always be something I overlooked. Most will become second nature, but that could take a while.

Any good shots I got in my first year were purely accidental

All encouraging stuff.
Of course i am a bit concerned that I am limited to ….. what? 100,000 shutter life.
But man I will be so much better with my new camera!!!!

Ha, so you have room to grow

I am not speaking as if I think I am in any different situation than you Lawrence, but, I have lately found it is a much better experience to do kind of like Don said. When you go out to shoot, go out to shoot. Don't do it haphazardly or on a whim. Plan the excursion, have a good idea of exactly what you want to capture, or at least a subject focus in mind, before you leave. Don't be tempted to stray too far outside of your focus interest. Take the gear you think you should have for this particular outing.

Also, keep in mind, the whole time, all of those images that you have seen that have impressed you. Try to reproduce those conditions and shots before you frame your shot. Take your time with each shot. If the shot just isn't what you want don't snap the shutter.

I think everyone is offering the same or similar suggestions, one is plan and two is time. Many of my paid shoots are repetitive, I've done them before. Set up the umbrellas, set the strobes, do a couple test shots for exposure and begin. That gives me the time to pose and compose. The equipment for me needs to be in the background so the client or subject is the emphasis. When I leave the house the gear is cleaned, batteries already charged, cards are formatted etc.

Mike d90 said:

Also, keep in mind, the whole time, all of those images that you have seen that have impressed you. Try to reproduce those conditions and shots before you frame your shot. Take your time with each shot. If the shot just isn't what you want don't snap the shutter.

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Kind of like Mike was saying about reproducing an image. If you find something you like then ask how they did it. I know I share anytime I'm asked and have found the same of other people on this board when I have been curious. And even if you don't reproduce the image just try the technique and you will learn a skill to put put in your pocket for the right time.

I've shot soccer on occasions to learn the skill. Can't stand soccer, but never know when the skill will come in handy. I try to shoot anything I can that I have never done before just to add to my "toolbox."

I pick up my camera and go outside and shoot whatever appears pleasing to my eye. Some work and some don't, mostly due to my failings, not the camera or lens. I put up shots here that I think display some measure of quality and interest, but I always remain unsatisfied, knowing I might do better. Tomorrow I will go out again, remembering this, and try once more -- it is, after all, an art, not a science and you must discipline both your mind and your eye to that.

Most times I know what I am looking for when I go out to shoot. But I also love to just walk around and let the world surprise me. When in the woods and fields and such, I tend to check my surroundings and randomly look to see what my meter is like. Keeping the camera primed so to speak can really speed up the process. Same with walking the streets parks.

Now for shoots I know what I am going after I run through the mental checklist. Compose. Choose focus point. Check meter. Focus. Squeeze. Then I move to another spot and see what changes through the view finder. Repeat till happy.

Lawrence, your story reminded me of what I do sometimes as well.
My time to go out and use my camera is very limited, a lot of the time I would be in so much of a rush to get out there before the light had faded too much, I would forget to change the settings from my last shoot, frustrating, especially for shooting insects or birds as you might only get one chance.

I have now set up U1 on my D7100 for my insect shots, I just have to remember to turn the dial to U1 as I am heading out the door and I am good to go. I will also set up U2 for a specific shot as well when I get the chance.

Deezey said:

But I also love to just walk around and let the world surprise me. When in the woods and fields and such

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If you have every looked at any on my daily shots you will see that is what I do. My favorite walk is at the Zoo. I know when I leave home that I will be shooting my 55-200 and I will use a minimum shutter speed of 1/250sec so I set the ISO to auto and the min shutter speed at 1/250 and then I can just enjoy my walk and I might even get a good photo.

Don Kuykendall said:

If you have every looked at any on my daily shots you will see that is what I do. My favorite walk is at the Zoo. I know when I leave home that I will be shooting my 55-200 and I will use a minimum shutter speed of 1/250sec so I set the ISO to auto and the min shutter speed at 1/250 and then I can just enjoy my walk and I might even get a good photo.

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Interesting that you set ISO to auto - exactly what I did with my horrible grainy/noisy moonshot.
I guess eventually I will know that I will be shooting at say 1/250th of a second.
In fact on that subject (shutter speed) I am amazed at how fast some people set this. I think in the back of my mind I still haven't come to terms with the fact that a stationery subject can be shot with a fast shutter speed.
This has been an interesting thread to me and I still have day 14/365 to do. I have taken photos today but none worth posting on this illustrious forum.

I think one thing is knowing your settings, this comes by experience and also by looking at the settings on both your good and your bad images. Why didn't the image turn out as you wanted? Is it blurred - to low shutter. To grainy? To much dof so your subject of interest isn't clear enough?

Another thing is getting to know your lenses. When I get a new one, I take it out and try all kind of different photography, to see what it does good and what it isn't so good with.

Last, what to shoot. Mostly I have an idea (something else can of course always come by), like - i wanna do landscape. Then I mostly bring the 35mm or the wide. I wanna do dogs portrait - bringing the lens I think could be useable...

It can be all kinds of ideas, also just something with sun beams, bookeh, water drops etc etc.

Hope you can use some of this.




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Lawrence said:

Interesting that you set ISO to auto - exactly what I did with my horrible grainy/noisy moonshot.
I guess eventually I will know that I will be shooting at say 1/250th of a second.
In fact on that subject (shutter speed) I am amazed at how fast some people set this. I think in the back of my mind I still haven't come to terms with the fact that a stationery subject can be shot with a fast shutter speed.
This has been an interesting thread to me and I still have day 14/365 to do. I have taken photos today but none worth posting on this illustrious forum.

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I set the minimum shutter speed based on what length lens I am using. 200mm = minimum speed 1/250 sec 18-105 - minimum speed 1/125 sec anything slower then I run the chance of getting a soft focus from movement of the camera.

I used to have a D70 and I always shot on auto and never did any post production. I did concentrate on composition and I did pretty well. Now I decided to actually learn and do things myself, it is like I never held a camera before. I have to learn my settings and how to access them. I shot for a whole week with my exposure composition set at -3 before I figured it out by remembering it existed! The point is there is a huge learning curve and it takes time. Even with the experience of the d70, I look at my photos now and think they are terrible composition. But I have faith it will all come together. Keep at it. Don't be too hard on yourself.

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Thanks guys. All useful stuff here and I can sure use it all WUD. Don that minimum aperture speed for length lens is really useful.
Thank goodness I haven't used my "auto" settings at all and don't have to learn all over again. I made my mind up from the beginning that I wanted to learn how to use the camera for creative and unique shots so have mostly been on aperture, shutter second and manual third. I don't think I have used "P"

I have an opportunity to go and shoot some under 19 (New Zealand Boys and Girls Champs) golf today. What lens do I take (see signature for my selection)?
And anything else I should do in advance such as ISO (auto?), etc.?