As the title, I'd like to improve my photography a bit. Currently I mess around with a Sony A100 with the stock 18-70mm lens, and almost always use the manual settings and shoot RAW. I usually do some minor tweaking of levels in PS and a bit of cropping too, where it seems appropriate.

My friends think I take good photos (I keep being told to enter competitions), but maybe I'm too critical because there's only a couple I've taken in the last few years that I think are really nice, and even then I wouldn't ever call them 'great'.

I don't want to think that I've reached the limits of the kit I own, but my photos never look as sharp as the ones I see that I really like, or the colours aren't as interesting. I don't know whether what I'm using is perfectly good, or the fact that its a 3.5yr old 1st generation Sony means that I'm never going to get the quality I'm after.

Of course good composition and an 'eye' for a photo clearly is more important, and I think you either have it or you don't. I don't know if I do or not! I certainly don't have much time to indulge in this particular hobby right now so getting lots of practice is difficult and I'm rarely inspired to make the most of what I'm around day-to-day (see my one-a-day photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gingerfox/sets/72157622990738057/) I also have bad eyes and have to wear glasses, so I often find it difficult to compose an image in the viewfinder as well as see the ISO, bracketing, F number etc on it. My photos are never straight which I find infuriating as I think I have a certain OCD to straighten stuff!

So, any wonderful tips to help me along. Is there an essential photography book, should I get involved in a group/club (any in Edinburgh?) or just plug away for years and years until I get it right?!

Cheers
Kit

or just plug away for years and years until I get it right?!

I've been trying for 36 years now…

simon, you still are trying. Very trying.

IthankyouverymuchindeedI'mhereallweekdotrytheveal.

simon, you still are trying. Very trying.

in that case I've been trying for 56 years…

You're on the right track by being constantly critical of your work. Never be satisfied and always look to improve and look at other's work for inspiration and technique.

I recommend taking David Bailey's advice and find a project to work on. He said. "Say you have a project to photograph mushrooms. You'll end up with a lot of photographs of mushrooms but you'll also have a few damn fine photographs of mushrooms."

I can hear Ti29er's stomach rumbling from here. Poor mite. With all these people trying to get better at photography they're quite literally eating from his plate. Poor bugger…

Join ephotozine.

It is, IMHO, the best (and certainly the most active) photosite on the web. I learnt more on there than I did during my photography degree (although I may not have been paying very much attention during my stude days…).

Regular meet ups (booze-ups) are a great way to learn from folk. Members range from amateurs to pros – it's quite similar to this place, but perhaps a little more, emm, genteel 🙂

Free too!!

Join ephotozine.

it's too complicated – there are loads of sections 🙁

lol at zokes, I'm not looking to earn a crust, just take pleasing photos.

cheers user, I'll have a look!

join a photo club. used to belong to local one when I got my first 35mm slr. entered monthly comps in various sections inc landscape, portrait, sport etc. Crits can be a bit like those celeb dancing progs 🙄 The portrait/glamour days are/were fun 😉
Now that I have a spanking new dslr I might join again next winter.
Find a college night class.
I did a 16wk one with this guy;
http://www.ed-baxter-photography.co.uk/

On a very quick glance, you have a good eye for composition so you need to understand in more detail the effects of depth of field against exposure against prevalent conditions as well as learning how to get more out of the image in post production. I am sure there will be lots of books on it but couldn't point you at one.

Can't give you much advice about pictures as your flickr account reveals you already take better shots than me 😳

But..

I also have bad eyes and have to wear glasses, so I often find it difficult to compose an image in the viewfinder

Not sure about Sony, but Nikon viewfinders have a dioptre correction (dial or slider) on them so you can adjust them to suit your eyes.

My photos are never straight which I find infuriating

You can get spirit-levels that fit in the hotshoe of the camera.
Or just get it more or less right, leave a bit of extra border and get busy with the Straighten tool in photoshop 🙂

Try the SWPP.
It's open to professionals and non-professionals alike.
There are many courses both within the society and advertising through them that you can look into.

Monthly competitions, peer critiques, mentoring, day and week courses, business seminars and so the list goes on.

Either way, you could do worse than have a good look since as a resource it's pretty good.

PS – I'd also advocate the photography magazines. They're an excellent way of learning and developing your skills. I can't recall which ones to go for as all I subscribe to now is the BJP.

simonfbarnes – Member

Join ephotozine.

it's too complicated – there are loads of sections 😥

It really isn't – start with forums – recent activity. You soon get used to the format 🙂

Appreciate the advice – will do some reading when I get a chance and hopefully get involved in some local groups (saw a photo club advertised near my work earlier).

IMHO avoid photographic "clubs".

learn to forget the rules

learn to forget the rules

I remain unconvinced by this.

Surely most really good photos are following at least some basic aesthetic rules?
Any suitable examples of those that don't, but still work really well?

Any suitable examples of those that don't, but still work really well?

sorry I can't help as I've already forgotten what they are…

oh, I've got one: "Don't shoot into the sun"

Don't shoot into the sun

I think that one is more to do with the possibility of causing irreparable damage to your retina, rather than any particular aesthetic reason 😀

oh, I've got one: "Don't shoot into the sun"

What, like these?

Kit, it was one of the rules to forget 🙂

as for ephotozine, the first topic I happened upon was
"I wanted to achieve the blurred background I have seen on many photo's, but my Nikon D60 using 18-55 lens or 70- 300 I coulod not get a low enough F number so I bought the above 50mm. It should have been Auto focus, but did not, I thought it might have been the D60, but apparently it should work. My main problem was that even at 1.8 I could not get a blurred background even when my subject was six foot from the hedge. Is it me or is the lens faulty?"

which betrays even deeper levels of ignorance than on here 🙁 The idea that more depth of field could be a fault is truly wonderful :o) Perhaps hitting it with a hammer would make everything in focus ?

I bet they are talking about the Nikon 50mm 1.8 which will definitely not autofocus with the D60.

And yes, the rest of the post is hilarious.

I like photographs , but i prefer proper art .

I know i know…..Calm down . jeebus .

If you want to get better at something , just do it loads .
You wont get much better after a relavitely short while , but over time you will work out what you can get away with .

Relatively speaking .

Look at Picasso .

Hemingway .

Hunter S thompson .

Sorry , kinda going off on one .

Just buy a really good camera . And point it at stuff . An Image will magically appear on your computer that you can ' adjust ' later.
It's dead easy . I just use me phone . I got it free for only 30 quid a month…..

Free I tell ya

I bet they are talking about the Nikon 50mm 1.8 which will definitely not autofocus with the D60.

yes

The confusion there is probably because there are two versions of the Nikon 50mm currently available – the older/cheaper body-driven one and the newer AFS one.

The thing with "rules" is that you're not supposed to try to follow ALL of them in every photo. (In fact that probably isn't possible)

Those shots are into the sun, but they still follow other rules (geometric shapes, repetition, lead-in lines etc)

learn to forget the rules

But you need to know the rules to forget them.

But you need to know the rules to forget them.

but after you've forgotten them you won't any longer

but they still follow other rules (geometric shapes, repetition, lead-in lines etc)

oh, those are some I'd also forgotten – what a load of tosh!

oh, those are some I'd also forgotten – what a load of tosh!

🙄

Okay simon, show me a good photo of yours that is well regarded that doesn't have any of:

a clear subject, nice light, contrast, balance, lead-in/out, eye lines, geometric shapes, repetition, straight horizon, dynamic slant, complementary colours, discordant colours, motion, stillness, true blacks, true whites, dynamic range, thirds, or golden mean.

And those are just the "rules" that I (a rank amateur) can think of.

You may not be consciously following them, but I'll bet all your best shots have them.

I'd recommend a course if there's one in your area. I traveled for Seb Rogers' mtb photography course. It improved all of my photography simply for a better understanding of the dynamics of photography as well some useful pointers and tips. I've read a number of books and felt the course helped most.

I was going to do his course a few years ago, but lack of funds made it impossible to do at the time! I've looked before and couldn't find any courses where I live, but that was some time ago so should look again.

As for 'rules', sounds like they're simply common sense!

You may not be consciously following them, but I'll bet all your best shots have them.

I don't know, and I don't want to know. If it's not pure intuition it's too mechanical to be borne, I only want to know about what feels right, however it comes about – you can't make emotion out of rules. Your list of things is just a grab bag of charactericts which may or may not apply at any one time, neither necessary nor sufficient. You can follow and number of rules and come up with rubbish, and you can follow none and make something stunning, which is why I saw forget them.

As for 'rules', sounds like they're simply common sense!

and is there any such thing, ever ?

If it's not pure intuition it's too mechanical to be borne

I have an engineer's mind and I'm not blessed with a naturally artistic eye, so I find "the rules" helpful when looking at other peoples pictures and trying to figure out what it is that I like about them. Trying to think about them has helped improve my own shots. YMMV.

you can't make emotion out of rules

I don't agree. Writer's use a huge number of rules and conventions, yet manage to convey a wide range of emotions.

Knowing how a particular light or composition can alter the "message" of a photo doesn't constrain you, it frees you to express the emotion you want more clearly.

YMMV.

EXACTLY!! We're all different, and motivated in different ways, so to expect the same rules to be helpful is unrealistic. If I have enough presence of mind to remember a rule in the moment I press the button then I probably wouldn't bother 🙂

'How to get better at photography?'
Start off really bad at it.

Get a simple camera with a really good lens.
I avoid trying to get clever with the camera settings – it distracts me from the subject.
I've given up taking a camera on rides – I can't concentrate on both.
I limit what I do in photoshop to cropping, levelling and BandW filter.
I'm not interested in pleasing optical effects, I want the image only to express the character of the subject whether it is a person, people, landscape, action etc

Hasn't helped much actually!

I wouldn't remotely claim to be a good photographer, but I have no doubt I'm significantly better than I was a year or so ago. What has changed since then is:

– I've taken loads of photos. Loads and loads of them
– I've looked at loads of other people's photos. Spending time on Flickr and other sites seeing what other people do, and learning from them, is a great education
– I've gradually simplified my kit so that most of the time I'm using a manual film camera with a prime lens. The fancy DSLR kit still has an important place, especially when taking pics of people, but I get a vastly higher proportion of decent shots, and probably more decent shots in absolute terms, with the basic kit than the posh stuff. I am sure that the main reason for this is because it slows me down. A good starting point is to buy a cheap prime lens for your DSLR.
– I've become more minimal and more abstract. Of course that's just the direction I have taken, and others will take different directions, but I think the important thing is to find one's own eye, to uncover a personal style.

I don't know if these will help you, but they certainly helped me

GrahamS – in general I agree with you. However, I like this pic of mine, as do several others, but it doesn't seem to meet many of your rules. Perhaps you'll like it, perhaps you'll hate it, but I'm happy with it 🙂

And Kit, I don't know what you're worried about – your pics are great 🙂

Any books that anyone would recommend?

GrahamS – I like this pic of mine, as do several others, but it doesn't seem to meet many of your rules

No, but it meets a fair few of the important ones: it's atmospheric, has a clear subject, clear geometry, the subject is on a third, straight horizon, complementary colours.