NikonGear'23
Gear Talk => Camera Talk => Topic started by: Tristin on November 20, 2016, 19:29:12
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Are there aspects of your gear or photography you know that you are incompetent in?
I have no experience using AF still, despite having a D750. :P
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My areas of incompetence would be too long to list in full, and as a rule I am not happy with my work, or when I am I am not really sure why, which in itself I analyse as a sign of incompetence.
AF continues to baffle me, but I have a Nikon Df with an add-on split-screen, and my main lens is a PC-E 24mm, so I do not worry too much about AF Even though the PC-E is my main lens, I am sure I do not have the competence to master all its subtleties, far from it.
Probably my main incompetence area is post-processing. I have spent a lot of time with Photoshop, purchased online training, a Wacom tablet, I read Adobe's reference manual, and I still don't have a clue and am unable to reproduce what I am taught. So for the moment I use DxO Pro which is much less intimidating.
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Presentation. I ofter have a lot of good work to present to customers or the web. Then I fail to present the pictures well...
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Speedlights. I own THREE and still dont know how to use them - 11 years down the line :-[
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My incompetence run so deep in certain photographic areas, that I am not able to point it out. I feel that capturing a really sharp image or sharpening an image so that it is rendered sharp in print or screen is one of the areas I could improve my skills.
Speedlights... Dont get me started ;)
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layers and brushes, and to get a sharp shot from time to time :)
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Seeing. My photos never look like how my eyes saw the scene :D
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In some areas I avoid conspicuous incompetence by not involving myself at all. Speedlights? What are those?
In others I'm just plain incompetent. Post processing among them. I miss slides.
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1) Studio lighting
2) Flash fill-in
3) Making proper use of a wide angle
4) Lack of awareness of incompetence in most other domains
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In short, lack of ability to express my inspirations in an satisfactory way in my images.
In long, too many to write them all. :D
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I consider myself mostly incompetent in everything photographically related.
I yearn it but cannot seem to learn it the way I dream it.
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I fail to develop themes and create coherent portfolios of work. I'm too scattershot!
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layers and brushes
100% clueless on these two subjects.
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I so wish I could help - I totally can't live without layers
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I have a problem smooching up with clients and potential patrons
Which is quite a problem when you're a.o. shoot fashion 8)
Fortunately I over the years have gathered a number of contacts who are willing to look beyond that and forgive me my 'bad' manners
But it's a real problem, it's like Popeye the Sailor Man says 'I Yam what I Yam, and that's all that I am' ;)
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Ah... In old times I did manage to develop negatives and get prints done through my enlarger, but never managed to gear it to gallery level, while seeing friends mastering it "effortlessly" ! Flashes at that time (bulbs) were so complicated to manage (hot, dangerous, need a computer while measuring distances, fill-in either black or white, etc.)!
In more modern era (since the FA), freedom ! You could take a picture agains the sun and still see something !
The digital era, just brought back everything to the computer, so it seems quite easier, and the latest Speedlights... Well they just work (don't ask me how)!
But taking picture is still trying to put in a small frame a wonderful scenery (or portrait), happily, since the 6x6 era, the framing is almost perfect (left is left and top is top).
You don't have to learn German anymore to understand how to operate the camera (Schwarzschild, Scheimpflug, etc.), but hear or read complicated and weird theories on pixels and alpha blendings, YCbCr, TSV, TSL, SVG... Duuh !
Photography is the most wonderful toy for incompetent adults... :o
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I fail to develop themes and create coherent portfolios of work. I'm too scattershot!
I totally understand. My portfolio would look like pictures randomly choosen by a lottery machine ::)
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I totally understand. My portfolio would look like pictures randomly choosen by a lottery machine ::)
ditto, that is what I mean by presentation. I did follow certain topics over the years, but I need someone to help me sort them through and put them into context
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100% clueless on these two subjects.
I don't claim to be an expert on these two, but I learned a lot from this book https://www.amazon.co.uk/Layers-Complete-Photoshops-Powerful-Feature/dp/0321749588
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matt is a good teacher - I just am unable to follow instructions on PS in a book - so I watch video tutorials. But whatever rocks your boats - learning how to use layers is the single most useful thing Photoshop offers.
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What is incompetence? Perhaps a complete failure in the old days of the wet darkroom. And completely incompetent with sports and that kind of action ;)
And now in the age of digital processing there is so much going on, that with continuous learning I feel stepped backwards... But then there is always another day...
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matt is a good teacher - I just am unable to follow instructions on PS in a book.
Same here. Strangely enough, I read many books, but those - I can't.
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Flash is easy ..stick it in the shoe and only shoot landscape ..crop to portrait ( or get a flash flipper)
Sharpness is easy ....picture control ..sharp +9 job done
Layers / photoshop ....the wife does that ...easy
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oh and this is the worst - but I have decided that this one I WILL wax before the year is out.
PEN TOOL in Photoshop...
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Flash is easy ..stick it in the shoe and only shoot landscape ..crop to portrait ( or get a flash flipper)
Sharpness is easy ....picture control ..sharp +9 job done
Layers / photoshop ....the wife does that ...easy
Good thing I dont need a wife then ;D ;D ;D
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Same here. Strangely enough, I read many books, but those - I can't.
I probably have more video tutorials in my library than anyone else I know. no kidding (Lynda.com excluded) And I actually DO watch them. hence the pen tool (again) being on my list of to-do
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Even if I have had cameras with auto focus since 1989, I have never mastered it. I just can't figure out how to trust AF. I have tried several times, but every times I have to go manual focus for getting my pictures. The same about speedlights automatic.
All about jpeg-generating inside the camera has been out of my interest, and I am total incompetent at that, but that is a choice I have made for convenience.
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Even if I have had cameras with auto focus since 1989, I have never mastered it. I just can't figure out how to trust AF. I have tried several times, but every times I have to go manual focus for getting my pictures. The same about speedlights automatic.
All about jpeg-generating inside the camera has been out of my interest, and I am total incompetent at that, but that is a choice I have made for convenience.
But your photoshop skills are good ! :) I am the opposite (which is quite apt) in that I cant use Manual focus !
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My daughter told me several times.... "Dad, do make art with your photos"
That phrase has it all.
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ELSA ASLE
Too funny ;D
Thank you 8)
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Yes, it took me a while to realise that Asle mirrored Elsa's profile picture :D
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And you guys only noticed now our names are mirror images of one another's ??
;D I noticed that day 1 :P
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Hehe.. I was wondering how anyone could have a meaniful discussion with themselves. Then it dawned on me ;D
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And you guys only noticed now our names are mirror images of one another's ??
;D I noticed that day 1 :P
Still looking for SordeP ;D
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Thanks to my incompetence and this thread I started to get some knowledge of layers and brushes :D
I managed to put 4 images on top of each other and make all 4 moons visible! (beginners luck)
Super moon running away.
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Strange,,, they look sharpish,,,
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Strange,,, they look sharpish,,,
;D
Amazing what a tripod can do to you...
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I guess this is confession or a testimony meeting for photographers? I suffer attention deficit so I've never shot a wedding, ceremony or formals. I couldn't mess up a couple's wedding photos. I enjoy shoot candids at a wedding as a third shooter. :)
Dave Hartman
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Thanks to my incompetence and this thread I started to get some knowledge of layers and brushes :D
I managed to put 4 images on top of each other and make all 4 moons visible! (beginners luck)
Super moon running away.
Well done. Thanks to this thread I have started using the pen tool. Need to work on my hair selections now
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I put a link up for a guy with tutorials on Photoshop. While testing the link I watched part of one. He is so disgusting I don't want to be associated with him so I pulled the link. I didn't remember him being so bad. Sorry.
Dave Hartman
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Well done. Thanks to this thread I have started using the pen tool. Need to work on my hair selections now
I don't want to throw this thread off topic but if you'd like to open a new thread maybe we can share some selection techniques. I'd like to learn the pen tool better as well but have some other techniques that work good for things like hair.
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Side remark: a discussion of selection techniques entails some proficiency in that field, thus should go into its own thread. Here, people confess or even admit what they don't master. Like an AA meeting only with failed or incompetent photographers :D ...
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It is a good reminder how we sometimes focus on our faults - so many amazing artists here. It is such a vast endeavor no one is without gaps!
For me, I frustrate myself by too eagerly snapping without stopping to breath and really focus on composition.
Having joined this "sport" only in the digital era (D70 first DSLR), my manual focusing is slow and I don't trust myself enough to use it more. I also lean on shallow DOF too much (58 f1.4 I'm looking at you!)
Rob.
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Speedlights. I own THREE and still dont know how to use them - 11 years down the line :-[
Here is a good place to start...
http://strobist.blogspot.com/?m=1
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101.html?m=1
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2016/07/lighting-102-has-been-completely-updated.html?m=1
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2017/01/lighting-103-introduction.html?m=1
Dave
I'm not associated with David Hobby or any of his blog's supporters. I sometimes participate in the Strobist.com forum on Flickr.
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A young man approached a great swordmaster and said, "How long will it take me to learn the art?". The swordmaster answered, "Ten years". The young man said, "But I am very talented and I will study night and day". The swordmaster answered, "In that case, twenty years". The young man said "Look, you don't get it, I will do anything you say, but I don't have time to waste". The swordmaster answered, "In that case, thirty years".
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I struggle. Every time you get to use a technique-lens-body-post-light-whathaveyou, there is the next one. "Mastered" is the other side of the spectrum and I hope one day I´ll get to use in a meaninful manner. As of today I´m a happy struggle-er
Swing moods. I either produce garbage or I´m soooo good I can´t understand why the others don´t see my genius. With the same image. ;D ;D ;D
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I have had my first DSLR in my hands for about a year (with no film background), so I'll let the 'catalogue' of my work speak for itself :)
So far, incompetence at all levels hasn't spoiled the fun.