Bit of a fraud...

ukaskew

ukaskew

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Chris
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Apologies for the long post, but this has been bugging me for a while...

I've had a nice quiet day so have been browsing this site quite a bit and also reading a few lens reviews so I'm I'm prepared when I get the usual Christmas/Birthday money from family soon. If nothing else it confirmed my thought that I'm completely clueless with 90% of the stuff that is talked about, I've never even considered the 'sweet spot' of a lens, wouldn't know a good or bad copy of a lens if it poked me in the eye, don't own a tripod, wouldn't know a light meter from a pregnancy test kit...I pretty much get by on a fairly basic understand of shutter speed, aperture and ISO (although I don't know the technicalities of how they all relate to each other fully) and minimal effort doesn't even begin to describe my style.

The thing is, does it matter?

In just over 2 years of DSLR ownership I've achieved more than I thought I would in a lifetime, and haven't really made any effort to actually achieve these things apart from enter a few competitions. I've been on two fully paid for European trips to take photos, won quite a few competitions and lots of expensive prizes, been published quite a bit and had some awesome job offers. Plenty of my photos have made it onto big prints etc (all whilst I had a D50) and I've never had any complaints. In the past fortnight alone I've had work from a car manufacturer and an assignment in Europe, when not shooting handheld and I've needed a long shutter speed I've found objects to balance my camera on as I hate the idea of using a tripod, I'm really at that basic a level.

Sure if I was a pro I would become unstuck pretty darn quickly, even when I've had to do write-ups of trips etc I've won in competitions I've felt like a complete idiot when writing about technique...I just take photos, the most time I've ever spent setting up a shot is about 10 seconds, so I literally have nothing to write about. My most successful image involved nothing more than plonking my camera on a bridge support, selecting shutter priority and trying 8 seconds (which is what I generally do for night shots) I feel certain that if people in the know saw me shooting, they wouldn't be able to distinguish me from a tourist with a P&S camera and certainly wouldn't send me off to take photos for them.

So, am I the worst kind of new DSLR user, proof that it's now too easy? I don't pretend my shots are exceptional by any stretch of the imagination and I'm always completely shocked when I win something, but it's got to the point where I've had so much 'success' that I have to assume that on some level I must take reasonable photos at the very least. As mentioned I'm not chasing work or anything like that, if anything I just love motorsport photography, so with the fairly decent equipment I have it happens that I can get nice photos when I go somewhere as well.
 
Joe T said:
Ban tbh
Click to expand...
:lol:

ukaskew said:
So, am I the worst kind of new DSLR user, proof that it's now too easy?
Click to expand...

Well, to risk being rude, what rubbish :D It's all very well saying it's easier, it's only easier to take lots of shots with digital. The fact is you've a good eye and that can't be bought.
 
ukaskew said:
Apologies for the long post, but this has been bugging me for a while...

I've had a nice quiet day so have been browsing this site quite a bit and also reading a few lens reviews so I'm I'm prepared when I get the usual Christmas/Birthday money from family soon. If nothing else it confirmed my thought that I'm completely clueless with 90% of the stuff that is talked about, I've never even considered the 'sweet spot' of a lens, wouldn't know a good or bad copy of a lens if it poked me in the eye, don't own a tripod, wouldn't know a light meter from a pregnancy test kit...I pretty much get by on a fairly basic understand of shutter speed, aperture and ISO (although I don't know the technicalities of how they all relate to each other fully) and minimal effort doesn't even begin to describe my style.

The thing is, does it matter?

In just over 2 years of DSLR ownership I've achieved more than I thought I would in a lifetime, and haven't really made any effort to actually achieve these things apart from enter a few competitions. I've been on two fully paid for European trips to take photos, won quite a few competitions and lots of expensive prizes, been published quite a bit and had some awesome job offers. Plenty of my photos have made it onto big prints etc (all whilst I had a D50) and I've never had any complaints. In the past fortnight alone I've had work from a car manufacturer and an assignment in Europe, when not shooting handheld and I've needed a long shutter speed I've found objects to balance my camera on as I hate the idea of using a tripod, I'm really at that basic a level.

Sure if I was a pro I would become unstuck pretty darn quickly, even when I've had to do write-ups of trips etc I've won in competitions I've felt like a complete idiot when writing about technique...I just take photos, the most time I've ever spent setting up a shot is about 10 seconds, so I literally have nothing to write about. My most successful image involved nothing more than plonking my camera on a bridge support, selecting shutter priority and trying 8 seconds (which is what I generally do for night shots) I feel certain that if people in the know saw me shooting, they wouldn't be able to distinguish me from a tourist with a P&S camera and certainly wouldn't send me off to take photos for them.

So, am I the worst kind of new DSLR user, proof that it's now too easy? I don't pretend my shots are exceptional by any stretch of the imagination and I'm always completely shocked when I win something, but it's got to the point where I've had so much 'success' that I have to assume that on some level I must take reasonable photos at the very least. As mentioned I'm not chasing work or anything like that, if anything I just love motorsport photography, so with the fairly decent equipment I have it happens that I can get nice photos when I go somewhere as well.
Click to expand...

I think that there is some truth in all of this, I reckon that there are far to many know it alls in photography who are technically brilliant because they read lots of magazines and forums and can give great advice on lots of subjects but who have not got a clue when it comes to actually taking pictures because they sit on thier bottoms and read instead of getting thier cameras out..good on you ukaskew and as I was always told when I was an apprentice electrician..you cant buy experience.....it makes good sense, stop reading all of the crap that is poured out by the technical brigade and get out and take pictures.
 
dod said:
:lol:



Well, to risk being rude, what rubbish :D It's all very well saying it's easier, it's only easier to take lots of shots with digital. The fact is you've a good eye and that can't be bought.
Click to expand...

It seems to be mentioned a lot that it's 'getting too easy', and in particular there seems to be quite a lot of animosity in the motorsport area about people coming through with new equipment and taking business away from the old pros etc. Obviously generalising, but it's certainly an issue for many.

Perhaps I explained it badly, but my point was, does studying the edge sharpness of your lens, always using the sweet spot etc etc. and on a more general level - knowing exactly what settings/lens etc to use for every situation actually matter? And if so, when does it start to matter? I feel I've gone pretty far without knowing a great deal (when I sold my 10-20, the guy asked me if it was a good one, I wouldn't have had a clue, I just sent him samples and told him where some of the pictures from it had ended up, he bought it), I'm just wondering if and when I'm going to hit a very hard brick wall, because half the topics on this forum go straight over my head!
 
I think it's a very nice and encouraging post from you, especially for someone like me who's only just getting into togging properly, and by my own admission, isn't very good! It's good seeing that you don't have to have the latest kit, you don't have to be a PS god, and you don't need to know everything about photography to be a good tog. It's cheered me up no end reading how well you've done with only a basic level of knowledge.
 
ukaskew said:
It seems to be mentioned a lot that it's 'getting too easy', and in particular there seems to be quite a lot of animosity in the motorsport area about people coming through with new equipment and taking business away from the old pros etc. Obviously generalising, but it's certainly an issue for many.

Perhaps I explained it badly, but my point was, does studying the edge sharpness of your lens, always using the sweet spot etc etc. and on a more general level - knowing exactly what settings/lens etc to use for every situation actually matter? And if so, when does it start to matter? I feel I've gone pretty far without knowing a great deal (when I sold my 10-20, the guy asked me if it was a good one, I wouldn't have had a clue, I just sent him samples and told him where some of the pictures from it had ended up, he bought it), I'm just wondering if and when I'm going to hit a very hard brick wall, because half the topics on this forum go straight over my head!
Click to expand...

And that is happening in every type of photography which is a good thing. Photography is a bit like Job Centre Plus in that it has/had to change to get rid of dead wood and people who don't like change.
 
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