What is your biggest weakness in photography?

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Tony
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There are so many aspects to photography, it really is a multi disciplined skill set needed if you think of the process end to end!

I always encourage feedback and a client of mine has commented that I am not 'pushy' enough when it comes to group shots, and I would agree. Although, none of the other areas are particularly strong , they seem happy with everything else, which I am surprised at!!

I am much more comfortable snapping 'life' and do not enjoy posing people, the reason I am very selective about my jobs. But one of my regular jobs does involve this (90% life / 10% posed groups), so something I will have to learn because I do enjoy the assignment.

Where do you feel you are weakest and do you try to improve or avoid?

T
 
People. I think that to be able to photograph people well, you need to be able to relate to them on some level... I'm not a people person - never really have been - on the times and occasions i've shot people, i've always been miserable, never really enjoyed it, and, at least to my own eyes, it's shown in the output. I'm okay with people I know, or people I've spent plenty of time with and already have some connection with, but when thrown into the whole commercial "shoot 500 grip-and-grin's" at a conference or shooting at weddings outside off the B&G that i've already met and spoken with at length, frankly, I'd rather not be there. If I don't care about the person, then I can't care about the photograph of them.

Fortunately, I don't have to earn / supplement a living with a camera anymore, so I simply avoid this kind of shooting and stick to more enjoyable things.
 
Anythign with Flash... I am able to avoid it 99% of the time so :)
 
Visualisation.

Ansel Adams talks about it in the introduction of his first technical book. Seeing the image you want to take before you press the shutter. I came at photography backwards - perhaps because I'm an engineer. I get (most of) the technical side, and I understand exposure. I know when I've over or under exposed, and I know when I've mis-focussed and I know how to use flash. So if you plonk me down in front of anything I can usually get a good exposure that's well composed and will look pretty good when it's printed. But for me - it's having the vision to see the image before I press the shutter. I can take a great photo of something, but I struggle to take great photos about something. The closest I get is with street photography which I spent a *lot* of time on at one point but not so much these days.

As to your second question, I'm always trying to improve. Always. Books on art as well as (rarely attended) exhibitions will help me develop that vision. As will considered feedback. Never stand still.
 
Doing pits and paddock shots, and shots of people. I never do enough, and try to almost actively avoid it when I'm shooting a motorsport event because I know it's not my strong point. It's something I constantly tell myself to improve on and my 2019 photography resolution is to get much, much better at it. That and totally overusing this type of shot. Cars to the top left and tilted. I use it all the time and it tends to signify that I've run out of ideas

FIA-WEC-Silverstone-2018-RC-14.jpg
 
taking photos.

Just that, no more :(
 
that's not a weakness, that's just intelligent long-term investment.

you never know when that A-list celeb will knock on the door asking for a portrait shoot, that 85mm 1.2 will be the only thing they want or when Hamilton pops by asking you do do a personal F1 shoot, that un-used 500 F4 will be just the job. (y)
 
Lack of attention span - I get distracted too easily.
 
Back when I did weddings and some studio stuff. I'd run out of ideas for poses pretty quickly and have never been great at directing people.

These days, getting into Landscape 'seriously' I found (especially at first) I was rushing and missing out on obvious things, composition wise. Being too focused on what I was seeing through the screen and not stepping back and taking in the bigger picture. I'd say I am better now, but its still something I end up kicking myself over quite a lot. More than I like anyway.

This week I was out with a friend who is recently getting into photography, hitting the Dorset coast. Teaching him technicals and going out purposely taking shots and providing guidance, teaching what I know in Lightroom as well. We both really enjoyed it and I can safely say we both learnt a lot. That was a really good test of multitasking from both the guidance and getting some shots in myself. We had a blast. It certainly gave me a lot to think about going forward.
 
Weakness - never happy with what I capture always thinking I can get a better version of what I already have and I can go back to the same spot and retake pictures that just weren't as good as the first due the way the light, clouds etc shadows fell.
 
Being too old for urbex, would have loved getting in and photographing some of the abandoned places I see and know of.
Don't think my legs could outpace security guards or the old bill these days, bound to get caught or nicked.

Had the good fortune to have seen quite a bit of the more hidden bits of underground London.
No photography though, not keen on contravening the official secrets act
 
An over emphasis on a single thing or aspect and missing the relationship within the composition as a whole.

And then finally seeing the missed opportunity in post processing and realising I could have done better.
 
Being too lazy to go out to do it

Exactly the same! When I get time off I'm so knackered I lack motivation so everything else suffers because I don't practice enough. Never been that creative either, like @Harlequin565 - I'm fine technically but struggle 'to see the finished image' before I capture it.

.............then thinking about it there is quite a lot I am s*** at with photography but I still enjoy it when I can get of my arse!
 
Bird photos, I'd like to be good at taking them (not that I actually do many) I'm never happy with the few I do get. Probably not helped by shooting them with the wrong gear as I never go out for bird shots.

Probably my best shot so far.
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A great shot!
 
Lack of time is my biggest weakness got all the right gear but its just finding the time for me I find when I do get out by myself I can be creative but I have have a few days to get there to get the juices to flow. After the shot I guess processing is my other weakness but I am working on it.
 
Without a doubt I am the weak point in my photography.
I've done the ''take umpteen photos'' ( usually on film) to end up with maybe one keeper out of a roll of 36 exposures.
OK so I'm harsh on myself in so far as my expectations but regardless of that I don't study enough all the areas of the skills of photography to come away regularly with results that are genuinly good. ( Studying does not come easy to me, never has!)

The fewer photos I take, the better I'm not becoming!

Personally I find it to be the opposite as now that I am drawn more and more to Large Format ( as opposed to smaller formats and digital) , I'lll typically only shoot one frame each time I go out.
That being the case means that I can try put all my energies, knowledge and experience into that one shot instead of trying to do the same with 36 shots or more.
A lot of the time it remains a struggle to get the intended result but without doubt, the much slower more "dedicated" approach to shooting LF is ( and I hope will continue) allows me to learn more about the errors I make and thus be able to avoid similar in the future.

Regardless of format, photography is not something that can be learned overnight , it's a journey from A-Z.
Like many folk I attempted to cheat that journey and jump straight to Z only to find that my photos were barely any better than when I was at A.
I reverted back to the beginning and started over, much slower and more methodically but even now I would only consider myself to ba as far as H on the journey to Z
 
Being too old for urbex, would have loved getting in and photographing some of the abandoned places I see and know of.
Don't think my legs could outpace security guards or the old bill these days, bound to get caught or nicked.

Had the good fortune to have seen quite a bit of the more hidden bits of underground London.
No photography though, not keen on contravening the official secrets act
Take an older mate with you. You only have to outrun him then. :D
 
Snip:
Personally I find it to be the opposite as now that I am drawn more and more to Large Format ( as opposed to smaller formats and digital) , I'lll typically only shoot one frame each time I go out.

That being the case means that I can try put all my energies, knowledge and experience into that one shot instead of trying to do the same with 36 shots or more.

A lot of the time it remains a struggle to get the intended result but without doubt, the much slower more "dedicated" approach to shooting LF is ( and I hope will continue) allows me to learn more about the errors I make and thus be able to avoid similar in the future.

OK, so see each single large format shot as a roll of 36 exposure film. As you say, this "allows you to learn more about the errors you make and thus be able to avoid similar in the future".

Whether your photo trip involves 36 exposures of 35mm film, 8 exposures of 120 film or one exposure of large format film (or 250 digital shots), providing you look and learn from the results of that photographic outing, you should be able to get better results next time, or (as your ability and experience plateaus) on some of the times after that.

I agree with you about film photography slowing you down and making you think more about the shot you're about to take. However, if you don't use your camera regularly enough or get time to find and travel to the right places to use what you've learned (before it's become second nature and you've forgotten it again), then it's probably not going to help things. And that's a long-winded explanation of what I was trying to say in post #28! :coat:
 
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Flash and I have an understanding. We hate each other! It’s consequently my biggest weakness.
 
An over emphasis on a single thing or aspect and missing the relationship within the composition as a whole.

And then finally seeing the missed opportunity in post processing and realising I could have done better.

Been there and done that SO MANY TIMES.
 
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