Hi Stephen,
Unfortunately, god and the devil are in the details. <g>
I pick one of my 'avenues of growth' (no shortage here) and focus on
_improving_ that specific defect until I get consistently better results.
Then I pick the next greatest fault and work on that. Occassionally, I have
to go back and do refresher work in an area I'd made some improvent in, but
that is OK. I'm shooting for progress, not perfection.
For example, my first target was just holding the damn camera steady
enough. :-) I can still make fuzzy shots, but I'm in more control of it
now. When I started, it was entirely involuntary. Also, for me, being able
to look at a photo and being able to identify the what and the why of its
'character' is also a measure of progress.
Whatever the defect happens to be, I try to learn as much as I can about
the factors that contribute to that problem and see what my books and
people here on the list have to say on the topic (or have said). Then I try
specific solutions and compare the results.
With regards to the example of steadiness (sharpness), this lead to a
better understanding of tradeoffs between handholding and tripods, film
speed and grain, and the interaction between aperture and time, available
versus artificial light, hyperfocal distance, DOF and the area of
acceptable focus, etc.- all of which I knew nothing about when I got my
first photos back and stood there, apalled by the blur.
I look to other people's work for inspiration, but I can only measure my
progress or its lack against my own previous best efforts, not someone
elses. In keeping with that, I hang on to quite a few of my photos that
exhibit specific defects, so I can have something objective to measure my
current photos against.
I also make sure I'm having some fun while I'm out shooting.
Hope that helps,
Dan Scott
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>A question, please, to the collective Pentaxian wisdom:
>
> How do you psych yourselves back up out of a slump,
> namely a run of bad results? Or maybe more important,
> how do you psych yourselves so that a run of bad results
> doesn't degenerate into a self-perpetuating slump?
>
>Saturday and Sunday I was out at the first motorcycle event
>at my local road circuit (albeit primarily as a corner marshal
>and only secondarily as a photographer). I thought that at
>the beginning of my fifth season I would have internalized
>enough that I'd start seeing past the details and could
>concentrate on making photographs. This turned out not to be
>the case: It was like I didn't know anything, and Sunday night
>I went away with a really bad feeling that turned out even
>worse than I anticipated when the prints came back yesterday.
>Bad exposure (mostly over), bad color, bad focus, inappropriate
>depths of field, and bad technique -- even on panning, which I
>usually seem to have a knack for.
>
>Even allowing for a possible subconscious paranoia (that I'd have
>to drop the camera in a hurry because a bike and rider would
>come tumbling toward me through the gravel trap), I'm still
>asking myself: How could I have sucked that bad?
>
>(Dirty details: LX w/winder mostly on manual, 70-210A f/4 and
>300M* f/4, Fuji Reala and Superia 200)
>
>All moral support appreciated...
>
>
>Stephen Moore
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