what not to do.

magicbastarder

leave the fake tilt shift effect at home. though it seems much more popular among videographers than photographers now.

mehfesto

In the OP, why does it say you shouldn't use flash in a pub?

magicbastarder

cos i hate flashes going off in pubs.

BlastedGlute

Don't rely on fast primes to make an interesting photo. If somethings worth shooting, it should be worth shooting at any f/stop. The blur is pretty but not the subject.

Don't assume that simply getting out and shooting is enough to actually get better at what your doing. Read articles/tutorials and observe other people's work. Everything from composition to light sources is right there to see in the photo without anyone telling you.

Do take critique from people who know what their talking about. But don't be afraid to go your own way with it either.

Do buy whatever the hell you want to. My first camera was a 60D and a sigma 50mm 1.4. I'm a factory worker and no rich kid,so don't let anyone tell you what you should or shouldn't spend your money on. Do your research but don't hold back just because your starting out.

PixelTrawler

DONT put off buying a 5d Mark 2 just because the 5d Mark 3 might be within 6-12 months of launch

magicbastarder

BlastedGlute wrote: »

Don't rely on fast primes to make an interesting photo. If somethings worth shooting, it should be worth shooting at any f/stop. The blur is pretty but not the subject.

it's not that the blur might be pretty which is what makes shallow DOF useful, it's that it throws a potentially distracting background out of focus.

peckerhead

mehfesto wrote: »

In the OP, why does it say you shouldn't use flash in a pub?

God be with the days when it was because it would bounce back off the smoke hanging in the air... a bit like the rule about not using full beams in a fog.

BlastedGlute

magicbastarder wrote: »

it's not that the blur might be pretty which is what makes shallow DOF useful, it's that it throws a potentially distracting background out of focus.

You don't have to educate me on the usefulness of subject isolation. My point was clear in the post or so I thought.
*edit* I realized that sounds a bit rude, but the keyword in my post was "rely", which there definitely is. There's much discussion around web about it, most of all from filmographer types.
I sold my 1.4 simply because I thought I was going that way too often. I wasn't comfortable with opening the lens up and I was excusing it for bad composition or unimaginative lighting.
So I have a 17-55mm 2.8 and I don't really shoot at 2.8 at all anymore, UNLESS, I'm looking for a specific detail and I'm trying to isolate a subject. Which I understand

Solyad wrote: »

DONT put off buying a 5d Mark 2 just because the 5d Mark 3 might be within 6-12 months of launch

Now if I could make that decision about getting an iPhone 4 or just waiting for the all too aloof iPhone 5 :P

magicbastarder

your post suggested the point was that the blur would be pretty to look at. people use shallow DOF to draw attention to the subject, so the blur is *less* likely to be looked at.

BlastedGlute

Oh I just edited my post as your replied. No I'm afraid that I have to insist that my point was a reliance on the effect to make a photo interesting. You could always have the debate that if your subject was interesting enough to begin with then you wouldn't have to force the background out of focus. But that's another discussion entirely and on a per image basis.

As an example I was asked to do photos for a lady recently and one of the first things she wanted was "that blurry background oh i love that". So it is a desired element in itself. People notice it just as much as the object that's being forced to focus. And there is much discussion around the web about it's overuse and how in some ways it's pandering to the ignorant that this is a difficult technique or creates a more professional look. So again, I know what it does, it works the same way in traditional art as it does in photographery. But with lenses like the 50mm 1.8ii being so cheap and cheerful it's impossible to ignore the fact that this technique is more prevalent now than ever before. And some relatively dull and uninspired shots are taken as meaning something a lot more because of the impact that shallow dof has. That's just my thoughts on the matter, different strokes for different folks and all that

magicbastarder

BlastedGlute wrote: »

But with lenses like the 50mm 1.8ii being so cheap and cheerful it's impossible to ignore the fact that this technique is more prevalent now than ever before.

there was a time when the 50mm 1.8 was the de facto standard lens which came with your new SLR; today it's an 18-55mm or equivalent. now, it's a conscious decision to go out and supplement your kit with one. but it used to be the other way around.

sheesh

charybdis wrote: »

For some reason I copied a list of photographic clichés to a text file a while ago:

Don't take photos of:

* pets
* cemetaries
* university campuses
* feet/toes/hands
* flowers
* cameras
* macro shots of bugs
* hot chicks by a window or in the woods
* abandoned buildings
* barns
* HDR anything
* Converse shoes
* dutch angles
* concert photos
* The underside of piers
* Feet (with or without hipster shoes)
* Streetlights from right underneath them looking straight up.
* Cats
* Leaves floating in a stream
* Sunsets and sunrises
* Rocks on a beach
* Long exposures of waterfalls/running water
* Long exposures of cars at night
* things shot in the reflection of sunglasses
* the moon
* Coffee
* Anything with a heart shape
* Unused chairs
* Those multicoloured beach hut things
* Homeless people
* Trashcans, dumpsters, trash, etc
* clothespegs on a line
* images exposed while zooming the lens

ignore this

take photographs of what ever the hell you want. Alot of photography can be learned by repeating the steps of other photographers or trying to recreate your version of of a classic shot. these lessons can be used to create more original photographs down the line.

Learning photography takes time

magicbastarder

sheesh wrote: »

ignore this

why not be aware of the cliches as you're learning?
by all means, take the photos of the above (except homeless people), but be aware that they're cliched.

sheesh

magicbastarder wrote: »

why not be aware of the cliches as you're learning?
by all means, take the photos of the above (except homeless people), but be aware that they're cliched.

the poster didn't say to be aware of cliches they said not to photograph them.

kelly1

I think one of the most common mistakes is over-exposure. You loose detail, colour saturation and contrast. I nearly always shoot manual or use Aperture Priority with -1/3 or -2/3 compensation.

Eirebear

Honestly?

Don't read any of this thread - get out there, learn how to photgraph whatever the hell you want in a way that you see fit.
Take the images home, edit them, look at them, get feedback on them, print the ones you like and put them on a wall.

Repeat, but make it better, learn from your mistakes.

Find something else to photograph, stretch the limits of your imagination, ability and gear.

Do it all again.

And so on, and so on.

KarmaGarda

Don't walk down Grafton Street with a rooster asking people if they would like to rub your cock. Seriously. They could get the wrong idea. Especially if you mistakenly left the rooster at home.

DaireQuinlan

kelly1 wrote: »

I think one of the most common mistakes is over-exposure. You loose detail, colour saturation and contrast.

DO: over expose, if you want lovely pastelly colours, washed out contrast, and lack of detail

Eirebear wrote: »

Honestly?

Don't read any of this thread -

... except the bits about the cats ...

magicbastarder

Eirebear wrote: »

Honestly?

Don't read any of this thread - get out there, learn how to photgraph whatever the hell you want in a way that you see fit.
Take the images home, edit them, look at them, get feedback on them, print the ones you like and put them on a wall.

Repeat, but make it better, learn from your mistakes.

Find something else to photograph, stretch the limits of your imagination, ability and gear.

Do it all again.

And so on, and so on.

you're all so bloody earnest. whatever happened to cynicism? no wonder the country is the way it is back in my day yadda yadda

Mountainsandh

but but ?
Dadddeyyyy... ve man's scaring meeee.

Eirebear

magicbastarder wrote: »

you're all so bloody earnest. whatever happened to cynicism? no wonder the country is the way it is back in my day yadda yadda

Sorry MB - I've noticed over the last few days of watching Englishmen fighting amongst themselves just how much an overload of information can screw with your brain, your sleeping pattern and possibly even your view of HDR Swans with cats on their backs so may have been taking things a little too seriously.

OldGoat

Don't scratch your initials onto your lens glass. It's NOT a quick way of watermarking all your images.
Nor is putting 'Letraset' transfers on your sensor.
/Viz TopTips

magicbastarder

i painted nail varnish onto the front element of one of my wide angles. no more fiddling about with pricey and delicate grey grad filters for me.

pullandbang

OldGoat wrote: »

Nor is putting 'Letraset' transfers on your sensor.

Putting the Letraset on is a pain 'cos you have to put it on backwards to make sure your name appears correctly.......

Fajitas!

pullandbang wrote: »

Putting the Letraset on is a pain 'cos you have to put it on backwards to make sure your name appears correctly.......

Mentioning Letraset is a pain because if you know what it is, you're probably an aul fellah...

pullandbang

Fajitas! wrote: »

Mentioning Letraset is a pain because if you know what it is, you're probably an aul fellah...

Me grandfather used tell me about it. It was around in the days when the internet was still black and white.....

IamBlip

Do not - walk around town with a 70-200 and call your photography "street" (I happened to be standing beside a guy today who was drooling at his subject from full focal range, looked at me and said, thats a great street shot)

Do not - drink copious amounts of alcohol and at the end of the night decide its a good time to take the camera out, doh.

mehfesto

IamBlip wrote: »

Do not - walk around town with a 70-200 and call your photography "street" (I happened to be standing beside a guy today who was drooling at his subject from full focal range, looked at me and said, thats a great street shot)

Here's some shots from flickr tagged with '70-200' and 'street', I found after not looking very long.



http://www.flickr.com/photos/fdrevon/4133375045/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fdrevon/4287213203/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sergioo/5093257454/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dkitch/4318270186/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/millanprible/4004578810/in/photostream/

Don't see anything wrong with these.

Slidinginfinity

Do Not under any circumstances read the manuals that came with your equipment! And after that do not re-read it over and over until you can recite it.

OldGoat

Do take photographs from new and interesting perspectives.
Do not dangle your DSLR in the traffic from pedestrian bridges to get new and interesting perspectives.