I'm just wondering at what point 'qualified' photographers realised that every picture they took and posted qualified as a great photograph - were they all qualified photographers from the off, or did they start by taking crap pictures like the rest of us?
As a "qualified" photographer that has at least worked in the business and made my living at it at times and some education in the field- I still shoot a lot of "crap." A visit to my gallery proves that
When someone hires me, I shoot to please the customer. When I shoot and post here, I shoot to please me. The more skill a photographer gains doesn't mean he/she doesn't shoot pictures with mistakes, it is just the percentage goes down. You are less likely to shoot and cut off a head, have your thumb on the lens, or bad composition. That is why most of the stuff I post here would never end up in my portfollio- and any phorographer probably does good to end up with 10-20 percent of his/her work to feel it was portfollio quality. Usually only about 60-75 percent are even considered good enough to show a customer in a lot of shooting situations.
To grow, and continue to grow and find excitement, you also have to experiment and take some risks. I could do studio shots all day and produce "cookie cutter" photos that would have a very high percentage of "correctness" and "quality", but what fun would that be. You will be safe, but almost never get that "exceptional" shot.
I never leave critical comments unless asked to because I know a lot of people are just snappers as you say and their work makes them happy, and that is all that matters. I would never tell anyone their work was crap though. I also always qualify that any suggestions for improvement are just my opinion based on my taste. It also doesn't mean some of my photos in my own galleries couldn't be improved by the same suggestions I might give. I presume the person is asking because they don't know how to improve their shots where I realize (especially since some of my work goes back to 1971 in my galleries) by now what could have been better, but still like my shot or find some other significance in it. I also would rather find photographs they have taken I really like and comment on what I find good about those rather than what I find bad about others. I think the message gets across just the same.
It also depends on the purpose, if it is a really great picture of your family, you don't really care about the rule of thirds, backlighting, etc.- it is just a great shot of your family.
I have seen some exceptional shots by 12 year olds that just got their camera for their birthday a month before.
"There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs". ~Ansel Adams
'
A Ming vase can be well-designed and well-made and is beautiful for that reason alone. I don't think this can be true for photography. Unless there is something a little incomplete and a little strange, it will simply look like a copy of something pretty. We won't take an interest in it." ~John Loengard, "Pictures Under Discussion"
Sun Mar 12, 2006 1:36 pm 
Hopefully some of it might help!
