💰Want to win $10,000? Enter the Photography Explained Awards here: 👉 PhotographyExplained.com/Awards 📷 Want to start taking photos that leave your friends and family speechless? Download our FREE cheat sheets: 👉 photographyexplained.com/cheatsheets/
Yes! Taking more photos is key, with whatever you've got. Sound advice. Often, our priorities get misplaced re: researching gear vs time spent actually using it. That said, I don't think we should feel guilty about aspiring for better gear, because better gear, if well chosen, means more keepers and time in the field more productively spent. I've been shooting regularly for about 7 years, and I have much enjoyed getting better and better cameras and lenses, because they just work better, and result in more images worth keeping. It is such a pleasure to shoot with a camera that, a) has very good autofocus, b) is image stabilized, c) has a quality electronic viewfinder so that you can immediately see whether your exposure is OK. I think everyone who is semi-serious about photography deserves all 3 of these features, as they result in a reliable tool that allows you to make the best use of your time and energy in the field, to more often capitalize on opportunities, and bring home good images. But yes, point well taken -- getting out there is the most important thing!
I agree ! I shoot almost everyday. making 250-350 exposures each time I go out. I use only used equipment that is of professional quality but older tech. My 2 favorite cameras are the Nikon D300 from 2008 and the Pentax K5 from 2012. 90% of my lenses are older film era lenses which are absolutely fine. (cheap too) The Sunny 16 rule is all I use. I only use the spot meter when it's overcast. You shoot, your learn, you get better. It's that simple. I'm lucky that I'm retired and have nothing else better to do but go out and shoot. When the weather is bad, I have a small home studio (my living room) to use.
Well said.👏👏👏 I was bumming myself out a few years back. Kept making excuses to not get out, and wasn't getting the photos I thought I should have been able to produce. There were things I wanted to learn with my camera but couldn't remember how to do without playing around with my camera. The last 2 years now I've been forcing myself to get out and have learned so much. I'm very happy now with my collection, and how much easier it gets arriving to a scene and knowing what to do. I caught my first lightning bolts, comet, Northern Lights, & rainbows this year. Family been asking how my work has improved so much. It really is just getting out and using the tools. Like any good Craftsman & Artist.
"Get out and do it" is the best advice, I agree. I take lots of photos, most of where the dogs and me walk, and of the dogs of course! Are they great? No, but they document events as memories. That said, we visited some woodland yesterday, colours, and light, were golden, and I came away with 3 I was really happy with. Yes, I also spend hours each week watching youtube videos, but don't watch TV... Also finally got around to getting the 2 lenses I'd been thinking about for nearly a year... While selling the ones they replaced. Great video, thanks.
Take. More. Photos. You never know what gem you'll find. I was in Downtown Pittsburgh one night, and the autofocus was misbehaving on a certain lens. I was about to give up and go elsewhere, but I decided to swap to the plain old Nifty Fifty to salvage *something* from that stop. Turned out to be one of the best photos I've taken all year.
There are some limits to what you're saying for some of us though. Nothing to do with equipment but rather the ability to actually 'get out there' as you put it. There are a small percentage of formerly active (amateur) photographers who are, perhaps later in life, now disabled in one way or another. Some of us are wheelchair bound, some of us have osteoarthritis (etc) meaning we can't walk much. And so on. For able bodied, fit, healthy people, everything you've said here is spot on. But for a few of us our only option is capturing images of our toilet, telephone, kitchen sink, shoes, furniture. There are no photography cannels that specifically cater to disabled photographers. :(
I have a recurring foot problem that sometimes disallows hiking more than about 1 minute. But I find that getting in my car and going somewhere where I can get out and see something even slightly interesting, even if I can only go 50 feet from the car and sit on my portable stool, can get me some half-decent photos. But a car is key. Good luck.
@@sputumtube maybe explore macro. It isn't always walking in the woods, some guys put together indoor "studios" and do cool macro still life's with water drops, bubbles, etc.
Thanks so much for this! Everything you mentioned has been me over the last few years after having stepped away from photography and wanting to come back. Pouring over videos about the "right" gear, getting paralyzed at the digital editing (I loved living in my darkroom decades ago) that really is just work to me and not that much fun, all applies. I appreciate your friendly and supportive way of saying, "get off your butt and go take pictures!" Appreciated, subscribed, and now getting ready for the day and *not* watching more gear videos. :)
Excellent video - you nailed it. I even want to reduce time in front of Lightroom and other tools to have more time for taking photos and practizing composition.
Absolutely true. More photos. Side comment. Some of my photos that gave me more satisfaction come from randomly taking my gear when I was out for entirely different business. Like the lake in the morning before dawn when I chaffeured my wife to work and saw fishermen undocking in the limelight. Or a murky bench in front of an ill-placed church in a place I went to buy a tree for my house. So my humble advice is, besides going out intentionally, carry some decent gear with you more often at odd times.
A note on the photographers of yesteryear.... Ansel Adams spent quite a lot of time and trial & error in the darkroom perfecting his prints. He might be the epitome of photo editing to emphasize contrast and bring out tonal range.... all with film.
I agree! I was out shooting with other photographers whom I would consider professionals and I easily took 3-5 times the number of photos they took. I have maybe 4 really spectacular photos that I can tweak and process into stunning photos, the rest of the time, I'm tweaking and testing and shooting with different settings. I come home with hundreds of "unusable" images, but each one is a different lesson learned and a new bit information for the next time I go out taking pictures.
I would say that Ansel Adams spent more time in the dark room developing the few plates gathered on field trips, being a large format camera his weapon of choice. A master of the whole process of landscape photography, from measuring the light, taking the image and then processing. My point is that he didn't just go out and take plenty of photos and hope to get the perfect image but understood how to the get perfect image the first time. In the digital age, that is the skill that is neglected.
The reality is that it's easy to take a photo. Some people have an 'eye' for composition. An individual will go out as many or as few times as they want. Why are there so many blokes trying to tell others what to do?
Personally, I find that the sunny f/16 rule tends to underexpose the image, at least in the UK. It needs to be VERY bright sun for it to work. On the other hand, I find that I often need to underexpose to avoid blown highlights. Fortunately, my current mirrorless camera shows me blown highlights at the stage when I am taking the picture. I once used the sunny f/16 rule to take a picture of the moon, reasoning that the moon is in bright sunlight. The moon came out very dark. I had forgotten that the moon is made of fundamentally dark material, so if you use the sunny f/16 rule then inevitably it will come out dark in the picture. The moon only looks bright at night because it's brighter than everything else.
@ No, it's a bright sunny day on the moon, so the sunny f/16 rule should apply. The problem is that the moon is fundamentally dark, so if you use sunny f/16, the moon comes out dark, which is accurate, but not what you intend to capture.
@jerry2357 you're 300% wrong but I'm not going to sit here and argue with you. The night is dark, the moon is not dark even if it doesn't emit it's own light. You have to shoot the moon with a wide aperture and a long exposure.
@jerry2357 it's reflecting light when you are photographing it, that's all that matters. Whether it is it's own light or not your camera sensor doesn't care. It's like saying if I point a light to a mirror and take a picture it will be dark because the mirror doesn't have it's own light 🤦
I agree, I just started photographing birds and I spend a minimum of 3 hours to capture that one photo and maybe more if I stay. Get out every day and you will not believe what you will capture that day. the time in the field ready does matter.
I had to pause this video a few minutes in to go take photos of some model cars. I had some ideas to change up what I was working on the day before. Good message to take more photos.
The gentleman just described me Son… I was literally talking to myself listening to this and it went as follows “You don’t know me, why are you talking about me on the WORLD WIDE WEB” Yes, I did watch this till the end and I’ll be watching some more of your videos to get me off my BUM, 👊🏾😒🇳🇬🇺🇸
I keep buying gear because im trying to make myself feel something, used to be more out going but losing interest in things so I recommend spending your money on useless gear if you like to shop; but thanks for the pep talk.
Great video. I started going out more often this year shooting birds, landscapes and any other wildlife I can see. Taking more photos has made a big difference.
Speaking to the choir (assuming I am the choir 😄 ) . Which is another way of saying everything you're presenting here resonates. I was once asked to help get a novelist off his writer's block. So I went and visited him and told him, the way to get off his writer's block is to write. Same with photography. The way to develop one's photography skills is to take photos.
That's not how you're supposed to use the sunny 16 rule, telling people to use those settings and go shoot away is a recipe for disappointment since they'll go back home with very soft images and a heck of a lot of motion blur shooting at 1/200s or 1/100s since some may even try that. They are supposed to use that as a baseline, pick a shutter speed appropriate for what they are shooting and then use the aperture to compensate the same number of stops they changed the shutter speed.
@simonworledge4704 or maybe they can learn to properly expose their images, he's not even talking about very beginners but about people learning and not going out to shoot. If your telling someone to use a technique you have to show them how to properly use it. I'm not disagreeing with the video, just that sunny 16 part is setting them up for failure. When you get frustrated you don't learn.
@simonworledge4704 I'm not saying not to go out and shoot, go get 1000 images a day no matter how bad they are, but also I'm not going to tell you to go mindlessly shoot at 1/100.
im currently at 2 minutes rn and i agree that more photos means you can progress better since you can look back and see what you could've done to make the next shot better. coming from a newbie photographer
Thank you for your no nonsense approach to your videos. I am semi retired and go out with my camera (Nikon D500 or Nikon D3)at least 20 hours a week and take upwards of 500 shots in that time ,mainly wildlife but also landscapes and just getting into a bit of macro also. You are an inspiration to me and I thank you for that. Keep up the good work my friend.
Hey John, thanks for commenting mate. Sounds like you're putting loads of work in! Do you have a link to your photography on a website or social media that I can check out?
im a "part time" photographer since i still have school, but i take shoots if i see something cool, at least once a week or if i am on vacation, then i use a small professional camera instead of my phone's blurry 50MP Ai camera which has lots of noise
Actually, switching from one UA-cam video to another is the hard process, because no matter what the investment is, it does not end up with a photo taken. I agree with most of the things you said, just believe there is some minimal gear that one needs, and it's a digital camera capable of shooting unlimited images, rather than an analog one with just a roll of film. Analog phototherapy requires a more focused approach, and the learning curve is different with such a limitation. Personally, I love limitations but for anyone scrolling through dozens of videos, it may be better not to have such a limit.
Excellent video, makes perfect sense. Feel like this has given me a kick up the backside. Although not able to go out everyday due to work commitments, i will strive to put in a few hours at the weekend. Found the chart for sunny 16 rule very informative.
Amateur photographer here with relatively cheap second hand apsc body & lenses, who goes out twice a week, goes to a camera club once a week to help learn and get photos critiqued. If I get better, I might buy a full frame camera, within a budget, buy a photo printer and print photos to display in my home or give to family and friends. For enjoyment. Why are you stereotyping amateur photographers? Surely not just for clicks and views.
HURRAH! Very well said. I was out today in the sunshine (!!! - yes sunshine in southern England). I took a crazy 1,005 photographs (actually about 1/3 of that as I always bracket for exposure). My equipment? An excellent Canon 80D / APS-C / 24mpx camera which I bought eight years ago and was launched about a decade ago. My lens is a non-pro 55-250 Canon, I edit in ACDSee Ultimate and Topaz photo AI. So the software is up-to-date but my camera is battered and bruised and aging. Now, far from all those pix are great but if I have 5-10 fab ones that will have been a morning well-spent. If my camera falls apart, I shall probably buy a second-hand one (MPB perhaps) of the same model - I like it, I know it and I don't have to spend ages pratting-about learning new settings. Oh and it has an optical viewfinder. My gear is worth only a few quid but it enables me to take the best pix I can. Cheers.
Most of the photos I take are for myself or family so I don’t even bother with editing, if some are not good enough, there’s bound to be one that will suffice, plus I’m too tight to buy editing apps as I’m a Yorkshire man too (Leeds area) and you know how tight we are 😉👋
I's called procrastination. At least that's my wall to climb or go around. So...I finally went out and clicked the shutter at most everything. The real reason I started into it again is so I can develop the film. I have a really good digital but I had a nostalgic moment about a year ago to develop my own film. I only just got out about a month ago and just clicked away at anything. I try for a little artistic but I'm 73 so I'm not really what I consider a photographer,
LOL. So many truisms rattling away like a tommy fun! Wonderful. Eg Expecting to buy good photos is as good as my sarcastic saying: "My camera doesn't give me the respect I deserve. I've won awards. It should known that!" Well no. Each time it is up to me! I've got great shots I took on my grandpa's folding brownie! Two distance settings. Two light settings. Only one shutter speed! That was it! But I will says that good modern gear makes it easier for me to capture photo opportunities in high quality and concentrate on composition. When traveling that may mean grab shots or missing out. So I've been a zoom fan for 40 years. Quick, convenient, lightweight. Tip for portraits. Tell a story. Just look at what's on Time and Nat Geo. Stories - not done with the F1.8 50mm portrait lens with high bokeh being peddled on other videos.
I'm watching this in the bath, so I'm not taking photos right now. There no way that coupd end in a good photo. However, gear. I have a lot of lenses. But they were all old or junk I rebuilt. My camera and batteries are all in a small grab bag with the lenses I use most. Fast 50 being my go to over and over. But I have a few other small primes thrown in. I'm a bit prime mad, it's just my style. So if I'm going out I can just grab that and go. I have a bigger bag for instance when I'm going out doing night photography. Or I want to bring the big boy lense. You also need tripod and so on for night. But the gear isn't expensive. I use old manual lenses. Some I got for £5. AF doesn't work at night anyway. And it's easy and quick to get packed and go. I recommend a grab bag. So when when you go out you just take it. Then take photos. Maybe you will get a good one. Or find a way to make a good one. I did the other day for fireworks. Then the challenge is not a picture of fireworks. It's a story of us at fireworks. And I got some really nice family photos. So I go and shoot all the time. And always, there's something I come away with thinking is should have tried this. Or used that. Or that didn't work. So when there's as arora or some other cool thing. I have made all the mistakes. And get a phot I can sell on a postcard for some pocket money.
That's a really cool idea! I don't have a grab bag but I always have my 28-200 on the camera body with charged batteries so I can grab it without faffing about. No need for any bathtime photos. This is a PG channel :D.
I got an explanation that's even simpler, enjoy the process. If you enjoy going out and taking pictures then you're more likely to actually get out there and take the friggin pictures!
Brilliant video. I have spent so much on lenses thinking they would improve mu photography them realised it's all about composition. I use aperture priority now and let the camera do the rest. I only shoot jpegs amd I don't do any editing. Ifs I get a good shot I'm happy. If I don't,then I'm not quite as happy but at least I've been out and tried. Street photography is mu favourite thing to shoot. No excuses for not being able to get out. Then i upload to Instagram I'm a happy bunny.
I like to shoot landscapes, on a tripod, with all the time in the world to dial in the settings. Honestly, I've never really seen any difference in sharpness from any of my lenses once the photo as been processed. Composition, subject and lighting is everything :).
I live in Leeds. The the black and white shot of the tree in the video was from last weekend. The weather has been shocking the last few weeks hasn't it?
You don't even have to watch this video. Anybody who claims that photography can and/or should be effortless is only producing click-bait. How can anything that is without effort be valuable? You're only in it for the money.
Guilty. Started getting into photography 2 years ago with an old canon xs from a flea market. Fell in love with photography. The only mistake was upgrading gears, thinking gear would make me a better photographer. Bought t5i a month after buying the xs then m50mk ii. Then an canon r50 then an rp then r6mkii. Recently sold all of them including my rf glasses. Moved to mft. Lumix gx85 and olympus em1mkii. Realized that if I wanna be good at photography, I need to learn how to get good photos without using "the latest and greatest ".
You've explained this ok, but you've made a classic amateur photographer mistake yourself. You've visited the lonely tree of Llanberis and just copied a thousand other people. The best photographers, do their own thing.
that was a long winding way of saying "practice, practice, practice" 😆 and "practice makes perfect.". Really, mistakes ight be more useful for progression than a good photo.
The first 30 seconds turned me off. What you say about amateur photographers is false and does not represent the majority of amateurs. After it took me about a minute to write this comment, I am outahere
I never really understood why photography was supposed to be "hard" (unless it's getting to know the camera settings or if you are shy when it comes to taking photos in public), I come from a gamedev/3d graphics background, and here it's like cheating since the scene is already there, you can just photo it and take credit!
You speak terribly unintelligibly and quickly, you scream, you emphasize nonsense unnecessarily, I turned off the video, even though it started out interesting. Pity. Improve your speech so it doesn't look like you have a speech impediment.
Great video. I started going out more often this year shooting birds, landscapes and any other wildlife I can see. Taking more photos has made a big difference.
💰Want to win $10,000? Enter the Photography Explained Awards here: 👉 PhotographyExplained.com/Awards
📷 Want to start taking photos that leave your friends and family speechless? Download our FREE cheat sheets: 👉 photographyexplained.com/cheatsheets/
Yes! Taking more photos is key, with whatever you've got. Sound advice. Often, our priorities get misplaced re: researching gear vs time spent actually using it. That said, I don't think we should feel guilty about aspiring for better gear, because better gear, if well chosen, means more keepers and time in the field more productively spent. I've been shooting regularly for about 7 years, and I have much enjoyed getting better and better cameras and lenses, because they just work better, and result in more images worth keeping. It is such a pleasure to shoot with a camera that, a) has very good autofocus, b) is image stabilized, c) has a quality electronic viewfinder so that you can immediately see whether your exposure is OK. I think everyone who is semi-serious about photography deserves all 3 of these features, as they result in a reliable tool that allows you to make the best use of your time and energy in the field, to more often capitalize on opportunities, and bring home good images. But yes, point well taken -- getting out there is the most important thing!
I am ashamed to admit it, but your descriptive message resonated painfully spot on with me.... I needed to hear this.
I agree ! I shoot almost everyday. making 250-350 exposures each time I go out. I use only used equipment that is of professional quality but older tech. My 2 favorite cameras are the Nikon D300 from 2008 and the Pentax K5 from 2012. 90% of my lenses are older film era lenses which are absolutely fine. (cheap too) The Sunny 16 rule is all I use. I only use the spot meter when it's overcast. You shoot, your learn, you get better. It's that simple. I'm lucky that I'm retired and have nothing else better to do but go out and shoot. When the weather is bad, I have a small home studio (my living room) to use.
Well said.👏👏👏 I was bumming myself out a few years back. Kept making excuses to not get out, and wasn't getting the photos I thought I should have been able to produce. There were things I wanted to learn with my camera but couldn't remember how to do without playing around with my camera. The last 2 years now I've been forcing myself to get out and have learned so much. I'm very happy now with my collection, and how much easier it gets arriving to a scene and knowing what to do. I caught my first lightning bolts, comet, Northern Lights, & rainbows this year. Family been asking how my work has improved so much. It really is just getting out and using the tools. Like any good Craftsman & Artist.
"Get out and do it" is the best advice, I agree. I take lots of photos, most of where the dogs and me walk, and of the dogs of course! Are they great? No, but they document events as memories.
That said, we visited some woodland yesterday, colours, and light, were golden, and I came away with 3 I was really happy with.
Yes, I also spend hours each week watching youtube videos, but don't watch TV... Also finally got around to getting the 2 lenses I'd been thinking about for nearly a year... While selling the ones they replaced.
Great video, thanks.
I've more photos of our golden retriever than literally anything else.
Take. More. Photos. You never know what gem you'll find. I was in Downtown Pittsburgh one night, and the autofocus was misbehaving on a certain lens. I was about to give up and go elsewhere, but I decided to swap to the plain old Nifty Fifty to salvage *something* from that stop. Turned out to be one of the best photos I've taken all year.
There are some limits to what you're saying for some of us though. Nothing to do with equipment but rather the ability to actually 'get out there' as you put it. There are a small percentage of formerly active (amateur) photographers who are, perhaps later in life, now disabled in one way or another. Some of us are wheelchair bound, some of us have osteoarthritis (etc) meaning we can't walk much. And so on. For able bodied, fit, healthy people, everything you've said here is spot on. But for a few of us our only option is capturing images of our toilet, telephone, kitchen sink, shoes, furniture. There are no photography cannels that specifically cater to disabled photographers. :(
I have a recurring foot problem that sometimes disallows hiking more than about 1 minute. But I find that getting in my car and going somewhere where I can get out and see something even slightly interesting, even if I can only go 50 feet from the car and sit on my portable stool, can get me some half-decent photos. But a car is key. Good luck.
@@sputumtube maybe explore macro. It isn't always walking in the woods, some guys put together indoor "studios" and do cool macro still life's with water drops, bubbles, etc.
@@russnelson8867 That's a great idea and I hadn't thought of it. Thanks for the tip - I'll give it a try.. :)
Thanks so much for this! Everything you mentioned has been me over the last few years after having stepped away from photography and wanting to come back. Pouring over videos about the "right" gear, getting paralyzed at the digital editing (I loved living in my darkroom decades ago) that really is just work to me and not that much fun, all applies. I appreciate your friendly and supportive way of saying, "get off your butt and go take pictures!"
Appreciated, subscribed, and now getting ready for the day and *not* watching more gear videos. :)
Hey Jason, glad you enjoyed the video.
Time to get get cracking taking some photos :D.
Excellent video - you nailed it. I even want to reduce time in front of Lightroom and other tools to have more time for taking photos and practizing composition.
Absolutely true. More photos.
Side comment. Some of my photos that gave me more satisfaction come from randomly taking my gear when I was out for entirely different business. Like the lake in the morning before dawn when I chaffeured my wife to work and saw fishermen undocking in the limelight. Or a murky bench in front of an ill-placed church in a place I went to buy a tree for my house. So my humble advice is, besides going out intentionally, carry some decent gear with you more often at odd times.
A note on the photographers of yesteryear.... Ansel Adams spent quite a lot of time and trial & error in the darkroom perfecting his prints. He might be the epitome of photo editing to emphasize contrast and bring out tonal range.... all with film.
He wasn't shooting 2000 pictures each day, though. Shots were mulled over and considered.
I agree! I was out shooting with other photographers whom I would consider professionals and I easily took 3-5 times the number of photos they took.
I have maybe 4 really spectacular photos that I can tweak and process into stunning photos, the rest of the time, I'm tweaking and testing and shooting with different settings. I come home with hundreds of "unusable" images, but each one is a different lesson learned and a new bit information for the next time I go out taking pictures.
I would say that Ansel Adams spent more time in the dark room developing the few plates gathered on field trips, being a large format camera his weapon of choice. A master of the whole process of landscape photography, from measuring the light, taking the image and then processing. My point is that he didn't just go out and take plenty of photos and hope to get the perfect image but understood how to the get perfect image the first time. In the digital age, that is the skill that is neglected.
The reality is that it's easy to take a photo. Some people have an 'eye' for composition. An individual will go out as many or as few times as they want. Why are there so many blokes trying to tell others what to do?
Took your advice and shut the video down and now taking pictures... you are correct. Better to take photos than watch your videos.
Glad you found the advice useful.
Personally, I find that the sunny f/16 rule tends to underexpose the image, at least in the UK. It needs to be VERY bright sun for it to work.
On the other hand, I find that I often need to underexpose to avoid blown highlights. Fortunately, my current mirrorless camera shows me blown highlights at the stage when I am taking the picture.
I once used the sunny f/16 rule to take a picture of the moon, reasoning that the moon is in bright sunlight. The moon came out very dark. I had forgotten that the moon is made of fundamentally dark material, so if you use the sunny f/16 rule then inevitably it will come out dark in the picture. The moon only looks bright at night because it's brighter than everything else.
@@jerry2357 the moon is bright but that's not a bright sunny day, your still under extremely low light conditions.
@
No, it's a bright sunny day on the moon, so the sunny f/16 rule should apply. The problem is that the moon is fundamentally dark, so if you use sunny f/16, the moon comes out dark, which is accurate, but not what you intend to capture.
@jerry2357 you're 300% wrong but I'm not going to sit here and argue with you.
The night is dark, the moon is not dark even if it doesn't emit it's own light.
You have to shoot the moon with a wide aperture and a long exposure.
@@DanielLeivaCardozo Find the photo of the moon in front of the Earth, taken from space, and you will see that the moon IS dark.
@jerry2357 it's reflecting light when you are photographing it, that's all that matters. Whether it is it's own light or not your camera sensor doesn't care.
It's like saying if I point a light to a mirror and take a picture it will be dark because the mirror doesn't have it's own light 🤦
You could really apply this video to any hobby . Thanks ! Well said
I agree, I just started photographing birds and I spend a minimum of 3 hours to capture that one photo and maybe more if I stay. Get out every day and you will not believe what you will capture that day. the time in the field ready does matter.
I had to pause this video a few minutes in to go take photos of some model cars. I had some ideas to change up what I was working on the day before. Good message to take more photos.
The gentleman just described me Son…
I was literally talking to myself listening to this and it went as follows
“You don’t know me, why are you talking about me on the WORLD WIDE WEB”
Yes, I did watch this till the end and I’ll be watching some more of your videos to get me off my BUM, 👊🏾😒🇳🇬🇺🇸
Glad you enjoyed the video. Time to get off your arse! :D
I keep buying gear because im trying to make myself feel something, used to be more out going but losing interest in things so I recommend spending your money on useless gear if you like to shop; but thanks for the pep talk.
Completely agree with you. Taking more photos, analysing it, making corrections is the way to improve and to enjoy photography....
Yes, without analysis, quantity will not turn into quality
Great video. I started going out more often this year shooting birds, landscapes and any other wildlife I can see. Taking more photos has made a big difference.
Speaking to the choir (assuming I am the choir 😄 ) . Which is another way of saying everything you're presenting here resonates. I was once asked to help get a novelist off his writer's block. So I went and visited him and told him, the way to get off his writer's block is to write. Same with photography. The way to develop one's photography skills is to take photos.
That's not how you're supposed to use the sunny 16 rule, telling people to use those settings and go shoot away is a recipe for disappointment since they'll go back home with very soft images and a heck of a lot of motion blur shooting at 1/200s or 1/100s since some may even try that.
They are supposed to use that as a baseline, pick a shutter speed appropriate for what they are shooting and then use the aperture to compensate the same number of stops they changed the shutter speed.
But the point is, they will have some images to look at, learn from, and progress. And with digital, that learning is free and almost instant.
@simonworledge4704 or maybe they can learn to properly expose their images, he's not even talking about very beginners but about people learning and not going out to shoot. If your telling someone to use a technique you have to show them how to properly use it.
I'm not disagreeing with the video, just that sunny 16 part is setting them up for failure. When you get frustrated you don't learn.
@simonworledge4704 I'm not saying not to go out and shoot, go get 1000 images a day no matter how bad they are, but also I'm not going to tell you to go mindlessly shoot at 1/100.
im currently at 2 minutes rn and i agree that more photos means you can progress better since you can look back and see what you could've done to make the next shot better. coming from a newbie photographer
Thank you for your no nonsense approach to your videos.
I am semi retired and go out with my camera (Nikon D500 or Nikon D3)at least 20 hours a week and take upwards of 500 shots in that time ,mainly wildlife but also landscapes and just getting into a bit of macro also.
You are an inspiration to me and I thank you for that.
Keep up the good work my friend.
Hey John, thanks for commenting mate. Sounds like you're putting loads of work in! Do you have a link to your photography on a website or social media that I can check out?
@@Photography-Explained I post on a FB site called Kings pond and friends (Alton).Not the best pictures but I am happy with them.
I wanted to argue with you… but I can’t simply because you are 1000% correct. I needed to see your this video!! Camera battery charging!
im a "part time" photographer since i still have school, but i take shoots if i see something cool, at least once a week or if i am on vacation, then i use a small professional camera instead of my phone's blurry 50MP Ai camera which has lots of noise
It’s actually an informative video that would help many so-called “photographers.”
Actually, switching from one UA-cam video to another is the hard process, because no matter what the investment is, it does not end up with a photo taken. I agree with most of the things you said, just believe there is some minimal gear that one needs, and it's a digital camera capable of shooting unlimited images, rather than an analog one with just a roll of film. Analog phototherapy requires a more focused approach, and the learning curve is different with such a limitation. Personally, I love limitations but for anyone scrolling through dozens of videos, it may be better not to have such a limit.
Excellent video, makes perfect sense. Feel like this has given me a kick up the backside. Although not able to go out everyday due to work commitments, i will strive to put in a few hours at the weekend. Found the chart for sunny 16 rule very informative.
Your very contradicting sir, don't spend time planning but be in the right place at the right moment? That's what planning accomplishes!
Thank you. Honest truthful advice. I have subscribed
Wonderful video, I immediately started to order new gear and watch latest videos one that! 🙃
Hahaha :D
@@Photography-Explained Seriously, your videos are very challenging and motivating for me as a holiday hobby photographer.
Cheers mate that means a lot.
Well I’d like to know how much gear have you got
2x A7R4's, Tamron 28-200, Sony 16-35 and Sony 100-400.
Lots of other crap but that's it for cameras and bodies.
Amateur photographer here with relatively cheap second hand apsc body & lenses, who goes out twice a week, goes to a camera club once a week to help learn and get photos critiqued. If I get better, I might buy a full frame camera, within a budget, buy a photo printer and print photos to display in my home or give to family and friends. For enjoyment.
Why are you stereotyping amateur photographers?
Surely not just for clicks and views.
HURRAH! Very well said. I was out today in the sunshine (!!! - yes sunshine in southern England). I took a crazy 1,005 photographs (actually about 1/3 of that as I always bracket for exposure). My equipment? An excellent Canon 80D / APS-C / 24mpx camera which I bought eight years ago and was launched about a decade ago. My lens is a non-pro 55-250 Canon, I edit in ACDSee Ultimate and Topaz photo AI. So the software is up-to-date but my camera is battered and bruised and aging. Now, far from all those pix are great but if I have 5-10 fab ones that will have been a morning well-spent. If my camera falls apart, I shall probably buy a second-hand one (MPB perhaps) of the same model - I like it, I know it and I don't have to spend ages pratting-about learning new settings. Oh and it has an optical viewfinder. My gear is worth only a few quid but it enables me to take the best pix I can. Cheers.
True to a certain extent, but for example if you want to accurately print your photos………..
Most of the photos I take are for myself or family so I don’t even bother with editing, if some are not good enough, there’s bound to be one that will suffice, plus I’m too tight to buy editing apps as I’m a Yorkshire man too (Leeds area) and you know how tight we are 😉👋
I agree with you. You need to be out shooting photographs. Lots of them. You need to be challenging yourself.
I's called procrastination. At least that's my wall to climb or go around. So...I finally went out and clicked the shutter at most everything. The real reason I started into it again is so I can develop the film. I have a really good digital but I had a nostalgic moment about a year ago to develop my own film. I only just got out about a month ago and just clicked away at anything. I try for a little artistic but I'm 73 so I'm not really what I consider a photographer,
Usually?
It's easy to take a photo ,not so to take a meaningful one worth printing or one that people will buy.
Ok agree. Taking photos each day best way improve
My old Canon M6 II is my favorite camera. I don't need anything newer. I take at least a couple photos a day.
Well, yep, this is me hahaha, thank you for this, needed it! Now let me go check out your other videos ;)
LOL.
So many truisms rattling away like a tommy fun! Wonderful.
Eg Expecting to buy good photos is as good as my sarcastic saying: "My camera doesn't give me the respect I deserve. I've won awards. It should known that!" Well no. Each time it is up to me!
I've got great shots I took on my grandpa's folding brownie! Two distance settings. Two light settings. Only one shutter speed! That was it!
But I will says that good modern gear makes it easier for me to capture photo opportunities in high quality and concentrate on composition. When traveling that may mean grab shots or missing out. So I've been a zoom fan for 40 years. Quick, convenient, lightweight.
Tip for portraits. Tell a story. Just look at what's on Time and Nat Geo. Stories - not done with the F1.8 50mm portrait lens with high bokeh being peddled on other videos.
I'm watching this in the bath, so I'm not taking photos right now. There no way that coupd end in a good photo.
However, gear. I have a lot of lenses. But they were all old or junk I rebuilt. My camera and batteries are all in a small grab bag with the lenses I use most. Fast 50 being my go to over and over. But I have a few other small primes thrown in. I'm a bit prime mad, it's just my style.
So if I'm going out I can just grab that and go.
I have a bigger bag for instance when I'm going out doing night photography. Or I want to bring the big boy lense. You also need tripod and so on for night. But the gear isn't expensive. I use old manual lenses. Some I got for £5. AF doesn't work at night anyway. And it's easy and quick to get packed and go.
I recommend a grab bag. So when when you go out you just take it. Then take photos. Maybe you will get a good one. Or find a way to make a good one.
I did the other day for fireworks. Then the challenge is not a picture of fireworks. It's a story of us at fireworks. And I got some really nice family photos.
So I go and shoot all the time. And always, there's something I come away with thinking is should have tried this. Or used that. Or that didn't work.
So when there's as arora or some other cool thing. I have made all the mistakes. And get a phot I can sell on a postcard for some pocket money.
That's a really cool idea! I don't have a grab bag but I always have my 28-200 on the camera body with charged batteries so I can grab it without faffing about.
No need for any bathtime photos. This is a PG channel :D.
I got an explanation that's even simpler, enjoy the process. If you enjoy going out and taking pictures then you're more likely to actually get out there and take the friggin pictures!
First minute is gold😂
Oh you're so right I fit into that bracket
Brilliant video. I have spent so much on lenses thinking they would improve mu photography them realised it's all about composition. I use aperture priority now and let the camera do the rest. I only shoot jpegs amd I don't do any editing.
Ifs I get a good shot I'm happy. If I don't,then I'm not quite as happy but at least I've been out and tried. Street photography is mu favourite thing to shoot. No excuses for not being able to get out. Then i upload to Instagram I'm a happy bunny.
I like to shoot landscapes, on a tripod, with all the time in the world to dial in the settings.
Honestly, I've never really seen any difference in sharpness from any of my lenses once the photo as been processed.
Composition, subject and lighting is everything :).
well stated. thank you
The only video that you've posted that matters.
I'm not sure if that's a complement or you're bullying me :D.
I feel the first minute was a personal violation against me.
Photography is EFFORTLESS Once You Put In More EFFORT!
I'm sure that title would have actually worked just as well.
Damn, this is great!
I can see why you are a successful business man. Your videos are exciting informative and I feel designed for the everyday person. Thanks
Thanks for the amazing feedback Mark :).
Let's see you do a landscape shot in the grey skies of the uk ? Please
I live in Leeds. The the black and white shot of the tree in the video was from last weekend. The weather has been shocking the last few weeks hasn't it?
Your thumbnail shows the photographers index finger on top of the peak design tab, not the shutter button. Are you even trying?
In summary, just get out and take some damn pictures
Im a typical amateur..I cayn get out in the morning or. Evening only middle of the day...and not when it's snowing 😂
God if I can just get one of these cameras even a 5dmarkiv I will be set up for life 🙏🙏
What’s a Bum?
I am going to take your advice and stop watching your videos 😂
Yes but they make you look good!
Driscrided me to a tee.
You don't even have to watch this video. Anybody who claims that photography can and/or should be effortless is only producing click-bait. How can anything that is without effort be valuable? You're only in it for the money.
Sounds like you should have watched the video...
I think that description probably fits me, sadly!
...and always carry a camera!
Guilty. Started getting into photography 2 years ago with an old canon xs from a flea market. Fell in love with photography. The only mistake was upgrading gears, thinking gear would make me a better photographer. Bought t5i a month after buying the xs then m50mk ii. Then an canon r50 then an rp then r6mkii. Recently sold all of them including my rf glasses. Moved to mft. Lumix gx85 and olympus em1mkii. Realized that if I wanna be good at photography, I need to learn how to get good photos without using "the latest and greatest ".
I think you should give up now……
Useful info, but just more gatekeeping.
In what way?
so true...10,000 0r more?
You've explained this ok, but you've made a classic amateur photographer mistake yourself.
You've visited the lonely tree of Llanberis and just copied a thousand other people.
The best photographers, do their own thing.
I did and I stood in a a queue with 3 other people chatting about how sad it was. That was month 2 of me starting photography last year.
This is it
that was a long winding way of saying "practice, practice, practice" 😆 and "practice makes perfect.". Really, mistakes ight be more useful for progression than a good photo.
The first 30 seconds turned me off. What you say about amateur photographers is false and does not represent the majority of amateurs. After it took me about a minute to write this comment, I am outahere
You’re weak
You are talking tooooo fast to catch up. Please slow down.
I never really understood why photography was supposed to be "hard" (unless it's getting to know the camera settings or if you are shy when it comes to taking photos in public), I come from a gamedev/3d graphics background, and here it's like cheating since the scene is already there, you can just photo it and take credit!
I'm sorry, after 41 seconds of feeling like I was being shouted at, I have to leave.
😢😂
Things got better after 45 seconds
Crybaby
He's making the same points as Pat Kay. Did you finish the video?
Well said.
Don't complain about UA-cam videos when you are one. Especially when you are selling things.
What am I selling?
@@Photography-Explained Want to win 10,000?
You speak terribly unintelligibly and quickly, you scream, you emphasize nonsense unnecessarily, I turned off the video, even though it started out interesting. Pity. Improve your speech so it doesn't look like you have a speech impediment.
Me😂
I came for a gear review and all got was a long speech 😢
Haha was this sarcasm?
Well, go somewhere else then
@@peterncox1963 well you go take chill pill 💊 bro
The "u" in amateur is silent,
it is NOT sounded.
Great video. I started going out more often this year shooting birds, landscapes and any other wildlife I can see. Taking more photos has made a big difference.