Hi!

[Ben H]

Hi guys,

Just wanted to say hello as I'm going to be asking some questions fairly soon

Basically, I'm at the stage with my photography when I'm absorbing a lot, shooting a lot, getting into deeper waters and learning to swim on the fly and getting glimpses of being pleased with some of my images - while simultaneously getting a little disheartened and depressed when I see the really good stuff done by other talented photographers.

A good place to be I think!

After all, why be satisfied with mediocrity. Shoot for greatness, be satisfied with "very good" and it'll be a worthwhile endeavour. That's pretty much how I approach taking on the challenge of learning new life skills - do it properly, or don't bother.

So, having come from a simple point-and-shoot digital where realistically I was just leaving things on auto and at least having some kind of framing aesthetic, to moving onto a better point-and-shoot with much more control, opening my eyes, learning about light and aperture/exposure and the other fundamentals and radically improving my pictures - for me personally, the challenge is mostly about finding the "art" in a picture, and teaching my brain to be more visually focused (when so much of my life has been audio focused).

So, to try and keep this intro fairly short, due to some confluence of events, I've found myself investing in a DSLR sooner than I was planning (although really not before time, as I really had exhausted my previous camera - I got some nice shots out of it, but really was feeling it's limitations) - and some basic studio gear (light kits, backdrops, reflector etc) and have started working with studio lights for headshots and other stuff. Really, for the most part up until now I've been shooting under natural light, so the move to be able to sculpt and control my own light has been fascinating. ("You mean I can move the sun where and when I want?! Cool!!")

This is the reason I've been on a new big research tip to educate myself and research as much as possible to get a handle on this whole new area of imaging opening up (and a few others too) - hence finding this podcast, amongst others. It's been really cool to get byte sized info, presented in a way that's focused, not too technical to go over my head and yet still technical enough to be useful - so thanks Marko.

So, questions to come for sure. For now, I'm just saying hi to the community and thanks for the info so far.

[tomorrowstreasures]

Welcome to the Forum, Ben!

[Ben H]

Thanks! I've already got some useful tips, so I'm glad I joined up!

[taffy]

Hi

Good to see another Brit on the site.

Cheers

taffy

[Marko]

Welcome Ben!

I like your eagerness to bring it up a level.
These days, with digital, it's getting so much easier to take mediocre images. before digital - most photos were bad.

GREAT images will only come from hard work, practice and learning.
Luck is fairly rare.

Welcome again!
Marko

[Ben H]

These days, with digital, it's getting so much easier to take mediocre images. before digital - most photos were bad.

I think this is true is most artforms - anyone with a computer and inexpensive gear these days can produce films/video/music/art/websites etc etc. And often, people do it because they want to play with the gear, rather than from starting with good, well-structured ideas and exercising them with skill and experience.

But hey, we've all got to start somewhere - where you take it really depends on the individuals' drive, motivation and effort - and it's mostly those things that become the differentiator between different people's work, rather than (like in the old days) access to the technology...

Thanks for the warm welcome!