this post was submitted on 23 Oct 2023
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Photography
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Just back from three weeks in New Zealand where I took 1,600 photos. Been through about 75% of them and I have about 30 keepers. That’s about one keeper for every 40 photos.
To be fair, I took a lot of photos to stitch as panoramas. Plus, I tended to take two or more photos of the same thing and hope that one of them was sharp. Still, there were some where I don’t know what I was thinking.
If I had been by myself, I probably would have used a tripod and taken more time and had fewer duds. My wife was very patient but it was her holiday too.
I’m sorry, but if you really only have 30 keepers out of 1600 pictures taken, you aren’t practicing photography, you are just clicking the shutter, hoping against hope that the camera will do all the important work.
Not to single you out, but include everybody else around here who make similar statements. 1 out of 40 is just relying on luck, and from what I can see, you aren’t having any.
Comment accepted. I am not a great photographer. When you are travelling almost every day though, you don’t really have time to scope out locations and get back there at sunrise and sunset. It’s more, “Oh! That’s a lovely scene! Let’s see if I can make something of it even though it’s 2 pm and the light is crap.” Then get in the car and drive on.
That’s why I had such a high fail. Compositions were ok and they were sharp enough but the light made for disappointing photos.
Who says the light at 2pm is crap? Seriously. Somebody who is not there? Common wisdom? This is another myth of perfection. You can take great pictures in ANY kind of light if you are capable of taking great pictures. Some of the greatest pictures of all time were taken in the “wrong” light. Don’t let the mindless crowd tell you when you can and can’t take good photos. This is just as bad as letting your camera do all your thinking.
What shall we say about Gary Winogrand then?
'He had an insatiable urge to be out and about, photographing life around him. In total (on the low end) we can be certain that he shot at least 5,850,000 photos in his lifetime.'
Pretty sure most of us saw maybe a hundred or so of those. On film too...
What we saw is no reflection on the ratio of good or bad photos. Nor does the fact that someone takes over 5 million pictures matter. If you take pictures, you are either thinking about it and taking good pictures, or you are relying on luck and taking mostly wasted pictures. The choice is yours to make.
Yeah I feel this, most of my shooting outings are outings with my better half and she’s the same with being patient with me but I can only spend so much time in one place because she deserves attention too haha
Next time you come here you can borrow my tripod :)
Thanks for the offer. I took a tripod but only used it when my wife was sleeping in. Helpfully, she slept in at Kaikoura, Wanaka and Queenstown.
That's a shame you missed the awe inspiring beauty of Hamilton's high street at 3am on a Saturday.
Visited Hamilton. One photo is a semi-keeper. The Renaissance Garden. The second - a panoramic photo of the food court didn’t make the cut. Sadly, we needed to get to Rotorua by nightfall. Looking forward to seeing the 3am shots though!
Ya know, I've been to about 50 major cities in my life and have only been offered meth precisely once - in Rotorua at a red light when I was waiting to cross the street to the lake and a van pulled up and said "hey bro, do you want some P, bro?" I said no thanks and he said "sweet as all good" and drove off.
A drunk hamiltonian searching for some kebab or overwarmed pie is something you won't find in a zoo and an beautiful testament to the diversity of our fair land.