Why are my photos so crappy?

The bad old days!
I generally shot Kodachrome, which was so complex to process that only Kodak would do it and it took a week (unless you paid extra for express processing, which only took 3 days including postage).
When I lived in Ghana in the early '70s I sent my films back to the UK. It was often a couple of months before I saw the slides.

Alan
 
Chlidonias said:
better than taking an entire roll of photos when there's not even any film in the camera :D
Click to expand...

I did that once (or maybe twice). There was also a couple of times I opened the back of the camera to change films and realised I hadn't rewound it first.

Like Gentle Lemur I also favoured Kodachrome64, and was very happy when they started making it in 200 ISO. I last used Kodachrome in 2005 and the film had to be sent to the only Kodak lab in the world that still processes it - in Switzerland. Took several weeks.

When I visited Europe in 1984 I usually went into a zoo with at least three or four rolls of Kodachrome but might have to buy some more if I went through them all. Disappointed in Germany because all they sold in the zoos was Agfa, or sometimes Fujichrome.

When I went to Zimbabwe I took about a dozen rolls of film with the intention of buying more over there. I was horrified when I learnt that film was not available. I eventually found a shop in Victoria Falls with 4 rolls of Ektachrome 400 for US$50 each - I bought all four without hesitation. The following year I went to Papua New Guinea with 20 rolls (and had to pay Customs Duty on them).

Steps in taking a photo: Focus, Frame, check the shutter speed (had to be 1/60 sec or faster), gently depress the shutter button, pray the pic turns out good. Then wait until it comes back in the mail.

:p

Hix
 
Hix said:
I did that once (or maybe twice). There was also a couple of times I opened the back of the camera to change films and realised I hadn't rewound it first.
Click to expand...
and then of course there were the times when one didn't hook the film in properly when putting it in the camera so it didn't wind
 
Ah film. The smell as you popped open the canister, the anticipation (well, frustration) as you waited for the little yellow packages to be delivered, and the feeling of elation when you'd nailed that shot. Or not, as another one "didn't come out" :)

Seriously, film wasn't cheap, so you learned fast, trying not to repeat mistakes. I learned to read the light, recognise backlight, or when exposure compensation might be required, etc. I think we approached the craft differently then to folks whose first serious camera is digital. We learned the theory. There's no need now, you can trial and error your way through, although learning the theory helps a lot and I would recommend it.

As nostalgic as I can get sometimes, I wouldn't go back.

I haven't heard the conenction between chimping and noises before; I've always thought it was the stance and faces pulled which gave it the name. Don't we all do it though :D
 
I've only been down London Zoo a couple of times recently. I don't know how good my photos are - I know my mother and my baby nephew like them :). The gallery here seems to be throwing a tizzy and not uploading for me so you may have to judge for yourself on my flickr account

London Zoo - a set on Flickr

I can only tell you the things that I know make better photographs for me. Firstly my 70-300mm tamron lens. My baby as I call it. I love that thing. I'm using a Nikon D5000. Secondly a lot of patience. I'm happy to wait 10, 15 20 minutes waiting and watching one animal/bird for it to look at me the right way or for a sunbeam to be in the right place. The more you watch the more you learn and the more you can anticipate what an animal might do next. That's what gets good photos for me. Not the camera but the ability to know when a good photo might be about to happen. Thirdly one heck of a steady hand. Holding that camera as still as you can and sometimes resisting the instinctive temptation to move as the animal moves.

I've also purchased (but not yet got) something called a lenskirt that reduces reflections when taking photos through glass. How practical it will be to use in a zoo I'm not sure (probably not at all at busy times or if it scares the animals) but it may turn out to be a very useful tool for me generally anyway.
 
Hey ole timers, thanks for the walk down memory lane. It sounds like photography was an expensive hobby back in the day. Now I see people using their iPhones to take pics of animals half a kilometre away, and instantly uploading them to Facebook or Twitter. Times have changed.

Wenxue, thanks for the post. I quite like your tips for getting the perfect shot - great Flickr pics, by the way. Keep us posted on that lenskirt.
 
Hey folks. So I have been trying to take some macro shots with my Canon EOS 600D + 60mm EFS f/2.8 macro, but think that my technique is off, and I need more practice.

I manually focus on a bug on a leaf, but just when I am ready to take the shot, either the bug moves or my hand moves, throwing its eyes out of focus. Same goes for the inside of a flower (re: wind and my shaky hand).

Any suggestions on how to rectify this?
 
  • Don't photograph on windy days.
  • Use a tripod.
  • Erect a wind barrier if possible.
  • Use a smaller iris opening (bigger f-stop).
  • Use a very fast shutterspeed.
  • All of the above

:p

Hix
 
what Hix said.

The higher your magnification, the less forgiving it is on camera movement. Hand-holding your camera while trying to get good macro photos is difficult, so a tripod will help when the situation allows. Also macro photography needs a lot more light than regular shots because of the higher magnification.

What I would also add to Hix's list is to take lots of shots of the subject. Most of them will have defects (e.g. the insect moving or whatever) but at least a few should be good.
 
Thanks guys. It sounds like macro photography isn't as spontaneous as other types of photography.

So, more light, less wind, faster shutter speed, use a tripod, take lots of pics. Cheers!
 
macro photography can be spontaneous but the best results are from "studio" photos (i.e. set the subject up in a well-lit natural-looking situation, whether inside or outside). If you look at Nikola's awesome photos in the Poland gallery, lots of them are "staged" rather than being opportunistic shots. It allows you to get natural-looking photos but in controlled surroundings.
http://www.zoochat.com/gallery/poland-wildlife
 
Put the Canon's focussing mode into AI Servo, and it will, at least help, counter the movement of the subject and yourself. Manually focussing or using one-shot will be really problematic with small, moving macro subjects.
 
All of them, except the Underexposed. But while scuba diving I have , on occasion, inverted myself.

:p

Hix
 
I have often done 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 8 (I've tried 2, but it isn't compatible with my leg joints).
But on a good day I am capable of more exotic efforts - I will spare you details, but if I name them as 'the fence balancer', 'the tree-hugger' and 'the bushwhacker' you can use your imaginations (unless you've had the misfortune of seeing me trying them out at Chester or elsewhere :D).

Alan
 
This is a funny ad for anyone who just uses a point and shoot (i.e. me a few months ago). Now I find it to be insulting :D (but also really really funny). Now who here hasn't tried to wow someone with the specs of their lens, or irritated subjects by getting them to hold a pose in the right light for an inordinate period of time? :D
 
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im still not that good yet and i just got over to use Raw i used to take them in JPEG but now i see how much you can get out of raw so now i only use that. i just got my Tamron AF 70-300mm F4-5.6 Di LD Macro 1:2 and i love it just bad it don't have VR but then i just have to use a trypod for that. so far i only been taking photo handheld even with my 300mm wish is not easy i got some good shot and alot of bad shot i just don't have the patience to wait for a good shot >_< still need to work on that.
here is some on my photo of you want to see them

Ronnie Knows Photo

i think i have to say this is the best one i have taking so fra

http://www.zoochat.com/419/oriental-small-clawed-otter-321885/
 
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