I really like the content, as it's all about the artistry of photography. Too often so much photography content is about gear, which always does scratch an itch I must admit, and does matter a little bit, but is highly context-sensitive to the mission you have in taking photos.
I'm still a noob in photography, but one of the most helpful things in my learning has been youtube videos where other people's photo submissions are critiqued in a constructive manner. Nothing has taught me more about the possibilities of composition in different scenarios, and it has inspired lots of creativity in my own shots and techniques. My favorite Youtube channel for this is Tony and Chelsea (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDkJEEIifDzR_2K2p9tnwYQ) ... they do a weekly show every Thursday where they critique photo submissions- their feedback is great and they go through lots of high quality photos.
Other noteworthy channels:
Matt Granger (https://www.youtube.com/user/thatnikonguy)... has lots of content on gear, but his videos about lighting and portraiture technique have really helped me with taking pictures of people.
What I've realized about photography is that it's all but pointless. Virtually every single person on earth is a photographer, there's so much supply of great content that it's unlikely that anyone will ever give a damn about your photos.
So, just do what you like. Express yourself, shoot what you like, when you like it, and don't worry too much about the rest. Maybe I'm too pessimistic (or just bad), but I've relinquished any hope of ever getting any kind of audience.
> It's very easy to get hundreds and even thousands of followers on instagram.
How? I post new photos every few days and my follower count actually goes down. I get a bunch of accounts following me automatically and unfollowing me after a few days, just to get me to follow them back.
I like your pictures. (I'm not a photographer, just someone who can look at some stuff and say "I like that" and not necessarily know why.)
But I find some of your comments odd. Such as: "Another shot of the lighthouse in Chania." Well, yes, it's a picture, so I can see that it's a lighthouse, and it's obviously a shot. The only information in that sentence, then is "Chania," but where is that? From the tags, I guess it's Greece, so maybe the comment should just be "Chania, Greece." If the lighthouse has a proper name, then that would be better.
Another example: "Here's a boat." That doesn't have any information. Where is the boat? What kind of boat? Who is on it? What are they doing? You don't need to say any of this, but some context would help tell a story. The problem with "Here's a boat" is that it is completely reductionist. I get that maybe you're going for self-aware deprecation, but when presenting your art, that does not come off clever. It comes off unconfident.
Tell a story with the photo. There are millions and millions of photos out there, but only YOU have your viewpoint. Only YOU have your intellect and knowledge. Tell a story, it will be unique and people might like it.
Also, Instagram is not the measure of success. I know a few photographers who are good, even excellent, and have more Instagram followers than Sebastião Salgado, who in my opinion is the best photographer walking the earth right now.
Hmm, that's good feedback, thank you. I don't write descriptions a lot because I consider my photos' value to be the aesthetic and not so much the story behind them. I'll try to write something more descriptive from now on, thank you, I wouldn't have thought of that before you mentioned it.
I like your photos. That being said, I think it's hard to succeed on Instagram specifically unless you have a very well-defined theme or style. There's nothing wrong with trying a little bit of everything, but I think it's also understandable that the people who initially followed you because they saw a great portrait you took may not be interested in your landscapes.
I have an Instagram account that's private and mainly followed by my personal friends. I post whatever I want on there - my paid photography work, my life updates, pictures of my cat, etc. but I also keep a separate, public account that's strictly for my professional portrait work. I think having that separation helps for retaining interest.
I've been wondering that as well. Looking at every other photographer, this is true, so I think you're right. I like to experiment with many different styles so the photographs don't look "samey", but I guess that for an Instagram account having a defined aesthetic is an advantage.
I'll try to shoot more "my style", thank you for the feedback!
I think it depends on what you want. Do you want followers? Do you want originality? Do you want to get in galleries? Do you want clients? Do you want to have fun? Are you documenting your life or someone else?
These are all different goals, I'm not sure which one you're prioritizing for.
I admit I don't know about getting followers on Instagram.
For example, gallery artists might try to play with the formal properties of the photo and surprise the viewer in some special way.
Thank you, I think that's the more important question. My photos are for me and for what I like, it would just be nice if people liked them as well.
Since my goal is to have fun, I'm not going to ruin it by forcing myself to take photos, even if that doesn't get me followers or any recognition. Thank you for your feedback!
Your photos are good. Getting instagram followers in itself is a separate set of skills than being a good photographer. There is no scope of "organic" growth when the platform is swamped with people trying out different tricks.
This is what many people do. Using a bot which automatically does follow-unfollow, likes or post pointless spam comments. Forget Instagram. It’s a place of spam and bot. Also: what’s the point of having Instagram followers? Your photos are nice, but earning money with it is an entirely different thing.
That's true, and I don't want to turn photography into work either, as that will take all the fun out of it. I won't bother with Instagram beyond posting my photos, thanks for the feedback!
Well, it's not for nameless others, right? It's for me and my friends. Almost all of my photographs are only seen by my friends as we reminisce over some trip we took together or something funny that happened that day. And when the photo is good, it evokes the moment better.
You can say that about any creative work now. There is an incredible glut of new books, music, painting, and even film. Unless you’re willing to make self promotion a full time job you will release your work into obscurity.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be creative of course. It just means you should approach it in such a way that the enjoyment you get out of it is its own reward.
You can know everything, and have all the right gear - but if you aren't interesting, or don't do interesting things, or don't find interesting people, you probably won't take good photos.
The hardest part about photography is what your photo is about. What is it saying, which can be different from the literal image, like how what a painting is about is often not exactly what is literally depicted
Regarding "about", if you're doing photojournalism, there's a simple idea that I found tremendously helpful (as an amateur student): your image should tell a story.
There's a lot of technical stuff you need to internalize, and some visual sense, but, at the end of the day, your main goal is not something that looks appealing above the fold on the front page, but that communicates some important essence of the story.
Right, that makes perfect sense for photojournalsim; of course you also can have non-representational things such as abstract photography; whether you want to use the word 'story' for that too I'll leave as an exercise for the reader.
I don’t think you have to be interesting but have an eye for interesting things. One way to do this is not to be “interesting” but to be “interested”.
On the other hand it certainly helps to do unusual stuff so you can take pictures not many people can take. For example there are pilots who post pictures from the cockpit. Hard to compete with that for most of us. Or even better be on the ISS.
No. I'm really bad at photo editing and try to invest my time in learning photo composition instead of editing. I feel that for me the results will be better.
Unless you have a tiny SD card there's not much to lose by shooting in both. If you get a shot you love but it's just a tiny bit under or over exposed, with a JPEG you're out of luck.
I don't really do any 'heavy' editing, but slight exposure adjustments, straightening and selective sharpening can turn an ok photo into a very good one.
Exactly! I shot in RAW when possible and most often do minor adjustment directly on Adobe Lightroom Mobile. It's free and powerful and takes about 2 minutes to do.
You can even re-apply your edit setting of one picture to a whole set.
I'm still a noob in photography, but one of the most helpful things in my learning has been youtube videos where other people's photo submissions are critiqued in a constructive manner. Nothing has taught me more about the possibilities of composition in different scenarios, and it has inspired lots of creativity in my own shots and techniques. My favorite Youtube channel for this is Tony and Chelsea (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDkJEEIifDzR_2K2p9tnwYQ) ... they do a weekly show every Thursday where they critique photo submissions- their feedback is great and they go through lots of high quality photos.
Other noteworthy channels:
Matt Granger (https://www.youtube.com/user/thatnikonguy)... has lots of content on gear, but his videos about lighting and portraiture technique have really helped me with taking pictures of people.
Mike Browne (https://www.youtube.com/user/photoexposed)... Great instruction on the basics of photography, as well as great advice about composing interesting shots (my favorite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UT-hh0wQ-GI)
Thomas Heaton (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfhW84xfA6gEc4hDK90rR1Q)... One of the best at explaining the creative mindset and struggle of photography. He specializes in landscapes.