How much photography experience do you have?

I have been involved with potography for over 60 years and have seen many changes in cameras, film and darkrtoom techniques. The recent digital boom has enabled many novice photographers as well as 'experts' to improve their photographic creatively greatly.
Digital photography is exciting and refreshing. It has taken me about 2 years to understand enough to do digital manipulations. Whether or not this new technology is good or bad I?ll leave up to you.
1. Good digital photography is not easy. It is easy to make a mess of an image and do it quickly. The advantage of the computer imaging programs is that the errors made can be corrected or erased immediately and the good images can be save for future use.
2. GIGO This is an acronym for Garbage In Garbage Out. It doesn?t matter if one is the best manipulator of digital images, if one is a poor photographer, the results will be poor. The basics do not change: composition, light quality and technical skills. The old adage is true: ?what matters is not the equipment, but, instead, the person holding it.?
The computer can be a great teacher. Things such as hue, saturation, contrast can be explored repeatedly to improve your concepts. These are repeatable and savable. In the darkroom when one experiments with these modalities time, chemicals and paper are sacrificed and many time they have to be redone to get the desired effect.
Conclusions? We each have to decide for ourselves as to which methods we will use in the ultimate quest for the ?Perfect Image.? Whether it is achieved thru bits and bytes or chemical reactions is inconsequential. After all, it is the judges of our art, who will decide what is or is not, acceptable.

I started in the dark ages of B&W film using a Corvette 620 camera for fun in the '50's. After the Kodak Instamatics came out our family had a couple of them. I went into the service carrying an Instamatic. While overseas in SEA I switched to slides when I found out they were cheaper to process and also easier to store. I bought a Canon Canonet 35mm rangefinder camera while in Thailand and brought it home. I then upgraded to an SLR by buying a Minolta SRT-101. Bought a couple of lenses for it, still shooting slides. Through the years I used it, then a Minolta XG-7, a Maxxum 7000 and finally a Maxxum 7000i. Shooting vacations, family events, car shows, races, people, etc. I aquired over 17,000 slides. Watching the digital camera developements, I took the leap in 2003 with an Olympus 730UZ and am not sorry I did.

Well If I count the time from when I first got my camera I can say that I have 19 years of experience. If I count the time that I have actually worked on getting photos with just the right composition, lighting etc. than I would say I have 3 years experience. I started with a Kodak VR35 K12 when I was 16 which I had for a very long time until my current wife ruined it on a trip to Europe. We replaced it with another little point and shoot 35mm. I then wanted to take the step to the digital world which I did with a Canon G3 and I found trying to focus with a grainy LCD was more than difficult so about 2 years after that I have made the step to digital SLR and it has been my goal to be able to just print the picture that is on the memory card with out having to adjust or crop the image. I am getting closer to that goal but I am my worst critic.

Having been fooling around with photography for the last almost half century, I find a monopole to be my best friend. Easy to transport and steady as almost a rock. It has saved a lot of shots for me.

Actually it's about 70. At age 11 I was developing and printing my own film.

70 years, however, doesn't make me better at it than some with 10 years of experience. But over the years it's been great fun. I like to think that that is the test rather than skill level.
Don

80% of the Photography that I take nowadays is not as "perfect" as when I spent eons of time just to set up 1 shot.

Now, since I can put 3,000 images on my SD card, I just shoot everything and anything that catches my fancy.

Shots that are slightly off center, to dark, slightly blurred, washed out, have junk in them, are now EDITED.

Even with the most basic image editors what was a "throw-away" shot can become an impressive photo or ART.

Take a poor picture and turn it into pastels, lighten it a bit and you have a Monet or other impressionist painter. Print it on canvas and you might just have a frameable piece of art work.

Centering pictures should definitly be done with editing. There is not enough time and not enough image information in the viewfinder to worry about centering or "frameing" your photo. Do it with your editor in 3 seconds...

Out of the last 10,000 images that I have shot, I have deleted about 3 (they were just Black - I think the camera went off in my pocket...<grin&gt

Throw everything onto a CD. Years from now you and the Great Grandchildren will get a big kick out of those "mistakes".

Make your own history - enjoy.

I was interested in photography as a High School student back in the middle 40's (Yes, they had High Schools then, but mine started in the 10th grade). It continued through college and until my daughter was born. I realized that I needed a better camera and got a Kodak SLR which handled the old 128 film, later graduating to 35 mm, and then it really grew. I became interested in portrait and wedding photography, converted my double car garage into a combination studio/darkroom and continued professionally for over 26 years. I had to have heart surgery in 2000 and my Dr. told me that wedding photography was too stressful so I retired. Now I take the photos which I like, mainly animal and wildlife (not so stressful) and do restorations and retouching via computer and Phoptoshop CS working on an Apple Mac G5 with 1G memory and all the goodies. I have just switched this year to digital photography and love it. I have found, howevcer, that there is a lot of work to be done on digital negatives as it isn't all you think it would be. I guess I'm just finicky about my work.

I started taking pictures when I was 18 (oops, just gave away my age!) and my then-boyfriend thrust his Pentax K1000 in my hands and said, take pictures of the race car! They ran pro-stock at Union Grove, Wisconsin back then. I didn't even know how to buy film (what was ASA?). But when the first prints came back and were halfway decent, I was hooked. I have to say that learning on the manual camera was the best thing that ever happened to me. I can still remember the day I was introduced to the concept of depth of field and how to control it. Very exciting to me! I would say to anyone just getting started, whether digital or film, put the camera on manual and experiment. Get a feel for the different f-stop/shutter combinations in different light conditions. You never stop learning, and in addition to being self-taught, over the years I've taken both darkroom and digital classes at our local junior college to help me understand photography better. The best part of being good at photography is that it's something I can give to my family and friends. For almost 10 years I was the official photographer at church (it ended when there was no longer a need) and I presented annual slide shows to the congregation. When my sister knew she was going to have to put down her dog of 13 years, she called me to come and take pictures of the family with their dog first. I've been the photographer at my niece's wedding, and took the last picture of my father and his siblings before he died. It can be very rewarding!

I HAVE DONE IT ALL. I AM NOW INTO DIG. LOVE IT. NEVER A SUPER PIC. TAKER BUT ABOVE AVERAGE. I THINK IT IS A MUST FOR MOST PEOPLE. LOVE TO LOOK BACK. THAN I LOVE TODAY. SNAP IT. YOU WILL LOVE IT.

I started in high school and then after being in the military I took are home corrospondance photographer course. After completing it I did wedding and portrite photographer and also fire scene photographer at the vol. fire dept. I belonged to.

Total time with 35mm and also medium format film approx. 20 years. This year approx. 4 months ago I bought my fist digital camera a Kodak DX7590 and am having a lot of fun with it.

Since starting 6 years ago, I've learned to try to compose my pics before taking them. This has led to less need for editing my pics. Robert Meute

I was assuming *digital photography only* which made me a ''newbie'' but I have - informally, not professionally - taken some better-than-average shots at different times - even with a thing so primative as a Polaroid 660!
My would-be submission to a pro group has a blank spot on the right side because the ''pro photo shop'' sold me the wrong film! I had everything just right and the print would have been an A#1 eye-catcher if not for the film screw up. I was 17 when I took it and have it to this very day as proof of what can be done even with *sub-standard* equipment.

The potential for good photography is greater than it ever has been before. When I had a commercial photo business years ago an image might have several iterations between the lab and I, and a point of deminishing returns was reached. It was always a clear compromise.
Today I can tweak the photo WAY past that point, if I care to. The amount of control I have as a creative photographer is nearly total, or 100%. It's a whole new world, and the amount of learning and the degree of technical skills is higher than ever before, but, nevertheless, it's an exciting time to be a photographer.

I took my first a photography class while in junior high school, probably in 1956, and I?ve been hooked ever since.
While in the Army (air cavalry) I carried two 35 mm cameras almost everywhere I went. Since I was in Europe, and traveled quite a bit, there were a lot of interesting subjects.
Digital photography is the answer to a vague wish that I had for many years, of being able to take many photos inexpensively, to have good control of how the pictures are processed and to print my own pictures. The ability to store and classify what I?ve taken, simplifies my personal collection. Hopefully the storage medium will not degrade over time, and my children and their children will be able to access my photographs.
I have had four digital cameras, and find that you get a great deal more for your money now than you did just nine years ago. I have given up my 35 mm cameras; digital is that good. The ability to share photographs and to send them anywhere in the world almost instantly, and at no cost is terrific.
I never want to go back to film, and wonder what the future will bring to this art.

Stuart

I started dabbling in black& white photography about 1940 when an uncle gave me a 4 x 5 inch view camera outfit. It was pretty much on its last legs - leather bellows cracked and peeling - but I managed to get a few murky prints from it. Prior to this, I had used Kodak Brownies for miscellaneous photos. Then, around 1950, I took the plunge and bought an Argus C-3 35mm camera and started making color slides. After a while, I got an Argus C-4 35mm and used it for a long time, still mainly for color slides. After being drafted into the Army in 1954, I was sent to a photolithography school, which included working with 4 x 5 inch Speed Graphics and process cameras up to 20 x 24 inch film size. This was my first experience working in a darkroom - developing, printing and enlarging B&W film. While in the service, I picked up a Rollei twin-lens reflex camera, 120 rollfilm size. Upon completion of military service, I went to college and got a degree in mechanical engineering. At this time, I was too busy to do much with photography, except color slides. I was given a 16mm motion picture camera with 3 lenses. This got me involved with motion picture taking and editing. By 1968, I had decided that the fixed lens 35mm camera was too limiting, so I bought a Zeiss Contarex 35mm camera with a 50mm & a 135mm lens. This was a window into serious 35mm photography. i wound up with lenses from 18mm to 500mm focal length. I used the Contarex for business photography, taking photos of various projects that I was involved with. This turned out to be a lucrative side business, supplying 8 x 10 color prints for my clients, which continued for almost 10 years. I then bought a Canon F1 35mm camera with several zoom lenses for my personal use. By this time, my eyesight started to deteriorate, so I decided to get an auto-focus camera, a Minolta 700si with 2 zoom lenses, a 28-70 f2.8 & an 18-35mm f4.5, which I still have. A couple of years ago, I got into digital photography with a point-and-shoot pocket camera. It turns out that his camera is the main one that I use - mostly for casual photography. I also have done altering the images and printing them using a PC. Right now, I feel limited by the 28 to 110mm focal length zoom on this camera, but I don't want to get a bigger camera. The pocket camera can go with you and is ready to use - probably wouldn't have a bigger, more versatile camera with me.

I bought my first SLR in 1968. Took a photography course in college in 1969. I own three 35mm cameras now with various lenses and accessories but I haven't used them since I bought my first digital 3 years ago. The only problem I have is shutter lag. I have a new Fuji c9000 on the way from NewEgg which I bought after much research and believe it has the best features for me for the money. Digital gave me a renewed interest in photography.

I started with a 4x5 learning photography the hard way, trial, develop, print, and see the errors. And there were a lot of them. Through the years I have progressed through 4x5, 120/620, 35mm to digital. Now, while taking the picture has been made easier it is still is the eye and mind of the photographer to make the moment into a memorable photo.

Someone said the public judges your picture. While that is true it really is the photographer whose is the most critical judge of each individual shot. I have taken shots that I feel do not represent what I want and shots that surprise me for their technical content and perfection, mostly by accident. I guess I feel when you are happy with the shot, it is a great shot.

Last, do as much of the composition and technical expertise on the orignal shot. Use the tools of the computer for touchup, if necessary. Again, the eye and brain are the best tools you can have.

Started by borrowing the family Kodak box camera.
Purchased my own camera about the time that I entered high school. Don't remember the name of the camera, but it folded and had bellows.

Got my first real camera about 6 months after getting out of high school. It was a Kodak Reflex II, a twin lens reflex camera, that used 120 and 620 film. Color photos came into common use about that time, but the prints were too expensive for my budget.

That camera had a flash attachment that used flash bulbs. Probably, not too many of the people that visit this forum has ever used flash bulbs.

Later I bought an adapter for my Kodak Reflex II, that let me use 828 film. About the size of 35mm but had a square image. I used the adapter for making color slides.

That camera accompanied me for 2 years in the Army. I was stationed in Fort Sill, Oklahoma where they had a photography hobby shop. I learned to develop film and use an enlarger at that hobby shop. And made a few bucks taking portraits of fellow soldiers.

Several years later, Canon came out with their first cameras with electronics. I purchased the Canon AE1, a SLR 35mm film camera. That camera served me well for many years. It has been to about 20 states in the USA, Hawaii, Canada, Mexico, and Brazil. Most of the shots were color slides.

When the digital cameras came out, I bought a reconditioned 1 megapixel Epson camera with no LCD.
Digital cameras were very expensive at that time.

It was easy to see that digital cameras and computers were the future.

I spent about a year turning all of my 35mm slides into digital format, using a Hewlett Packard slide scanner.

Now my 35mm slide projector has gone into mothballs as my old 35mm slides are now slideshows on DVD.

Can't wait to see what is coming down the digital pike in the future.

Joe Randolph

...
..
.