Or maybe your creative perspective is amazing in its own right and you should appreciate your photos because you like them instead of what others say :)
@@mapledelight they’re paying him for the review, giving him a very expensive lens as well means they would give him less money. Idk how many subs he had at the time but the lens could have literally been worth more than what he was being paid.
Good ideas but a photography lesson without examples is a bit weak IMO. Maybe have an example of a good photo without a foreground and a poor one with a foreground. It reminds me of the time that I took a real life class and the instructor discussed composition techniques by waving his hands around.
Totally with you on sky replacements. Hate that some software companies make a big thing of it. (Looking at you On1 and Skylum). My feeling is, if you replace the sky, it's no longer really photography.
I do agree with this, but, if you replace it, it is still art, different from photography because that's not what the scene looked like but still art. I personally would never do a sky replacement, but it can look cool, even better if you actually take the sky photo
The moment anything is replaced in a photograph, it's no longer a photograph. Personally, I see a clear delineation between photography and digital art. I have zero respect for people who present or try to pass off digital art as a photograph. It's not only disingenuous, it's borderline forgery. I feel similarly about those photographers who sit there and paint entirely new palettes of colours, patterns, textures into a scene that didn't have any of it. Why not paint the entire thing? Went even bother taking a photo in the first place? There are quite a few successful/famous guys out there who do this on a regular basis, and it grinds my nuts every time I see it. It's almost become a competition between fashion photography which involves a LOT of makeup and "retouching" and landscape photography which is becoming more and more about makeup and retouching. Even worse, a combination of the two - pose a sheila in yoga pants in front of a mountain or whatever it is.. and you've got yourself a Instagram hit. Sigh!
Don't get me started. Okay, over-sharpened photos, pumped up blue skies, exhausting shadow/highlight detail (who cares what's in there?), front to back focus (why?), noise intolerance (a noisy shot never hurt anyone), adding film grain (use film), sensor anxiety.. we'll be here all day.
Oh yes, over-sharpening... a collegue gave me a shot of which he was very proud of, I just said that something is messing up his edges, they are overshot. Actually, he did that on purpose...
@They Caged Non i'm pretty much a newbie and very far from being a professional photographer, so can anyone tell me when to know that something has been overdone? i'm constantly thinking about it, and am never sure, so i tend to go back on the slider by 1 or 2 points just in case, but i then think i'm not doing enough, so i then decide to go for what i like. But is there a way of actually knowing?
@They Caged Non thanks for your advice. I prefer the natural look by far and even if I knew how to manipulate a photo with Photoshop, I wouldn't do that and I really try to keep it as I saw it. I'm never convinced inn doing enough or too much
Agree, especially foreground and golden hour! Even though I love golden hour, for my new video I went out shooting at noon on purpose to challenge myself. Worked out fine and the results are nice... It’s just a matter of adapting and trying out new things. Great video, thanks!
I guess if we don't get a video from you after this we know one of two things happened.. 1. You bought the lens and Emily found out 2. You attempted the RAM upgrade and luck was not on your side Hope to see you next week ;-p
Really good video - one of my favorites from you so far. I definitely catch myself falling into the trap of the "rules to follow" for particular scenes (such as foreground interest and long exposure) and this is a great reminder to always be creative and find unique ways of looking at a scene instead of following the tropes
Pointing a flashlight at the Milky Way is a bit overdone, assuming that the Milky Way was actually there, of course. 😎 Keep marching to your own drumbeat, I say. Rock on!
Yeah, I don’t like people in Astro shots at all. Or in landscape shots either. It’s like “look where I’ve been, dude! In a landscape, can you believe it?!” No need for that, you’re just being annoying now.
@@listonheinz9103 in my opinion people are ok in landscape shots bc it can give you a certain feeling about how big for example the waterfall is. Of course, as always don't overuse it. :-)
I think "Top 5" videos are overused as well as people wearing hats indoors. Totally agree with Long exposure as well as golden hour. Thanks for sweating it out to be open and honest.
THANK YOU!!! It's so refreshing to hear a photographer of your caliber say you don't like the long exposure of water. With so many people showing their photos with that effect, I thought I was the only person in the world who didn't like it.
I think a lot of the time people take principles and turn them into "rules", rather than see them as guidelines and choices. As the saying goes, the principles of photography are "a great servant, but a terrible master".
Just before you mentioned golden hour, I was thinking that I'd love to see you do a video about photographing landscapes with the sun high in the sky. Go on, do one. You know you want to.
I definitely agree that too much of anything gets boring, but think that most (all?) of us, especially as “young” photographers, have phases that we go through that will include overdoing things.With maturity comes moderation. The one thing that stands out to the most among the five things mentioned is “foreground object”. Could be because I absolutely suck at finding interesting ones that match up with my main subject(s) though… 🙄 Thanks for making these awesome videos James and not being shy about your opinions. I might not always agree, but having your ideas, opinions and “ways of doing things” challenged once in a while is always good and will make us all better in the end. I know that I for one, tend to do things a certain way because “that’s the way I’m used to doing things” and “I’m too lazy to change”. 🙂
I personally agree with everything you said. Those techniques are great for certain situations. It's knowing when and how to use them that makes the difference.
James thank you so much for the wonderful video. My opinion is that you are such an authentic person and having shown me another path is great, cause I agree with your 5 points. So much is fake in our era. As for the heat, unfortunately worst times are ahead of all of us. Look what is going on in Alaska. Thanks again, Flora
1000 subscribers with only one video - challenge I had a similar thought. I enjoy the photos and videos and insights of both gentlemen. The key takeaway is that the words ALWAYS and NEVER have no place in photographic technique.
James, thank you for this. A friend of mine is a pro/am photographer and he travels extensively for 1 great photo. He dedicates a lot of time to it, whereas I'm a local amateur and I have lots of great waterfront opportunities. I have argued with him and others that the water is part of the story, not a distraction. Blurring it just erases part of the story I tell with photos. It's great to hear that others feel the same. Yes, a blurry waterfall can look cool, but it is seen countless times on Instagram as if a first time imagined. Smoothed water under a pier at the ocean is never real and takes a bit away from an ocean sunset for the sake of perceived coolness. I'll keep shooting short exposures to get the shot and things in focus. It's my thing too.
I love zooming in to the violent splashing water of a big waterfall with as short an exposure as possible. Freeze that water splatter. Beautiful. No long exposure. I keep that for indoors and stuff like nothernlights. The movement of water is extremely fascinating.
WHAT A VIDEO, JAMES!!! Every single syllable you uttered was spot on!! At least, In my opinion. It was a joy to watch. So, thank you for saying those things for all of us hobby, amateur newbie photographers. Stuff we NEEDED to hear. My favourite of the five was the analogy that shooting at 'golden hour' was shooting into an empty net. Classic! Buying a new LUMIX lens without telling your wife? It'll be hard to ask for her forgiveness after she's caved your head in! DON'T DO IT!
Loved this video. I think these are all the instagram effect. This was such a refreshing video to watch. One of the reason I enjoy you channel so much, you have your on thoughts and ideas and make them work.
Instant Gratification / Instant Feedback. Now/Me/I/Selfishness/Narcissism. This is why. Some of us will chase a composition for 10-15-20 years and then will ONLY share it once they have the shot they are happy with and proud of; While others share everything all the time, thus the over saturation of mediocrity. This is why twitter, instagram, fb and others have worn everyone out. There's communication and then there's meaningful and effective communication that leads to thought provoking contemplation.
As a newbie, this video is good food for thought about what makes for a consistently worthy technique, vs. a gimmick, in terms of the context of who it's seen by and how often it's seen. Some of the items in the video are familiar to me, while others I hadn't heard of until now. And I think of how nice oversaturated blue and orange sunset landscape shots have been in my memory, but then the thought of seeing landscape shots that are ONLY like that, reveals that that goes against my default concept of what a landscape looks like. It's like dessert toppings vs. the whole dessert.
I got started doing nautical/sailing photography, and I wholly agree with you about long exposures being overused for water. I love capturing sparkles and ripples and waves, none of which work at all with long exposures. If I am doing a long exposure of water, I try to keep it composed in such a way that you wouldn't see much detail in the water anyways. I have a shot that I took overlooking the water and the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu at sunrise; it's a long enough exposure to capture some of the lights of cars on the road and streak them out, but not so long that the water becomes flat. I think it worked out well. I like working with early or late day light because its more horizontal, but it's not magic, you can still get harsh lighting just like you often do at midday. Overexposed at golden hour is still overexposed.... Great video. Hope it cools off soon. And good luck with the RAM.
A pet peeve of mine is the bokeh thing, wide aperture lenses and blurred backgrounds in portraits. I said something about this to someone the other day, and he argued that it was a compositional tool. I think, if you don’t like your background, move your subject. Cheers! Love your work!
While I personally sometimes shoot long exposures of water, shoot during golden hour or do the occasional pano (because let's be honest, a shot during golden hour tends to look fantastic), I completely agree that these techniques are overused, even more now, over 2 years after your video has been published. Maybe it would be worth to think about why lots of people do this? In the end, I believe that every photographer is trying to get better and one of the ways to do that is trying to work based on proven "recipes". This is probably a normal step in the development of an artist (can be applied to musicians, painters, etc.) and I think that it is ok to learn and use these techniques. However, I also believe that one should then try to develop his/her own individual style and techniques and not allow oneself to get stuck at the "standard" techniques. Basically, what I think I am trying to say is that for someone beginning to shoot photos, it is ok to learn and apply these techniques, but one should always keep an open mind and try to evolve above and beyond these, as they may be recipes for good images but are by far not the only way to get a good image.
RAM is like the surface of your desk, the more you have, the more stuff you can have on the desk ready to use! The hard drive would be like the shelves behind a desk, the more you have the more you can store. Thats the easiest way to understand without techie nonsense IMO. Great vid Mr Popsys
@@JamesPopsysPhoto :D you're making it hard for me to avoid MFT, the more of your videos i watch, the more i realise how beautiful the picture you make are
Fantastic discussion. Your points as well as your acknowledgement of potential counterpoints are well thought out. Thank you for taking the time to create this valuable message!
Another great video. Love how your comedic and quirky personality shines through. On the 10-25mm lens and getting it past your missus, what about just telling her that one of your other lenses was destroyed and absolutely had to be replaced? For genuineness, if you're willing to make the sacrifice, you could choose your least liked or utilised lens and drop it from a high bridge (with nobody walking underneath it). A second option would be to buy the cheapest possible Panasonic ILC and the 10-25mm lens as a 'present' for her. And then you just start using the lens more often than she does, so that in practical terms, it's actually your lens.
Another solid video! Perhaps in the future you can show more photo examples? Like when you talk about how photos without foreground or interesting photos with harsh light, you can show examples of what these kind of photos may look like. That'd be great!
I am 100% with this guy. Its like theres no other way of taking landscape other than those format. Where is the creativity people! Dont be afraid and go with your thought and beyond
I was sitting in my favorite chair watching your vlog and realized that the hour was getting late and I still had to replace the sky on my 2 minute exposure of the breaking surf that I "shot" at golden hour...
Jp you legend! Great tyo hear your comments about golden hour. The prevailing wisdom seems to be, if you dont take your photos during golden hour they will be SH1£. This wisdom has prevented me from going out to take photos during the day for years. But there are sooooo many other photos that can be taken well OUTSIDE of golden hour. Well done you.
Great episode! I have one addition: Adding things to photos that make them instantly look fake but pretending it was shot that way. Like a moon filling half of an image taken with a wide angle lens.
Loved your points. When I started out I thought smooth water was a mistake because that's not what i saw on site. Still feel that way - I only own a 4 stop ND filter for really bright scenes and have only used it 2-3 times in years. I do shoot panoramas to get a sense of place but then try to focus on a specific subject. Great video. Thanks for your humor and insights.
Yup, photography is subjective. And, I happen to enjoy your work and your approach. My photos have to satisfy me, just me. Often they don't and that is my journey. Now, if I could just kick this thing I have with vivid photos... Then again, I'll have to think about that. Thank you for sharing James.
That iMac desktop pic is a good example. A strong bold icy structure, a person to set the scale and provide some eye lead-in, and the expanse of the whole thing being its key feature - foreground would have ruined it
@@longliveclassicmusic i totally agree, and alot of us end up falling into that trap of always doing that particular technique, and in the process, losing out on the creative side of photography. Trying to make a photo interesting, whilst being different is the hardest part, but i find pushing through that difficulty is where the creative side comes out the best. I'm not creative in the way i imagine what i want and create a photo according to what i imagined, but tend to TRY to be creative once i'm at a location. I very often fail though too :(
But is it really needed? Does it really do what they say? OR.... did so many authors just repeat it so many times, merely because it sounded good, that we started to believe it on faith alone. Sure, it sounds plausible. But is it more like the "backmasking" mental error where someone plays music backwards and it doesn't sound like anything, but then they tell you what it says, and suddenly you can hear it plain as day, yet it turns out there was nothing really there. You can look at the foreground, and then look at the background and tell yourself, "See. It works." But wouldn't you have looked at the background anyway?
I'm with you on all five of these. But with the 10-stop it's usually just because I'm in a hurry. I don't do many long exposures but do enjoy one once in a while.
3:43 - it's so true! it's the same with design, and film and photography, art in general! people try to do too much, overdoo things and the truth is that most beautiful are just plain simple (but very refined) and planned and composed - and so on ;)
I think this is the strongest opinion video you have made. I agree with everything you have said. Too much of anything is overkill. Love watching you. Show us more of your work!
Well constructed arguments, I absolutely agree. There is a wonderful irony that the advert preceding the video was for Luminar 4 promoting their new sky replacement tool.
I totally get the long exposure thing.. i love so much how reflective water is, it gives such a nice effect and people wipe it off without even trying to play with it
Ha ha, James I thought I was gonna disagree with you when you first said golden hour. But then I heard your explanation and I actually agree, lol. Can’t believe you didn’t say “No 6, being a landscape photographer and believing you should always use a tripod!” 😁
I rarely use a tripod when shooting landscapes haha. Only really do it when im doing long exposures and i rarely do that too. I guess its the portrait shooting side in me that doesnt like using a tripod haha.
Bravo! I’m glad someone said these things. All of them, but the one about golden hour has been bugging me for some time. I just returned from a trip for which one of my goals was to shoot a mountain peak at ... dawn. The first day I got up really early to make it up to my 10,000 foot vantage point, but clouds on the horizon obliterated any “epic” dawn light. I did get dramatic clouds rolling over the peak . The second day I got the “epic” golden light on a stunningly clear mountain face: perfect for one of those inspirational posters they hang in offices (maybe titled, “It’s easier to ask fo forgiveness. than to seek permission...”). Guess which is the picture with a story to tell? So, your point is well taken.
I was away from landscape photography for a very long time (since film) and was pretty shocked how many milky waterfalls and glass oceans have taken over since I started snooping around for ideas. There are exceptions where the ocean and a singular object can take on an abstract feel, but most of the time it feels gimmicky, to me at least. However, if people are out getting fresh air and trying to beautify and capture this amazing world, I can't be too hard on them. Thomas Heaton (comment below) can certainly speak for himself, but I'm guessing he doesn't mind and has his own ideas which is what makes him, and so many others like yourself excellent at your trade. Thanks again for an informative and worthwhile 10:32 of my day.
Agree with the forground and especially Golden hour. Sometimes foreground distracts if it is not the subject. And for golden hour, I don't need a rule that says I have to shoot on a certain time. If I want to shoot during the day, I just go and see what I can find. Also, don't angy Emily. She's more important than a new lense.
I always hated that "only shoot at golden hour" saying. Like its a plus, especially when going for a certain look. But you can shoot during the day at anytime. I do and always still get amazing shots.
@@TheFunnyCamGuy exactly. Maybe you have to work a bit more on your composition or your subject. Even shoot less grand vistas and get closer to the subject. For life, it is just more pleasant and don't have to wait all day till golden hour (or wake up too early).
So glad to hear a real photographer spelling the beans! I never understood this obsession with foreground subject; I feel those gurus bring, along with photo gear, some stuff to pose as foreground interest, I have a hunch that Amazon.com and Bhp are in the process of selling "professional-grade foreground subjects" to help photographers achieve greatness. Fully agree with you regarding long-exposure of water
Hi James - great points. Love your question... is the light the story? Personally, I would nuance what you are saying... Most overused 'showcased' photos rather than technique. Most photographers take more than one image of a scene/s. These languish in databased if not used/showcased. Perhaps it about what photos we choose to show/use rather than assuming that everyone just takes the image, using only one technique. Apart from this agree with everyone you said!
Thanks James, my pet hate is long exposures so long the water looks like cotton wool balls around the rocks ! I find an exposure of 1/4 to 1 sec hand held is great with my Olympus.
I agree with them all. I do like long exposures but usually they are after a normal exposure. I've got a long exposure in my head for 3 months that I have been waiting to find, it's not water. If I can capture it I will be thrilled. I have never done a sky replacement, not even for play.
Number 2-4, totally agree with you. Still water, depends. You as photographer, you know how they are made, for regular person, who is just looking on photo of smoothed water it maybe look like a miracle ;) triggering fascination, sense of calmness. I agree it is overused but if it is used not as a cliche but as a way to convey some idea, why not. James, love your short videos, going over all of them, one by one and always finding something interesting and giving different prospective, forcing to rethink basics.
Really agree with the sky replacements. Doesn't always look bad, but I just prefer pictures to be real not what basically turns into a 3D render. Probably why I'm also not big on HDR.
I don't quite understand all the editing of real light and colors to an artificially brightened/evened out or warmed scene (especially when it's a shot of something in the snow/winter). To me it seems less real (probably because it is).
I think methods work for two reasons: because they are easy and/or work. That's the case for art, sports or anything else. Replacing a boring sky instead of visiting the area more often is just much easier. Taking photos during golden hour is, as you mentioned, much easier and work most of the time... As in every other part in life, people are lazy and only a few are taking the last few percentages or try to improve constantly. Very nice video once again.
Thank you for saying what you've said about long exposures with water. Personally, I hate the smooth milky effect. I love to see the movement, texture and life in the water. Just my opinion.
Entertaining. I agree with your 5 items to different degrees. Basically, I thought your best point was "If you are scrambling about trying to find just the right thing to ADD to your scene, your not getting a good shot" (paraphrasing) . . .
Interesting point regarding foreground interest! It validated my fatigue around all those epic shots based on the same formula...a rock or a stick or something in the front, a lake or whatever for the middle ground, and a mountain or tree framed in an amazing sky in the background. I have nothing against amazing skies as I go after them as much as I can...but, this formula is getting tired IMO.
Agree re the ten stop. One day everyone will look back on all the extra long exposures captured 'now' and say "yes, so boring, that's when all the big stoppers became popular". I said this somewhere else and they shot me down. So it's great to hear someone possibly thinking the same way.
Thanks for the tips James, I must admit I tend to agree with your point of view on long exposures. Not only that but the cost of the tripod and filter kits adds up. I was looking into some lee filters (think it was the sevenfive kit) and it was the price of a lens I was eyeing up 🤔 on a side note about the 10-25... have you tried telling Emily you will take her louboutin shopping if you can buy it? Might work although it will be a major hit on your bank balance. Then again Emily might be more of a Merrell kind of girl? 🤷🏻♂️
I really like this video, your opinion in photography, which I agree with, gives me more confidence in just shooting for my story not just trying to get everything like others. Great video.
I do appreciate your frank and sensible opinions. It seems photography is full of fashions like everything else: to step back from the crowd and to think what actually works rather than what everyone is doing is a really good idea
I agree with your assessment however the reason these techniques are popular is because they often make shots more interesting. Using these as a crutch and as the default is problematic and makes us less creative so I’d say use all the techniques you have in your bag to make the best image you can. 👌🏼
"good photos are about subtraction, taking things out of the shot..." that's a great saying that every photographer should have on loop to hear again and again
Good food for thought. Totally agree about sky replacements...I don't mind a bit of cleanup and editing, but a complete replacement is a lie, unless the purpose is an obvious or artistic juxtaposition or something.
Between your comments about 10 stop ND and smoothing water to the ones about "Epic Light" (complete with the air quotes), I now really wish I had been on the workshop with you and BVS (Iceland???). There must have been some incredible discussions on that trip and a casual observer would have been given such an amazing opportunity to learn differing techniques covering significantly divergent points of view.
Very well explained! My "favourite" overused techniques are the "YOU HAVE TO SHOOT GOLDEN HOUR AS A BEGINNER!" and the "YOU WANNA HAVE FOREGROUND!" thing. Like you said, golden hour is just a no-brainer. Do a silhouette of the most uninteresting rock and it'll look good. And if you search for a foreground for *every* photo you're going to take, sometimes you'll end up with no photo at all while you could have at least some decent images if you haven't worried about foreground too much. On that note, I want to add another overused technique: The "YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO HAVE YOUR HISTOGRAM SPREAD EVENLY, NOT TOUCHING EITHER BORDER!" thing.
Spot on and well said. Unfortunately, you have just summarised the content of most RUclips landscape photography videos, which rely on cliches rather than creativity.
Creativity and accepting your conditions when out shooting. People tend to want to add more because they aren’t pleased with the conditions they got. It’s just part of the game.
So glad to hear this comment on sky replacement. This is a major personal pet peeve. That, along with stuffing a giant moon in the middle of the photograph that makes it look like a poorly airbrushed early 80s shaggin’ wagon (van).
I would agree with youts. One that I see and don't understand the appeal of is an epic landscape with a person (for some reason) standing in it, very small in the frame, often pointing a torch into the air.
how about HDR !!! I would put that instead of long exposure (at least long expo has some poetry). I get your point about it, personally I do long exposure but only if the water is not my main subject and gets in the way of my main one (sunken boat/pier/...).
When doing a long exposure test shots are taken first (I often do a 5 frame bracket - I don't use grads - seeing as the camera is on the tripod) so you've essentially got the regular photo for that long exposure anyway. You can work a long exposure to give you the maximum from a composition.
"Golden hour is restroom time." Nice. The opposite is the german saying: "Zwischen zwölf und drei hat der Fotograf frei" (Between twelve and three the photographer is free - it's rhyming in English, too)
Entertaining as ever. Love the opinions on 10 stopping every piece of water and foregrounds, I was chuckling away to myself on some of the other vloggers that would be having heart attacks on hearing your thoughts. On the RAM upgrade, have you not just screwed up your warranty, by taking a screwdriver to your brand new computer!!!!!! DON'T mention it to Emily lol.
All good points. I was never a fan of the smooth water effect. A panorama may be fine as a snapshot to help you remember a spot, but it's takes special circumstances to create a great panorama. If the foreground is interesting, great; if not, find the shot that is there. Sky replacements also an issue. Sometimes I get to shoot on days when the sky truly is awesome. When I share those photos, someone is bound to ask what method I used to replace the sky!
I like to create shots that I can’t see with my eyes. I love my 10 stop! 😜 and I like intentional motion blur, panning, bokeh, night shot with diffraction lights, car trails, milky way, star trails, light painting.
Great vid as usual...I agree with the Golden Hour stuff...I get to shoot for an hour 3 days a week at Noon...I have learned so much trying to make it work...plus I hate grids in IG that all look the same. 👍🏻
i couldn't agree any more with your comments regarding the overuse of long-exposure photography. I feel they have very little impact and you fon't feel part of the photo like you mentioned. Also, i loved this video, it as very interesting , great work!
I've only used sky replacement once and it was cause i wanted a shot of the night sky over a small town i was staying at. Any attempts to catch both resulted in an over exposed town or under exposed night sky. So what i did was wait a few hours til the portion of the sky i wanted was high above me, shot that, then put it in instead of the sky that was present at the time. In my mind it was more of a party trick than an outright deception as it is what the shot would have looked like had the camera been capable of doing it in the first place.
I remember when my shiny new iMac desktop screen looked that uncluttered. Oh how I pine for those days 😆 Agreed with all of your points, one of my best images was taken on a boiling hot cloudless day in the city centre. I never expected to come away with anything but you've got to ignore the 'rules' now and then 😉
windows has a display setting where you can toggle off the icon displays. I do that and open the folder all the icons are in via a shortcut from the bottom task bar when I need it... makes life less visually confusing for me.
I think in some cases, you do need a foreground subject, IF the scene calls for it. If you're photographing a lone tree in a field after a nice snow, then maybe you don't need a foreground because if there is just snow on the ground, you perhaps don't need to show depth as the photo is all about the tree, but if you want to show depth, then you need to include a foreground object. The key I feel is if you want to show depth or not, and it works both ways. If you're shooting wide angle, though, you most likely want to include a foreground subject in most (if not nearly every) case because usually people will shoot wide angle to show depth -- whether it's a grand vista or to exaggerate elements within the scene (and least when landscape is concerned).
James - thanks so much for the reminder not to take the easy/expected/done-before/safe route with my photos. There's no "Great Picture" button on the camera, and there's no "Guaranteed to make your photo great" technique. Each photo needs individual care and attention. Thanks again! And... good luck with the lens!
Damn it - my favorite long exposure pano of a waterfall with a replaced golden hour sky doesn't seem so good now.
Hahaha
😂😂😂😂
Just make it an HDR and blow out the colors until it looks like a cartoon.
Or maybe your creative perspective is amazing in its own right and you should appreciate your photos because you like them instead of what others say :)
@@thomasliebl9273 Agreed...but you may have missed the part where I was being sarcastic...it was the whole thing.
For real dummies like me, you should show examples of all these. Cheers from Carolina
C'mon Lumix! He is protecting his future marriage! Give this brave man a lens!
Yeah Lunix are you not ashamed to ask for it back. You just look tight. Give the dude the lens.
hahaha! :)
@@mapledelight 🤣
@@mapledelight they’re paying him for the review, giving him a very expensive lens as well means they would give him less money. Idk how many subs he had at the time but the lens could have literally been worth more than what he was being paid.
Good ideas but a photography lesson without examples is a bit weak IMO. Maybe have an example of a good photo without a foreground and a poor one with a foreground. It reminds me of the time that I took a real life class and the instructor discussed composition techniques by waving his hands around.
"I'm gonna make this as quick as possible" *holds box up to camera for 30 straight seconds.*
I lol'd.
Yeah, I like the guy. But I gotta skip the first minute or three of all his videos.
Totally with you on sky replacements. Hate that some software companies make a big thing of it. (Looking at you On1 and Skylum). My feeling is, if you replace the sky, it's no longer really photography.
I do agree with this, but, if you replace it, it is still art, different from photography because that's not what the scene looked like but still art. I personally would never do a sky replacement, but it can look cool, even better if you actually take the sky photo
I Don't replace the sky and i use Skylum which has a very good sky enhancement
wait until your client asking for building / architectural photography, you will need it on those subject
The only exeption in my opinion is when the sky is totally blown out
The moment anything is replaced in a photograph, it's no longer a photograph. Personally, I see a clear delineation between photography and digital art. I have zero respect for people who present or try to pass off digital art as a photograph. It's not only disingenuous, it's borderline forgery. I feel similarly about those photographers who sit there and paint entirely new palettes of colours, patterns, textures into a scene that didn't have any of it. Why not paint the entire thing? Went even bother taking a photo in the first place?
There are quite a few successful/famous guys out there who do this on a regular basis, and it grinds my nuts every time I see it. It's almost become a competition between fashion photography which involves a LOT of makeup and "retouching" and landscape photography which is becoming more and more about makeup and retouching. Even worse, a combination of the two - pose a sheila in yoga pants in front of a mountain or whatever it is.. and you've got yourself a Instagram hit. Sigh!
Don't get me started. Okay, over-sharpened photos, pumped up blue skies, exhausting shadow/highlight detail (who cares what's in there?), front to back focus (why?), noise intolerance (a noisy shot never hurt anyone), adding film grain (use film), sensor anxiety.. we'll be here all day.
Oh yes, over-sharpening... a collegue gave me a shot of which he was very proud of, I just said that something is messing up his edges, they are overshot. Actually, he did that on purpose...
Videos about some of those coming soon!
Borderlands it’s definitely all a hot topic!
@They Caged Non i'm pretty much a newbie and very far from being a professional photographer, so can anyone tell me when to know that something has been overdone? i'm constantly thinking about it, and am never sure, so i tend to go back on the slider by 1 or 2 points just in case, but i then think i'm not doing enough, so i then decide to go for what i like. But is there a way of actually knowing?
@They Caged Non thanks for your advice. I prefer the natural look by far and even if I knew how to manipulate a photo with Photoshop, I wouldn't do that and I really try to keep it as I saw it. I'm never convinced inn doing enough or too much
Agree, especially foreground and golden hour! Even though I love golden hour, for my new video I went out shooting at noon on purpose to challenge myself. Worked out fine and the results are nice... It’s just a matter of adapting and trying out new things. Great video, thanks!
And fun it was!
Definitely mate! 🙂
Joris Hermans gotta constantly challenge your creative skills!
Moises Lopez Photography Yep, and it’s easier than a lot of people think. Change is scary for some, I guess?
I guess if we don't get a video from you after this we know one of two things happened..
1. You bought the lens and Emily found out
2. You attempted the RAM upgrade and luck was not on your side
Hope to see you next week ;-p
Hahaha! Send help if there's no upload!
Really good video - one of my favorites from you so far. I definitely catch myself falling into the trap of the "rules to follow" for particular scenes (such as foreground interest and long exposure) and this is a great reminder to always be creative and find unique ways of looking at a scene instead of following the tropes
Pointing a flashlight at the Milky Way is a bit overdone, assuming that the Milky Way was actually there, of course. 😎 Keep marching to your own drumbeat, I say. Rock on!
That is one overused sky background.
It can be done tastefully. But most of the time, it completely takes away from the Milky Way.
Yeah, I don’t like people in Astro shots at all. Or in landscape shots either. It’s like “look where I’ve been, dude! In a landscape, can you believe it?!” No need for that, you’re just being annoying now.
@@listonheinz9103 in my opinion people are ok in landscape shots bc it can give you a certain feeling about how big for example the waterfall is. Of course, as always don't overuse it. :-)
@Soumendranath Baidya Your website is awesome! All your photos are incredible!
I think "Top 5" videos are overused as well as people wearing hats indoors. Totally agree with Long exposure as well as golden hour. Thanks for sweating it out to be open and honest.
THANK YOU!!! It's so refreshing to hear a photographer of your caliber say you don't like the long exposure of water. With so many people showing their photos with that effect, I thought I was the only person in the world who didn't like it.
I think a lot of the time people take principles and turn them into "rules", rather than see them as guidelines and choices. As the saying goes, the principles of photography are "a great servant, but a terrible master".
I love that saying :)
"Good fotos are always about subtraction, taking things out of the shot to simplify it and make the message stronger." Wise words.
Just before you mentioned golden hour, I was thinking that I'd love to see you do a video about photographing landscapes with the sun high in the sky. Go on, do one. You know you want to.
I definitely agree that too much of anything gets boring, but think that most (all?) of us, especially as “young” photographers, have phases that we go through that will include overdoing things.With maturity comes moderation. The one thing that stands out to the most among the five things mentioned is “foreground object”. Could be because I absolutely suck at finding interesting ones that match up with my main subject(s) though… 🙄
Thanks for making these awesome videos James and not being shy about your opinions. I might not always agree, but having your ideas, opinions and “ways of doing things” challenged once in a while is always good and will make us all better in the end. I know that I for one, tend to do things a certain way because “that’s the way I’m used to doing things” and “I’m too lazy to change”. 🙂
I personally agree with everything you said. Those techniques are great for certain situations. It's knowing when and how to use them that makes the difference.
I’m pleased you raised the issues you did. You have given us much to ponder. Thanks.
James thank you so much for the wonderful video. My opinion is that you are such an authentic person and having shown me another path is great, cause I agree with your 5 points. So much is fake in our era. As for the heat, unfortunately worst times are ahead of all of us. Look what is going on in Alaska. Thanks again, Flora
Two minutes in and I'm already sure Thomas Heaton disliked this video.
:D
1000 subscribers with only one video - challenge
I had a similar thought. I enjoy the photos and videos and insights of both gentlemen. The key takeaway is that the words ALWAYS and NEVER have no place in photographic technique.
😂😂
I was thing more BVS lol
Brilliant 🤣😍
James, thank you for this. A friend of mine is a pro/am photographer and he travels extensively for 1 great photo. He dedicates a lot of time to it, whereas I'm a local amateur and I have lots of great waterfront opportunities. I have argued with him and others that the water is part of the story, not a distraction. Blurring it just erases part of the story I tell with photos. It's great to hear that others feel the same.
Yes, a blurry waterfall can look cool, but it is seen countless times on Instagram as if a first time imagined. Smoothed water under a pier at the ocean is never real and takes a bit away from an ocean sunset for the sake of perceived coolness. I'll keep shooting short exposures to get the shot and things in focus. It's my thing too.
I love zooming in to the violent splashing water of a big waterfall with as short an exposure as possible. Freeze that water splatter. Beautiful. No long exposure. I keep that for indoors and stuff like nothernlights. The movement of water is extremely fascinating.
WHAT A VIDEO, JAMES!!! Every single syllable you uttered was spot on!! At least, In my opinion. It was a joy to watch. So, thank you for saying those things for all of us hobby, amateur newbie photographers. Stuff we NEEDED to hear. My favourite of the five was the analogy that shooting at 'golden hour' was shooting into an empty net. Classic!
Buying a new LUMIX lens without telling your wife? It'll be hard to ask for her forgiveness after she's caved your head in! DON'T DO IT!
Loved this video. I think these are all the instagram effect. This was such a refreshing video to watch. One of the reason I enjoy you channel so much, you have your on thoughts and ideas and make them work.
Instant Gratification / Instant Feedback. Now/Me/I/Selfishness/Narcissism. This is why. Some of us will chase a composition for 10-15-20 years and then will ONLY share it once they have the shot they are happy with and proud of; While others share everything all the time, thus the over saturation of mediocrity. This is why twitter, instagram, fb and others have worn everyone out. There's communication and then there's meaningful and effective communication that leads to thought provoking contemplation.
As a newbie, this video is good food for thought about what makes for a consistently worthy technique, vs. a gimmick, in terms of the context of who it's seen by and how often it's seen. Some of the items in the video are familiar to me, while others I hadn't heard of until now. And I think of how nice oversaturated blue and orange sunset landscape shots have been in my memory, but then the thought of seeing landscape shots that are ONLY like that, reveals that that goes against my default concept of what a landscape looks like. It's like dessert toppings vs. the whole dessert.
I got started doing nautical/sailing photography, and I wholly agree with you about long exposures being overused for water. I love capturing sparkles and ripples and waves, none of which work at all with long exposures. If I am doing a long exposure of water, I try to keep it composed in such a way that you wouldn't see much detail in the water anyways. I have a shot that I took overlooking the water and the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu at sunrise; it's a long enough exposure to capture some of the lights of cars on the road and streak them out, but not so long that the water becomes flat. I think it worked out well.
I like working with early or late day light because its more horizontal, but it's not magic, you can still get harsh lighting just like you often do at midday. Overexposed at golden hour is still overexposed....
Great video. Hope it cools off soon. And good luck with the RAM.
A pet peeve of mine is the bokeh thing, wide aperture lenses and blurred backgrounds in portraits. I said something about this to someone the other day, and he argued that it was a compositional tool. I think, if you don’t like your background, move your subject. Cheers! Love your work!
Thanks Steve! 🙂
While I personally sometimes shoot long exposures of water, shoot during golden hour or do the occasional pano (because let's be honest, a shot during golden hour tends to look fantastic), I completely agree that these techniques are overused, even more now, over 2 years after your video has been published.
Maybe it would be worth to think about why lots of people do this? In the end, I believe that every photographer is trying to get better and one of the ways to do that is trying to work based on proven "recipes". This is probably a normal step in the development of an artist (can be applied to musicians, painters, etc.) and I think that it is ok to learn and use these techniques. However, I also believe that one should then try to develop his/her own individual style and techniques and not allow oneself to get stuck at the "standard" techniques.
Basically, what I think I am trying to say is that for someone beginning to shoot photos, it is ok to learn and apply these techniques, but one should always keep an open mind and try to evolve above and beyond these, as they may be recipes for good images but are by far not the only way to get a good image.
Harsh mid-day light can be great for my B&W. I think you can always use the conditions, whatever they are.
RAM is like the surface of your desk, the more you have, the more stuff you can have on the desk ready to use! The hard drive would be like the shelves behind a desk, the more you have the more you can store. Thats the easiest way to understand without techie nonsense IMO. Great vid Mr Popsys
That's the best explanation I've heard :)
@@JamesPopsysPhoto :D you're making it hard for me to avoid MFT, the more of your videos i watch, the more i realise how beautiful the picture you make are
Good sense, well presented without being preachy. Subbed. Thanks James - excellent video!
Would really like to see some of your photos during your videos and your thoughts behind them... maybe when it is cooler to go outdoors
Yes. Was hoping for a slew of really bad sky replacement shots.
Makes sense Tessa, will do next time :)
Fantastic discussion. Your points as well as your acknowledgement of potential counterpoints are well thought out. Thank you for taking the time to create this valuable message!
Another great video. Love how your comedic and quirky personality shines through. On the 10-25mm lens and getting it past your missus, what about just telling her that one of your other lenses was destroyed and absolutely had to be replaced? For genuineness, if you're willing to make the sacrifice, you could choose your least liked or utilised lens and drop it from a high bridge (with nobody walking underneath it). A second option would be to buy the cheapest possible Panasonic ILC and the 10-25mm lens as a 'present' for her. And then you just start using the lens more often than she does, so that in practical terms, it's actually your lens.
Another solid video! Perhaps in the future you can show more photo examples? Like when you talk about how photos without foreground or interesting photos with harsh light, you can show examples of what these kind of photos may look like. That'd be great!
Sabie Zaide sounds like a great video to be made!
Will do! Thanks :)
I am 100% with this guy. Its like theres no other way of taking landscape other than those format. Where is the creativity people! Dont be afraid and go with your thought and beyond
Great video James. By the way - RAM is 'Really Amazing Memory'
Mark Kent something I don’t have 😂
haha, cheers Mark!
Really awesome memory?
Taking elements out to make a simpler shot. Best advice ever. Cheers
I was sitting in my favorite chair watching your vlog and realized that the hour was getting late and I still had to replace the sky on my 2 minute exposure of the breaking surf that I "shot" at golden hour...
Jp you legend! Great tyo hear your comments about golden hour. The prevailing wisdom seems to be, if you dont take your photos during golden hour they will be SH1£. This wisdom has prevented me from going out to take photos during the day for years. But there are sooooo many other photos that can be taken well OUTSIDE of golden hour. Well done you.
Great episode! I have one addition: Adding things to photos that make them instantly look fake but pretending it was shot that way. Like a moon filling half of an image taken with a wide angle lens.
Loved your points. When I started out I thought smooth water was a mistake because that's not what i saw on site. Still feel that way - I only own a 4 stop ND filter for really bright scenes and have only used it 2-3 times in years. I do shoot panoramas to get a sense of place but then try to focus on a specific subject. Great video. Thanks for your humor and insights.
Yup, photography is subjective. And, I happen to enjoy your work and your approach. My photos have to satisfy me, just me. Often they don't and that is my journey. Now, if I could just kick this thing I have with vivid photos... Then again, I'll have to think about that. Thank you for sharing James.
Agreed . The foreground is meant to lead the eye to the subject, but if the subject is strong enough then it isn't always needed.
True, but foreground also adds depth, which is good most of the times.
1957PLATO Not if literally almost every photo does so. Everything becomes so cliché and uninteresting based on an overused technique alone.
That iMac desktop pic is a good example. A strong bold icy structure, a person to set the scale and provide some eye lead-in, and the expanse of the whole thing being its key feature - foreground would have ruined it
@@longliveclassicmusic i totally agree, and alot of us end up falling into that trap of always doing that particular technique, and in the process, losing out on the creative side of photography. Trying to make a photo interesting, whilst being different is the hardest part, but i find pushing through that difficulty is where the creative side comes out the best. I'm not creative in the way i imagine what i want and create a photo according to what i imagined, but tend to TRY to be creative once i'm at a location. I very often fail though too :(
But is it really needed? Does it really do what they say? OR.... did so many authors just repeat it so many times, merely because it sounded good, that we started to believe it on faith alone. Sure, it sounds plausible. But is it more like the "backmasking" mental error where someone plays music backwards and it doesn't sound like anything, but then they tell you what it says, and suddenly you can hear it plain as day, yet it turns out there was nothing really there. You can look at the foreground, and then look at the background and tell yourself, "See. It works." But wouldn't you have looked at the background anyway?
I'm with you on all five of these. But with the 10-stop it's usually just because I'm in a hurry. I don't do many long exposures but do enjoy one once in a while.
3:43 - it's so true! it's the same with design, and film and photography, art in general! people try to do too much, overdoo things and the truth is that most beautiful are just plain simple (but very refined) and planned and composed - and so on ;)
I think this is the strongest opinion video you have made. I agree with everything you have said. Too much of anything is overkill. Love watching you. Show us more of your work!
Good luck with upgrading the Ram! My 10-25mm just arrived on Friday it’s like Christmas come early.
Well constructed arguments, I absolutely agree. There is a wonderful irony that the advert preceding the video was for Luminar 4 promoting their new sky replacement tool.
haha!
I totally get the long exposure thing.. i love so much how reflective water is, it gives such a nice effect and people wipe it off without even trying to play with it
Ha ha, James I thought I was gonna disagree with you when you first said golden hour. But then I heard your explanation and I actually agree, lol. Can’t believe you didn’t say “No 6, being a landscape photographer and believing you should always use a tripod!” 😁
I rarely use a tripod when shooting landscapes haha. Only really do it when im doing long exposures and i rarely do that too. I guess its the portrait shooting side in me that doesnt like using a tripod haha.
Especially knowing how much you hate tripods 😉🤣
😂 I thought there was a danger of me banging on about it too much!
James Popsys ha ha, never. Never ever! 😂😂
Bravo! I’m glad someone said these things. All of them, but the one about golden hour has been bugging me for some time. I just returned from a trip for which one of my goals was to shoot a mountain peak at ... dawn. The first day I got up really early to make it up to my 10,000 foot vantage point, but clouds on the horizon obliterated any “epic” dawn light. I did get dramatic clouds rolling over the peak . The second day I got the “epic” golden light on a stunningly clear mountain face: perfect for one of those inspirational posters they hang in offices (maybe titled, “It’s easier to ask fo forgiveness. than to seek permission...”). Guess which is the picture with a story to tell? So, your point is well taken.
I was away from landscape photography for a very long time (since film) and was pretty shocked how many milky waterfalls and glass oceans have taken over since I started snooping around for ideas. There are exceptions where the ocean and a singular object can take on an abstract feel, but most of the time it feels gimmicky, to me at least. However, if people are out getting fresh air and trying to beautify and capture this amazing world, I can't be too hard on them. Thomas Heaton (comment below) can certainly speak for himself, but I'm guessing he doesn't mind and has his own ideas which is what makes him, and so many others like yourself excellent at your trade. Thanks again for an informative and worthwhile 10:32 of my day.
Agree with the forground and especially Golden hour. Sometimes foreground distracts if it is not the subject. And for golden hour, I don't need a rule that says I have to shoot on a certain time. If I want to shoot during the day, I just go and see what I can find.
Also, don't angy Emily. She's more important than a new lense.
I always hated that "only shoot at golden hour" saying. Like its a plus, especially when going for a certain look. But you can shoot during the day at anytime. I do and always still get amazing shots.
@@TheFunnyCamGuy exactly. Maybe you have to work a bit more on your composition or your subject. Even shoot less grand vistas and get closer to the subject. For life, it is just more pleasant and don't have to wait all day till golden hour (or wake up too early).
Agreed mate! 🙂
Golden hour is cool but I don't let that dictate when I get my shots. Just get the right exposure 🤷🏾
So glad to hear a real photographer spelling the beans! I never understood this obsession with foreground subject; I feel those gurus bring, along with photo gear, some stuff to pose as foreground interest, I have a hunch that Amazon.com and Bhp are in the process of selling "professional-grade foreground subjects" to help photographers achieve greatness. Fully agree with you regarding long-exposure of water
Hi James - great points. Love your question... is the light the story? Personally, I would nuance what you are saying... Most overused 'showcased' photos rather than technique. Most photographers take more than one image of a scene/s. These languish in databased if not used/showcased. Perhaps it about what photos we choose to show/use rather than assuming that everyone just takes the image, using only one technique. Apart from this agree with everyone you said!
Thanks James, my pet hate is long exposures so long the water looks like cotton wool balls around the rocks ! I find an exposure of 1/4 to 1 sec hand held is great with my Olympus.
I agree with them all. I do like long exposures but usually they are after a normal exposure. I've got a long exposure in my head for 3 months that I have been waiting to find, it's not water. If I can capture it I will be thrilled. I have never done a sky replacement, not even for play.
Number 2-4, totally agree with you. Still water, depends. You as photographer, you know how they are made, for regular person, who is just looking on photo of smoothed water it maybe look like a miracle ;) triggering fascination, sense of calmness. I agree it is overused but if it is used not as a cliche but as a way to convey some idea, why not.
James, love your short videos, going over all of them, one by one and always finding something interesting and giving different prospective, forcing to rethink basics.
You are way outside the mainstream. Thank goodness someone is! The photo police are near though.
The Great Vanzinni! 😂🙌🏽
Really agree with the sky replacements. Doesn't always look bad, but I just prefer pictures to be real not what basically turns into a 3D render. Probably why I'm also not big on HDR.
I don't quite understand all the editing of real light and colors to an artificially brightened/evened out or warmed scene (especially when it's a shot of something in the snow/winter). To me it seems less real (probably because it is).
I think methods work for two reasons: because they are easy and/or work.
That's the case for art, sports or anything else.
Replacing a boring sky instead of visiting the area more often is just much easier. Taking photos during golden hour is, as you mentioned, much easier and work most of the time...
As in every other part in life, people are lazy and only a few are taking the last few percentages or try to improve constantly.
Very nice video once again.
Really wonderful. Thank you, james.
Thank you for saying what you've said about long exposures with water. Personally, I hate the smooth milky effect. I love to see the movement, texture and life in the water. Just my opinion.
Entertaining. I agree with your 5 items to different degrees. Basically, I thought your best point was "If you are scrambling about trying to find just the right thing to ADD to your scene, your not getting a good shot" (paraphrasing) . . .
Interesting point regarding foreground interest! It validated my fatigue around all those epic shots based on the same formula...a rock or a stick or something in the front, a lake or whatever for the middle ground, and a mountain or tree framed in an amazing sky in the background. I have nothing against amazing skies as I go after them as much as I can...but, this formula is getting tired IMO.
Agree re the ten stop. One day everyone will look back on all the extra long exposures captured 'now' and say "yes, so boring, that's when all the big stoppers became popular". I said this somewhere else and they shot me down. So it's great to hear someone possibly thinking the same way.
James you make such compelling points even if they are just your opinions - which I concur with!
Thanks for the tips James, I must admit I tend to agree with your point of view on long exposures. Not only that but the cost of the tripod and filter kits adds up. I was looking into some lee filters (think it was the sevenfive kit) and it was the price of a lens I was eyeing up 🤔 on a side note about the 10-25... have you tried telling Emily you will take her louboutin shopping if you can buy it? Might work although it will be a major hit on your bank balance. Then again Emily might be more of a Merrell kind of girl? 🤷🏻♂️
I really like this video, your opinion in photography, which I agree with, gives me more confidence in just shooting for my story not just trying to get everything like others. Great video.
I do appreciate your frank and sensible opinions. It seems photography is full of fashions like everything else: to step back from the crowd and to think what actually works rather than what everyone is doing is a really good idea
I agree with your assessment however the reason these techniques are popular is because they often make shots more interesting. Using these as a crutch and as the default is problematic and makes us less creative so I’d say use all the techniques you have in your bag to make the best image you can. 👌🏼
"good photos are about subtraction, taking things out of the shot..." that's a great saying that every photographer should have on loop to hear again and again
Good food for thought. Totally agree about sky replacements...I don't mind a bit of cleanup and editing, but a complete replacement is a lie, unless the purpose is an obvious or artistic juxtaposition or something.
Between your comments about 10 stop ND and smoothing water to the ones about "Epic Light" (complete with the air quotes), I now really wish I had been on the workshop with you and BVS (Iceland???). There must have been some incredible discussions on that trip and a casual observer would have been given such an amazing opportunity to learn differing techniques covering significantly divergent points of view.
Very well explained! My "favourite" overused techniques are the "YOU HAVE TO SHOOT GOLDEN HOUR AS A BEGINNER!" and the "YOU WANNA HAVE FOREGROUND!" thing. Like you said, golden hour is just a no-brainer. Do a silhouette of the most uninteresting rock and it'll look good. And if you search for a foreground for *every* photo you're going to take, sometimes you'll end up with no photo at all while you could have at least some decent images if you haven't worried about foreground too much.
On that note, I want to add another overused technique: The "YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO HAVE YOUR HISTOGRAM SPREAD EVENLY, NOT TOUCHING EITHER BORDER!" thing.
Spot on and well said. Unfortunately, you have just summarised the content of most RUclips landscape photography videos, which rely on cliches rather than creativity.
:what'supguysPeterMcKinnonhere!:
Creativity and accepting your conditions when out shooting. People tend to want to add more because they aren’t pleased with the conditions they got. It’s just part of the game.
So glad to hear this comment on sky replacement. This is a major personal pet peeve. That, along with stuffing a giant moon in the middle of the photograph that makes it look like a poorly airbrushed early 80s shaggin’ wagon (van).
James, you nailed it!
I would agree with youts.
One that I see and don't understand the appeal of is an epic landscape with a person (for some reason) standing in it, very small in the frame, often pointing a torch into the air.
how about HDR !!! I would put that instead of long exposure (at least long expo has some poetry).
I get your point about it, personally I do long exposure but only if the water is not my main subject and gets in the way of my main one (sunken boat/pier/...).
HDR is 99.9% awful. Ridiculous technique and totally misused. Agreed.
What don't you like about hdr?
@@davidmichael8880 it's never really the HDR, it's the wild tonemappings...
@@davidmichael8880 it become very quickly unaesthetic.
Nearly always looks fake. Just horrible. Can’t believe it was a huge trend not long ago. Wasn’t good.
I agree with alll of your remarks. But perhaps its now the main stream. And i believe the main stream will change. Personal preferences never change😊😊
When doing a long exposure test shots are taken first (I often do a 5 frame bracket - I don't use grads - seeing as the camera is on the tripod) so you've essentially got the regular photo for that long exposure anyway. You can work a long exposure to give you the maximum from a composition.
Thank goodness that there is another person not sold 100% on golden hour.
Golden hour is restroom time.
Eminence FrontX5 those are fighting words! 😂🙌🏽
"Golden hour is restroom time." Nice. The opposite is the german saying: "Zwischen zwölf und drei hat der Fotograf frei" (Between twelve and three the photographer is free - it's rhyming in English, too)
This is the first time I agreed with you 100%. Nice video. 😀👍👍👍
Entertaining as ever. Love the opinions on 10 stopping every piece of water and foregrounds, I was chuckling away to myself on some of the other vloggers that would be having heart attacks on hearing your thoughts. On the RAM upgrade, have you not just screwed up your warranty, by taking a screwdriver to your brand new computer!!!!!! DON'T mention it to Emily lol.
All good points. I was never a fan of the smooth water effect. A panorama may be fine as a snapshot to help you remember a spot, but it's takes special circumstances to create a great panorama. If the foreground is interesting, great; if not, find the shot that is there. Sky replacements also an issue. Sometimes I get to shoot on days when the sky truly is awesome. When I share those photos, someone is bound to ask what method I used to replace the sky!
Great video. I 100% agree with your comments on sky replacement!!
I like to create shots that I can’t see with my eyes. I love my 10 stop! 😜 and I like intentional motion blur, panning, bokeh, night shot with diffraction lights, car trails, milky way, star trails, light painting.
Great vid as usual...I agree with the Golden Hour stuff...I get to shoot for an hour 3 days a week at Noon...I have learned so much trying to make it work...plus I hate grids in IG that all look the same. 👍🏻
i couldn't agree any more with your comments regarding the overuse of long-exposure photography. I feel they have very little impact and you fon't feel part of the photo like you mentioned. Also, i loved this video, it as very interesting , great work!
I've only used sky replacement once and it was cause i wanted a shot of the night sky over a small town i was staying at. Any attempts to catch both resulted in an over exposed town or under exposed night sky. So what i did was wait a few hours til the portion of the sky i wanted was high above me, shot that, then put it in instead of the sky that was present at the time.
In my mind it was more of a party trick than an outright deception as it is what the shot would have looked like had the camera been capable of doing it in the first place.
I remember when my shiny new iMac desktop screen looked that uncluttered. Oh how I pine for those days 😆 Agreed with all of your points, one of my best images was taken on a boiling hot cloudless day in the city centre. I never expected to come away with anything but you've got to ignore the 'rules' now and then 😉
windows has a display setting where you can toggle off the icon displays. I do that and open the folder all the icons are in via a shortcut from the bottom task bar when I need it... makes life less visually confusing for me.
i like the softness of long exposed water shots .. some are very beautiful
I totally agree I’m so tired of smooth water photos ! I like most of your videos they seem very helpful , and i like the subjects you talk about .
I think in some cases, you do need a foreground subject, IF the scene calls for it. If you're photographing a lone tree in a field after a nice snow, then maybe you don't need a foreground because if there is just snow on the ground, you perhaps don't need to show depth as the photo is all about the tree, but if you want to show depth, then you need to include a foreground object. The key I feel is if you want to show depth or not, and it works both ways. If you're shooting wide angle, though, you most likely want to include a foreground subject in most (if not nearly every) case because usually people will shoot wide angle to show depth -- whether it's a grand vista or to exaggerate elements within the scene (and least when landscape is concerned).
James - thanks so much for the reminder not to take the easy/expected/done-before/safe route with my photos. There's no "Great Picture" button on the camera, and there's no "Guaranteed to make your photo great" technique. Each photo needs individual care and attention. Thanks again! And... good luck with the lens!
I thought I was a voice in the wilderness in not liking long exposure water pics. Good on yer.