What's limiting your photography?

[robert_hooper1]

<p>Steve Levine,</p>

<p>That photo of the bear is a priceless shot. Where was it taken and what were the circumstances?</p>

<p>Whatever might be limiting your photography, it's not courage. It doesn't look like you were using a very long lens. ;-)</p>

[rjm photo]

<p>Good one Robert..my thoughts exactly...it looks awful close</p>

[seismiccwave]

<p>How can a Nikon non-existing 24 mm f1.4 be limiting if it doesn't existing? I know what you mean by saying that it does exist. Yes I have the Canon 24 f1.4L but you failed to understand the point. If you wanted the Canon 24 mm f1.4L so badly you would have purchase the entire Canon line up. Why stay with Nikon. You are your own limit. Nothing more nothing less.<br>

If the Nikon FM with a 50 mm prime is the only camera setup I can afford or if that is the only camera available I will work around the limitation. We live in a world full of compromises. If I consider something a limitation there will be limitation. If I don't consider something a limitation there will be NO limitation. There is no oxymoron in limitation. You seem to be very stuck on your high horse and stir the pot. You have done well in stirring the pot. I simply do not like the perspective you have on this world. I do not agree with your view point. I wish people like yourself will open your mind a bit more to see beyond what they are they limiting themselves to.<br>

You are you very own limitation. If you don't understand that concept then you are more limited than you think you are.</p>

 

[daveinwilton]

<p>I stand with most everyone else here.  <strong>My limiting factors are all upon myself = time and money</strong>, not equipment, much has been done with little more than a hole in a box.   I just must decide where to make my balance and strive on.  It does not hurt to re-asses from time to time though.</p>

[bob_bill]

<p>Shun was right on the first post, I think Ansel said "the most important part of the camera is the 12 inches behind it." I think I can improve my photos way more with an improvement in composition, lighting and creativity than any hunk of glass or gear. </p>

[didibaev]

<p>My photography is limited only by my fantasy. My fantasy is unlimted. Cheers!</p>

[liljuddakalilknyttphotogra]

<p>What do I find limiting...... If I find anything limiting it would have to be myself, what I don't have the vision to do or the talent to create.<br>

So - it's me really.....</p>

[sbp]

<p>At a gallery opening in New York, years ago...<br>

Earnest Hemingway said to Irving Penn, "I like your photographs, what kind of camera do you use?"<br>

Penn replied, "I like your novels, what kind of typewriter do you use?"</p>

[RaymondC]

<p>Actually going to the wilderness - time and money.  For my photography I would be equally happen if it is my 6yr old D70 or my FM2N or a F/N75 with 2 cheap primes or Ai even cheaper. </p>

[pictureted]

<p>I limit my photography to what my equipment can do and the money available for gas and travel. I don't care how skilled a photographer is, without a long telephoto of reasonable speed you're not getting the best bird pictures. Sure, you can use a 300/4 for sports, but will you get more shots with a 300/2.8? The only photographers I've known who were not limited by equipment were either rich enough to buy all they need or had photographic interests that didn't require much hardware. I quit photography at one time due to the high cost of Kodachrome and Velvia, now that was more than limiting.</p>

[alvinyap]

<p>Time to shoot and money to get to locations....</p>

<p>Alvin</p>

[danbliss]

<p>First, my 24mm f/1.4 on my 5D (will I get booed off this forum?) is probably my favorite lens, so I can understand wanting one. However, I have found that as far as creativity goes I will occasionally challenge myself by picking one of my lenses and go out shooting with just it. The arbitrary limitation can help me break out of my comfort zone with regard to my compositional choices. So, sometimes you can use a limitation to help break your own subconscious limitations. Still, I do like my 24mm f/1.4. :-) </p>

[mila-g]

<p>High ISO Noise and autofocus limits the number of good shots I can get out of bad light / moving people situations. My f/1.4 lens helps somewhat. As many have said what really limits me is time (laziness) and skill (or lack of it). </p>

[robert_k1]

<p>I'm limited by:<br>

1. Lenses, the two I carry with me all the time and sit above my nose.<br>

2. Luck, or lack there of. Some photogs are just luckier. How else can you explain that AA could just happen to drive by and snap a gorgeous moonrise, or HCB could capture decisive moments every time he released the shutter?</p>

[astral]

<p>The very real threat of <a href="http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/news/"><em>illegal </em> police harrasment </a> under the auspices of 'prevention of terrorism' perpetrated by out-of-control Britsh police officers who are acting in direct contravention of instructions from the most senior police officer in Britain!</p>

<p> </p>

[jose_angel]

<p>Alan, that is a good one... I`m not worried about the legality of this arrests but in the power and capacity of these civil servants who order this actions because think that it could be useful for something... every person with a big black camera could be a potential terrorist (small cameras, phones and hidden videcameras, don`t).</p>

<p>This is really a limitation, and quite frustrating.</p>

[nowin]

<p>To take an adage from my autocross instructing: The only adjustments required are on the nut behind the wheel.<br>

And for me in photography, the limitations is primarily time, in the sense I wish I could devote more time to practice and experimentation in applying basics, tips, tricks, etc., let alone *when* I get a chance to read about them! <br>

Gosh, retirement is starting to look like I have a productive chance to to that...albeit 10 years away.</p>

 

[dave_wilson1]

<p>Equipment wise, I feel I would like to have a nice wide angle about 17mm or so and bright for my Nikon crop bodies, but I want a full lens that could eventually also fit on a D700. Photographically, my limitations are purely a lack of motivation, I have very good equipment and don't really "need" anything. Yes, I want to add a wide lens and a D700 eventually. Money, things are no question difficult right now. I have lost much side work and have very little extra anything coming in, plus I end up short every month, I'm hoping for better times soon. So the motto is "take pictures with what you have and be happy".</p>

[jannekaakinen]

<p>I've got to join the choir that sings: Available time. And related to that, work that takes nearly all the time and energy I have at the moment. Well, the darkness in here in this time of year is another somewhat limiting factor.</p>

<p>On the equipment front it probably is lack of good fully functioning i-TTL flashes/strobes. (I just bought fast UWA-lens that I've been wanting for quite some time.) But the main thing limiting my photography too is naturally the organic mass behind the camera (and time would cure that too: time for studying, taking more photos, experimenting, etc. would upgrade the photographer quite nicely).</p>

[edwardcalvey]

<p>I might be a real minority, but that might be because I can afford a lot of time. I also have all the equipment I need, and have run through all sorts of camera types and methods, but time and equipment have been surprisingly ineffective at solving my own dilemma.</p>

<p>I am struggling to add greater and greater real meaning to these human interfaces we call photographs. A technically excellent photograph that doesn't speak to me is just an exercise, and I am tired of exercise, and want to reach the deep meaning that comes from some of the fine photographers of our 170 years of the craft.</p>

<p>Come to think of it, like writing instruments and literature, there is poor correlation between greatness and technical modernity, or even between greatness and equipment in general. </p>

<p>Not that lenses aren't magnificent and fun, but I've bought all the machines and want to move back to photography.</p>

[nyphotopro]

<p>What limits my photography?<br /> <br /> Time, money, age, health, patience, family, traffic, crowds. Did I mention time and money? I try very hard to ignore the health and age problems.<br /> <br /> I've got all the equipment I need and, after 41 years of being involved in photography, I'm pretty set in the skill area (although I keep learning better techniques all the time and try to keep up with all the latest digital developments.)<br /> <br /> As I tell my photography students, it's not the amount nor the price of your equipment. It's knowing how to use the equipment you have. Be brave, have vision and try!</p>

[jtk]

<p>Nothing is limiting my photography, or anybody else's. The last photographs we made were our measure.</p>

[joe_jackson4]

<p>Battery life.</p>

[starvy]

<p>in my case, money to buy a decent portrait lens and lighting setup :(</p>

[steve_levine]

<p>The bears always hang around like that on "pasta" night.</p>