aanji

<p>I see many images that make me think that if I was there, I would have taken that shot - more to do with "eye" - but it is the feet that bring you to that spot . . . I can't help but smile when I read someone's comment on a photograph "What a find!" - like the photographer just tripped over the subject</p>

<p>I think Matt is on the right track - it would be interesting to chart the responses in the study by handedness of the respondents.<br>

my first thought was that more of us are right-handed and that might correspond to liking the left side better.</p>

<p>It seems that any technique or software can be over done - as in sharpening, the trick is to stop before it is noticable</p>

<p>aren't all photographs illusion? simply an image I am showing you, not the leaf, not the person but a doppleganger - and the coolest ones are the illusions containing an illusion.</p>

<p>I like to see me as a reminder . . . this might be my image from my past, but don't you remember it too?</p>

<p>I've used Photoshop 7.0 for years (still happy with it), have Elements on a netbook and recently started using Lightroom. I like them all, but can see that Lightroom will probably become the workhorse.<br>

The learning curve on PS and LR is fairly steep (Elements is quick but less powerful) -<br>

You can save some $ through student/teacher versions if you qualify, and check out older versions on ebay.</p>

<p>I dropped to a $250 Sony p/s and shot with it exclusively for a year - loved the size/weight, but it's limitations dictated replacement - got a Sony a390 and am happy with the quality and accept the slightly heavier drag on my shoulder (got a sling strap too) especially with the 100mm macro.</p>

<p>I, too, believe that you can become a greater photographer - the mechanical stuff can be improved, the technical pieces can be honed to a razor edge, the "rules" can be learned and augmented. However, I believe that photography is an art-form - for me, you need "the eye" to be even an excellent photographer (let alone "GREAT".)</p>

<p>short answer - maybe</p>

<p>I think the big purse is the answer - I always have a camera with me (eventually it becomes second nature.) Your eye will tell you what to shoot as long as you are prepared to follow through. I bought a smaller camera specifically for this purpose (many high quality, easily carried ones out there) and a small (gorilla) tripod, or even (if that purse is big enough) a mono-pod.</p><div></div>

<p>or more to the point,</p>

<blockquote>

<p>"one thing we know is which term is understood to be a signifier of being a better photographer."</p>

</blockquote>

<p>when used by said photographer.</p>

<p>Wouter, thanks for the most interesting conversation.<br>

I am a frequent visitor here and in the casual conversations forum, but rarely post. I come to read what others have to say about photography. I don't really have a philosophy of photography. I rarely think about what I am doing before the shutter snaps, my eye tells my hand to shoot and I listen. I tend to be in Julie's "anything" school of photographers; about the only time I am after specific images is when something in one of my "anything" wanderings resonates and drives me back to "get it right."<br>

Again thanks for bringing all of my favorite writers together in one of the most interesting discussions here for a long time.</p>

<p>Go back and reshoot the same subject that you "just missed" the last time, and then go back and reshoot it again. You will be educating your eye and will automatically choose more "winners.)</p>

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<p>Perhaps someone should start a No Words thread of images with (I call mine) Artsy Fartsy titles . . .</p>

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<p>I think that as more of us get thoughtful critiques of our images, we will naturally reply in kind. I have been trying to increase the substantive elements in my critiques and have had several meaningful critiques of my images lately, so we may have something here. Thanks Fred!</p>

<p>I'm a financial minimalist.</p>

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<p>Landrum, I usually have a camara with me; my vacations are usually selected with the assumption of photo opportunities existing; I usually do something photographic daily. But the family joke is that any and all of my images could have come from my backyard. I guess it's just part of my way of seeing and trying to save what I've seen.</p>

<p>My Sony DSC-S70 now has a good sized dust spot - but it is twelve years old. not exactly a point and shoot, but sadly sealed.</p>

<p>Chip, I have always found that being in the presence of an infant to be an absolute force anchoring you to the present. They only exist there, no past or future for a baby. I am the lead teacher in an Infant room. I also use photography as a means to be present- if I am thinking about something else, I miss a lot of shots. I do not consider it flailing around, rather finding the images that exist everywhere. Folk singer Peter Meyer said "the challenge is not to find a miracle, but to find something that's not."</p>

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