Photographer's remorse

[Tannin]

Does this happen to you? Quite often it does to me.

Yesterday is as good an example as any. I left home early but achieved nothing worthwhile in the first hour, followed by some very pleasing work with landscapes for the next hour or two, and had lunch. Then a long, profitless afternoon session (mostly birding rather than landscaping now) with nothing much to show for it.

That's fine: you don't expect constant success photographing birds, you always get long stretches of nothing decent, but eventually the magic happens. Sometimes it takes an hour, sometimes it takes days. You just stick with it and don't worry: sooner or later your luck always turns. Today, I was unfussed. I already had those delightful landscapes in the bank, so no matter what else came along or didn't come along, it was a good day. If the afternoon happened to contain a few nice bird pictures, so much the better. But no big deal: any day with at least one good photograph in it is a good day and I reckoned I already had four or five. I wandered slowly home, taking pictures here and there along the way, tired but happy.

So make that a pretty fair normal day. Arrive home: unload the car, make the tea, upload the day's pictures, make a backup. Time to make more tea and admire the results ...

Rubbish.

Complete waste of time.

Not a decent picture in the whole bloody lot of them.

I half-heartedly deleted a few of the very worst duds, too grumpy even to admire the good variety of pictures other members had posted on AP while I was away. The only threads I felt like contributing to were the strictly non-artistic ones on safe topics like lens selection.

A few hours later, I looked at my day's pictures again and felt that there were a few that were not completely horrible. Maybe something could be salvaged from the wreck. (Meanwhile, over on AP, picture posts that had nothing much to do with birds or landscapes seemed more interesting than they had an hour or two before.)

Last thing before bed, I started to think that some of my work for the day could actually be half decent.

When I look at them again later on today or tomorrow, I'll more than likely start feeling that there are three or four genuine goodies and that it was a day well spent.

And by the end of the week, it's entirely possible that I'll have a little portfolio of pictures I am really fond of, ones well worth setting alongside old favourites from previous years.

The thing is, this process - reasonable expectation -> bitter disappointment -> gloom -> faint hope -> slow recovery -> eventual satisfaction - is normal.

At least it is normal for me. Not every time (sometimes I feel OK about my day's pictures right the way through) but it is frequent. I seldom get it with bird photographs - my friend Dr Harsh has looked at so many bird photographs that he can usually tell if they are any good or not at a single glance - but it's pretty normal with my landscapes. (In fact the bird photographs (if I've taken any good ones on a given day) defend against it: no need to get depressed about some lousy landscapes you worked hard on when you have a lovely bird shot or three to pay you back for the day's effort.)

Is this how it works you you too, good AP members?

[Geoff79]

This is usually how it works for me. Oh, except without the "eventual satisfaction" part. ;)

I blame that silly screen on the back of the camera, which, without exception, seems to tell you every single time that your photograph is excellent. Stupid thing is, I always believe it. Then I get home and look through the shots and get that same disappointment, every time, without ever learning.

Often my favourite photos end up being unexpected... ones I may not have thought as much of at the time.

As far as I recall, every single planned sunrise expedition I have ever put myself through, at the time I thought I'd taken some all-time gems, only to be disappointed again when I upload them to the computer. It's probably got a lot to do with my PP capabilities too, though.

But yeah, it's definitely a tricky sport. Lots of highs and lows involved from the moment of taking the photo to the finished product.


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[ameerat42]

What? You describe a perfectly normal set of circumstances?
--Half your luck!!

[Cage]

Some of my favourite shots had the mouse hovering over the 'Delete' button.

One in particular won me my only AP gong.

[Gazza]

Geez, Tony, I reckon you've described my almost daily rituals/workflow/process 'to-a-T' :grinning01:


Gazza now walks around feeling he's not alone.....Cheers for that - :beer_mug:

[feathers]

Does this happen to you? Quite often it does to me.

:o:nod::D:th3:

[Plays With Light]

Rubbish.

Complete waste of time.

Not a decent picture in the whole bloody lot of them.

<snip>

Is this how it works you you too, good AP members?
Absolutely, Tony. I still share them with you folks here though, and probably too prevalently, in the hopes that I'll get the odd gem of a post with genuine constructive criticism the helps give me a deeper insight into this photography malarky.

[jim]

The thing is, this process - reasonable expectation -> bitter disappointment -> gloom -> faint hope -> slow recovery -> eventual satisfaction - is normal.



There seems to be a general consensus that this is indeed the normal process. That's quite reassuring because it certainly is for me. Other than those awful occasions when it grinds to a halt at "gloom", but thankfully that's rare. Usually there's something to salvage the day.

[Tannin]

I have stopped clicking "thanks for this useful post" on these replies because they all make me feel better (even Feathers' one, which I don't actually understand). :) Cheers all.

Perhaps later on tonight we shall see whether I can find a little gem amongst the wreckage.

[mudman]

the biggest cause of this sequence is that the brain sees what it wants to see, whereas the camera records the reality of what it is pointed at

[mikew09]

Hmm - I generally associate photographers remorse with an expensive piece of equipment purchase LOL - but I very quickly get over it :-). I tend to be the other way round. I pretty much know which ones are good or I like and those that dont make the cut. I usually two rung to leave me a selection and then about a week later cull any others that didnt make it to edit. Now when is say the other way round. I usually start off likely a few that have met what I wanted to achieve to some degree. I edit them and then leave them for a bit and them come back to them. Normally after about a week I will generally find a couple of edits that I am now unhappy with and go into the process of refactoring them to an edit I am happy with. Usually I leave a photo a week before I post it anywhere or decide on the keeper status.

For me, I find the problem is when editing, you tend to become accustomed to the photo and then continue to edit with a little more intentness than one should, hence I leave them a week before viewing them again ;-)

[Tannin]

Hmm - I generally associate photographers remorse with an expensive piece of equipment purchase

I don't understand. :)

[Mark L]

I haven't read everything here so it may have been covered.
Take your photos and don't assume and have expectations of how them photos will work out.
"wow, I just got a wonderful photo of a fairy-wren" leads to unhappy if it's not wonderful on the big screen.
"Jeez I hope that fairy-wren photo comes out okay." "Just missed focus, not to worry."

[Snpsht]

You have described my process too. I have learned to have a quick look at the JPEGs, which frequently sees me hitting the delete key, but then leave it a few days before uploading the RAWs and doing any real editing.

When push comes to shove I sometimes find that had I had only the JPEGs, I would have deleted some of my favourite pics.

[arthurking83]

Does this happen to you? Quite often it does to me.

....

I wish! ..
I wish ... I were you(sometimes). **

My day is almost always nothing like that.

Two scenarios:
1/. get up early .. great! I'm up early I'd love to get out and get some photos .. I have tons of photography gear, and maps of the entire country, so I can't get lost, no matter where I accidentally end up :th3:
then I just remember, reason I'm up early is that I have to go to work :( (I like work .. but it's not a day out photographing .. like it used to be when I was a courier).
So off to work I go

2/. I get up early(yay!) .. I remember this day, I don't have to go to work .. yay!!! I go out front and see the car I'm supposed to be fixing .. booo! I go back inside because it's easier to ignore it when I'm inside(and it's still outside).
Then I'm into the study to log into AP .. on the way I notice that thing I'm supposed to fix for her(and I've ignored for weeks) .. and then in the study, I also glance at all that paperwork I was asked to scan for him .. but by her :confused: I've ignored that too for a couple of days.
Easy to do when you know it's a drones job to scan 150 sheets of paper to PDF format one sheet at a time. I question my wisodm in having purchased a scanner .. and telling people about it :p

So I make a cuppa and sit at the screen watching some activity on AP.
Then I accidentally knock the pile of papers and make a mess. In sorting that mess, I think I may as well scan some .. 2 hrs later I've scanned all 150 sheets. :mixed0:
On the way back out to the front(see I've already forgotten that the car is still sitting there!) I trip over the big box thing full of security stuff I said I'll fix for her. Bugga! can't even get a smoko without something cropping up.
So the big box, spaghetti mess of cables and the screen all get hooked up. HDD which isn't working is working, but not working. Out comes the tools, off comes the lid I struggle to remove the glued in data cable and scramble through my draw full of cables to find a short one to fit comfy.
Watch as my ugly mug is now recorded on on the now working HDD. Think to myself. .. bloody warranties aren't even worth wasting as bottom wipes .. straight to the recylce bin .. but I remember that it's located near the car I'm ignoring :D

get a call from her to tell me stuff is being sorted. I accidentally blurt out that this box is now working(more as a hint for her to come pick it up). Convo now turns annoying as she's expecting me to bring it down to her! :eek: ... and she'll fill me in on all the sorted out stuff. :rolleyes:
My mind is still in the original 'go out with the camera and new lens' mode. Papers and boxes in hand, I scurry to the car that's working perfectly, ignoring the one with the voracious appetite for more of my knuckle skin. ;)

Make it to the other side of town, weather is very nice, beach looking nice too(and I hate the beach) but having had hands full of stuff I hate, I had no more room even for a single camera and lens combo.

about 3 hrs fitting security stuff, listening to how stuff got sorted, I'm thinking I wished I brought my camera :( .. or that I had been born with a third arm deformity.

Back home later, PC on, look at more images via Microsoft's Photo Gallery, thinking I can do some more keyword/tag on some photos too.

Realise that the day is now gone .. go back outside and laugh at the car having been ignored all day again, and look at my knuckles and how supple and abrasion free they look .. finally! that smoko I've been hanging out for.

appendix: her = sister, him = dad, ** = Nikon doppelganger :p

[Cage]

Thank for sharing a day in the life of AK. :eek:

When I retired I got involved in club committees and directorships. Big mistake. :nod:

I seemed to no longer have any 'me' time, as there was always something that needed fixing or sorting.

Fast forward to today. I got up sevenish, had a coffee, gave Roxi the Wonder Staffie her morning bikkie, and turned on the computer.

Checked my email, read the news, and checked AP and other sites that I frequent. Decided not to get involved in the thread about whether there are enough sheilas getting a fair go in photography.

Oh dear, wash my mouth out, I've used a now politically incorrect word. In my youth you were either a bloke or a sheila, and neither term was intended to be, or interpreted as, derogatory. And in view of the current plebiscite on who can marry whom I'm leaving this line of thought right here.

Moving forward I looked at a few shots that I've been PPing and decided that I had no new intuitive ideas.

Next I got onto Google Earth and did the tour, looking for a spot for a night shoot with a Milky Way backdrop, Gees that's a great tool. Found one that I hope won't spook me out like the one I tried the other night. OK, I'm still nudging 6' and lean, but in no way can I any longer be considered mean.

I then ducked up the road to replenish the chardy and brie stocks, and I'm now settled down watching the Bogan football final.

Gees life's tough, hey !