Shutter Sisters

The Dance

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For quite some time I had been admiring the rich dimension of photographs bejeweled with texture. Not knowing at all how the technique was achieved, I sat in wonder, content that the question ‘how on earth do they do that?’ was just adding to their mysterious charm. Plus, I know how these things go with me and another all-consuming obsession was nothing I needed. But then, alas, the invitation came to join this lovely Flickr group and the rest is slowly becoming history. I am hopelessly hooked and although my inexperience and genuine don’t-know-how could have continued to keep me at arms length, this texture thing is far too alluring for me to resist.

Diving in blindly with one of Melissa’s free textures, I experiment and test and I enjoy the process of discovering what I can do. I begin to figure it out, make sense of it (layers and opacities, contrast and fill light) and as I start a slow and steady waltz I find myself tripping over my own feet, getting tangled in the steps I haven’t learned yet. I am reminded then of what I can’t do–the frustration sets in, I get distracted and I stumble.

My entire journey with photography has been as such. I walk and explore and discover. I get caught up in the music; add a shuffle, a twist, a spin. But it never fails, no matter how fluid the dance may seem, eventually I collide with a wall of my limitations. Although I continue to pick myself up and forge ahead, my technical confines continue to trip me up. Learning new moves takes…well…learning. But like Sarah, I don’t do well with manuals or dry how-tos. I need to get involved, feel the rhythm for myself, and test things out on my own in order to be willingly pushed into the fancy foot work of technical accomplishment.

I know I am not alone. I can hear the collective feminine voice agreeing, “yes, yes, me too”. So, I would like to hear from all of you on the subject. What is it that helps you learn and grow in your photographic endeavors? What inspires you to bust through the technical walls? What approach do you take? And how can we do more of it here at Shutter Sisters?

Come on, let’s dance.

Comments

  1. I read everything and anything I can, usually message boards or groups like Flickr and here at Shutter Sisters. If I see something I like and wonder how it was acheived, I ask. Everyday I seem to find out something new. Maybe once a week someone can ask a photography related question and we can give our answers. Whatever happens here will work for me. I love it here!

  2. This post speaks to me so much. I am up late every night trying to learn ‘the dance.’ It’s difficult and frustrating ~ I feel like I am the only one in the world who doesn’t ‘get’ photoshop. All I can really do is read and try. I actually just signed myself up for a photoshop class so hopefully that will eliminate those i-can’t-do-this feelings. i do wish that there were some better tutorials out there. the ones i’ve seen just don’t do what i want. i don’t need all the fancy shmancy stuff. I just want to know how to make my pictures look like yours!!!

  3. I found that I ran into similar hold-ups while learning my way around the editing process. While I do not profess to have it all figured out (who does?), I found what helped me was looking at photographers work that I admired, and instead of trying to figure out how THEY were able to make a picture look just so, I started looking at them to try and figure out what I would have done to get that same result. My editing skills have increased significantly since this realization, and I’m confident I’ll continue to get better at each aspect of photography I put my creative powers to. 🙂

  4. Wow, I need some dancing lessons, too. I feel like I am in such a creative rut these days. I find myself getting way caught up in the technical side of taking a picture,and maybe that is killing my artistic spirit. I do need to learn more technical things (about metering, for example…arghhh), but I also want to feel more free to think about composition and how to create an inspiring photograph! Ahhhh. I suppose it all will work it’s way together…one day. Regarding the editing, I use Lightroom, and I love it. Presets are to Lightroom as Actions are to Photoshop 😉 So I have been experimenting with lots of presets. Only thing is, I don’t think you can do textures in Lightroom. You probably would have to still use Photoshop for that. But if you shoot RAW, Lightroom is an absolute dream.

    Thanks for this discussion, Tracey!! It’s always nice to feel I am not alone on the thorny path of learning howto be a photographer 😉

  6. oh textures. they have my heart. learning about how to use them and other p-shop skills has been amazing. i too am learning by experience, trying it, coming up against walls, trying again. i’ve never been this determined to push on with a creative venture! i find these moments of struggling with skills to be very very humbling. I want to be delving into this photographic world for the rest of my life, so in a way I’m glad it gets pretty challenging at times!

    as for resources, i find flickr endlessly helpful. if there is something i need to know i usually search for a group related to the subject and look at their message boards for info (a google search will usually lead me to the same place). i also find picnik.com to be an inspirational place to play with photos.

    i also find it really important to be inspired and challenged on a daily basis by other photographers. i see people who are way ahead of me in skills as mentors (taking away the feelings of intimidation) and that helps me to develop my vision for where i want to go with this! also, i love adding inspirational photographers as contacts on flickr, so i can get a daily dose of images to keep me dreaming big and learning!

  9. I love the texture you added here Tracey. I haven’t done too much with them but they are fun!

    Just a few things to add:

    You can make your own textures: pictures of rocks, an old barn door, a faded page in a book. Just make sure when you take the picture you have it set at a higher aperture so the whole shot is clear.

    You can also use Photoshop brushes as textures. Lots of free stuff on the web. 🙂

    Here’s a lady I find truly inspirational with her textures and photo manipulations:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/maiasuvi/collections/72157603779071130/

  10. For me, the key to deepening my skills in Photoshop, along with spending lots of time experimenting, has been finding the right teacher. That can be an author with the right "voice" or a co-pilot talking me thru the clicks while sitting in the chair next to me. Scott Kelby’s books have been a great resource for me; they’re a great mix of instruction and humor. His blog is here: http://www.scottkelby.com/ and his training site is here: http://www.scottkelby.com/.

    The PhotoshopSupport site is also chock-full of great information, resources, links, and tutorials from easy to advanced: http://www.photoshopsupport.com/index.html. There’s an awesome tutorial there on converting a photo to a sketch, like a coloring book. So cool! There’s also a gallery of free textures and backgrounds in the Resources section. I’ve lost whole chunks of days at that site…

    Talking to other photographer friends has been soooo helpful. At times just to vent frustration or bounce ideas; other times to break down into three clicks what was taking me 10 in PS! Sometimes for textures I shoot through weird stuff and say to heck with the computer. Window screen, crinkled cellophane, wet windshield (current fave).

  11. i look and look and look, and ask, and try, and try, and try… then i usually take a break, and when i come back to it, MAGIC HAPPENS! ha!

    I am truly believe in experiementing. Photographers that are technically inclined usually make very different images than the ones that capture my heart and imagination. Its all about the MAGIC.

  12. Wow, Tracey – this is a whole new world for me. You’ve applied it so beautifully here, and I loved reading everyone else’s comments .. great insight and inspiration!

  13. I’ve really been learning from browsing through other people’s blogs and flickrs and clicking as many links as I can to see other people’s work. I get so much inspiration from this! Message boards are also extremely helpful!

    I’m just starting to experiment with textures! One of the ladies on the Babycenter photography board shared this website which I have been using quite a bit- http://www.cgtextures.com/

    Here’s my first attempt with textures- http://monkeymemories.blogspot.com/2008/02/textures.html

  14. I just started with textures and I love them! (Thanks for the mention!)
    I find that I often can’t find the right transparency level and keep changing it trying to find that "sweet spot."
    I guess it’s a learning experience!
    I’m loving the lesson!
    Now I want MORE MORE textures!

  15. I have been wanting to see "how they do that" for so long. I look up and read and read and still haven’t quite figured out the texture thing….Thanks for this post.