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Show HN: The Bastards Book of Photography

photography.bastardsbook.com

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Re: Show HN: The Bastards Book of Photography

#12

Post by danso »

lusr wrote: post #8

I've seen some of Dan's great photos before and it's awesome to be able to learn from him. Some of the advice he gives are things I've learned myself and explained to people before, and much of it is also new so I'm pretty excited to get through this properly. One thing I would add, having been through this before myself and seeing my girlfriend going through it now as she takes up photography, is dealing with how pe…

That's a great point...I don't really know what the best mindset to have is. I've benefited from being in the photojournalistic mindset so that, if anything, photos serve a purpose, such as illustrating a news event. That alone can make it "good" (as many Pulitzer/World Press photos may seem average in the technical department). More importantly, I think having this sensibility makes you think of an audience, not just what you think is aesthetically appealing.

So I definitely do care what others think. But I think I lucked out by getting enough validation to get past the apathy. At least I've realized it's not just skill or technical merit in terms of getting noticed: much of it is just plain luck.

On a sidenote, participating in photosharing across Flickr and Tumblr has really helped destroy any solipsism I might have had...If attention/validation is something you care about, you have to work to get it like any other of the anonymous people on the Internet. This is not a mindset that most journalists realize when they try striking it on their own, without a masthead to tie their name to.

Re: Show HN: The Bastards Book of Photography

#13

Post by danso »

lemming wrote: post #11

This looks great! I also liked Bernie Sumption's guides: http://berniesumption.com/photography/beginners-guide-for-ge... http://berniesumption.com/photography/depth-of-field-for-gee...

Yeah, he was the first person I thought to link to in my resources section. I don't remember when I first bookmarked him...at least 3 to 4 years ago, but I still refer to it from time to time, and pass it along to all other beginners.

Re: Show HN: The Bastards Book of Photography

#14

Post by danso »

cocoflunchy wrote: post #10

Good to see a book about something else than programming! Be careful about night shots of the Eiffel tower though: there are some copyright issues. See http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel_Tower for more info.

Thanks, I had that in the back of mind but not when I was putting this together:

(tl:dr the lighting apparatus of the Eiffel Tower, not the Tower itself, has been upheld as a copyrightable image by France's highest court)

Re: Show HN: The Bastards Book of Photography

#15

Post by danso »

aw3c2 wrote: post #9

website feedback: The text is way too big for me and the centered layout could use some differentiation of "content pane" to "left and right emptiness". The photos are huge too and somehow make me completely lose place and orientation. I have no idea how to fix it though. It could work on wide screens (would work on 1680x1050 already) if you placed images and text side by side.

Thanks, that's helpful to know and something I had been concerned about...

My challenge has been that I want to keep the paragraphs of text short, which makes it difficult to place floating-elements since there isn't much text to float them against.

The images I've wanted to keep large. I like the aesthetic of the Big Picture type of blogs, but you may still be right that it's not appropriate for what's supposed to be a learning guide.

Re: Show HN: The Bastards Book of Photography

#16

Post by aw3c2 »

danso wrote: post #15
aw3c2 wrote: post #9

website feedback: The text is way too big for me and the centered layout could use some differentiation of "content pane" to "left and right emptiness". The photos are huge too and somehow make me completely lose place and orientation. I have no idea how to fix it though. It could work on wide screens (would work on 1680x1050 already) if you placed images and text side by side.

Thanks, that's helpful to know and something I had been concerned about... My challenge has been that I want to keep the paragraphs of text short, which makes it difficult to place floating-elements since there isn't much text to float them against. The images I've wanted to keep large. I like the aesthetic of the Big Picture type of blogs, but you may still be right that it's not appropriate for what's supposed to b…

Maybe decide for one or two images per "small thing" you want to explain and move the text really close to it, eg in the box below? Right now the scrolling is so much.

Re: Show HN: The Bastards Book of Photography

#17

Post by ismarc »

lusr wrote: post #8

I've seen some of Dan's great photos before and it's awesome to be able to learn from him. Some of the advice he gives are things I've learned myself and explained to people before, and much of it is also new so I'm pretty excited to get through this properly. One thing I would add, having been through this before myself and seeing my girlfriend going through it now as she takes up photography, is dealing with how pe…

I used to do a lot of photography before dslrs were common, but hadn't done any digital work before. I have a friend who's a professional photographer and offered to help out when she needed an extra camera there if I could use her gear. The two best compliments I got were from two different weddings. One, the couple each used a random, but what I thought was an awesome shot (sun setting behind them as they kissed at the reception, gave a nice halo effect) as their profile picture on Facebook. The other was the first wedding I helped with shots of the wedding, she told me she used some of my photos for the album and, when I looked through it I couldn't tell which were mine.

The point of this is that most people just don't really care about random art you did, but they care a lot if it's something personal. And it may take 1000 shots to get that right one.

Re: Show HN: The Bastards Book of Photography

#19

Post by Cd00d »

lusr wrote: post #8

I've seen some of Dan's great photos before and it's awesome to be able to learn from him. Some of the advice he gives are things I've learned myself and explained to people before, and much of it is also new so I'm pretty excited to get through this properly. One thing I would add, having been through this before myself and seeing my girlfriend going through it now as she takes up photography, is dealing with how pe…

Agreed.

I used to take a lot of macro shots of flowers as I traveled and did a lot of hiking in varying ecosystems. Playing with focal depth and framing was a great pleasure, and my shots were frequently something I was really proud of.

Then I had a roommate say in a pseudo off-hand passive aggressive way that she didn't understand nature photography - "I mean, it's not like the photographer made the flower, it was already there."

I really felt it undermined some of my best efforts, while clearly not understanding anything about photography. But then she also felt a $200 point and shoot was superior to all my oversized stuff.

I guess these days I'm too lazy to carry around more than an iPhone, and not interested in spending a lot of money on that hobby. I doubt that comment has had an impact on my passion for the hobby, but then again, I remember that comment with glaring clarity and it's been about 8 years.

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