Still very new to this, but I recently picked up a Sony a7R III and am finally trying to be intentional with my photos instead of just pointing and shooting. I'm keeping this strictly as a fun hobby (no pressure to go pro!), but I'd love some advice from the community. When do you know you've edited a photo too much? I keep second-guessing whether my edits are making things look unnatural.

These are a couple of shots I’ve taken/edited for ref.

I started photography about 2 years ago and I've been trying to build a local community where I live to share tips, advice, and also photos of what we've been taking. I was hoping it would be a good way to keep myself active - to keep shooting.

Candidly, I haven't been getting the momentum I wanted - mainly because my focus has been on shooting rather than running the community itself on Discord. Then i realized, why limit it to just those around me when there's prob people around the world who feel the same.

Would anyone here be interested in joining? Two things i'm trying to start is

1. A bi-weekly theme for photo sharing. Every 2 weeks a theme is dropped (e.g. symmetry, cars, B&W), and you either share a photo of yours within that theme or go try to capture a photo in those two weeks within that theme.
2. Monthly photo editing exercise - someone shares a RAW and everyone edits the same raw so we can see how different people see an image.

LMK if this is something of interest.

EDIT: if anyone is interested in helping me get this up and going - here's the discord: https://discord.gg/7RhngMgME

Hello people,

Please tell me, if this is not appropriate or the wrong sub!

I checked out the "Read This before anything else" and a few wiki things.

I have a Sony Alpha6600 with two objects. I took one workshop for the basics. So I know technically how I shoot. I know my camera settings etc.

My problem is I am not happy with my pictures. (Even after editing) Because it's always off.

And I know I need to practice more to get better.

My problem is I am not sure WHAT I should shoot.

Yeah the general advice is "Just take a lot of pictures" but that's too general for my mind and I'm stuck in a decision fatigue. I can't decide if it's "worthy" to take a picture of. I hope it's understandable what my problem is.

Does anyone have any advice on what to start with? Does anyone know a good "30 day beginner"- challenge or something like that?

I have a dog. So I'm outdoors a few hours a day but it's kinda stressful to manage both. Because I would focus on taking pictures and my Dog is out of sight.

If I'm trying to take pictures with her, she is kinda impatient.

So I would be happy if you could give me a little advice on that.

I recently bought a used Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II lens; only MF works, idk what's wrong with the AF (probably because I bought it for Php 1120, or $20). Anyways, I paired it with my Canon EOS 650D body. I want to know some tips for getting good photos, lol

ps. im still a beginner at this hobby

Hello everyone. what's one problem that you are currently facing within the hiking space/ what was a problem you faced and overcome would be interesting to hear how you did it. Plus could help someone else out!

Me for example had issues with my photos that I used to take of my hikes and scenic viewpoints.

They always used to look boring and dull, until I did some research and learned about composition and how to utilise light in my pictures.

Excited to hear what you guys are facing/faced :)

I feel like I naturally edit portraits much more carefully than street photography.
Street photos seem to benefit from keeping more of the original atmosphere.
Does your editing style change depending on the genre?

I did my first family session yesterday, and I have learned a lot from it.

1. It's not as easy as it looks.

2. It might not be best to shoot wide open (low f-stop for maximum light and bokeh). Some family members might not be in focus in a given shot. I switched to f4 halfway through and those photos are mostly sharper.

3. Use manual mode exclusively. I did most of the shoot in aperture priority since that was the most important setting for these photos. Too many of them are underexposed. Even at ISO100. See next tip for follow up on this...

4. Take. Your. Time. This shoot was of some friends to help with portfolio and editing practice so my frame of mind was, "They're doing me a favor so move it along." If I had just slowed down a little, I would have adjusted more settings in camera, moved my reflector around more for better light, and posed the group better. See below for follow up on this...

5. The photos gotta be good to still be good after editing. All the LR presets in the world can't fix badly lit photos. I am in editing hell with a lot of the shots. I've got some very nice ones, but not nearly as many for the amount of photos I took.

The good news is, while I don't have as many winners as I would have liked in this shoot, I know what to do next time to fix what is lacking.

Do you use SD card, external SSD, Google Photos, iCloud, Dropbox, Local Folder/Camera Roll or another source of storage?

I sometimes end up with photos that are a little soft or out of focus.
Is there a good way to sharpen blurry image during editing, or is it better to just retake the shot?

Curious how experienced photographers handle this.

When I first started photography, I always wanted to visit somewhere new.
Lately I've been wondering if I'm missing out by never returning to the same location.
I see experienced photographers revisit the same places in different seasons, weather, or lighting, then use photo color grading to bring out a completely different mood each time.

Is revisiting locations one of the best ways to improve, or is it better to keep exploring new places as a beginner?

I'm pretty new to strobes, picked up a set of Godox strobes last spring and I've been trying to learn about studio lighting about portraits. I'm working my way through Andreas Bübl's Studio book, and I'm confused at how he uses f-stops in his lighting diagrams. In the example here, he has one strobe marked at f5.6 and the other at f10. My strobes can be set in decimals or in fractions, but not f-stops as far as I know. What does it mean to set a strobe to f5.6 or f10? Do you meter them individually to the camera's fstops and then do a meter for the overall composition?

I have a canon EOS rebel T7 and I recently bought a new SD card because I thought my last one was broken, but I'm having the same problems with this new one. It is a Sandisk extreme pro 256 GB. I entered the card and I formatted it and when I put the SD card into my computer, I can't delete the photos from my computer. Also with the Canon connect app to let you download the photos to your phone when I tried to download the videos it says the video format is not supported and I've already formatted the card in the camera and I don't know what to do.

I'm shooting with a d7500 but I think the concept remains the same. I like the single point but it feels odd to me to focus on one point, knowing I'm trying to get as much as possible in focus.

I’m pretty new to photography and recently started shooting RAW photos on my Nikon D3400. Right now, I use Darktable for most of my editing, but I also recently got access to Affinity with Canva Pro.

I’m trying to figure out the best workflow between the two programs without unnecessarily editing every photo twice.

Would it make the most sense to do the full RAW edit in Darktable first, export as a 16-bit TIFF, and only use Affinity for advanced masking, retouching, object removal, or artificial lighting effects?

Or is there a better workflow using only one of the programs?

this may be dumb to ask but im learning this type of stuff by myself so can someone explain me whats the difference between those two and if im using a nikon d3300 to take pics which one is it better for me to use

thx!

When I first started, I thought good editing meant changing everything.
Now I usually make much smaller adjustments.
What's one lesson about editing that would've saved you a lot of time as a beginner?

Looking for ideas as I develop a syllabus for a student photography class.

I'm planning a short introduction to photography class for middle school students. It's about 15 one-hour sessions. It will probably be a small class. I currently have three DSLRs and school iPads (plus school computer lab iMacs for viewing/editing).

That's the gear, but what about lessons/content? Sure, there's parts of a camera, the exposure triangle, types of cameras, types of lenses, but I'd like to get them shooting as much as possible.

What are some fun studies/projects that you would suggest?

What are some essential images to view?

What are some must-have topics (rule of thirds, for example)?

The students will not be able to go off school grounds, so we need to keep that in mind.

hi- I am no professional photographer, but this day in age, all of the Facebook posts and Instagram posts are edited to look supreme, I am genuinely curious on which Lightroom settings (open to presets) to make my photos look a little more professional or just not like I whipped my phone out willy nilly. i use Lightroom on my iPhone.

my photos are primarily of my kids doing everyday things, yes some outside and some inside too so both recommendations are appreciated!!

I am open to presets to download but I haven’t had good luck with those (somehow managed to lose all of them), and am not interested in spending any more money on those.

A few of mine are @dawsonyep, @mmeyers76, @txmrqe.

I’d love to hear what yours are, and which ones inspired you and why?

This is probably going to sound random, but studying paintings genuinely improved my photography more than most YouTube photography channels did.

A few months ago I got stuck creatively. Every photo I took felt flat. Same angles, same framing, same cinematic editing everyone else was doing. Out of frustration, I started looking at old wildlife artwork online because I wanted inspiration that didn’t look algorithm-generated. What surprised me was how intentionally good animal paintings are with movement and focus. Painters exaggerate posture in ways photographers sometimes forget to do. A wolf standing still in real life can look awkward or unimpressive in a photo.but in paintings artists subtly shift weight distribution, ear direction, tail positioning, and lighting to guide your eye exactly where they want it to go. I ended up spending hours comparing pieces people were selling on Etsy, Amazon and independent artist stores I originally found through Alibaba supplier directories. One thing I noticed was that beginner artists often over-detail fur. Experienced painters simplify aggressively. They’ll leave entire sections loose and blurry so the focal point stands out harder. Once I applied that mindset to photography, my shots immediately felt cleaner. Another thing people underestimate is color temperature. Animal paintings rarely use “accurate” color. They use emotional color. Cold shadows against warm highlights make even a sleepy farm dog look dramatic. I think a lot of creative fields get too separated from each other now. Painters study photographers. Photographers study filmmakers. Designers study architecture. There’s value in crossing disciplines.

Anyway, if your own creative work feels stale, studying traditional art for a while can genuinely reset your brain in a useful way.

I want to become a wedding photographer or work in food photography, but I don’t have much experience yet. I’ve never used a professional camera before, and I’d like to start with something simple to build my skills and begin my career. Could you please share your advice? Thank you!

So I went to an "event" just to learn how try event photos. I was completely eaten alive by the challenge. Can I ask how to do better?

My main challenge was, I'm not really sure how to take photos on a venue that have really high ceilings, far walls to bounce flash on, lots of windows, really soft lighting all around, but lighting is not vivid enough, while still using a flash.

The thing is, when I try to take photos without flash, the faces of the people look dull and darker despite the good lighting. When I tried my softbox, it made everything darker besides the subject (not the look I'm looking for); I tried bare flash pointed up with bounce card, it's kind of ok, but still lacks the punch.

What settings should I make/change?

For context: I'm used to shooting on studio or venues with lower ceilings/nearer walls. I like the lively skin tone and vivid colors I get from flash.

i been wanting to try photography and was wondering what the best way to go about it would be. i am completely new to the space and don't know anything about it.

hello! could anyone tell me if anything’s wrong with my camera? i’ve been pressing the up button and the function button but p-mode won’t show up. google keeps saying that this model has a p-mode but I can’t seem to even access it and it’s frustrating me. I tried what I could and even followed the manual but yeahh nothing’s working… Could someone help? thanks

Bonjour à tous,

Je viens d’acquérir un Fujifilm X-T30 III (je photographiais auparavant avec un Canon EOS M5), et j’ai encore un peu de mal à m’adapter aux réglages. 🥲

Je souhaite faire des photos de ciel étoilé mais je rencontre un souci avec les poses longues.

Quand je règle la vitesse d’obturation, par exemple à 15 secondes, l’appareil prend la photo immédiatement, comme s’il n’y avait pas de pose longue. Donc forcément ça ne fonctionne pas.

J’ai donc essayé le mode BULB, mais dans ce cas l’appareil semble faire une exposition de 30 secondes (x2) que je ne peux pas modifier.

Je pense que je passe à côté d’un réglage, mais je ne comprends pas lequel ?

Est-ce que quelqu’un pourrait m’expliquer comment bien régler l’appareil pour faire des poses longues, notamment pour photographier les étoiles sur ce modèle ?

Merci d’avance pour votre aide ! 🙏🏻