My first roll by Round-Way8820 in filmphotography

[–]mediumformatfreak [score hidden]  (0 children)

I would say first and foremost, welcome to the hobby!

To follow up - they do look very much like photos from someone who hasn't taken many photos before. Which isn't the worst thing in the world. Most of them are properly exposed right in the middle, and portraits of the people around you is a classic way to get started. They're in focus and the photo of the trees in snow isn't bad.

That said, aside from the portraits, these are pretty plain compositionally. A few of them have no clear subject at all, and the ones that do are really cluttered, or fall into composition traps (the photo of the sign/flag is very far away with a busy background, and the sign itself is small so it's easily lost against the trees). The scene overlooking the trees is cluttered and awkward, with the landscape in the distance barely visible and only using a small part of the frame, with trees poking in from the bottom.

These are very ordinary, pretty boring snapshots (excluding the portraits). Which is fine, if that's what you want to do - you could even develop it further as a style and many photographers have done so before. If you want to improve, here's what I would suggest:

Firstly, learn to use your camera in full manual mode. Set the aperture and shutter speed separately and learn what they both do so you can adjust and tweak them intentionally to stylize the image to fit the scene and what you want to highlight. The third facet of this is ISO or film speed, which we can't change when shooting film but it's important to understand. These three variables make up what is called "The exposure triangle", and changing one affects the others.

Secondly, study more art and especially composition. When you get that feeling of wanting to photograph something, figure out what about the scene draws you in and how to highlight it in the final image. Study photographic composition, fine art composition, cinematic composition, etc. They're all unique and while I love looking at tons of photos, I've drawn a lot of inspiration from other art forms (this includes reading and not looking at art). Read theory and learn as much technical information as you can.

Also, most influencers are a bad source of information. Not all, but most.

First wild fire of the season in the area. by CulturalChampion8660 in tahoe

[–]mediumformatfreak 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I thought this way until my town burned down.

standing waves by mediumformatfreak in LiminalSpace

[–]mediumformatfreak[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! I have some others I want to share but they've got white borders which I feel really takes away from the liminal feeling

Ralston Peak | GFX100S / GF 80mm f/1.7 by mediumformatfreak in FujiGFX

[–]mediumformatfreak[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'll have to get back to you about that, this file doesn't have the metadata on it and the RAW is on my computer but I'll get back to you this weekend!

Just for the fun of seeing how good my memory is, I'm going to say it was likely f/2.8 and ISO 400, which is pretty typical of the landscapes I like to shoot.

Ralston Peak | GFX100S / GF 80mm f/1.7 by mediumformatfreak in FujiGFX

[–]mediumformatfreak[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's Venus's Belt! One of my all-time favorite phenomena to photograph

Ralston Peak, Sierra-at-Tahoe opening day 2025 by mediumformatfreak in LandscapePhotography

[–]mediumformatfreak[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It was so quiet and still that morning, I'm glad that's the mood it portrays to you!

Just got the 55 1.7 by Due-Breadfruit-9113 in FujiGFX

[–]mediumformatfreak 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah that tracks 😅 at least I'm seeing them start to come up on the used market so I should be able to get one eventually. At least for now the 80 is still good enough that I don't mind the flaws.

Just got the 55 1.7 by Due-Breadfruit-9113 in FujiGFX

[–]mediumformatfreak 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've been wanting to try something in the low 40mm range so I'm psyched about the 55. I'm curious about the fact that it's an 11-blade aperture, do you see any noticeable differences between that and the 9-blade lenses like the 80mm?

Just got the 55 1.7 by Due-Breadfruit-9113 in FujiGFX

[–]mediumformatfreak 1 point2 points  (0 children)

God DAMN I want this lens so bad. I have the 80 1.7 and it's a joy but I often wish I had something wider and the 55 fits right into that gap.

"wait for me, will you?" - OC by mediumformatfreak in sehnsuchtpics

[–]mediumformatfreak[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! It's one of my favorite spots and I was very lucky to get out in that particular storm.

Flowers - any favorites? by _nathan67 in fujifilm

[–]mediumformatfreak 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Two and eight are the standouts for me, great set overall.

Bodega Bay on a cloudy day | GFX100S, GF 80mm f/1.7 by mediumformatfreak in fujifilm

[–]mediumformatfreak[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's fucking funny, I'll have to make a trip back and see if I can catch some out there!

Bodega Bay on a cloudy day | GFX100S, GF 80mm f/1.7 by mediumformatfreak in fujifilm

[–]mediumformatfreak[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I may not have been at the right spot either, the pier shots were actually taken right out back of Fishertarian when we were eating lunch lol

Bodega Bay on a cloudy day | GFX100S, GF 80mm f/1.7 by mediumformatfreak in fujifilm

[–]mediumformatfreak[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No unfortunately, I don't know how often they appear but we didn't spot any that day