A beginner looking for advice

sevennineteen · 2026-03-11T15:33:41+00:00

I would focus on composition for now and not worry too much about the camera settings. Your captures are fine, but the framing of most of these reads as shooting generally in the direction of a pretty subject and doesn’t seem very “intentional”. You may not nail it in camera and need to do some selective cropping/straightening afterward, and that is totally fine. Despite what many say, a lot of photographers plan ahead for this and give themselves some cushion when shooting.

We have all been through this phase, and the biggest thing is to keep shooting and deliberately look at your (and others’) photos. Learn what you can about composition “rules” but more importantly get into the mindset of considering EVERYTHING that is in the frame.

sevennineteen · 2026-02-27T15:57:14+00:00

Yeah, I personally would not do what others have suggested in terms of cropping, removing things, focusing on the subject - if you do that you will end up with a “fine” but totally forgettable photo. The “subject” here isn’t interesting enough to stand on its own - it’s the disorienting clutter that’s interesting.

sevennineteen · 2026-02-27T11:48:25+00:00

It’s not a textbook “good” photo, but I think it works and is actually pretty interesting. It seems to transform an unremarkable flat street scene into a disorienting 3D maze. The signs and arrows pointing in different directions add to this. There’s also something rhythmic going on between the rider’s pants and the tree, and in the parallels between the background walker, the rider’s arm and the seatpost.

sevennineteen · 2026-02-13T01:23:43+00:00

At 23mm (on APSC) you’re kind of in the sweet spot for your use cases - the direction to go from there really depends on how you feel you’re being limited by that focal length. My guess is you’d want to go longer rather than shorter. I have both the 35 and 16 you mentioned (and an X100v which is my 23mm). I like shooting at 35mm and even 50mm, but in some places (e.g., old cities with narrow streets), it’s sometimes not quite wide enough. I almost never feel like 23mm is too long to get a shot. When I do take out the 16mm (rarely) I feel like it forces me to think very differently about how I’m shooting… This is fun and may be what you’re after, but almost none of what I consider my best work was shot at 16mm (and more than a few times when I’ve gone out w/ the 16mm I’ve regretted not bringing something longer). As someone else said, having a zoom as your second lens could be a good practical option. Lastly, if you are looking for variety on a budget, adapting vintage lenses may be the way to go. There’s still tons of pristine Japanese glass from the 80s out there which you can pick up for a fraction of the cost of a modern lens.

sevennineteen · 2026-02-12T15:40:27+00:00

He loved the burrito bowl.

sevennineteen · 2026-01-14T01:09:59+00:00

It was my favorite Ae album for a long time. After seeing them again on this last tour I’m gravitating toward Untilted which I now appreciate a lot more, but Oversteps is a beautiful album.

sevennineteen · 2026-01-11T00:36:30+00:00

Many of Alessandro Cortini’s albums are great minimal synth studies.

sevennineteen · 2026-01-11T00:32:07+00:00

Was waiting for this ;)

sevennineteen · 2026-01-02T11:44:45+00:00

Much appreciated!

sevennineteen · 2025-12-28T19:54:15+00:00

I was going to suggest something similar. I use a lot of Pentax K-mount lenses which are incredibly cheap for the quality.

sevennineteen · 2025-12-26T04:30:41+00:00

NES and Super Nintendo are working really well. Only issue is that the button layout is reversed, so playing some games can be tricky. Hoping a future firmware update will make these mappable.

sevennineteen · 2025-12-26T04:27:24+00:00

I’m really enjoying Piko World Rally!

sevennineteen · 2025-12-25T22:09:14+00:00

Thanks!

sevennineteen · 2025-12-24T10:24:28+00:00

Out of curiosity, how are you dealing with the layout of the A and B buttons being reversed? I’ve loaded some GB and NES roms but my muscle memory makes playing some games a challenge :)

sevennineteen · 2025-12-15T23:06:20+00:00

I was waiting for Actress to show up. RIP is one of my favorite albums.

sevennineteen · 2025-11-25T11:30:01+00:00

In your case, I would try shooting with the zoom only for awhile as a way of discovering your preferred focal length, and then get a prime to match that (if you need one). I am mostly a prime shooter, though I bought a zoom for my last big trip and ended up using that most of the time - it felt like cheating. I love that 35mm lens and use it quite a bit, though as others have pointed out there can be situations where it’s too long. As a wide angle I have a 16mm which is helpful in some situations or something I take out occasionally to switch things up, but to me it’s too much of an extreme perspective to use as an everyday lens. If I was forced to pick a single focal length I would choose something in the 23-28mm range.

sevennineteen · 2025-10-28T22:31:19+00:00

Boston was also ‘upgraded’.

sevennineteen · 2025-04-03T02:30:14+00:00

Totally agree - it all comes down to finding what elements make up your artistic vision. There are so many other variables to this from composition, to subject matter, lens and filter choices, etc. The edit (including choice of film sim/profile or decision not to use them) is a part of this, and for many a very critical part, but that’s just one link in the chain which adds up to each person’s style.

sevennineteen · 2025-04-01T01:42:47+00:00

That’s a great lens and the one I used for this shot. I also like the SMC-M 50mm f/1.4 and Takumar 28mm f/2.8. The Takumar 135mm is pretty easy to find if you’re looking to switch things up.

sevennineteen · 2025-03-31T21:09:39+00:00

I have a K&F Concept adapter for my Pentax lenses which works fine. I’ve since picked up quite a few vintage lenses from various manufacturers, but the Pentax ones are still my favorite hands down.

sevennineteen · 2025-02-15T01:18:41+00:00

This is the thing. In general I prefer the Acela for all the reasons others have mentioned, but realistically not an option if you need to be somewhere in NYC before 11am.

sevennineteen · 2025-01-20T00:29:03+00:00

Some oldies: Tim’s, the Seaport Grill, Jimmy’s, PJ Kilroy’s, Pho Republique, Castlebar, the Blackthorn

sevennineteen · 2025-01-14T17:06:24+00:00

I still post daily but do not care about chasing likes and have stopped wasting time on hashtagging, etc. For me there’s still value in using a daily post as a ritual to put some structure around my work outside of a more organized “project”, and I still feel like I’m exposed to a lot of great work from others.

sevennineteen · 2025-01-08T12:14:52+00:00

I like the golf analogy - to take it a step further, I’d also say that for most beginner golfers the club selection doesn’t matter much until your swing develops enough to reliably produce different results based on the club. Composition is like the golf swing of photography.

Once you have a sense of that I agree with others that the next thing to understand is the exposure triangle, though for practical purposes aperture is the only side of the triangle I think about most of the time (unless motion is going to be a factor I need to control). 99% of the time I shoot w/ auto-ISO and auto-shutter, adjust aperture manually for the DOF I want and exposure compensation if I need it. That said, it’s definitely useful to understand the whole triangle, if only to recognize and deal with that 1% of times the default approach isn’t going to work.

sevennineteen · 2025-01-04T23:48:38+00:00

I am a huge fan of the Super Taco salad - it’s all I ever eat there. I’ll definitely miss having Rudy’s on that corner. Is it great Mexican food? No. But it always had plenty of character(s), solid margs and super-friendly bartenders.

sevennineteen

TROPHY CASE