As mentioned in the previous page, getting lousy pictures is part and parcel of the learning process as well as in one's career (for those who make a living as a professional photographer or photojournalist). The best pictures are the ones that make it to the pages of the newspapers and magazines as well as promotional posters and advertisements. Those shots that fail to make the grade, are discarded. It is as simple as that. However, this can give the wrong impression to both the beginners and amateurs as it would make them assume that the professionals will be mistake-free in the course of their assignments, due to the top-end of photographic equipment they use. Very few professionals will show their less-than-perfect pictures to the clients or photo editors, except those who specializing in photography magazines and books, where they will be happy to show the readers how a particular picture (or assignment) was achieved. Basically, consumer photography magazines, apart from new product news, contain how-to techniques and hence are the ones very likely to publish those pictures that never make it to the printed pages or those put on public display. And the pictures can vary, from the excellent to the mediocre. Likewise, some of the images shown in this column as well as Nuts & Bolts', are hardly those can be considered as excellent, as they were only meant to show photo enthusiasts how the resulting photo will look like if certain features available on the camera were utilized. Oh yes, there were also some not-so-great shots that failed to make the final editing, to be shortlisted for possible use in this column. Most were discarded and some were put aside - mainly because I was going to share some thoughts about pictures that didn't quite make the grade, like in this issue. Here are some of the pictures that were shot with the Canon EF 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5 zoom lens that were initially supposed to be featured in issue No: 7 of Nuts & Bolts column but were not selected. One look at each of them will tell you why - the pictures do not convey any significant messages or themes to the viewer. Bike and tree Awning over pedestrian bridge     Suburbs street scene A scene in the city These pictures may show the versatility of the EF 24-85mm zoom lens but as a professional, these pictures don't make the cut where excellence in photography is concerned. The first shot has too many distractions in the background while there is nothing to shift one's attention to the center despite the use of the converging lines method of composition. The third shot does show the versatility of the zoom lens' 24mm coverage but it has plenty of emptiness in the sky area. As for the fourth shot, the blurred figure in the foreground has shifted all the viewer's attention to it instead of the overall view. << Back to Main . 1 . 2 . 3 . 4 . 5 . 6 .