I have way better gear but this little fucker has become a great companion for vlogging, even with all the drawbacks

Do you have a favorite flawed piece of gear?

birds edition

This thread is dedicated to close-range photographic captures utilising macro-optical imaging configurations to achieve greater reproduction ratios. Got it? Good now upload some shit.

Last thread:
>>4376661

The worst part of photography school is paying for the fees, but the facilities and tutors are really good where I am. I might drop out after I get what I want out of it. It forced me to learn how to photograph and meter properly, use composition, understand lighting, and edit in post-production—all things that amateurs struggle with because they can’t ask a professional for tips.

Why are photography YouTubers so shit? They mostly churn out boring nontent while dressing like a copy of a copy of a copy of someone who thought he might closet cosplay Ansel Adams. Who are they aping?
Almost all have the cadence and tone of a best buy sales associate either slowly conniving a golden HDMI cable sale or postponing their suicide on a Sunday evening only since their parents are still alive; with no in-between.
I meet smarter and more interesting people IRL at camera club or local stores, so it's not as if this hobby is exclusively for people prescribed Klonopin and SSRIs.
Half of them are just talking head slop direct to camera talking about what gear to buy (micro four nerds)
The ones that do teardowns and repairs of gear are usually fine, but those aren't exactly photo videos at that point.

The only guy that does the "video of taking photos" thing I can stand is Nick LoPresti since he doesn't talk like he's constipated, but lately the lack of constipation has become a problem since he's been diarrhea-shitting up my sub box with low-effort commentary videos sitting in front of a green screen. Idk who he's aping there, 2016 twitch? Don't like it, especially one where he and his wife are politisperging about shit like how "they can't use Google search for inane things because it'll track you" for what feels like several minutes.

Snappiness may be my second favorite even though he looks and talks like a queer (he has kids so I guess he isn't technically). At least he does ridiculous things with cameras that are more interesting than "I walked and took a photo of something and had some ennui about it".

Also, I hate gxAce with a passion, dead horse of a gimmick beaten into dust at this point. 80% of his videos serve no purpose to the modal viewer since they're just a rain-dance to the corporate marketing teams to get them to send him gear. (Also combining sloppy wet deep-throat glazing prose with an aloof tone is uniquely excruciating to listen to.)

Rank the Trump Portraits

How do I get over the fear of using my camera in public? I got a fancy camera but I've never taken any shots with it because I'm too scared to go outside with it and use it

Okay so in short, I'm part of a horticultural society that has a yearly photo contest. The voting for the contest recently ended a couple of days ago but the winners won't be announced for a while. I want your opinion on the entrants to the contest. I'm not going to tell you which are mine, because I don't want your bias to taint your analysis. I will tell you that 6 of the 34 pictures are mine, so feel free to guess which are mine. I do have a fairly consistent style.

Here's the images: https://www.ahsregion4.org/photos/PhotoContest/2025/2025_R4-Cat_1-Single_and_Multiple_Blooms-no_names.pdf

Random photos you took at night

#1
post ur clouds edition