Photography Now
I have talked about this in several of my articles. I use it with my students to get them creative with their photography. And, now I want you to take up the challenge and raise the level of creativity as you learn photography.
Right, this is how it works. I want you to take 100 photos of a single object or subject. It is possible and it will help your creativity and getting you thinking outside the box. Following these steps and you will see how easy it actually is.
STEP 1
Go find something that will make a good subject. Exclude wives, partners or girlfriends as this could get you in trouble revealing sides of them they don't want to reveal. It shouldn't be too simple as this will limit you. A pair of scissors or small sculpture. Perhaps a teapot or a portable radio. If it has a pattern or some texture, good as this will add something to the images. It can even be something like a car or truck. Whatever you like.
STEP 2
Examine your subject. Look at it carefully before even picking up your camera. Rather leave your camera in its bag at this stage. Place it on a table if possible and walk around it. Get down to its level, look at it from below, stand on a chair and look down on it. You want to understand it from every angle possible. Key is the word angle. You want to look at it from every angle possible.
STEP 3
Pick up your camera and set it to automatic. Now start shooting, concentrating on changing your angles and distance from the object. Try to get as close as possible within the focusing distance of your lens, then move as far away as possible (without losing your subject). You need to concentrate on your position in relation to the object. Your focus should be on composition. Where the object is in the image.
STEP 4
Now it gets interesting. Find the aperture setting on your camera usually denoted by Av on Canons and A on Nikons. If you're not sure read your manual. Now I want you to set your aperture to its widest which could be anything between f2.8 and f4. Don't go any smaller. Now do step three again. What this is going to do is change your depth of focus or as it is technically known, depth of field. Only a small amount of your subject will be in focus with rest of it a blur. Now change your aperture to the smallest which should be anything from f16 to f22. On compacts it may only be f8. Now do the exercise again. This time you'll notice that all of the subject is in focus.
STEP 5
In this final step you'll need to find out where you white balance setting is. Check your manual if you aren't sure. There are several settings like, cloudy, sunny, fluorescent and incandescent lighting. Let's not go into what white balance is all about here. Read the manual. What it is going to do is change how the camera reacts to different lighting. If you're inside under fluorescent lights shoot on the sunny setting. If you're outside shoot on incandescent. It will change the whole feel of the scene.
So what have we achieved here? By now you would probably have either shot all of your 100 different shots or you should be very close. There are just so many different ways of shooting one single subject and what I am trying to teach you is that in order to be creative you need to experiment. You will discover compositions you have never thought of and angles that are brand new to you.
Do you want to learn more about photography in a digital world? I've just completed a brand new e-course delivered by e-mail. Download it here for free: http://www.21steps2perfectphotos.com/ To learn how you can take your photography from ordinary to outstanding visit http://www.21steps2perfectphotos.com/21steps.htm
Wayne Turner has been teaching photography for 25 years and has written three books on photography.
Maker Workshop - Kite Aerial Photography on MAKE:television
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