12
Creative Photography Ideas by John Huegel
Here
are 12 ideas to get your creative juices flowing and increase
your skills and value as a photographer.
TIP
1 - Time Lapse photos. I showed my niece how to do this with
clay figures and stitch the resulting frames together into
a video file, and she was busy for days. If you control the
exposure consistently to keep the images consistent with one
another, you can do some really fun stop-motion animation.
Or, you can set up your camera to capture other slow motion
effects such as flowers opening and seedlings growing.
TIP
2 - Night Lights. Things look very different at night. Shooting
city scenes with available light creates some interesting
images. And shooting outdoor images under moonlight or with
"light painting", where you open up the camera shutter
for an extended exposure, and "paint" your targets
with colored or plain light, can create some truly bizarre
images.
TIP
3 - Astrophotography. Hook that SLR up to a telescope, and
you are ready to peer into the depths of space and time. You'll
need some adapters, and ability to compensate for the earth's
rotation for really long shots. Start with the moon and move
on from there.
TIP
4 - Macro photography. From flowers to coins to stamps, you
can polish your skills at close-up photography and capture
some really detailed images. Often a macro lens or close-up
attachment will help. See my tips on Flower Photography to
get more information.
TIP
5 - Micro photography. If you can interface that camera with
a microscope, you can get some really crazy images. Or, stack
up a bunch of close-up magnification and try your hand at
turning salt crystals into surreal imagery.
TIP
6 - Insurance Photos. OK, maybe a bit boring, but you and
your friends and relatives will thank you. Take a couple hours
and touch and photograph everything of value, with a full
shot or two if each item of value, accompanied by a shot of
the identifying marks - manufacturer model or serial number.
Then burn a CD or DVD and store it off site. If you have a
fire or other loss, this could save the owner thousands of
dollars.
TIP
7 - Family Recipe book. Anytime those family favorites are
prepared, copy down the recipe and take some photos of the
food. You can produce a printed or electronic cookbook of
family favorites that everyone will love.
TIP
8 - Stock Photography. This is a very busy market niche, but
the cost of entry is low. Specialize in things you love, and
you may be able to generate some income from your stock images.
Search for stock photography sites, and make sure you understand
your rights before you post images.
TIP
9 - Special Effects. Maybe you want to specialize in high-speed
images of athletes, or surrealistic collages. Try your hand
at using your editing skills to put someone in a soda bottle
or floating on a candy lifesaver. Often more artistic than
photographic, it will test your composition, lighting and
editing skills to come up with believable artificial realities.
TIP
10 - Still Life. Ahh, the bowl of fruit. Sometimes a simple
object or collection, properly lit, shot and edited, is a
thing of beauty. It's a great way to study light. Start with
an egg on a light background, a lamp and a window and see
how you can learn about lighting and composition.
TIP
11 - Computer Control. Many cameras have a USB interface and
remote control software. You can actually control the camera
from the computer. See if you can get it to work to your liking,
and maybe even program some time lapse or exposure bracketing
experiments.
TIP
12 - Be Like Andy. Take some images of everyday items and
try to create those neat colored backgrounds like Andy Warhol
used to make. Create a 4-up print of the same image and change
the colors of each quadrant to make an interesting square
print.
Have
fun with these ideas, and let me know when you become famous!
John
Huegel is a photographer in the Erie, Pennsylvania area who
specializes in Seniors, Dance Studio, Families and other groups.
He is active in many charitable and volunteer activities in
the Erie area. His work can be seen at http://jhphotomusic.com
Article
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