photography

[lizziebelle]

bridge, originally uploaded by Lizzie~Belle.

I was looking back through my Flickr stream from the past few months, and nothing was popping out at me as really different. It was just more of the same thing, over and over. Sunsets, cats, the river, the pond, trees, flowers, cemeteries. All things I love to take pictures of, but nothing extraordinary.

I need to step up my game, find new subjects, new techniques.

I thought about joining one of those weekly challenge groups on Flickr, but the last time I tried, I didn't find it all that helpful to me, and then my life went kablooie right in the middle of it so I just dropped out.

But I do want to do something, anything different. Most of the pictures I've taken lately are of things I was doing anyway, i.e. I took a walk and took my camera with me. Even different places I've been to, like the art walk, I didn't go to just to take pictures.

It hasn't helped that the weather has been most uncooperative lately, not being very conducive to getting outside and walking around.

I'd also like to be able to do more with my photos, but Photoshop is out of reach for me right now. There's an app someone suggested to me, Pixelmator, that I'd like to get when I get a little extra cash. It's supposed to be similar in what it can do. iPhoto just isn't cutting it.

A lot of the pictures I've really liked the past few months are ones I've taken with my phone. That's the main reason I wanted it. I've been having fun with Instagram, and I like how convenient it is, as I always have it with me anyway. But it's limited in what I can capture, and a bit slow; I've trashed many pictures of cats who moved as I pressed the shutter.

Any suggestions for interesting subjects would be appreciated. And crossed fingers for better weather!

Comments

[contrarywise]

If you're looking for a Photoshop-like image editor that's free, check out GIMP at gimp.org. There are versions for Windows and OSX, and good basic documentation and tutorials available online. I found the GIMP Quickies particularly useful when I needed to figure out very simple things like making files smaller for more efficient uploading. And you can't beat the price!

As much as I like your current photography subjects, I think it's great that you're challenging yourself to move out of your comfort zone and explore new subjects and skills. I don't have any brilliant ideas, except maybe photographing more people, but I wish you all the best in this project!

[lizziebelle.livejournal.com]

I keep forgetting about GIMP, I'll have to check it out. Thanks!

I do want to do more portraits. It's hard to get people to pose for me! I want to try setting something up at Brushwood, there are so many interesting people there.

[damiana-swan.livejournal.com]

I've heard good things about GIMP. I do use photoshop, but it's not my primary processing tool--Lightroom is. (And Lightroom is a LOT cheaper.) It's also an Adobe product, designed specifically for photography.

One of my favorite things to do is spontaneous portraiture--portraits that *don't* involve someone sitting for me. And I've done a couple things in the past several months where one friend of mine would be body painted by another friend, and then I'd come photograph the person who was body painted. I do similar things with a friend who does cosplay as well... and since I don't really have a studio, we go find a place that's an interesting background, and if the weather is nasty we choose one with a roof.

Something that helped me a lot when I was feeling stuck was that I got into some photography circles on Google+. There are a TON of photographers there, and most of them are very willing to share techniques and ideas. It's a lot of fun to see a cool photo, find out how the photographer did it, and then work on figuring out how I could make it happen.

Another thing it's important to remember is that you don't need expensive equipment to take good photos; you can do a LOT in post-processing, and you can also do things like bounce light off someone's white shirt if a specific shot doesn't have quite enough light. And some of my lights are just halogen work lights from Home Depot that cost about $8 each, for instance, and I put together a modular backdrop frame out of PVC pipe for about $25 that can be big enough for a couple tall guys or small enough for a basket of kittens. DIY photography is a whole genre and there are TONS of ideas out there.

Oh, and there are people doing a lot with what they call iPhonetography, and there's at least one e-book out there on how to do it well.

And my very favorite thing? You can find good manual lenses for CHEAP on eBay. If you're willing to forego autofocus, you can get some seriously good glass for not very much money, and good lenses can make a huge difference. If you want to do portraiture, I suggest a 50mm 1.8 (or 1.4 if you can find one). And the nice thing is that a 50mm 1.8 will work for landscapes too; my very first book cover is a shot taken out at the ocean with a 50mm 1.8 lens, 'cause that was the only one I had brought.

Have fun!!!

[lizziebelle.livejournal.com]

Cool, thanks!

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

I have found being in 52 week groups helpful in that they do get you taking photos that you wouldn't normally take, but if life is stressful, the last thing you want is more stress due to trying to find something to fit an arbitrary theme. One option is to join a group and do the themes that you have time for and just do your own thing in stressful weeks. I've also joined a group on Google+ which is just doing a theme per month. The whole challenge is to shoot B&W, so that will be quite interesting.

[lizziebelle.livejournal.com]

That was pretty much my reason for dropping out - it was just too stressful. I could just find my own set of themes and see what I can come up with.

I like B&W, and I need to remember to shoot that more often.

[writerjenn.livejournal.com]

How would you feel about changing perspective?
Such as: only photographing things that are higher than your head. (Would get you looking up, at things you might not otherwise see often.) Or instead, you could photograph only things lower than your knees.
Or doing extreme closeups of very small objects. (This could be helpful in bad weather, and could also help with looking at the otherwise-overlooked.)
If you want to photograph more people, joining a group or class would at least give you a bunch of likely fellow models. ;-)

[lizziebelle.livejournal.com]

Good ideas! Thanks!

[bettyw.livejournal.com]

Try going to places that you don't particularly love, don't think of as photogenic, or to which you never go, and find objects/angles that are cool but not usually noticed. I'm thinking there may be lots of opportunities at a mall (pipes in the corner, undersides of stairs, random people), the CVS, a local high school basketball game, etc.

[lizziebelle.livejournal.com]

Good idea, Betty! I actually took a pic I really liked at the mall last year.