Learning To Snap - Some Projects

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

One of the biggest challenges I seem to encounter when playing with my camera is finding a subject to snap. With the exception of Donegal where the picture is set up for you (and I mess it up), it's hard to find something to snap.

So, I've decided to try and identify some projects or challenges for the coming weeks. Ideally each project will allow me to try something different with the camera or look into a trick or technique a little more. Most importantly, it will allow me to keep practising and playing.

So, here's a couple of projects I'm considering.

Dice - I have a selection of many sided dice from my role-playing, some gems, some solid, most pretty. I'm going to try and get a few nice photos of them. The idea is to let me play with light using an inanimate object, solid backgrounds. That sort of thing.

Traffic - For a while now I've wanted to go and take some photos of traffic on my local motorway. I really like evening and night shots of car headlights and tail lights. The aim will be to play a little with shutter speed and low light exposures

Self Portrait - I have a tripod and remote and since nobody else ever wants published I may as well try this. I think I'll try something obscure here, but it's on my list.

Anyone any other ideas?

Oh, and I know a few people who read this are also photographers, so how about a bit of fun? We can pick a project and all try it for a week or two, then post up the results and see what we think. Kind of a fujimugs type game. Anyone interested?

Ramblings

Post Date: Tuesday, October 02, 2007 12:10:07 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
Disclaimer | Comments [4] |

Tuesday, October 02, 2007 7:33:33 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

I could have a crack at the project thingy as long as your deadlines are flexible... I have a list of things to photograph at different times of the year. It is coming into mist season which is about the only reason why I enjoy autumn. Oh that and Mushrooms... I've been trying to get a good photograph of fly agaric mushrooms for the last 4 years. I didn't even manage to find one last year so I'm hoping for better results this year.

Darrell

Wednesday, October 03, 2007 10:06:33 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Cool. Share out your ideas man!

We'll see if anyone else bites and come up with a project and shcedule to suit everyone. nothing pressing.

Oh, and an agaric muchroom? you what?

learningtosnap

Thursday, October 04, 2007 6:17:58 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

It's not always about capturing the most perfect picture, sometimes it's looking at something from a different perspective, looking up, looking down, lying on the ground and seeing different images leap out, the best pictures are not always found at eye level.

Some suggestions:

1. Up Close - Don't take picture of a tree, get closer and see the bark or a leaf. Get up and personal with some rusty machinery, there should be plenty of colour and shadow to challenge you.Take the detail, not the whole thing.

2. Deep Freeze - shining light through ice can produce some interesting effects, take some random objects (translucent and more opaque), freeze them in a block of ice, put the light under of behind the ice and see what you can get before it all melts, you might even be able to get something from the melting.

3. Night Photography - There's enough light in a town at night to get out and take photos, there's plenty of buildings lit up, it will help you learn not to trust your camera's light meter when there's not much light. (Overexposing by 2 stops works a treat)

4. Typical Weekend - Document a typical weekend, the challenge here is to make the ordinary extraordinary and exciting, i.e. arty shots of the washing machine, vegetables in the supermarket and bubbling dinners being made.

5. Black & White - Taking black and white photos requires looking at objects in a completely different way, colour means nothing, what you want to concentrate on instead is the texture, the shapes, the contrast, the shadows and tones.

Dermot

Monday, October 15, 2007 12:28:16 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

OK, I have jumped in and had a go. I went with a self-portait and the dice first. http://picasaweb.google.com/stu.mackey/ProjectSelfPortaitDice

Stuart

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