Creative photography ideas

 

Creative photography ideas

creative photography ideas
Latest update:01/06/2014

Creative photography ideas
0. Find something interesting

Perhaps this is so obvious, but perhaps the most important. Find something interesting, extraordinary, colourful, lively, cute, historical to photograph, travel to interesting places, think about what to shoot, how too shoot, when to shoot, which direction, with which lens, camera etc. Don’t make pictures just to make pictures if it is not interesting.

1. Imagine the picture before you actually make it.

Perhaps this is the very best tip I can give. Think about it: how the picture will look like, what will be on the picture and why ? How the foreground and the background will look like? But for realize your idea you perfectly needs to know your camera and lens, and other accessories as well.

Perhaps the most simple question to ask: how to make sharp pictures ?

It depends on your equipment as well, but there are also many other things is important.
What is needed for sharp pictures are the following:
1. High shutter speed or tripod for still subjects
2. Sharp lens
3. Precise focusing
4. Sharp aperture setting
5. Good jpg or Raw parameters
6. Post processing. If I want my pictures very sharp I usually make some post-processing on them, I adjust sharpness, curves and contrast, sometimes saturation as well.

So let me give an example: if you have for example Canon 18 55 is or Nikon 18-55 vr kit lens. Set the aperture between f/5.6 and f/8 at the widest setting(18mm). Set iso to 400 and make pictures in bright sunlight, and turn the camera towards bright scenes, push the shutter halfway until you see a sharp picture in the viewfinder. Such circumstances the shutter speed will be around 1/1000s or faster.

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If I turn the question back why is my pictures not sharp ?

The following reasons are possible.
1. Not precise focusing. The focus is not where it needs to be or the depth of field is shallow meaning not everything is in focus. Some lens has a tendency for back or front focusing. If you use manual focusing diopter correction must be correct for your eyes for precise focusing.
2. Low shutter speed which results blurred or unsharp images because we make the pictures in low light with inappropriate low ISO setting. For moving subjects even higher shutter speed is needed.
3. Wrong aperture setting, most lens are not the sharpest at open aperture.
4. Standard jpg out of the camera is not sharp. Normally in picture style you can add little extra contrast and sharpness according to your liking.
5. Bad lens or camera. It is the easiest just check another one to compare.

2. Check the light – Creative photography ideas

Light has a very important role in photography, this is why is it worth to
study it thoroughly. Some kind of pictures are impossible to make without appropriate light. Where the sun rises and sets, what are the path is where the sun is going. Makes pictures of different light situations. Artificial or natural light. Always good to know where is the sun, even if it is an overcast day. This way we can avoid, for example we go to make pictures of a building and when we arrive we realise that the building is completely in a shade. If we make pictures indoors study light sources or flash systems.
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3. Study your equipment thoroughly – creative photography ideas

what are the possibilities your camera gives you? Which iso settings are usable ? Where your lens is sharp? What kind of pictures your lens can make in different settings ?

4. Forget auto mode:

A good start, if you never use auto mode, if you never used it, it is good to start to study what does it actually do in different situations.

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5. Composition – Creative photography ideas

Think about it: which angle you want to make the photograph ? From where ? There is a rule of thirds, but this is just a starting point, to put the subject at 1/3 distance. Use unusual angles and places where you make the photo. One example to make the photo of people from downward, while the group is standing in a place, while everybody looking inside downwards to the camera.

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6. What kind of equipment you need – Creative photography ideas

I tell you the most useful equipment in photography what you can get is a good lens. Much more important than the camera. Dsrl cameras all has a good picture quality, but with a bad lens, you can never do, what you can do with a good lens. But it is important you buy the lens you need: if you wants to make landscapes: perhaps not a very good macro lens you need. For starting perhaps the kit lens is ok, if you not sure what you want to do. Some kit lenses are very good actually. But if you really serious, you won’t end with the kit lens.

7. Try to make panning pictures – Creative photography ideas

when the subject is moving, and the background is blurred. This gives a dynamic look for the photo.

8. Go black and white – creative photography ideas

A very obvious idea, but can make an interesting flavour to photography.

9. Use a polarizer for landscapes – Creative photography ideas

The polarizer helps to reduce reflections and enchance the sky.

10. Experiment with shutter speed – Creative photography ideas

which effect you can make, with different shutter speeds. Blurred picture, partly blurred picture.
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11. Night landscapes:

use a tripod, iso:100 aperture how you would like it. The lighted vehicles can draw interesting lines.

12. Make pictures of the night sky – Creative photography ideas

This is an interesting assignment, you can learn a lot about exposure, shutter speed, colours and many other things. Tripod is very useful for night photography.

13. Use flash and tripod – Creative photography ideas

to increase your potential with these tools, if you need to. The tripod is essential tool, broaden your possibilities considerably. A good tripod allows you practically to make photographs with any shutter speeds you want. I mostly use tripod for low light shots, video, macro and wildlife photography with long lenses. For example you want to make a picture of water drops, it is hardly possible without a tripod. You set up a water in a plate, pre-focus with the camera on a tripod, use continuous shooting mode and your friend or mate pours the water into the pot.
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14. Make action pictures with high shutter speed.

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15. Try to involve out of focus highlights in the picture.

This give an interesting feeling for the picture.

16. Try to capture feelings – creative photography ideas

Think about a feeling, and imagine a picture, which is expresses it.

17. Go to interesting places or visit interesting events:

concerts, sports, nature, people, wedding. Don’t let your camera at home !

18. If you have the budget travel to interesting destinations.

There are photographs what you simply cannot make where you live. In Hungary you cannot photographs of tropical birds or fishes, or sea or ocean. If you can travel to exotic places you can make very nice pictures. If you travel for business reason, you can perhaps think about what you can photograph there or nearby, where you travelling.

19. Learn from others what they are doing, what they doing well, and what mistakes they make ?

One of the most effective ways to learn is to imitate someone who does something really well. Perhaps that person needed lots of time to polish his technique, we can spare it, and just imitate. We can learn a lot from bad examples as well.

20. Make high-key photographs – Creative photography ideas

What does it mean? Pictures of white or light coloured objects perhaps little overexposed (too bright to show something). For example snow, wedding dress, gull, etc.

21. Study your pictures you made – Creative photography ideas

Do you like them or not? Why? How would the picture would be better ? What mistakes you done ? What are the positives about them ? Which you like which you don’t ?

22. Study your best pictures – Creative photography ideas

Why are these pictures are so good ? What do you like in them ?
What I learned from my pictures, that I usually make many pictures, and not so much concentrate in unique frames, or making very special ones. I make the same pictures several times for safety thinking at least one will be good, but this results many unnecessary files, which needs lot of time to delete. I make lots of pictures what is not needed to make at all especially when I start to make photos in special trips. I realise to make a special photo usually needed an effort or idea, go somewhere think about it. For wildlife usually needed to visit well known places where I know what to expect, where and when, instead of checking new places which is perhaps more exiting, but harder to have better results, some cases no results at all.

23. Delete every photo you don’t like, and you don’t need.

This helps to realize, what is good, and what is worthless. Stop making pictures for deleting. If you are a beginner, makes lots of pictures, with different settings to learn from them. Try to make the photo you want in one shot. If you confindent doesn’t need to take several photos that one can be good of them.

24. Pick a colour:

For example make pictures about red objects.

25. Involve water(lake, river, drop)

in your picture in creative ways.

26. Make out of focus pictures.

This can be stupid at first, but think about it, what you can do, with the out of focus effect.

27. If you haven’t done it try different lenses:

fisheye, wide angle, tilt shift, macro, normal, telephoto, super telephoto.

28. Think about everything they are selling in a photography store:

what is this product good for ? Can I use it some ways ? Do I need it ? This is the very thing I missing ?

29. Make Hdr (High dynamic range) photographs.

In some situations this pictures can be very nice. Some newer cameras does it automatically, but there are also several programs for this purpose. In some cases you can stitch photos.

30. You can make panorama pictures, from more frames.

Some cameras makes panoramas automatically, but also possible to make with a software, in that case a tripod is handy to make the shots you want to stitch together.

31. Make low key photographs.

Images of dark objects or environment, little or more underexposed.

32. Try a prime lens

If you only use zoom lenses try a prime lens. Beware ! You can quickly get addicted.

33. Post processing

According to me post-procession is essential in digital photography. You can tweak your images at the extent you want. Adjust colours, curves, sharpness, or contrast.

34. Experiment

Experiment with aperture settings you usually don’t use, experiment what results you can get in different situations. One of the easiest and most interesting way to learn.

34. Get a macro lens

A macro lens can broaden your possibilities considerably. You can make pictures about water drops, insects, close-ups for flowers.
Canon 100mm macro 4

35. Use ND filters

I would say to buy an ND filter is not a first thing to buy for your kit. But if you have a good kit including lenses, cameras, tripod etc, ND filters can help to make your photography more creative. What is this filter good for? ND means natural density, what this filter does reduce the light amount arriving in the camera. Usually can be used for example shots of waterfalls, or sea, lakes or rivers in good light on a tripod when we want the picture to look little blurred, or mystic. Other usage in bright sunlight when we use very bright (f/2.8 or brighter) lenses, and don’t want the lens stopped down in order to keep the shallow depth of field for example for sports or portraits, the ND filter helps not to burn out the picture, because of the huge quantity of light arriving to the sensor.

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