Tag: Creativity

Nothing But the Tail Lights

Jason4 Comments

In the course of pursuing creative inspiration, I’ve often found that just picking a subject and sticking with it can be a good exercise in creativity.  Taking something and focusing (no pun intended) on that subject and only that subject can help you see things differently.  The exercise is good whether your subject is flowers, thumb drives, coffee mugs (which I’ve done in the past), or in this case – tail lights!

[cincopa 10624678]

As you can tell, some of the shots are pretty cool, others – well, not so much.  Some are out of focus, some are boring, but a few just pop and stand out.  Also note that I’ve not done any post processing of these.  I just imported into Lightroom 3, re-sized for export uniformity, and boom! – done.  While I grant you it’s not always showcasing the “best of the best” of your work, it’s is important though not to eliminate shots from the project, at least initially…because these “throwaways” can help you identify what works and what doesn’t work.  What makes certain shots stand out and why?  These are all things to look at when doing little mini projects like this.  So, pick a subject and fire away!  Feel free to share your own thoughts on what works and what doesn’t in the comments, and hopefully this will help kick-start some other projects!  Happy shooting all and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

An exercise in silence…

Jason6 Comments

As creatives, we often can find ourselves just not seeing anything new…even if given a theme to go out and discover.  In times like these, it’s sometimes beneficial to stop looking outward and start looking inward.  I am not talking about Yoga, meditation, or even pontificating the meaning of life.  Although these are equally viable options for getting out of a creative rut, I am talking about looking at your own past work.  While we all have done this from time to time, I found a recent little twist on this practice helpful.  Look back at your work with a theme in mind.

The monthly contests here encourage everyone to go out and capture new work with a theme in mind, and creating new work is always a good thing, but sometimes, when given a theme, and then looking back at archives, you can find new meaning in older images, when looking with a different perspective.

For instance – I was reading an article over on Nikon (yes, I read Nikon’s website – we all know it’s the photographer and not the gear by now, right?) about the value of sounds.  The article was talking about pet photography and that you can get certain expressions if you catch the right sound (full article here:).  It got me to thinking – what would the lack of sound look like in an image?  So, I decided to close my eyes and try to imagine what a photo of silence would encompass:  the serenity of a flower, the peace of a beach or the darkness of an evening or morning sunrise or sunset when it’s just you and the landscapes, even the chill of the day with snow covering everything in a blanket of quiet.

It gave me such a burst of inspiration from my own archives that I decided to go through and pick these specific ones out with the idea of “silence” in mind…  Of course I couldn’t just leave something like this alone – so I added a little taste of music that I thought would be appropriate:

PlayPlay

This is, of course, just my own interpretation.  What are your thoughts when you think of a series of images that captures “silence”?  Would you set it to music?  How many images would you include?  Here I had 8 images…was it too many or not enough?  Sound off in the comments, as it’s really the viewer thoughts and input that is always so valuable!

PlayPlay

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Composition and the Angle of View

Jason1 Comment

We’ve talked a lot about various rules of composition – what they are (Rule of Thirds, Golden Mean, etc) and when to adhere versus eschew them to create dramatic effect.  One thing we’ve not talked much about is the idea of changing your angle of view.  We have mentioned the concept in the past, suggesting that to get a good perspective to look up, look down, look behind you, and in new directions to get a unique view on things.  While this is always a good practice to remind yourself that there are other perspectives, it’s never really been discussed or illustrated in depth.

So, what I did was take a pretty ordinary object – my coffee mug – and take ten different pictures of it.  I challenged myself to look at one thing in ten unique ways – at different angles, and to try and find one that showed me something different than what I would usually expect to see.  I did get ten different angles, so technically I accomplished the objective.  Since some were very close to one another though, I am sharing here six different angles of view to help illustrate the purpose behind the exercise:

Angle 1

Angle 2

Angle 3

Angle 4

Angle 5

Angle 6

I used my 70-200 f4 and a tripod.  The white background you see in some pictures is just a piece of foam packing that was used to ship prints to me a while back.  I had my flash on the hot shoe, pointing up and to the rear most of the time.  Camera settings were 1/250th, at f4, and an ISO of 400.

It was pretty fun actually because I drink coffee every day! So, taking this regular object that I usually don’t even think twice about (although I am a coffee hound so I do have quite a collection of mugs to choose from…), I took 6 distinctly different angles of view.  Some are more boring than others, sure!  But some are actually kinda cool – in particular I am fond of the one with the mug handle sticking in the air!  To keep it in place I simply stuck my lenscap behind the mug as a prop!  It’s a fun exercise, and can make you see regular objects and scenes in new ways.  This is just one way to force yourself to think creatively.

So now, it’s reader assignment time – go find something regular, anything!  Whether it’s a coffee mug, a screwdriver, a telephone or a clock radio…pick something then force yourself to take ten different shots of it.  Zoom in close, go super wide.  Drop your aperture way open for more blur and selective focus.  Use a totally different lens than you normally would.  Going with the 70-200 I forced myself to back up.  I could have swapped to the 10-22mm and gotten something totally different…and the same goes for the 70mm macro.  Whether you live in an apartment, a house, or……an airstream (do you really know anyone that would live in an airstream?), there are tons of  ways to think creatively that surround you!  Seek them out, and you will find a piece of yourself – share it with the world!

Post your creativity exercise shots up on Flickr in the LDP pool – show that creative side and happy shooting!  Until tomorrow, keep them shutters clicking, and watch out for a new Audioboo about the new Canon T2 Rebel – gonna be a fun clip on what Canon has been up to! 🙂

Photoshop Teaser…

JasonLeave a comment

The Denver Area Lightroom Users Group (DALPUG) had their bi-monthly meeting tonight, and it was a lot of fun.  Brian Reyman (the leader) gave some great insights on digital asset management and some really cool Lightroom and Photoshop tips and tricks.  He reminded me that it’s been a while since I’ve played in Photoshop, or done tutorials here on the blog for that matter.

So, in the interests of putting some sort of creative graphic design effect together, I started playing around in Photoshop when I got home with a few different tools, effects, and all that fun stuff.  When all was said and done, the effect of all of this playing produced something that I thought would be worthy of a Photoshop tutorial.  However, I did run out of time to put all the screen shots and steps together for a blog post, so here is a teaser of what you might be seeing later this week!

The End Result

Rocky Mountain Fireworks

The ones that got me there…

Mountains

Fireworks

Starfield

The final result is a little surreal, but using the various effects were fun.  It also took some rather plain photos and turned them into…well, something not so plain!  🙂 When’s the last time you played in Photoshop?  Can you identify the effects used here?  Share your own pictures in the comments (remember, we have image upload now!), as well as any thoughts and or feedback.

Special thanks and shout outs to Brian for hosting the DALPUG meetings and for encouraging our creativity- he puts a lot of time and effort into these and it shows!

Only a couple blog notes for today, first that the Monthly Giveaway only has a limited amount of time left for submissions, so make sure you submit your Circles themed photos to the Flickr thread before the deadline!  Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow for more creative encouragement!

Challenge yourself!

Jason6 Comments

The field of photography is a very challenging venue and finding your “voice” in a crowded field can often make the task seem daunting.  If you want to challenge yourself in different ways, try something else.  Painting, singing, and yes, playing a musical instrument can not only give you a new vision for your photography,  but it can get your creative juices going in ways that you may not realize.  While you may never become a Picasso, Luciano Pavarotti, or a Mozart, even picking up something you used to do as a kid (or when you were younger for those among us who are under the 30-something cutoff!), and giving it a whirl can give you new-found pleasures.

For instance, when I was much younger, I took piano lessons for seven years.  Endless scales, arpeggios, and the whole nine yards filled my practice sessions for days, weeks, months, and well….years!  When I moved onto college, other interests bended me away from the piano, probably because after seven years I realized I was never going to be a Mozart.  Nevertheless, I enjoyed the practice and occasionally I return to tickle the ivories from time to time.  The photography vision has been clouded this week, and I found some solace in the keyboards late Friday night.  So, I plugged in the M-Audio keyvoard to my Mac and pounded away for a while as my fingers tried to remember their proper positions.  I remembered again that I am no Mozart, but I do have some creative ideas again, all because of a little ditty I put together.  Does this ring a bell for any of you?

Have a great weekend everyone!  Happy shooting, and we’ll see you back here Monday with the results of my creative challenge! 🙂

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

How To Make Your Pictures Sing!

Jason2 Comments

Mexican Wall Art
Mexican Wall Art

While recently listening to This Week in Tech (a great podcast, and I highly recommend it), the show host, Leo Laporte, made an interesting observation about the advancement of technology.  He was musing about the changes that have happened in audio consumption.  We listen to much of our music in iPods and portable music players, when not too long ago, we were confined to a certain space.  To that end, he noted that the technology of audio in those days revolved around things like the number of amps, tweeters and woofers, quadraphonics, decibels, and much of that technical information.  We jam-packed our houses with stereo components, our cars with subwoofers, and on and on.  To get truly high quality audio you needed to have resources (a.k.a. money), and the producers of that audio content was restrictive because of the costs.

Not today – these days you can plug a $5 microphone into a USB port on a $400 computer, say or sing anything you want, and almost instantly have beautiful high quality digital recordings of whatever you like. This is a good thing though – because even though more people are recording audio, what matters is what the message of that audio is saying.  I can’t just go on the podcast and talk about nothing because no one would listen…although sometimes it feels like I am blathering on and on!  🙂  As the old saying goes, “content is king“!  Leo’s observation was that in the audio world, it’s a wonderful thing because anyone can produce audio, and there are now more voices for creativity.  With the lower cost of entry to producing high end audio, two questions came about.  The first is “What does that content say (what is the point, or message)?”  The second is “How do you want to consume that media?” (With the options being whether you want it on a CD in your car, on your iPod at the gym, on your computer as you work, or where ever.)

It was a very astute observation, and that description applies to other media as well.  I am, of course, thinking about photography.  Think about the analogy for a minute.  For the longest time we had the film world, and as ASA speeds got better, grain got finer, the size and quality of image development improved as technology permitted.  With the movement to the digital world, and the subsequent “Megapixel Wars”, capturing high quality detail in your photography was no longer such an arduous process.  I believe we are at a crossroad now in digital photography, where the technology has expanded to a quality level that anyone is able to produce excellent quality images, in terms of technical details. The portability factor for audiophiles doesn’t really apply as much to photography though as the medium is more portable by definition.  You are also looking at the image rather than listening to it.

The advances in the technology of photography has also introduced a creative outlet for many where it previously did not exist.  The decreasing costs of production have allowed many to find their “photography voice”.  With the holidays upon us, many are likely to get a shiny new camera with lots of bells and whistles, and for some out there, this will be an opportunity to “sing”!  It’s an exciting time to be a part of the chorus because with so many voices, there are lots of melodies and harmonies to be heard and enjoyed.

This will undoubtedly lead many to ask “So, how do I make my pictures sing?”  It’s a great question, and one that I have been tackling in some way, shape, or form for some time now from various points of view, including technical, compositional, and subtle intangibles that are all part of this larger question of how to better express yourself photographically.  There’s more to come on that, and I’ll be sharing more thoughts on this in the weeks to come.  But it is a good exercise, so I would like to throw it to the reading and listening audiences.  As we take a blogging break over the holidays, ask yourself (and post your thoughts here in the blog)  the following two questions:

  1. Can pictures really “sing”?  Why, or why not?
  2. If so, what does it take to make your pictures sing?

Share your thoughts in the comments below!  As a reminder, you can also now embed photos in your comments by using the link to attach a URL.  Happy shooting, Merry Christmas, and we’ll see you back here next week!

P.S.  Don’t forget – next week is the last week to add your “Giving” themed photos to the December Giveaway!  Should be lots of opportunities to capture some photos with that theme over the weekend!  There’s over $400 in prizes will go to one lucky person, so post your best photo to the Flickr thread here.  The guidelines are posted there, so be sure to check those to make sure your entry is counted…Happy Shooting and good luck to all!

Grab the Feed
Follow Me on Twitter

Cabo Creativity

Jason7 Comments

Last week’s first ever 5-day series of written work “The Five Elements of Control” featured 5 distinct ways in which you can control and increase the impact of your work.  Those elements were through controlling for luminance, color, geometry, context, and composition. Hopefully, the perspective can be one many will find useful in elevating their own work.  In taking the task to heart, today (my first day back after a week-long break in beautiful Cabo San Lucas), I am sharing a slideshow of some of my favorite recent shots.  So, rather than suggesting others incorporate these techniques, I am trying to apply them to my own efforts as well. Here is where you get the chance to be the critic for my work, so by all means, share your thoughts, comments, feedback, and perspectives below.

In other blog and podcast notes, don’t forget, the $500 giveaway for the Thinktank Photo Multimedia Bag and Topaz Labs plugin bundle is still going on over on the Flickr site.  We’re in the last week for submissions so we can wrap things up by the end of September, so time is drawing nigh!  The thread to share your pictures (and the guidelines) is here for those interested.  It’s a great opportunity to take advantage of some great products from Topaz Labs and Thinktank Photo (and thanks go out to the sponsors for their generous contributions)!

In case you haven’t noticed the sidebar, there are now short little audio tips being offered up courtesy of the folks over at Audioboo.  The latest comes  the shores of Cabo San Lucas with the peaceful waves of the Pacific crashing in the background!  So, for the feed readers out there, stop on over to the blog and check out the audio tips – some hopefully good stuff there too.

Thanks also to the recording capabilities of my wife’s point-and-shoot camera, you are in for a special treat tomorrow in the form of a Quicktime video!  Until then, here’s the promised stills from the trip.  Happy shooting everyone and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow.  (Don’t forget to let me know your thoughts and feedback in the comments!)

Mexican Harbor
Mexican Harbor
Negative Space
Negative Space
The Power of the Waves
The Power of the Waves
Umbrella Dots
Umbrella Dots
In Honor of Escher
In Honor of Escher
Through a Window
Through a Window

As a little postscript, since many will ask, I did my post processing in Lightroom and Photomatix (yes, some of these are HDR images).  One image did reveal a pretty heavy dust spot on my sensor, so that one did see a round-robin through Photoshop for that one speck.

Pick a theme – tell a story

Jason4 Comments

When working on capturing your own creative vision, here’s another useful tip in getting the most out of your work – pick a theme when looking for creative inspiration.  A theme can be a useful cornerstone or building block which you can use as a springboard to get started on projects.

The reason why themes are such useful tools is because this can also give you the basis for telling a story, which is a commonality of many powerful and evocative works, whether that story is natural beauty (landscapes), urban decay (architecture), romantic moments (wedding photography), etc.

I’ve put together a short list of a couple great starting points for themes to tell your creative stories:

  • Laughter
  • Faces
  • Circles
  • Skies
  • Glass
  • Fences
  • Freedom

Any themes that catch your eye – give you a creative idea?  What about other ideas or themes?  I’d love to hear your ideas, so feel free to share them in the comment section, or via email.  You can reach me, as always, at jason <AT> canonblogger <DOT> com.  Happy shooting everyone!  Don’t forget the August contest to win a Wacom Bamboo fun is underway – with the Flickr thread up and running here:  Win a Wacom! Now, to kick start the weekend… a little WTD humor:

WTD768

Grab the Feed

We’ll see you back here on Monday!

Martini Memory

Jason4 Comments

Have you ever had some crazy idea for a photo and then realized it might not be as difficult to pull off as you thought?  Something just off the wall, not really something that would ever grow into anything other than “just for fun of it”?  No project, no marketing, no commercialization, no selling, no limited prints, nothing like that at all…

In case you couldn’t tell, I had one of those moments a while back, and finally decided to pull the trigger trip the shutter!  Here’s the small version of my Martini Memory!  There are, of course, a few versions, of it, but this one was probably the one that first jumped off the screen at me.

memory_martini
Martini Memory

It’s certainly not going to win any awards, but sure was fun to put it together and just see how it came out!  This is the kind of creativity that makes photography so awesome!  So, what about your own zany crazy ideas?  Anyone else have any they’d like to share?  Feel free to link your own images in the comments.  Who knows… this could turn into a contest if there’s enough participation.  Wanna win something?  Share your ideas!  Spread the word – because we all learn best from a community of sharing!

Speaking of sharing, winning, and contests, don’t forget the OnOne Software Plugin Suite 4.5 giveaway.  There are officially 7 days left to enter, so if you’ve been laying in wait to get those images in for consideration, now is the time to start posting them.  I’ll be collating the 10-12 best ones off the Flickr thread to post into a dedicated gallery here on the blog, then passing things over to the folks at OnOne for their thoughts on a winner.  If you want to be considered, time’s a-wasting!  Link to the contest thread on Flickr is here:  Numbers Contest

Happy Friday and Happy Shooting all – this is the last weekend to get a shot for contributing to the contest, so get out there and good luck to everyone!

Grab the Feed

Creative Vision – or not!

Jason4 Comments

When looking at image composition, many of the things we use as our foundation are the typical rules of the trade – things like the the Rule of Thirds, Sunny 16, Golden Mean, etc., etc., etc.  While these rules are all well and good, and they definitely are some of the fundamentals that we all incorporate as we see to create beautiful images – they do not constitute the entire picture (pardon the pun).  As photographers, we should also be challenging ourselves to look at things in unique and new or innovative ways.

For instance, take the Eiffel Tower.  This particular piece of architecture has been around for so long now that photographers have had an opportunity to capture this from pretty much every angle and in virtually all lighting conditions.  You would be hard pressed to come up with a new angle or an unused lighting style for this monument.  So, what if you take a trip to Paris – should you not even bother with a picture?  Of course not!  Snap away, be a tourist  want and get your other half mugging next to the Tower.

The same could be said for the Sistine Chapel, the Venus de Milo, or any other of thousands of historically significant and/or interesting works.  And seriously – what do you think would happen if you went on a trip to Paris, came back and said “Nope, no shots of the Eiffel Tower, been taken too much already, no sense in taking yet another shot of it.” If your family is anything like mine, people would look at you and wonder – “But, you’re a photographer!”

The point here is that you don’t always have to be “on” and looking for that next great shot.  In fact, the minute you stop trying so hard to find inspiration, in general, the faster inspiration finds you.    Let the boring snapshots happen – they’re fun, and a great way to connect with others.  Imagine being at some social function and you’ve got your camera.  Are you looking at the light, wondering what aperture/shutter settings you can feasibly hand hold at without over cranking your ISO, or are you enjoying the time spent with family and friends?  Before you answer that – answer this – which circumstance do you think will provide more inspiration and creativity?

Just the other day I was delivering some computer stuff to another building, which happened to be 14 floors up.  Sure, I have my camera with me – and I looked out the window.  Aerial photography has always intrigued me, but I had never given it another thought – until the other day.  So, didn’t really think much and pointed my camera out the window, just having fun and taking a few snaps of the scenes:

denverabove1

Quite the boring shot eh?  Certainly not even close to being on par with something like the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Venus de Milo, or anything like that.  It’s pretty much a scene of nothing.  But from nothing, and from not even trying to always be “on” you can find your creativity and inspiration.  This shot was taken only ten seconds apart from the previous one:

denverabove2

Okay, so it’s still not as breath-taking as any of the other historical monuments, but you gotta admit, that curved line of the building receding into the distance is kinda neat, eh?  This isn’t really looking for props or accolades though.  The point here is to not let yourself become too preoccupied with achieving your next great “hero” shot on every capture.  That is only setting yourself up for failure because no one can attain that.  Sure, it’s important to try and stretch your creative muscle, and try new captures, and experiment with new styles, using different lighting and all the stuff that goes hand-in-hand with being a photographer, but remember, before you can be a photographer, you gotta be a person!

Enjoy photography, but don’t forget to live your life!

Don’t forget to pick up the feed for the blog and the podcast – all during the month of May, you could be shooting to win a copy of Lightroom!  One of the best ways to do that is to just go out and have some fun.  Forget about the details from time to time and just enjoy life – because that is when you will most likely get your hero shots – when you least expect them.  So, just enjoy life, and enjoy photography – the rest comes naturally!  Happy living and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!