How do you do it

[DanOzSTX]

My camera will probably go wherever I can take it now. I even took it with me at work at Home Depot today. I didnt expect to find anything but why not, maybe catch a thief at least.

 

[Jzero]

I went out on Saturday morning with my camera and wife in tow and spent hours walking around a local market place taking pictures of objects that caught my attention. I took over 100 pictures but there are only about 3 or 4 that I am pleased with, that I suppose, is one of the great things about digital photography. The others were mostly "learning curve" pictures where I took the same shot over a few times with different camera settings to compare results. Looks as if this is how I will be spending a lot of my weekends from now on.
J

 

[ball]

I had to run out on an errand yesterday evening. I looked out of the window before I left the house and it just looked gloomy, no good for photographs at all so I left my camera at home. I was kicking myself about twenty minutes later as I drove past a steady stream of interesting foreground subjects lit with beautiful golden evening sunlight against a foreboding backdrop of dark rainclouds. I should always keep at least one camera in the car, although I suppose I should insulate it from the worst of the cold.

 

[DanOzSTX]

I was curious about the weather and keeping a camera around. Other than slowing things down I dont think the cold is that bad, but I can imagine it wouldnt like the heat too much

 

[John_05]

i used to try to shoot pictures that i thought other people would find interesting. after shooting countless pictures, and having very few well received by the people i showed them to, i decided to just shoot to make myself happy. in the end, thats all that matters to me. i didnt start learning about photography to impress anyone but myself, but thats the direction i started to take and i didnt care for it. now that i shoot "my way" and not thinking "i think <insert name here> will love this shot!", i find i get more shots that the people i show them to find interesting than before.

I was curious about the weather and keeping a camera around. Other than slowing things down I dont think the cold is that bad, but I can imagine it wouldnt like the heat too much

im not entirely sure, but i would think temperatures in either extreme would be harmful to a camera. when im outside shooting and its either really hot, or very cold, i try to keep my camera dry, and i keep it in my bag when im not using it. i keep silica gel packs in the bag to help with moisture and when im out in high heat, i put a small frozen cooler pack inside 2 zip-lock bags, wrap it in a small thin towel, and place that under the compartment under my camera to keep it cooler in the bag.

every camera ive owned had operating temperatures in the manual, so i try to stay within those temperatures as much as possible. im fairly sure that brief exposure to temperatures outside the range stated in the manual wont do it any harm, but carrying a camera on your neck and walking around for hours in sub zero or 100+ degree weather cant be too good for it. im not entirely sure, so hopefully someone else here who knows a lot more than i do can give you some more advice.

 

[MACollum]

I'm not very imaginative (or creative, for that matter), but what I've found about photography is that seemingly commonplace and boring things can make wonderful, not to mention original, photographs. People always look at me funny when taking pictures of these things but I try not to care too much what anyone else thinks about it. Most of the photos I take aren't anything special but every once in a while I get something I wasn't expecting. With time and experience, I hope I'll develop an "eye" for photography, though it's hard to stop and really look at things and to see them in my mind as a photograph and not just one of the thousands of things/scenes I see every day. One of the reasons I love macro photography is that a small portion of something out of context can be much more interesting than the whole thing.

 

[Mad_Gnome]

MACollum is right on the money here. One of my favorite "tricks"to get my creative juices flowing is to find an object with something distinct about it, be it shape, color, texture or what have you, and take a bunch of photos from different perspectives, each focused on a different aspect of the object. A change in perspective can make the ordinary suddenly seem fascinating.

My avatar was an example of that. It was simply the truck I was driving every day. I just pulled out my camera one afternoon and made my way around the truck, taking photos of different things that stood out. The truck was old, which helped. Age gives things a lot of character, and makes it easier to find unique images. In my eyes, a good perspective is hard to resist.

 

[Iron Flatline]

One more suggestion: participate in various weekly photo "memes" to kick-start your creativity. This will force you to think creatively, and come up with some interesting shots.

Mon - Moody Monday
Hard to "get" the mood some days

Tue - Tuesday Challenge
Not bad

Wed - Lens Day
Fun

Thu - Photo Sharks
Not bad, new, easy themes

Fri - Photo Friday
The mothership of memes, quality is not always guaranteed

Sat - See It Sunday
They announce Saturdays, so there's that logic

Sun - Macro Day
perfect thing to work on for a hung-over morning

 

[oldnavy170]

I think once you find your style then you will try to improve upon that. Once you find that then you will be "seeing" all kinds of photo ops!

 

[DanOzSTX]

Thanks for all the advice and ideas. Its been really nice weather around here, but now my job is interfering with my time to do things once again. I will have to get out this weekend and see what I can find

 

[Alex_B]

two days ago i was walking arond in the city not getting a single sjot... i was so un-creative


does this happen to you guys as well?

 

[markc]

Yeah. I think that when you have trouble and nothing is falling in your lap as you walk around, it's good to go out and make it happen. Decide even before you walk out the door: What kind of image are you going to make? What's the subject? What's the background? Compose it in your head, then go out and make it. It's a completely different mindset, but I think it's a good one to practice, even if you don't plan on working that way all of the time.