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Creative Project Ideas
Stuck for ideas?
Keep your eyes open and learn to realy see.
Sent in by Lionel Armstrong . Shoot in total darkness with the exception of a blacklight fixture to make any fluorescent objects glow.
Clouds:
Capture a series of photos featuring cloud formations. Graduated filters
Popular long term project:
Photograph the four seasons from the same viewpoint.
Patterns in nature:
Photograph a series on natures patterns and textures - tree bark, leaves, stones etc.
Reflections:
Shoot landscapes in the reflections of water, or shop lights in the relfections of puddles at night. Mirage filter
Seascape:
Photograph a seascape at sunrise or sunset using a very long shutter speed (15-30mins) to create a smooth glowing print using natural light. Gray ND
An old Hollywood trick. Use a Cokin 020 blue filter -3 stops to simulate dusk, twilight or a full moon during daylight hours
Junk as Art :
Empty Streets:
Photograph a street scene using two or three Neutral Density filters and a long exposure to create the effect of an empty street.
Soft Edges:
Apply Vaseline to the edges of a UV filter to give portraits a soft, dreamlike edge.
Color Varnish Vaseline Center Spot Wedding And try Elmer's glue. It's not as messy and can be peeled off when your done with it.
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Zoom Movement:
Use a zoom lens to capture movement. Set a slow shutter speed and alter the focal length (zoom in or out) while exposing. Radial Zoom Rain spot Cyclone
Traffic Trails:
Create traffic trails by using the 'B' setting to record longs exposures of moving cars at night. (Tip: Be aware that if the moon is in the scene a long exposure will record it as an oblong blur.) Gray ND
Experiment with Cross-Proccessing by developing E6 slide film in C41 print film chemistry.
Impressionism:
Shoot simple colorful objects such as flowers, through frosted glass for an impressionistic effect. Color Varnish Vaseline 082 Color Diffuser Prism
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Break the 'rule of thirds':
Shoot a landscape dominated by sky.
Use more than one filter
Instead of doing ordinary multiple exposures…try shooting 40-50 images of the same subject on one frame! The semi-blurred effect will definitely be atypical.
Use hairspray on your cheap UV filters, in varying thicknesses for diffusion….these are not only good for one-time use, but as long as you don't clean them, they'll work well for quite a long time!
Cheaper than colored filters, buy a cheap UV filter and use colored magic markers on it.
Need a diffuser in a hurry…and a camera store is nowhere around? Use a white translucent milk gallon (cleaned and dried, of course) and cut a wider opening…then just pop it over your flash.
Bathe your UV filter in glycerin or vegetable oil for a "liquid" feel to your landscapes.
Use crinkled saran wrap or plastic baggy over the lens for semi-SX-70 feel. You could also stretch it in one direction to create a "pulled" appearance.
Use smeared Vaseline on the filter, or chapstick or transparent tape….vary the thickness to diffuse background moreso than your subject.
For a quick misty effect, fog your filter with your breathe!
A neutral black/grey nylon stocking provide a similar diffusion effect. In this case, you stretch the section of nylon fabric over the front of the lens tightly. A rubber band can help hold it in place.
Dodging on Location instead of in the darkroom! Ansel Adams didn't have access to grad ND filters starting, but he did have a dark slide. Setting his camera on a long exposure for a landscape shot, he waved the dark slide back and forth across the top of the scene. The dark slide blocked some of the light from the overly bright sky, thereby holding back the bright sky highlights. Be sure to bracket, bracket, bracket! Obviously, this trick is most effective for extremely slow exposures of static subjects, but then again, thats where most ND filters are used.
Make star-burst filters at home. Sheets of diffraction gratings is available through Edmund Scientific . A single sheet can be cut up into a number of squares for cokin filter holders. Its more fragile than your typical star filter, but for the cost, it may well be worth trying!
Have a nice clean shiny car hood? Use that to create a reflection of the foliage....gives the appearance of a still lake.
Stack all of those UV filters to create vigneting on purpose! With enough filters, you can also create that dirty image that toy cameras provide.
To get an accurate balancing of the light source to your film you can use the Mired System to calculate which filter or combination of filters you need to get "perfect color". Lionel Armstrong has made up a handy chart to explain The Finer Points of Color Correction
Remember, by definition, photography is "The recording of light"--- light never falls exactly the same way once (at least within a human lifetime) what you are working with is light, and light is endlessly fascinating. Roam around, daydream, think, and keep your eyes open. It will come to you!