PotD #52: Cotton Candy

This is a shot taken at noon, in full lught of the sun. Something had to be done. Turning it down dark brought out the strange quality of the snow, making it look like silk. And that is todays lesson. If you take a bland picture, tweak it until it becomes interesting. There are no rules. Good luck!

PotD #51: Mirror

If all else fails, take a picture of yourself.

PotD #50: Hot In The City

At the moment, I try to make most of my pictures look like postcards from the sixties, with lots of yellow, and faded colors. Normally, I draw my pictures beyond satuation. And like always when you do something by habit, it is good to try the total opposite, and see where that gets you.

For more faded pictures, check out my contributions to ShutterCentral for the past and next couple of days.

PotD #49: It's A Jungle Out There!

Organic is always good. And on a day when the weather just is not good enought for being outside, you can find organic inside. In your house plants. And since good pictures of beautiful flowers has been done and done, why not try to do it differently. Picture the stems, the foilage, play with lightning, fix motion blur. See jungle! See jungle! Go join your gang yeah, city all over! Go ape crazy! Yep, that last part is a reference.

PotD #48: Coffee Is The Answer

And if coffee isn't the answer, then there is something wrong with your question in the first place. Apart from that, did you ever stop and think about design? Everything in your home is actually a product of someones artistic talent. Or lack thereof.

With this in mind, you can look at your household appliences as if they were statues, or big buildings. With the added bonus that you can easily light them, and photograph them from points that would require a crane and some expensive permits had they been actual buildings. Is that a Frank Lloyd Wright in your kitchen?

DUC Hunt

"OK, I want to start shooting with any old DUC I can get my hands on. Where can I find one?"

The easiest way is to ask around. Some of your friends and neighbours are bound to have a scrap pile. There's no telling what you may find there, and ususally they're glad to get rid of the junk. You can't beat free when it comes to pricing.

Flea-markets are another way to find good DUCs. The downside is that you can't always test the camera, because the batterries are dead, there's no memory card etc etc. It's more of a gamble. If you think you can live without the money, buy it. That way you will not regret it later.

Also, eBay, Craigslist etc are good hunting grounds. Unfortunately, the really nice DUCs dosn't get listed so very often. After all, would you take your time to put up an item you expect to fetch at most $2?

There are different types of DUCs. Maybe some of the stuff you already has got lying around at home contains a camera without you realising it.

• Most likely your cellphone has got a built-in camera.
  
• Maybe your computer or computer monitor has a built in webcam? Not as mobile, perhaps, but useful for studio shots.
  
• If you got a digital video camera, chances are you can take stills with it.
  
• Do you have kids? Then perhaps some of their toys can take pictures. Go look in the playpen.
  

There. You probably found something lying around you never thought about to use for serious photography. Now, get out and get shooting!

Small World

This has probably been done before, but it is still brilliant. Watch for some excellent "miniature" work by Keith Loutit, Sydney Australia.


Helpless from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

PotD #47: Here Bunny Bunny

Plush toys are an excellent way to train lighting. They do not get as bored of what you are doing as the rest of your family.

PotD #46: Waiting For Tomorrow

This blog has it's focus on DUC:s, as you may know. Not because I like to live in the past, but because I find using how shall I say, technically challenged cameras stimulating. Using them forces me to think in new ways, about pictures, light, technology, everything. It feeds my creativity.

And that is the other big focus here, creativity. Wired has just published an interesting article on what to expect from cameras during 2009. It makes me hungry for some new cameras. What about you?

Using themes for motivation - Creativity Exercise Two

There are lots of reasons not to bring your camera with you everywhere. It is too heavy, it could be stolen, the camera stops working after you gone for a swim etc etc. But the most common reason is the feeling that you are not going to use it.

This is not the same thing as photographer's block, which we talked about curing the other week. This is the idea that your life is divided between times when you take pictures and times when you do not. This is, of course, hogwash.

How do we make sure, or at least plausible, that we are going to use our camera? I find an effective way is to have an ongoing theme for your pictures. A form of collection if you wish. You set you own theme, it could be a simple noun, like "door" or "xylophone" or it can be as complicated as you wish. It should however be simple enough that you could find a fitting motif at least once a week without trying to hard. That is, a big no-no on themes like "Flying fish dancing can-can with Zsa-Zsa Gabor in Times Square". I mean come on, when are you going to photograph that if you live in Brooklyn?

I have a couple of themes going on our team-blog ShutterCentral. Here is a link to one of them; "Men With Jobs".

Everytime I step outside without a camera I see great shots that could fit in either of my themes. This makes me more eager to bring the camera next time. Even if I do not catch a theme picture, who knows, I might make a great stand alone shot?

Are you using themes? If so, what are they? Be sure to tell in comments.

PotD #45: Snow All

Photographically, on-camera flashes are horrible. So, in a DUC perspective, if you can get your on-camera flash to do the wrong thing, it can be the right thing. Here, the trees are turning into some kind of monster over at the edge of the light.

PotD #44: Pintsize

Just a couple of days ago I talked about robots hiding everywhere. Then I find I have taken a picture of one without realizing it. Because surely, this must be this guy from the webcomic Questionable Content?

And I honestly do not remember what the picture is supposed to be, apart from blurry.