Saturday, August 30 2008 @ 11:28 AM EDT
Summer Musings - submitted by Dan
The best camera is one that gets used. Sounds simple, right? Where is your camera right now? If it is nicely stored in its case with all the accessories, flashes, cards and so forth, it is likely that it will remain there if a photo op presents itself around the house.
I keep my point and shoot on a table in the entrance hall (because no one uses liquids near that table) and my DSLR on another table in the dining room with my favorite lens (at the moment) mounted. If I need either one I just grab and go. I even leave a flash mounted on the DSLR sometimes (it also works on my point and shoot camera) so I also have a flash nearby if I need or want it.
Of course if your partner doesn’t want it out or if you simply know you would never need it in a hurry, by all means keep it stored.
Boredom, what to do about it? The digital camera is a surefire solution to that problem. I have shot film since the early 1970’s and only got my first digital in about 2003 or 2004. I resisted until the quality approached that of film.
To alleviate boredom grab one of the digital cameras and just shoot stuff. Because there is no cost of processing involved experimenting is simple, cheap and can even be educational. Practicing with a digital camera is critical to understand its options and now cost free once you own the camera, its battery and its memory card.
So what to shoot? Take 10 pictures from different angles using different lighting of the centerpiece on the dining room table. Take a close up of contrasting textures you find around. Shoot pictures of your special possessions (antiques, tools, kitchen equipment. Experiment with lighting. If you can move your flash off the camera try holding it in different positions relative to the subject and the camera.
Of course kids, pets, friends and the yard or a park provide great subjects. When I was in London about 9 years ago I wandered the streets with my camera held casually and without framing just shot people approaching, scenes across the street or on the subway, etc. No one knew they were being shot and while some of the pictures were out of focus or uninteresting, a couple were pretty interesting. I was shooting film so I didn’t shoot too much that way but with digital I could have shot all day.
If you play and don’t like the results, trash them and shoot some more; be rigorous and ruthless about getting rid of unsatisfactory results (because obviously the numbers of images will quickly mount up doing this). Don’t waste your boredom.
I keep my point and shoot on a table in the entrance hall (because no one uses liquids near that table) and my DSLR on another table in the dining room with my favorite lens (at the moment) mounted. If I need either one I just grab and go. I even leave a flash mounted on the DSLR sometimes (it also works on my point and shoot camera) so I also have a flash nearby if I need or want it.
Of course if your partner doesn’t want it out or if you simply know you would never need it in a hurry, by all means keep it stored.
Boredom, what to do about it? The digital camera is a surefire solution to that problem. I have shot film since the early 1970’s and only got my first digital in about 2003 or 2004. I resisted until the quality approached that of film.
To alleviate boredom grab one of the digital cameras and just shoot stuff. Because there is no cost of processing involved experimenting is simple, cheap and can even be educational. Practicing with a digital camera is critical to understand its options and now cost free once you own the camera, its battery and its memory card.
So what to shoot? Take 10 pictures from different angles using different lighting of the centerpiece on the dining room table. Take a close up of contrasting textures you find around. Shoot pictures of your special possessions (antiques, tools, kitchen equipment. Experiment with lighting. If you can move your flash off the camera try holding it in different positions relative to the subject and the camera.
Of course kids, pets, friends and the yard or a park provide great subjects. When I was in London about 9 years ago I wandered the streets with my camera held casually and without framing just shot people approaching, scenes across the street or on the subway, etc. No one knew they were being shot and while some of the pictures were out of focus or uninteresting, a couple were pretty interesting. I was shooting film so I didn’t shoot too much that way but with digital I could have shot all day.
If you play and don’t like the results, trash them and shoot some more; be rigorous and ruthless about getting rid of unsatisfactory results (because obviously the numbers of images will quickly mount up doing this). Don’t waste your boredom.