Month: April 2010

There was a paper clip right besides an air can in my office. That started the creative process for this image. I bend the clip and pushed it into the straw of the can. Then I had to find something light and I found this button in the kitchen. My composition was born. I decided to open up my lens to put the emphasis on the button and use the blue of the can as a backdrop for the button.

Enjoy and happy experimenting! Never forget, with the help of a little bit of creativity and imagination you can create great compositions and interesting images.

This exercise grew on me quite a bit this week. I am constantly looking for things that don’t belong together. Yesterday I found a box of old shotgun shells and an old rechargeable battery. The primer and the positive tip of the battery caught my attention, one is sticking out the other is not. They yellow colors don’t match. They have in common that both have somewhat stored energy. Then I discovered the clamp and I got my composition together in no-time.

Enjoy and have fun with ideas.

This wonderful recipe calls for dry cat food, a strawberry and ranch sauce. These are my three items that in my mind absolutely don’t belong together. I put them in a small blue bowl to create a nice complementary background color. The “face” on the ranch sauce is the “icing on the cake.” Bon appetit and happy shooting (not eating!)

One of my instructors once said: “If you need inspiration for your art, go into your garage.” I visited my garage and took the tennis racket, went into the kitchen and grabbed a metal scrubber and out of my office I took an audio cable. Three items, that normally don’t belong together. I decided for a black background and indirect lightning. The I played with different compositions and this one I liked the best.

Enjoy, have fun and think before you shoot!

The 2nd exercise deals with compositions. Developing your photographic eye means seeing and creating a composition in the viewfinder of your camera. This exercise will help you to to arrange different things together. I ask you to take three things that normally are not together and organize them in a way that they can be photographed. If you do so, you will have to start by looking for things that normally are not together. In my example I took a sweater, peas and pliers and put them together. I tried several arrangements and I tried different camera settings. I finally shot the picture with an 85mm portrait lens at f1.8 to create a very shallow depths of field because I wanted to put the emphasis on the tips of the pliers.  This exercise forces you to think and to try different options. Hopefully at the end of the week you will have created some beautiful and exiting compositions. Don’t forget to have fun with your camera!

Today I was pretty frustrated. I did not see anything new. I was just ready to move on to a new exercise, but I did not. It happened to me before that I thought everything I shot that day was “garbage.” Frustration is part of being a photographer and perseverance is too. When you shoot on a theme, don’t let frustration stop you. Take a break and get right on it again.

I shot this image showing the man made line where the wood was cut, the natural structure lines in the wood and the shadow line of a plant.

Happy shooting and remember regardless how you feel get the shot!

When you start looking for natural and man made lines you start seeing them everywhere. This is my experience after doing this exercise for a few days. I know that I would have never shot this image before I started my photographic exercises because I simply would have overlooked it. Photography starts with open eyes and ends with a great image. Keep up the exercise and be surprised what else shows up.

Happy exercising!

I saw this morning a few dandelions in my front yard. I added the water hose and I had the perfect composition for natural and man made lines. There is indeed a great deal of tension in this image as a result of the composition and of the color tension. The “green” hose does not match the “green” lawn while the “white” Dandelion perfectly fits into the dark background.

I created this blog to share exercises with and for photographers. These exercises are created to shape the photographic eye and skills. Most of them don’t require expensive equipment, however they require thoughts and determination. I do these exercises because I believe in lifelong learning as a photographer. I do my photographic exercises with the same passion I do my bodily exercises.

You are welcome to share with me your images and your ideas. If you know a photographic exercise, please, email me. frgolz@yahoo.com

 

First Exercise: Shoot a photograph with natural and man made lines!

There is a natural tension between natural and man made lines. Natural lines are basically never evenly shaped while man made lines can be straight or circular lines. When doing this exercise pay close attention to how the two type of lines relate to each other.

 

I went out tonight and shot my first round of images. In this images I have fence lines and natural intertwined. Camera setting: f5.6, 1.3sec., ISO 100