Ten inspirational photography projects

Andrew S Gibson

The Creative Image

p. 1Introduction“There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.“– Ansel Adams

Largely thanks to digital cameras, photography has experienced a resurgence in popularity

over the last decade or so. Back in the film era, only ‘serious’ photographers were able to

produce their own prints, normally in black and white. It wasn’t easy – you had to set up

your own chemical darkroom, which took time, money and space. You had to be pretty

sure you were going to make use of it to undertake the effort. Now, anybody with a good

camera and a printer has the same opportunity.

The digital era has brought other advantages. You can go online and look at the work

of the world’s best photographers. Some of them also teach what they know about

photography by writing articles, blogs and ebooks. Photography is still as challenging as

ever to master. The basic building blocks of any good photograph – composition, quality

of light and treatment of subject – are still the same. Digital cameras and software have

added to the amount of stuff to learn. But the good news is that there’s never been a

better time to learn about photography.

Sometimes, in spite of all the available material, it’s difficult to find inspiration and ideas.

That’s why I put this short ebook together – to give you ten potential projects to go out

and try. If you have a go at each one, your photography skills will improve immensely – as

long as you go out and find out about the photographic techniques you need to master

for each subject. To assist you, in some of the sections I’ve also given you the names of

some photographers whose work I think you should take a look at – or websites with

articles on the topic . You can learn a lot from their approach and be inspired by their

imagery. Hyperlinks are denoted in red – just click to open up the website in your browser.Whangarei Clock Museum, New Zealand, 2011

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 85mm, 1/180 second @ f2, ISO 3200

p. 21. Long shutter speedsOne of my favourite techniques is to

use long shutter speeds to blur moving

elements in the landscape.

One of the reasons this technique works so

well, especially with seascapes, is because

it encourages you to go out taking photos

at the end (or the start) of the day when

light levels are low enough to get the

shutter speeds of 30 seconds or longer

required to blur the motion of the water.

The light in the sky after the sun has set (or

before it rises) is very beautiful and helps

you take some moody, evocative photos.

Another way of obtaining long shutter

speeds is to use a three, nine or ten stop

neutral density filter on the lens. These

help you obtain long shutter speeds when

light levels are higher. This technique has

become quite trendy, especially amongst

black and white photographers – you

will find plenty of examples online – Joel

Tjintjelaar and Michael Levin are two good

examples.

Devenport, New Zealand, 2011Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 17-40mm @ 22mm, 30 seconds @ f16, ISO 100

p. 32. PortraitsFind someone you know. Take a photo. Portraits are a great

chance to try out some creative photographic techniques.

Portraiture – once you have a willing subject – is easier

than you might think. Every sitter is an individual. Every

photographer is different. Together you have a near infinite

number of creative possibilities.

Eyes are the most important part of a portrait. Make sure

they’re in focus. Ask your sitter to look into the camera or

something in the distance to avoid the ‘out of focus eyes /

glazed expression’ look. If there is no light in your subject’s

eyes, put some in with a reflector or some subtle fill-flash.

One of my favourite techniques is to use a prime lens wide-

open to focus on the eyes and throw everything else out of

focus. Take your sitter outside and photograph them in their

natural environment. If you’re looking for a real challenge,

step outside your comfort zone and ask an interesting

looking stranger if you can create a portrait with them. Set

yourself a project – surfers, cowboys, firemen have all made

interesting subjects for photographic series.

Lacking inspiration? Take a look at the work of Lee Jefferies

(black and white portraits) or Alex Alexander.

Abbey, New Zealand, 2011Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 50mm, 1/90 second @ f1.4, ISO 12,800

p. 43. Painting with lightOne of the benefits of colour photography

is that you can put the varying colour

temperatures of different light sources to

creative use.

For example, I created the photo on the

right with a mixture of ambient and

tungsten light. I started by finding a yellow

leaf and freezing it in water in a clear

container. I photographed the leaf inside,

in dim light, as this gave me a slow shutter

speed. I set the camera’s white balance

setting to tungsten and then used a small

torch to ‘paint’ the leaf with light during the

exposure. The result is that the tungsten

white balance setting turned the ice blue,

but kept the leaf it’s natural yellow colour.

This technique works best if you use

the Raw format because you can adjust

the white balance setting easily in post-

processing.

For more painting with light ideas look at

the work of Michael Bosanko – he takes it

to the extreme.Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 50mm, 4 seconds @ f11, ISO 100

p. 54. Museums It may sound a little strange, but museums

and historical homes have become a great

source of subject matter for me. I like old

things and there are normally plenty of

those in these places, arranged in nice

looking ways that are interesting to take

photos of.

Most museums and historical homes that

I’ve been to permit non-flash photography

for personal use (commercial use may be

restricted). There are a couple of technical

challenges to overcome. You probably

won’t be allowed to use a tripod, so that

means hand-holding. Light levels may be

low – so you’ll need to use some of the

higher ISO settings on your camera.

Don’t be afraid to use the higher ISO

settings on your camera. The photo on

the left, for example, was taken at ISO

6400. The key is to test your camera to find

the highest ISO setting at which you’re

comfortable working. Increasing exposure

helps reduce noise – do some research on

the ‘expose to the right’ technique.

Whangarei Clock Museum, New Zealand, 2011Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 85mm, 1/180 second @ f2, ISO 3200

p. 65. Gelled flash

Portable flash gives you control over the ambient light. The ambient light isn’t

always ideal for the subject that you’re shooting, especially if you are taking

photos of people. A flash unit is a portable light source that you can use to

complement, overpower or add to the natural, available light.

One advantage of digital photography, when it comes to portable flash, is the

ability to see the result of your lighting set-up right away on the camera’s LCD

screen. This speeds up the learning process – imagine how long it would take you

to learn about lighting if you had to wait until the film was processed to see the

results. Now, it’s easy to see the results right away and adjust your lighting set-up

as you go along.

One key thing you need to understand about the light from a portable flash is

the colour temperature. It’s daylight balanced – designed to match the colour

temperature of daylight balanced film. But you can change this by taping plastic

gels to the front of your flash. A full cut CTO (colour temperature orange) gel, for

example, turns the light from your flash unit orange. Now you don’t just have a

portable light source, you have one that matches the colour temperature of a

tungsten light or the light from the setting sun. That’s the technique that I used to

take the photo on this page.

You’ll learn all you need to know about portable flash photography at the websites

of David Hobby and Joe McNally. Although these photographers are Nikon users,

much of their advice is generic. You can find some Canon specific advice at Syl

Arena’s Speedliting website.

Abbey, New Zealand, 2011Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 85mm, 1/125 second @ f4, ISO 50

p. 76. BuildingsIf you live in or near a place with beautiful

architecture, it’s well worth spending some

time photographing it.

Buildings have texture, shape, pattern, line

and colour. Photographing them becomes

an exercise in seeing and composition. You

can close in on details, or include the entire

building.

The shrine in the wall of this house (on the

island of Murano, near Venice) caught my

eye. It’s unusual, and there’s a beautiful

colour contrast between the red shrine and

the blue wall.

Buildings are also a great exercise for black

and white photography. Taking away the

colour leaves the shapes, textures and

patterns, elements which turn out quite

striking in monochrome.

For a really original approach to

photographing buildings, take a look at

Cole Thompson’s The Fountainhead series.

Murano, Italy, 2009Canon EOS 40D, 17-40mm @ 17mm, 1/125 second @ f7, ISO 100

p. 87. Go square

Square format photography used to be the preserve of 6x6 medium format

camera system owners. Not any more. The simplicity of cropping the digital

image means that just about everybody can experiment with the square

format.

Composition is different in the square format. The rule of thirds goes out the

window and you’ll find that a centrally placed subject often works well. The

square format suits the minimalist approach as compositional elements like

line and shape assume more importance within the square frame.

Here’s an exercise for a rainy day or those long winter evenings. Go through

some of your old photos and see if they can be improved by cropping them

to the square format. I guarantee you’ll be surprised by how much difference

it makes to some of your photos. It’s an interesting exercise because it makes

you look at some of your older work in a new light.

You can also try converting some of your colour images to black and white

(you’ll learn all you need to know about black and white photography from

my ‘The Magic of Black & White’ ebooks – more details at the end of this

ebook). The square format seems to suit the approach of black and white fine

art photographers very well.

Jessica Hilltout and Andy Brown are two photographers who use the square

format well.

Cementerio de Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2007Canon EOS 350D, 18-55mm @ 55mm, 1/160 second @ f11, ISO 100

p. 98. NightThe increased sensitivity of recent digital

SLR cameras means that it’s possible to

go out and take photos at night and get

amazing results using just the ambient

light (without using flash). There are two

approaches. One is to use a tripod and

a low ISO setting. This suits subjects like

architecture and landscapes.

The other approach is to use your camera’s

high ISO settings and take photos hand-

held. A prime lens will also help as the

fast aperture settings give you the option

of opening up the aperture rather than

raising the ISO. Hand-holding gives you the

freedom to move around and experiment

with composition. This approach suits

street and travel photography, where you

need to use a fast enough shutter speed to

freeze action anyway.

I took this photo at Auckland’s Lantern

Festival – a wide aperture setting has

thrown the lanterns in the background out

of focus.

Auckland Lantern Festival, New Zealand, 2011Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 85mm, 1/1000 second @ f2, ISO 1600

p. 109. Flowers

Flowers are one of my favourite black and

white subjects. A white flower against a

dark background is an easy but powerful

composition. It takes advantage of the

tonal contrast between the white flower

and the dark background to create a

powerful image. Furthermore, you can

experiment with using wide apertures

to throw the background out of focus to

add even more depth to the image. This

technique works well in colour too – there

is an example of each on this page.

Diffused light is the best for this type of

photo. Avoid direct sunlight as the contrast

levels are too high.

Whangarei, New Zealand, 2011Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 85mm, 1/180 second @ f2, ISO 1600

p. 1110. Classic car showsI went to my first classic car show earlier

this year and enjoyed it immensely.

There were hundreds of beautiful classic

cars there lots of good opportunities for

photos. There was so much potential for

image making that it was difficult to know

where to start.

My approach this time was to use

what is becoming one of my favourite

combinations – my EF 85mm f1.8 lens

fitted with a 500D close-up lens. I got right

in close to logos and hood ornaments

like the one picture, and used the lens at

or near the maximum aperture to create

images with shallow depth of field.

I also paid attention to the composition

to try and create some dramatic images.

Here, I tilted the camera so the chrome

ornament created a right to left diagonal

exiting the frame in the top left corner.

This adds visual tension to the image and

makes it more interesting to look at.

Auckland, New Zealand, 2011Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 85mm, 1/3000 second @ f1.8, ISO 100

p. 12Conclusion“A great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed.” – Ansel Adams

This is the first ebook that I’ve released at my own website. I hope it’s inspired you to go out and

take some beautiful photos. It isn’t an in-depth exploration of the world of creative photography

and that was never its intention. Rather, it serves as an introduction to my work and hopefully it will

inspire you to go and try some of the techniques.

I’ve written three in-depth ebooks on black and white photography plus another – The Evocative

Image – for Craft & Vision. If you’ve never heard of Craft & Vision you’ll be pleasantly surprised

by what you find there – a selection of inspirational and informative photography ebooks from

authors like David duChemin (it’s his website), Darwin Wiggett, Michael Frye, Mitchel Kanashkevich

and more. The ebooks are only five dollars each and represent tremendous value.

There’s more information on my other ebooks on the next few pages – if you’ve enjoyed this one

then please go take a look at the others. If you have any feedback on this ebook, or any of the

others, I’d love to hear from you. I enjoy connecting with my readers and you can find me at my

blog and social media websites, listed below.

Andrew S Gibson

andrewsgibson.com/blog

facebook.com/andrewsgibson

twitter.com/andrewsgibson

500px.com/andrewsgibson

flickr.com/magicalplaces

Woodstock, England, 2009Canon EOS 40D, 60mm, 1/250 second @ f2.8, ISO 800

p. 13Photography eBooks These ebooks are available on my website as downloadable PDF files. Click on the graphics or the links to go straight to my website for full details.

Understanding DPP

Understanding DPP is written for anybody

who uses a Canon EOS camera and wants

to learn how to get the best out of their

Raw files with DPP (the free but powerful

Raw processing software that comes

with the camera). It will also appeal to

photographers who would like to use

Raw, but are put off by the complexity or

expense of more advanced software.

The difference between Understanding DPP

and a manual or guide is that it explains

how to use the software, but also, and

more importantly, why you should use it.

It’s written for creative photographers who

want to use the functions within DPP (such

as white balance, Picture Style and contrast

control) to make creative images.

Understanding DPPSquare

In Square, I delve deep into the mysteries of

the square format. Before digital cameras,

the only way you could use the square

format (cropping excluded) was to buy a

6×6 medium format camera. Now, digital

cameras have opened up the square

format to anybody who doesn’t mind

taking the trouble to crop their images in

post-processing.

But using the square format isn’t simply a

matter of cropping – there’s a lot more to

it than that. The square format demands a

new approach to composition. The rule-of-

thirds (which readers of Beyond Thirds will

know I’m not too fond of in the first place

anyway) no longer applies. Instead the

composition relies on aspects like shape,

simplicity and balance.

Square

p. 14Photography eBooks These ebooks are all available at Craft & Vison as downloadable PDF files or iPad apps for just $5US. Click on the graphics or the links to go straight to the Craft & Vision website for full details.

The Evocative Image

How do you create images that capture

the atmosphere or show the beauty

of something that you perceived at a

particular time and place?

This ebook explores three key concepts

that will help you create evocative images

– light, colour and composition.

Another concept that I tackle is that

evocative photos are created on the edges

– for example, twilight is the edge between

night and day.

The topics explored in this ebook will help

you take truly moody, evocative images.

The Evocative ImageBeyond Thirds

This captivating and inspiring eBook is

about taking composition past the so-

called rules. It’s a thoughtful, practical book

about the way we build our photographs

within the constraint of the frame.

This ebook explores important subjects

like the creative use of balance and

focal points, insights into how to shape

a subject, and using aspect ratio to

establish an ideal foundation for making

photographs, and so much more.

The diagrams and creative exercises will

provide you with the ideas and insights

you need to compose more engaging

photographs.

Beyond Thirds

p. 15

The Magic of Black & White: Part I –

Vision is written for anyone who would

like to learn to work in monochrome.

The first step is learning to see in black

and white. The ebook is split into three

sections: composition, lighting and

subject. You’ll learn how to compose a

black and white photo, how to work in

different types of light and about subjects

that work well in black and white.

This ebook will give you an understanding

of what black and white photography is

all about, and why it’s such a beautiful

medium for creative self-expression.

Photography eBooks

The Magic of Black & White: Part II –

Craft In this ebook I explain how I process

my black & white photos step by step using

Photoshop CS and Photoshop Elements.

I guide you through the transformation

process that starts with a colour photo and

ends with a beautiful, toned black & white

image.

This ebook is the sequel to The Magic of

Black & White: Part I – Vision. Craft and

vision go together – black and white

photography becomes truly magical when

the two meet, and you have the technical

skills to bring your creative vision alive.

The Magic of Black & White Part I – Vision

The Magic of Black & White Part II – Craft

These ebooks are all available at Craft & Vison as downloadable PDF files or iPad apps for just $5US. Click on the graphics or the links to go straight to the Craft & Vision website for full details.

p. 16Photography eBooks

The Magic of Black & White: Part III

– Nine Photos In this ebook I take you

through nine black and white images

with the intention of explaining the more

advanced Photoshop techniques behind

them.

To be anything more than a technical

exercise Photoshop technique needs to be

aligned with creative vision. The thoughts

and emotions that drive our vision are just

as important as the Photoshop techniques

required to achieve them. This ebook helps

you think about how you see the world and

how you can set yourself a creative brief to

express your vision.

Andes

In the Andes are wonders such as the

world’s highest city, deserts above the

clouds and remote villages where the local

people hold traditional celebrations whose

origins stretch back to the years before the

Spanish conquest.

Andes has over forty black and white

photos created during my travels to

the Andes over a six year period. Part

monograph, part travelogue, it tells the

story of my journeys to the Andes and my

parallel journey through photography as

I made my transition from film to digital,

and took the first tentative steps towards a

career as a writer.

The Magic of Black & White Part III – Nine Photos

Andes

These ebooks are all available at Craft & Vison as downloadable PDF files or iPad apps for just $5US. Click on the graphics or the links to go straight to the Craft & Vision website for full details.

p. 17

Design & layout: Andrew S Gibson

Copyright © 2011 Andrew S Gibson

The Creative ImageAndrew S Gibson

Notice of rightsAll rights reserved. No part of this ebook may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means without the permission of the author.

About the author

I’m a writer and photographer. I’m the

Technical Editor of EOS magazine, and

I write photography ebooks for Craft &

Vision. My articles have also appeared

in other photography magazines such

as Practical Photography and Better

Photoshop Techniques, and websites

like Peachpit.com and PhotoTuts+. I also

work as a Technical Editor of upcoming

photography books for ILEX publishing.

AndrewSGibson.com

Venice, Italy, 2011Canon EOS 40D, 17-40mm @ 28mm, 2.5 seconds @ f8, ISO 100

andrewsgibsonwriter@gmail.com