Home · Register · Join Upload & Sell

Moderated by: Fred Miranda
Username  

  New fredmiranda.com Mobile Site
  New Feature: SMS Notification alert
  New Feature: Buy & Sell Watchlist
  

FM Forums | Photo Critique | Join Upload & Sell

1
       2       end
  

Archive 2016 · Inspiration for a photo subject

  
 
ben egbert
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Inspiration for a photo subject


How do you find your inspiration for a photo?

I will kick it off with my methods.

1. Look at galleries. This includes real galleries, public buildings with art, on line galleries, Google Earth, FM images, 500PX, and even my own galleries.
2. Always look for good subjects/scenes while driving, walking, in movies, etc.
3. Go to places known to be picturesque or to have photogenic subject material.
4. Study light anywhere I may be.

I specialize in landscapes, but I assume some of these methods would work for any subject. The key for me is that the subject must be something I would like to look at for extended periods of time as a permanent part of my
viewing environment.

Once I have found a subject, the next job is to figure out a composition and best time to be there.



Jan 08, 2016 at 07:47 PM
eeneryma
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Inspiration for a photo subject


ben egbert wrote:
How do you find your inspiration for a photo?

I will kick it off with my methods.

1. Look at galleries. This includes real galleries, public buildings with art, on line galleries, Google Earth, FM images, 500PX, and even my own galleries.
2. Always look for good subjects/scenes while driving, walking, in movies, etc.
3. Go to places known to be picturesque or to have photogenic subject material.
4. Study light anywhere I may be.

I specialize in landscapes, but I assume some of these methods would work for any subject. The key for me is that the subject must be something I would
...Show more

Great topic to explore Ben. #2 is my preferred method, and rule #1 is to always carry my camera. You never know when inspiration will strike. Here's some other ideas:

1.) Visit bookstores and peruse the photography section. Sometimes I'll ask the clerk in the store to tell me what photography books are selling, and what they recommend. The internet can provide inspiration by going on to Amazon.com or similar sites and typing in best selling photography books and see what appears. Last, your local library usually has a good collection of photo books.

2.) Museums - I'm fortunate to live in a big city with many museums and art galleries. I make it a habit to follow the current exhibits, both in photography and fine art. Much can be learned about composition and posing and color and other techniques to improve my photography.

3.) Photo classes - One of the best sources of inspiration, learning from both the teacher and other students.

4.) There's great stuff to photograph all around us. One exercise that several teachers challenged students to do was to stop dead in your tracks wherever you are, turn slowly around 360 degrees, and try to find something worthwhile to photograph. More often than not this challenge inspires and works.

Steve



Jan 08, 2016 at 09:36 PM
ben egbert
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Inspiration for a photo subject


eeneryma wrote:
Great topic to explore Ben. #2 is my preferred method, and rule #1 is to always carry my camera. You never know when inspiration will strike. Here's some other ideas:

1.) Visit bookstores and peruse the photography section. Sometimes I'll ask the clerk in the store to tell me what photography books are selling, and what they recommend. The internet can provide inspiration by going on to Amazon.com or similar sites and typing in best selling photography books and see what appears. Last, your local library usually has a good collection of photo books.

2.) Museums - I'm fortunate to live in
...Show more

Reply to 4, I don't know how to extract part of a quote.


I usually have my camera buried in a backpack with the tripod stowed as well. I often walk past nice scenes while on my way to another because of the bother. I should probably carry my Mirrorless to be available for opportunities like this. Just hand held.

While driving, I often see scenes but no place to park.




Jan 09, 2016 at 11:04 AM
Camperjim
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Inspiration for a photo subject


I see photography as requiring three skill sets. First, use of the camera, lenses and gear, including all of the settings and an understanding of how the camera sensor behaves differently than our eyes and how we can compensate for the shortcomings and make use of the advantages. Second, composition which includes everything in and out of our images including light/dark, colors, shapes, lines, objects of interest, how they all interact and how they communicate back to the viewer. Third, is artistic vision. This is harder to explain but would include in general why we take pictures and what we want to do with them. This would also include the specifics of why we want to take a specific picture, what has captured our attention and what we want to communicate. I think this third skill set is the most difficult and most important. Unfortunately I am just starting to gain these skills. Without vision we can achieve technically skilled images which are well composed but are without soul. We and the viewers will quickly lose interest.

To further complicate this issue, I see that every photographer has a different vision. I cannot imagine trying to copy or achieve personal vision from books or museums although they can be very helpful in learning camera skills and composition. To me vision begins by connecting to the scenery or other subject. I have a friend who helps. I call her SuBi. She helps me see and feel what is special, unique, beautiful and/or interesting in the world. No musum, book or fellow photographer can do that. My idea of vision is NOT trying to impose some preconceived idea on the world. Nor can I copy someone else's ideas. To me it is finding what is important to me and then being able to translate that into an image. I find this absolutely exhausting work. If I shoot for a couple of hours, which I do often when shooting flowers, I all but need a stretcher to carry me out.



Jan 09, 2016 at 02:37 PM
ben egbert
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Inspiration for a photo subject


Jim, this is a very good break down of the skills IMO. The last one is of course the hardest and one that I not only struggle with but in a special way.

Unlike you, I can get inspired by looking at pictures because they help me decide what subjects I like and where to focus my effort.

I suppose my reductionist tendencies are what present my biggest issue for traditional approaches to art. I am not trying to grow my list of subjects, I am trying to refine the narrow list I already have by selecting the best of the best.

I guess one part of my vision is already a given because so much has already been rejected. This is another thing one can learn at a gallery or museum. IE, 90% (maybe more) has no interest to me, so it can be ignored.

The process of refinement is of course a rejection of styles and types (reductionist). This should not start with a blanket rejection, but after many years with some serious viewing and observation it seems valid to me.











Jan 09, 2016 at 02:48 PM
beanpkk
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Inspiration for a photo subject


Ben,

Great idea for a topic. I usually go with #3 (go to someplace interesting -- really the only approach one can take for wildlife), and a sort of reduced version of #2 wherein I look in my back yard front yard and while on walks with the dog for interesting images. If I'm driving I'm typically a) w/out a camera, b) trying/having to get somewhere, and c) too far from home to be interested in coming back, or if I can come back the scene of interest will have gone away (sunset, light of a particular angle, bird, etc).

As far as vision, there may be two kinds: vision ~before~ taking the shot, and vision ~after~ taking it. Occasionally in looking through old images, I find a bit of a gem in one that I hadn't seen before, and by cropping (typically) or doing a little PP that gem can be polished a bit and brought out. This is an illustration of vision ~after~ taking a shot.

I do occasionally look for a particular subject on Flickr, say, and see how others have treated it. Sometimes I get inspiration that way.

keith



Jan 09, 2016 at 03:12 PM
eeneryma
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Inspiration for a photo subject


Camperjim wrote:
I see photography as requiring three skill sets. First, use of the camera, lenses and gear, including all of the settings and an understanding of how the camera sensor behaves differently than our eyes and how we can compensate for the shortcomings and make use of the advantages. Second, composition which includes everything in and out of our images including light/dark, colors, shapes, lines, objects of interest, how they all interact and how they communicate back to the viewer. Third, is artistic vision. This is harder to explain but would include in general why we take pictures and what we
...Show more

Jim, you've done a wonderful job of explaining the skills that all photographers are challenged with mastering. Artistic vision is something that artists develop over a lifetime, and it's something that can continually change along the way.

Styles of learning differ greatly. Some people prefer to learn from books, others grow by studying with a teacher, or interacting with other professionals, or.... Finding out the method that works best for you as an individual will maximize one's growth and provide the greatest satisfaction .

Steve



Jan 09, 2016 at 03:22 PM
Camperjim
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Inspiration for a photo subject


ben egbert wrote:
....

I guess one part of my vision is already a given because so much has already been rejected. This is another thing one can learn at a gallery or museum. IE, 90% (maybe more) has no interest to me, so it can be ignored.

The process of refinement is of course a rejection of styles and types (reductionist). ........



Not surprising we have a completely different view of this subject. To me the value of galleries and museums is to Expand one's outlook. I do spend a great deal of time studying art. Partly I want to learn more about composition. I find that painters use some powerful techniques and most photographers have learned nonsense. Photographers seem to reject understanding and rely on instinct...which of course comes largely from viewing thousands of images/hour while watching TV. We have been programmed. I find I am starting to use a lot of techniques from landscape paintings, especially those developed by Claude Lorrain.

I also find that as I learn more about the visual arts I develop appreciation and interest in different approaches. Abstract expressionism has given this a bad name because it can be so difficult to understand. I found that seeing the art in person helps a lot. Fortunately living near the NYC museums helps and I am even starting to make some progress in appreciation and understanding of the abstract expressionism movement.



Jan 09, 2016 at 03:24 PM
ben egbert
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Inspiration for a photo subject


beanpkk wrote:
Ben,

Great idea for a topic. I usually go with #3 (go to someplace interesting -- really the only approach one can take for wildlife), and a sort of reduced version of #2 wherein I look in my back yard front yard and while on walks with the dog for interesting images. If I'm driving I'm typically a) w/out a camera, b) trying/having to get somewhere, and c) too far from home to be interested in coming back, or if I can come back the scene of interest will have gone away (sunset, light of a particular angle, bird, etc).

As
...Show more

I especially like the changing nature of our after vision. I have been going over the last 2 years of my best stuff, calling up the raws and re processing them according to my current vision. I almost always like the new one better (not always) and I am surprised at how many former HDR shots I can now make from one image.

But HDR was not a waste, instead its a target, a standard in terms of higher DR and detail I might like to see.




Jan 09, 2016 at 04:26 PM
ben egbert
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Inspiration for a photo subject


Camperjim wrote:
Not surprising we have a completely different view of this subject. To me the value of galleries and museums is to Expand one's outlook. I do spend a great deal of time studying art. Partly I want to learn more about composition. I find that painters use some powerful techniques and most photographers have learned nonsense. Photographers seem to reject understanding and rely on instinct...which of course comes largely from viewing thousands of images/hour while watching TV. We have been programmed. I find I am starting to use a lot of techniques from landscape paintings, especially those developed by Claude
...Show more

I spend a lot of time in photo galleries, not as much in Museums, but I did spend a day at the Chicago Art Institute once while killing a Sunday during a trade show trip.

My point is that by viewing this work, and I viewed every piece on display and including a special gallery by Maplethorpe, it was clear that some stuff is unappealing. Maplethorpe almost made me throw up.

For example, I have viewed hundreds of images of sand dunes and slot canyons. So far I have not liked one. The lesson is, don't bother going to a sand dune or a slot. I almost never like an arch, with Mesa the exception. I almost never like Bryce, or "The Wave" or Hoodoos.

I love flowers, but I have grown flowers so long that I can too easily spot the flaws in the flower. I would love to live where I could get back into bird photography. But I am not a newbie. Its a thing that needs plenty of good access so you can keep your skills up. These days you probably need a 600 f4 lens as well.

People photography will be limited to my immediate family because I avoid people in general (same for city type photography). My interest does not extend into getting exotic lighting and learning to use it.













Jan 09, 2016 at 04:42 PM
Camperjim
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Inspiration for a photo subject


I suspect you were looking at Maplethorps social commentary images about sexuality. By today's standards those are out of date but at the time he was in the forefront of that issue. He also shot flowers..not all of which were images of perfect flowers.

















Jan 09, 2016 at 05:08 PM
ben egbert
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Inspiration for a photo subject


If those are Mapplethorpe, they are very good, the color ones that is. I would not be wanting to show the dead petals however.

Yes, the images on display that day were all selfies he made in the nude.






Jan 09, 2016 at 06:59 PM
sbeme
Offline
• • • • • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Inspiration for a photo subject


I like the exercise of stopping, looking around, behind, from a different sight line etc.
We all accommodate to our surround so readily, it is hard to rediscover what is around us.
A few years back I had the first of many experiences shooting with a talented friend. We both stood side by side in a deep field with long shadows from the late autumn sun, and with an old, somewhat decrepit white farm house straight ahead.
We paused, looked, composed, shot, compared images. Not only was the processing different, but so were the subjects! I need practice seeing what others see, shaking my vision up. Looking at images, shooting with others, working an assignment, dedicating to a certain focal length, insisting on only BW interpretations all provide creative and filtering experiences that help me (sometimes, alas) break my vision and see differently. The many fine reprocessing of images we present here similarly help me better visualize alternative images, hint at different experiences.

Scott



Jan 09, 2016 at 07:57 PM
Camperjim
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Inspiration for a photo subject


sbeme wrote:
.... ....help me (sometimes, alas) break my vision and see differently. ..........

Scott


I like the Dorothea Lange quote.....a camera is an instrument that helps people see the world without a camera.

To me the act of shooting forces me to see the world differently with more interest and more emotion. Every photographer seems to develop their own style. I like to see how others photograph the same places but really try to avoid any attempt at copying another's style.



Jan 09, 2016 at 08:08 PM
RustyBug
Offline
• • • • • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Inspiration for a photo subject


Lots of good insight ... and lots of ways to respond.

A) Ben's #4 @ study light
B) Jim's three things, but with a twist @ message is #1. Everything else is part of conveying the message.
C) +1 @ paintings. Cameras are kind of the Etch-A-Sketch for those who don't know how to hold a paintbrush, or can't draw a stick man with a ruler (i.e. me). I mean, we are both rendering a two-dimensional image ... just different tools for image making.

But mostly, it is when I have something I actually want to say/show/share with others that I am most inspired to aspire to capture & present such a message in visual form.

Imo, stimulating inspiration is about stimulating thought ... mine first, then the viewers.





Delicate Strength




Jan 09, 2016 at 09:48 PM
ben egbert
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Inspiration for a photo subject


The way I got my job as a drafter at Lockheed in 1960 was because I was freehand drawing a ring and pinion in isometric as homework for an illustration class. My boss saw it and offered me a job as a drafter.

I was doing oil painting at the time, and I could get the form, but I eventually gave up oil painting because I could never get the color right.

I finally took up photography because I wanted to capture the beauty I saw and have the camera take care of the color. Little did I know.

As a kid, I looked at everything and memorized its shape and geometry. When I raced motorcycles in the Mojave, I would ask my buddies if they saw that field of wild flowers, they never did, and I never missed them. Of course they always beat me in the race.

And that brings up another thing. I seldom won, but when I did it meant nothing to me, but I always hated losing. That is why I avoid competition. Its the losing not the winning that matters.



Jan 09, 2016 at 10:58 PM
nolaguy
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Inspiration for a photo subject


ben egbert wrote:
Its the losing not the winning that matters.


Now there's an insight into the human condition if there ever was one.



Jan 10, 2016 at 03:24 AM
RustyBug
Offline
• • • • • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Inspiration for a photo subject


ben egbert wrote:
Its the losing not the winning that matters.


nolaguy wrote:
Now there's an insight into the human condition if there ever was one.


+1

There will always be someone who is ... what I call " 'er " ... than me.

There will always be someone richer, taller, smarter, prettier, faster, stronger, more eloquent, more succinct, more educated, more practical, more etc. (insert adjective of choice, to include photographic attributes) than I am. Sage advice includes learning to be content in wherever you are, which seems to be antithetical to being malcontent as a driver for growth at perpetual improvement via competitive @ I'm better than you. However, if we are content to consider ourselves as perpetual students, then we are in a state of perpetual improvement and the fact that someone is "er" than us does not relegate us to a competitive malcontent (i.e. I must be the best), yet we still become better.

Sounds like some semantic psycho-hogwash to split the difference ... but there will always be others "er" than me ... and I will always be "er" to others. The only thing that really matters (imo), is the degree to which I am advancing, stagnating or retarding. I can't control how others are advancing, stagnating or retarding about / around me ... but I do have some input to how I'm doing.

I'm good with others being "er" than me ... I just want to be able to look in the rear view mirror and see that today's me is "er" than last year's me.

That said, when I do compete, I do my best to win. But, (football phrase) "on any given Sunday" ... i.e. nobody stays on top 100% of the time, forever. Yet, we can forever continue to "er" ourselves.

Being the best vs. being really good / excellent / mastery ... well, one is time based, temporary and fleeting (comparatively based) while the other is permanent and sustainable, with the wherewithal to withstand the test of time.




Jan 10, 2016 at 11:38 AM
eeneryma
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Inspiration for a photo subject


RustyBug wrote:
+1

There will always be someone who is ... what I call " 'er " ... than me.

There will always be someone richer, taller, smarter, prettier, faster, stronger, more eloquent, more succinct, more educated, more practical, more etc. (insert adjective of choice, to include photographic attributes) than I am. Sage advice includes learning to be content in wherever you are, which seems to be antithetical to being malcontent as a driver for growth at perpetual improvement via competitive @ I'm better than you. However, if we are content to consider ourselves as perpetual students, then we are in a state
...Show more

+1 on top of +1

A good exercise is to go back and review all the great work that you've done in 2015 and give oneself credit. Or better yet, go back five years and compare that work to what you're doing now. Should give one considerable pause for thought.

Steve



Jan 10, 2016 at 12:07 PM
ben egbert
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Inspiration for a photo subject


The key to equilibrium here is to avoid the contest format of win lose. If you are not in the game, you can't lose. I avoid games. I compete against my past efforts and that's my limit.

If I want to be instructed I will ask a superior for it and no losing is incurred because I set the terms in advance. If I want peer review, same thing. It's only when these activities become a "your wrong I am right" deal and by implication you are a loser.






Jan 10, 2016 at 12:16 PM
1
       2       end




FM Forums | Photo Critique | Join Upload & Sell

1
       2       end
    
 

You are not logged in. Login or Register

Username       Or Reset password



This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.