My starting attempts and Inspiration Help

[althas]

Well greetings all, new member here. What a great site this is

Until my financial situation improves and I can buy that 400mm lens, my wildlife ambition will take a back seat to my macro

These are the best of my attempts so far







Hope you like them

But where I have trouble, is inspiration. I look around and see (I guess) the same that most people do. But I have seen some outstanding shots of the must unlikely things, like screws, pencils. How do people think of these things? I don't think I would in a thousand years. But I want to. So post your thoughts and help me (and others) along

[RoyL]

Inspiration comes from lines and shapes, like your second shot.

A trick you can try, get an old lens and take the top glass off. You can use this to get an idea of what the object will look like in macro, and because of the curvature of the lens you get a view with a very narrow depth of field just like macro. This way you don't have to use your camera and you can carry the lens in a pocket.

[daft_biker]

Originally Posted by althas

How do people think of these things? I don't think I would in a thousand years. But I want to. So post your thoughts and help me (and others) along

Years of going through what you're going through followed by years of hard work I imagine.

I think we all go that phase of wanting to take pictures but having no idea of what, why or how. Why is probably the easy bit....because it's fun to take pictures and we want to do it. What you want to photograph might take a bit of work and you kind of have to work that out for yourself (unless you're shooting images to please others).

When I lack inspiration I concentrate on the how - the technical bit. I'll go out for a wander with a macro lens and a tripod and practice technique. Even if the weather isn't very nice I can usually find some mushrooms in the woods and I find they make great subjects to practice on....they don't run away!

For example in this shot I was aiming to get the whole of the subject sharp against the blurriest background I could:

Ok it may not be the most exciting of compositions or subject matter but I enjoyed getting out with the camera, finding something to photograph and solving the problem of getting the subject sharp and the background blurry. I selected the lowest shooting angle I could to minimise the amount of DoF I needed, to get as sqaure on to the subject as I could and to get the background as far away from the subject as I could. Since I was using a DSLR I used a bit trial and error to find the point of focus and aperture I needed.

In the next shot I was aiming to get the reflection in the mushroom cap in focus from front to back, again with the blurriest background I could manage:


Come summer time you might want to try for something like this:

Although it's a bit tricker with subject that move and blow about in the wind....am looking forward to having another go at that one so I can get something better!

You can find some great subject matter just by getting out there to practice technique...hope this helps

[NIX74]

i would say prastise. Just shoot what ever you seem. It may look crap but sometime you just catch something beautiful.

Remember one thing what you see with your eyes and what you see through the viewfinder is difference. that's what I expereince.

There are time i image that certain shot can look good but when really photograph it, it just look OK. So again I woould say keep shooting even if you do not have insperation.