Slow shutter creativity!

(example of shooting while twisting the camera.)

Have you ever been bored shooting sharp pictures, by-the-book technicals? Have you ever wanted to try something unusual? i guess this is just the right article for you to read. Let me share with you some fun stuff and out of the box techniques that will bring out a new paradigm in your photos and boost your creativity.

The tricks here are done with a slow shutter to show a sense of movement in the image and no post processing required, just between you and your good old camera.



(example of slow sync flash technique.)

=Zoom burst. This is done by setting your
camera on a slow shutter like 1/30 or slower. focus on your subject and simultaneously twist your zoom lens while pressing the shutter! Be surprised with the final image.

=Bulb setting trick. You need patience before you can master this trick. This trick is the secret to capturing star trails and moving city traffic at night. You need a tripod and long battery life for this technique.

=Twist. Twisting your camera gives a swirling and abstract effect on the image.

=Panning. Follow he moving subject with your camera while pressing the shutter.

=Slow sync flash. Put your setting on a slow shutter and just the flash. This is great on a low light situation e.g inside a bar or disco. Experiment by either shooting still or moving the camera in whatever directions your want.



example of shooting street cars on slow shutter.)

Creativity Exercises

Exercise A = Story telling

Do the following exercise once a week for the next 3 months (this will be your once a week date with your artist). The exercise will help you in enhancing your story telling skills, what you need to do is to go to the places listed and then tell the
story about the place or the people in the place. You may use any style you want, you may or may break the rules of composition, the important thing is doing the shoot creatively. Shoot as many as you can and have fun.




Place:
Zoo
Park
Mall
Wet market
Old Church
Office
School
Heritage site
Sports game
Restaurant
2nd hand car shop
Nature sight
New church



Exercise B = Alphabet skills

This exercise will help you in you Perception Skills. Find the shapes of Alphabet in anything you see under the sun. It is up to you how you want to do it as long as you do it creatively.

Exercise C = weekly Photo exercise

By doing this, you will be able to enhance your skills in photography, this will also help you in shooting consistently for the next 365 days

Week 1 Fire
Week 2 Stone
Week 3 Crowd
Week 4 Children
Week 5 One
Week 6 Letter A
Week 7 Pain
Week 8 Animal
Week 9 Lines
Week 10 Big & Small
Week 11 Bad
Week 12 Culture
Week 13 Prayer
Week 14 Silhouette
Week 15 Rule of thirds
Week 16 Fish
Week 17 Dawn
Week 18 Music
Week 19 Famous
Week 20 Motion
Week 21 Dance
Week 22 Mountains
Week 23 Egg
Week 24 Abundance
Week 25 Fan
Week 26 Height
Week 27 Macro
Week 28 Gods
Week 29 I
Week 30 Jumping
Week 31 Leading lines
Week 32 Kissable
Week 33 Moon
Week 34 Love
Week 35 Morning dew
Week 36 Street
Week 37 Heat
Week 38 Country side
Week 39 Short
Week 40 Anything
Week 41 Rivers
Week 42 Framing
Week 43 Colors
Week 44 Candid
Week 45 Strength
Week 46 Harmony
Week 47 Something red
Week 48 Lightning









Exercise D

This exercise will help you in making your own theme. Use the alphabet and numbers to make your own theme

A is for (e.g)Ashes
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
1 Dried leaf
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Developing Creativity

CREATIVITY DEVELOPMENT

Creativity is not a word made just for artists, it’s a word for everyone. You can be creative in your cooking, creative in gardening, in driving, etc.. Creative came from the word Creation which means creating something from nothing, same with when we create art, we create beautiful flowers in the nothingness of canvass or create beautiful pictures of the sunset from the nothingness of a blank film paper. Creativity is within us, all we need to do is to wake it up or tap it.

Things to remember about creativity:

1. Love yourself and your art. Your art is unique to you so be careful with your inner critique. Often times it is us who judge our art. We say that its not nice, I don’t like it, this wont sell or they will make fun of my art. These are the things that we should be careful of, we are not in the right position to judge ourselves when it comes to our art, our inner self is our enemies, this will stop us from making art. The important thing is to just do it.

2. Have time for art. Working too much or being too busy will kill the artist in us. We are all born with talents, we just need to enhance it. Keeping it inside will only kill it, working too hard and not having time for our inner artist is not good for us. Take strolls or do thing another way, try taking a different route going to work or try eating with 2 spoons. Have fun and have time to nurture and nourish the artist within. Set aside 1 day a week to shoot, shoot anything and play!



3. Shoot, shoot, shoot! Don’t shoot to be famous or to get paid. Shoot because you love doing it, shoot because it is your passion, shoot not to be praised. Shoot your subjects from different angles, different exposures, underexposed, overexposed. Just shoot and shoot because the best way to learn is by doing.

4. Have fun. Art is suppose to be fun, don’t we love art classes. Now that we are older art should still be the same. Take time to think before clicking but don’t think too much or you will miss the moment. Also, don’t think too much in how you want to compose a photo, just know the basics by heart and let it flow out from you, but be sure to look around the frame before clicking.