Photo Walk | 10/04/20

Hopefully the first of many.

Rainy Day Photo Editing

One thing I find myself struggling with is actually getting the photos from my camera to somewhere where others can see them. It’s probably more that I just never find or make time to actually make it happen.

I also find myself a little disappointed when I have time to go out and take photos and it’s raining or really cloudy and just dull out. I know plenty of photographers really like the less extreme example of this as you get soft light and shadows. Unfortunately, I’m not a huge fan. Maybe someday I’ll find a way to appreciate it, and maybe even a place in my work. But I’m more concerned with when it’s flat out raining outside and going out would just not be a good idea.

The rain is calling me to stay inside, and that’s the perfect opportunity to actually work on getting some photos uploaded, edited, shared, or even printed. This might seem really obvious, but if you don’t have an end goal in mind, a structured workflow, and a time limit dedicated to each particular part of the process, it’s just not going to happen.

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So why not take advantage of this opportunity. An added bonus can also be that going through your images will likely inspire you and motivate you to want to shoot more and get your work out into the world.

A rainy day provides a great opportunity to actually go through your photos and get them ready to be shared with the world.

My suggestions to best utilize this time:

• Set a single end goal to focus on (prints, Instagram posts, photo book, stock photo submissions, website gallery, etc.)

• Set time limit (30 minute increments or less)

• Edit towards goal (screen vs print, resolution, details at output scale, organizing images by criteria, sequencing images)

• Set workflow (uploading to your computer, organizing files, rating/flagging, filtering, editing, exporting, file storage)

• Uploading/Sharing/Posting/Submitting (already established by end goal, but don’t forget to actually do it!)

By the way, you can also take advantage of evenings or really any other free time you’re stuck inside or lacking motivation to go out and take photos to work on editing through your photos and accomplishing your end goal.

Related Posts:
Inspire Yourself
Make Time For Photography
Photo Challenges Project

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Inspire Yourself

Sometimes the best source of inspiration is your own photos. I would recommend looking back at photos you took in the past, even if it was years and years ago.

The fun part is when you realize what your actually like to take photos of. Look through your Instagram feed, maybe filter through some photos or collections in Lightroom or whatever software you use. You might even find inspiration looking at your own website or anywhere else you have previously shared your work.

Looking at my own past photos definitely makes me want to go wander the streets of Brooklyn, or anywhere really, for hours on end with no real purpose other than to photograph things that I find interesting.

In a different perspective on how you can inspire yourself, you might also want to think about your other interests beyond photography. These could serve as a potential subject worth exploring photographically. This can definitely give you a different perspective and appreciation than you might have previously had.

I know that my the images I’ve shared here are from many years ago at this point, but they make me want to go out and take more photos. They also are memories to me as well. As a photographer, or a creator of really any kind, let your own past work be a source of inspiration.

Related Posts:
Make Time For Photography
Photo Challenges Project
Use Shot Lists

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Seamless Panorama on Instagram

Today I got the idea in my mind to try out doing a seamless multi-image post on instagram. The idea is to have multiple images put together seamlessly into a much “wider” image, using the image carousel feature. There are a bunch of creative reasons you might want to use this feature, but I think this can simply be a fun way to get people to engage more with your posts.

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Starting off - The Initial Photo

You might be starting off with a panorama you created in photoshop or in camera, or you can also crop from just about any horizontal photo. The important thing here is to crop your image to a 2:1 ratio (or 3:1 if you want to go with three image).

To do this, you are going to want to bring the file into lightroom, photoshop, or a similar app that allows you to set an aspect ratio or exact dimensions. If you want to do it all on your phone, you can create a custom-sized document in the app canva and essentially set the image as the base image and double tap to move around if necessary, I would go with photoshop or lightroom if possible though.

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Duplicate The File

Once you’ve done that, you will want to get that file to your phone, if it isn’t there already. You will then need to duplicate the file. This will allow you to use the left half of the image for the first image, and the right half for the second image.

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In the Instagram app

• Start as you normally would when making a single image post (the center square with the plus in it at the bottom of your app

• Slide the image over to only show the left half.

• Next, click the image carousel icon and select your other copy of the cropped image

• Slide image to show only right half of the image

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View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ndoocy (@ndoocy) on Oct 26, 2019 at 11:00am PDT

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ndoocy (@ndoocy) on Oct 25, 2019 at 6:47am PDT

Posting

I would suggest making all edits prior to duplicating the image for consistency. Post as you normally would with whatever caption you want, maybe a little note about “swiping” to see the whole image. Have fun with this technique.

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Why?

There are a couple of reasons to use this technique. The main one being to display a larger version of a panoramic image, if you were to do it with a single image you would be limited by the width of the screen and your image would be much shorter. This would allow you to see the whole image, but at a significantly smaller size where detail will be lost and the expansiveness of the image will be lost as well. You could theoretically put a third image that is the full image on a white background that fills out a square as borders on the top and bottom of the image.

Another advantage of this technique is that it can create a more interactive post that might even require swiping between the images to see the full picture or read the full image, literally and figuratively. Creating engaging and interactive experiences is an incredibly valuable way to share your photos.

I plan to share some other ideas on how to use this process in the future. However, when it comes to fairly straightforward photography this is great for panoramas or cropping in on a wide part of the image. Give it a try, have fun, and share your results.

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Photo Challenges Project

Just wanted to share a little tool I’ve got over here that you can use for inspiration. The general idea is to click to generate a word or phrase from a list I’ve set up and use that as a point of inspiration to get out and take photos. You can definitely do more than one together and use them as limitations. They are open to interpretation for sure, but if you only have a little bit of time to actually take photos they might be helpful to give you something to focus on. If you have any other ideas to add in, please let me know. I am also looking to create other tools for inspiration as well. Try not to just keep clicking and just go with one and have fun!

Click here: Photo Challenges

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Follow Hashtags on Instagram

One cool thing that you can do on Instagram is to follow hashtags, which can be great for a variety of reasons. The main reason I use it is for inspiration, I have gone through different photographers posts and looked at their hashtags and gone from there many times. I want to see what other people are creating on that theme basically. Once you click on it there are typically others recommended below that might be worth checking out as well.

I have personally been using #builtlandscape for a while now and It’s interesting to see how other people have used it as well. Also kind of feels nice to have hashtag that is mainly my posts.

Another type of hashtag to follow would be a branded one, maybe it’s the actual brand name or a catchphrase type hashtag. If you have a particular brand of camera or accessories like a bag, that can be a fun way to see what others are doing and hopefully be inspired by that. This branded hashtag could also be one you personally use for your work or business, that’s something you probably want to keep an eye on and maybe you will get some really cool user-generated content worth sharing and reposting.

Looking at other hashtags that are often included along with the one you are following can give you insights into how people might categorize the type of work on a niche level. You can also see what hashtags actually get content reposted to specific profiles, which can be a great way to expand the reach of your profile. This might require some extra work and looking at the associated profile to see if any of the top or even recent posts under that hashtag have actually been shared on the profile that is requesting the use of the hashtag. This can also point out which hashtags are relatively worthless in these regards if they’re just flooded by the thousands and the content is all over the place.

I definitely am not a master at utilizing hashtags for my own work, but I think they can be a great tool in a different way than we might typically think of them when you start following them. I think it can be really rewarding to see what others share and discover new creators and perspectives that you might easily miss if you just stick with following individual profiles. They are also fun to look through and get a feel for what a particular hashtag might represent to the masses.

Give it a try, share what you discover.

What type of content?

Would love to know what type of content you guys are interested in reading about. My goal is to inspire and motivate others to make time for photography and make the most of that time even if they have very little time. I went to college for photography and have since gone in a different direction but I am hoping to bring photography back into my life on a daily basis.

I love to go out and wander and take random pictures of whatever I am drawn to, but I want to put a little more purpose behind that. Even if it’s shooting a certain type or style of photo I think that will result in a stronger end result. I would like, with your help, to bring focus to what I share and write about here.

A couple of ideas I’m exploring is doing and sharing weekly challenges/projects/assignments that you could give a try as well. Also would be open to just creating lists of the essentials you need for different types of photograph, or focus on specific products I have found useful and even inspiring through getting a new perspective. I am open to whatever might help and inspire you to go out (or stay in) and take photos.

Shoot From The Ground

I think that setting limitations is one of the best ways to challenge yourself in any creative field. I personally do not have a lot of time time to go out and take pictures, so I decided I should start trying out some different perspectives and techniques and share my results. For this first challenge, I figured I should try out an extreme and see where we end up.

Photos with Canon 50mm f/1.8 STM Lens

Links may be affiliate links, if you use them to make a purchase I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

If you shoot a full frame DSLR, I highly recommend getting a 50mm lens if you do not already own one. You don’t need to get anything crazy expensive and it’s a great lens for many uses. I rarely take my 50mm 1.8 off my Canon 5D III.

If you have an APS-C camera, you are going to want a lens around 35mm to get a similar field of view due to the crop factor.

Below are some photos I’ve shot using my 50mm 1.8 lens. I have probably been using a 50mm lens for digital photos since around 2007. It’s a nice lightweight and versatile lens. Check out this post for some of the Advantages of Prime Lenses.

Get yourself a 50mm lens and get shooting and sharing!

50mm 1.8 Lenses

Canon 50mm 1.8 STM | Nikon 50mm 1.8 | Sony 50mm 1.8

or buy used for less: Canon | Nikon

Photo Tips | Leading Lines

Our eyes naturally follow lines of contrast and lines in general. Using lines within your photograph can keep a viewer engaged and lead them to the subject. These lines often give you a sense of place, through materials and other elements, while also emphasizing the main subject. Leading lines may seem simple and possibly obvious but they can prove to be incredibly powerful in truly creating an engaging experience out of an otherwise static photograph.

Using shallow focus and leading lines can create a sense of mystery with lines leading into the unknown. Looking up at a subject will typically create lines leading to a point, when it comes to buildings, and this could be a specific detail you would like to highlight. Exposing for highlights can bring a lot of contrast to and image and truly draw out the lines throughout the photograph and put leading lines to use in bringing emphasis and clarity to your subject. 

How do you use this technique?

Also Check Out:
Photo Tips | Shallow Focus
Long Exposure Photography Equipment
Advantages of Prime Lenses
5 Photo Accessories