As it's Typhoon season over here in Asia, one has to get used to spending time safely in the confines of one's home. Unless you want to have your face re-arranged with a flying wheel-cap or airborne gnome. Although that
hasn't stopped me before. Others around the world will probably be encountering summer drizzles too, hampering any plans to go out to take photos. But even if you?re stuck indoors you can still get creative with your camera, here are 5 great photography ideas you can try without leaving the house.
Smoke
Doesn't matter if you don't like touching those sticks of tar, you can get some rather hippy-friendly joss sticks (not the things you use to play Super Mario) and get creative with smoke. It usually works best with totally black backgrounds as the light colour of the smoke will contrast more.
This might be a good little photographic exercise to do on one rainy day where you simply can't be bothered to go out. As the movement of the smoke is relatively unpredictable, you will spend some time trying to capture those wonderful shapes and playing with light to illuminate the smoke. If you've got a remote-triggered flash, you might want to place one pointing away from the background to keep it dark while illuminating the smoke.
If you've got Photoshop, you can try some things like inverting (command+I or cntrl+I) to change the change the dark background to light and the same for the smoke. Then you can play around with hues to add a bit of colour to the smoke.
What's more, you can play around with it until you get it right and the worst that will happen is that you will reek of sandalwood. Or you might burn your house down.
Painting with light
Picasso had a hoot with painting bulls and boobs with a flash light and a camera, so why not give it a go too? All you need to do is own a camera with a Bulb setting (the "B" on the mode dial), a torch/flash light, and a dark room. Sit the camera on a tripod or steady surface, release the shutter and use the torch to "paint" something.
Water
Water, water everywhere (from the taps anyway) so why not go play with it? Although, when stationery, water can look a bit boring (it's transparent after all), when you start moving it about, pouring it, splashing it, blowing bubbles in it, you start to get some lovely soft shapes and fluid photographs (oh dear - Editor).
Water drop photos are quite popular, although some might say cliche. You'll need a camera with a flash (either internal or external), lens, tripod, water, something to put the water in, and something to drop little water droplets from a height. Put a colour background by the side of the water to reflect a bit of colour onto the water. To freeze (not literally) the water droplets hitting the water, you'll need a fast shutter speed also.
You can always drop something else in the water, maybe something bigger to make a more dramatic splash of water. If you're planning to drop someone in the water, getting consent beforehand might be a good thing to do. You could also spray or even throw the water around. Just remember to mop up after you're done.
Details
Getting in close to your subjects and looking at a particular detail can make a photo of an inanimate object more interesting, or even something that is?errr?not so inanimate.
It's the details that count. A macro lens will be great but not totally necessary. Find some of your personal possessions and pick an aspect of it that you think makes an interesting focal point. Frame it with strong, interesting lines and try not to crop it so tight that you don't know what the bloomin' hell it is. Even if no one else likes it, at least you will love photos of your favourite possessions.
Get people to come to you
Lastly, if you aren't to leave the house then why not invite people round your house? People are far more interesting than things like water and smoke after all. If your friends are willing, perhaps they can model for you. Heck, they could probably play with smoke, water, your favourite possessions and light too. Go crazy and possibly a little wild, just be careful where you publish the photos though otherwise they might not be your friends for much longer.
NOTE: These are not my photos, I'm always out taking photos!
Got some ideas that you want to share with the community? Feel free to leave your ideas in the comments box below.
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