Do you need some inspiration to take interesting photos? Are you under the impression that you have to travel to a faraway place in order to photograph something intriguing or beautiful? Well, you don’t even need to leave your house! Here are some tips for taking stunning photos anywhere.

1. Look for light and shadow interactions. Photography, after all, is “light writing.” What does light look like coming through your window? Do any objects make interesting shadows? Try placing a glass of water by a window, and watch the reflection dance on the table.

2. Take close up photos to abstract the content of your photo. You can distort an image or make it more interesting by getting closer or changing the angle of the camera. Macro or fish eye lenses are fun to play with. Take the time to look at fruit or flowers up close; the amount of detail is astounding.

3. Make it a point to find patterns. They are all around us, and we typically don’t even take the time to see them. If you think monotony is boring, find something with interesting color or texture.

4. You will want to look at things from a new perspective. Try getting on the floor, or climbing up high.

5. Experiment with aperture settings and shutter speed. When you set the aperture to a small number, you get a blurred background (shallow depth of field), and when you set your aperture to a bigger number (large depth of field), more of your background will be in focus. If you have a tripod, use a slow shutter speed in low lighting to create glowing effects. To freeze motion, use a fast shutter speed.

6. Take self-portraits. What defines you? How do you want to be portrayed in a photograph? Do you necessarily have to be in the photo for it to be a self-portrait?

You now have tips to go anywhere and photograph anything. If we take a moment, we realize that the world is fascinating. Take a look around because there is so much to see. Many of us take our surroundings for granted, when you can find beauty in anything.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 21st, 2008 at 2:58 am and is filed under Cameras. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.