But Let's Look At It This Way

How many times do we look around when we’re out shooting? Many times we’re so “focused” on the subject we have that turning your head is the last thing you think about. If we were in a studio, shooting a model, how many times might we look at the leg of a lightstand and say “boy, what an interesting play of light and shadow”. Chances are, never. We’re too busy with the task at hand and, besides, the lightstand will always be there. The model won’t. Would it take that long to snap off a shot of the shadows? If the camera is being hand held, your shutter speed is going to be somewhere above 1/30 of a second. So that can’t be the limiting factor. Okay, if you’re being paid to shoot a job you probably don’t want to stop the shoot and go do something of a personal nature, but… You can always use the excuse of making some adjustment to shift off of the subject. I wouldn’t suggest shooting several frames, or squatting down, or getting up on a ladder, or rearranging the furniture, but a quick snap might catch something for your private files. More people shoot for personal use than will ever be paid for their work, so changing the instantaneous subject is not really a problem. Everyone should look around and be aware of your surroundings. Look left, right, up and down. To learn what today’s shot is all about, hit the “read more”.

Today’s is an abstract that was taken on a simple vacation. We were on a cruise and walking around the ship taking typical vacation shots. The lobby of the ship had an eight or ten story atrium with glass elevators on each side. We have shots of my wife in the elevator, out of the elevator, near the elevator and any other combination you can probably think of. While standing in the lobby we just happened to look up. There was a great abstract staring down at us. Simply pointing the camera straight up and firing the shutter resulted in today’s image. The clouds and cloud reflections were added in Photoshop. Very simply, changing the Bland Mode to Darker color popped the clouds right in. Very little other work was necessary to make the image.


So, look around when you’re shooting. You’d be amazed at the shots that are lurking nearby. Most of all, have fun. No pressure.