Help me figure out what I should snap

December 28, 2007 10:47 AM

I got a new camera for Christmas. I love it and want to do something with it aside from taking photos whenever I'm out somewhere.

Since the new year is about to start I'm thinking of trying the 1-photo-per day for a year concept.

What other things can I do with an awesome camera and a lot of time on my hands? Aside from porn.

Thanks!

posted by icarus to sports, hobbies, & recreation (13 comments total)

Stop-frame animations! Or, similarly, flipbooks!

They take a lot of time and effort, but they can be fun.
posted by Ms. Saint at 10:55 AM on December 28, 2007

Here are some clichéd but fun little projects to get used to your camera.

Set it up in a dark room for ~ 1 min exposure and start drawing stuff in the air with a glow sticks or one of those colored key chain flashlights they always have at supermarket checkouts for $3.

Set it on a tripod and take like a bunch of pictures in the same room of you doing different things. Photoshop them together so you can be playing a video game with yourself while you sit on the couch and read and you also poke your head in from the kitchen offering brownies.

Take sneaky pictures of people in public by photographing reflective objects like hubcaps, windows, rear view mirrors, etc.

HDR pictures.

My personal favorite is to go to the local tourist spot and take pictures solely of people taking pictures of people.

Like I said, clichéd, but this is more about tooling about with your camera then putting together a portfolio.
posted by JeremiahBritt at 10:57 AM on December 28, 2007 [2 favorites has favorites]

*than

I hate when I do that.
posted by JeremiahBritt at 10:58 AM on December 28, 2007

Check out http://photojojo.com/ for some fun ideas.
posted by blaneyphoto at 10:59 AM on December 28, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

Does pr0n count as different from porn?
posted by Admiral Haddock at 11:00 AM on December 28, 2007

Photojojo has lots of little projects every week.

When I got my first digital camera, I placed the tripod-mounted camera near my high-rise window, sourced it to my computer, and programmed it to take a shot every 15 seconds.

For 24 hours.

Then I used Windows Movie Maker to stitch the shots together, found an appropriate soundtrack among my mp3s, and created my first stop-motion movie. It was great fun. I still watch it occasionally, lovely to see the goings-on outside my window and the changes in the weather that day.
posted by seawallrunner at 11:02 AM on December 28, 2007

Moo should be involved, whatever you do. I mean, not that I've gotten around to using them.
posted by cashman at 11:27 AM on December 28, 2007

Take pictures having similar setups of your family and friends. All of them.
posted by asuprenant at 11:39 AM on December 28, 2007

Do you have cats or dogs? If so, you could place items on them and send the pictures to Stuff on My Cat or Stuff on My Mutt.
posted by MsElaineous at 12:15 PM on December 28, 2007

Any camera can help you develop (heh) a good understanding of the elements of photography. It may not seems extremely exciting at first, but good technique can be practiced with any camera and you can easily improve your picture-taking to a near-professional level with a little practice.

As a new camera-owner, I would look at all genres of photography and try each one before dismissing/accepting it. There's a lot to be learned, and like with any hobby the more you know about all the types the better you'll appreciate whatever you like.

Personally, I'm a fan of the light-painting pictures mentioned above. Also a big fan of taking candid pictures of friends and family, and in general pictures with a big "human element." Also, you can use PhotoStitch in photoshop to splice together a panorama.
posted by BenzeneChile at 12:27 PM on December 28, 2007

A self portrait every day is an excellent way to mark the year, track changes and see if you're growing or stagnating as a person.

It also encourages you, if you use the Flickr thing I linked to, to write a little about your day. That way, you grow your photographic skills, some writing skills and document a year in the life of you.
posted by grumpy at 12:36 PM on December 28, 2007

Take a photo of yourself for your MeFi profile.
posted by HotPatatta at 4:41 PM on December 28, 2007

HDR and long exposures.

At the risk of self-linking, here's an HDR pic I made - a few more here - with a $150 Canon I bought last month from Amazon. I'm using Artizen to create these, btw. It's only costs $38 US.
posted by exhilaration at 8:38 AM on December 29, 2007