You must do something inside..

Snydremark wrote in post #13139738
You don't get to model, though, Tony

Heh! Hey, I'm not interested in driving people away from photography!

tonylong wrote in post #13139750
Heh! Hey, I'm not interested in driving people away from photography!

I was beginning to fear that Tony's idea of 'nude photography' entailed the state of undress of the photographer. Phew!

Wilt wrote in post #13139782
I was beginning to fear that Tony's idea of 'nude photography' entailed the state of undress of the photographer. Phew!

Heh! Once, a few years ago, I was with a ladyfriend who enjoyed playing at a "clothing optional" beach...one day we handed my camera to a bypasser to take a photo of the two of us...I quickly realized that me as a nude model was not in the stars...!

Action figures, and various other things as BG elements. I once shot a Dr. Evil action figure with an ungelled strobe in front, well off to the right like 45 degrees, and then one in the back left gelled green to add some green "kicker". I shot him on white posterboard keeping just close enough to blast it with the front light, but not so close that I caught his shadow on it. This made it easier to remove in post. I then shot a separate image of a glitter-light thing (like a lava lamp but with glitter instead of "lava")> i lit it from behind with the same green gell and lit it from the front with the light in the same position as I used for the Dr. Evil shot. Once I put it together you can't tell that I only used two lights! Viola! Rainy-day-boredom-blues gone!

Hmm, I remember playing with toy soldiers when I was a kid, and I maybe even had a GI Joe, although I don't remember whether they were out back then. When I left home for college in '69, and never moved back, well, whatever toy soldiers that were in whatever drawer, well, got tossed out during some round of Spring Cleaning. What I really got pangs about after a bunch of years was the fact that my stack of baseball cards collected over the years got thrown out as well! I believe the Micky Mantle one alone is worth, well, a buch of money!

But now, does this mean I have to go into some nearby department store to buy a collection of Action Figures?

John_N wrote in post #13127849
Okay thats my age showing digging up old Adam and the Ants lyrics, but what do you do when you want to shoot something but the weathers bad or its to dark and you can't be bothered to go out?

Just being nosy I guess but it could offer some inspiration.

*shrugs*

I dunno...I guess I would create something to photograph rather than find something to photograph.

But that's assuming that I'm actually dead set on making photographs that day.

I know that a HELL of a lot of people here will disagree with me, and that I'm setting myself up to get pummelled. But I'm actually an advocate of the notion that one doesn't have to shoot every day.

Can't think of anything to shoot? Some people will shoot something anyway. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that approach. Hell...they're being productive, so I can't see anything wrong with that. But it doesn't NEED to be that way. There are other ways to be productive aside from merely shooting.

Is the weather garbage outside? Can't think of anything to shoot (or worried about getting your nice DSLR drenched with water)? Fine. It's also okay to not shoot anything. Take that time to do some research. Look up tchniques, take that time to check out an artist who you're not familiar with. Hell...watch a movie that you love, and pay attention to how it was shot. Educate yourself more on some current important issues. Whatever. Just do something productive.

Hey, I know that I'm probably in the minority here, what with the whole popularity of the 365 projects and all that. Even my current photography teacher says that I should be shooting all the time. And despite him without a doubt being the best teacher I've ever had in my entire life, and someone whose opinion I place total respect in, I've gotta disagree with that attitude. I certainly try to avoid making excuses to avoid shooting, but I strongly reject the idea that photographers need to be constantly shooting. In the grandest sense, I feel that photography can transcend being merely about photography. Pictures actually say things. And while I totally advocate shooting often, I just don't see the point in forcing yourself to shoot when you could be spending your time more productively by actually coming up with something more interesting to say. I try not to see photography as just about technical competence, image impact is also a big freaking deal. And I feel that a big part of producing pictures with impact is to just experience and learn. And I'm talking about well-roundedness, not just learning about photography.

Hey...if you feel you'd be better off shooting even when you have "nothing to shoot", then have at it. If that works for you, then good deal. I just reject the idea that that's the only way to properly do things. If you have "nothing to shoot", then I see absolutely nothing wrong with taking some time off from shooting and merely doing something else. Could be related to photography, or not. As long as you're using your time well, you can potentially use that later for future shoots.

Oh, I skip days at a time so get where you;re coming from - work more than anything gets in my way.

What I was hoping to get (and did) was ideas - things to do on those days when you really want to shoot something but have no idea what.

I'm finding that I kinda agree with Gene when he says that ya don't have to shoot every day. I'm using that time to surf for learning different techniques and the fine art methods of photography.
To shoot for practice is one thing but just for the sake of taking pictures, I don't do it. If the subject is not worth being a wall hanger, it's not worth my time.

chauncey wrote in post #13150258
I'm finding that I kinda agree with Gene when he says that ya don't have to shoot every day. I'm using that time to surf for learning different techniques and the fine art methods of photography.
To shoot for practice is one thing but just for the sake of taking pictures, I don't do it. If the subject is not worth being a wall hanger, it's not worth my time.

Ditto!
Give the camera a rest, go through your old photos, take the time to polish up on your Raw development / image processing skills. This is a good opportunity to explore all those things you could never figure out in Photoshop because you never took the time to learn them.

John_N wrote in post #13150217
Oh, I skip days at a time so get where you;re coming from - work more than anything gets in my way.

What I was hoping to get (and did) was ideas - things to do on those days when you really want to shoot something but have no idea what.

Well, I've been in a "slump" as far as getting out with my camera, but I have them nearby and ready for some kind of interesting opportunity. One thing that comes up periodically is some insect "activity" out on my deck. A couple days ago a spider was "hanging around". I had done some macro shots of it previously, but this day I had been inspired by a POTN thread to try "focus stacking" for the first, time, and got some good results!

You can read about it here:

https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?t=1095769