Trying something new. Advice?

I'm pretty limited in what I shoot. As a consequence I've gotten quite bored and haven't really shot anything in awhile and am having trouble motivating myself to photograph something. I usually photograph parts of objects. I isolate sections or pieces of a whole object and showcase them because I think they're often forgotten in everyday life. Things like knobs and switches, dials, or the badges on a car. Like I said, though, I've gotten bored of this recently and so I think I might be well served by branching out.

I've shot a variety of subjects and genres in the past and wasn't really taken with them, to be honest. The only subject I haven't really tried was portraiture, fashion, street, and sports, but I'm not really sure if I'd be comfortable taking pictures of people. It might sound silly, but part of my comfort with objects comes from their inability to complain, judge, no-show, move unexpectedly, and so many other things that can make people a hassle to photograph.

Which isn't to say I don't enjoy photographs with people in them, I do. I find that when I look at pictures from other people I'm most often drawn to the 'people pictures' and they generate the most emotion from me.

Any suggestions, or other advice?

As far as portraiture goes, photograph someone you know like a friend/sibling/parent. This will take the pressure off while you start because they aren't paying you or anything. Plus, if they don't know much about photography they will be happy with most pictures I would assume.

I have been shooting for ~3 months now. I started out just doing buildings and inanimate things as well but as soon as I started to incorporate people in the pictures it gave them a whole new feeling. People add context and emotion. I am still working on being comfortable photographing strangers. I would assume it gets better the more you do it. From what I read on here, most people don't care or if they do they mainly just ask why you are photographing them.

Normally I'd suggest get a macro lens or extension tubes, but I bet you've already got them.

Start shooting people on the street, you'll get more comfortable the more you do it.

Rick, you're right. I already have a set of tubes, I'd love a dedicated macro lens though if I had the budget for one.

As far as photographing strangers on the street... I don't know. To me it always seems rude. I understand that its within our rights to photograph public events as much as we'd like, including random people doing random things on the street, but to me it always seems impolite at best. I personally hate having my picture taken, even on a good day, so I really feel uncomfortable with the 'ethics' of street photography. I'm not disparaging street photography, or saying it isn't or can't be art. I've seen great street photography but for me it doesn't feel right.

Interesting...you have done what few people do. Most folks shoot scenics and landscapes and complain when they are in an arid region which is not photogenic, "I have nothing interesting to shoot!" I suggest that they use abstract concepts like color, form, lines, textures, etc. to find interesting things to shoot even where the scenery is ugly. You have already done that, in exploring objects in close detail.

Why not branch off in that interest by broadening the reason for the shot?! Take the same item, and rather than concentrate on its knob, challenge yourself by creating a 'set' to place the object in, light it with active light sources as well as reflectors as well as black 'negative illumination' ...product photography is a very challenging thing to do, you can spend HOURS creating a set and lighting a product for ONE photo that you can be very proud to show off!

It is very easy to take people pictures without discomfort.
Put wide prime or zoom on DSLR. Set it to TV mode. Select 1/500. Adjust ISO to make sure you'll get f8-f16.
Pre-focus in three meters distance (use back button focus mode).
Walk. If you see something interesting, point camera to this direction and take picture. You don't need to focus and you don't need to keep camera close to your face.
You could walk by the same route every day, but pictures will be always different, because of the people.
You could also stay or sit still and pre-focus camera by same method. Somebody passing by, take the picture without looking into OVF.

conjunctive wrote in post #14976954
I'm most often drawn to the 'people pictures' and they generate the most emotion from me.

conjunctive wrote in post #14976954
I'm not really sure if I'd be comfortable taking pictures of people.

conjunctive wrote in post #14976954
Any suggestions, or other advice?

I suggest that you work on getting comfortable taking pictures of people.

Wilt, I've noticed that I've sort of worked backwards with this whole thing, too. It probably comes from the lack of photogenic nature scenes in my locale. Florida is a terrible place to photograph if you hate the beach or the heat. So, unless I'm willing to travel landscape photography is generally out of the picture for me on a day-to-day basis. That, coupled with my disinterest in event-photography and sports puts me in a small bubble of things I'm comfortable shooting that also happen to be readily available.

kf095, perhaps I should clarify. I'm not confused on the various methods of photographing strangers, nor am I trying to insinuate or suggest that my anxieties with street photography result from an insufficiently 'stealthy' approach. I'm not interested in photographing strangers without their permission or knowledge. That's the problem I have with street photography for myself.

Tom, thanks for the suggestion.

There's always landscape photography - trees, rocks, mountains and water don't complain. Maybe try doing some HDR shots.

However - if you're totally into objects then consider astrophotography as a change of pace - moon, planets, milky way, star trails, etc. Check out people's pics on the astrophotography forum on POTN and read through the discussions in the talk section for how-to's. I find star trails really fun because you don't actually see the final image until you run the pics through the startrails software (free) so the anticipation can get a little exciting. You don't need a special equipment to get your feet wet with astrophotography .

conjunctive wrote in post #14982305
Wilt, I've noticed that I've sort of worked backwards with this whole thing, too. It probably comes from the lack of photogenic nature scenes in my locale. Florida is a terrible place to photograph if you hate the beach or the heat. So, unless I'm willing to travel landscape photography is generally out of the picture for me on a day-to-day basis. That, coupled with my disinterest in event-photography and sports puts me in a small bubble of things I'm comfortable shooting that also happen to be readily available.

My sentiments exactly. I struggle with things to photograph here in Florida. Flat, hot, and boring, and I live on the water, and less than a mile from the Gulf. Here in St Pete, we're so congested, it would take me almost 2 hours to get somewhere to shoot a night sky without light noise.

I feel your pain....

Your OP reads as if you're shooting parts of objects - i.e. form and lines etc. of manmade objects. Try shooting trees, shrubs, leaves, flowers, petals, stamen - from whole object to the smallest part. Lots of interesting patterns and forms.

KirkS518 wrote in post #14984008
My sentiments exactly. I struggle with things to photograph here in Florida. Flat, hot, and boring, and I live on the water, and less than a mile from the Gulf. Here in St Pete, we're so congested, it would take me almost 2 hours to get somewhere to shoot a night sky without light noise.

I feel your pain....

Don't you guys have great bird, reptile, and amphibian opportunities down there near the gulf?
It seems a bit unusual to me that you "have nothing to shoot", yet a lot of people I know travel all the way across the country just to photograph the bird life in Florida.
If birds and wildlife just aren't your thing, well, then maybe they should become your thing. Some of the best bird photography in the entire continent is within a couple hours of you - get a long lens and take advantage of that!

Its all about perspective. Those of us who live in the flat prairie portion of the midwest would love to have a coastline and beaches to work with. I've never bought the excuse that there is nothing to shoot, but rather that you've depleted your well of inspiration. Portraiture is fun but does require a willing participant but its not difficult to find subjects provided you are willing to work with normal folks and not supermodels. Be willing to provide copies of the shots and you'll find people to shoot.

KirkS518 wrote in post #14984008
My sentiments exactly. I struggle with things to photograph here in Florida. Flat, hot, and boring, and I live on the water, and less than a mile from the Gulf.

I feel your pain....

For me Florida looks like a great place - Disneyworld, alligators, key west, strange insects, ... plenty of Photo Ops !

I can't speak for KirkS518, but I know for me birds and wildlife hold almost no interest. I'm not a nature person (never really have been) so the thought of waiting for hours in the heat for the chance to take a few pictures that I don't particularly care about doesn't thrill me in the least. It actually sounds pretty miserable to me, but if that's your cup of tea by all means do what you enjoy.

Landscapes I could get into if there was anything nearby that I liked looking at... Ever since I was young I've been fascinated with mountains, and Florida being flat has no mountains (or even appreciably sized hills, really.) And for me the landscapes that are the most interesting are the ones that appear to be untouched by people. I've never seen that in Florida, apart from the Everglades but that's rather far from where I live. Granted I haven't traveled much throughout Florida so I could be overlooking some things.

It probably is all about perspective. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence situation. Photography aside, I've never understood why people move to Florida from (what I would consider) more interesting places. Particularly if those places have seasons, which Florida doesn't really do. We have summer and about two weeks of winter, no real fall or spring to speak of, so from my perspective its like moving from Awesome-town to Oven-land.

Sorry that became an Anti-Florida rant.

Going back to birds, another big problem for me with birds is budget. The longest lens I have is an older manual-focus 135/2.8. I have a 2x teleconverter, but unfortunately I don't like the results I get with that pairing. I don't have longer lenses because I never need them for what I shoot (I generally use either a 50/1.4 or 58/2, occasionally with extension tubes) so I'd need to purchase or rent a suitable lens, which just isn't in my budget right now.

Gonzogolf, that's one of my biggest hang-ups with portraiture. I can't afford to pay someone, so I'd be obligated to at least share the results with them. I'm very protective of my work, and I'd hate to give unsatisfactory images to someone. I have offers from friends and things to sit if I'd like them to, but I really don't want to disappoint them or myself. I'm not particularly confident in myself or my work (particularly if its a new style or genre for me.) But I may just have to force myself if I ever want to get it done.