Dull camera work

Craig75 · Nov 10, 2017

My camera work is bland. Look at sky, dial in exposure, frame, focus, shoot.

A bit of the problem has been dialing in development times for 16mm where i have just wanted to get it set up to shoot all day and get easy to print negatives. In doing that for a few months on and off (took a while from standing start to get concentration of developers and times) i've blanded myself and my camerawork - not that it was ever anything remarkable.

Any ideas how to break out of this very prosaic use of a camera and start using it as a creative tool rather than just a reality capturing device? (Hope that makes sense!)

Svenedin · Nov 10, 2017

What are you taking pictures of? Is it work or a hobby? If it's work then I think all jobs can have periods where it all seems rather routine and tedious. If it's a hobby then it's entirely up to you how to make things more interesting.

I was in London for a meeting this week. I took my cameras with me as I had to time for a stroll and the weather was good. I was conscious of the hordes of tourists with selfie sticks taking mundane pictures by the hundred. I felt like a tourist as well (but I didn't look like one in a 3 piece, dark grey suit carrying a folding bellows 6x7, that did get rather a lot of stares). I was around Westminster Bridge, St Thomas's Hospital, Parliament Square etc and I was conscious of the fact that my photos could look like so many others -views taken millions of times. I tried to think a bit differently, how my photographs might be a bit different. Different viewpoints, playing with exposure. Just trying to be a bit more creative (probably unsuccessfully). That was fun, letting go a bit and accepting that the photos might be a bit random and hit and miss.

Craig75 · Nov 10, 2017

Its just a hobby so im totally free to tomfool around as much as i like.

Street, landscapes, and night shooting.

Its not subject matter so much as anything can look good or awful in my thinking.

Its more just the actual act of using a camera. How can the act of using it be spiced up. All i could think of was using it like a pendulum and setting timer

Svenedin · Nov 10, 2017

Hmm I'm not sure. I enjoy using my camera equipment. My cameras are like old friends. Some cameras are more fun to use than others. It helps to be absolutely familiar with the camera and for the camera to have an intuitive design in the first place. My Olympus OM cameras are a delight to use but I'm highly biased and that's just a personal preference.

removed account4 · Nov 10, 2017

hi craig75
i think what youare doing
is attempting to turn lead into gold.
all a camera does
from the most $$$ to the an oatmeal box
is steal a sliver of time .. its up to the person who
uses it to figure out what sliver, and then what to do with it.
its like catching fireflies ..
maybe your solution is
... find more interesting subjects
( could be hard because 99% of all subjects and
all photographs are boring or of boring subject matter )
tell a story with a series, make portraits and meet people
or show the hidden character of people you already know ...
purposefully mis-expose and mis-develop your film and print those boring exposures
so you become a better printer?
none of these things changes the camera though, just the frame of mind of the photographer ...

Craig75 · Nov 10, 2017

I agree - am i expecting the moon on a stick here out of the camera but then i see things like

alvin coburn

or gottfried jager's pinholes

and tha'ts some impressive camera work!

jvo · Nov 10, 2017

courageous question, well asked...

choose a subject that jazz's you; go somewhere that would inspire your work - a location; find a better photographer than you and do nothing but follow/talk with them, (buy him/her lunch); ask someone to take their picture - see what happens ; use a macro lens and look at the world; read a biography of a photographer.

(hmm, i think i'll try a couple of my own ideas!)

guangong · Nov 10, 2017

G.B.Shaw said it best. Photography is like salmon swimming upstream. 10,000 salmon attemp to swim upstream but only a very few make it.

removed account4 · Nov 10, 2017

hi craig75
if thats the case
head to your local public library and
take out some art history books ..
look at monographs not of photographers
but of painters and sculptors who were working
from the last half of the 19th century to about 1960.
see if you can get in their heads from what is written
and what you see and it will open your mind to possibilities..
also look at work by the dadaists, bauhausists, surrealists and russians from between the world wars.
using a camera and film and paper to make images is limitless, the hardest part
is not ignoring everyone when they say "that's not a landscape" or "that's not a photograph" &c
because maybe their mis-perception mated with your handiwork might make your
"this is a photograph of something else" even better then you thought it was.
if you have a fancy camera ditch it for something bare-bones and use it like a hammer.
don't forget to have fun

Craig75 · Nov 10, 2017

yes i agree with everything from everyone above.

i think better to rephrase my wooly thoughts as apart from depth of field, what controls do we have in camera that we dont have at enlarger stage.

If we take a picture, develop to hold all tones, and set a shutter speed to stop on motion blur - we can throw away tones by copying negative with enlarger or adding motion blur during printing (and a million other things) but are there things that can only be done in camera

for example, shooting with a red filter and not compensating for filter then pushing will leave big swathes of black and distorted tones - not something one could reproduce at enlarger stage without a huge battle if at all.

dasBlute · Nov 10, 2017

Add constraints, say to yourself, "For the next hour, I must..."

- put the camera down, and find images with my mind I wish I had taken
[but don't allow yourself to take the image, feel the lack, breath deep the missed opportunity]

- shoot wide open
- make images of parts of things, so that it is hard to tell what it really is
- stand at this one corner
- look straight up
- make images with my hand in the scene
- shoot images that imply motion
- show geometry, emulate cubism

[extra credit:]
- make an image that hints at loneliness,intimacy,friendship,hardship,joy,ennui,etc [pick only one].

Sirius Glass · Nov 10, 2017

Craig75 said:
My camera work is bland. Look at sky, dial in exposure, frame, focus, shoot.

A bit of the problem has been dialing in development times for 16mm where i have just wanted to get it set up to shoot all day and get easy to print negatives. In doing that for a few months on and off (took a while from standing start to get concentration of developers and times) i've blanded myself and my camerawork - not that it was ever anything remarkable.

Any ideas how to break out of this very prosaic use of a camera and start using it as a creative tool rather than just a reality capturing device? (Hope that makes sense!)

Which film are you using?
Are the skies overcast? If so and if you are shooting box speed, the lower the ISO by half a f/stop or a f/stop.
Tell us the type of photography you are doing and show some examples.

RalphLambrecht · Nov 10, 2017

Craig75 said:
My camera work is bland. Look at sky, dial in exposure, frame, focus, shoot.

A bit of the problem has been dialing in development times for 16mm where i have just wanted to get it set up to shoot all day and get easy to print negatives. In doing that for a few months on and off (took a while from standing start to get concentration of developers and times) i've blanded myself and my camerawork - not that it was ever anything remarkable.

Any ideas how to break out of this very prosaic use of a camera and start using it as a creative tool rather than just a reality capturing device? (Hope that makes sense!)

good pictures are created in your mind; the camera is just a recording device. If you let chance decide what to shoot, chances are it will be bland; take a nap and create a picture that has a message, then, go out and shoot it.

Craig75 · Nov 10, 2017

RalphLambrecht said:
good pictures are created in your mind; the camera is just a recording device. If you let chance decide what to shoot, chances are it will be bland; take a nap and create a picture that has a message, then, go out and shoot it.

This gets to nub of what im struggling to say - is it right to view it in this way? take and develop a negative with a full range of tones and you have given yourself a very powerful tool to play with in darkroom.... but... say the Alvin Coburn example above he is shooting through a prism (or something like that) to create that effect. Its not something one could reproduce in darkroom (at least i dont think so?). The Gottfried Jager one - its a tricksy double pinhole camera to create that effect. The camera is doing work that the enlarger cant. Are there things only available to us at camera stage that arent available at enlarger stage? The only other example i could think of (but havent done) is shooting through red filter but not compensating at exposure but pushing during development - by time that negative reaches enlarger the tonal manipulation is, I'm assuming, too severe to be reproduced by enlarger and a "correct" negative without makings one life a nightmare and the negative cannot be copied to reproduce those tones through any combination of exposure and development

Sirius Glass · Nov 10, 2017

I found that some films produced dull photographs on overcast days. The solution was to over expose by one stop, use a different film, or wait for the cloud cover to break.

Eric Rose · Nov 10, 2017

Travel somewhere new. It will fire up your senses and spark some creativity. Maybe start a project like "the patterns made by stream frogs once run over by vehicles". Heck that should even qualify for a grant!

Sirius Glass · Nov 10, 2017

If the problem is the composition, move in closer and get rid of anything that distracts from the composition.

Craig75 · Nov 10, 2017

Eric Rose said:
Travel somewhere new. It will fire up your senses and spark some creativity. Maybe start a project like "the patterns made by stream frogs once run over by vehicles". Heck that should even qualify for a grant!

yes thats the reason I posed question as will be away for a month and was thinking best way to shoot - more likely as ralph described just treating camera as recording device but then I got thinking - what am i missing by just treating camera like this - what prints can I not get with this mode of thought

Craig75 · Nov 10, 2017

Sirius Glass said:
If the problem is the composition, move in closer and get rid of anything that distracts from the composition.

some of it is probably composition as I shot a lot of 16mm double x over last few months and couldnt find any times or dilutions (zillions for it in 35mm but bit of a struggle in 16mm) for it so a lot of shooting has been - find something with deep shadows and some bright highlights - take a few shots - guess dilution and time - do a quick test print - see that highlights are completely blown then start cutting times - try again - see everything still blown - cut dilution - rinse and repeat until it sets up.

I think a lot of people have picked up I sound quite frazzled after that regime!

silveror0 · Nov 10, 2017

OP: Google "jerry uelsmann prints". Not my cup of tea, but might be yours.

http://www.uelsmann.net/works.php

Lee Rust · Nov 10, 2017

Don't take a picture until you see something interesting. If you don't see anything, don't feel like you have to expose some film just because you have the camera with you. Try a different time or place or do something silly that breaks some photo rules. There are many good suggestions above.

Gerald C Koch · Nov 10, 2017

The BJ and several photography magazines published a yearly annual filled with photographs. Find some of these in used bookstore and read them. See what other people are doing. Inspiration is not goi to jump out and suddenly mug you. YOU need to do some work. I will often go out and not bring a camera with me. I spend my time noting possible photo opportunities and THEN bring my camera.

rrusso · Nov 10, 2017

Good advice here - for what it's worth:

Look at artwork (both photos and paintings) that appeals to you. Choose a painting or photo and try to recreate it - not necessarily exactly, but the overall scene in general, particularly the lighting.

This can be fun and educational, and can take a lot of the apprehension away from using flash. If you have digital equipment, you can mess around with this stuff till the cows come home if you want to. Get your lighting set up and tested, then break out the film gear. It also has the benefit of showing how a particular film compares to digital regarding exposure, making it easier to use the digital gear as a Polaroid.

Most of what I do is not perfect, exposure-wise. I find "perfect" quite boring much of the time - I like darker, moody, contrasty images.

Craig75 · Nov 10, 2017

Gerald C Koch said:
The BJ and several photography magazines published a yearly annual filled with photographs. Find some of these in used bookstore and read them. See what other people are doing. Inspiration is not goi to jump out and suddenly mug you. YOU need to do some work. I will often go out and not bring a camera with me. I spend my time noting possible photo opportunities and THEN bring my camera.

its not a matter of inspiration (although thats always a pressing matter!) and i have a lot of portfolios - it's dull as in prosaic use of camera as a recording device and what techniques if any are only available in camera that arent available in darkroom. eg shooting without lens, through a prism, whatever optical tomfoolery is available, shooting through two stages of pinholes rather than one etc and how far one can bend reality in camera rather than record it

Ces1um · Nov 10, 2017

Buy a macro lens. You've shot all the pictures you can of your current surroundings. Now explore the hidden world around you in tiny detail.

Dull camera work

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