Photography Project Ideas II - 10 Assignments to Stimulate Your Creativity

In my last article on photography project ideas, I talked about the need for photographers to think out of the box, and stimulate their creativity by photographing subject matter outside of their comfort zone. Here, I present 10 self-assignments that you can use to get your own creative juices flowing. Many of these projects are best executed over a period of time, rather than in a single session.

1. The Park Bench. Take your camera and a tripod to a park, and find a busy park bench. Set yourself up some distance away with a long lens aimed at the bench and pre-focused. Settle in, and for the next few hours, take images at fixed time intervals, say every ten minutes. This is really an exercise in time lapse photography. I think the resulting images would make a fun photo essay. The setting stays the same, but the subjects change at random.

2. Evolution of Construction. Find a nearby construction site, and take a picture every day. If you choose the same vantage point each time, you'll end up with a series of images that show the building in progressive stages of completion.

3. Through the Seasons. This exercise is similar to number two, but is best done in a less urban environment, and over a longer period of time. Find a landscape that you can shoot in Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. The works especially well if you live in a place that receives snow in Winter, and where the leaves on the trees turn colour in the Autumn.

4. Self Portrait. The concept of this is simple: take a picture of yourself every day. It helps to use a tripod and shutter release, rather than limiting yourself by trying to shoot with the camera at arm's length. You are the most patient subject you could ever work with, so use this to your advantage. Get creative, overact, dress up, and use props. You decide how you want to show yourself to the world! If you do an internet search on this topic, you'll find related Flickr and Twitter groups, where you can share your images.

5. A Day in the Life of... This is a great project to document a particular occupation. For example, you could take photographs of a nurse at work to show all the various aspects of his or her job. It may take you more than one day of shooting to capture a representative set of images.

6. Get to Know Your Neighbourhood. So often, we never really take a good look at our own neighbourhood. Make it a point to walk around, and shoot ten images of the area where you live. Do this once a month, or even once a week, if you really get inspired.

7. Colour Challenge. This is a fun challenge for an urban environment. Take you camera downtown, and give yourself a few hours to take pictures. Choose a colour (or for added challenge, have a friend pick the colour for you), and shoot only objects of that colour. By the end of the session, you'll be surprised how that colour jumps out at you! When you're finished, it's great to take your best images and assemble them into a collage or mosaic. You can do this using Photoshop, but for something free and simple, try this tool.

8. A Collection of "Somethings." Whenever you're out, carry your camera, and be on the lookout for whatever "something" you choose. It could be feet, garbage cans, vegetables that look like faces, bicycles - you name it! Get creative, and pick a theme that you don't usually see in pictures.

9. Pet's Eye View. Pretend that you are your pet. How would you see the world if you were a dog? A hamster? Shoot a series images from the perspective of your pet's eye level.

10. After Dark. We don't always think to take our cameras out at night. Try shooting after dark. If you're in the country, you can shoot moonlight or star trails. In the city, you can shoot vehicles' tail-light trails or downtown buildings. Wherever you are, you can try light-painting - using a long exposure, and moving a flashlight over parts of the scene.

Hope these ideas inspire you to get out there and start shooting!

Photography Project Ideas II - 10 Assignments to Stimulate Your Creativity

Night Photography Tutorial - Focusing - Light Meter - Camera Settings Tips

Video Clips. Duration : 13.63 Mins.

Night Photography Tutorial - Focusing - Light Meter - Camera Settings Tips

photographyequipment.yolasite.com (Budget Equipment) razzi.me www.facebook.com twitter.com A detailed video on Night Photography. You'll find effective ways to slow down your shutter speed. In order to photograph cityscape at night you'll have to do long exposure which allows to slow down your shutter speed in order to get the proper exposure without increasing your ISO. Don't forget to subscribe as it's FREE.

Night Photography Tutorial - Focusing - Light Meter - Camera Settings Tips

Night Photography Tutorial - Focusing - Light Meter - Camera Settings Tips

A Guide to Digital Night Vision - Using the Latest Pulsar and Yukon Digital Night Vision Devices

The evolution of Night Vision

Everyone has seen though a night vision device before in some form or another, whether it's through an actual handheld device, or through the eyes of a movie star in a spy film on TV

This grainy green blurred image is synonymous with Generation One night vision which often were ex military products from the Eastern Bloc and were unreliable and not the best in terms of performance.

These devices were very fragile and had a short life span as they were easily burnt out with light ingress from sources such as daylight, car headlights, torches etc

With a limited viewing range, the original Gen 1 night vision devices required a powerful ambient life source such as starlight, or an infrared light source to be able to see to any distance.

These image intensifier type devices have evolved using better quality image intensifier tubes and electronics into Generation 2 and now Gen 3 devices which give incredible viewing performance to long distances, but at an eye watering price and still with the restraints found in the original devices.

They were still dependent on the fragile image intensifier tubes, and could not be used in daylight, which poses a problem when you have to zero your rifle before a night hunting as zeroing at night is not the safest form of shooting!

With the advent of Digital Night Vision along came a range of devices with Gen 2 performance, at a fraction of the cost.

Digital Night Vision

Digital Night Vision does not rely on a fragile image intensifier tubes and instead used a CCD sensor much like you would find in a Digital SLR camera, and an electronic circuit board which processes the images onto a LCD screen which is viewed through the eye piece as a crisp black and white image.

This is not only easy on the eye at night, but offers a much sharper resolution and finer detail viewing than the old image intensifier green image.

Combine this technology with a high power Infrared or laser illuminator and you will have a viewing device capable in many circumstances of viewing between 250 and 400meters and beyond.

As there is no intensifier tube to "burn out" you can use these devices during the day as a handheld monocular or in the form of the Pulsar Digisight, a weapon sight that you can zero during the day, and even hunt with in daylight

At night however they come into their own.

Take the Yukon Ranger Pro handheld monocular for example, this device will allow viewing out to 400meters perfectly clearly, and is ideal for monitoring wildlife, or for security applications.

We recently had a customer buy a Ranger Pro to take to Kenya on safari, and he contacted us to say that at night he watched a pride of lions only a hundred meters from their lodge.

Whether you are viewing wildlife through a handheld monocular, or hunting at night, the ability to watch wildlife without using a light source is such an advantage.

These devices use a high power infrared illuminator to enhance the image when there is not enough starlight or ambient light.

As infrared is invisible to the eye, you can view wildlife without them knowing you are there, which is a big advantage when hunting compared to hunting with a riflescope and a high power white light lamp.

Recording what you see

Devices such as the Yukon Ranger and Pulsar Digisight for example, have an onboard video out, which allows you to connect the device to a television or a recording device such as the Yukon Mobile Personal Recorder.

You can then record the footage you view, which is brilliant for watching nocturnal animals such as badgers, foxes and otters.

You can then replay the footage on your PC or television back at home, and keep the memories of a safari trip night time expedition for ever.

The Truth is Out There...

Digital Night Vision such as the Yukon Ranger with its onboard recording facility, has become the favourite tool in the UFO watchers arsenal.

You Tube is full of suspected UFO's captured on these devices, and as they use infra red, a whole new perspective of viewing is released with digital night vision.

Whether or not little green men exist, or the objects are shooting stars or research aircraft, the footage captured by the UFO enthusiasts on the Yukon Ranger has to be seen to be believed.

Types of Digital Night Vision

Pulsar Recon X550 Handheld Monocular

The Pulsar Recon X550 Night vision devices features a greater range of view (up to 500m) due to a more sensitive CCD array and advanced program technology employed.

Recon X550 is a compact and lightweight digital NV scope which is designed for hunting, security purposes and wildlife viewing at long ranges.

Recon X series nightvision features a greater range of view (up to 500meters) than the Recon models due to a more sensitive CCD array and advanced program technology employed in this model - Sum Light

Traditional NV devices emit the image to your eye using green light, which many believe to be the most comfortable viewing colour at night. Digital Night vision emits the image in black and white, however the Recon X 550 has a LCD Emission control system allowing you to choose the preferred LCD display colour.

Yukon Ranger and Yukon Ranger Pro

Yukon Advanced Optics has staked its claim for leadership within this field by offering a new line of Digital NV Ranger models that cover several performance and price categories.

The Ranger's high magnification, increased observation range and stealth IR illuminator are just a few characteristics that separate Yukon's Ranger from the rest of the market.

Ranger Pro is designed to be the most powerful and versatile unit available, complete with a rugged body packed with a sizeable amount of innovations. By integrating Yukon's well known Dual IR technology, which extends the traditional IR range into a capable multi zone unit, the Ranger satisifies even the most demanding applications. Yukon Ranger features up to 250meters detection and the Yukon Ranger Pro up to 650meters detection

Pulsar Recon R Handheld Monocular

The Pulsar Recon R series of Digital Night Vision scopes are equipped with a built in appliance which allows video recording and photography immediately during observation.

This footage can then be played back on the device or on an external monitor. Ideal for wildlife safaris where you want to capture memories, or for security purposes for court or police viewing at a later date.

The recordable Recon's are available as the Recon X550R with a viewing range of up to 500meters, or the Recon 550R with a viewing range of up to 250meters.

Both units feature a Video Output/Input facility as well as the LCD Emission control system to select viewing colour.

The Recon R devices use an SD memory card to record footage, and can be used during the day as a 5x monocular or at night as a night vision device.

Pulsar Digisight N550 Digital Night Vision Weapon Sight

The long anticipated Pulsar N550 is a revolution in night vision and is designed to fit firearms and airrifles for hunting at night.

Features market leading image resolution combined with switchable reticles and one shot zero, has made the N550 THE most wanted product in our marketplace.

Traditional NV tubes meant that shooting during the day was not an option, and you had to switch to a day scope should you wish to use your rifle during the day, with the N550 you can shoot during the day as well as at night, as the high performance CCD sensor and digital image processing is compatible with sunlight and Infrared at night.

A Video out facility allows you to record your evenings hunting, by streaming footage to a personal media recorder.

With a detection range of 400meters, the N550 is ideal for centrefire rifles for vermin control at night over long ranges, as well as for rimfire and air rifles for small vermin control in barns and around the farm etc

Built in IR illumination allows you to use the N550 in complete darkness, although a high power IR flashlight can be added to boost the detection of the unit further.

The future of Night Vision is here

With Digital Night Vision, the performance of high end NV Gen 2 and Gen 3 products is available to the consumer at a price of between £300 and £1000 depending on spec, which will allow you to view wildlife at night, without them ever knowing you were there.

A Guide to Digital Night Vision - Using the Latest Pulsar and Yukon Digital Night Vision Devices

Night Photography Tutorial - Focusing - Light Meter - Camera Settings Tips

Tube. Duration : 13.63 Mins.