When you first picked up your camera, you had a head full of ideas, you wanted to test loads of photo ideas and disciplines, train yourself and produce work that would leave everyone in awe. Over time, your passion for photography has remained intact, but something has changed, however: you lack inspiration or your images do not seem so beautiful. So how do you overcome a creative block?
It can last for weeks, sometimes even months, it’s really frustrating. You might not believe it, but it’s a process that even photographers with years of experience in the industry go through, so don’t throw in the towel because you don’t think you’re cut out. photography. Here are some tips that will help you regain inspiration and enjoy photography as before. Follow them well!
Take advantage of the darkness
Photographers like to work more during the day than at night, it’s a fact. Because they don’t have time during the day, for professional or other reasons, or because they sleep like logs. But what is certain is that working at night is an excellent way to overcome a creative block.
In the same way that the lighting is modified using gold or silver reflectors, for portraits, or just by changing the position of the flash, landscapes change their aspect radically when the light is modified. We know that one place can look like another depending on whether you see it day or night, so why not take advantage of it?
Especially since at night, the streets are generally quieter, sometimes even empty, so it’s the ideal time to use long exposure times without the risk of seeing passers-by appear in the image.
If you decide to take advantage of the opportunities given by the night, do not forget that you can apply a trick mentioned above, which consists in giving more importance to the ISO sensitivity. If you have problems with digital noise appearing, remember that you can easily eliminate it if you use the RAW format.
Choose a goal the opposite of what you would choose
When you want to photograph flowers or insects, the most common is to use a macro lens or install a macro conversion lens on your standard lens but you imagine what results you would have if you used a telephoto lens or a fisheye instead and place of this objective? And, in the same way, if you used a telephoto lens instead of a wide angle to take pictures of landscapes?
This is almost also the case for portraits: standard focal length lenses are usually used, which vary between 35 and 50 mm. But you can very well overcome a creative block by using a macro lens, a wide angle or even a fisheye lens to give new perspectives to portraits. It must be said that the possibilities and combinations are endless.
Try to falsify the feelings produced by an event or a person.
When you have to do a wedding photo shoot, the first thing that comes to mind is to take the portrait of happy bride and groom or guests who are having an incredible day. And that’s all we claim to do with this type of photoshoot. This is also what you will have to do since this is what the bride and groom expect of you, but a very good way to overcome a creative block is to test yourself by taking a 180º turn on the stage, to capture moments that convey opposing feelings.
Capturing people’s faces and feelings is hard work, but it’s also what makes portraiture so exciting. So imagine the complexity of the project if you want to immortalize opposite feelings. You can experiment at weddings, as we have said, at birthday parties or at any other event that will lend itself to it. It will be a very creative way to surpass yourself and of course, to overcome a creative block.
Change the size of objects
With a bit of ingenuity and the right lenses, we can deceive the viewer’s eye, not only in the transmission of feelings, as we have said, but also in the perception of the size of objects.
The mock-up effect can also be the ideal technique for overcoming a creative block. It is a technique whose photos present a reduced depth of field, like that of a city seen from an altitude which gives the appearance of a model, as in the examples below. These images can be produced using shift lenses or editing software. Get the right lenses on dzofilm.com.
Make mistakes on purpose
If you’ve been into photography for a long time, you probably know inside out the basic rules of composition or the settings that influence the look of your photos, but why not break those rules once in a while?
You can use an inaccurate white balance or focus the image to leave the foreground blurry. All errors will be allowed, as long as they break the routine or generate creative effects. Who knows, maybe you’ll take the most beautiful photo of your career there?
There must surely be a technique, among all those mentioned in this article, that you would like to try, so get started today! You will see how inspiration will return and you will produce the works you have always dreamed of in less time than you thought.
