Having trouble figuring out what to shoot...

Smoke

Senior Member
So I purchased a D5200 a few months ago with the kit lens (18-55). Took a bunch of pictures of Flowers, my dogs, Kids, City of Pittsburgh when it was a nice day and not raing or hazy.....I'm running out of ideas of things to shoot. I feel I am limited with my lens. I would like to get a zoom lens so that I can take pics of my Daughters playing softball so they don't get camera shy but I have to save up for a lens. Any creative ideas I can shoot with my 18-55?
 

WhiteLight

Senior Member
Tons of them!
Look around your house.. there are so many things that you see on a day to day basis that they would've lost any interest to you...
photography is all about creativity.. seeing with the 'photographer's eye'
you can make an absoultely boring subject look amazing by composing it the way you think looks good..
geometric patterns, shapes, random designs etc are always appealing..

anyone can take great images of a great location
a good photographer can make a dull subject look interesting..

let the creative juices flow!

These will help you get started
 

Skytalker

Senior Member
What about street, architecture, night photography, landscapes, sunrise/sunsets, fog, cars, cityscapes, fireworks. Then go out and say today I photograph persons wearing red...tomorrow wearing yellow.
Come on you can do a lot with one lens.
 
So I purchased a D5200 a few months ago with the kit lens (18-55). Took a bunch of pictures of Flowers, my dogs, Kids, City of Pittsburgh when it was a nice day and not raing or hazy.....I'm running out of ideas of things to shoot. I feel I am limited with my lens. I would like to get a zoom lens so that I can take pics of my Daughters playing softball so they don't get camera shy but I have to save up for a lens. Any creative ideas I can shoot with my 18-55?

There is no limit to what you can shoot with that lens.

Take a look at as many of the photos in the 365 section as you can every day. There are so many creative people here and some of the shots they come up with that are common everyday items is amazing. Take the ordinary item and look at it in a different way. Shooting a shot that you have taken many time and just go there at night and see it in a different way. Don't be afraid to raise the ISO to whatever it takes to be able to shoot fast enough. They results will surprise you. There is a old mill downtown where I live that everyone here just loves. I shoot it all the time especially when I am testing new equipment of a new technique. I decided to shoot it at night once and it is probably one of my favorite photos of that site.

When you are ready the 55-200 is a good next step lens and it is not to expensive either.
 

fotojack

Senior Member
Go find some interesting fences to shoot. Shoot them from a different perspective, such as from the ground up, lengthwise.
Get some colored water and an eye dropper. Set your camera up to shoot fast (Shutter priority - S Mode) at a drop hitting the water at just the right time.
Any unusual mail boxes where you live? Go shoot them!
What about playground equipment? Look for a different shooting angle to make it look interesting.

The possibilities are endless. And the 18-55 lens is one of the most underrated lenses out there! It is a GREAT lens to have. Just be creative. :)
Now go out there and have fun! :)
 
Do you have a photo club in town? If so join. Take a photo class at a local community college. That is what I have been doing this summer. We went on photo walks with specific assignments. Really opened my eyes on what I was seeing.
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Do you have a photo club in town? If so join.
D'oh! This made me think of Meetup. This is a great way to find/connect with other photographers in your area and find organized photo shoots. It's free and there's no commitment since each meet up is it's own thing you can sign up for, or not. It's pretty convenient, really.

The site will bombard you with email, however, if you don't clear all the boxes about getting email. If you do, they respect that, but wow will they ever flood your inbox if you don't. Still I've had many a good experience with Meet Up.
 
D'oh! This made me think of Meetup. This is a great way to find/connect with other photographers in your area and find organized photo shoots. It's free and there's no commitment since each meet up is it's own thing you can sign up for, or not. It's pretty convenient, really.

The site will bombard you with email, however, if you don't clear all the boxes about getting email. If you do, they respect that, but wow will they ever flood your inbox if you don't. Still I've had many a good experience with Meet Up.

I had not thought of that. Good idea
 

Smoke

Senior Member
Well thanks to everyone that has responded, I am still new and might need a little "kick in the butt" for the creative side. I usually do like to take the ordinary and shoot it a "Different way". This has given me a lot of ideas, thanks again!
 
Well thanks to everyone that has responded, I am still new and might need a little "kick in the butt" for the creative side. I usually do like to take the ordinary and shoot it a "Different way". This has given me a lot of ideas, thanks again!

Now start looking at all the 365 shots. that will get you going
 

Bill16

Senior Member
Also Smoke, smoke itself is something to get some shots of! :D
Well thanks to everyone that has responded, I am still new and might need a little "kick in the butt" for the creative side. I usually do like to take the ordinary and shoot it a "Different way". This has given me a lot of ideas, thanks again!
 
Lol no, not smokers. Just smoke as it travels upwards. :)

I knew that but it just goes to show you what subjects people come up with to shoot. I knew this one guy who visited every bathroom on campus and photographed every urinal. He had a very large collection of them. Do you know how many kinds there are of them?
 

Bill16

Senior Member
I knew that but it just goes to show you what subjects people come up with to shoot. I knew this one guy who visited every bathroom on campus and photographed every urinal. He had a very large collection of them. Do you know how many kinds there are of them?
Lmao No I'm afraid I don't have a clue how many different types urinals there are! Lol :D
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
I knew this one guy who visited every bathroom on campus and photographed every urinal. He had a very large collection of them.
I had a standing request from... Well a friend... Who wanted shots of public restrooms. Didn't really care where exactly they came from but, yeah. Public restrooms. I did this for some time, just randomly. Some really nice restrooms, some really nasty restrooms, the whole gamut.

My suggestion: Do some macro photography; walk around town and REALLY look at details. Doorknobs, tree roots, go into alleys and other places you don't normally go and look for small things.
 
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Roy1961

Senior Member
Contributor
I found flowers helped me get started, I wanted to catch some of the detail (close up) that others on here got, also the moon, but I never really got that effect until I got the 55-300, bugs are another good subject.
 
One of the best and most unusual photos I have seen in a while came from one of the members here. Dave W. It was a oil sheen on a parking lot with a leaf on it.

I can't find it right now but maybe he will see this and post it for us. It is really eye catching and shows what most of us miss every day.

By the way for those that are new or just don't know this. There is a way to just see all the pictures in a thread. All in grid. Give a quick way to see all the pictures without going through the thread. Click on the picture and go to that post.

circled in red here.

Capture.JPG
 
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