Random Thoughts

10 Ways to Work on Photography While Confined to Your House /  by Todd Henson

Sometimes we’re stuck at home, unable to get out and about as usual. Perhaps this puts a damper on some of our photographic pursuits. But that doesn’t mean we have to completely put aside photography during this time. There are photographic activities we can pursue right in our own house, and below I share 10 ideas to keep you active.

Reading

Read a book, any book.

This could be a great opportunity to catch up on some reading. Pull out some of your photography books and pore over the amazing images. Spend some time on each photograph. What is it you like about this photograph? And why not pick up some non-photography books also? Perhaps you have a book about painting? Or architecture? Or even some great non-fiction and fiction books that could provide inspiration and ideas for your photography? Just start reading.

Education

If you have time at home you may want to consider taking some online classes. You could learn a new skill or improve on an existing one. There are lots of sources of great education out there, such as CreativeLive, KelbyOne, and YouTube. (Note: I’m an affiliate for CreativeLive, but I began as a fan and purchaser of their classes.)

Learn Your Gear

Pull out your camera and manual and start getting to know your gear.

Now may be a good time to pull out that camera manual you never read. Start going through it, learn some of the features you never knew your camera had. Practice with your gear, learn the placement of all the controls so well you can use them in the dark.

Learn About Light

With time on your hands you could setup a small photoshoot to practice with lighting, both natural and artificial using whatever lights and modifiers you have available. Learn how light falls on different subjects. Change the angle of the light, position it closer or further from the subject, control the intensity of the light. Watch the subject throughout the day as the sun changes position. Notice how all this changes the look of the subject and the scene.

Photography Projects

Work on photography projects right in your house, such as this matcha display.

There are plenty of things around the house you could photograph. Think outside the box, find things you may not usually photograph. Try photographing a cup of coffee or tea. Maybe photograph a book shelf or a set of stairs. Bring out a bottle of wine to photograph. Come up with small projects you can work on right here at home. Consider it practice. Have fun experimenting and learning.

Clean Your Gear

When was the last time you cleaned your gear?

When was the last time you cleaned the outside of your gear or the glass of your lenses? Maybe it’s time to clean your sensor. Bring out your blowers, brushes, and lens wipes and get cleaning.

Reorganize Your Gear

Where do you store your gear? Is it clean and organized, or could it use a little tidying up? What about your camera bags? Are they full of too much stuff accumulated over the years? Is there a better way to reorganize their dividers? Let’s get organized.

Post-processing

This is a perfect time to work on your back catalog, processing photos you maybe have been meaning to, but just haven’t gotten to yet. It’s also a great time to organize your catalog, tag and rate your photos, etc.

Learn Your Software

Try something new with your photography software.

There’s always something new to learn with software these days. And I find it’s also good to practice things I’ve done before to be sure I remember how. So spend some time with your software. Pick an image, any image, and try to learn a new feature. Experiment. Play. Have fun.

Brainstorm

Maybe you can’t head out now and photograph, but you can brainstorm ideas for when you are able to get out. Take some time and consider ideas for future photographs or projects. Make some plans. Think about things you’d like to photograph. What time of day would work well in that location and with that subject? What season? Maybe research locations you’ve yet to visit.

I hope this list has given you some ideas of ways to stay active and productive even if you can’t leave your house. There’s almost always something we can do to keep learning, to better our craft and better ourselves.

Keep learning. Have fun. And stay positive and healthy!

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Keep Your Eyes Open - White-tailed Deer /  by Todd Henson

Peek-a-Boo! A White-tailed Deer in the brush.

This post is all about keeping your eyes open when out hiking or photographing. You never know what you might see, what might be hiding just out of view, or perhaps just in view if you’ve trained yourself to see.

Several years ago I was hiking through a local park, mostly photographing birds. But I try to keep my eyes peeled for any movement, pattern, or interesting shapes. And in this case it helped me find a young white-tailed deer hiding in the brush just off the trail.

A White-tailed Deer winking at me as it walked away

Honestly, I don’t know that the deer was actually trying to hide, especially given how close it was to the trail. But it was frozen when I walked by. I noticed it because of those big white ears. They really stood out. So I put down the tripod and started photographing.

These aren’t great shots, but I’m happy I made them. They bring back great memories of being very close to wildlife, something I always enjoy. And they’re a reminder to keep our eyes open when hiking, to continue training our eyes, looking for those patterns that might help us find other animals in the future.

A month later I found these three White-tailed Deer at more of a distance but also hiding in the brush

A Fly on the Rail /  by Todd Henson

A fly on the rail at a local wetlands park

When heading out to photograph nature with a long telephoto lens most photographers, including myself, would be on the lookout for wildlife of some sort: birds, maybe deer, a shy fox, perhaps. But I try to keep my eyes open for anything because long lenses work great for other subjects, as well.

I was walking along the boardwalk of my favorite wetlands park. They have a slightly elevated section with a larger observation area with railing and benches. I was heading down the boardwalk from here towards the section flat against the water with no railing. And just before the railing ended I noticed a large fly, sitting on the metal rail. It remained where it was as I walked by, so I turned around, setup the tripod, and began photographing this patient little subject. I liked the angle of the railing and the interesting light patterns in the background. And, of course, flies are always fascinating subjects when viewed closer than we typically see them. Click on the image to see a larger view of the photo.

If you’re curious about the technical details I was using my 200-400mm lens at almost 400mm with a 1.4x teleconverter giving a focal length of 550mm. On a crop sensor body like my Nikon D500 this gives a 35mm equivalent focal length of 825mm. That’s a fair bit of reach.

My lens has a minimum focusing distance of around 6.5 feet, and I’d moved in as close as I could get. I set the aperture to f/8 to give the photo a little depth of field but still completely blur the background. I probably could have stopped down a bit more and gotten more of the fly in focus. This would have dropped the shutter speed or forced me to raise the ISO, but I had room for both in this situation.

With the light conditions what they were I had the ISO set to 400, giving me a shutter speed of 1/400 sec. I don’t like to let the shutter speed drop too low with this long lens, even when on a tripod. Too many chances of vibration blurring the image. I have a mild case of essential tremor, so there’s always a risk of me introducing vibration, which a long lens will amplify. And the fly was on railing attached to the boardwalk, which can vibrate far more than you’d think when people are walking on it nearby.

When photographing in this situation I tend to wait for folks to walk by and let the boardwalk settle before shooting. Then I try to focus on my breathing to calm myself and relax. And I very often put the shutter in burst mode and shoot in short bursts of 2-4 shots at a time. This can be a waste of frames and creates many more images I must sort through when I get home, but it also increases the chances that one of those frames will be more in focus than the others, so it’s often worth the extra effort.

Next time you’re out in the field, whether photographing or just out for a walk, look around you. Really focus on your surroundings. What do you see that most of us might overlook and walk by? Is there a chance it might make an interesting composition if you had a camera with you? Practice this exercise as often as you can, train yourself to see more in the world. I do this all the time but still have so much to learn. I see photographers I admire create compositions I doubt I ever would have seen the potential in, and yet they create something absolutely fantastic. We can do that, too, if we better learn how to see.