For those of you who caught the latest PPS Roundtable #6, you heard us touch on the topic of inspiration. Now it’s easy to get really deep into the whole “finding inspiration” topic. Some inspirational techniques usually recommended are visiting your local art museum or sitting on the edge of a cliff overlooking a picturesque location while the sunrises. That’s nice and all but not where I’m going with this tip.
Let’s say you’ve got a wedding coming up and you need just some inspiration or new ideas. One thing that I do is hop on over to Flickr and visit on of the many wedding photography group’s pool. One group that will visit from time to time is one called Wedding Photography. This group is HUGE! When you’ve got nearly 9,000 members who ave submitted over 40,000 images, your bound to get inspired. The images in this group’s pool are very diverse due to the variety of the photographer’s skill levels and their locations around the world. Here’s another group if you need some ideas for an upcoming engagement session.
You can also choose to add your favorite idea inspiring images by selecting the “Add To Faves” icon above the image. Once you’ve added a bunch of faves, go through them all as a group and ask yourself, “Why are these my faves?” “What about these images gets my attention?” Is it the cropping? The tone and color of the images? Is it the depth of field? The pose? I have found that when you look at all of these faves as a group, certain characteristics will be common throughout most of the images.
There are many other groups just like this pertaining to all kinds of different types of photography on Flickr. Just do a group search for the kind of photography you’re interested in. Do you use another online photography community site to get your inspiration? If so, we would love to hear about it. Regardless as to which site you use to get inspired, the whole concept is to get out there and create fresh images you’ve never tried before to compliment your “safety shots.”
And of course, be sure to check out the PPS Flickr Group.
Dz
Also I have used flickr on occasion to research a location.
Good tip – there are also some great wedding photo slide shows on youtube.
The fake lens flare in that picture is awful – I guess you can see where people go wrong as well so you don’t make the same mistakes!
Thanks for the feedback on my picture Al. Just remember that anyone with a finger and an opinion can leave a comment saying something looks awful. People tend to learn more and improve their photography skills from constructive criticism. I am no different. So we’ve established that the fake lens flare looks bad. Now what could I have done to make it look more realistic? Lowered the opacity? Blurred it a little? Do you have any examples of images you’ve created using this technique? It’s all about all of us learning and growing as photographers so any tips you can give me on this topic would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Dz
The trouble with that PhotoShop flare-filter is that it looks too darn good. Every time I see it, my first thought is always, “Nobody – but *nobody* – gets that lucky with flare.”
Speaking for myself, flare always homes in like some malign cruise missile on either the bride’s face or the groom’s crotch.
C