Be A Photography Rebel

10 tips to create unique and powerful images

Text And Photography By Ian J. Plant

Labels: How-To, Camera Technique

This Article Features Photo Zoom

1 Castle Geyser at night, Yellowstone National Park

In the age of inexpensive, high-quality digital cameras, suddenly everyone is a photographer. The digital revolution has unleashed a horde of shooters, all vying to become the next Ansel Adams. As a result, it gets tougher and tougher to stand out from the crowd. How can you break free from the pack with truly unique images?

Easy—become a photography rebel! Rebels break the rules, challenge perceptions and shatter expectations. Only by being a rebel will you truly explore the limits of your creativity. You might make a lot of bad images along the way (I know I have), but by experimenting and learning from your mistakes, you’ll start to make more and more great ones. Play it safe, and you’ll end up with the same shots as everyone else. Shoot on the edge, however, and you can make history. Here are 10 tips to help you unlock your creative potential, so you can start making cutting-edge photographs.

Shoot At Night
1 The dark of night is the closest thing to a blank canvas we as photographers will ever encounter. Take advantage! It’s your time to literally paint with light. Use flash to light portions of the landscape while stars wheel in the sky above—or try flashlights, car lights or your camp fire. Light from the moon or even distant city lights can illuminate a scene during long exposures.

Take a 30-second “test shot” at your camera’s highest ISO setting to see what your image will look like, then calculate your exposure time accordingly. For example, if your 30-second test shot is properly exposed at ISO 3200, an exposure time of eight minutes at ISO 200 is needed; add or subtract time or adjust the aperture if the scene was under- or overexposed in the test shot. Night exposures can last anywhere from several minutes to several hours, so bring your cable release (and a good book), make sure your batteries are fully charged, and turn on your camera’s noise-reduction feature.

Photography of wildlife at night can lead to some interesting images—if you can find any critters in the dark! Night photography may be difficult, but not being able to see anything is surprisingly conducive to creative image making.

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14 Comments

kev Gardinner makes this comment

Sunday 29 March, 2009

Interesting story. The pictures are plain awful or cliched. This is a case where a picture is not worth a thousand words. OP, I am disappointed. You usually have much better art.
Nancy makes this comment

Tuesday 31 March, 2009

I agree with Ken - Great idea - Terrible pictures
Jerry Greer makes this comment

Sunday 5 April, 2009

So kevin Gardinner aka. Kevin Gardiner, how many different ways do you spell your name or did you add too many n's? I think that I've seen you around the web posting this very same negative type comments against other photographers.
Steve E makes this comment

Tuesday 7 April, 2009

The article was very useful and the photography is inspirational. It's a shame that OP does not do a better job of filtering these "trolls" and troublemakers. By the way, the photography looks even BETTER in the actual magazine!
Patrick Joseph makes this comment

Tuesday 7 April, 2009

the pictures are excellent and demonstrate "outside the box" thinking as promoted by the article. The writing is clear, concise, and has a wonderful "voice". Good stuff
Ron makes this comment

Wednesday 8 April, 2009

Thanks for the ideas OP. I enjoyed the photos.
Robert makes this comment

Saturday 18 April, 2009

Love the article and the pics! Good ideas and inspiration.
Jim R. makes this comment

Saturday 18 April, 2009

The author has some awesome pics! See his site for more cool pictures at http://www.ipphotography.com/. Keep up the great work!
WesleyDean makes this comment

Sunday 19 April, 2009

I still can't get over how crazy it is that they published this article. Literally 2 or 3 days earlier I went out with my camera during a full moon and got some amazing moonscapes. Some actually look like it's the middle of the day! http://www.flickr.com/photos/49491307@N00/
Jamese makes this comment

Thursday 13 August, 2009

Hi. Be courteous to all, but intimate with few; and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. Help me! Could you help me find sites on the: Stock market crash of 1929. I found only this - stock market quotations. Philippine newspaper readership up in a and mark. Divblogheader, divnavigation, divleft. Thank you very much :o. Jamese from Nauru.
Ed Hardy makes this comment

Wednesday 12 May, 2010

In America many people have a romantic idea of life in the countryside.
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Wednesday 30 June, 2010

You have a great blog. I've learned quite a bit from your posts.

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Be A Photography Rebel

10 tips to create unique and powerful images

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