Ever feel that your images are let down by your subject? Well, likely as not, with some creative setup and composition, you'd get terrific results.
How many times have you looked at an image of some exotic destination and wondered if your photos were limited by what you have to work with? Well don’t! While there is no denying that a more attractive scenario or eye-catching object would garner attention more easily but there is no reason why mundane, everyday objects can’t give you interesting photos.
With the right lens and some experimentation, you would be surprised at what you can achieve. Actions always speak louder than words and so, with our Canon EOS 5D Mark II in hand and a couple of lenses (EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM and EF 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye) in toll, we started rummaging around the office for some mundane things to shoot. Not having much around, we finally rounded up some company pens and took a few shots.
From the images, you can see that by applying different setups and compositions, we were able to present a diverse style from the same subject. The key is to finding a balance of aesthetically pleasing composition, choosing the right focal length and finding an appropriate angle from which to shoot your subject. Beauty can be found in even the most mundane of objects; if they are not inherently picture-perfect objects to begin with, you should play around and use the lines and shapes of the objects to create a picture that is attractive.
So, to summarise, here are 5 top tips for making mundane objects look vaguely interesting in a photo:
1. Composition. Think about the Rule of Thirds , set up your camera in your desired position and compose the shot in a manner to produce something visually pleasing.
2. Use your hands. Don’t forget that just because the objects are a little mundane, that doesn’t mean that they can’t be moved to create interesting shapes. Move them, arrange them, stack them, the possibilities are endless.
3. Use your equipment well. DSLRs benefit from having an array of different lenses that can offer up different benefits, especially when shooting mundane objects. We used a Macro for the finer details as well as a Fisheye to get a slightly warped interpretation of the object. You might want to pick a larger aperture lens to isolate the subject (especially if the background is boring).
4. Use of space. Fill the frame with interesting eye-catching visuals. It doesn’t have to be the mundane object itself. Consider: What’s in the background? What’s in the foreground?
5. Be creative! You can’t alter the subject, so you have to think out of the box to make it work. These images are not your model images but rather a set of images to start you off on exploring what you can shoot around the house and at the same time make you think about your setup and composition. After all, it’s the photographer’s interpretation of the subject that truly gives life to the image and makes it unique. Try this exercise and then extend it to your outdoor and studio shoots.
Why not give it a shot and shoot some mundane subjects? Then upload it to our DigitalRev gallery to showcase your work.
How many times have you looked at an image of some exotic destination and wondered if your photos were limited by what you have to work with? Well don’t! While there is no denying that a more attractive scenario or eye-catching object would garner attention more easily but there is no reason why mundane, everyday objects can’t give you interesting photos.
1. Composition. Think about the Rule of Thirds , set up your camera in your desired position and compose the shot in a manner to produce something visually pleasing.
These images are not your model images but rather a set of images to start you off on exploring what you can shoot around the house and at the same time make you think about your setup and composition. After all, it’s the photographer’s interpretation of the subject that truly gives life to the image and makes it unique. Try this exercise and then extend it to your outdoor and studio shoots.
