CS-4U - Creative Stimulus For You!

No doubt these are tough times - times that can get one down, emotionally and creatively. But heck, are you going to let a tanking stock market sink your digital imaging creativity? Hope not!

However, if the winds have been knocked out of your creative sails, here are a few ideas that may stimulate the creative artist within. At the very least, I hope they distract your from the stock market chart, which looks like a bad - a very bad - histogram.

1)
Make an on-line book. I just made one with Mpix that I’ve been planning to make for about two years: Life Lessons We Can Learn From Mother Nature. What fun, not only making the book, but learning the software. Come up with a theme, pick your best shots, and get published!

2)
Test-drive a plug-in. Hundreds of plug-ins are available via the Web that expand the capability and creativity of Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Aperture and Lightroom. Most are available for a free trail. Download a few and stay up to midnight creating one-of-a-kind effects. To get started, check out the Plug-in Experience - a site I started just for fun. Send me a plug-in picture and I’ll help to make your more famous!

3)
Go on a one-lens adventure. Challenge yourself. Go on-location with only one lens and see what kind of magic you can create in camera. You may be pleasantly surprised.

4)
Paint with light. Sit someone down in a completely dark room. Set your camera on a tripod. Set the ISO to 400 and the shutter speed to 10 seconds. Release the shutter with the camera’s self-timer. Now, with a flashlight, paint the subject with light. You’ll have to experiment to get your timing and painting techniques down - but when you do, you’ll love the creative results.

5)
Team up. Go on a shoot with a friend. From the same spot, try to take two totally different photographs.

6)
Go wireless. On-camera flashes are okay for snapshot. For more creative flash photography, get a wireless remote, which allows you to fire an off-camera flash placed in a much more creative position - for more dramatic lighting.

7)
Slow it down. Indoors, outdoors, during the day and at night, set your camera to a slow shutter speed and see how you can use motion to add a sense of movement to a still photograph.

8)
Break the Rules. For an entire day, break every photographic rule that you have ever heard about. Open your mind.

9)
Play with custom functions and picture styles. If you are like me, you probably don’t take advantage of the custom functions and picture styles on your camera. Well, guess what? They can actually help you take more creative images.

10)
Switch styles.
If you usually take landscapes with a wide-angle lens, take a few shots with a telephoto lens - which will isolates the elements in the scene. If you usually take people and pet pictures with a telephoto lens, take a few shots with a wide-angle lens for more of an environmental photograph.

Hey, if you have a few CS-4U ideas, please post them!

Best,
Rick
P.S. If you have Photoshop CS4 (Creative Suite 4)Extended, play around with the 3-D effects. Now that's a CS-4U (Creative Stimulus for you) tip that is totally cool and totally fun! Also, immediately after applying a filter, fade the filter for additional creative effects (Filter > Fade Filter).