In these times of being cooped up and going stir crazy, you may find yourself looking for things to do.
One option is to spend time with whatever camera gear you have and get thoroughly familiar it, be it a point & shoot, phone app or full-fledged dslr.
This is a good time to clean your equipment: For dslr cameras, take advantage of this time to give your gear a thorough cleaning, update firmware if needed and charge up batteries.
Basic lens cleaning tools are a blower, lens brush and clean lens cloth or lens tissue. Clean both ends of the lens and don’t forget to clean the lens cap; it’s surprising how much dirt can build up, waiting for a chance to fall onto your lens.
If you don’t feel confident about manually cleaning your sensor, then don’t; stick with the built-in sensor cleaning feature if you have one. Scratched sensors are an expensive repair best avoided.
Clean the electrical contacts on your camera body and lenses, as well as flash and any other electronics. A cotton swab with isopropyl alcohol works well for most; make sure you angle whatever you’re cleaning downwards so no alcohol, dust or fibers fall into it.
Look online, or in your manual, for capabilities your camera or app has that you were not aware of and get creative while in the safe confines of your living space. There’s a lot that you can do within your camera, without needing any fancy software. Many phone apps and cameras have built-in time lapse, slow motion, creative filters and other tools that can help you create masterpiece images and movies. Have you tried a stop-motion app?
Ideas….
Look out the window and picture the scene moving fast. Are there clouds in the sky, will shadows move in an interesting way as the sun swings across the sky? Shadows will rotate across the frame during a time-lapse movie.
For many of us, depending on location, it’s a good time to get multi-day time lapses of trees leafing out and even plants blooming in the yard. Look online for creative projects that others have undertaken.
This is also a great time for family and pet portraits. Experiment with lighting, different backgrounds, filters and effects. Is it time to break out some of that crazy clothing from a bygone era?
Long exposures in your house or yard, especially at night, can be fun. Try moving things, people or pets around and lighting them up briefly so they appear in many places in your shot.
Shining a light at your camera and moving it about creates a light painting, which is a great, fun activity for all ages.
Night shots are a frequently forgotten area of photography. A myriad photo and video possibilities exist in night photography, whether it’s light from vehicles streaking across a long exposure or clouds and stars moving through the sky.
Don’t forget to take photos of family, these are the images that will be treasured down the road.
