Photography Workshops

PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOPS

New or experienced snappers, ideas that stretch the imagination.

Water Inspired Photography

Water Inspired Photography Project:

Water Warp. All you need for this project idea is a glass of water (a bowl or vase would work just as well) . Water creates a similar effect to a lens in that it can bend (or refract) light, resulting in unusual visual effects. Pour some water into a glass and position it in front of a colourful scene - you might want to create a still life or set the glass on a window sill to capture a landscape.

If you experiment by moving the camera around - directly in front of the glass, off to the side, looking up at the underside of the surface of the water - you can create an array of abstract images as the light entering the water is warped and reflected.

Happy Snapping!

Light Painting

A project for all you creative minds! Light Painting. This idea involves long exposures. Set your camera on a steady surface (or a tripod) and use a torch or other light source you can hold in your hand to paint shapes, pictures or even write words or letters/numbers. It doesn't need to be white light - you could use sweetie wrappers/biscuit wrappers/crisp bags to create colourful filters.

To do this you will need to set your camera to take a long exposure (several seconds would be best). Your camera might have a long exposure setting (maybe even a light painting/night-time photography/fireworks setting) or you can trick your camera into taking a longer exposure by choosing a very narrow aperture to limit the amount of light entering the camera.

Don't worry if your camera doesn't have any of these settings - position your camera, turn off the light in the room, turn on your torch (pointed towards the camera) and press the shutter button. The camera should try to compensate for the lack of light by taking the longest exposure it can.It may take a few attempts to position the light fully in the frame of the picture but it's not essential - having light lines entering and leaving the frame at different points can be just as pleasing to the eye! It might help to start moving the torch before you start to take the picture - try using a 2/5/10 second timer delay to give you a few seconds to get in position and start moving.Happy Snapping!

History

Here is the next project:

History. Take photographs of objects from around your home which have some kind of history to them. It could be something old and second-hand that you like looking at, maybe something you've had for years or perhaps there is an interesting story behind how you acquired it or what it is used for.

Don't worry, you don't have to explain the story behind your precious things - we just want to see your best photos!

You might take portraits of objects or get in close to capture astounding details - get creative!

Remember you can send your favourite/best photos to artangelprojects@gmail.com and we will pop them up on the Facebook page.

Happy Snapping!

Shadows

This week we are looking at shadows

There are shadows cast all over your home. Can you find familiar shapes and unfamiliar shapes? Some interesting shadows are formed when items just happen to be next to one another but you can also rearrange whatever you find to make it pleasing to your eyes.

You don't have to limit yourself to basic black/grey shadows - you can add some colour using sunglasses, sweetie/biscuit wrappers, shower gel, coloured glass/plastic... you might like to try dilute coloured liquid in a drinking glass or jam jar. A white background will work best if you experiment with colours.

Happy Snapping!

A-F

Here is a new idea to start the new block:

The Alphabet. A-F. Try taking a photograph of something beginning with...

This week, we'll capture the letters A, B, C, D, E and F. You could try to incorporate methods or techniques you have already tried or... try something different

If you can't find a physical object or subject to represent a particular letter, think of a concept or a verb or an adjective instead - for example, you might photograph your own/someone else's smile to represent 'Happy' or a cake for 'Favourite' or a hot water bottle for 'Zzzzzz'

If you can, look for interesting light and unusual angles.

For letter A (or F for flower), here is a beautiful Azalea in bloom.

Remember you can send your favourite/best photos to artangelprojects@gmail.com and they will be proudly displayed on the Art Angel Facebook page.

Happy Snapping!

G-M

The Alphabet. G-M. Try taking a photograph of something beginning with...

This week, we'll capture the letters G, H, I, J, K, L and M. You could try to incorporate methods or techniques you have already tried or try something different

If you can't find a physical object or subject to represent a particular letter, think of a concept or a verb or an adjective instead - for example, you might photograph the 'Inside' of something or somewhere to represent the letter 'I' or a collection of flowers might be a 'Kaleidoscope' of colours or you might see 'Lines' in a fence or electricity pylons.

If you can, look for interesting light and unusual angles.

Remember you can send your favourite/best photos to artangelprojects@gmail.com and they will be proudly displayed on the Art Angel Facebook page.

Happy Snapping!

N-S

It's the third installment of Graeme's A-Z project, and we're now on N-S.

Try to incorporate methods and techniques you've already learned, or how about trying something new?

If you can't find a physical object or subject to represent a particular letter, think of a concept or a verb or an adjective instead - for example, you could photograph something circular or oval to display the letter 'O', maybe you could pose a 'Question' with a photograph (what happens next...?, how did that get there...?) or you could even strike a 'Pose' and take a self portrait.

If you can, look for interesting light and unusual angles.

Here we have R - for reflections

As always, send us in your photos and we'll pop them up in our Sunday Showroom.

Happy snapping!

T-Z

The fourth and final part of the Alphabet, and this week we're looking at letters T-Z.

You could try to incorporate methods or techniques you have already tried or try something different

If you can't find a physical object or subject to represent a particular letter, think of a concept or a verb or an adjective instead.

Ideas to think about:

- Capture the 'Topography' (the shape of an area, hills, valleys...) of a landscape
- Photograph a 'Volume' of liquid
- You might see something 'Zoological' (an ant, a horse, maybe even a deer or a fox if you're lucky.

If you can, look for interesting light and unusual angles.
Here we have Trees and water, 2 in 1!

Remember you can send your favourite/best photos to artangelprojects@gmail.com and we will pop them up on our Sunday Showroom

Circles

Lets try shapes this time:

Circles. Look for circles of all shapes and sizes

There are circle shapes all around us. What are the most interesting circles you can find?

You might find circles already posing for a photo (for example, you might store all of your bottles or jars next to one another) or perhaps you could create still life or abstract portraits of circles or circular objects using brightly coloured or contrasting backgrounds.

Experiment with the positioning of your circles - off-centre subjects and details of a larger object can make for a more interesting photograph.

Remember you can send your favourite/best photos to artangelprojects@gmail.com and we'll pop them up on our Sunday Showroom.

Happy Snapping

Curves and Waves

Curves and Waves. Look for curves, curved shapes and wavy lines around your home. Try and create some still life or abstract portraits using solitary shapes or repeating patterns.

Everyday objects can be interesting too! There are curves and waves everywhere if you look hard enough, such as telephone cables, biscuit tins or even instant noodles!

Send us in your photographs and we'll pop them up on our social media

Look Down

Look Down. We tend to naturally take photographs at our own eye level, which can result in a some photographs looking quite similar.

Change your perspective and look down at your feet for interesting details. You could try taking a photograph of a subject from directly above but you don't have to just look straight down - rest the camera on the floor/ground/a table/a wall and try to find different angles and points of view.

This challenge might help you become more observant of small details which add impact and understand how different angles can make for a more interesting image.

The more you look around and find new points of view, the more interesting your images will be.

Remember you can send your favourite/best photos to artangelprojects@gmail.com and we will pop them up on our Sunday Showroom

Happy Snapping!

Frozen Items

Frozen Items. This is another idea that might work better with a close-up macro camera setting but you should be able to zoom in from further away. Using a tripod to steady the camera would help but it is not essential.

Find a suitable container, such as a tupperware/plastic food container. A transparent container would work best but semi-transparent would work too.

You could try this either using just water or put some (waterproof) interesting things you have lying about the house in the container (leaves or flowers would also work). Pour in water until the interesting things are covered and pop the container in the freezer for a few hours (or overnight). You might try using a drinking glass too.

Remember - water expands as it freezes into ice, so only fill your container of choice to about two-thirds with water at most (or it might become a more 'interesting' subject than you anticipated...!!!)

Wait until the water has frozen, then place the container on either a white or evenly coloured surface so it shows through the container. If you use a drinking glass instead of a food container, you could put a piece of white paper behind it.

To achieve the best results, light the container from underneath (or from behind the background if you use a glass), so it acts like a light box. If that is not possible, try lighting from the side - the idea is to allow the light to shine through the ice and interesting things.

You can also try gently pouring some hot water onto the ice and capture how the ice melts and cracks - experimenting with different depths of water might show quite different results, you can always pour the excess water off as it melts.

Remember you can send your favourite/best photos to artangelprojects@gmail.com and we will pop them up on our Sunday Showroom

Happy Snapping!

Water Droplets On A Window

Water Droplets On A Window. This idea might work better with close-up macro photography but not necessarily - you could zoom in from further away.

Rain is never far away in Scotland - try to capture its good side on a pane of glass (a window, patio door or even the front plastic/glass from a photoframe).

Water gathers as small droplets that coalesce into interesting patterns and shapes.

Notice how different backgrounds affect the colours of the droplets - a white sky, cloudy background creates white droplets with a thin black outline whereas a background with multiple colours (e.g. a garden or even a solitary tree) will influence the colours quite differently (you might even observe the water droplets acting like tiny magnifying lenses).

Experiment with different backgrounds if you can, move the camera around.

If it doesn't rain you could always use a water skoosher (technical term) or just flick some water with your fingers.

Remember you can send your favourite/best photos to artangelprojects@gmail.com and they will be proudly displayed on the Art Angel Facebook page.

Happy Snapping..!!!

Remember you can send your favourite/best photos to artangelprojects@gmail.com and we'll pop them up on our Sunday Showroom.

Happy Snapping

Cutlery

Cutlery. Empty out your cutlery drawer and see if you can make an interesting assemblance out of your knives, forks and spoons.

Remember you can send your favourite/best photos to

artangelprojects@gmail.com

and they will be proudly displayed on the Art Angel Facebook page.

Happy Snapping..!!!

Red, Green and Blue Light

It looks like the weather might give us a grey, dull-coloured week, so let's look for colour

Red, Green and Blue
Light is very important for photography - red, green and blue light are combined in equal amounts to create artificial white light which we use to see (and photograph) with, whether it's lightbulbs or a camera flash.

To brighten up the week, let's look for red, green and blue objects.

You might encounter all three colours together, individually or you could pose them. If any of these three are particular favourites, you might want to concentrate on just one colour. Don't worry about trying to capture them all in one photograph, it's the colours we want to see!

Remember you can send your favourite/best photos to artangelprojects@gmail.com and we will pop them up on our Sunday Showroom