Indoor photography ideas wanted

[Claymore]

Hi,
As its coming up to winter season like many of you don't get to travel far due to bad weather and tend to take more photo's at home in the garden either outside or through window/door etc of birds on feeders.
One thing i have found a great help is a door curtain that easily attaches to any door frame with spring extending rods (from Wilkinsons Store for around £5.00) my wife made me 2 narrow curtains that slide on the rods and i can poke my camera out through the gap without scaring the birds away!
I have put a bird table approx 10ft from my back door and manage to get some very nice shots including Woodpecker family who visit daily, i can place a comfy chair inside and a nice cuppa! LoL
I also take quite a few macro shots and again you can do this without having to venture out in bad weather, I bought a cheap pop up tabletop studio off Ebay for around £20.00 and over the last few monthsi have collected interesting items on my travels like, feathers/shells/acorns/fossils etc to practice my macro technique all in the comfort of my home using normal desk lamps for lighting (+ flash etc)
I also splashed out on a couple of Raynox clip on Macro lenses (DCR-150 and DCR-250) and these enable me to get photo's of Flys eyes! amazing.
I also bought some taxidermy specimens again off Ebay of Beetles and Butterflies and although some people don't approve of taxidermy it is a great way of learning how to focus without them flying away! then when its nicer weather you will be ready to shoot live critters.
So there's plenty to do in winter with your camera's? hope i have given you a few idea's to get snapping and i'd love to hear all your idea's/tips etc for indoor photography.
Cheerio
Brian

[Adrian Davies]

hi brian,

i sometimes have fun taking indoor shots, here are a few more suggestion to get the juices flowing!

start off by taking shots of your home, inside and out, there are lots of interesting shapes and textures in what you might think are mundain items.

choose an interesting wall in a room and take lots of shots of it (choose a wall that may have furniture or bookcase against it. dont take one shot but take 50 closer in, use these images to make a joiner in PS in the style of David Hockney. dont worry too much about the perfect picture as the difference in "auto" settings will enhance the overall image,

play with water, the drip pictures are a good time filler and now we dont have to pay for film?? i doesnt matter if it takes 1000 shots to get the perfect image.

the kitchen or tool box often has some very interesting items for shots. i have just completed a series of shots for a club competition where i used pliers, spanner, screwdriver and some mole grips. placed on a worn out baking tray.

reflections. but yourself a mirror from a charity shop and play around with shot of "anything" you will be surprised what you get.

glasses. raid your cupboard, there are some amaizing abstracts to be had from playing with glass. the key and the challenge with glass is the lighting and trying not tp get a burnt out witness in your shots (if thats what you are after).

3 is the magic number. take 3 items and arrange them together in a good composition for a minimalist shot. the items do not have to be the same thing but could be a juxtaposition.

one this that i have found essential when shooting at DRT studios is a reasonable sized piece of black velvet. this can add a touch of class to a shot and make all the difference between and ordinary shot and a good one. velvet normally goes for about £15 for a useful sized piece

have fun everyone and lets see some shots on the DPS gallery!!

Adrian