EXPAND YOUR CREATIVE RANGE

The more spontaneous you are, the more creative your photography will be

The biggest factor that hinders creativity is getting distracted and bogged down by technical matters. Which button does what, how to correct exposure error, which AF setting to use… The more time you spend thinking about how to use your camera and lenses, the less time you’ll have to make creative decisions and the more likely you are to miss fleeting opportunities. Once you become familiar and fluent with your equipment, however, the more confident and spontaneous you’ll be, because you’ll be able to make quick decisions and act on them.

The most successful photographers tend to be the ones who take the most creative risks, who are willing to try something even if there’s only a 10 per cent chance of it being successful. Why not? What is there to lose? Back in the days of film, every time you pressed the shutter button you were spending money, so photographers tended to be more cautious. However, in this digital age you can be much more carefree, because photographs are effectively free. You also get instant feedback, so if you take a creative risk you’ll know immediately if it has paid off or not – and if not, you can usually figure out what went wrong and can correct your mistakes there and then until you end up with a successful image.

This is why techniques such as astro photography, intentional camera movement and the use of extreme ND filters have become so popular – digital capture has taken the guesswork away and made them accessible. Digital photography is creatively liberating. It frees you up to push your creative boundaries as far as you want to, and the more you do it, the more spontaneous you will then become.

A further advantage of trying out new techniques is that you can add them to your creative repertoire, and this in turn increases the likelihood of you producing successful images every time you head out (or in) with a camera.

For example, if you plan a day’s photography and on the day the weather is cloudy and dull, you could decide to shoot images with the intention of converting them all to black and white, or head to the coast and shoot minimalist long-exposure images with your

Big Stopper – both ideas suit dull weather. If you find yourself wandering around aimlessly, devoid of inspiration, all you need to do is tap into your list of favourite creative techniques and give them a try – experiment with slow shutter speeds, shoot reflections, take photographs through glass, work on a theme such as doors or windows or spiral staircases. If you’re open-minded, you can always find something interesting to photograph.

Also, the more photographs you take and the more techniques you try, the more spontaneous you’ll become. As soon as you spot something interesting, you’ll instinctively leap into action and start making creative decisions about how you can capture it, without even realising you’re doing it.