Creative Photography
Recently I bought a new camera. While learning how to use it I took dozens of photos that were out of focus, badly composed, underexposed, and not worthy of holding space on my hard drive. I deleted a dozen of them before I realized I could edit them, play with them, apply filters and distortions, change color saturation, lighting, etc., and end up with something totally different from the original, and much nicer to view! Here is one of my creations:
This started out as a green vine against a tree stump.
Here’s another:
This one started out as a tree trunk with some plants growing around it.
I’ve got lots of photos of my grandkids. They are very hard to photograph because they move around constantly, and when they see the camera, they close their eyes because they know a flash is coming!
The kid photos make for interesting creative effects. Here’s one that started out too ordinary to keep:
My daughter is sitting with her daughter on a swing. My daughter refused to smile. She she made an ugly face and thought she ruined the photograph, but she didn’t!
I’ve done some realistic ones, too. This is one of my favorite flowers, the fuchsia:
Last week, a thunderstorm approached mid-morning. The sky became dark as night, yet the sunlight still shone in the distance. I went outside and took a few photos to capture the effect. Here is my favorite:
I suppose I’ll have to start a Flickr account now, like those of you who have inspired me to try creative photography. You know who you are: ~W~, Unique, Aafke, Shahrzad, Susie! I’ve already got nearly one hundred photos, and they’re all different, some of them not even in purple or green!
Marahm 
I just want to know how did you do first 1 fotos 🙂 ?
You are as creative in photography as you are in writing. Yes, do start and flickr account and join us. It is a lot of fun.
Like Amina I want to ask you, how did you edit the first 2 photos?
I love the last two. Pictures of flowers and plants are among my favorite.
Yay, I’m so happy you’ve thrown yourself into this lovely hobby, don’t be disheartened with the first few hundred photographs, it’s a learning process! Most importantly, have fun and reflect in what you are reflecting to us =)
Masha’Allah good shots! I am a terrible photographer, it that my original photos straight off the camera are pretty boring… but once I get them on the computer, a small rotation here, a wee crop there, brightness, contrast, exposure, etc, etc, and I get something that I can call my own without shame, hehe. Alhamdulillah for digital photography! I feel like a cheat, but oh well…
No, iMuslim, you are not a cheat, not at all! Making those edits is not an easy or haphazard task; you need an eye for color and style, you need patience, courage to keep clicking, and knowing when to quit.
The first two photos were made using the following controls: Color, light and exposure tweaks, followed by Distortion, followed by Negative. That’s all!
In other photos, I use the Blending Brush, Freehand Painting, and Filters.
Learning digital photography is different from the old fashioned technique. Years ago I liked to take pictures. I had a Minolta SLR with several lenses. Not having access to all the editing choices we now have on our computers, we had to rely upon creatively taking the photos to begin with, by using various combinations of shutter speed, aperature, lighting, and maybe a filter or a different lens– all manually adjusted. The composition was everything.
Of course, composition is still important, but I’ve been surprised that some of my worst photos have turned out the best, after running them through the mill of the digital imaging program on my computer.
That program, by the way, has its limitations. Does anyone recommend a digital imaging program?
Nice pics! Love the first two!
Amazing! Can’t wait to try playing around with pics on the pc!
Your photos are lovely!
Thank you, Umm Ibrahim and Solace. I’ll be looking forward to seeing some of your results!
I love the vine photo, and all tha caleidoscope ones! I love caleidoscopes!
I collect them.
I love Fuchsia’s too, my mum and I used to go to the Fuchsia nursery every year, and we always had the most magnificent examples in our gardens.
Wchi potoshop program do you use? I have just down loaded Picasa, but I only use Irfanview; I hardly change my photo’s.
“Does anyone recommend a digital imaging program?”
Photoshops rules, if you can afford it… Ever since I upgraded my OS, GimpShop is not longer working on my iMac (though there are versions for Windows and Linux, I believe). I don’t like it as much as Photoshop, but it’s an open-source alternative, and with enough effort, you probably could get comparable results.
If I was serious about design, I would def invest in Photoshop though… can you tell how much I miss using it? haha
It’s so interesting. I saw your fotos on flickr. I assume they use a kind of esp lens for it. It takes absolutely nice natural fotos. What’s the model of your camera?
you are a very creative person, i like your work. thanks just going around and i found your blog. i like it. thanks.
Thank you, kidlantanvillage, and welcome! Please stop by and comment again.