get on the floor

One of the best ways to shake things up a little bit it is to take a photo from an unexpected angle. In our daily lives we tend to view things from about 5 feet up (give or take several inches…I know, I know). But try laying, squatting, or kneeling on the floor or ground with your camera and notice the difference. It’s a whole new world from down there! Those of you who have small children are probably not strangers to kneeling down and getting on their level, whether it’s to take a picture or to give a hug. That’s a great way to capture your little ones in their environment.

But there are a lot of other subjects that look amazing when shot from down below too like buildings, nature, and streets scenes. And there are a few different ways I tend shoot from the ground. One way is to get down low and then shoot up at something, like the shot above or this one from southhollisqueen. I also love the look of a super low, parallel-to-the-ground shot like this one from veridianblue. Or there’s the less extreme, but effective technique of kneeling but still shooting slightly down on a subject like jen_maiser did.

Okay, I’ll let you in on a little secret. You don’t always have to physically get down on the ground for this to work. You can use Sarah's Just Shoot It technique and hold your camera closer to the ground or actually on the ground and hope for the best. If you’re anything like me, it might save you from having some seriously sore thigh muscles the next morning.

So get on the floor and show us your results in the comments!

Comments

[Kelly]

It's so much fun shooting pictures from all kinds of angles! You really see things in a whole different way when you do this. Here are a couple of my examples:

A huge tree in Hawaii: http://flickr.com/photos/momofthreewi/2313932044/in/set-72157604046455679/

My daughter in an apple tree:
http://flickr.com/photos/momofthreewi/2159409606/in/set-72157594501623585/

[Demara]

This concept of spicing our regular angles up a bit with a more flat line approach of laying on our backs is one I will try, now that I have a "proper" camera. (I've tried 'hanging upside down' photos, those are fun too.) For all my photos I've been using my cell phone. Now I'm thrilled to experiment with my 'one-step up from that' camera!

Off to flat line, Demara AKA D

[christie]

Hmmm. Looking back I see that just about all of my on the floor or looking up shots are of kids. I think I'll have to consider that for other subjects as well.

I just like the composition on this one.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/enckline/2325386271/

and for this one I also took many from 5 feet and even more from up on a chair (poor kid cleaned up the whole mess herself while I'm snapping pictures saying, not so fast!) and I only liked the ones from the floor.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/enckline/2294850110/

[Hay]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hippyhappyhay/2340259328/in/set-72157604151791432/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hippyhappyhay/2339441715/in/set-72157604151791432/

Yes! Just shoot it! In these two I just held my camera just above the sand and clicked, clicked, clicked. And I love them.

[Jenny Kim]

Took a family portrait and got this shot.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenny_kim/994156693/

[Jo]

I'm a big fan of Just Shoot It but I got down on the floor today and took this:

http://roobyred.typepad.com/thesmileonadog/2008/03/floored.html

Thank you. I think it's my favourite photo of her.

[Mrs. Eaves]

I love floor shots! I took this one a couple of weeks ago:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrs-eaves/2320311113/

[Shelli]

This is something I do quite often. And, oh yes, sometimes I just lower my camera, which really saves my back, like in this one:

http://www.mamaofletters.com/Mama_of_Letters/Camera_Happy.html#11

Or sometimes I just lay down flat, hoping the neighbors don't see me, like in this one:

http://www.mamaofletters.com/Mama_of_Letters/Camera_Happy.html#12

[Milla]

Great post - I just love the advice on this website! Just yesterday I shot a picture laying upside down on the floor. It turned out pretty cool!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/millachappell/2347333883/in/pool-shuttersisters

[Kim]

Can I join? I have a picture of some train tracks on today's post that were basically taken from the view of the tracks

http://kimdevoe.blogspot.com

[kristyk]

Here is an example of setting the camera on the ground and hoping for the best:

http://flickr.com/photos/kristyk/2277469962/

A few days ago I got under the trampoline to try and get some pictures of my kids jumping. They were too interested in what I was doing down there to be much help!

http://flickr.com/photos/kristyk/2339935197/

[kristyk]

By the way, for all you flickr fans... here is a great 'down low' group:

http://flickr.com/groups/downlow/

[maya]

We went to the Sunsphere yesterday - gotta look up at that!

http://springtreeroad.typepad.com/springtreeroad/2008/03/sunspheretutori.html

[nyjlm]

A few weeks ago I was inspired to Just Shoot It when I saw these flower blossoms on the driveway. I just set the camera down and clicked. I love it.
http://nyjlm-365.blogspot.com/2008/02/2232008.html

I've also done some lie down and shoot under a tree in our front yard
http://nyjlm.blogspot.com/2008/03/my-piece-of-sky.html

[mary]

Lots of fun! Here are two; one looking up from underneath:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9068078@N05/2336653953/in/photostream/

and the other on eye level with my furry one:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9068078@N05/2351514289/

[natala]

oh I love this. One of my favorite things to do is shoot pictures while the camera is just at hip level, with out looking and just shooting it.

here are 2 :

http://flickr.com/photos/atheart/2351536341/

and http://flickr.com/photos/atheart/2352346958/in/photostream/

[cotterpin]

This was one of the first techniques I discovered on my own- and I love it! It's too funny you mentioned it today- I just posted one of my "looking up" pictures last night...

http://cotterpinhouse.wordpress.com/2008/03/21/longing-for-summer/

[Carol]

This site is sooooo inspiring!

http://flickr.com/photos/23616183@N08/2297045693/

http://flickr.com/photos/23616183@N08/2309832282/

[laura plouzek]

took this one yesterday at the park. I've always loved shooting from the ground. It's so refreshing to see something from a new perspective.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/smilinglaura/2351397862/

[Gloria]

From a normal person's perspective, the hole in this tree is just that, a hole. But when shooting from a new angle, it looks like something worth examining and exploring :)

http://gloriaruggero.blogspot.com/2008/03/from-another-angle.html

[camerashymomma]

i use this technique alot, it helps when shooting toddlers too cause they are most unaware of the camera and will just continue playing (it's a way to get sneaky i suppose) but it's nice to just sit the camera on the ground and get small. here's one i took like that outside
http://www.flickr.com/photos/camerashymomma/2342431696/

[nicky thomas]

hello shuttersisters

I tend to be on the floor a lot with the kiddies anyway so they are used to me rolling around with my camera. Heres one of little miss trouble having one of her 5 a day.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/nickythomasphotography/2340261811/



i hope you like it
nicky x

[Anna]

My son doesn't like to use the swing "the right way", he likes to fly it like an airplane. So I got right underneath him and took these....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sassyanna/1438809101/in/set-72157602159242659/

Close up

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sassyanna/1439670212/in/set-72157602159242659/

[Marcie]

This one was taken lying flat on my back on the ground..watching the birds fly wildly around against the cold blue sky.
http://marciescudder.blogspot.com/2008/02/sky-is-falling.html

And this one I took lying on my belly..watching the rain form bubbles in the puddles.

http://marciescudder.blogspot.com/2007/05/crystal-bubbles.html

Fun to mix it up..and look at things in a whole other way.

[Raven]

I suffered for this one, little did I know how allergic I am to whatever grass grows on the bayou.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/justexpressive/2352626839/

I really like the water you can see in the background

[Melissa]

Great post and love the picture! I enjoy getting on the ground and at the kids level. But I need to do more shots looking up, thanks for the reminder.

Here is my contribution - it was taken this afternoon:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24035778@N04/2353480456/

[K. Selby]

I love to shoot from the ground! Here's one I took this afternoon in my backyard.

http://bp3.blogger.com/_8xggSbUAc-Q/R-WaUb_bzDI/AAAAAAAAAm4/m5WlLb9ivO8/s1600-h/DSC_0168-1.JPG

[vivienne]

i'm so on the same page! i've been playing around with shooting from below lately...especially when taking pictures of flowers.

here's some thoughts and images on the subject!

http://ladyvivienne.blogspot.com/2008/03/splendor-of-rose-and-whitness-of-lily.html

[W. Lotus]

I decided to spare everyone the shot of the gigantic dust bunnies under the bookcases. :-)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wlotus2008/2353678776/

[Lawyer Mama]

My favorite lens is a 50mm and I can't do the hold it to the ground and shoot thing because I have a Nikon D40x and the autofocus doesn't work on that lens. Damn. it.

But here are some that I've managed to get:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lawyermama/2351383548/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lawyermama/2167307693/in/set-72157603509783008/

[Kate]

This is a technique that I've noticed my boyfriend doing A LOT, we are constantly trading the camera back and forth and he always goes for a ground shot. I usually don't like the ones of me because it's very easy to catch a double chin when shooting from below people, but he got these two the other day that I think turned out really cool. I'm definitely going to start trying this angle more...

http://freemotion-kate.blogspot.com/

[Calissa]

I love this post... it was fun to look through my pics and remember times I used this "down below" technique! Will have to do it more often...

Little girl having a snack in the leaves (and me down there with her)
http://flickr.com/photos/marycalissa/2101375611

And then several of my dog from her level...
http://flickr.com/photos/marycalissa/526552671
http://flickr.com/photos/marycalissa/526461878
http://flickr.com/photos/marycalissa/2102161590

And a tree from under looking up...
http://flickr.com/photos/marycalissa/2101388977

Such fun... I love this site!!

[Sheri]

nice shot! i have to say i do this all the time. i can't stop.

here are some recents:
http://todayispretty.wordpress.com/2008/03/20/city-of-trees/
http://todayispretty.wordpress.com/2008/03/01/wallpaper/
http://todayispretty.wordpress.com/2008/02/24/no-storm/

[Elspeth]

Funnily enough, I tried out this technique for the first time this weekend. I simply stuck the camera under the flower and snapped:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/68001446@N00/2357577121/

[marné]

The best way to get pictures of my wiggle-y dogs is to take them when they're sleeping:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/heylucyloo/2306868488/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/heylucyloo/2130538882/in/set-72057594056435467/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/heylucyloo/2129760861/in/set-72057594056435467/