Sunday School: Break the Rules

I'll be the first to admit that sometimes?  If I'm really honest?  I get tired of taking photos.  I get bored with the same old angles and depth of field and eye-popping color.  When this happens, it's usually related to taking pictures of my daughter Cadence because Lord knows I've taken thousands of shots of her.

I've serendipitously found that the best thing to do when I hit the shutter block is to break the rules.  Now, now, I know we would mostly agree that there aren't hard and fast rules in photography, but if we're honest, we probably set up rules for ourselves in the way that we personally shoot on a day-to-day basis.   Sometimes they start out as habits or preferences, and then they subconsciously turn into rules.  Or some rules, we create because we're afraid we'll take bad photographs if we do things a certain way. 

You know what?  Those rules?  No one's watching to see if you're keeping them.  In fact, I bet if you start breaking some, it'll inject new life and creativity into your art.  So go ahead.  Shoot into the sun.  Shake that camera during a long exposure. Shoot at an f/8.0 instead of wide open.  Crank up the ISO.  Get down low.  Embrace the blur.  Turn off the flash.  Turn ON the flash.  Whatever YOUR rules may be--you've gotta break 'em every now and then.  It's one of the ways to improve and grow as a photographer.

What are some rules that you've consciously or subconsciously set up for yourself?  Which ones do you plan on breaking?  Please share, and don't forget to include links to images if you've broken rules. 

Comments

[carrie]

that is an amazing photograph! Very artsy and different. I wish my "break the rules" looked so good.

The only one I could think of was this one when I took a shot driving my van down main street in our town.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrielouise/2399548580/in/set-72157604503002481/

I'm sure taking pics and driving breaks some rules.

[laura - dolcepics]

That photo is surreal! Ooooo...

For the past couple weeks, I've been challenging myself to break away from my usual style. How fitting is this post? :)

Here's an attempt to change my style of processing:
http://www.dolcepics.com/dailypic/denim/

[camerashymomma]

I have been feeling this way too… like I’m trying to break out of my norm, resist myself in a way, stretch myself in a different way. I’m straddling this line of black and white gritty versus bright toenail polished. it's a bit split personality. So for me, it’s something that’s not sunshine, flowers, happy happy la la la:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/camerashymomma/2683741537/
And ya know what, the god forbidden flash is actually kinda fun! So I’m breaking my own rules and I’m feeling happy with the results of black and white
http://www.flickr.com/photos/camerashymomma/2680694175/

[melody]

This shot of yours makes me sit and ponder it over and over.

Here's one that follows absolutely no rules...except we had fun..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/melsphotophun/2013501101/

[Marcie]

I've mever been a big believer in 'rules'. I know I'm always breaking them. What you see..is what you get.

http://bravo.unisonplatform.com/~marciesc/index.php?showimage=461

[e.darcy]

I've always admired those that take beautiful self portraits. I get so freaked out when I'm in front of the camera anyway-so paranoid, so...shy. Plus, the shooter generally doesn't know what my eye wants for the photograph, so I end up disappointed.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/edarcy/2681198862/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/edarcy/2594522601/

[Kathleen]

I think it may be true that any artist (and I am using that term very loosely when referring to myself, by the way) needs to break free of their own rules in order to expand and grow. Honestly, since I have been reading Shutter Sisters daily, it has pushed me out of some of my old rules: you know, centering a subject, not cropping, having perfect lighting, etc. Now I feel that my photos show some kind of expansion or growth. In reading the posts, in viewing all of the varied and amazing photographs by soulful women, I have learned what no photography class could teach me! What a powerful community this is. (thanks for letting me rant, er, I mean, share) Here are some of my personal rule breakers:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ko2008/2610005965/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ko2008/2480506348/in/set-72157605110129130/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ko2008/2556286663/in/set-72157604399765796/

[lora]

because i have no idea what i'm doing (i have no professional training what-so-ever) I don't have much of a choice but to "break the rules". I don't know a photography rule from a hole in the wall. =) Playing around with settings, lighting, angles...is the only way i learn. I'm amazed at how much there it to learn.

I was just saying to a fellow photographer yesterday, the camera is like God in that you just never finish learning it. I'm motivated in knowing that every year i will look back at my photos from a year earlier and plainly see how much farther i've grown.

I'm loving the now, and looking forward to all the hidden places my photography has yet to take me.

here are a few of my recent "out of the box" shots:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28987938@N00/2667990742/in/set-72157606163060061/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28987938@N00/2675500398/in/set-72157606209451977/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28987938@N00/2673565751/in/set-72157606202458107/

[Sugar]

I HAD to break the rules on yesterday's photo walk. In all the hussle and bussle, I left my zoom lens on and didn't have my macro. So all the things that I came upon that I would normally bend down and focus on... couldn't do it. So I had to make my eyes look far away for little bits of interesting things. I got a lot of shots of blurred backgrounds behind foliage, cool architectural art, and long shots of a busy street as we climbed up to the cathedral. I don't know if I'll get a "Best Shot Monday" photo up, but I'll try...

I was so focused on looking far away that I didn't even realize the gal that I had taken shoe photos with (do these shoes make me look fat?) that she was Little Purple Cow! Oh my gosh! I wish I would have had more time to sit and talk to Stephanie. Maybe on another great photo walk in another fabulous city.

Thanks Shutter Sisters for a great tour around SF!

[Amanda]

I was at a fireworks display and didn't have a tripod with me. So I set the camera on "Bulb" mode (which I didn't even know it had before that night!) and moved the camera all around.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/amgreco92/2679199352/

[mel]

I accidentally fired the built-in flash when I took this shot one evening last week, wandering around my neighbourhood with the camera. Which is, of course, definitely against the rules, right? The shot ended up giving me a whole different feeling from the rest of the set.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21106607@N05/2674571435/in/set-72157603998803417/

[Shelli]

ha ha. I think I need to learn the rules before I start breaking them.

[Lu]

You speak! Breaking the rules is so much more fun than following them. Kind of reflective of life!

[Kristina]

The last couple of years I'm always looking for the sun and typically shooting into it, as with this peony petal and leaf...but, yes, I do need to learn more rules in general before I can start breaking them!

http://meadowlarkdays.blogspot.com/2008/06/journeytime.html

[Rachel Parton]

I didn't take this picture - my husband did. But it still exemplifies broken rules for me because 1. It's blurry, 2. It's not a flattering picture, and 3. I'm making a mess. But it captures the moment perfectly. Plus, I guess posting a picture taken by a boy on a "sisters" site is also breaking rules. :)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25753692@N06/2686978231/

[estelle]

I love that the last three posts have no heads in them. When I was a kid - you always had to have the head in it and nowadays it's okay to cut them off (photgraphically that is). My rule breaking is to pont and shoot with DSLr rather than try to set it all up!!!

[Naomi]

No flash:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nomesthenome/2655461796/

Out of focus:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nomesthenome/2655412216/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nomesthenome/2481970299/

Taking photos from the tv:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nomesthenome/2553705744/

Staring into the sun:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nomesthenome/2419890339/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nomesthenome/2342093779/

[jag]

Me? Breaking rules?! :-)

This wasn't an *intentional* breaking of the rules, but when I saw the result, I loved it! Who says blurry can't be beautiful?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jagspace/2267392610/in/set-72157603913179794/

jag
xox

[Leah]

I almost never do funky angles, so this one was a big stretch for me. But this post was well-timed - I've been feeling really angsty about photography lately. Like I should do more, but I don't have the urge I usually have. So good job on that one. :)

[Leah]

Oops, of course I forgot to paste the link!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lakeline/2687889648/

[Jackie]

I've just recently started popping in here on a regular basis and am loving the advice. Shooting from the hip, embracing the blur, shoot into the sun....it's as if I've just been given permission to just go out there and experiment. Try new things, but most of all keep shooting and shoot some more - there's always the delete option. Thanks for all of the advice and inspiration. I'm having fun playing along. And so tempted to get a necklace, but must resist.....

[Solange]

Saturday I went with my husband and kids to a car show -- blazing hot day, no shade, bright sun. I accidentally left my camera on "Manual" from some experimenting the night before. All day long I merrily went from car to car, taking (I thought) cool and interesting shots of the cars as well as my kids. My husband even wanted to use some for his blog! (An unprecedented request.) Imagine my shock when I looked down at the camera after taking the last shot of the day and seeing that I'd been on the wrong setting the whole time. I was crushed! I downloaded them anyway and was glad I did, because I definitely broke the rules but the results were really cool!

http://bp3.blogger.com/_l_L7JXUrhuk/SIYBz0B8g4I/AAAAAAAAANc/lKdKzl_erQk/s1600-h/Car.jpg

[Kim the Midwife]

With a point and shoot, breaking the rules is more about angle, subject, and steadiness of the hand than much else. For me, it's often about letting go of getting the shot I imagine in my mind, and just shooting. Like painting a still life, if you paint what you think you see, then you don't get what is actually there.

I wanted a pic of my son in the grass. I got the dry ground and my son in the background. And I like it.
http://callmezari.blogspot.com/2008/07/one-true-bio.html

And here I threw the camera.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9032846@N03/2595457869/

Good topic. Thanks.

[Julie Alvarez]

This is a very good advice. Not breaking anyone else's rules but our own. Great.
I am working on it. Here is a different angle:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliealvarez/2694292226/
Here, strange new composing kind:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliealvarez/2692703847/
And here, new permission on what-focusing-on-and-how:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliealvarez/2693425006/

[Bet]

Absolutely what I needed to hear at this point. I've had my head buried in technical books on lighting, posing and anything else you can think of for photography. My husband thinks I should shove the books aside and just take pictures like I used to... without thinking.

I hope to spend my weekend breaking some rules and having fun with photography once again.

[star8278]

I'd like to think that I do not shoot by any rules, just Point and Shoot (hahaha, pun intended).

So to break them, would be to try to follow a few, I guess. Lately I have been trying to approach photography with a more technical understanding. Its not going very well, but I am trying. I recently broke a rule of sorts when photographing fireworks. Who would think that a wide open aperature would make for great fireworks, oh and sliding the zoom in and out during the exposure is definitely breaking a rule right??

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3122/2669137167_b93110598b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3211/2662934909_fffd54e976.jpg

[Abby Espey]

lots of broken rules...

<a href="http://s80.photobucket.com/albums/j171/abbyespey/?action=view&current=amelia1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j171/abbyespey/amelia1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

[abby]

see if this works

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j171/abbyespey/amelia1.jpg

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