Project idea

I was reading Michael Clark’s “Storytelling” blog entry over at Nikon World (no longer available at Nikon World) and was reminded of the National Geographic editors’ rule that “you haven’t covered something if you haven’t explored it from 360 degrees” as Michael puts it. This gave me the idea to do a photo project to practice those skills. If you’d like to play along and develop your own skills, pick any subject and explore it from front, back, left, right, top and bottom and all the angles in between. See how the light hits it from each direction. Are there backlit views? Silhouette? Reflections? Shadows? How does the light fall on the surface? How is the contrast between shadows and highlights? Lots of texture or flat lit? Beyond light, do some angles show more detail or create more mystery? Which view best tells the story you want the photo to tell?

Have some fun with this idea. Try it on people, pets, a rock, a car, a glass orb, whatever strikes you as an interesting subject. Can you find something you can shoot from 360 degrees around the outside AND from the inside? What possibilities does that create?