This document provides tips for taking photos around the home. It begins by discussing outdoor subjects like the exterior of the home, yard, trees, wildlife, plants and gardens. Indoor subjects discussed include pets, decor, lighting effects, still lifes, and candid shots of people. Throughout are examples of photos the author has taken to illustrate different techniques. The document emphasizes finding unique perspectives and angles, playing with lighting, and getting creative with compositions to make indoor photography more interesting.

1. Taking photos around the home
by Dave Shafer

2. I will try to reach everyone here today, like this
patriarch is trying to do, and not leave anyone out -
by covering lighting, subjects, composition, color,
and photo impact.

3. Although some day I would like to try a
large format camera, what I have right now
is a Pentax K10D SLR. All my close up
photos that you will see were taken with a
100 mm Macro lens from Vivatar. The rest
are with my Pentax 18-250 mm zoom lens.

4. The material I will be covering is not that difficult. It’s not like
shoe inspection at the Shaolin Temple or starting your own country.

5. Some people are quite attached to their
homes and do not venture out much when
taking photos. I have worked at home for the
last 32 years and am quite home-oriented.

6. By “home” photos I mean here your house
and its immediate surroundings—your yard,
driveway, the sidewalk in front, if you have
one, etc.
Of course there will be a range in the size and
style of people’s homes.

7. Some of us have homes that a real estate
agent would describe as having “charm”.
These can make for interesting photos from
the outside.

8. Some of us have homes with great views, and we
can take interesting photos of the outdoors without
even stepping outside.

9. Some homes have really superb views, with
great photo possibilities.

10. Some homes give the phrase “tree house” a new meaning

11. You may live in a development.

12. You may have a mobile home, in which case your
view out the window could be changing every day, or
you may live in a
jar at the circus. It
is hard to cover all
possible home situ-
ations in this talk,
but we will try.

13. Before we go inside your house or look at
the yard, let us linger for a moment on pho-
tos that might have the house itself as a sub-
ject, or sights you might see right outside.
We should never underestimate the potential
of our immediate surroundings.

14. giraffe
Even an apartment dweller may find an interest-
ing sight just by looking out the window.
If your apartment complex has a pool there could
be an interesting
photo about that.

15. A house under duress, in the winter, or after some
damage, may make for an interesting photo.

16. When you
take a photo
outdoors it is
usually a
good idea to
try to make
the horizon
exactly hori-
zontal.
But not al-
ways.

17. I could not resist including this image
from the internet. Free associating when you
view images is a good way to keep your mind
flexible. Whoever came up with this caption
was really inspired.

18. Here is one of my own photos from a few
years ago, in front of my house. The fence and
its shadows made an interesting pattern on the
snow. I boosted the contrast some and fiddled
with the photo to optimize its appearance.

19. A home can provide
more good sights out-
side than you might
think. You might be
able to catch animals
eating from your trash
cans, or living in a tree
outside.

20. You might see, in your yard, a deer eating a
snowman’s carrot nose, or some other photo-
worthy deer scene.

21. Here is one of my photos, of a cardinal in my back-
yard. The burst of color from the bird makes it stand
out prominently from the bland background. The
busy foreground at least is not immediately behind
the bird, which would be distracting.

22. Here is a closeup, with a telephoto lens, of another
cardinal in my backyard. I always cheat with pho-
tos like this and enhance the bird’s eye to make it
stand out more. It adds a lot of life to the photo.

23. I took this telephoto shot of a tiny chickadee
in my backyard because I liked its assertive
stance—sort of “here I am, world”

24. In any wildlife photo you want the back-
ground to be simple and not distracting.
This may require you to move around some
to get a better taking position. This tele-
photo shot of a hummingbird out of my
back window is simple and colorful.

25. Birds watching bird-watchers can also be
a good photo opportunity.

26. Animal photos can be interesting, like this
unexpected appearance of the Turtle Gods
in one’s driveway.

27. If some unusual wildlife turns up in your
backyard it can make for a good photo.
But for more mundane appearances you
need to have something novel, like a inter-
esting taking angle or a closeup or an im-
plied mini-story in the photo.

28. Here is a telephoto shot I took right outside
my kitchen window. The dynamic pose
gives impact to this photo, as the squirrel
peers right out of the picture frame towards
us. As usual, I enhanced the eye some to
give more of a highlight to the eye pupil.

29. The squirrels in my yard are very good
at getting at the seeds in my bird feeder.

30. You never know what will turn up just by
looking out your window.

31. Even someone walking their dog outside
your house might be a photo-op.

32. Looking out your window you might see
an interesting sight, like the arrival in your
neighborhood of termites. A vigilant eye
is always a plus in photography.

33. Unusual pet photos can be interesting, but
it is hard to do much with a typical dog or
cat, since that is such an overworked sub-
ject.

34. Maybe your cat hates music. It’s always better
to show a pet doing something instead of just a
static portrait.

35. Even if it is just a shot of your cat watching
the “Mouseketeers” on TV, that is better than a
simple portrait of the animal. Maybe you have
pet playdates with your friends, for a photo op.

36. Or you could be doing
something with your pet,
like giving it a bath.

37. Or grooming it. I assume you have a sep-
arate toothbrush for yourself.

38. A closeup of
your pet,
with some
cropping,
can make for
an interest-
ing image.

39. Maybe your pet is useful around the house.

40. With pet photos you want to avoid
distracting backgrounds, like here. It is
also too symmetrical a composition.

41. If you have a home aquarium that can pro-
vide some nice photos, but the lighting is criti-
cal. Your camera must take into account fluo-
rescent lighting, if that is what you are using,
to get the color balance to come out right.
Some Photoshop fiddling can also compensate
for lighting particulars. I took this with a mac-
ro lens.

42. If your pets have pets of their own, then that
can make for an unusual photo opportunity.
I don’t have any
pets so I try to find
wildlife right
around my own
yard, like bugs.

43. Extreme closeups of spiders can show some
beautiful colors and patterns. I only use day-
light for all of my photos, so it can be tricky to
get both good exposure and enough depth of
focus. Also the background should not be busy
or distracting.

44. Here the web anchor adds some interest
and makes it look like a circus acrobat is
about to start a high-wire act. I have en-
hanced the colors and contrast here to bring
out detail.

45. My “homeland security” photo was taken on
the side of my house.

46. Bees in your yard can make an interesting macro lens
shot, and also have the beauty of a flower for the back-
ground. This is actually a bee that I caught, put in my
freezer for about 10 minutes, to slow down its metabo-
lism to a crawl, and then I posed it on the flower. Af-
ter I took a few shots the bee warmed up and flew
away. This trick does not work as well for pets or
people.

47. Here is a photo that I set up with a dead
bee and some toy soldiers, in my backyard.

48. Wildlife photos grab your attention in a way that
shots of plants can never do. For botany photos
you need lots of great beauty or interesting design
elements.

49. A botany type of photo will never have the
impact of more animated life scenes, so we
have to try harder.

50. This mushroom complex has appealing design
elements and a nice combination of color and
shadows. I took this when the sun gave good
shadows, and time of day is always important.

51. Shadows can add drama to any picture.

52. Texture can provide interest even if there is
no color or other design elements to liven up
the composition. This old sawn tree stump
has patterns of grain and saw marks that give
it a geometrical kind of detail. I cropped my
photo to give a better composition.

53. If you poke around in your back yard you
might find some interesting odds and ends.

54. You might have some milkweed in your
backyard and that can make for nice autumn
photos. It is tricky to get the right kind of
lighting and background to give all of the fo-
cus on the foreground, as I did here.

55. Milkweed seeds make for very interesting
photos, if you have them in your yard. I took
this at just the right stage of the pod opening.

56. The seeds and their billowy “wings” can be
quite beautiful, as in my macro shot here..

57. This crabapple scene from my front yard
was tricky to set up so that the background
would not be distracting. A macro lens
gave the good depth of field.

58. Water on leaves can make for a nice pic-
ture and you only have to step outside your
house to find it. As usual, lighting and back-
ground control are key for a good photo.

59. At the right time of year frosty leaves in
your yard can provide for a beautiful com-
position. The frost may be from overnight
and quickly vanish once the sun comes up.

60. Hasta leaves
give geomet-
rical patterns
That can be
quite strik-
ing.

61. A morning glory in
my back yard gives
different images at
different times of
day, as the flower
opens up and then
closes.

62. Fuschia can provide dramatic shapes and colors.

63. Of course a flower garden is always a great
source of images, like my photo here.

64. You might have lots of roses, like this
Southport home, and then you can get a nice
composition with a fence and the large diag-
onal of the fence broken up by the narrow
verticals. Outdoor photos like this are quite
dependent on the time of day for the best
lighting.

65. Roses on latticework also make a nice picture

66. If you’ve had a tree taken down in your yard
it can make for a good photo opportunity.

67. You might live in a Neighborhood
Watch area and then can set up a humor-
ous shot like this one. Eternal vigilance
is the price of liberty and my duck here
is on duty 24/7

68. A holiday scene from your front porch might
make a good
home-based
photo, as well
as one of that
car you’ve been
meaning to
wash.

69. You could take photos of back yard picnics or
other family events.

70. Here is a photo of my triplet grandkids in
their backyard.

71. A foggy view of your backyard can be
transformed into an “art” image by hyping
the very weak colors in the fog over and
over again with your computer until you get
something like this.

72. Unusual clouds can be seen from your home on occasion.

73. Winter ice
on puddles,
with air
bubbles,
can be in-
teresting. I
took these
some years
ago.

74. You may be getting impatient for us to actu-
ally get inside the home, after all this outside
stuff. Fear not, it is coming up next.

75. And now, at last, we are ready to go inside the house and
see what we can find there. Before you make too much
noise you may be able to get some candid shots.

76. This charming painting by Toulouse-Lautrec
would have also made a charming candid
photo.

77. Your house might have more fun features than
most, giving some good candid shots.

78. Candid photos of guests, if you have them,
can be of interest. The best photos may pose
some sort of mystery—like how is he plan-
ning on eating that popcorn while his head
is all covered up?

79. Home photos of babies are always a winner

80. Your cleaning lady with a casual come
hither look, like this Renoir odalisque, gives
character and interest to a candid photo
What you don’t
want is to have
a boring photo.

81. A candid photo of a reaction to a gift can
make for a lot of human interest.

82. Family gatherings may make some good
photo opportunities, especially if people are
doing something interesting.

83. It can be hard to think of good ideas for home
photos when you have other things on your mind.

84. Your bedside reading
might inspire an idea
for a photo. I took
this damsel fly photo
some years ago. It is
a simple image with a
lot of impact.
My 100 mm
macro lens lets
me be pretty far
away from the
bug, so that it
doesn’t get
spooked by the
camera.

85. There can be humor in home photos.

86. Or weirdness, like this home bookcase.

87. If your business is based out of your home,
like this mohel (Jewish circumciser), you
could take a photo that is work-related.

88. You may have a home hobby that would lead
to an interesting photo.

89. Pets sometimes seem almost human, so maybe
you can catch something of that in a photo.

90. The potential for exciting photos is much less in-
door so we have to have different goals.

91. Indoor photography usually is just not all that
exciting so we have to work a little harder.

92. One source of good ideas for home photos is
to look for a perspective or taking position that
is different from how you normally see things.

93. Another possibility is to look for interest-
ing lighting effects, like these two of mine.

94. I took this photo because I liked the way that
the straight edges of the blinds became wavy
curves when their shadows and bands of light
fell onto the semi-transparent curtains. This
shot only lasted like this for a short time and
changed quickly as the sun moved in the sky.

95. I took this photo because of the simple shapes
and shadows and single color—my favorite, blue.

96. You can experiment with lighting to create a
mood, like my cozy bedroom photo.

97. Light itself can be your subject, like these
burner flames on my stove in a dark room.

98. You can try to be creative and make clever ar-
rangements of common items, like your daily dose
of your various pills. (these are not mine)

99. You can create pretty color combinations and shapes.

100. Sex always has impact so you can look for a
sexy arrangement of some objects, like fruit, or
find something like my sexy tomato here -
where I found a taking position and cropping to
emphasize the voluptuous curves and sexy
creases of this baby. It is almost an indecent
photo!

101. Fruit can make for interesting compositions,
Which orientation looks most phallic?

102. Of course if you have a nude painting in your home
that is sexier still, but you can still get some sexy images
from vegetables like my curvaceous tomato.

103. You can play with fruit and vegetables,
like this saxophone I made from a pineapple,
squash, pineapple slices, and tomatoes.
Then I added in the notes at the top with my
computer.

104. The internet has some interesting images
of fooling around with food.

105. You don’t have to get fancy—a simple
still life can make a good photo if the com-
position is pleasing and there are colors and
textures to give it interest. The apples here
are on a piece of black felt.

106. Squash come in an amazing variety of
shapes and colors. They can be shot sin-
gly, as I did with like this one or in inter-
esting groups.

107. Sometimes just part of a fruit or vegetable
makes for the best photo, like the way I
cropped my picture of this squash.

108. You can pair a still life with a painting,
as I did with these onions and a Renoir
print of onions.

109. Extreme closeups of food, with a macro-
lens, can give photos that you are not used
to seeing. I took this one of a cut tangerine
and really like all the detail and 3D depth
that you see here. The fruit was on a piece
of black felt.

110. You can play
with your food
and that might
lead to some
creative photos.

111. Humor and food can make a nice pair but it
takes a lot of creativity to pull off something
good.

112. Human/food interactions can get bizarre.
Try some playful experiments and see what
you can come up with.

113. A keen eye can spot “faces” in flowers or
even whole people, like my “Dancing Orchid
Ladies” here. They are quite tiny— less
than 1/2 inch—and you have to look closely
to notice something like this.

114. In addition to seeing imagined life where
there is none, you can set up situations where
you yourself create a suggestive scene—like
my “The Gossips” photo here. I carefully ar-
ranged the cactus flowers and camera angle so
that it looks like the two stamens are talking.

115. Of course
flowers
always
make for
good
home
photos.

116. I prefer extreme closeups of flowers, like
this center of an African Violet blossom.
It looks like a Georgia O’Keefe painting.

117. You may have an indoor fern. Always
keep an eye out for interesting geometrical
patterns, as I did here. Usually this will re-
quire cropping out much of the plant and
just featuring the best part.

118. A black background, like dark felt, provides
a lot of impact to a flower photo. Lighting
is still important. I took this photo with nat-
ural sunlight, falling on the flowers.

119. The artists among us can try getting creative
with some drawing, for a funny home photo.

120. My wife is an avid knitter. I took a photo
of some of her yarn and knitting needles,
then flipped one quadrant of the photo over
a few times (with the computer) to make
this symmetrical mirror-image arrangement.

121. Of course Photoshop can do wonders for your
photos, but you want to start out, at least, with
a good eye in order to get the best results. No
computer program can match a good eye for
producing great photos.

122. We all know how the human eye works. Paying
close attention to your surroundings, while looking
for good home photos, means reducing the amount
of time that the little man here leaves his post to
go to the refrigerator or the bathroom.

123. We just have 2 eyes so we need to use
them carefully when looking around for good
photo opportunities. Woody Allen once
wrote about a mythical beast with 40,000
eyes—20,000 for distance and 20,000 for
reading.

124. You may find yourself of empty of new ideas,
like this “Innovation” barge here, but often just
walking around in your home or yard with a
keen eye can prompt some new photo possibili-
ties. Look for geometric patterns, unusual tak-
ing positions, novel color combinations, etc.

125. You would be surprised how many good photo
opportunities there are right around the home.

126. Even stacked laundry can make an interesting photo

127. Right outside your front window you
might see cars having sex—a great photo
op. They usually only do this at night,
so this is a rare picture.

128. You could try to capture something in
motion. A fast shutter speed and flash
may still require many tries before you
are happy with the results.

129. It took me over 200 shots to get this precise moment.
Quite a challenge!

130. This photo catches water drops from my kitchen
sink spray, with a vase in the background.

131. You might want to try a photo in your home
that involves water in some way.

132. Or maybe you have water on your property
and want to use that for some shots.

133. Here is an exercise to try. Take some
home photos that involve one or more of
these themes.
 Water or liquid in some form
 Captured motion
 Unusual perspective or taking position
 Unusual lighting effects
 Geometrical patterns
 Still-life of flowers, fruit, or vegetables
 Views from the home
 Yard scenes
 Portraits or candid shots

134. For the next
meeting take 6
photos around
the home or
your yard and
send them to
Bill Balch.