Originally posted by MossyRocks That sounds like a fun thing but I think Otis would have to be included in the possible subjects list.
Originally posted by 35mmfilmfan I've only skimmed this thread, so forgive me if I've missed something, but however 'random' you feel your selections are, surely most of them will be within your comfort zone, or at least close to it ? Then you say that out of the choices offered you 'pick your favourite' - doesn't that tend to negate the random factor to an extent ?
My idea of 'random' (and probably mathematically unquantifiable) would be to take a book of images by another photographer (I assume that like, many of us, you have a few around the house ?), open it with your eyes closed, look at the image revealed, then try your own approach to that particular subject - macro, landscape, portrait - whatever turns up.
Just my half-groat's worth.
Well, yes-and-no: it depends on what you do with the selections you get.
Before I get to that though, the keywords are just fun words intended to get one to think: they're often vague or contradictory. Assuming we only choose one set of keywords, how creatively you interpret them is going to have a huge effect on what you end up coming up wth.
In my case, I tend to generate the files in a group of 3, 2, or 1 files, depending on how much of a challenge I want.
I've also ran a mini-challenge series before where I generate 3 files the first week, 2 the next week and 1 the third, but I have to pick from that same pool for five weeks running, meaning only one file will not get used.
Of course, you might get something that's not typically challenging, like "flowers with a focus on colour in a macro style" - taken literally, that's like the first ever macro shot I took! Taken metaphorically... it could mean practically anything: at which point it is limited only by the imagination of the person using the file... and their personal biases too, of course.
As an example, I'll run it just now with 3, 2 and 1 files - "easy, medium and hard" mode.
Easy-mode: generate-3, pick-1
1-"Rivulets" with a focus on "Backwards" in an abstract style
2-"Sea" with a focus on "Proneness" in an artistic style
3-"Horror" with a focus on "Rupertian Collage (a photographic story featuring a critter)" in an abstract style
To me, option-3 sounds fun, interesting, and challenging... but maybe Im not in the mood to spend a lot of time on it - I've just came in after a hard days work... I want to go for a walk down by the seaside - in which case, option-2 would fit in with my plans. On the other hand, option-1 sounds quirky.
Medium-mode: generate-2, pick-1
4-"Found" with a focus on "long exposure" in a portrait style
5-"Squares" with a focus on "extremely long exposure" in a macro style
I don't like these. If I'm in a boring-mood, I might just re-generate them until I get one that appeals. On the other hand, I want a challenge... option-4: a long-exposure portrait... I have no idea how to go about that! That sounds fun! Oh the other hand, option-5 sounds a little boring... it could be fun to make it not-boring!
Hard-mode: there can be only 1
6-"Industry" with a focus on "contrast" in a macro style
I don't care if you don't like it - you wanted a challenge and now you've got one. If you don't like it, you'll have to figure out a way of making yourself like it (or "cheat" and re-generate it... in which case you shoud have gone for medium-mode!)
As you can see, personal preference/bias has dictated which of the random combinations I've chosen - and how I interpret them is another level of bias sat on top of that. Are the subject descriptions 100% literal, or 100% metaphorical?
I don't mind these layers of bias on top of the random selection of subjects: it can and will weight the results in favour of whatever you choose - if you want to stay in your comfort zone, you can, but even then, it may get you at least thinking of subjects you wouldn't otherwise have considered.
Put simply, like any tool, its down to the craftsman to use it well! What you will get out of it depends entirely on how you use it - you can be lazy or challenge yourself. I do both - other times I just go for a walk and photograph whatever takes my fancy. Sometimes I want to photograph something weird. Sometimes I want the challenge of figuring out how to photograph a macro landscape.
Your suggestion of looking at the work of other photographers is something I do too - though I don't actually have any books or photographs around the house - not even my own! In my case, I'd find it difficult to randomise, but thankfully there are already websites that provide you with a random work-of-art, including photography.
In my case, I dont enjoy it as much as "solving the puzzle" that my random subject chooser brings: that's not to say I don't still enjoy doing it!
On the other hand, you've just given me an idea for an impressionist-style light-painting composed of a stack of a very large number of individual "strokes" created with a torch and a colour filter for it (and stacked so I have time to do everything on a stroke-by-stroke basis). Jeez, it could take hours :S Still, a fun concept to plan out and execute!
---------- Post added 2020-01-14 at 01:56 ----------
Originally posted by brewmaster15 That sounds like a great project... one that could easily be expanded as well by you and others if you opted to open source it. I can see applications also for a phone ap.
I cant tell you how many times I have gone out and asked myself .. what do I want to shoot today. Inevitably I find myself falling back on my favorite wildlife/birds and parks etc. By far though I find I am most creative when I start off with thought like.."old"metal, ferns, boats. I think thats because I have to then remember where I saw these things or do some basic search.. and this focuses me. Might be nice to have something like this to get me motivated to shoot other things.
Of course I would still just grab the gear and head out in search of photo opts.. but nothing wrong with narrowing the search once.in awhile.
AL
Should be open-sourced soon, I'll fire it up on github or sourceforge or whatever as soon as I remember how to set up tortoise-SVN!
I should probably clean up and comment my code properly as well... it has spaghetti elements to it.