What Would Happen If You Changed Your Routine?

My good buddy, Bob Coates, sent me this and while it has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with photography, it has everything to do with photography. Here's my point...
 
Chase Holfelder is obviously incredibly talented and has an outstanding voice as well. He wanted to experiment with changing music typically in a major key to a minor key and chose the Star-Spangled Banner. Personally, I love the way he's done it, but music isn't the point for this post.

Let's think about your images for a second. What if the next time you're photographing a subject you mix things up a little? What if you completely change your lighting pattern or maybe the posing style? What if you play around with depth of field and experiment with longer exposures? How about using a lens with a focal length you normally might not use?

In the old film days, Tony Corbell used to suggest that we all save the last couple of frames on every roll of film and do something completely different. Who knows how changing things now and then might just give your creativity a boost?

Over the years I've been in a lot of studios and it always hurts when I spot tape on the floor for light placement, backdrops and a tripod. You don't need to follow the recipe every time, but just like Chase Holfelder with his music, you need to mix it up a little.  There's no telling where pushing the edge of the envelope will take you!

Illustration Credit: © Sergey Nivens - Fotolia.com