Shooting Sculptures...

[Epicaricacy]

Hi

I am a noob here and very much an amateur with regards to photography, but I love it and I love taking photos.

Normally I enjoy portraiture the most, but next weekend I intend to visit 'sculpture by the Sea' in Cottelsloe. I am planning. On putting some of my new gear and recently absorbed skills to the test (where I have broken away from the green setting!)

I was wondering if anyone has any tips for me with regards to photographing sculptures, bearing in mind that it will be at the beach, ate afternoon to evening.

I have a 550d, 24-105 f/4 L, nifty fifty, 18-270 tamron, plus a 430exii and a 580 exii, and I have spent time recently practising off camera flash. Oh, I do have a tripod. No polarising filters yet though...

I am looking for interesting composition ideas, lighting ideas etc, things that will let me put into practise the manual modes of my camera I have spent the time learning. Anything you guys here are willing to share that may assist me in taking photos beyond the norm.

Cheers!

[bricat]

I can't offer any technical advise but you could pop down to the beach/playground with sand and practice a few shots before the event. cheers Brian

[ricktas]

Light is the key, you need to walk around each sculpture and look at the light hitting it and the angles of that light. Look at the shadows and really bright spots. You need to work with the available light to find the best angles to take the photos from.

Just something else. If you take a photo of another person's art (the sculpture) and the Art is the main subject of the photo, then there are copyright issues about who owns copyright over your photo, what you can do with the photo etc.



"You may be infringing copyright if you photograph the whole or a substantial part of a literary, musical, dramatic or artistic work, if the work is still protected by copyright. For further information on copyright, see the Australian Copyright Council information sheets at www.copyright.org.au (http://www.copyright.org.au/)."

[AmPhot]

Shoot them at sunrise, knowing how popular sunsets are on WA beaches, you'll have much less cluttered backgrounds if you shoot at dawn (use a loud alarm clock !) ;)

ETA - also if you're planning on posting your shots either here or on another photo sharing site like Flickr, have the courtesy to acknowledge the title of the piece and the artists name. It's the least you can do to acknowledge the original artist and the work that went into them. When I posted my shots from 2011's Sculpture by the Sea at Bondi on Flickr, I received many messages from the artists thanking me for the attribution. And as Rick mentioned, you can't sell any of the photos due to copyright.

ETA2 - My Flickr gallery of the 2011 SBTS at Bondi : http://www.flickr.com/photos/crouchy69/sets/72157628113227974/