5 Photography Projects: How to Improve Your Photos

I love a good project. Some­thing to push me a lit­tle, some­thing to get me to do what I tell my stu­dents to do… and have my cam­era in my hands every day! Skills are like a mus­cle. You have to work those mus­cles, or they become a bit week. A pho­tog­ra­phy project helps you flex those mus­cles, and also inspires you…who does­n’t need to be inspired! Every pho­tog­ra­ph­er, whether just start­ing out or a sea­soned pro, needs some­thing to chal­lenge them, so I’ve com­piled a list of 5 pho­tog­ra­phy projects to improve your pho­tos! Pick one, stick with it, and have some fun!

Photography Projects & Ideas

A 365-day pho­to chal­lenge.   I’ll admit it…I have start­ed and stopped a few 365-day pho­to chal­lenges. Just look at my Face­book page and you will see that 365 days def­i­nite­ly seems a bit daunt­ing to me. But it can do won­ders for your pho­tog­ra­phy! Remem­ber, if you start a 365 project, give your­self a break. There are no rules. If you miss a day, it’s okay. Above all, you don’t want to cre­ate extra stress for yourself…you want it to be fun!

A 30 day or even a 52 pho­to chal­lenge is much more my speed. A pho­to a day for 30 days or a pic­ture once a week for a year to me is doable. Not as stress­ful, and you still see fan­tas­tic progress!

How about chang­ing your per­spec­tive?  For one week, shoot a sub­ject a day and shoot that sub­ject from three dif­fer­ent angles. This project makes you begin to look at things dif­fer­ent­ly, how it push­es your pho­tog­ra­phy. Shoot your sub­ject using the fill the frame rule, from above, or below. Let your “per­spec­tive” lead you. 

The ABC chal­lenge. This is a fun pho­tog­ra­phy project. Pho­to­graph some­thing that begins with the let­ters of the alpha­bet, but don’t go for easy, for example…A‑apple… push your­self and your cre­ativ­i­ty with this challenge. 

Focus on one lens. This is the one I am beginning…Choose one lens, for instance, a macro or a nifty-fifty, and focus on using that lens, and that lens only for a week, a month, or push your­self and use it for a full year!

So what pho­tog­ra­phy project will you choose? Will you use your cam­era or your smart­phone? Choose one of these 5 pho­tog­ra­phy projects to improve your photos…To sum it up, no mat­ter what you decide, have fun, stick with it, and see what a dif­fer­ence it makes in your pictures!

Cheers-Dena

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Learn how to use man­u­al mode and take con­trol of your cam­era so that you can cre­ate the amaz­ing images that you’ve always imag­ined with the online Begin­ners Pho­tog­ra­phy Essen­tials Class!