Simple challenge to improve your photography

Photo by Reinhart Julian

Originally Posted On: https://www.simplephototips.com/simple-challenge-to-improve-your-photography/

Reading, and studying and watching videos only goes so far. You can learn even more by doing. Try this simple challenge to improve your photography.

There is a lot to learn about photography, but reading about different techniques, lenses, exposure, and composition, while important, can only take you so far. To really understand the elements of captivating photography, you need to take photos, and lots of them.  You often lean more by doing than you do by studying.  Take this Simple Challenge to Improve Your Photography!

A simple way to gain experience, explore techniques, and test your limits is to challenge yourself to take photos of a different subject every single day for one month. This challenge doesn’t require a lot of planning or travel. You can photograph things in your own home or yard, on the street, at the park, or anywhere you find yourself on a given day.

Some ideas for subjects to photograph include animals, flowers, trees, insects, food, people, and buildings. Anything, really. Your creativity comes into play when you photograph your chosen subject in different ways. You can try photographing an object at different times of the day, from several different angles, and with different lengths of exposure, playing with the focus, overall composition of the shot, and trying out different lenses.

Be sure to involve others when you can.  Ask someone to let you practice shooting portrait photos.  I’ve asked pro wedding photographers to let me tag along and do some shooting.  In Exchange I gave him copies of all the photos I took.  Some of which, the bride liked as much as the paid photographer.

One interesting idea for this simple challenge to improve your photography is to use an arrangement of glassware. You can fill the glasses with water and set them near a window. Play with the arrangement and take note of the different shadows you can make depending on the position of each glass and the amount of water in each one. For even more interest, add a few drops of food dye in different colors to each glass.

To avoid becoming overwhelmed, make the most out of this challenge by keeping simplicity in mind. Composing a great shot is all about getting the viewer to see what you want them to see, so start small. You will find that your inspiration and creativity only grow each day, turning the task into something you look forward to. And all the while, you will be improving your photography skills.