4 Photographic Exercises to Spark Your Creativity
The best way to improve with your Canon, Sony or Olympus digital camera is to experiment and more importantly, have fun! However, it can be hard to make to most of your digital camera if you are stuck for inspiration. This is why many photographers use set exercises to improve how they take photos. Here are four fantastic ideas to keep your photography skills improving.
Make Boring Beautiful
A skill of some of the best artists is their ability to make something that could be described as boring beautiful. A good example is Andy Warhol’s many works including the Campbell Soup tins and his other exploration of pop culture. Start this exercise by finding something ‘boring’ around your home and neighbourhood and seeing how you can take more exciting photos of it.
Still life photos are another great idea for this exercise. You can choose a ‘normal’ scene in your house, such as your desk, and photograph it in an interesting way. You might also want to use your subject as a prop to bring some life to the photos.
The Night Watch
Night time can give you an opportunity to take some interesting and unique shots. This does not mean you have to shoot in the dark with long exposures but rather seek out sources of light (such as street lamps) and take a friend along to take photos of. This will also give you a better idea of how lighting affects your shots.
Because of the long exposure that is possible at night time you might also want to photograph passing vehicles as they will create a beautiful effect. While the photo is still being taken the car would have passed leaving a trail of light in your image. However, long exposure shots can be tricky and you will need a tripod to make sure you don’t shake the camera and ruin the photo.
Lines and Lines and Lines
Composition of shots is very important as a photographer so this exercise will help you learn to line up your shots using… lines! One of the most obvious things to take photos of is roads and railway lines as they have very prominent lines. Taking photos of buildings can also give you a good idea of how lines can affect (and help) the composition of your photography.
Altered Angles
Many photographers forget to alter the angle of their photos either through lack of experience or laziness. Changing the angle of your photos will give you a completely different take on a single subject. For this exercise choose a single subject (e.g. a tree) and shoot it from as many different angles as you can think of. This will allow you to capture a range of photos using the same subject that will all be unique.
Practising your photography will only give you more ideas on where, how, and why you should take photos. Try some of these with some friends to make it even more fun. Any camera will do as you can play around with the equipment you have and that will show you what you might want when you upgrade your digital camera.
