Even when you're excited about photography, capturing images and improving in the craft, coming up with photographic ideas can be a challenge.
So to help you get out there and creating great images here are a few ideas to get the creative juices flowing...
1: One Camera & One Lens
Constraining your gear to one camera and one lens (focal length) forces you to look and the world, and compose, differently.
It can encouraged you to try new points of view and angles, to get new perspectives on images that would otherwise be a 'standard' style, or even ignored through complacency.
2: Monochrome
For this challenge to shoot monochrome we don't mean black and white (although that's another potential challenge). Instead were looking to create images where one specific colour is a key element in the images narrative.
In the example above the greys of the wall trick the eye into thinking the image is black and white, with the spot of colour in the brand text creating a tension that questions the black and white assumption.
By going out and shooting blue images, or red, green, or grey etc. you're looking for new compositions and can even create projects and stories based around a single colour theme.
3: The Brighter the Better
Almost the opposite of a monochrome, seeking out bright, vibrant and colourful compositions challenges you to seek out colour and compose in ways where bright and vibrant colour forms part of the narrative of the composition.
To further lift the challenge, try this on a bright sunny day - this will increase the vibrancy of the colours and boost the contrast (dynamic range) introducing a whole new challenge around colour and shadow to the mix
4: Rain
We know, we know, going out in inclement weather isn't necessarily that much fun.
But going out and shooting in wet weather can be just the thing to create new and interesting images, simply because of people avoid wet weather.
Wet surfaces can have higher contrast, or a sheen to them, like the sample photo, while rain itself can form parts of compositions with drops hitting surfaces or leaving droplets, or creating a haze that can soften and mask elements of an image.
5: Give Low Light a go
Shooting in low light environments can be a truly fun and challenging challenge to boost your creativity.
Between balancing natural (low) light levels and man made ambient light, or dealing with colour casts from multiple different light sources, let alone the bright and varied colours from neon or store lighting, and overcoming your cameras metering systems intrinsic desire to over expose dark scenes in its never ending search for 'mid-grey', shooting in low light can really test your photographic skills as well as providing opportunities for great images.
So are you ready to take great photo's?
Get out there and create great work, and have fun going it.
And if you're interested in getting new experiences and hanging out with other photographers, learning new things and making great images check out or upcoming events below:
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