THREE PHOTOGRAPHY PROJECTS THAT WILL IMPROVE YOUR SKILLS
When it comes to improving your photography, itʼs hard to beat the tried-and-true method of learning by doing. Photography projects will give you focus, direction, and an end goal to work towards. Combine those three factors and you have an ideal setting in which you can improve you skills. Try out one or all of these projects and see how they can help you grow as a photographer.
Portraiture of Strangers – Grab your camera and hit the streets. Be on the lookout for especially interesting people and those who really portray their personality through their actions and style. When you spot a fascinating character, kindly approach them, explain what you are doing and ask if you may take a portrait of them. Spend a brief moment chatting with and getting to know them without wasting too much of their time. Youʼll find most people will begin to relax and open up when they are talking about themselves. This exercise will build your interpersonal skills which are essential to portraiture. Building a comradeship with your subject will more easily allow them to relax and act natural when in front of your camera–good portraiture isnʼt just about taking a photograph! In addition, your photography will also reap the benefits. Looking for and selecting your subjects will strengthen your eye, as you find yourself beginning to pay closer attention to the finer details of the surrounding life.
Daily Photo Diary - This is one of the most obvious photography projects, but itʼs not without reason. Pick a single subject and photograph it everyday for a set number of days. Some people spread it out over the course of the month, others drag it out over the course of an entire year. However long you chose–start with a minimum of 30 days, you can always increase the number if you get really into it–take a photograph of the same subject and make it your goal to photograph it daily using a different technique, setting, or lighting. Just make sure that each photograph is unique and different from the others. Your subject can be anything from your pet, child, a personal belonging, or even yourself. The goal here is to force your mind to think outside of the box and experiment with different techniques and styles you may otherwise would have never made use of. Itʼs a great way to jump start your creativity and enrich your personal style by incorporating new ideas into it.
Ditch the Digital - Digital cameras are great in the sense that we can immediately see the images we take, but that same blessing also makes it a little too easy to rely on the fact that if we donʼt get it right the first time, we can just trash it and have another go at it or just import it into Photoshop and fix our mistakes there. For this project, weʼre going to ditch our digital cameras and dust off our old film cameras. If you donʼt have a film camera, borrow one or visit a thrift store where they can be purchased very inexpensively. While youʼre at it, go ahead and splurge on a pricey roll of slide film, it will help you not want to waste frames. Choose a common theme for the roll of film– flowers, sunrise, transportation, whatever your heart desires–and shoot the entire roll giving yourself only one shot at getting each frame right in-camera. No repeating the same image, no bracketing, no second chances. By doing so, you will find yourself slowing down and really taking the time to make sure you have the proper exposure, composition, etc, instead of taking photographs that “are good enough to fix in post.”
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