The fastest way to get into that creative photography work flow again is to go for a photowalk.
But even a photowalk can’t get you back on track again if just walk around aimlessly. Make a checklist of these techniques and ideas, and start taking pictures with these in mind. You’ll get out of that rut in no time!
LIGHT QUALITY
The quality of your light is how hard or soft the light is. If you’re not used to judging light as “hard” and “soft,” then think about the shadow created by the light. If there is a distinct line for the shadow, then you’re working with hard light. If the the shadow is less distinct and kind of fuzzy, then you’re working with soft light. Here are several ways to use the quality of light to challenge yourself: a. Take a photo that showcases a quality of light that you typically don’t prefer. As a portrait photography, I tend to covet soft light. I’d challenge myself to find hard light. b. Take a photo that showcases both hard and soft light. You’ll really have to keep your eyes peeled to find a photo that fits both into the same frame.
LIGHT DIRECTION
Consider your basic direction options: back, side, front, top, or up from below. What do you usually look for? As a portrait family photographer who is usually on the run without flashes and modifiers, I tend to put the sun to my subject’s back and then use something nearby to reflect the light back onto them. I avoid top and up light as much as I can, so I’d challenge myself to take a photo that features top or up light. Challenge yourself to light a photo from a direction you’re unaccustomed to or that you tend to avoid.
Or you could try taking two photos of the same subject from opposite directions. Assuming that your light source is stationary (the sun tends to be), then you’ll have two photos with light in completely opposing directions. Which do you like more? Were both photos equally successful?
TEXTURE
For this photo, only concentrate on capturing texture. Smooth, rough, glossy, mirrored, fuzzy, prickly, soft, hard, bumpy, frosted, brushed, matte, woven, squishy, sticky, grainy, coarse, rubbery, creamy, viscous, scratchy, you name it. In fact, challenge yourself to take an image that showcases contrasting textures.
NEGATIVE SPACE
Instead of filling your frame with your subject and a detailed background, use your frame to create negative (empty) space around your subject. You’ll need to unclutter your scene for this. Negative space requires a simpler scene or at least a scene with some emptiness. You might also achieve this with a wide aperture (and the resulting bokeh), too; though a tougher challenge might be finding natural negative space rather than creating it with bokeh.
ASPECT RATIO
For just about all of us, our cameras take photos with a 3:2 ratio. That’s why a 4×6 photo is so standard–it keeps the aspect ratio of the original file. Challenge yourself: take a single photo that works for all three of these aspect ratios: 3:2, 1:1, 16:9. That’s a standard, a square, and a panorama.
SYMMETRY
Search for a scene or subject that will provide your frame with symmetry. A symmetrical image is one that can be folded in half and have the same (or almost the same) image on either half. Symmetry can provide a great sense of balance or weight to a photo. By combining one or more of the other tips in this article with the concept of symmetry, you can achieve a truly striking image. Just be sure to make any lines perfectly horizontal or vertical; otherwise, your symmetry will be lost.
REFLECTION
Now we’re looking a little deeper into our surroundings. Become Alice and find your looking glass to another photographic world. Use puddles, windows, metal surfaces, cars, or mirrors, of course. What effect does using a mirror have on your scene? Does the mirror create a frame? Does the mirror create distance from the viewer and the subject? Does the mirror provide repetition or balance? Take two photos of the same subject, one in a reflection and one not. Which do you like better? How does the mood change? Reflect on your surroundings. Take a photo using a reflection.
LINE
Play with the lines you can find in the world, whether they be street lines, branches, walls, benches, doorways, windows, flower stems, you name it. If you give your scene the “squint test,” thus reducing it to basic shapes and lines, you should be able to see the various lines in the scene.
Consider playing with horizontal, vertical, diagonal, converging, or curved lines. Or consider whether or not the lines are literal lines or implied lines. Implied lines are created by the interaction of subjects in the scene, especially any negative space between subjects. Consider, too, whether you can use lines to create a visual path (especially to one of the lines or intersections of the Rule of Thirds!). Find a way to use the lines in your photo, literal or implied, to lead to your main subject.
GET LOW (OR HIGH)
Stop taking photos while you are standing up. We all see the world from a 5-to-6 foot perspective. Get on the ground. Stand on a playground, fence, or car. (Okay, maybe don’t stand on a car–but you get the point.) Take your photo from an extreme perspective, a perspective from which no one normally sees the world. Get a bug’s view, or a bird’s, or child’s. Get low. Get high. Crouch. Kneel. Just don’t stand.
MOTION TIP
Using a slower shutter speed, introduce motion into your photo. Find a spot where something is moving by you–cars, people, water, a fan–stay stationary, set a long shutter speed (one second? three seconds? ten seconds?), and see what kind of movement you can get in your image. (You might need to prop your camera on something to keep it still. A tripod would obviously be perfect, but you only need a flat, stable surface to hold your camera still. Just be careful no one bumps it!) With this technique, your background and foreground will remain in focus while whatever is moving in the frame will show some motion blur.
You’ll want to lower your ISO as much as possible. You’ll probably have to stop down to an f-stop like f11 or f16. During midday, this challenge will be especially tough. A neutral density filter would be your best friend if attempting this on a sunny day.
Get even more tips for your photowalk over at Improve Photography.
Source: Improve Photography
