Photography has been my passion since childhood, and thanks to my parents’ support, I started photography as a hobby at a young age. I began with an analogue camera, followed by a digital point and shoot camera and finally a digital SLR. I went on a clicking spree wherever I visited and loved shooting landscapes, architecture, wildlife and nature. However, I never gave much thought to creative photography until recently.
Therefore, I took up this 30-day photo challenge by Expert Photography to give a boost to my creative photography skills.
What is a 30-day photo challenge?
30-day photography challenge is a month-long activity. Each day has a set theme that will challenge your potential and will push you to learn something new. It’s a fun way to boost your creativity and also helps you to generate more ideas.
It’s been 15 days since I’ve started this challenge and here’s what I’ve learned:
Day 1: Rule of Thirds
It is one of the primary rules of compositions and easy to understand. Rule of Thirds helps in making the image more appealing to the eyes by placing the objects on the point of interest. Read the composition in the photography article to know more about the Rule of Thirds.
Learning: No matter what you click from food to landscapes to portrait, follow the rules of composition to make the shot more pleasing to the eyes.
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Day 2: Black and White
I think everything looks better in monochrome. Because when we remove colours from a photo, our attention shifts to other elements, making them stand out.
Learning: It is best to shoot in colour and convert them to monochrome. It gives us more options to play with the look by adjusting the three colour channels red, green and blue.
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Day 3: Texture
Textures photography is a type that visually describes how something feels. The subject can be anywhere, from the kitchen to the backyard.
Learning: Use the lowest aperture (f-number) to capture the fine details of the surface.
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Day 4: High angle
A self-descriptive photography style, where you take the shot from a high area like a skyscraper.
Learning: It is best to keep the horizon at the top of the frame to create a gripping composition.
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Day 5: Low angle
I found low-angle photography slightly tricky to try at home. The idea is to take the shot from a point lower than the eye level. Architecture photography is one style that uses this angle the most. However, composing the image at home became quite a task.
Learning: The best way to capture low angle shots at home is to stack objects like books or food to get the required height to capture your low angle shot.
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Day 6: Silhouette
Silhouette is used to create a dramatic and mysterious effect on the photo. It is photographed against a bright background to obtain a dark subject.
Learning: Pay attention to the outline of the subject rather than the expression or other details.
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Day 7: Water Splash
It is one of the most fun styles to click. It took more than an hour and a hundred attempts at throwing the right amount of water on the subject.
Learning: Pick the fastest shutter speed to freeze the motion, and try to click in the natural light to get the best result.
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Day 8: Bokeh
One of the most loved effects in photography. Bokeh comes from the Japanese word “boke” which means blur. I personally love this effect on shooting portraits.
Learning: Make the background out of focus to achieve the perfect bokeh. You can also experiment with the shape of the bokeh by creating a frame around your lens. Cut the centre of the paper in the required pattern and place it in front of the lens.
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Day 9: Lens flare
Lens flare occurs when the light from the sun or any artificial light source hits the lens directly. We usually avoid capturing this in our images by putting it on the lens hood. However, sometimes this effect works wonders and helps in achieving a stunning composition. Especially in the night, where the bulbs appear as tiny stars.
Learning: Point your camera directly at the sun while capturing your landscape or portrait shot. If you’re shooting in the night, use the lowest aperture to capture the flare.
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Day 10: Portrait
Portrait photography is a technique to capture the personality of the subject by using lighting, backdrops, and poses. The subject can be a person, group of people or animal.
Learning: To capture a human portrait, all three components that are lighting, backdrops, and pose are essential. Whereas, to shoot an animal portrait, all you need is lighting and backdrops because it is hard to make the animals pose!
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The first ten days focused more on the basics. It turned out to be a great exercise to brush up on my basics. Now it is time to focus on learning new and advanced creative photography techniques.
I will keep sharing my learning from this challenge on Instagram as well as here. Till then keep snapping!
6 Comments
Well done! Followed you on Insta 😊 My handle @magiceyed
Thanks a lot, followed you back 😀
Awesome clicks.
Stay well.
Glad you liked them 😀
Nice photo challenge, you did well so far! Can’t wait to see what you come up with at Harris Shutter effect 🙂
Thanks a lot for the motivation 😀