Most budding photographers like to take lots of photos and many of these photographers appreciate being challenged while doing so. It’s only natural to want to gauge your skills as you progress. Because of this, I went ahead and created just under 20 photography challenges and listed each of them in this post. It’s a long read, so be sure to bookmark this page for later use. My advice is to work your way through each challenge, slowly and carefully. Be sure to put the time and effort into each one so you get the most out of your learning process. I think you’ll find the challenges widely varied and that they cover most circumstances you might encounter while photographing. If you have any suggestions for more challenges, please list them as a comment down below.
When you complete a challenge, be sure to upload your images someplace online. Then, add a comment down below indicating which challenge you completed. My readers and I will review and critique your work. Include your specs in the comment, such as your camera make and model, lens used, aperture, shutter speed, and ISO settings. Include your distance from or scale of your scene as well. We want to know it all so we can get a grasp of what went on while you were shooting and how you managed to take your photos. Then, link to your photos in the comment. Good luck.
Photography Challenge #1 – Depth – Sharp Foreground & Background
The goal of this challenge is to take a photograph of a landscape where the entire scene is in focus. Meaning, the foreground is in focus as well as the background. It’s easy enough to keep your camera in Auto mode so the camera makes all the decisions for you, but that mode will likely lead to a photo with either a soft foreground or a soft background (or both). This is an aperture setting challenge, so you’ll need to choose a few settings yourself.
Take a look at this photograph. Notice how the grass in the foreground at the bottom of the image is sharp and how the trees and leaves in the background at the top of the image are sharp as well.
Also, take a look at this next photo. Notice how the entire dock as well as the mountains in the background are in focus.
How did the photographers of these photos manage this? Well, it’s all in the aperture setting. To complete this challenge successfully, you’ll need to set your camera to Aperture Priority mode and use at least an aperture setting of F/8. Remember, the smaller the aperture (the higher the F number), the deeper your depth of field will be. A deep depth of field will give your photo a lot more sharpness from front to back than a larger aperture will. Also, if you’re not familiar with what an aperture is, it’s the adjustable hole in your lens that lets light come through. When you change your aperture setting, you change the size of that hole. A larger (lower F number) hole gives you softness in the foreground/background and a smaller hole (higher F number) gives you more sharpness in those areas.
Here’s the thing; you don’t need to go crazy and crank your aperture all the way up to the highest number available to get these sharp photos. The risk of using an aperture that’s too small is that you’ll introduce a type of softness into your entire photo. This softness is called diffraction and it’s caused by the light that’s let into the camera angling itself a certain way. When shooting landscape like this, it’s common for photographers to use an aperture setting around F/8. Ask any pro out there. They’ll tell you F/8 is their sweet spot.
The trick for taking landscape photos that you want sharp all the way through is where you focus your camera before taking your shot. Turn the focus switch on your lens to Manual and then point your camera so it focuses on something that’s 1/3 of the distance of the farthest object in your scene. Because depth of field is slightly shallower in the foreground than it is in the background, you’ll only need to focus about a 1/3 of the way in. Then, using a tripod and after angling your camera properly and pushing the shutter button on your camera half way down to meter the scene, take your shot.
The process for taking this type of photography isn’t difficult at all. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll be snapping away all afternoon.
This is a photo I took this past summer. To get this type of clarity from front to back, I used an aperture size of F/8 on Aperture Priority mode and I focused on one of the small rocks in the river about 1/3 of the way up the photo, from the bottom. I took the shot and the results were great. See how those stones in the foreground are sharp, as are the mountains in the background?
To learn more about this entire process, please feel free to explore this website. I’ve written a lot about this over the past few years.
Photography Challenge #2 – Simplicity – Only One Object
This is a composition and technique based photography challenge. I think you’ll find this one fairly difficult. While there are no rights or wrongs when it comes to this challenge, I’ll offer you some guidance and examples for the best results possible. Really though, it’s your imagination that’ll bring this one home. The reason I say this challenge will be difficult is because it’s somewhat easy to take a photo of lots of stuff. When it comes to minimizing objects in your scene, that’s when things get tough. It’s sort of like when your teacher asks you to write an essay, but to use only one side of one piece of paper. That’s more difficult that it seems.
Here it is. The challenge is to take the most simple photo of only one object as you can. Whether this be a blade of grass, a leaf floating on a pond, or a snowflake, it really doesn’t matter. The trick is to first choose a simple subject (or a complex subject that you make simple via photographic technique) and then to isolate that subject through your use of depth of field. As you may already know, depth of field is calculated by your camera’s distance from your subject as well as your aperture setting. The closer you are to your subject, the shallower the depth of field. The farther away, the deeper the depth of field. This is why it’s so easy to take sharp photos of far away mountains, even when using a large aperture. Because of the distance of the mountains, the depth of field is deep. The same is true for close ups. Even when you’re using a small aperture, you’ll still end up with a relatively shallow depth of field. This is because of the close proximity of your camera to the subject.
Hint: When attempting to isolate subjects in photography, depth of field is used to add blur or bokeh to the foreground and background of the scene. It’s meant to remove distraction by making those areas softer than the primary subject. For normal photos, such as ones taken from just a few feet away, it’s best to use larger apertures (lower numbers) to achieve this. Either that, or you can simply move closer to your subject.
I’ve got a few different examples for you below. Use them as inspiration. Notice how the focus and settings of the photographs isolate the subjects.
If you’ve got a subject that’s very small, feel free to use a magnifying filter or a macro lens to capture the image. Just remember that when using magnifying filters very close up, your depth of field will become microscopic.
Photography Challenge #3 – Scale – Big Wide Angle
When it comes to scale in photography, the goal is to show how enormous things are. The best way to do that is to compare the enormity of the primary object with something the viewer can easily recognize, such as a person, car, animal, or other familiar object. For instance, let’s say a photographer wanted to show how large a skyscraper was. Sure, he or she could snap a photo of it to show all his or her fiends. Wouldn’t the photo have more impact, though, if there was someone standing on the sidewalk at the bottom of the skyscraper? If the building was truly as huge as the photographer felt it was, the person would seem tiny and that comparison would reveal itself to the viewer of the photo.
Photography is much more than seeing something that’s pretty and taking a photo of it. What the photographer needs to do it formulate a goal for the eventual photograph. What’s the photographer trying to express? For an architectural firm, the photo of the building may need to convey its lines and overall shape and structure. To someone who’s more concerned with the building’s effect on society though, the photographer may want to express how the large building has changed the human landscape. There’s a message in every photo. You just need to decide on what that message is before snapping the picture.
On to today’s challenge. When capturing scale, using a wide angle lens surely makes the job easier. Wide angle lenses are adept at squeezing things into the scene that wouldn’t have been squeezed in otherwise. Attempting to capture an entire mountain range with a 50mm lens wouldn’t be all too easy, if not impossible. Trying to capture that same mountain range is a heck of a lot easier when using a 10mm wide angle.
When it comes to scale, angle is just as important. While you can take a fine photo of a car driving up the curvy road of a large mountain straight on, it may have more impact if you took the shot from a drone hovering far above the car or from beneath the mountain looking up somehow. Angle demonstrates scale effectively. Remember though, good angle can sometimes compensate for a narrower lens.
Take a look at some example images.
For these first, second and third shots, the scene is very large, yet there’s something easily identifiable to the viewer in each photo. There are two people as well as one tree. The viewer may not know how large clouds, mountains or land is, but he or she surely knows how large a human is. And when that human is compared to the rest of the scene, the impact is felt.
For this photo, it’s sometimes challenging to fully grasp the enormity of a cruise ship. It’s easier to see how large it is when it’s set behind some very recognizable waves. Sure, the waves reduce in size as they get closer to the boat, but that’s the point.
You’ve most likely taken a ride on a Ferris wheel at some point in your life. You know how large or small the cart is in which you must sit. While viewing the Ferris wheel from a distance, you might not fully appreciate how large the actual ride is. When you see it from this angle, the size reveals itself. Basically, by looking up at the Ferris wheel and being able to compare the entire ride with the carts, you can see its enormity.
Finally, here we have a Hard Rock Cafe guitar below a large office building. This photo is a bit tricky in that it doesn’t really identify how large either of these objects are. It does, however, offer an interesting angle to show dimension and scale. I think this photo shows off the guitar the most. It’s pretty gigantic.
To complete this challenge, you’ll need to get out there and find yourself something that’s huge, such as a big field, a large building, or an enormous mountain. Then, situate yourself in a position in which you can capture not only the scene, but something that’s recognizable to the viewer of your ultimate photograph. Then, use your DSLR and favorite wide angle lens to get some great shots. If you wish, use your camera’s aperture and shutter speed settings for effect, but really, those technical aspects aren’t critical for this challenge to be successful.
Photography Challenge #4 – Leading Lines – Guide Your Viewer’s Eyes
I’m sure you’ve seen photos with leading lines before. This type of photo could possibly have roads, power lines, trails, paths, or just about anything else that assists with guiding the viewer’s eyes in a direction the photographer would like. Leading lines creates drama in an otherwise common photograph or scene. In general, leading lines in a photo travel from bottom to top, so be sure to place yourself in an appropriate position while capturing this type of image. In doing so, you’ll add depth to your final result as well as highlight the actual subject.
When searching for a scene that contains leading lines, loosen up your mind a bit. They’re all over the place. Drive down a road, stop the car and get out. If you bring your camera down close to the road while standing at its center, you can take a photograph of the center lines leading away from you. Speaking of roads, if you own a drone, fly it up high above a windy mountain road. That road itself is a leading line. If you walk down a sidewalk, stop at a corner and look up to the top of a building nearby. Place your camera on the corner of the building facing upward. That corner is a leading line. Train tracks are leading lines as are paths cut by machinery cut through a cornfield. Fences are too, so don’t get caught up on traditional roads and trails. As I said earlier, these things are everywhere.
This is primarily a composition challenge, but there’s a technical aspect to it too. While it’s easy enough to find a leading line and snap an image of it, it’s a bit more challenging to set your aperture so both the foreground and the background are sharp. Depending on your goal for the photo, this can be important. To learn more about how to keep both of these areas sharp, please see the previous challenge that has to do with depth.
Also, when thinking about taking this type of photo, consider using a wide angle lens if your scene is expansive or a more narrowly focused lens if you’re dealing with a smaller area. The correct lens can help create that drama you’re after when dealing with composition.
Photography Challenge #5 – Horizontal & Diagonal Lines – Create Strength
This photography challenge primarily has to do with composition, but it’s got a bit of technique thrown in as well. I’ll discuss the technique at the end of this post. First, I’d like to talk about enhancing composition using lines. Picture in your mind a photo with many thick horizontal objects in it. What type of feeling do you get from that? For me, I think about strength and boldness. And for some reason, I think of steel or something that’s very strong. That’s just me. Obviously, every line you see in an image won’t be made of metal, but still, horizontal lines do portray a certain feeling of stability and peace. If you’re attempting to portray strength, you may want to look into how you can situate yourself in such a way as to take advantage of the objects in the scene.
Diagonal lines add a totally different flavor to a photo. I tend to think about something more artistic when it comes to being diagonal. This is probably because certain modern artists like to paint with flair and exuberance. You know, sort of like if you twist your camera a bit, you get a picture that looks fun and exciting as opposed to one that’s perfectly straight and somewhat dull. So if you’re going for a photo that’s fresh, look for diagonal lines in the scene.
Take a look at these sample photos. Notice which direction the lines go in them and think about the feeling you get from each one.
Head out with your camera and take notice of lines in your scene and use those lines to evoke a certain feeling. You may be surprised at how many photo ops you’ve been missing through the years simply because you haven’t thought of this type of thing before.
Now to the technical part of this post. When taking photos of these types of scenes, you may have some movement involved. In the first two sample images above, there were moving cars and moving waves. Because of this movement, you’ll need to be cognizant of your camera’s shutter speed. If you’d like to do some long exposure shots to include some light trails in the cityscape, go ahead and slow down that shutter. The thing is, if you attempt the same technique with moving water, you’re likely to erase those dramatic lines all together. To capture moving water so it’s still, you’ll need to speed up your camera’s shutter speed.
You’ll also need to be aware of your aperture. With the water shot above, the foreground as well as the background was in focus. Please see this post that deals with how to deal with this type of a situation. This probably isn’t the type of shooting that you’d want to add blur and bokeh to a scene, so you may have to use full manual mode to get what you want. Speed up or slow down your shutter speed and set your aperture appropriately. Let your camera set the ISO automatically.
Photography Challenge #6 – Framing – Surround Your Subject
When it comes to photography, framing is a lot of fun. In the most basic sense, framing is simply arranging or taking advantage of already existing elements in a scene to surround your primary subject. The subject could be an object or an entire scene in itself. The frame in a photograph helps the viewer direct his or her attention to the subject. In all my years of practicing photography, I’ve seen hundreds of different types of frames. I personally enjoy using close by branches to frame a landscape, but I’ve seen all types of frames, including hands around a face, animals between trees, mountains around a city, and so much more. To get an idea what what good framing is, let’s take a look at the examples down below.
In this first example photograph, I’m sure you can guess what the subject is. Yes, it’s the airplane. I can’t tell if this photo was taken facing down into water or up into the sky, but it really doesn’t matter. The pipes do a wonderful job of surrounding the subject.
This next photo is like something I’d find myself doing. This is probably because I’ve taken advantage of close by branches dozens of times. I like to situate myself so branches are on either side, but I also like to shoot through just one tree for a much tighter frame.
This is simply a magnificent photograph. It’s based on timing, which makes it even more stellar. The drawbridge is interesting in its own right, but having it open to reveal the building behind it is even better.
And finally, when taking river shots, it’s sometimes tough to know what your subject is, besides it being the river or the overall scene. By shooting through an arched bridge like this, you add much more focus to a scene. It’s difficult not to look through the bridge.
This is primarily a composition challenge, so camera settings are up to you. I do have to warn you though, if you’re using framing elements that are close to you, you should be aware of your aperture. Make sure your camera’s aperture setting is small enough so those close by elements don’t come out soft. Read this post on keeping your foreground and background sharp for more information. If you’re using your viewfinder while taking your photos, you may also take advantage of your camera’s depth of field preview button to make sure you’re staying sharp all the way through. Click through the link at the end of this post for that.
Photography Challenge #7 – Use Light as Your Subject
Have you ever taken a photo in mid-afternoon when the sun was high in the sky and discovered that no matter what you did, the image looked terrible? Like, flat and too bright? I have. It’s so frustrating. I’ve gone out there with the best of intentions and photographed away, only to be disappointed with every shot I took. For the longest time, I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. That is, until one day I realized that my lighting was the problem. Since I was outside when the sun was bright, everything I tried taking photos of was flooded with illumination and way too aglow. I compared my shots to those I liked from others and it was obvious what I was doing wrong. I was ignoring the most important element of photography – light. Well, I guess I wasn’t completely ignoring it. I mean, it was there all right. What I was ignoring, or not taking into account, was how the light played off of the subjects of my photos. During mid-afternoon, there’s far too much light to play off of much of anything. There’s no counter-play. It’s all light and barely anything else. It’s earlier and later on in the day when the sunshine is much more subtle and far easier to manage. It’s then when you can delicately determine how the light affects things in the scene. That’s the important thing to consider.
Take a look at this photography.
What’s the most important element of the picture? Is it the wall? The street? The building across the street? No, it’s the sunshine. The sunshine is the most noticeable element in the entire scene. Can you imagine what this photo would look like if there was no sunshine? Or if the sun was hidden behind some clouds? The image would look awful and people would wonder why it was taken at all. I mean, all that’s captured is a wall and a street. But with the sun hitting things the way it is, the image comes alive and becomes interesting.
So here’s a challenge for you; go outside with your camera during the golden hour (right before sunset) and look for the sun. Look at how it hits things and how it makes you feel. Don’t worry so much about what the light is specifically reflecting off of. Focus more on the interplay between the one subject and the most important subject (the light). Then, take some photos and bring them back inside to review them on your computer. If you don’t think you hit the mark, try it again. Keep using the sun or other light as the most important subject in your photos and you’ll eventually create things that others are interested in. I think you’ll be impressed with yourself.
Do you have any examples of light usage in your photography? Care you share those examples with us? I’d sure like to see them. Thanks!
Photography Challenge #8 – Golden Ratio – Specific Subject Placement
I’m not even going to attempt to explain the Golden Ratio in this post, so I’ll lead you to a very thorough article that does a great job at detailing its finer aspects. I think that if I try to write about it here, I’ll be going way overboard and you may lose interest in what the challenge actually is. So, with that in mind, please read up on the Golden Ratio. It’s actually very cool. Like the author of the article says, “This here is next level stuff.” It really is.
Today’s challenge is all about composition. I don’t want to confuse you with any technical aspects of what your camera can do. Set it to Auto and head out to use the Golden Ratio in your shots. Use the Fibonacci Spiral and position your primary subject where the spiral dictates. Think about different subjects and how their positions affect the mood or impact of your shots. Does the spiral help? Hurt? Does it get in the way? Does it make you overthink your scenes or does it give you direction? More focus, if you will. I tend to think that guidance such as this helps in the beginning, but once you get a feel for what you’re doing and as you become more experienced, you just do it rather than think about it.
Take a look at these example photos. Notice where the primary element in each image is located in regards to the Golden Ratio.
Since this theory of composition is so much like a few others, such as the Rule of Thirds, I’ll say that this one is also a bit artsy. I like the way the subject is offset. It’s so much better than being straight on and centered.
Anyway, go ahead and give this challenge a try. You may need to take your photos and then position them correctly in Photoshop to accurately place and take advantage of the Golden Ratio. That’s what I did for the sample images.
Photography Challenge #9 – Balance – Equalizing the Frame
I can’t tell you how to precisely balance your photos. Or your scenes. You just need to practice the technique, post your practice shots here and let us critique them. In the most basic sense, when it comes to photography, you’ll find balance in your photographs when primary objects in the scene have equal weight. I’ll show you some example images down below so things become clear to you, but I can tell you right now that balance is critical when it comes to photography. Most of the time, you won’t even know you’re engaging in this type of thing. As you get the hang of making beautiful photos, you’ll find that balancing the elements in your scene comes naturally to you. In the beginning though, you may need to put some effort into it.
Here’s a tip for you when it comes to balancing your shots. Pretend that each element in the scene has the same weight. So if there is a car on one side of the scene and a tree on the other, they both weigh the same amount. If they’re equally spaced apart and look even in the scene, then you’ve got balance. Take a look at this first example image.
While it may initially appear that the left side of the photo is heavier than the right, things are actually balanced because of the smoke from the train as well as the tree over on the right side. Again, if all elements weigh the same, that smoke and cluster of trees would balance out the weight of the seemingly larger portion of bridge.
This is a great balanced shot because it appears that there’s a separation going from the top right to the bottom left. It’s almost as if the green mountain is acting as a divider between the stone mountain on the left and the house on the right. There are quite a few elements in this scene, but they all appear to work well together.
This is a classically balanced photograph. The weight of the two individuals on the left are balanced out by the thickness of the railing on the right as well as the larger buildings on the right. Can you imagine if the people in the photo were on the right as well, leaving the left empty? It just wouldn’t look right.
So there you have it. Work on this challenge and remember that it’s all about composition. It doesn’t matter what you’ve got your camera set to. Just get out there and shoot. Arrange things in your scenes so they play off one another and look good.
Photography Challenge #10 – Fill the Frame – Getting Nice & Close
Somewhere between distant landscape shots and macro shots lie close up shots. These are photos that many people find very appealing. Not many of us are able to see the plethora of objects from the perspectives of different photographers, so close up photos are welcomed. In general, we see close up shots of flowers, animals, people, insects, and so many other objects and beings. Now, just to be clear, I’m not referring to macro photography here, where you can see the nose hair on a ladybug. What I am talking about is an object that consumes the entire frame of a camera so the detail of that object shines through. While walking past a field of daisies, we may not notice the pollen at each flower’s center. When taking close up photos of those same daisies, a new world opens up to us.
While the benefit of displaying an object’s detail certainly is a reason to capture these close up shots, filtering out elements that may distract the viewer is another reason. I’ll show you some example images down below. When you view them, focus on the two areas I just discussed.
Here are a few tips you need to keep in mind when filling the frame. First, you’ll likely want to use a tripod. You’ll also want to wait for a day that’s calm with no wind, if shooting outside. Because you’re going to be after an object’s detail, it’s imperative that the object not move. Even the slightest movement can create motion blur and that will ruin your photo. Also, because you’ll either be zoomed in on an object or physically very close to it, you’re depth of field will inevitably be quite shallow. You’ll need to shoot in either Aperture Priority mode or full Manual mode to control this. Now here’s the thing: If you shrink down your aperture to create a deeper depth of field, you’ll be letting less light into your camera. To compensate, your camera may want to slow down your shutter speed to allow the proper amount of light for a good exposure. Remember, slow shutter speeds can introduce blur. Hence my suggestion to use a tripod on a day with no wind. While this type of photography may seem straightforward, there’s actually a bit of thought that needs to go into it. Full Manual mode may be called for, especially if you’d like to keep your ISO under 800, as I usually advise.
Here, take a look at some great example photos.
Do you see how you can’t miss the subject of each photo? These are wonderful close up shots, so follow the photographers’ examples and head out to take some of your own.
Photography Challenge #11 – Lead Room – Giving Directional Space
Whenever there’s the perception of movement in a scene that goes in a specific direction, you, as a photographer, need to encourage that movement. You need to give the subject of the photo space to breathe. To need to lead the viewer’s eyes in the direction in which the subject is moving. There’s a term for this technique. It’s called lead room or nose room. It’s basically when you put ample space before your subject, whether is be a car driving down the road, an airplane flying in the sky, or a person walking on a sidewalk. This space leads the viewer’s eye towards the possibilities of the subject. Where they might end up and where they’re heading. Without this space, the viewer of the photograph may feel cramped and the entire image will suffer. I’ll give you some examples down below.
Take a look at this compositional technique. Here are some example photos.
Do you see how there’s room before the car, biker, and motorcyclist? This space gives the impression of progression. There’s only so much you can do in a photograph, but if you can provoke thought in the viewer’s mind, you’ve done your job well.
Take a look at these next two images. Notice how the first one makes you feel and then notice how the second one does. This is for all of those people who don’t think this technique is worth it.
Completely different photos, right? The first one feels natural while the second leaves you feeling boxed in. As if the person walking in the scene is heading towards a wall. It’s just not right.
This is a compositional challenge. Don’t concern yourself so much with camera settings and the like. Focus more on what you’re taking a photo of and why. Set your goal in your mind and then achieve it.
Photography Challenge #12 – Headroom – Giving Ample Space
Many people don’t know this, but most portraits of people call for the proper spacing above and below a person’s eyes. While we say “head” when using the phrase headroom, what we really mean is “eye” spacing. There needs to be an appropriate space above the person’s eyes in the photo and an appropriate space below. While there’s no hard and fast rule for the spacing, things tend to look a bit strange if the spacing is off.
The proper spacing will depend on the scene and what’s going on. Also, it’ll depend on how large the person is in regards to how much they fill the frame. In general though, a good rule of thumb to use is that the eyes should be positioned one third of the way down the frame and two thirds up, which is the same thing. As you shoot, you’ll get the feel for what looks good, so don’t go nuts trying to make this an exact science. Also, when you’re out shooting, it’s much more important to get the right shot as opposed to hunting around for the spacing above someone’s head. You can always crop later on to make the photo look as good as possible.
I’ve got some example photos to show you so you know what I’m talking about. Take a look at these.
Do you see how natural these portraits look? They’re easy to look at and don’t strike the viewer as being odd at all. To further demonstrate this point, I went ahead and placed a line through the area that’s two thirds of the way up the photo and one third of the way down. Take a look at what the line runs through.
That’s pretty cool. That line is exact too, so you know this positioning theory works.
Go ahead and grab your camera to practice some people photos. Again, don’t worry so much about getting it right while you’re taking the shot. Fix your photos up in Photoshop or your favorite photo editor and then come back here to share.
Photography Challenge #13 – Negative Space – The Big Empty
Negative space is about what isn’t. It’s about what doesn’t attract attention. It’s something other than the subject. It’s the place someone would look at last in a photograph. If the subject of an image is considered positive space, then everything else can be considered negative space. When photographs feature lots of negative space, they’ve traditionally focus on the simplicity of the scene. There generally isn’t a lot going on. This simplicity can be very powerful when used correctly in a photo. Many people around the world love these types of images and you should try your hand at capturing some of them.
This photography challenge has to do with composition. Take your camera out of its bag, head outside and set the camera to Auto. Don’t worry about any fancy settings or camera tricks. Just think about your scene and how you can isolate your subject in such a way so it’s the star of the show. Leave everything else behind. Don’t include any clutter or overwhelming action. Let the scene do the talking.
Here are a few example photographs for you to take a look at.
If you’ll notice, there’s a lot that’s not going on. Each of these photos represents peace and tranquility. It’s the simplicity of the scenes in these photos that makes the subject stand out so well. They truly are awe inspiring.
Photography Challenge #14 – Perspective Control – Straightening Things Out
Camera lenses warp photos. Even if you don’t notice it, almost every lens out there will warp a photo. Wide angle lens warping is the most pronounced. If you take your wide angle lens out for some cityscape shots or photos of buildings, those buildings will almost certainly be leaning inward. That’s just the way things are. And to be honest, that’s the way some people like it. I personally prefer my photos to have some character to them. Some people though – they don’t like this effect so much. They want their images to represent reality as much as possible.
In the most basic sense, perspective control means that the photo you capture of something, such as a building, is actually true to what someone would see in real life. So if your wide angle lens captures the building and shows it to have all of its vertical lines lean inward, that’s not reality and that needs to be corrected. Now, to let you know, it’s not only the corners of houses and buildings that might be leaning inward. It’s also street lights, lamp posts, and anything else that you can think of that’s standing straight up.
This is a post-processing challenge. If you’ve got a photo editing program that deals with perspective, you are probably in good shape. If you can transform or warp in your photo editor, you’re also in good shape. I’ve written a few posts on this topic where I’ve used Adobe Camera Raw, Lightroom, and Photoshop to correct perspective. All of these applications are awesome, so search this website to learn a bit about the techniques I employed.
For now though, take a close look at these before and after images. The changes are subtle, but there.
Be sure to look closely at the edges of the photos. In the before ones, you’ll notice lines that are eight crooked or leaning. The after (corrected) photos are standing straight. The issue here, if you’d like to read up on it, is called lens distortion and as I said above, it gets almost all of us.
The challenge is for you to grab your camera and head out to a close by town where you can take some photos of buildings. It can be a large town or a small one. It doesn’t matter. You can even stand at the corner of your apartment or house and take a photo of it. The wider the angle, the better. You actually want there to be some distortion so you can correct it during your post-processing. Once you have the photos, go back inside and open up your favorite photo editing program. See if you can correct the distortion. If you own Adobe Camera Raw, Lightroom, or Photoshop, simply follow the instructions I gave in the posts I linked to below.
Photography Challenge #15 – Forced Perspective – Having Some Fun
In the previous photography challenge, we tried to make the subjects of our photos look as they would in the real world. When an object is distorted by a camera lens, there are ways to make it appear realistic again. In today’s challenge, the goal is to do the opposite. Use your imagination to take reality and have some fun with it. Whether it be the sun, a building that’s leaning over, or a statue, use those objects as props to make it seem as though you’re pinching them (the sun), holding them up (the building), and kissing them (the statue). Here, take a look at these sample images.
A normal photograph of any of these things would consist of the object as an everyday thing that we all commonly see. The goal with this challenge is to make the ordinary not so ordinary. Use your imagination. Use the various settings on your camera to blur parts of the scene out while keeping other areas sharp. Use your camera gear as a prop as the photographer in the last image above did. Use your hands as props as well. Take in your scene and think about how you can make it special. If you’re traveling and you’re a tourist, watch other tourists to see what they’re doing. People have lots of imagination. If you can’t think of anything at the moment, borrow some of someone else’s imagination to help out.
This is an all around composition and technical challenge. It can be as basic or as advanced as you’d like.
Photography Challenge #16 – Flipped Image – Turning it Upside Down
We’ve got another compositional challenge for you today. While a “flipped” photograph might not seem flipped the first moment you view it, you’ll soon realize that something just isn’t right about the image. It’ll usually take a second or two to catch up and realize that the photo you’re looking at isn’t actually a reflection or as it seems. The photo was initially taken upside down or taken right side up and flipped upside down during post-processing. Either way, the final image will be upside down, but with a twist. It’ll probably look right side up. A bit odd, but right side up. Take a look at these example images to see what I’m referring to.
As you can see, the cat in the first photo appears to be stuck to a carpeted ceiling. The cat is actually lying upside down on a carpeted floor. For the next two images, they’re both reflections in water. The above water real world part has been placed down on the bottom while the water reflection is at the top. The reflection is supposed to appear to be the above water part.
There is no shortage of these types of photographs floating around out there. If you’d like to see some more examples for inspiration or to get ideas, I’d suggest you search for “flipped photos” or “upside down photos.” Those phrases should get you somewhere.
Anyway, think of some ideas and get out there with your camera. See if you can find a few subjects that would look just as good or interesting when flipped upside down. While this is a composition challenge, you’ll need to maintain your standards technically as well. Be sure your camera’s settings are up to the shot.
Photography Challenge #17 – Placement – Using the Rule of Thirds
The Rule of Thirds is all about composition. I actually wrote a post about composition as it pertains to photography, where I discussed this theory. It’s quite a simple concept. All you need to do is imagine a tic-tac-toe board across your scene and align the most important features of said scene with the lines or the cross points of the tic-tac-toe board. So basically, you’ve got nine cells over the scene. Move your camera so your subject is in between the cells.
I think what people are looking for when they use the Rule of Thirds is interest. Instead of keeping your subject perfectly centered in your scene, move your camera or your body so your subject is off-centered a bit. By doing this, you’ll be adding negative space, which will give your image some balance. It’s more artsy too, and people love artsy.
Let’s take a look at some examples of what I’m referring to. This first photo is of the Golden Gate Bridge.
Do you see how much more balanced the scene looks than if the pillar of the bridge were centered in the photo? It’s much better this way.
Here’s another example. This is a woman drinking coffee.
By offsetting the woman, negative space was created, adding interest and balance to the photo.
And finally, we’ve got a female sitting on her suitcase. Again, she’s not situated at the center of the photo, adding interest to it.
After looking at these photos, I get the feeling that keeping subjects centered is a bit amateurish. Unless, of course, keeping the object centered is to make a bold statement. Then I like it, but that needs to be obvious.
One last thing – you don’t need to go nuts with offsetting things in all of your shots. You can take your photos any way you wish and just crop them later on during post-processing so they’re interesting.
Camera Mode Challenges
When you begin learning about photography and how your camera works, you’ll need to consistently challenge yourself. Do this for a few reasons. First, you’ll want to learn each and every available function of your camera and what it does. The reason for this is. in order to handle lighting, exposure, and setting situations, you’ll need to know what tools are available to you. If you never learn about what your camera has to offer, you’ll never take full advantage of the situation. It’s usually the weird and wild circumstances that make for the best photos, so this is important.
Second, you’ll need to stay fresh and in control of your camera. By placing yourself in unique situations, you’ll learn a lot about your camera and photography in general. By consistently doing this, it’ll be unlikely you’ll forget it. There’s a reason professional photographers take such wonderful photos; repetition and exposure. They’re out in the field a lot more than you and I are and they find themselves in remarkable spots. That’s just the way it is when you do something like this for a living.
In this section, I offer you a few bonus challenges. Hopefully you’ll take me up on the offer and you’ll head out with camera in hand to see what you can do. Don’t worry, I’ll give you a few tips for how to get the job done down below. If you do happen to take me up on the offer, please post your photos below to show off a bit. We’ll praise and critique.
The goal is to choose a few camera modes to work with and to learn them like the back of your hand. By doing so, your photography will improve by leaps and bounds.
Night Portrait Mode
When you use this mode, your camera will account for the lighting in your scene and set its exposure accordingly. It’ll know that you’ll be using the flash, so when it meters the scene, the shutter speed, aperture, and ISO will be set as to not over or under expose the image. When taking advantage of this mode, it’s best to position your subject someplace where there’s already some existing lighting.
To complete this challenge, set your camera to Night mode, Night Portrait mode, or whichever mode your brand offers that takes photos at night. Then, find some lights and make sure those lights are in the background of (or behind) your subject. Turn your flash on and take your shot. When you take your photo, the flash shouldn’t overwhelm your subject. Your image should be well exposed and balanced. Take a look at these examples.
In the first photo, it’s obvious what the subject is, but in the second, it’s not so obvious. In the second shot, the snowflakes are the subject, which wouldn’t have been illuminated at all if the flash wasn’t used.
Program Mode
I absolutely love Program mode for practicing and learning about both my camera and the photography triangle. While this mode does set the shutter speed and aperture automatically, it allows you to override both of these settings to obtain the look you’re going for. It’s the best mode for learning, so I encourage you to take full advantage of it.
To complete this challenge, set your camera to Program mode (P) and then start taking photos of random things. I personally prefer to practice with aperture size alterations because it’s the easiest setting to explore. I can sit and experiment with camera/subject distance and aperture size to alter the bokeh in my images. I recommend you begin with this setting. Use your camera’s dial to enlarge and shrink the lens’s aperture and notice the effect the changes have on foreground and background blur. In the photos below, take a look at the blur beyond the subjects. By changing the camera’s distance from the subject as well as changing the aperture settings, the blur can either become more pronounced or diminished. Closer or farther away from the subject.
I also encourage you to experiment with shutter speed. Find yourself a nice place to sit and watch things move. If could be wind on some branches or cars driving down the road. Set the shutter speed so it’s faster and slower. Notice it’s effect on the motion blur or lack thereof in your photos.
Exposure Compensation
This challenge is easy and a lot of fun. Exposure compensation is very powerful and with only a push of a button and a turn of a dial, you can completely alter the exposure of your image. If you aren’t familiar with this feature, I suggest you read the post that covers exposure compensation here on this website.
To complete this challenge, find yourself a subject and place that subject between yourself and something bright. It could be a person standing between you and the sun on a bright day, a vase on a table between you and a light in your house, or a pet sunning itself on a windowsill at high noon. It doesn’t matter what you choose, as long as the part of the subject that’s facing you is darker than it should be. When you point your camera at the subject and take the photo, that dark face should end up even darker. To counter this, use your exposure compensation to brighten your subject up. Increase your exposure first by one stop and then by two and three. Your results should be dramatic.
Again, if you complete any of these challenges, I hope you’ll post your photos below so we can see how you did. When you do, please give us some background so we can understand the conditions in which you shot. Thanks!
Lens Focusing Challenges
There’s a lot to know about focusing in regards to photography. There’s what to focus on, how to best use your manual and autofocus features, and how to select the focus points on your specific camera. Each of these things takes understanding and practice. While it’s easy enough to read something in a book or on the internet and think you’ve got a grasp of it, it’s another thing entirely to head out into the field to put it into practice. That’s what this post is about – getting you out into the field with specific goals in mind.
I’ve got three additional bonus photography challenges for you today. For each of these, I want you to pick up your camera and favorite lens and start snapping away at things. Each of the challenges below will ask something different of you. Each requires a different type of focus because of a different style of photography. I’ll list each exercise below with a sample image to give you an idea of what I’m looking for.
Portraits – People, Animals, & Things
When taking photos of people and animals, you’ll rarely keep your subject dead center of your frame. That would look far too much like a yearbook photo. I suppose centered shots are customary in some instances, such as wedding photos and the like, but for stylish modern photography, it’s becoming popular to set your subject off to one side and capture the image of him, her, or it. Take a look at the dog in the picture below.
What do you notice about this photo? To me, I can see that the dog is in focus while the rest of the scene isn’t. To do this, the photographer set an appropriate aperture and then set the correct focus. It would have been detrimental to the shot to set a small aperture and stand farther away from the subject so much more of the scene was sharp. In instances like these, you want to isolate your subject. Notice how the dog is in focus, but the foreground and background aren’t? The way we as humans look at things is that we tend to ignore what’s blurry and really give our attention to what sharp.
There are three goals for this challenge. First, pick a subject and set it off to one side. That’s the artistic and creative part. The thing is, while that subject is off to the side, you’ll need to set your autofocus focus points to target the subject as opposed to targeting the center of the frame. That’s going to require some skill. The third part of the challenge is to set your aperture properly as to add some blur to the foreground and the background of your scene.
If you need any help with these things, please let me know down below and I’d be happy to offer the information you need.
Real Estate, Forests, & Landscapes
What do these three things have in common? Well, when photographing any of them, you’ll want to capture cool angles and keep as much in focus as possible. Take a look at the next sample photo.
When photographing real estate, the last thing you want to do is lose detail to a large aperture and a shallow depth of field. People want to see as much as they can, so what you focus on and how much of the scene is sharp is critically important. For times like this, it’s best to use a tripod and manual focus. If your camera is equipped with a focus zoom, go ahead and use it. Be sure to maintain a good distance away (to deepen your depth of field), use a wide angle lens, and focus on something about one third of the scene away from you. When focusing, use your rear LCD screen to make sure your focus point is as clear as can be. Again, your goal is to capture as much as possible to inform the viewer. Angles are cool too though, so don’t skimp on that.
Sports & Action
This is by far the most difficult challenge of the bunch. Before I even say anything, I want you to take a look at the last photo I have for you.
How in the world do you focus on a subject that’s moving towards you? Typically, we can set the focus on an object and take our time to capture that object. When someone or something is moving though forward and backward, we need to take a different approach.
If you have a subject that’s either moving toward or away from you, you’ll need to set your camera’s autofocus to continuous. You’ll also need to set your point selection to automatic. Basically, you’re letting your camera do all the work for you. The challenge here is to find a situation where you’ll be able to test out your camera’s skills. It’s also to have you figure out your camera’s settings. These are very straightforward, but if you need some help, again, don’t hesitate to ask down below.
If you master the autofocus challenge, feel free to move on to manual focus. This will really test you. It’ll help you predict where your subject will be and it’ll give you an opportunity to focus track, which can be a lot of fun. If you can’t find a foot race or a sports game, find a nice spot on a sidewalk and practice on cars that are driving towards and away from you. There’s no shortage of subjects you can use.
By the way, a quick tip is to keep a medium sized aperture here, such as F/8 to keep your depth of field away from the shallow side. Hopefully you’ll be far enough away from your subject to maintain a deep depth of field, but you’ll need to keep an eye on that. You’ll never get a crisp shot of something that’s moving if your depth of field is too shallow.
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