Practicing Photography and choosing your subject

Once you have exhausted every member of your family and have a few thousand photos of your kids you get to the point where you have to ask yourself "what can I photograph now?".

You probably already have loads of things around you that you can use to practice landscapes, still life and even abstract photography. If you run out of willing volunteers for portraits you can always take candid shots of people without them knowing, even if you don't know them.

Photographing Landscapes

Boat Wherever you are it's possible to practice landscape photography, you don't necessarily need rolling green fields or fantastic beaches. Find Places nearby that you can return to several times, this way when you get home and the result isn't exactly what you expected you can go back and try again.

Try taking the same shot from different angles, using different aperture settings or at different times of day. You will be amazed at the difference just adjusting a few setting will make.

Photographing Still Life

Take a look around you and choose the first thing that catches your eye, it can be anything at all. Practice using different lighting techniques and aperture settings to get a range of completely different shots of the same object.

Try grouping objects together to create an interesting shot or isolating a single object whilst everything else is out of focus. You can have loads of fun making everyday objects look completely different.

Photographing People

You don't need any studio lighting or special equipment for taking great shots of people. Sometimes candid shots turn out much better than staged photos so try capturing people when they are busy doing something else. Most people love candid shots of themselves because they look more natural.

You may find if you ask around that people will willingly let you take family portraits or even allow you to practice at family events such as weddings or birthday parties especially if you offer to give them a few of your favorite prints.

Practice, practice practice!

As with all things practice makes perfect, and the more shots you take the better you will become. Once you have mastered all of those settings and know how to make changes quickly you will become more confident in your photography, this in turn will get you taking better shots.

Click below to see some of the photos I have taken whilst practicing photography, you might just find some inspiration.