Being creative in the world of photography is hard and in order to stand out you need to be unique. Forcing yourself to stick to a style of photography will compel you to make creative images.
Here is a list of various styles of photography which should get your creative ideas flowing. Why not combine some of the techniques in to one photograph!
1. Long Exposure Photography – Water
While using a tripod in low light you can change the look of moving subjects, creating a very unique image. Water is perfect for this and can create a misty, moody image.
2. Long Exposure Photography – Lights/Light Trails
Using a tripod and long exposure (between 10-30 seconds) you can turn moving cars into light trails.
3. Long Exposure Photography – Star Trails
A much longer exposure of around 30 minutes you can track the movement of the stars within your scene. Focusing on different parts of the sky can create different effects, such as pinpointing the northern star can create a circle of stars rather then lines.
4. Long Exposure Photography – Zooming in
Shorter shutter speeds of around 1/3 sec, while zooming in/out with the camera lens, can produce very artistic images like the one above.
5. Long Exposure Photography – Panning Up
Moving the camera upwards while using an exposure of around ½ a second can create unique lines during the exposure. Make sure you use a tripod to keep the straight lines.
6. Bokeh
Selecting a large aperture can create a pleasing blurry background and is ideal for portraits.
7. Hold up Old Photos to Match them up with the Background
Finding old and new photographs is a great way of telling a story by holding them up against a scene. Check out the website ‘dearphotograph.com’ for some amazing examples.
8. Overlap Photos
If you photograph a scene but each image overlaps the other by a 1/4, once printed you can place them over the other to show a panoramic.
9. Underwater Photography
Using an underwater camera or waterproof housing you can create some fascinating images of wildlife underwater. There are various courses that can teach you the basics of underwater photography, which is recommended before you try it yourself.
10. Use Shadows
Shadow art is very common amongst street photographers and can be very creative as not every image will be the same.
11. Make A collage
Capturing a series, of images of a moving subject, can tell a story if you print them as a college.
12. Macro Photography
Macro photography is photographing objects that are extremely small. Normally macro photographers would use a lens with a 1:1 ratio, which is the size of the subject on the sensor.
13. Panorama
Panoramas are perfect for those situations where the beautiful view won’t fully fit in your lens. This technique allows you to capture these scenes with a few photos and some editing.
14. Double Exposures
Double exposures can be done in camera or post editing. Combining two images can make very creative silhouettes if done correctly.
15. Create Frames within an Image
Framing an image acts as a leading line towards the focal point and is a very clever way to compose your image.
16. Street Photography
If you’re patient and want a way to show of your surroundings, street photography is definitely for you. You also get to meet some great characters and can immerse yourself in real life.
17. Film Noir
Film Noir is topic photography students typically study, and can definitely be linked to street photography as it’s a way to add drama using dim lighting.
18. Photograph in the rain
Not one for the faint-hearted as capturing photos in the rain could possibly damage your gear. However if you’re willing to buy the correct equipment you can achieve very dramatic images.
19. Weather Photography
Similar to photographing in the rain, weather photography is very unpredictable and can be highly dangerous. However, this also means it’s very rewarding.
20. HDR
A technique popular with landscape photographers, is where you take 3 or more images with different exposures and then edit them together creating a balanced image.
21. Time Lapse
Capturing a series of images, with a quick shutter speed, can show a story of how objects move (like above), or how clouds move across the sky.
22. Black and White
One of the most popular forms of photography and a technique some of the most famous photographers use themselves. Working in black and white will force you to think about your composition more carefully, and will therefore help you improve your skills.
23. Food
Images of colourful fruits and creatives coffee designs are all very popular and is a route many professional photographers go down. Just think about how many cookery books there are out there!
24. Sport
This genre of photography is fairly self explanatory but like food photography it can also be big business! Sport photography is all about quick shutter speeds at the right moment and can take you to some extreme places around the world.
This collection of photography ideas will be ongoing as there are hundreds of photography ideas out there. If you have any yourself, or would like to submit your work to the board, feel free to drop us a message.
Thank you for reading this article, if you have any other ideas please leave a comment down below and I’ll add them to the list!
If you’re studying photography I highly recommend you check our worksheets on Photography Analysis!
Included in these worksheets are, 3 pages of Photography Keywords and Terms, The Photography Analysis Worksheet and examples of my own analysis work!
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