Explore Photography

This post is all about choice – choose ten ideas/concepts from these random examples and shoot your own version of them. They don’t have to look anything like mine !

  • Bubbles are already magical – why do we like them so much? Why do dogs chomp them even though they taste so bad? Why indeed…
  • Candid Portraits: They might be setup, but they shouldn’t look as if they were setup… Never trust those sneaky portrait photographers…
  • Ceilings: Full disclosure – this is NOT my ceiling. I shot it at the Vatican in Rome. Your ceiling may look different – but that’s okay.
  • Creepy things: I mean bugs, etc – not your strange neighbor…
  • Geometry: An old modem died to provide this example. You don’t HAVE to break stuff to find cool shapes though!
  • Gravity. Things fall sometimes. They can make for cool pics!
  • Backlit: Put the brightness behind them and they will be not so bright!
  • Landscape: Foreground, middle ground and background – we’re talking layers people… That pic you took in grade 11 with the nice sky and nothing else in the frame?
    I only pretended to like it…
  • Lens Flare: This can look cool sometimes – just don’t overdo it! (you can also fake it in PS!)
  • Mysterious Light: Where’s that light coming from anyway?
  • Painting with Light: Fun with slow shutter speeds in low lighting. What could go wrong?
  • Panoramic: A wide image composed of more than one picture. I’m sure some of your phones do this pretty easily…
  • Pets: Is your pet cute? Of course you would think so…Prove it!
  • Product shot: Use your skill to sell something! I shot this before I had good gear – used a 600 watt 1960’s camera light and white dollar store foam core as a reflector.
  • Reflections: I love the sense of height in this image. I am the only person ever to like this picture. Photography is subjective, I guess – but they are still all wrong….
  • Signs: This is undoubtedly the best picture ever taken by anybody ever.
    I dare you to do better.
  • Patterns: Make a pattern, break a pattern – our brains love repetition and predictability (think situation comedies)
  • Splash: Splish splash – water shots are cool and refreshing. This was shot with a flash. Have a pool? Me neither. A hose will have to do…
  • Texture: I’m sure I have better example images than this one.. somewhere.
  • Time: Seems to have slown down lately. Tick.tick. tick. tick…… tick.
  • Slow Shutter Speed: Find something moving and blur it on purpose!
  • Mirrors: There is something cool about a mirror shot – and so many ways to do them!