Do you ever get photographer’s block? Well, we are here to help kick start your creativity! Not only do we have some tops tips for getting out of a photography rut – we have also compiled a list of great themes that we have had on the site over the years that could help inspire you to try something new.
Ideas for Banishing the Dreaded Block
Use Your Imagination
Imagine yourself as someone or something else, and really think about what type of photo you could get. For example: how does a three year old see the world? Think about what might be exciting and what the line of vision might be. What about being an inanimate object? What do you look like to a shelf full of food when you open the fridge door? You can have a lot of fun with this, whether you get a good shot or not!
Think Outside the Box
Think props, think effects, be inquisitive. Lie on the floor and see what you notice, hold your camera on a tripod above your head and see what is over that wall. Stop looking through the viewfinder and find out what you capture – shoot from the hip, shoot from the top of your head. Swing your camera by the strap to capture some light trails. Photograph through a tube, a colander or coloured plastic. Outside the box, the possibilities are endless!
Push Your Boundaries
Whether it is climbing to the top of a multi-storey car park to capture the sunset, asking a stranger to pose for a shot or setting up a photo shoot with a tarantula – deciding to take pictures that you would usually be too scared to get will not only add some great shots to your albums, but it will also give you a the thrill of achievement. But pushing your boundaries isn’t just about doing something scary – if you never take abstract shots, give it a go, set yourself a challenge and expand your repertoire!
Keep notes!
If you have an idea for a photograph, or missed the perfect shot because you didn’t have your camera with you, write it down. OK, so you may not be able to re-create the moment, but you can put it on a list to try and capture it another time. Whether it is going to the fair and waiting for the moment a small child reaches up to grab some candy floss, or you sit it out in a field waiting for a flock of birds to land, you will either get what you came for, or bag some other great shots whist waiting for the moment to arrive!
By playing, experimenting and most of all by ‘letting go’ you’ll find some fantastic new and inspiring ways to take photographs!
A-Z of Extra Ideas!
If you could still do with an inspired nudge, you can use this list of 365 themes to conjure up some inspirational ideas. You could also use it to create your own project plan, or browse the tags to come up with your own take on past projects.
- 7 Deadly Sins
- 9 to 5
- Abandoned
- Abstract
- Action
- Architecture
- At Night
- Automobiles
- Avenues & Alleyways
- Balance
- Beautiful Garbage
- Black and White
- Bling
- Blue
- Blur
- Bubbles
- Chairs
- Christmas Tradition
- Clouds
- Clutter
- Companions
- Corners
- Curves
- Dance
- Doors
- Drive
- Eerie
- Eggs
- Extraordinary
- Eyes
- Faces
- Family
- Fear
- Feet
- Flow
- Food & Beverages
- Framed
- Fruit
- Glass
- Golden
- Green
- Halloweeeeeeen
- Hands
- Have A Ball
- Heroes
- Holiday Spirit
- Home
- Hope
- Human Connection
- Human Emotion
- Humor
- In The Garden
- Ink
- Joy
- Jump
- Lens Flare
- Light Art
- Lines
- Liquid
- Long Exposure
- Look, But Don't Touch
- Love Is...
- Low Key
- Machinery
- Magnificent Creatures
- Making Waves
- Mid Air
- Minimalism
- Money
- Monsters
- Motion
- Movie Scene
- Music
- Mustaches
- National Pride
- Nature Up Close
- Numbers
- Odd One Out
- On the street
- Opposites
- Out In Public
- Overexposed
- Passion
- Pastels
- Pattern
- Peace
- Photobomb
- Purple
- Rainbows
- Red
- Reflections
- Refreshing
- Remembrance
- Repetition
- Rusted
- Self Portrait
- Serenity
- Shadows
- Show Your Face
- Side by Side
- Sign of the Times
- Signs
- Silhouette
- Simplicity
- Sound, Antiquity
- Spooky
- Sport
- Stars
- Statue
- Still Life
- Surrealism
- Technology
- Texture
- Thankful
- Think Green
- Through a Pets Eyes
- Time
- Time Off
- Tiny Things
- Toys
- Travel
- TV Shows
- Up Close
- Upside Down
- Urban Decay
- Vintage
- Vivid
- Water
- Weather
- What in the World
- Wheels
- Windows
- Workers
- Worm's Eye Perspective
- Yellow
- Your Heart
Thanks for the inspiration.
Thanks so much for this post. I will defiantly be getting some use from this in the near future.
nice read!