Photography Ideas: 12 Rain or Shine Photography Projects

Likewise, try taking portraits with a wide-angle lens instead of a more traditional 85mm lens, and explore how you might use the distortion of the wide-angle to come up with interesting portrait ideas.

Naturally, with a wide-angle lens you can incorporate much more of your subject’s surroundings, so environmental portraiture might be worth a shot.

Just beware – framing and composition are absolutely critical when shooting wide-angle portraits. For example, since you have a much wider field of view, it’s often recommended to shoot from a lower perspective up towards the model, rather than taking the shot from the model’s eye level.

Doing so allows you to capitalize on all that background for a killer shot!

For a few tips on shooting portraits with a wide-angle lens, check out the video above by Nick Scolaro.

Photography Idea #2: Photographing Faceless Portraits

If you don’t know them well, ask a few questions, crack a well-timed joke, and you might be able to capture a genuine and hearty laugh in a photo. There are plenty of other things you can do to take better portraits as well.

Another trick to capturing emotion is to focus on the “in between moments.” Keep shooting even if the subject doesn’t know you’re shooting, and you’re likely to get some candid shots that have much more emotion than the ones in which you say “smile for the camera!” 

Get a detailed tutorial in capturing emotion in portraits in the video above by Advancing Your Photography.

Photography Idea #6: Photographing Food

What subject is more fun than photographing with water.

I mean, you can photograph water droplets, fruit, water reflections, your kids playing in water…you name it!

What’s funny about this photography idea is the video I recommend above is from my friend Bryan Peterson. The video is over 10 years old, but it’s a goodie!

The video below is from Mark Wallace (from way back in 2011) and offers a different take on photographing with water:

I remember feeling so inspired after watching these videos all those years ago.

In fact, these videos led to hours and hours of experimenting with water, different lighting setups, and my gear.

Here’s a few photos I took back in the day that were inspired by the videos above:

Of course, you don’t need smoke bombs to create epic photos of smoke.

In fact, as Gavin Hoey explains in the video above, you can create a setup right in your own home to photograph smoke in a matter of minutes!

Give one of these creative photography ideas a try if you need a little more inspiration.

Photography Idea #10: Photographing Forms and Textures

But as Bryan Peterson explains in the video above, backlighting can also be used to bring out the texture of a subject.

Backlighting occurs when the light source is behind the subject, so in Bryan’s case, the sunlight illuminates the seashell he’s photographing and emphasizes its form, shape, and texture.

Need more instruction on different types of light? Check out our tutorial on 10 lighting facts you need to know. 

Photography Idea #11: Photographing the Mundane

Likewise, seek out good light – shoot during golden hour for a nice, warm glow or shoot indoors near a window so the light is nicely diffused.

Don’t be afraid to get silly with your selfie, either. Sometimes the best part of photography is simply having a laugh with your camera!