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• Beginner Photography
24 Top Photography Ideas for 2024 • Landscape Photography
• Wildlife Photography
BY SPENCER COX | 43 COMMENTS
LAST UPDATED ON FEBRUARY 12, 2024 • Portraiture
• Post-Processing
• Advanced Tutorials
If you’re looking for photography ideas and inspiration for 2023 and beyond, the
list below is meant for you. Many photographers find themselves in a bit of a
creative rut from time to time, or they just want to try out something new rather
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than taking the same types of photos. The ideas collected below will be useful
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either way, helping you enjoy photography to the fullest and practice interesting
new techniques along the way.

1. Try Out a Different Genre

One of the easiest things you can do if you’re looking for some excitement is to
try an entirely new genre of photography. If you’re a landscape photographer, try
shooting portraits. If you’re a wedding photographer, find some architectural
scenes to capture. Or dip your toes into one of the more difficult genres of
photography to master – astrophotography, microscope photography,
underwater photography, and so on. We have a whole list of important To Become a
photography genres that might give you some ideas. Photography Life Member

Or just try to branch out within the genre you already prefer. If you’re a wildlife
photographer, look for animals that you don’t usually photograph. If you’re a
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portrait photographer, try taking portraits of strangers rather than clients or
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people you already know. Get out of your usual routine, and you’ll improve your • Lens Reviews
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2. Start a Photo-Per-Day Project PHOTOGRAPHY VIDEOS

When many people start brainstorming photography ideas, one of the first things UNIQUE GIFT IDEAS
they’ll think of is a weekly or daily photo project. It’s quite common to hear about
projects like this online, and for good reason – they keep photography on your
mind throughout the year.

Sometimes, photo-per-day (365 Projects) or photo-per-week (52 Projects) have

a dedicated theme. The first week might be shadows, the next is red and blue,
the third is texture and so on. Other times, it’s more about creating a personal
goal – making sure you actually take at least one good photo each day of the
year, for example.

Even if you don’t do a strict photography project, it is still a good idea to take
photos regularly throughout the year, without major gaps. You don’t want to lose
any creativity or muscle memory for your camera.
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It doesn’t need to be something crazy (or crazy expensive) like a 400mm f/2.8
supertelephoto. Even renting an 85mm f/1.8 prime, or a macro lens, is enough to
bring out a lot of creativity and excitement that had been hidden behind the
scenes. If you can borrow from a friend or swap equipment for a few days with
them, even better. I’m a Nikon shooter, but I’ve borrowed Canon cameras in the
past just to test, and it’s always been a good excuse to take more photos and go
out more often to shoot.

Canon EOS 80D + EF-S 18-55mm f/4-5.6 IS STM @ 21mm, ISO 100, 1/250, f/9.0

4. Use a New Post-Processing Style

Experimentation isn’t only part of photography in the field. It applies just as well
to post-processing work – even more, perhaps, given the extraordinary number
of post-processing tutorials available to try out wildly different types of
photography.

Try out double exposure post-processing techniques. Turn your images into
more of a conceptual piece, where you are blending multiple photos together
into one. Or, add text to an image so it looks like a poster or magazine spread.
You don’t need to be a Photoshop master to make something interesting and
creative – though you’ll definitely improve your editing skills along the way.

5. Do Some Macro Photography

Macro photography is much more accessible than people tend to think. You
don’t need an expensive macro lens – just the equipment you already have, plus
an extension tube. Even a 50mm prime lens and a single extension tube is going
to get you great close-up images, although it takes some time to learn the right
techniques for macro photography.

If you want more capabilities than an extension tube, you can find some
inexpensive macro lenses that are older, third-party, or manual focus only. Either
way, you won’t regret getting macro capabilities in the end. It is one of the best
ways to take amazing photos in almost any location and time of day. Many of my
best macro photos are from my backyard on an ordinary day in mid-afternoon.

NIKON D800E + 105mm f/2.8 @ 105mm, ISO 100, 1/250, f/8.0

6. Try Creative Lighting and Flash Gels

If you shoot with a flash, you’re probably trying to do it the “correct” way –
bouncing it off walls or ceilings, diffusing it to avoid harsh shadows, and carefully
balancing it with ambient light. As reasonable as that may be, it only scratches
the surface of the creative potential of flash.

For starters, try using flash gels to light your subject with interesting and unusual
colors. Don’t be afraid of harsh shadows; light the image so half the photo is an
intense silhouette. Of course, none of this is a good idea for actual events, but
chances are good that you’ll discover a new technique you like and can carry
over to the rest of your work.

NIKON D7000 + 105mm f/2.8 @ 105mm, ISO 100, 2 seconds, f/3.2

7. Print a Book of Photos

A lot of photographers have told me that they wish they printed their photos
more often. Sometimes, it’s because they don’t have enough time or space to
put a printed photo on their wall. Other times, it’s just a matter of price; a good
print, especially with a frame, can be prohibitively expensive.

Often, my recommendation is to try creating a photo book instead of a single

larger print. That way, you can see several of your images at once in physical
form, good for inspiration and for morale. A high-quality photo book still won’t be
cheap, but it beats printing several dozen images individually and finding ways to
present them.

8. Experiment with “Wrong” Settings

No one should shoot handheld images with a 5 second shutter speed, or macro
photos at f/2.8 with nonexistent depth of field. Except when you should.

In reality, there are a lot of “wrong” camera settings that just don’t work for
typical images. That’s fine if your goal is to get a perfectly sharp photo that
presents your subject in the standard way. Sometimes, though, experimenting
with unusual camera settings will give you a better result than any other method.

So, next time that you’re looking for some new photography ideas, try shooting
the same old subjects with very different settings (including different lenses and
post-processing styles). Do a whole street photography session with a telephoto
lens and long shutter speeds, or a landscape photoshoot with the widest
aperture on your lens. Whether or not the photos work out, they certainly won’t
be ordinary.

NIKON D800E + 15-30mm f/2.8 @ 15mm, ISO 100, 1/40, f/2.8

9. Create a Photo Series

Even if you don’t want to do a photo-per-day project, there’s still a lot to be
gained from creating a photo series – usually with a single underlying theme.
Challenge yourself to shoot 25 different street photos with the color green in all
of them. Or, capture the same subject under as many weather conditions and
times of day as possible.

You can go further and capture a photo series that tells a story – a sequence of
images documenting the demolition of a building and the construction of its
successor, or the change of a tree through the seasons. There are many stories
to be told out there, not all of which can fit into a single image.

10. Go Through Your Old Photos

Sometimes, the best way to add photos to your portfolio isn’t to go out and take
new ones – it’s to search back through your archives to find images you missed
initially.

As much as I recommend getting into the field and taking pictures as often as
possible, that isn’t always realistic. Even if you have the time and circumstances
are right, photographers seem to overlook their old work more often than they
should. It’s always a good idea to review your old photos on occasion to see
which ones are unexpected successes, or could be improved with your current
post-processing skills.

I recently went through my old photos and had a lot of fun re-editing this one. NIKON D500 + 500PF
@ 500mm, ISO 100, 1/800, f/5.6 © Jason Polak

11. Practice Abstract Photography

One of the good things about abstract photography is that the subject is that you
don’t need to go anywhere fancy to practice it. Like macro photography, it’s
possible to take good abstract photos almost anywhere – you just need to look at
the world in a less literal way. Abstract photos are not “of” anything aside from
light, shapes, and color. That’s what makes them so flexible.

I took the following photo of dew droplets on the hood of a car shortly before
sunrise, with lamplight reflecting on it. Those are subjects many of us pass by
each day – a car and a lamp – but photos like this hide in plain sight. I’ve taken
other abstract photos of plants in my backyard or textures in the snow. If you
look hard enough, you’ll find good abstract photos almost anywhere.

NIKON D7000 + 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 55mm, ISO 1000, 1/50, f/2.8

12. Scout for New Locations Nearby

It might feel as though you’ve exhausted all the local spots for photography, but
that rarely ends up being true. If you’re a landscape photographer, have you
scouted all the waterfalls or forests within a short drive of your house? For
portrait photographers with a go-to location, are there parks or interesting
buildings that you haven’t tested yet as backdrops? In either case, the answer is
that you’ll almost certainly be able to find new places to photograph that you
haven’t explored yet.

You don’t need to live in the middle of the mountains or the rainforest to find
good landscapes and wildlife to photograph. Likewise, you can take great street
photos even if you aren’t in New York City or Paris. We often overlook great
nearby locations just because they’re familiar to us, but they can be a gold mine
for great photographs.

13. Limit Yourself

Some of the best creative work comes from working around limits and
restrictions, even artificial ones that you assign to yourself. Try it some time;
allow yourself just a single prime lens for a day of shooting, or only take vertical
images. The specific limitation can be anything, reasonable or absurd. Stand in
one place the whole time, or shoot all your photos without looking at the LCD or
viewfinder.

The photos you take, good or bad, aren’t as important as the exercise in
creativity. Self-imposed restrictions are good practice for real photoshoots.
Sometimes, you may not be able to use a flash due to venue rules, or your
movement is restricted because you’re photographing from a small overlook.
There are always going to be some limitations when you’re practicing
photography, so it’s a good idea to prepare yourself for them ahead of time.

NIKON D7000 + 105mm f/2.8 @ 105mm, ISO 100, 1/1000, f/2.8

For about a year, my only lens was a 105mm prime, which I used for everything from landscape to
wildlife. It taught me a lot about creativity and making the most of whatever equipment you have.

14. Team up with Another Photographer

If you know any other photographers, it can be a great idea to team up with them
for a day of shooting. You’ll probably learn some new techniques along the way,
or at least be inspired by each other’s processes. At a minimum, you’ll spend
some time out shooting and working with someone else who enjoys
photography.

You may not know anyone nearby with the same hobby, but you can always join a
photography club or photo walk to meet some. The point is simply to spend time
with other people who share an appreciation for photography, as well as taking
some new photos along the way.

15. Drive to Dark Sky Areas

If you enjoy landscape photography but can’t find many locations nearby to
shoot, consider driving somewhere with a darker sky and shooting the Milky
Way. That certainly isn’t possible for everyone, or at least it can take way too
much driving, but it might apply to you. I live in an area with quite a bit of light
pollution, but I was able to drive for a couple hours to find nearly clear skies.

Invite some friends along, photographers or not, and make a fun trip out of it.
With the amount of light pollution today, not enough people have a chance to see
a (relatively) clear Milky Way, and they might be very excited about the chance.
There are several dark sky maps available online, such as this one, which you can
use as a good resource.

Taken a couple hours from downtown Nashville, TN

16. Make the Most of the Seasons

Changing seasons – including holidays and other events – are perfect for
photography, no matter the type. Landscape photographers can chase after
amazing colors when the leaves change in autumn. Portrait photographers can
do season-themed shoots, and street photographers will find lots of celebrations
and different lights to photograph throughout the year. Wildlife photographers
can look forward to animal migrations and different behaviors throughout the
year.

For example, in Colorado, the sandhill crane migration each year attracts
thousands of visitors (and even more sandhill cranes) to a single valley near
Great Sand Dunes National Park. Or, in large cities across the world, you’ll always
find decorations that match the season. And in areas with lots of farms, hay
bales generally start to appear right as the colors change in autumn. Match your
style of photography to these changes, and you’ll find some great images along
the way.

NIKON D7500 + 300mm f/4 @ 300mm, ISO 3200, 1/640, f/4.0

17. Make a Challenge with Another Photographer

You always see Youtube videos challenging two or more photographers to shoot
the same subject and see how the results turn out differently. Why not do that
yourself?

If you know some other photographers, you can set a challenge together and
watch the creativity unfold. Maybe, like the videos, you both have to photograph
the same model and see how different your images turned out. Maybe you swap
cameras for a day of shooting. Or maybe you challenge yourselves to take
photos in the other photographer’s style as closely as possible.

There are limitless possibilities and lots of ways to set your mind to work with
challenges like these.

18. Recreate a Photo You Like

Sometimes, you’ll see great images online or elsewhere that make you wonder
what techniques the photographer used. The best way to figure out is to try
recreating the photo for yourself.

This is similar to how many artists will attempt to recreate famous paintings from
scratch, learning new techniques along the way. That’s the goal here, too –
adding new techniques to your toolkit for later, not trying to steal someone else’s
work. It’s disingenuous, and perhaps copyright infringement, to publish your
version of another photographer’s image while passing it off entirely as your
own.

Then again, you also don’t need to recreate an image you liked without any
modifications. I once saw an interesting macro photo of a water droplet in midair,
a map of the world behind it (so a globe shape appeared in the water). Rather
than recreate this exact image, I did the same water droplet setup but with a slice
of an orange in the background. At the end of the day, I still learned the same
skills, but with an image that is more of my own.

NIKON D7000 + 105mm f/2.8 @ 105mm, ISO 800, 1/250, f/22.0

19. Photograph Friends and Family

Even photographers who don’t usually shoot portraits are almost always better
than non-photographers at photographing people. But I find that many
photographers, regardless of their usual genre, just don’t take enough pictures
of their friends and family.

This isn’t just for your own sake, although that’s an important part. It’s also
something that many people find useful to have, for many reasons – their
personal website, social media, spouse’s desk, and so on. And, of course, it
provides a chance to practice different lighting and shooting styles with
someone who will forgive you if the photos turn out badly.

20. Experiment with Oil, Water, or Ice in the Studio

If you’re really in a creative rut, why not do some close-up photography in your
own home? You’d be amazed at the possibilities that arise from basic items
around your house.

Some of my favorite ideas are photographing water and oil mixing together,
droplets of water frozen in midair, macro photos of ice, and even the colors of a
CD up close (still have any of those around?)

The point is to get your creative juices flowing and learn new things about studio
lighting while you’re at it. It’s amazing how fun this type of photography can be.
I’ve filmed a full video explaining each of these ideas in more detail:

Macro Photography Ideas You Can Do At Home

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