With so many of us at home right now, it’s the perfect time to pick up a new hobby, right? Hobbies keep us from getting bored, give us something to look forward to and share with others, and it can even help you refine a new skill!
A great hobby to have during this time is photography! Think about it, there is a lot of room to improve and learn about photography, and it helps capture memories in the process. It doesn’t matter if you are using a phone, a cute and fun polaroid camera, or even a DSLR camera, you can still cultivate a photography hobby no matter what you do it with.
Is it just me, or do challenges make everything more fun? This type of challenge is perfect for trying to pick up a new photography habit.
When it comes to photography there are many different ways to go about a photography challenge. I’m sharing a few ideas, as well as some tips for having a great challenge. Whether you are an experienced photographer or are new to the world of photography, anyone can participate in a photography challenge. Take a look at these examples and find a challenge that interests you.
3 Photo Challenges To Do While You’re At Home
1. Photo-A-Day
As the name implies, for this challenge you take a photo a day throughout the year. Whether it be a selfie or a prompt each day, anything goes for this.
By taking a photo, or more like photos, each day you’ll see a big difference in your skill set by the end of the year. As I mentioned before it doesn’t matter what type of camera you use. If you have been hesitant about buying a camera, doing this challenge via smartphone would be a great way to decide. You’ll see whether or not you really love photography before you spend money on a camera, or upgraded camera.
2. Centered Around A Certain Topic
If a year is too much of a commitment for a photography challenge, not to worry. Many popular photography challenges are 30 days long. You can find so many of these challenge ideas by searching on Pinterest or even looking at Instagram hashtags.
A great way to do a 30-day challenge is to focus it on a theme. Some examples would be things like fitness, family, food, etc. You could also center your challenge around different, non-tangible themes like emotion or gratefulness. Another fun idea would be to center it around the time of year. For example during the summer your theme could be about summer activities. For Christmas all your photos could have a Christmas theme.
3. Centered Around A Certain Style
If you are a little more advanced with photography, you can take a challenge a step further by having it centering around a certain type of camera or style of photography. Did you buy or receive a new Polaroid that you haven’t had a chance to use yet? A 30-day challenge would be perfect for this.
Beyond using different cameras, you could also choose a topic that relates to a certain style of photography. Examples of this are macro photography, black-and-white, long exposure, etc. What other styles can you think of?
Tips For a Great Challenge
Did you find a photography challenge you could enjoy? The next step is to start the challenge. It doesn’t matter what day or month it is. Don’t wait until Monday, or January to start. By then I bet you will feel less motivated.
Here are some other tips you may want to keep in mind as you start your first challenge:
- Search online: if you don’t have a theme yet I’d suggest looking on Pinterest to gather some ideas.
- Include your friends: get your close friends and family to enjoy this with you. They can directly participate in the challenge, or be there to keep you company.
- Use the hashtag to find other photographers: If you found your challenge online, you will most likely be able to find a corresponding hashtag you can use. By using a hashtag you are giving yourself more exposure, and you are able to connect with others.
- Find a place to store your photos: If you are committing to a 30-day, or even a year, challenge, it may be a good idea to save them all. You can do this by saving them to your phone gallery, create a Facebook album that includes them all, or even print them out. Saving these is a great way to hold onto your memories and remind you where you started it.
I hope these ideas and tips have given you enough to think about how and why you want to do a photography challenge. Will you be doing one in the future? If so, which one are you doing?