How about a photography challenge this summer?

Summer is a long way from New Year resolutions but it’s a good time of year to take on a new challenge. The longer lighter evenings provide the opportunity for us to get out and do more. But what, exactly? If you are a keen photographer and want to improve your skills then how about taking on a photography challenge this summer? A project that you will enjoy and will help you to become a better photographer.

In this article we take a look at five ideas for a photography challenge this summer.

Pick one or more colours

A great idea for a photography challenge that is both interesting and fun is to choose one or more colours to focus on for your challenge. You then need to ensure that you feature your colour(s) prominently in your photos. 

Not only is this an interesting photography challenge in itself, but it will help to develop a better understanding of when and how to use colour effectively. Many potentially excellent photos can be marred by too many competing colours in the shot, which detract from the purpose and story of the image. Whereas a more selective use of colour can bring the viewer’s focus back to the aim of the photo. 

This is one of the reasons why black and white photography is often so effective. So your photography challenge is to recreate the impact of black and white photography by using a limited range of colour instead. Becoming more observant and selective about colour is a fantastic discipline to have, and will greatly strengthen your photography skills.

And remember that if you want to add an overall colour hue to your photographs, you could also use a colour filter. Check out our guide Filter this! What do camera lens filters do and which are the best to use? for more information about how to do this.

Feature an object

An alternative to featuring specific colour(s) is a photography challenge in which a signature object appears in every photo. This gives you the flexibility of photographing many different environments but with a common theme. Let your creativity flow freely here. You may want to base your choice of object on a story or a song. For example a character from a children’s story such as Winnie the Pooh, or perhaps a series of photos to represent 99 Red Balloons. The idea is that every photo, wherever and whatever it is, has to feature your item.

You could also combine the featured object with a chosen colour for an additional touch of flair. So if you chose the 99 Red Balloons theme, perhaps shoot your photos in black and white, but then use photo editing software to colour the balloon red. See our article about photo editing apps for more ideas on how to edit your photos..

Tell someone’s summer story

Another interesting photography challenge is to feature a subject and tell their summer story. Perhaps your partner, child, parent, friend or pet. You could even feature yourself if you are confident about taking selfies and/or using camera timers. Either way, the aim is to document snapshots of life over the summer period. 

Even if nothing particularly significant happens, just capturing small day to day details of a life through the changing summer season can provide a lot of photographic interest. Also take advantage of the wonderful variety of light during the summer months, including early morning dawns and late evening sunsets.

Summer in the city

City life always provides a wealth of photographic opportunities, and this is particularly the case during the summer months. So why not set yourself a photography challenge to capture everything that you love about your chosen city, against the backdrop of summer sunshine and activity. Just a few ideas to get you started are:

• Buildings : there is so much potential with buildings both old and new. As well as capturing shots of the building as a whole, look for small details such as brickwork for close up shots.
• Famous landmarks : for an extra photography challenge try to take a photograph that is somehow different from anything anyone else has taken!
• Cathedrals, churches and museums : all of these buildings will have a wealth of photo opportunities inside as well as out.
• Water : rivers and canals can provide a lot of photographic interest. Also look out for reflections on the water. Taking photos from bridges can give you an excellent view of the river or canal.
• Street life : traffic, crowds, shop windows, pavement cafes, market stalls can all form the basis of great shots.
• Green spaces : city parks and other green spaces are a wonderful contrast from the busyness of the city streets, and also teem with their own life and activity.

And when taking your city shots also challenge yourself to get some interesting angles. If there is a high vantage point somewhere, it could be well worth the effort to be able to get some birds eye view landscape shots. Or you may want to get down lower – for example an embankment – and take shots of bridges, stairs and rising buildings from a different perspective.

The nature of summer

And of course, a photography challenge not to be overlooked is the abundance of the natural world during summer. Blue skies, gorgeous sunrises and sunsets, green grass, an abundance of flora and fauna, colourful birds and butterflies, young animals – all against the backdrop of bright light, shimmering heat and just the general feeling of openness and freedom that summer brings. 

Trying to capture all that in some top notch photography is perhaps the most difficult photography challenge of all, but well worth having a go!

We hope that this guide has given you some ideas and inspiration for your very own photography challenge this summer and that you enjoy every minute.

Check back here soon for more helpful photography guides from Print Your Memory.