1) Take Photowalks:

A photowalk is a great way to improve your skills with the camera, as well as helping you to ‘see’ things that you’d usually just walk straight past.

The trick with a photowalk, is to go out not with the expectation of taking great photos, although that’s always a bonus, but to use it as an opportunity to improve your ‘photographers eye’ and practice using various settings on your camera.

Usually, a photowalk is completed by a group of photographers who want to improve their photography, so they’re very popular with Photography Clubs, but they’re just as enjoyable on your own, or with a friend.

Why not give it a go? Take a walk around your local town, or parkland and see what photographic treasures you can discover that you’ve probably walked past many times and not even noticed.

2) Take the exact same picture from the exact same place every day:

It needn’t be every day, once a week would achieve the same result and this may seem like a pointless task at first, but by doing it, over time you’ll start to understand just how light effects an image at different times of the day.

As you know, the lighting in an image can make, or break it. By doing this simple project and looking at the images side-by-side, you’ll quickly become aware of how light affects your image in ways that you simply can’t see just looking at the object.

Try looking out the top floor windows of your home to try and spot a photographic opportunity. Maybe there’s a tree, or church, etc. that’s unlikely to change much over time.

3) Minimise Your Possibilities:

That’s right, minimise. Nowadays, with the invention of digital cameras, it’s very easy to rack up 10, or more images of a subject, then worry about picking the best one later on.

The problem with this, is that we can try various different settings without really thinking about them, or bracket voraciously, knowing that at least one image will be ‘good’

For this project, imagine you’re using a film camera, and set yourself a limit, of say 24 exposures. By having a limited number of ‘exposures’, you’ll find yourself examining the scene and making educated decisions about each shot.

Once your day’s shooting is over, sit down and go through the images you made. you’ll no doubt see one or two areas for improvement. Maybe your images are slightly under/overexposed, or slightly soft, etc.

By shooting 24 images instead of 250, you’ll find it easier to notice recurring issues. You’re then in a position to put them right.

Finally, I know I said 3 ways to improve your photography in the post title, but if the weather isn’t very favourable, or if your camera body is in for repair, for example, I’ve got a 4th way for you, which can improve your knowledge of photography without leaving your living room…… Look at photos.

OK, there’s a bit more to it than that….

Get yourself onto the internet and have a look at National Geographic’s photography section, or  maybe 500px, etc.

Then take your time and ‘really’ look at each image. Try to work out where the light was coming from, what time of day it was taken, shutter speed, etc.

Ask an author how to learn to write and they’ll tell to you to read more books, the same is true of photography, if you want to get better, look at more photos

If you have any ideas for projects to help your photographic journey, let everyone know in the comments