It is easy to improve your photography through personal photography projects. Focusing on one topic will lead to greater development than taking random pictures. Your progress will be accelerated even more as you regularly take photos for your project.
Everyone wants to get better at the things they enjoy. Whether or not we will improve much over time depends directly on how we approach our photography. Your technical or creative skills will not be developed by taking pictures now and then without any real direction.
You will become a better photographer if you work on personal photography projects. As you work on your project, you will be able to compare your photos over time to see how you are progressing.
Brenizer Effect Portraits
Known also as portrait panorama, the Brenizer method makes a great basis for portrait photography. A technique invented by New York wedding photographer Ryan Brenizer lets you create photos that appear to have been shot with a wider lens. A mosaic is made by taking telephoto photos of different parts of a scene and joining them using Photoshop’s Photomerge option or a stitching program.
Ensure each frame is shot using manual settings – including White Balance, focusing, and exposure – in order to batch process them. Aim to capture anywhere from 30-80 frames, with each tile and row overlapping the last by around a third.
Mini-World
Taking pictures of miniature toys and models in real-world environments is a popular photo project you can easily fit into your day job. Taking a small prop with you and photographing it in a variety of situations can be a great way to capture the moment. This can be done whether on a daily commute or a weekend stroll. The model will blend in better with the scene if you get close to it and balance the light. You can add fill-in lighting if your subject is cast in shadow.
Focus Stacking
HDR is a technique for taking multiple shots of the same scene at different exposures. Once the results are combined, a single image is produced that perfectly exposes every aspect.
Focus stacking is similar to exposure stacking, but instead of changing exposure between shots, you adjust the focus point. Once you’ve done this for every image in the scene, you’ll have a pin-sharp image throughout. Landscapes tend to look best with the technique, especially if both foreground and background are detailed.
You’ll need a tripod to achieve this effect. Using your camera’s D-pad or touchscreen, frame up the scene and move the focus point between exposures. You simply need to align and blend the layers once you’ve covered the entire frame, which most editing software can do automatically.
For truly surreal results, try HDR and focus-stacking together.
Zoom Burst
When you zoom rapidly while the shutter is open, you can add dynamism and enhance motion to even the most mundane shots. It’s really easy to achieve a zoom burst: just choose a focal point, set a close shutter speed, and, while the shutter is open, twist the barrel.
The effect will vary depending on how fast you zoom, and if you start zooming in or start zooming out. If you use a tripod, you can ensure the blurred lines are straight, while using a handheld camera can result in even more funky distortions.
