Photography is one of the easiest hobbies to pick up and enjoy. In partnership with Ted’s Cameras, we’ve found 10 lockdown photography projects to get you inspired and creative.
Spending day after day indoors isn’t exactly fertile ground for cultivating creativity. If you’re living in an area that’s been in lockdown for the past few months, you may be finding it hard to think of new activities to keep you occupied and stimulated.
If you find yourself in a creative rut, there are a bunch of at-home photography ideas and challenges to inspire you to pick up that camera again and get creative.
With input from the photography guru’s over at Ted’s Cameras, here are 10 at-home photo projects for lockdown.
We all have thousands of photos on our phones, laptops, SD cards, hard drives, Cloud storage… the list goes on. Lockdown could be an excellent opportunity to get your images organised.
Remove any duplicated, blurry or badly framed photos that are taking up storage space. While you’re at it, make sure you make backups and digital copies of your most important files to ensure you don’t lose them if one of your storage options was lost or corrupted.
Once you’re organised, it’s time to think about sharing your photography with the world.
Lockdown is a great time to start blogging, and there are plenty of easy, free ways to set up a blog nowadays. WordPress even has templates for photography blogs that are ready to go.
Select some of your favourite snaps, write a short post about the inspiration or story behind these photos, and click publish. If you’re more into social media, then the next photo project is for you.
Social media is booming, and whether you’re a photographer by trade or it’s just a hobby, posting your photos on social media is a great way to get more eyes on your work.
Now is the time to create an Instagram or TikTok account and discover a world of opportunities.
But don’t just stop at posting photos. Get out of your little corner of the Internet; interact and connect with other photographers. Who knows, you might end up coming out of lockdown with new photographer friends who share the same passion as you.
If you’re only shooting digital, now is a great time to expand your skillset and try your hand at film photography.
Grab a film camera at Ted’s Cameras and get creative. Film photos have an undeniable charm that digital photography can’t quite replicate, and having a limited amount of frames on film forces you to slow down and think about each photo before you press the shutter.
Film photography will make you a more intentional photographer, an easily transferrable quality for digital photography. Speaking of transferring…
While we’re on the topic of film photography, you probably have a stack of physical photos and photo books lying around in your house. Now is a great time to digitise them to ensure you still have access to a digital copy in case the physical prints get damaged.
Plus, scanning old photos is a great way to take a trip down memory lane and revisit childhood snaps. To transfer physical images to a digital storage device, you’ll need to use a photo scanner. Once you have the digital file, you can edit and enhance them with your favourite photo editor.
There is an abundance of photo editing software to choose from, from paid-subscription services for Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop to free open-source alternatives such as GIMP and canva.
Lockdown is a brilliant opportunity to hone your photo editing skills. Learn how to colour correct, play with selective colour edits, or even completely change your photo by adding fun new elements to it.
Consider editing the same image in two completely different ways, and ask your newfound followers on social media to vote for their favourite one. The only limit is your own imagination.
If you’d rather spend time behind the lens than behind your laptop screen editing photos, here’s a photography challenge for you: practise macro photography at home.
Photographing at high magnifications, more commonly known as macro photography, accentuates the small details in close-up images.
How? Grab a macro photography lens from Ted’s. Find interesting objects in your home, and start snapping close-ups. Think flower arrangements, close-up shots of your lockdown dinner – try capturing the cracked salt and pepper on your smashed avo, or the parmesan cheese you sprinkled on your bowl of pasta – water droplets on the window, and of course the great outdoors; there’s a world to discover through your camera’s viewfinder.
Every photographer is guilty of settling into a routine. If you find yourself constantly using the same lenses, try stepping out of your comfort zone with a new type of lens you’re not used to shooting with.
You could equip a telephoto lens to capture faraway subjects, a wide-angle lens to photograph landscapes or even a fisheye lens to get creative with distortion in your snaps.
If you really want to get creative, why not consider grabbing a tilt-shift lens for some crazy miniature images.
Regardless of social distancing requirements, there will soon come a time when we can meet up with other people. Until then, it’s time to consider using what you’ve got within your local area.
If you’re fortunate enough to be in lockdown with family members or roommates, now is the time to offer them a photoshoot and practice your portrait photography skills.
Experiment with different lighting techniques, props and lenses to find what works best for you and your photography style.
Are you stuck at home alone with no one else to capture? Well, if you’re lucky enough to be locked down with a pet, you can practice your pet photography skills.
You’ll soon discover that it’s not as easy as it seems to get blur-free images of your pet. If you’re proud of your shots, you can always consider creating an Instagram account for your pet to showcase your work… I promise we won’t judge.
These are just a couple of ideas to get you started and hopefully reignite some creativity while you’re stuck between four walls.
If you want to get your hands on new photography equipment during the lockdown, head to Ted’s Cameras’ website or visit your nearest store for click-and-collect.
Be sure to check out their photography blog for access to even more photography tips and inspiration.
This article on lockdown photography projects was produced in partnership with Ted’s Cameras and is a Holidays with Kids digital exclusive. Be the first to see more exclusive online content by subscribing to the enewsletter here.
All images © Teds Cameras and Canva
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