Grow Your Photography From Home

Fire is a visually eye-catching element that most of us are able to capture in various ways around our house. These ways include tealights, candles, or even an open fireplace. Bright flames are a great way of experimenting with strong contrasts, a term that is sometimes called chiaroscuro in the art world.

Here are a few basic ideas that you can investigate:

• Use reflective devices, such as a mirror to see how this affects the flame.
• Use longer shutter speeds and uncover how this affects the flickering flame.
• Use a faster shutter speed and see if you can capture a sharp image of the flame.
• Play with contrast, emphasising the brightness of the flame and the darkness of the backgrounds.

Note: Although fire is fun to photograph and you can come up with some great images, always be sure to exercise caution and safety above all else.

Social media is flooded with images of food, as just a quick inspection will uncover. With a lunchtime snap being so common, it is hard to see these pictures as more than an effort to make friends and family envious, but there can be more to it. For generations, food has been a common artistic subject and making food look visually appealing is a required technique of any commercial photographer.
 
Successful food imagery takes into account the following important factors:

• Lighting
• Contrast
• Balance
• Plating

It is also important to understand how a particular meal is designed to make you feel and produce the images accordingly. For example, foods such as fruits and vegetables are a healthy and wholesome choice, while a decadent dessert is elegant and appealing.
Food is one of our favourite choices of subjects and to top it off, you can eat the results when you finish shooting!

Do you really need a reason to take loads of pictures of your favourite furry friends? When it’s too wet outside for both you and rover, you can take time to bond and add another few hundred photos to your hard drive, which we know is already full of pet photos!

Another subject which is more than represented online, a quick flick through Instagram will unleash a whole wealth of inspiration - some pets have even become influencers. The real challenge of pet photography is to try to uncover something that is fresh and unique, and that captures the spirit of your animal. This is a great, stress-free way to practise shooting a live-subject, and many of the techniques you perfect here, you can apply to your people portraits at a later date.

There are many items that you should have in your photography kit, which are not just as useful for your spontaneous home shoots, but also your next outdoor photographic adventure. The following are the most essential.

Tripod - If you don’t already have one, get one now. A tripod is a great way to cheaply and easily cut down on image blur caused by camera shake. We also find it to be a great opportunity to improve your compositional skills.

Phone Mount - If you don’t own a DSLR or Mirrorless camera, you can still improve your photography skills using your smartphone, and this accessory is a great way to achieve this goal.

Portable Studio Lighting Kit - If you are stuck indoors the major obstacle you have to overcome in your photography is the lack of light and this item is a great way to combat that.

Remote Control - The ability to fire your camera from a distance, means you won’t bump it at all, which is really important during longer exposures. Another reason we love remote controls for home photography is it lets you get amongst the family and be involved in the photos, rather than only existing behind the lens.

Macro Lens - As many of the subjects you will be photographing at home are right under your nose, it is a perfect time to take up Macro photography. Macro lenses can focus on objects that are very close, and provide a life-size representation of these subjects.