Photo Creative

Current Challenge: Boring To Brilliant

For this challenge, I want you to choose a subject that's completely unremarkable / ordinary - and make a brilliant photograph of it. Your subject could be an old table and chairs, power poles, a trampled flower in a rainy street... anything you'd normally walk past without giving it a second glance.

The challenge is to make it interesting through your choices as a photographer. Think carefully about the quality and direction of light, composition, viewpoint, focal length, depth of field and when you choose to make the photograph.

Pay particular attention to the light. An ordinary subject in flat, uninteresting light will often produce an ordinary photograph. But photograph exactly the same thing when beautiful light falls across it, creates shadows, reveals texture or separates it from its surroundings, and suddenly it can become something very different.

Look at the example images opposite and read the notes explaining why each one works. What made the difference was recognising the photographic possibilities and making creative choices.

• Chase the light. Revisit your subject at different times of day and notice how dramatically its appearance changes.
• Explore before shooting. Move around, get higher or lower, move closer and look for the viewpoint that makes the subject most interesting.
• Choose your lens and aperture with purpose. Think about perspective, background, depth of field and what you want the viewer to notice.
• Simplify. Pay attention to everything within the frame and remove or exclude anything that doesn't contribute.
• Don't settle for your first attempt. If it's still boring, ask yourself why. Change the light, viewpoint, composition or technique and try again.

Most importantly, don't go looking for something brilliant to photograph. Find the most dull, uninteresting subject you can and use your skills as a photographer to make it brilliant.

Good photography comes from deliberate choices, not impressive subjects.

Dates and info below ⬇️