Starting out in photography can feel overwhelming with so many techniques, tools, and styles to explore. One of the best ways to improve your skills as a beginner is to take part in a photography challenge. A 30-day photography challenge is a fantastic way to practice regularly, expand your creativity, and track your progress. Each day, you’ll be challenged to shoot something new, which will help you develop your eye for composition, lighting, and storytelling.
In this article, we’ll outline a 30-day photography challenge that is designed to help beginners improve their skills, while having fun and discovering new aspects of photography along the way.
Day 1: Take a Self-Portrait
Start with a simple yet powerful task: take a self-portrait. This helps you become comfortable with your camera and its settings. Experiment with different angles, lighting, and expressions. Use natural light from a window or set up a light source to add drama to your shot. This will teach you how to work with light and compose a shot, even if it’s just you in front of the camera.
Day 2: Shoot a Landscape
Explore the world outside your door by capturing a landscape. Whether it’s a cityscape, a park, or your backyard, focus on framing the scene using the rule of thirds. Pay attention to the light, depth, and the foreground, middle ground, and background to create a well-balanced composition.
Day 3: Close-Up Photography
Take a close-up shot of a small object, like a flower, insect, or textured surface. This will help you practice focusing on intricate details and learn how to use macro photography techniques. Play with depth of field to blur the background and make your subject stand out.
Day 4: Photograph a Stranger (Candid Shot)
Today’s challenge is to take a candid shot of a stranger. Approach someone politely and ask if you can take their photo, or capture them in a moment of natural movement. This will help you practice portraiture and improve your ability to capture people in real moments.
Day 5: Play with Shadows
Focus on how shadows interact with light. Look for objects or people that create interesting shadow patterns. You can either emphasize the shadow or try to create an abstract composition using shadows and light. This exercise will teach you how light and shadow work together in photography.
Day 6: Capture Movement
Photograph something in motion, such as a person walking, a car driving by, or water flowing. Use a slow shutter speed to create motion blur or a fast shutter speed to freeze the action. Experiment with both techniques to see how movement can add energy and drama to your photos.
Day 7: Take a Black and White Photo
Take a photo and convert it to black and white. This will force you to pay closer attention to light, contrast, and texture. Without the distraction of color, you’ll learn to focus on form and composition in a new way.
Day 8: Photograph Reflections
Look for reflections in mirrors, windows, or puddles. Capturing reflections can create interesting compositions and add depth to your photos. Play with symmetry and perspective to create a unique shot.
Day 9: Focus on Patterns
Patterns are everywhere in nature and urban environments. Today’s challenge is to photograph a pattern you find. It could be the repetitive lines of a building, the symmetry in nature, or even textures like fabrics. Focus on how repetition creates visual interest.
Day 10: Shoot in Low Light
Take a photo in low light or at night. This could be a city street lit by streetlights, candles, or a dimly lit room. Learn how to adjust your camera settings (ISO, aperture, shutter speed) to capture sharp images in low-light conditions.
Day 11: Create a Photo Series
Pick a theme (such as “doors,” “sunsets,” or “urban life”) and create a series of three to five photos. This challenge will help you think about a subject in-depth and how to present it in multiple ways. A photo series will help you explore your creativity.
Day 12: Shoot a Reflection in Water
Find a calm body of water and capture the reflections on its surface. This could be a lake, a puddle, or a pond. Focus on how the reflection creates symmetry or an interesting visual effect.
Day 13: Capture the Golden Hour
Wake up early or stay out late to capture the golden hour—when the sun is low in the sky and creates soft, warm light. Use this natural light to photograph landscapes, portraits, or still-life objects.
Day 14: Photograph Textures
Look for textures in your surroundings, such as the bark of a tree, the fabric of a chair, or the cracks in a sidewalk. Photograph them up close to highlight the detail. This will help you develop an eye for the finer details that add depth to your photos.
Day 15: Shoot a Black and White Portrait
Today, take a black-and-white portrait of someone. Pay close attention to contrast, lighting, and shadows to enhance the mood. Experiment with side lighting to create more dramatic portraits.
Day 16: Capture Street Photography
Head to a public place and capture the life around you. Street photography is all about capturing candid moments and the stories of everyday people. Focus on the emotion and energy of the scene.
Day 17: Experiment with Bokeh
Bokeh is the aesthetic quality of the out-of-focus areas in a photo. Try photographing a subject against a blurred background, such as fairy lights, flowers, or city lights, to create a dreamy bokeh effect.
Day 18: Photograph a Still Life
Create a still-life arrangement with objects around your home. Pay attention to how you compose the objects, how light falls on them, and how the shapes and textures interact. Still life photography will help you practice the technical aspects of photography, including focus and composition.
Day 19: Take a Creative Selfie
Selfies don’t have to be basic! Try a creative selfie with interesting lighting, reflections, or using props. Experiment with different angles and perspectives to make the photo stand out.
Day 20: Capture a Pet or Animal
Photograph a pet or an animal. Animal photography can be tricky, especially when capturing movement, but it’s a great way to practice your timing, focus, and composition. Focus on capturing the personality or unique features of the animal.
Day 21: Create a Long Exposure Shot
Experiment with long-exposure photography. Capture moving water, traffic, or clouds. A long exposure will blur motion, creating a sense of movement in an otherwise still scene.
Day 22: Experiment with Reflections in Glass
Take a photo of a reflection in a glass window or glass surface. The glass adds a layer of interest and complexity, and reflections can create surreal or abstract images.
Day 23: Take a Nighttime Cityscape Photo
Explore your city at night and capture a cityscape. Use long exposure to capture the lights of buildings, streetlights, and moving vehicles. Experiment with different ISO settings and shutter speeds to capture sharp details.
Day 24: Capture Your Everyday Life
Photograph something from your everyday life that holds significance, whether it’s a cup of coffee, a favorite book, or a part of your daily routine. This will help you practice photographing the small moments that make life beautiful.
Day 25: Use Leading Lines
Find natural leading lines in your environment—roads, railings, fences—and use them to guide the viewer’s eye through the photo, drawing attention to your subject.
Day 26: Shoot a Minimalist Image
Keep it simple with minimalist photography. Focus on a single subject, clean lines, and negative space. This will teach you how to tell a story with the fewest elements possible.
Day 27: Capture a Reflection in a Mirror
Find a mirror and capture an image that plays with the reflection. You can use mirrors creatively to introduce symmetry or interesting visual effects in your photographs.
Day 28: Shoot Abstract Photography
Challenge yourself to shoot abstract photos. Look for patterns, shapes, or colors that don’t necessarily have a clear subject. Focus on creating a visually compelling image that invites the viewer to interpret it.
Day 29: Take a Photo with a Shallow Depth of Field
Use a wide aperture to create a shallow depth of field, blurring the background and making your subject stand out. This is perfect for portraits, flowers, or anything you want to isolate from its surroundings.
Day 30: Reflect on Your Journey and Choose Your Favorite Photo
Today, reflect on the past 29 days and choose your favorite photo. Think about how much you’ve learned, what you enjoyed most, and where you still want to improve. You’ve completed the challenge!