If you are an aspiring amateur photographer or you simply want to boost your camera skills without having to leave the house, there are a few things you can do to achieve this.
Take a look at some of our top tips for improving your photography abilities from the comfort of your own home, then try them out for yourself!
Get your family involved to brush up on your portrait snapping
Taking good portraits is an art, and if you are cooped up at home with your family close by, or even if you have a housemate who can be roped in for an impromptu shoot, then it can be both a way to build on your skills and also a fun activity for a rainy day.
Remember, you don’t just have to shoot portraits in the traditional manner. Use this as an opportunity to explore the way that light, camera position and focal range have an impact on the results you get.
Show off your latest purchases, e.g. a new decanter
If you have invested in some new luxury glassware from Tom Dixon or picked up any other product for your home of which you are proud, then photographing it could give you the perfect excuse to show it off on your social feeds without it feeling forced.
Glassware in particular makes a good subject for photography, because once again its interaction with light will deliver interesting results, and you can really indulge in some experimentation in the way you highlight it using a simple household lamp, or whatever you have to hand. It will also enable you to deal with static, inanimate subjects more effectively, and teach you how to bring personality to objects, which can be tricky.
Turn to your garden for wildlife photography opportunities
Anyone who likes to get out in nature with their camera by their side will probably think that they cannot practice the skills involved in this at home, but if you have a garden or really any outdoor space available to you, the opposite is true.
When the weather is fine, setting yourself up in your garden and waiting for the wildlife to come to you can work out. Attracting birds in particular is a breeze if you set up feeders, so long as you are patient enough to wait for our feathered friends to get used to your presence.
If it is chilly outside, or you live in an apartment building rather than a house, you can still snap wildlife from inside by pointing a long lens out the window, so do not be deterred.
One last animal-related tip is to practice photography with your pets, if you have any. Dogs and cats can be pretty photogenic, but there is something to be learned if you are photographing fish, rodents or anything in between.
Give low light photography a go
While you might be eager to always have good light whenever you are taking photographs, the reality is that this is not always possible to achieve when you are on the move, so it pays to be prepared to account for this. You can practice low light photography at home with ease, because of course you can control the amount of illumination with a simple flick of the light switch, then use this to get to grips with things like ISO settings and the best use of your camera’s flash.
As with any skill, photography is something that you will get better at with practice, and you can learn just as much at home as you can out and about.
