How to Be Creative in Photography in 2024

How to be creative in photography

How to be creative in photography and never turn back. Yes, that’s what I mean.  Hello, I hope everyone is doing fine. Today’s blog is about a little less discussed topic as people think it is natural and you cannot help it. I am talking about creativity. However, creativity means generating new ideas springing from human intelligence.

In everyday life, we use our creative senses to deal with numerous problems. Nevertheless, photography is a profession where you cannot but be creative. Because creative types of photography are the outcome of an artistic mind.

So, are you searching for some key ideas to know how to stay creative in photography? If yes, hang on till the end of this article. Let’s enter the main topic. By the way, Let me tell you one more thing. Besides being creative in photography, you have to do image editing as well. Otherwise, you have to take an image editing service.

Tips | How to Be Creative in Photography in 2024

Observe | How to Be Creative in Photography

Psychology says “the observers are more creative than the non-observers.” Though natural, creativity doesn’t come to you without effort. You cannot decide to be creative overnight. The better you observe the more your creativity gets honed.  You have to observe people who are doing better than you.

In photography, it is better to assist an already-established photographer. Thus you can observe how creative his works are, and take notes on unusually exceptional aspects.

Observation is the best skill a photographer can have. Through systematic observation, you can groom creativity. A proper observation can give life to your photography. To develop and improve creativity you have to be a good observer at first. So, observe, analyze, evaluate, and shoot.

Be imaginative

Many people have the question “What is creativity in general?” Let me answer that question for you. The word creativity has its roots in the Latin language. The Latin word “creĹŤ” means “to create, make”. Everything men have created once was imagined.

In photography, you have the best opportunity to use your imagination. You have to keep visualizing what your picture will look like. Relate architecture, color scheme, and lighting so that your images create a story. Have a logical and artistic connection among these. Try to go out of the box and implement that in your photography. Otherwise, no creative photography hacks can help you.

Read books from experts

If you are skilled enough, only then you can try new things. So, you should read photography books from different experts to develop your skills. You will get hundreds of quality books available.

Read and execute the suggestions you find in the book. Books from professional photographers can teach you how to make artistic photos. Gradually you can be creative in photography. Books will take you to a whole new world. Here are some books that I found very beneficial.

Complete Digital Photography by Ian Farrell

In this book, you will get a full guideline for digital photography. Starting from the shooting, till post-production and then printing. You will get all the theoretical details in this book to master your photography skills. Ian Farrel wrote this in an uncomplicated manner. For beginners, it is one of the best books. So if you want to start from the beginning, this book can be the best help for you.

How to Be Creative in Photography

Within the Frame by David duChemin

You will get the phrase “gear is good, vision is better” repeatedly in this book. The writer put emphasis more on technical skills than having new and modern gears. Though the book is about travel photography, the expertise he shared applies to all kinds of photography.

Be your critic

Most people are fans of their work. And this attitude is an obstacle to their development. If you cannot criticize your work you cannot improve. Because the inner critic is not a rival. Rather it will drive you towards your goal. No matter how good your work looks, do not be satisfied with that. You have to find out the flaws of your work so that you can upgrade your level.

Moreover, notice your good work as well. Look at your photos like a magazine editor. Select some of the best photographs you clicked. If you were a magazine editor would you publish your photos?

Now you can send them to some magazines, to see if they truly publish or not. Criticize your work but never devalue yourself. Being your critic can be a stepping stone towards composing creative photography portraits. 

Start a photography blog/website

Well, at first it may seem something outside of your interest. Because it includes writing and managing a blog or website. Moreover, you might think that these are specially trained people. But let me assure you that thousands of photographers are doing it without any training in this field.

Starting a blog or website will open a new window of opportunity for you. As you start writing, you will face many problems. Learn many other things mostly about creative photoshoots. Practice like this will help you stay creative throughout your career.

So, make a collection of the photos you find good and start blogging. You can take inspiration from different photographer cum photography bloggers.

Keep changing your perspective

Changing perspective can be a great leap for you towards being creative in this profession. Every time you take a picture of the same subject you should try a new perspective.

Try to be clever in photography. If you love to shoot vertically then experiment with the horizontal shot. If you usually take small details, then go for a wide-angle view and shoot. Trying these new can unfurl your creative sense.

Change your genre

Who doesn’t love to be in your comfort zone? Well, a comfort zone gives us ease of doing something. Because we become familiar with this at some point. Having a comfort zone is okay, but problems occur when we stay there for long. We get habituated with that and our creative mind remains dormant. So, awaken your latent talent for photography by changing your genre.

You can try numerous types of photography genres. If you usually do wildlife photography then give it a try for product photography. If real estate photography is your strong zone then go for model photography. You can try Doing new things that will boost your confidence, and educate your new expertise.

Open your inner eyes

As a photographer, you have to see below the surface level. Because, to be creative in photography, you have to keep your inner eyes open. While others are busy with what anything looks like, you should go deeper. To do that successfully you have to open your inner eyes.

Anyone can go to a beautiful landscape with a camera and take photos of different subjects. However, seeing things from the surface level gradually decreases our innate bondage to nature. As a result, we become judgemental and develop comparisons, tunnel vision, and expectations.

All of these are detrimental to our creative growth. So, to be creative in photography, you have to keep your inner eyes open. A person whose inner eyes are open can see the beauty in everything. And it is very crucial to see things in this manner to foster a creative sense.

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Keep learning new things

You must have seen people of old age. Some of them have a great level of creativity, some are not creative enough. Because some people are learning new things continuously, some are not. You have to nourish the childlike enthusiasm in you to remain creative throughout your life. Moreover, always think that others are much more competent than you. Only then can you learn cool photography tricks from them.

You will get nothing from criticizing others. If your strong zone is wedding photography learn to shoot interior photography. To keep learning new things I would suggest you do these things.

  • Follow the YouTube photography channel. You can learn creative ways of clicking photos, creating depth with shadow, and using the lights.
  • Attend a photo of the different expo. In the photo gallery, you will get a huge collection of the best photos from great photographers. Scrutinize and learn from those photos.
  • Follow Pinterest, Flickr, Instagram, etc. You can get everything about photography on social media.
  • Go to travel photography. Going to new places and meeting new people is challenging and a door to new opportunities.
  • Create your style. You don’t need to follow others all the time. By learning from others, you also can create different photography styles that belong to you.

Conclusion

To wrap it up, let me tell you again, that there is no alternative to learning new things. Be it in the form of a book, or any person, you have to keep learning new stuff.

Remember that, there is always room for improvement. Take new challenges, keep educating yourself, and become a super creative person. Creativity does not come by itself. You have to take every initiative to get creative in photography. I hope this article will give you a guideline on the way of becoming creative.

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