25 Photography Exercises For Beginners That'll Help You Succeed

I wanted to introduce myself real quick. Seeing as you're reading this article - I thought it would be fitting to tell you a little about the person behind the writing, photos, and stories you'll read and see throughout the article...

Fast forward to today, and I've been a photographer for nearly 8 years. I've made some bad business decisions, wasted a lot of time and just as much money. I say this because this is the reason I've created this website (and other articles) - so others don't make the same decisions I did. However, the positives do outshine the negatives; I will say that.

We all know of those people who read something on the internet or watch a Youtube video and never take action.

I'm not suggesting that you do these exercises every day, but they're a great foundation to get you to where you want to go.

Do them as often as you'd like - your drive to improve all comes down to you.

If photography is something you love, then it's worth investing in yourself. These exercises will help greatly. So don't just read; take action.

Exposure is how bright or dark your image is, overall. So the objective of any photo is to get the exposure perfect - not too bright and not too dark... that sweet spot, basically.

All DSLR and point and shoot cameras today have manual mode. Even the camera on my phone has a manual or "pro" setting. If your phone's camera doesn't, there are quite a few camera apps that 'unlock' the ability to control aperture, shutter speed, and ISO (even though the software only imitates these settings, it's not actually doing what a DSLR does).

Everyone has their own reasons for getting to photography (or what got them interested). Me for example, I saw an amazing landscape photo and wanted to imitate it. This lead to learning everything I know today... but shortly after photographing landscapes, I didn't enjoy it.

After shooting landscapes, I took a short break to find what I truly enjoyed shooting. I tried nearly everything you can imagine. These included,

• Portraits
• Events (weddings, concerts, local markets)
• Cars/Boats
• Miniature
• Products
• Macro

I ultimately stuck with portraits and events. However, if you're on the fence about whether what you're shooting gives you the satisfaction you desire, I suggest you do the same.

Start with something you truly love. Get really good at it. Then, if you're interested, monetize it to make money from it. Don't start with something just to make money from it... your desire/passion/love for it won't be there... you'll most likely burn out and quit. I've witnessed it too many times to count.

This topic/exercise involves the positioning of the camera.

The position of your camera can affect the overall look and mood of an image.

These positions include:

• Front (facing your subject)
• Right
• Left
• Behind

Now, when I say right and left - That can mean from any degree. That can be either slightly left/right or an exaggerated step to the left/right.

These positions can add character or wonder to an image that could otherwise be dull if shot from a different position.

For example, if you have a client and you're taking portraits, and they're standing square to the camera - being in a front-facing position would leave the image appearing very flat. However, if you position yourself to the left or right (either slightly or more), you're changing the camera's perspective. This will add dimension to the portrait, which will ultimately make it better.

The same can be said for cars (or anything really) - a photograph of a car is usually more appealing when shot from a left or right position and not squared up with the car (this is very subjective but true amongst the masses).

I use these off-set positions in every shoot - but I use them the most (especially behind) with children. Looking off in the distance or to the sky adds a lot of dimension and wonder to the images.

I know we just talked about this in the last section - but I think it's fitting that shooting from behind your subject has its own section within these exercises.

You can try these self-portraits by setting up your camera and walking away from it while keeping in mind the different 'looks' or feel you want to give off with the photo.

Walking away can make for beautiful photos while being very meaningful. When shooting couples, it automatically gives the 'walking into the future' feel while 'walking away from the past.' It's perfect - which is why it is used so much.

You'll want to practice this to understand how your angle affects your image. For example, shooting while squatting pointing straight at them looks very different from standing up and shooting straight (or slightly down). Your background can play a major role as well.

This topic builds off the previous two topics.

This is strictly a compositional exercise involving splitting your image into 9 segments. This involves 2 horizontal and 2 vertical lines spaced equally from each other. Placing your subject at any of the interesting points means you have achieved this rule.

What this does from a compositional standpoint is offset your subject from the center of the frame. It leaves negative space on the opposite side of the intersection (usually), adding interest to your image. This 'rule' was made many moons ago and is still followed by many photographers today (including myself, from time to time).

Your camera (assuming it is digital and not film) - should have a grid setting. Turn that on, and you'll be able to see the intersecting sections. This will make it much easier to achieve this look and follow the rule.

Now, this isn't an actual rule. You don't have to follow it. But, seeing as many people do it - doing something different will make your images stand out more than following everyone else.

When indoors, window lighting is the best form of light you can use. It's natural with no color casts (like you get from yellow/orange indoor lighting). It's also free and doesn't require heavy, expensive lighting equipment.

Window lighting will be closest to white between 10 am and 2 pm and will shift more towards gold after that. This is no different than evening golden hour. I prefer window light on the warmer side (between 4 and 7 pm during the summer months).

You can test window light against your interior lighting by shooting something in either place. Pretty simple. I guarantee you will like the window lighting better.

This is also the best place to take self-portraits (if you're taking them at home, for instance). Again, you can play with your angles versus the way the light is spilling through the window. This could include angling your face towards the camera while the light only hits half - essentially giving you split lighting... that's just one of the hundreds of different ways to use it.

Get creative with this. This should be where you learn a lot about lighting and how it works and shapes the world around us.

You'll notice very quickly (if you haven't already) that very few things look good when shot square with the camera.

As mentioned earlier - having an angle when shooting anything will add depth and dimension to any photo.

But, what you're doing is pulling one side away from the camera while leaving the other where it is. This adds depth and dimension to your subject (in this case, it's you). This will add a thinning effect to the face and body (everything won't be nearly as wide). You can over-dramatize this by raising and rolling your shoulder (that's closest to the camera) slightly forward while making eye contact with the lens...

All of this adds to very appealing photos... but the one thing that it all has in common is that it's never shot 'straight-on or squared with the camera.

This exercise won't take you long to execute and see how powerful it can take your photography from beginner to intermediate or pro.

Take note that light is what creates everything we see. The presence of light (and absence of it) creates shape. This is how someone can draw something that looks three-dimensional on a piece of paper.

The direction of that light plays a huge role in taking a great photo and, well... not.

The sun is usually at its most verticle position at noon. That means it's casting light straight down on everything. That includes your subject and the environment. What this does is cast shadows in a downward direction. This will give people the dreaded 'raccoon eyes .' There isn't much shape or dimension to anything. Everything basically looks flat.

Improving that will completely change your photos. When outdoors, earlier or later times in the day (7-10 am //4 pm -dusk) are much more ideal. The sun is angled in the sky. It will spill light in a specific direction, allowing both lights and darks (light and shadows) to appear on your subject and environment.

Shooting in the shade eliminates the harsh lighting issues during these times. Be mindful of your background, though; it's very common to increase exposure on your subject - while increasing the harsh lighting that isn't in the shade (generally your background). As a result, you can end up with a blown-out background. You can fix this problem by using flash or underexposing your subject and raising it in post-production.

You can test this out easily by taking photos of your subject at noon, then in the shade (at the same time) - then come back during golden hour (or early in the morning). Compare the difference... I'll guarantee shade looks better at noon - and earlier or later times of the day look even better than that.

This exercise builds off of the last topic.

Now that we know how the direction of light improves your photos, that light quality matters quite a bit.

You see, even if you shoot early in the morning or golden hour - if the sun is hitting your subject - that light is still harsh, no matter the color or direction. This is the quality of light.

You can do this by diffusing all harsh lighting. There are very inexpensive diffusion disks or scrims that do a great job. Unfortunately, there are larger ones that are held up with stands - but don't worry about those... disks work for 90% of everything you'll ever do.

If you don't want to purchase the disk - you can use anything to diffuse light. This could be a bedsheet (fold it up to provide more diffusion layers), a shirt, or even a piece of paper (which I've used a few times).

You're basically filtering the harsh light - the output is soft, manageable light.

Keep in mind: if you find yourself using something other than a disk (such as a sheet, shirt, etc.), the diffusion's color matters. Whatever color the diffusion is will be cast onto your subject. So, if you're using an off-white sheet - that cream color will spill onto your subject. This goes for any other color.

Also, if you find yourself in an environment with harsh lighting and no shade... you can use the disk to bounce the harsh light off of it onto your subject. The process of the light bouncing will diffuse it just as if it was passing through it (although you won't get as much light from the bounce).

Let's talk a little more about bounced light.

Building off the exercise from before - bounced light is a great alternative to diffusion.

You can use bounced light in nearly any environment. This could be from a building, an object (like a car), or even a person (like their shirt). It can save you in a tight spot.

The same principles apply here - bounced light will be diffused, but it'll also cast its color onto your subject.

This is very common for subjects close to the ground (like family photos). You'll notice a green color cast on their skin if they're sitting in the grass. This is because the light bounces off the grass and hits their skin even just a little bit. The same idea applies to all bounced lights.

You can eliminate color cast issues with flash - but that's for a different article.

Practice this in much the same way as the other exercises so far. First, take pictures without bounced light, then with it, bounce light off a colored object (that isn't white). You'll see the improvement immediately.

I'll be writing multiple articles on this subject - but I'll give it to you in a nutshell and how to you practice doing it on every shoot no matter the subject.

You need to think of depth in layers. There should be foreground, midground, and background in your image. Generally speaking, you want your subject in the midground to achieve the desired depth.

Your foreground and background should be out of focus. This not only created depth - but makes your subject 'pop' off the page. With the foreground and background out of focus - it gives the viewer the feeling of being there.

For instance, if I am shooting a family portrait and sitting on the ground, I use either a zoom lens or a long prime lens. I open my aperture all the way up (to make sure that everything is out of focus) - I then squat so I am on their level. If I am far enough away, I will catch the ground, the subject, and the background in the same photo.

The ground in front of them is out of focus (foreground), the subject is in focus (midground), and the background is out of focus (background, of course). This creates a ton of depth in an image that would have been bland if not shot way.

I will do this for every shoot (at least a few times). I'll find anything to make the foreground, and everything else just kind of falls into place.

This is great (and straightforward) in street photography. In a studio, pull your subject away from the background - and while you won't have foreground to speak of, your background will still be blurry.

Depth is effortless to achieve with a digital camera - quite difficult with a film camera (since you can't see the result immediately). Your focal length can make this easier (longer focal lengths) or harder (wider focal lengths).

Building off the last topic - shooting through objects or next to them adds even more depth and character.

For instance - you can shoot through blades of grass to give you interesting foreground. Or, shoot next to an object to make them the foreground - the possibilities for photographic creativity are endless with this exercise.

Compression is achieved with a telephoto lens. If you don't have one, don't worry - I still recommend reading this topic if it offers something you desire or if you decide you want to get on in the future.

If you do own a telephoto lens - I'm sure you've seen this first hand, but maybe you didn't notice it happening.

Through the magic of magnification - your foreground and background get sandwiched into the midground. It's basically pulling the background in and pushing the foreground out. This causes not only your subject to appear larger in the frame - but your background will be much larger as well.

Take the image above as a reference. Also, compression will lead to natural-looking features and dimensions versus compression that's nonexistent (like on a wide-angle lens). This is very apparent in portraits.

So, if you find yourself wanting your background larger and don't know how to do it - a longer focal length will get you there.

A wide-angle lens is used to capture more of your surroundings. It's great for landscapes and real estate, for example.

But, if you didn't notice - the wider your lens, the farther away everything seems? You can go as wide as 12mm on a full-frame digital camera, and objects that seem 'normal' with your eye look incredibly tiny. This is the work of a wide-angle lens.

You can use this to your advantage and place objects very close to the lens/frame, and they seem huge compared to the things around them.

This is very similar to macro photography in the sense of making something look huge - but better in a way because you can still capture your surroundings.

This is very easy to practice assuming you have the lens. If not - there are great inexpensive wide-angle lenses from KEH that will allow you to practice and improve this area of your photography skills.

If you need more info about shutter speed, refer to my other detailed article, Shutter Speed: Everything You Need To Know.

Many 'special effects' or 'unbelievable' photos are created using various shutter speeds.

For instance - very fast shutter speeds have the ability to freeze anything. This includes rain, water out of a fountain, even the wings of a hummingbird.

On the other hand - slow shutter speeds have the ability to create ghostly trails, light painting, or even remove all moving subjects from an image completely (yes, completely).

The best way to start the 'shutter speed journey' is to mess around with it. Yes, trial, error, and experimentation will yield you the best results. Not only that - you'll have learned it and know how to do it.

I do have a few pointers that you can follow. These are:

• The faster your shutter speed, the darker your image will be - but you be able to freeze action better
• The slower your shutter speeds are, the more blur you can pull from them (ghostly trails are made this way).
• Light trails (created by people or cars on the road) are created using a combination of slow shutter speed and balancing ISO.
• To have ALL moving subjects in an environment 'disappear' from your image, your shutter speed must be minutes long. Yes, 1-4 minutes is the general time to achieve this for 1 image. Of course, this means you have to have a tripod to achieve this.

These tips will help you while practicing and working towards getting these types of images. However, be aware that it takes time and practice to achieve these - don't give up!

This, too, builds off the last topic. But, the 'milky water' effect seen in landscapes is achieved using long exposures or slow shutter speeds.

This effect gives a sense of movement to your images. Not only that - if there are clouds in your shot - it'll give them movement too.

A problem you may run into is not being able to balance your exposure. This is because the slower you set your shutter, the brighter your image will be. Therefore, it's highly recommended that you purchase an ND filter (I suggest a variable ND filter) to decrease your exposure while keeping your settings the same. Think of the filter as sunglasses.

This exercise takes a lot of practice and perfecting. It's an art in itself - and photographers have made entire careers doing them. I suggest this style to beginners because it's not hard to learn the basics, and you can get really good at it in a concise amount of time if you're passionate enough about the style.

This topic is a little late in the article - but I've placed it here for a reason.

You can execute this technique using all of the aspects we've talked about thus far.

This is simply just getting as low as you can to the ground.

It can add scale to a small subject or exaggerate something that's already big. For example, this is great for a female subject to emphasize the length of her legs, to exaggerate the size of a car tire... this is an incredibly creative way to express yourself and your subjects.

I've personally started doing this in family portraits. I currently give my clients the option to pick the photos they like the most. This perspective is another shot I can take that they may love. Some do, some don't - but the option is there, and it's different from typical family photos.

You can do the same! Write it on your shot list as a perspective you should take. I'm sure from time to time; it'll work wonders in creating something awesome and unique.

I know we've talked about this already (at least a little bit) - but I thought it would be fitting to include it in its own section.

The quality of light and its direction can't be trumped by any other time of the day. Hence the reason everyone loves shooting during these times.

I would recommend making this a habit. A habit is formed after about 2 weeks of doing something consistently. Do just that. Take photos of something you love during these times and these times only. Over the next 2-4 weeks, you'll develop a habit of taking photos then.

Suppose you plan to do this at dawn (or the first hour after sunrise) - plan and think ahead by setting an alarm for the weekends. We all know how easy it is to sleep in. Don't. The first hour after dawn is even better than later in the day because getting up early and heading out isn't convenient. Capitalize on this and be there when no one is.

Now you have to wake up an hour earlier ( I know... it's rough lol) - or shoot an hour later than dusk.

Blue hour isn't really an hour - it's about 20-30 minutes before the sun has risen or after it has set.

The tones created are very blue and 'cool' in tone. These tones are great for adding mystery, drama, or somberness to an image.

I take the majority of my Halloween photos during this time. Blue tones naturally resonate with a sense of dread (if coupled with eerie costumes or poses). It's also closer to the black end of the color spectrum than other tones - making it easier to darken shadows and blacks to intensify the dread/fear/spooky effect.

Note: As the sun is setting and if the clouds are high enough, you'll get the pinks/purples/yellows in the sky. If you're a landscape photographer, there is no better time than this. Theshuttermuse.com has a great article on clouds and cloud cover with links to various apps and websites to check weather conditions and cloud height. Definitely worth the look.

This is something I failed to do early in my photography journey. Since I typically took landscape photos when I started - I took everything I saw in landscape orientation. But, boy, did I miss out...

I wish I were told to shoot in both portrait and landscape orientation at the beginning. That's the reason I'm telling you to do this for every photo you take!

We may have a 'vision' for a photograph in our mind when we take it. Once taken, that's it; we move on. But taking it from a different orientation will open different creative ideas on a subconscious level.

Obviously, when taking photos in landscape orientation, you see more from left to right than in portrait (and vice versa) - but it's this extra space either on top and bottom or left and right that could get you thinking something completely different.

A portrait orientation can cut down on a lot of 'clutter in your image as well.

Now that we've covered some great photography exercises for beginners - you'll want to practice as often as you can.

Your ultimate goal is to combine the majority of these aspects into a single photo. These aspects would include:

• Knowing the exposure triangle and how to expose in manual settings.
• Knowing how angles and positioning affect your overall photo as well as your subject.
• The rule of thirds and how to nail it every time (when you need to).
• Light direction, quality, and how to maximize both.
• How to create depth using medium to long focal length while shooting low, through, or beside something.
• Then shooting at dawn, dusk, or blue hour.

If you can nail every aspect mentioned - you've probably got yourself a great image. The best thing about it? You can now repeat this process over and over and over again. You now have a great foundation to build and improve from.

Before we go, let's look at one of my images and go through the aspects mentioned above.

Let's talk about the image above.

• I was shooting in manual mode for the entirety of the shoot.
• I thought about positioning and knew I wanted to be at their eye level.
• I felt the rule of thirds would hinder this image as the background was of a large park. But I did offset all subjects slightly to the left.
• It was a pretty sunny day, and I knew I would have to control it. This is shot under a tree - with flash. I cut the harsh sunlight with shade and controlled the rest with flash.
• Depth is created pretty well (it could have been better), with the foreground being out of focus - the background is out of focus as well.
• This image was taken close to golden hour (about 4 pm) on Mother's Day weekend. I set the appointment to start at the time with the overall light quality and color in mind.

All in all - I would say the above image is pretty decent when going through the checklist. If there were only one subject, the shoot would have been much easier. I also shot this at different angles and heights and chose the best one to edit.

You can create something just as good (and most likely better) - in a relatively short period of time if you follow the exercises we've discussed. Before long, you'll think that taking photos is easy - the real challenge after that is building relationships with people and business owners (if that is something you're interested in).

Photography is a way to express yourself. You don't whip out your digital camera, throw it in a camera bag, get on location, get your iso settings, correct exposure, and take the shot... to be miserable in the process.

Take it easy. This should be fun, enjoyable, and creative. If you are, stop thinking of photography as only a means to make money... instead, focus that energy on helping people (like I'm doing now) or learning something new. Remember, photography is art - expressive and subjective - enjoy what you're doing, and it'll show... in so many ways than just one.