Finding a place to practice your photography is vital for beginning photographers. In this post I will discuss how you can use your own yard or neighborhood as a place to practice your skills and how to translate what you learn to taking photos out in the field.
If you are lucky enough to live in a place where you have a decent sized yard, you probably have trees, plants, flowers and other things that make it look nice. These make fantastic photography subjects, especially in the spring and summer. You likely did some work to make your outdoor living space look nice, so why not find some flowers or a tree to frame up and snap a pic? You can take pictures from different angles, go out at different times of day to see how the light changes your subject, and you can even try taking pictures in both calm and windy situations to see how you need to compensate to get a good photo. The picture of the mountains above was taken hand held. Obviously the composition is ruined by the wires running through it, not to mention the top of the chimney sticking right up in the middle. But composition was not the focus. The point here was to practice taking a clear picture of the distant mountains in low light with a long zoom lens.
By getting outside consistently in all different conditions you will find what works no matter what the weather is doing. Take many pictures of the same tree or flower over multiple days and load them onto your computer. Look at what worked or what didn't and adjust the next day or even later the same day to try something different. When you get to learn your camera and lenses in every possible type of weather you will be ready to make quick adjustments when needed, or be able to set up a shot in difficult conditions with confidence when it really counts.
If you have a very plain yard or live in an apartment, try looking just past your front door for things of interest to photograph. Trees that line the street, a nearby park, anything you can find which fits the style of photography you are interested in that doesn't require you to make a long trip to see it. The whole point is to make it easy for you to get out and take photos. Taking pictures when the stakes are low means you will likely be more calm and better prepared when you spot a rare bird or take a trip that can be made or broken by getting a good shot. With digital photography you can take as many photos as you want and always delete them later.
At this point you may say "there's nothing of interest around, it's all boring." Well, that is one of the best challenges you can set for yourself: take something plain and make it interesting through your photography. Maybe the tree in your yard is just a plain, green tree (at least, from a laymen's standpoint). Maybe you have a meticulously manicured lawn that, while good looking for a lawn, is kinda boring. Maybe the only flowers you can find are weeds. The challenge in taking the ordinary and applying the right light, the right settings, and the right angle can make even the mundane interesting. But again, getting pictures of amazing subjects isn't the point. Even if you don't succeed in turning your tree into an Ansel Adams, the important thing is to practice proper framing, spacing, shutter speed, aperture, etc. so when you do have a great subject and you've chosen a beautiful composition you can get the right camera settings to turn your picture into art.
Did you want the whole tree crystal clear? Set your aperture small enough for a good depth of field and see if you can get every leaf pin sharp. Be sure you have enough light to compensate for the smaller aperture, especially if there is any breeze blowing through, as your shutter speed will have to remain fairly high. Below, notice the picture on the left with an aperture of f/4.5 has a shallow focal plane where the leaves in the front are blurry. On the right, the aperture has been reduced to f/10 to get more of the leaves in focus. Which you use depends upon what result you want, but both are good to practice.
Is your tree backlit? Maybe zoom in so you get the sun peaking through, making the leaves glow and creating a sunstar. You don't have to photograph the whole tree, just enough to make it interesting. In fact, sometimes it's limiting your focus on just part of your subject that makes your picture stand out.
-Ways to Practice Different Photography Types-
Landscape
When it comes to landscape photography, most people think of grand vistas, sunsets on gorgeous beaches, and snow capped mountains reflected in crystal alpine lakes. Most of us, however, don't get to have a pristine beach or alpine forest as our back yard. Landscape photography doesn't have to be big. That tree discussed earlier is still part of the landscape. Your flowering bushes against your fence is also landscape. It may not be sunset over the Pacific, but the point is to practice fundamentals.
Landscape exercise: If you want to get practice taking pictures of larger areas, go out front and aim down your street. Figure out the aperture setting required to get the tree five houses down in focus while also getting the house way down at the end of your block in focus as well. Maybe try a focus stack and take two or more pictures you can later combine and to get everything pin sharp. Do this exercise in every lighting condition you can: bright daylight, overcast and cloudy, golden hour at sunset, and even a long exposure during blue hour or under moonlight. If you can get a clear photo of your street under any condition then you can get a clear photo of a beach, mountain or forest in any light.
Wildlife
Whether you have a yard or just a window that opens, maybe you want to set up a bird feeder so you can practice taking pictures of birds. Every bird in your area will likely make an appearance, especially if you research what kind of seed or suet to use. Squirrels are legendary for plundering bird feeders, but if small mammals are what you want to photograph then you can take advantage of this ages old battle. Just be aware that in some areas bird seed can bring rats and mice as well, so take care that things don't get too messy on the ground. If you prefer birds and want things to look more natural, consider going to you local garden center and finding a flowering plant that attracts hummingbirds. Ours had half a dozen common types that attract both hummingbirds and butterflies. Combining these with a pleasing background will allow you to get much more natural looking pictures of wild creatures right in your own back yard. You may not get any pics that will win you an award, but if you save your practice solely for when it counts the most, you might not get the clear, well framed shot you want.
Wildlife exercise: make sure your bird feeder or butterfly bush is far enough away from the entry to the house that you can go outside without disturbing any wildlife that is there. Keep an eye on things to find when your target wildlife is most active and head outside at that time. Many song birds are early risers, and that will give you a perfect chance to practice taking low light pics. Head outside and start taking pictures while slowly getting closer and closer to your target. See how close you can get. Wildlife doesn't like people getting too close, but a practiced stalking method will allow you to get closer than if you just walk right up. The better you get at this in your yard, the closer you can get in the wild without upsetting your subject.
Macro Photography
Macro is where even a small yard can really shine. Macro photography requires a lot of patience, often a lot of setup, and careful execution. If you haven't tried macro photography before but have a lens that is at least 2 to 1 magnification and can focus less than 12 inches from your subject, you can start trying macro. Find anything that is interesting up close: a flower, a bug, even a blade of grass has fine details that only come out when looked at very closely. I will go more in depth on my own foray into macro photography and the things I have learned so far in another article, but if you are familiar with macro then you can probably appreciate the number of opportunities that exist right where you live.
Macro exercise: find a subject that is stationary and start there. You will likely need extra light as well, so adding a flash with small diffuser if you have it is highly recommended. Get in close and practice getting your shot in focus. Notice how short your focal plane is. Take multiple pictures, getting different parts of your subject in focus and see how much you can get. A small aperture here will help: anything below f/11 is going to make your focal plane very thin. This is why a flash is so helpful. Review your photos and see what worked the best.
Advanced practice: Switch your camera to burst mode and your camera/lens to manual focus. Now, get the closest part of the subject into focus and hold the shutter button down while very slowly leaning in toward your subject. You probably won't even have to try, as most of us will naturally sway ever so slightly even when trying to stay still. The goal here is to time your motion and the focus just right so you get a quick burst of pictures where each focal plane is slightly behind the one before it. Review your photos and see if you got it. It takes practice, so be patient and go easy on yourself as you start trying this out. This is even good practice if you already have a macro slider, as taking pictures of insects or other moving subjects will not give you the time to get a stationary setup in place.
Portraiture (Outdoors specifically)
Do you have a friend? A family member? Children you can bribe to sit still for 10 to 20 minutes? Maybe even just a well behaved dog? Then you can practice outdoor portraiture in your back yard. Outdoor portraits can be a challenge as you never have complete control over the light like you would in a studio. Sure, if you have an unlimited budget for lighting then you can get close, but most of us do not have access to the budget of a major magazine shoot. Thus, the trick here is to learn to work within the limits of the lighting available and use whatever else you have on-hand to tip the scales in your favor. If you want to make outdoor portraits a staple of your photography or even if you just want to make your family photos look that much better, there is no substitute for getting outside with a subject and taking pictures. When it's a friend or family member doing you a favor, you can try experimenting with different light and different angles until you know how to make the most of any lighting situation.
Outdoor portrait exercise: place your subject where the light is not too harsh. You can add an off-camera flash if you need, like if your subject is in shade. If you do this, try to make sure the direction of the flash is similar to the direction of the natural light or your photo will look off. Is it midday? Get them under a tree. Is it evening during golden hour? Put the sun to one side and have them tilt a little in the direction of the light. You want to practice avoiding getting harsh light or shadow on your subject. If you have a reflector or even just a large white something, you can use that to bounce the natural light back on the dark side of their face to provide a "fill light." If you have a flash you can use that instead, just make sure it is diffused so you aren't competing with the natural light. Don't have a diffuser? Aim your flash at a nearby wall or try aiming it mostly up to avoid direct light.
-Practice, Practice, Practice!-
Photography requires practice, and while you can learn a lot by watching YouTube videos or reading articles like this, there is no substitute for getting out and taking pictures. Because we're talking about digital photography, the only cost incurred by taking many pictures, even bad pictures. is your time, and if you are learning while you do it, then it is time well spent.
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