Here is a list of 167 ideas specifically designed to help photography students practice seeing the world from new and unique perspectives.
The goal isn’t just to take a picture of a thing, but to take a picture about a thing by changing your angle, light, and composition.
📸 Category 1: Physical Camera Angles (Changing Your Position)
These exercises force you to move your body and the camera, breaking the habit of shooting from eye-level.
- 1. Worm’s-Eye View: Lie flat on your stomach. Shoot straight ahead.
- 2. Ant’s-Eye View: Place your camera directly on the ground, pointing up.
- 3. Toddler’s-Eye View: Kneel and shoot from a three-foot-high perspective.
- 4. Hip-Level: Shoot from the hip without looking through the viewfinder (candid).
- 5. Bird’s-Eye View: Shoot directly down (from a bridge, ladder, or window).
- 6. High-Angle: Get slightly above your subject and look down at a 45-degree angle.
- 7. Low-Angle: Get slightly below your subject and look up at a 45-degree angle.
- 8. Hero Angle: Get very low and close to your subject, making it look powerful.
- 9. Vulnerable Angle: Get very high and shoot down, making the subject look small.
- 10. Dutch Angle: Tilt your camera 30-45 degrees to create tension.
- 11. Profile: Shoot your subject from a perfect 90-degree side angle.
- 12. From Behind: Capture your subject from the back, focusing on their interaction with the world.
- 13. Look Up: Stand at the base of a building or tree and shoot straight up.
- 14. Look Down: Stand on a chair or ladder and shoot your own feet.
- 15. Through Your Legs: Bend over and shoot through your own legs.
- 16. Corner Peek: Shoot from behind a corner, showing just part of the scene.
- 17. One-Eyed: Close one eye and frame the shot, then use the other eye to re-frame. Notice the difference.
- 18. Binocular View: Shoot through a pair of binoculars or a paper tube.
Wondering what a low or high angle does to a subject? Photography angles and perspectives covers low angle power, high angle vulnerability and the Dutch angle.
🖼️ Category 2: Framing & Composition (Using the Environment)
Use elements in the scene to create a “frame within your frame.”
- 19. Through a doorway.
- 20. Through a window (focus on the outside).
- 21. Through a window (focus on the reflections).
- 22. Through a window (focus on the raindrops/dirt on the glass).
- 23. Through an archway.
- 24. Through a keyhole.
- 25. Through a chain-link fence.
- 26. Through a small gap in a fence.
- 27. Through dense foliage (leaves, branches).
- 28. Through a tunnel or pipe.
- 29. Through a crowd (using people as the frame).
- 30. Through a “found” shape (a hole in a wall, a sculpture).
- 31. Using a person’s arm or shoulder in the foreground.
- 32. Using a mirror as the entire frame.
- 33. Using a broken mirror.
- 34. Through a car’s side-view mirror.
- 35. Through a car’s rear-view mirror.
- 36. Through a glass bottle (capturing color and distortion).
- 37. From inside an object (a box, a cupboard, a tent).
- 38. Framing a subject with a shadow.
- 39. Using negative space to define the subject.
- 40. Placing your subject in the extreme bottom-left corner.
- 41. Placing your subject in the extreme top-right corner.
- 42. A perfectly symmetrical shot.
- 43. A perfectly asymmetrical shot (using visual weight to balance).
Want to know why a frame within the frame works? Framing in photography covers types of natural frames and complete versus partial frames.
☀️ Category 3: Light & Shadow (Seeing the Light)
Focus on the light itself, not just the objects it illuminates.
- 44. Hard Light: A subject’s shadow as the main subject.
- 45. Soft Light: A portrait in open shade on a sunny day.
- 46. Backlight: A subject as a perfect silhouette.
- 47. Rim Light: A subject backlit so only their “rim” or edge is lit.
- 48. Dappled Light: The pattern of light through leaves on a person or wall.
- 49. Window Light: A person or object lit by a single window in a dark room.
- 50. Split Light: A portrait where exactly half the face is in shadow.
- 51. Gobo: The shadow pattern from blinds, a fence, or a colander.
- 52. Long Shadows: Capture shadows at sunrise.
- 53. Long Shadows: Capture shadows at sunset.
- 54. Golden Hour: A subject bathed in warm light.
- 55. Blue Hour: A landscape or cityscape just after sunset.
- 56. Artificial Light: A subject lit only by a neon sign.
- 57. Artificial Light: A subject lit only by a streetlamp.
- 58. Artificial Light: A subject lit only by a phone or TV screen.
- 59. Mixed Light: A subject indoors (warm light) looking out a window (cool light).
- 60. High-Key: An image that is almost all bright tones.
- 61. Low-Key: An image that is almost all dark tones.
- 62. Sun Flare: Shooting (safely) towards the sun to create flare.
- 63. Light Beam: Capturing a “god ray” or beam of light in fog or a dusty room.
- 64. Prism: Using a prism or piece of glass to cast rainbows on a subject.
- 65. Reflection: The reflection of light on a water surface.
- 66. Shadow as Line: Using a long shadow as a leading line.
Not sure where to put the light, subject and background for a silhouette or rim light? Backlighting covers rim light, exposing for the subject and flare.
🔬 Category 4: Focus & Depth of Field (Controlling the Eye)
Tell a story by choosing exactly what is (and isn’t) sharp.
- 67. Ultra-Shallow: Focus on a single eyelash.
- 68. Deep Depth: A landscape where everything is in focus (f/16-f/22).
- 69. Foreground Blur: Focus on a distant subject, letting a close object blur.
- 70. Background Focus: Focus on the background, letting your main subject blur.
- 71. Bokeh: Focus on a close subject to turn background lights into soft orbs.
- 72. Bokeh as Subject: A photo where only the blurry bokeh lights are the subject.
- 73. Focus on Reflection: Shoot a puddle, but focus on the reflected building, not the water.
- 74. Focus Stacking: (Macro) Take 10 photos, moving the focus slightly, and stack them.
- 75. Dirty Foreground: Shoot through a “dirty” element like a chain fence or blurry leaves.
- 76. Manual Focus: Practice manually focusing on a moving subject.
- 77. Focus on Motion: Focus on a static object as something else moves past it.
⏱️ Category 5: Motion & Time (Capturing the 4th Dimension)
Play with your shutter speed to show the passage of time.
- 78. Motion Freeze: Use a fast shutter (1/1000s) to freeze a water splash.
- 79. Motion Freeze: Freeze a bird in flight.
- 80. Motion Freeze: Freeze a person jumping in mid-air.
- 81. Silky Water: Use a slow shutter (1-10s) on a waterfall or river.
- 82. Cloud Streaks: Use a very slow shutter (30s+) with an ND filter on clouds.
- 83. Light Trails: A long exposure of car traffic at night.
- 84. Panning: Follow a moving car or cyclist (1/30s) to blur the background.
- 85. Static Ghost: A long exposure of a busy scene with one person standing perfectly still.
- 86. Crowd Ghost: A long exposure on a tripod as a crowd moves around you.
- 87. Zoom Burst: Zoom your lens while the shutter is open (e.g., 1/15s).
- 88. Rotation: Spin your camera while the shutter is open.
- 89. Intentional Camera Movement (ICM): Move your camera vertically or horizontally for an abstract blur.
- 90. Rear-Curtain Sync: Use a flash at the end of a long exposure to show a motion trail and a sharp subject.
📐 Category 6: Scale & Juxtaposition (Creating Relationships)
Tell a story by comparing two or more elements in the frame.
- 91. Forced Perspective: A person “holding” the sun.
- 92. Forced Perspective: A person “leaning” on a distant building.
- 93. Forced Perspective: Make a toy car look life-sized with a low angle.
- 94. Vastness: A tiny person in a huge, empty landscape.
- 95. Monumental: A low-angle macro of a small object (like a mushroom) to make it look huge.
- 96. Juxtaposition (Old/New): An old building next to a modern one.
- 97. Juxtaposition (Nature/Man): A flower growing through concrete.
- 98. Juxtaposition (Still/Motion): A sharp person waiting for a blurred bus.
- 99. Juxtaposition (Color): A single red umbrella in a sea of black ones.
- 100. Juxtaposition (Texture): A smooth stone on rough sand.
- 101. Compression: Use a telephoto lens to “stack” distant layers (like mountains).
- 102. Distortion: Use a wide-angle lens up close to distort a face or object.
Want the forced perspective tricks to line up? Forced perspective photography covers classic setups and understanding distance ratios.
🎨 Category 7: Abstract & Conceptual (Seeing Ideas)
Forget what the object is and see it for its color, shape, and texture.
- 103. Texture: Peeling paint.
- 104. Texture: Rust on metal.
- 105. Texture: The veins of a leaf.
- 106. Texture: The skin of a citrus fruit (macro).
- 107. Texture: Wood grain.
- 108. Texture: Bubbles in a drink.
- 109. Pattern: A grid of windows on a building.
- 110. Pattern: A stack of firewood.
- 111. Pattern: A pile of stones.
- 112. Pattern: Repetition in architecture.
- 113. Pattern Broken: A grid of windows with one open.
- 114. Pattern Broken: A bowl of red apples with one green one.
- 115. Found Alphabet: Find the letter “A” in architecture or nature.
- 116. Found Alphabet: Find the letter “S” (an S-curve path).
- 117. Found Faces: Pareidolia (finding faces in objects).
- 118. Single Color: A photo that is 90% one color (e.g., red).
- 119. Abstract: Oil and water.
- 120. Abstract: Ice patterns in a frozen puddle.
- 121. Abstract: Close-up of fabric.
- 122. Flat Lay: Objects arranged on a table, shot from directly above.
- 123. Knolling: Objects arranged at 90-degree angles, shot from above.
- 124. Minimalism: A single, small subject in a large, empty space.
- 125. Fill the Frame: Get so close to a subject that no background is visible.
Looking for patterns, and the break that makes them work? Patterns and repetition in photography covers finding patterns everywhere and the pattern break.
👤 Category 8: Subject-Based Perspectives (Applying Techniques)
Use these common subjects as a testing ground for all the perspectives above.
Portraits & Self-Portraits
- 126. A self-portrait in a spoon.
- 127. A self-portrait in a puddle.
- 128. A self-portrait of only your shadow.
- 129. A self-portrait reflected in someone’s sunglasses.
- 130. A portrait through a steamy mirror.
- 131. A portrait of only the subject’s hands.
- 132. A portrait of only the subject’s feet (in a meaningful location).
- 133. An environmental portrait (showing a person in their element, like a chef in a kitchen).
- 134. A portrait through a “dirty” foreground (a screen, a net, a “forest” of grass).
- 135. A “faceless” portrait that still tells a story (e.g., body language).
- 136. A portrait of a person shown only by their messy desk or bedroom.
Street Photography
- 137. Reflections in a shop window, layering the street and the display.
- 138. A building’s reflection in a puddle.
- 139. Looking for triangles in the “negative space” between people.
- 140. A “decisive moment” (a person mid-stride, a gesture).
- 141. Low-angle shot of pedestrians’ feet.
- 142. Isolating a single person in a large public space.
- 143. Capturing a “hidden” moment (an interaction down an alley).
- 144. Street signs and typography as the main subject.
- 145. Telephoto compression of a busy street.
- 146. A “bookend” shot (two people on opposite ends of a bench).
Nature & Landscape
- 147. Macro of a water drop, showing the refracted world inside.
- 148. Macro of an insect’s eye.
- 149. An “intimate landscape” (a small section of a scene, like rocks and moss).
- 150. A “hero” shot of a single, isolated tree.
- 151. Looking straight up at the tree canopy.
- 152. A wide-angle shot with a very prominent foreground element (a flower, a rock).
- 153. A compressed landscape of mountain layers.
- 154. A low-angle shot of a mushroom, making it look like a tree.
Everyday Objects
- 155. From inside the refrigerator, looking out.
- 156. From inside the dishwasher.
- 157. A fork’s tines, shot from a low angle.
- 158. The “horizon” of a table (shot from table-level).
- 159. A “drip” of syrup from a pancake (macro).
- 160. Capturing steam rising from a coffee mug.
- 161. A flat lay of the contents of your bag.
- 162. An abstract of stacked books.
- 163. A photo of a photo.
- 164. The pattern of a tire tread.
- 165. The perspective of a pet (camera on the floor).
- 166. A “slice” of a subject (e.g., cutting an apple and shooting the interior).
- 167. An “anti-perspective” (a perfectly flat shot of a wall or pattern, removing all depth).