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Home Photography Ideas

How often are stuck at home and realize that you have no idea what to photograph? It can be hard to come up with new ideas especially when you’re doing a 30 day challenge. We’re here to help! This blog post will give you 18 amazing photography ideas for your next rainy day at home.

Fun things to photograph when you’re stuck at home

If you’re looking for an easy and simple photo idea, there’s no better choice than still life photography. Simply set up a scene with your favorite things in the room to work as amazing DIY lighting or just snap some shots on your desk of items that are already around.

flowers and ice

Flowers

Grab some flowers (they can be real or fake) and arrange them on a table. The key here is that the petals should be facing the camera.

For something a little more experimental you could create an abstract flower and ice composition. Get a large dish of water, add food coloring or milk and add your flowers. Freeze it and you’ll get an interesting abstract composition to photograph.

soap bubble film

Soap Film

If you’re looking for something a little more fun, try soap film photography. Fill your sink with soapy water and add some dish soap to the surface of the water. Get out your camera or cell phone and snap away. You’ll get amazing shots that look like floating bubbles on top of an ocean – it’s pretty cool!

oil and water

Oil and Water

Another organic photo idea is to place the object of your photo in a container that is filled with oil and water. This will give it a cool mixed media effect that you can play around with to create any consistency from light/viscous, oily or even viscous liquid.

photo of living room

Architectural photos

When you’re stuck at home try shooting architectural photos. Architecture is one of the most underrated forms of photography out there, as it’s often overlooked in favor of shooting people on the street or landscapes with gorgeous mountains in the background.

Portrait photography

black light portrait

Portrait photography challenges you to make your subjects look their best and communicate personality without distraction, such as backgrounds or props and achieve amazing lighting.

spot light portrait

Self-portraits

In order to create a great self-portrait, you need to play with light and the angle at which the photo is taken. Find a mirror or window, stand in front of it and face your camera so that its lens reflects an image back to you via the mirror/window while also capturing what’s behind you from where you’re standing.

Light can either make or break a good self-portrait so it’s worth experimenting with different intensities. Try using a lamp for natural light or use your phone as a flashlight to create some dramatic shadows.

A self-portrait is also the perfect opportunity to capture an intimate moment in time that you wouldn’t normally document, so be creative and try something new!

dog portrait

Pet portrait

One of the most fun portraits you can take it is a pet portrait. When taking the portrait of a pet at home, try shooting in areas with plenty of natural light. Also, make sure that there are as few distractions in the background as possible.

Start by finding a surface that your pet is comfortable sitting on for the duration of the shoot. Once you have settled your pet in place, consider adjusting their pose so that they are looking in one direction or another. Remember when photographing pets at home it’s best to stay as close as possible to keep them from jumping off the table. A great tool to keep your dog engaged is a small bit of peanut button on the end of a spoon.

portrait of old man

Family member portraits

As each member of your family to sit for a short photoshoot. Portrait photography can be one of the most fun projects since you can dress people up in a variety of clothes and get wildly different results. It’s worth experimenting to see how different you can make each subject look based on the lighting and wardrobe choices.

Food photography

Food photography can be a tough process In order to get the perfect shot it is necessary to have good lighting and amazing colors. When it comes to the background, you can’t have anything too busy.

close up action shot of cooking

person making food

A simple way to get a variety of food photographs easily is to photograph someone making food. Rather than have them pose, just document the process of making muffins or a cake. In order to get quality shots more than likely you’ll need to use a fast shutter speed. If you feel like being more experimental you can use a slower shutter and get some interesting motion blur effects.

closeup blueberries

macro food photography

Once the food is made and the background is chosen, it’s time to focus on getting a good macro shot of your subject. The camera should be moved as close as possible without touching the food in order to get it into sharp detail.

A few tips are: use natural lighting and don’t forget props for details such as garnishes or other items you might want to include. Berry’s are often a nice touch to the edges of your main food item.

pouring syrup on pancakes

Action shots

Photos like this are all the rage now. They’re pretty tricky to pull off, but they’re really fun to create. Start by having a finished dessert and dropping a small handful of berries on top as you shoot the photo. You’ll almost certainly have to use a remote shutter release if you don’t have an “assistant” to help you, but recruiting a family member to be the berry dropper could be a lot of fun.

Experimental ideas to try

closeup black and white flower

Black and White photography

There are so many ways to create black and white photos. You can use a filter, you can convert them in-camera or with editing software like Photoshop, or you could do something clever like creating your own custom monochrome film for your camera using dyes from fabric stores.

light painting

Light Painting

Light painting is a technique for photographing in low light or complete darkness. The photographer sets up their camera with a long exposure time and uses light sources to create an otherworldly scene.

Light painting is often used by photographers who want to capture the beauty of night scenes, outdoor landscapes at dusk and dawn without having to use flash. You can get some pretty amazing results almost by accident.

blurry fairy lights

Lens out of focus

Photographers who want more depth in their photos will often intentionally shoot with an unfocused lens. This can be done by using a tilt-shift lens or just shifting the focus ring on your camera to an out-of-focus position before taking the photo.

You could also experiment with shooting at different focal lengths (for example, close up) and changing what you’re focussing on in post-processing software like Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom. Depending on the focus of the lens you could even get a fairy lights type of effect.