Can’t leave your home during the lockdown? Use it as an opportunity to try out some creative photography ideas at home. There’s no need to look for professional models, expensive props, or unusual locations, as you can create impressive photos of what surrounds you indoors.
Here’s a list of great ideas and projects you can work on while staying indoors. They are simple, can be easily modified according to what equipment you have or what result you are trying to achieve.
Capture the fragile and passing beauty of flowers by freezing them. Use distilled water and cube trays that are freezer-friendly. Make sure the flowers don’t float (and they’ll want to do that) by weighing them down. Take them out of the container and let the whole thing melt away while capturing it.
Cups of coffee can actually be used as DIY photography props. There tons of concepts you can come up with: from imitating a clock to a game of tic-tac-toe.
Throw in sugar cubes to create dynamic coffee splashes. Use a fast shutter speed of 1/1000 or faster to be able to freeze the splash
Beautiful and weird trails created by smoke are a great way of adding a dramatic and mysterious mood to your shot. Set your aperture around f/8-f/11 to make sure that all of the smoke remains in full focus.
Splashes in motion look great, especially if you throw in a couple of objects together with them. Set the place where you’re going to shoot by finding a black backdrop screen, a clear container, and a tripod made by an efficient tripod brand.
Start dropping the objects into the water and click the shutter just as they hit its surface. Try using bulb or burst mode on your camera to activate continuous shooting.
Water droplet photography is the most popular subgenre of high speed photography.
You’ll also need to use fast shutter speed, like 1/1000+ second shutter speed to freeze a water droplet in the air. I strongly recommend protecting your gear from any water damage with a cellophane wrap.
Interesting distortions of patterns can appear when you place them behind any clear container with water. So, next time you need some fun home photography ideas, just grab a glass of water and a few patterned backgrounds, set your camera onto a tripod, and start experimenting.
Feel free to adjust the distance between the background and the glass to try and catch the exact effect you want.
You’ll need some liquid soap and glycerin, a wire loop, a piece of black cloth as a background, and at least a 100mm macro lens. Try blowing lightly on the soap film to achieve swirling patterns.
You’ll also need a large light source for this. If you don’t have anything you can create a DIY softbox.
A mesmerizing and magical effect is created by a drop of ink slowly dissolving into the water. This is one of the creative photography ideas at home that is not difficult to realize at all.
Put a glass onto a clear reflective surface against a white background to be able to clearly see the ink. Use a dropper to add ink to the glass, experiment with colors and the amount.
Love treasure hunts? This photography challenge is almost like that but with a twist. The challenge is to find an object having a shape similar to any letter in the alphabet without leaving your house (e.g. S- for stairs). You’ll get a great series of 26 photos to practice your photography skills.
Still life photography can become more creative if you use a multi-color flashlight. Incorporate the principles of long exposure photography, and the camera shutter speed to 1/8 seconds and the aperture to about f/8. Before you press the shutter, move the torchlight within the frame, and continue doing it throughout the exposure.
Oil and water don’t mix, so use this phenomenon to bring to life interesting abstract photography ideas. The secret to emphasizing the droplets is to add a washing-up liquid before the oil. Remember, that a bright background will drastically improve your photos.
One of the top photography ideas to do at home is freelensing. To try it, just detach the lens from your camera and hold it backwards against your camera body.
Mind that the autofocus will not work, so you’ll have to focus your lens manually. You’ll get the look that is normally achieved with tilt shift lenses.
If you enjoy cooking, try to realize a couple of food photography ideas. You can cook a humble meal and then, using some food photography props turn into a true masterpiece. The props can include ceramic dishes, utensils, napkins, ingredients, and flowers.
For a more complex idea, try capturing the shattering glass mid-air. Since you get only one chance to break something, you need to make sure that the photo comes out perfect.
To ensure that there is no blur, use a camera remote. The duration of the camera flash should be set to 1/10,000 of a second to freeze the shattering process.
Rugs and carpets provide an abundance of patterns and colors for your home photography. I recommend using artificial lighting, as it’s essential if you want to bring out the vibrant colors of a rug. Try to light the entire area as evenly as possible.
Another very fun idea is using food as a landscape for model figurines. You’ll have to come up with creative associations for the product, and try to create a miniature world with your models and food photography.
Look at the photo example above. A boy is mowing a kiwi, another guy is raking it, and one more figure is probably thinking about planting his garden. Such images can be humorous or touch upon important social issues.
Your pets can be amazing and cute little models for your next fun photoshoot. If they are willing to cooperate, try staging some scenes, and realize creative pet photography ideas.
Make sure to get lots of treats ready to reward and encourage them. If they are not in the mood to collaborate, simply take paparazzi-style dog photography of whatever they are doing during the day.
Time-lapse videos belong to effortless home photography ideas, as they don’t require much skill or preparation on your part. Simply place your time lapse camera facing the street, set the interval at which you want to snap photos in settings.
At the end of the day, just merge the photos together into a video with the help of free time lapse software, or time lapse apps. It will look especially great if you live on a busy street or in the city.
Tabletop photography isn’t just for Instagram beauty and fashion gurus. They can be used to tell any story you want with the objects you already have at your home. No special setup or camera gear is needed either, just make sure you get enough natural light from your window.
First, choose the theme of your flatlay, and then decide on the main props. Finally, find a background that complements your theme the most, you can even purchase a collection of backdrops for tabletop images.
Instead of trying to freeze the motion, introduce some blur into your images. To do this, use a slow shutter speed, like 1/30 or slower. A trick you can try is to use Shutter Priority camera modes. It will automatically adjust all the other settings to account for your slow shutter speed.
Create a real-life collage of your physical photographs and capture them all at once. You can hold the shots in front of a multi-colored wall or photograph flatlays.
With the help of a crumpled piece of foil and fairy lights, you can create awesome bokeh photography. Just place your subject in the foreground. Then lay out the fairy lights, and crumpled foil in the background. You’ll need to use a bokeh lens, like Canon EF 50mm f/1.2 to be able to shoot at the widest aperture, like f/1.2, or f/1.8.
Black and white photography opens new horizons for your professional improvement. Usually, when people look at color photos, they get distracted by the color scheme, but b&w images eliminate this issue. To visualize how a scene will look in black and white, pay attention to patterns, shapes, forms, and textures.
Ordinary household items can create beautiful shadow photography. You can incorporate shadows from windows, flowers, lace, or even body parts, to add depth and enhance the composition of your photo.
You can use the sun as a natural source of light, artificial sources of light, or learn how to add a drop shadow in Photoshop.
Rubik’s cube is a colorful prop, that is commonly used in levitation photography ideas. Throw it up and try to capture it mid-air. You can also partially desaturate the image, to make the Rubik’s cube stand out.
Try capturing interior photography, but instead of including everything in one frame, try to remove unnecessary elements from the scene and create a minimalistic scene.
If you collect stamps, cassettes, vinyl records, coins, or mini cars, you can take catchy photos of your collection. Repetition in photography helps create an eye-catching composition by introducing symmetry.
Use macro lenses and cameras for macro photography to take a fresh look at home photography. This photo genre heavily relies on lighting, that’s why I recommend investing into a professional ring flash, like Neewer LED ring light.
The best place to realize macro photography ideas is the kitchen. Food, liquids, appliances, utensils, and plants – can all become the subjects of your photos.
One of the easiest photography ideas at home is clothing photography. You can arrange the clothes differently: put the apparel in order or scatter it around. Do not forget about different accessories like caps, belts, bags, and shoes.
Shoes are easily accessible in any household, which makes them perfect props for photography ideas at home. This will give you a chance to diversify your portfolio with product photography.
You can use any style of shoes, sandals, boots or sneaks. When it comes to shoe photography, remember not to clutter the image, and keep it free from all the unneeded elements.
Don’t forget that you can improve your jewelry photography skills while staying at home. Just take your, or borrow from a friend, find a suitable jewelry background, read tips on how to photograph jewelry and you’re good to go!
Don’t forget to turn your flash off if you’re shooting something shiny, otherwise, you’ll have to deal with reflections. If you’re striving for professional shots, look into light boxes for jewelry photography, a model like Foldio 3 will provide consistent lighting across all shots.
If you have a book library at home put them to use by creatively arranging them. Position them in stacks, create different shapes, or try color coordinating them.
The more books you have the more elaborate compositions you can create. It’s a great idea for self portrait photography at home.
Are you lucky to have a great view from your window? Include that into your home photography. Capture someone admiring the view. It may be tricky to expose both the background and the foreground, so my piece of advice would be to try the compositing technique with the help of the compositing software.
If you are looking for creative photography ideas at home, you should give prism photography a go. An ordinary prism can provide impressive results by creating rainbow effects. Just place it really close to the lens for portraits in the area of the frame where you want the effect to be.
One of the most creative photography ideas at home is double exposure photography. This is a technique that involves combining two images to create a single photo. It’s better to place your subject against the white background and take a photo. It looks best with a landscape or a landscape texture on top.
The technique can be achieved with a film camera or you can create double exposure in Photoshop. You can also address photo manipulation service to achieve attractive results at an affordable price.
There are tons of ways a simple mirror can be incorporated into your portraits, but one of the most creative photography ideas at home is to use several mirrors to create an infinity mirror illusion. The mirrors must be parallel, with a camera between them. You may want to use free apps to remove unwanted objects from photo to get rid of the camera in your image.
Home is a perfect place to capture self-portraits. One of the trendiest self portrait ideas is posing with a disco ball. Choose a self-timer mode on your camera to capture the photos without having to be near the camera.
This is one of the sweetest photography ideas at home. Shooting in the morning when you are having a cup of coffee or reading a newspaper brings a special atmosphere to the picture. You can also turn it into a photography series, by shooting every morning, or capturing every Saturday morning.
Fairy lights are irreplaceable Christmas photo props, but they can also elevate any portrait. You can wrap the LED lights around people or put them in jars.
You can also cover part of your lens with them for a beautiful foreground. Create stunning bokeh by using a wide aperture, like f1/2-1.8.
A crystal ball will definitely spice up your photography. Crystal ball photography creates an effect as if you have used an external lens. The refraction turns the image upside down, creating captivating photos. It is recommended to use a macro lens to get closer to the ball.
Capturing reflections in windows can help create real-life double exposure photos. The overlap of subjects inside and outside helps create an interesting and complex composition.
Avoid taking such photos at midday, because you will end up with lens glare. Instead, create blue and golden hour photography.
The main purpose of home photography is to present everyday objects or scenes in a captivating manner. Capture mundane activities, but improve them by using creative photography composition techniques, like the rule of thirds, or the leading lines.
Throw feathers up in the air for dreamy portraits. Feathers are excellent props for at-home children and couple photography.
Silhouette photography belongs to creative photography ideas at home. It creates a mysterious feel in the image. This allows viewers to fill gaps and come up with their own story from a picture.
To create backlit portraits, you need to place a light source behind the subject. You can also try to underexpose the shot a little, as it results in an even darker silhouette.
No matter what color are balloons, they are universal and cheap photography props for every kind of photoshoot. Fill the room with balloons of the same color to create monochromatic images. Match the color with your outfit to complete the look.
Glitter portraits are fun, although they can be a mess to clean up after. To improve your chances of capturing glitter quickly, use the continuous shooting mode.
This is one of the creative indoor photography ideas. Simply grab a low light camera, neon paint and a UV flashlight.
Apply neon paint to your skin, and it will give off a pleasant glow if you shine a UV flashlight on it. You can also go one step further by creating neon patterns in the background too.
Use butterfly stickers to turn an ordinary portrait into a work of art.
Take a regular face mask and attach flowers and greenery to it. This idea is very relevant given the current events.
A home is a perfect place to create newborn photography. You will need newborn photography props like cushions and posing pillows, blankets and wraps, a few accessories, and a ton of patience.
Try to capture babies during the first two weeks, because at this age, they are easier to pose, and you’ll be able to try more newborn photography poses.
Want to make your home photography look like it’s been taken by a professional in a studio? These ready-made Lr presets will help you achieve attractive color correction and consistent look across all photos.
