Amateur Photo Projects

Quality of light projects are a good way to teach how light works naturally.

Amateur photo projects are useful for practice and creating a portfolio. The best projects not only teach beginning photographers how light and subjects work, but they also provide a solid collection of images to build a professional portfolio from. A typical photo project will result in an album of 8 to 12 photos.

Freezing Action

Shoot a series of photos that freeze action. This can be a variety of subjects, such as people jumping, birds flying or people playing sports. The goal is to shoot a photo with no motion blur, which typically requires a shutter speed of 1/250 of a second or faster. Additionally, the frozen action should be interesting. A photo of a car on a highway just looks like a parked car.

Portraits

Portrait photography is an important skill, and a novice photographer can produce some portrait train wrecks without practice. A good portrait shows off a person's personality without distractions. Find a solid, clean background to shoot the subject in front of, and use a lens between 55 mm and 100 mm. Try to find a good variety of people to photograph and pose them to match their natural personalities. For example, a generally bright person should be smiling instead of brooding.

Quality of Light

Take a series of photos that demonstrate the different states of natural light. This includes the "golden hour" when light becomes more red in color before sunset. It includes silhouettes, which are caused by a subject being placed in front of a large, brighter light source. Finally, it includes "rim light," which is caused by your subject blocking a light source, resulting in a bright outline around them.

Theme

Finally, one excellent amateur project is to have the photographer create his own theme and make an album out of it. A theme can be anything: colors, women, motion blur, Republicans, etc. The challenge is to find several different ways to express the same theme. The artificial restriction of a theme is also a good way to motivate photographers who have a broad range of experience too.

References

• Digital Photography School: How to Photograph Silhouettes in 8 Easy Steps Read more: http://www.digital-photography-school.com/how-to-photograph-silhouettes#ixzz1ID9zDQX5
• Digital Photography School: Introduction to Shutter Speed in Digital Photography
• Photoble: 6 Golden Hour Photography Tips
• Luminous Landscape: How to Create a Portfolio of your Work