Along with some amazing images, we’ve also provided some quick photography tips by both amateur and professional photographers who are experts in these fields.
We’re kicking off September with a new list of exciting photo projects like indoor flower portraits, using flash to freeze action, airshows, robins and much more!
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77 photography techniques, tips and tricks for taking pictures of anything
52 photography projects: one idea to try every week in 2015
52 photography projects: one idea to try every week in 2015
Creative photo ideas for September: 01 Shoot wildflowers with a long lens
Who says you need a macro lens when it comes to shooting wild flowers? Telephoto lenses are also very effective: they compress the scene and enable you to isolate the flowers between a beautifully blurred foreground and a bokeh background.
Landscape and nature photographer Guy Edwardes used this approach for this shot of wild orchids on Hampshire’s Martin Down earlier this summer.
He used a 600mm lens fitted with a x1.4 extender, giving an effective focal length of 840mm on his full-frame SLR.
“You need to get down low to make the effect work,” Guy advises. “If your tripod’s legs can’t get far enough apart, use a bean bag for support.”
To achieve the soft-focus effect on the stems, Guy positioned the front of his lens close to foliage in the foreground and shot through that. “The yellow smudges and circles are blurred-out buttercups,” he says.
Guy adds that wild flowers that grow in meadows are particularly effective for this type of set-up, although you’ll need to hunt around for the perfect specimen.
“Don’t settle on the first thing you see,” he says. “Look for perfectly formed flowers, as well as good background and foreground matter.”
“Shoot early in the morning or later on in the evening with a slight backlighting for best results,” he continues.
“Not only is the light softer at these times, but more importantly it’s less breezy!”
SEE MORE: 25 flower photography tips for beginners
Be prepared to get dirty
Using a bean bag to cradle a long lens on the ground is a great way to
get the low angle you need. Cameras that offer a fold-out rear screen or
a Live View feed to a phone app enable you to compose shots easily from
this awkward position.
Set the widest aperture on your lens and make sure there’s plenty of distance between the subject and the background. If there’s little foreground detail, try holding some grass close to the front element.
Creative photo ideas for September: 02 Use flash for portraits
You may think that flash is more useful in low light, but on a sunny day a flashgun can prove to be invaluable.
Off-camera flash is great in intense sunlight and can help you add drama and impact to your portraits.
For our shoot, we had tennis coach Martin Wright as our model. Although a low angle isn’t flattering for most portrait shoots, for an image like this where you want to enhance the presence of the person, it looks really effective.
Include props, such as the tennis balls and racket we’ve used here, to add context to the portrait. It also helps if you photograph your sports star at the end of their game so they’re covered in sweat!
If they’re not sweaty enough, you can always enhance the effect by spraying some water on their face…
How to set up your shot
Set up your off-camera flashgun so it’s at 45° to the subject. To get the right exposure, meter the scene without flash.
In Manual mode, we set ISO 100 and a shutter speed of 1/200 sec, then
adjusted the aperture until the background was underexposed by one
stop. Now switch the flash on and adjust its strength.
Earlier this year, the British public voted the robin as its national bird in an unofficial poll.
The small but mighty garden visitor is also a popular subject with British bird photographers, thanks to its approachable nature – but you need to take the right steps to get results as good as wildlife photographer Danny Green.
Small birds require long telephoto lens – think 400mm plus – possibly fitted with a teleconverter. They also require suitably fast shutter speeds to reduce the effects of camera shake and freeze the birds’ darting movements.
As a minimum, you’ll need to aim for a shutter speed of 1/500 sec – and much faster if they’re flying. To achieve this, you may need to increase the ISO substantially, or use the largest available aperture.
Finally, frame your bird against a plain background for the most effective results.
For total control over this aspect, set up a perch and feeding station in a photogenic spot weeks or months in advance of your photo shoot.
Creative photo ideas for September: 03 Photograph a robin in your garden
Earlier this year, the British public voted the robin as its national bird in an unofficial poll.
The small but mighty garden visitor is also a popular subject with British bird photographers, thanks to its approachable nature – but you need to take the right steps to get results as good as wildlife photographer Danny Green.
Small birds require long telephoto lens – think 400mm plus – possibly fitted with a teleconverter. They also require suitably fast shutter speeds to reduce the effects of camera shake and freeze the birds’ darting movements.
As a minimum, you’ll need to aim for a shutter speed of 1/500 sec – and much faster if they’re flying. To achieve this, you may need to increase the ISO substantially, or use the largest available aperture.
Finally, frame your bird against a plain background for the most effective results.
For total control over this aspect, set up a perch and feeding station in a photogenic spot weeks or months in advance of your photo shoot.
SEE MORE: Free bird photography cheat sheet
How to set up your camera
Use Aperture Priority mode as this gives you control over the aperture
and the depth of field ‘on the fly’, But keep an eye on the shutter
speed, too. If in doubt, set the ISO to Auto, as the camera will
maintain a reasonably fast speed.
Creative photo ideas for September: 04 Photograph an airshow
Summer offers the perfect opportunity to test your sharp-shooting skills at one of the country’s many air displays. But what are the key factors to bear in mind?
“Get the exposure right,” says aircraft photographer Nigel Blake. “Shooting aircraft in flight will generally require exposure compensation, or the metering system will be fooled into underexposure.
“You’ll typically need around +2/3 EV when using Evaluative or Matrix metering.
“Think about your shutter speed too. Fast jets require fast shutter speeds, although you can get away with 1/250 to 1/320 sec with propeller-driven planes and helicopters.
“This will give you a sharp aircraft and blurred blades. With practice, you can use 1/80 sec, giving attractive full-circle prop-blur.
“I usually shoot in Shutter Priority for the prop-driven aircraft and Aperture Priority for jets, setting an aperture of f/6.3 or f/8.
“This gives enough depth of field to keep the planes sharp from wing tip to wing tip. It’s easy to switch mode when the action hots up!”
SEE MORE: Free action photography cheat sheet
Give your arms a break
Aiming long lenses at the sky for long periods can be draining. Consider using a monopod with moderate tele-zooms. For heavy, prime lenses, try a tripod fitted with a gimbal head. These make it effortless to track action with a ‘big gun’.
Creative photo ideas for September: 05 Shoot indoor flower portraits
Colourful flower portraits can be easily created indoors at home using coloured card for a background and natural light. Interesting cut flowers can be bought from a shop or cut from your garden, but potted plants last longer.
“New buds will emerge as the plant grows,” adds nature photographer Helen Clarke, “and the newly opened flowers should be free from any damage that can occur during transit and shop life.
“Buying pots of bulbs, such as the hyacinths here, or even potting up bulbs yourself is another good option, as they grow quickly from bulb to flowering plant.”
Art and craft supply shops offer the best choice of card for the backdrop. Pick up a range of colours, some to contrast with the flowers and some to harmonise with them.
Go for large A1-size sheets, as they will enable you to leave some distance between the card and the flowers.
This will ensure that the texture of the card isn’t visible in the image, creating a clean wash of colour in the background, and the subject won’t cast obvious shadows onto it.
Find the right location
Choose a room with plenty of natural light and use a reflector to bounce light onto the shady side of the subject. Mount your camera on a tripod, activate its mirror lock-up function and fire the shutter with a remote release.
Creative photo ideas for September: 06 Use flash to freeze a balloon burst
High-speed photography enables you to capture moments that are imperceptible to the naked eye.
Precision and speed are required to capture the exact moment the action occurs, with an exposure that’s fast enough to freeze the motion.
A sound trigger is ideal for doing this. You might think sound triggers are expensive, but a Triggertrap Mobile Kit (from £30/$47, www.triggertrap.com) and Flash Adapter (£24/$38) enable you to use your smartphone’s mic to fire the shutter.
We’ve used one here to capture an exploding balloon filled with water and food colouring.
The trick is to blow air into the balloon once you’ve added the water, so it makes a bang when popped.
You’ll need to take the shot in total darkness, with an off-camera flash positioned on a stand, and the camera fixed to a tripod and manually pre-focused on the right spot.
If you’re working alone, use your camera’s self-timer to begin the exposure. Set the flash to Manual mode and choose the lowest output (1/128 power here) for a fast flash duration.
How to attach the trigger
Fit the Triggertrap Mobile dongle to your phone and add the Flash Adapter to your flash’s hotshoe mount. Open the Triggertrap app, turn your phone volume to full, set a sensor volume level and then make a noise to check the flash fires.
Work out the exposure
Take test shots in darkness while firing the flash to work out the exposure. Because the output is low, you’ll need a high ISO and wide aperture. We used ISO 1,000 and f/4.5, with a four-second shutter speed.
Creative photo ideas for September: 07 Play with perspective
To recreate an image similar to the one above, ask your subjects to lie on the ground, strike a suitable pose – running, jumping and ‘flying’ are popular choices for this type of photography.
You can then draw in the environment using chalk. Props, such as the balloons here, can also be used to heighten the effect. Pay attention to the ‘movement’ of hair and clothing, too.
You’ll need to shoot from a higher vantage point – a set of step-ladders or a first-floor window, for example, offer the perfect angle.
Creative photo ideas for September: 08 Make a polar panorama
Panospheres are panoramic images wrapped around 360° to create a striking abstract effect.
To create a panosphere you first need to create a regular panorama, before using the Polar Coordinates filter in Photoshop to warp the image.
We used a row of colourful houses as our subject, as they look effective when distorted into a circle, but all kinds of scenes suit this effect.
Creative photo ideas for September: 09 Get creative with your food photography
Reshaping what you’re shooting is a creative way to take unusual food images. Here we can take something natural and round, then transform it into an angular sculpture.
Use a piece of white card as the backdrop and shoot from a bird’s-eye view, using flash or a reflector to open up any shadows.
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