The confinements follow one another and do not look alike. But they have in common that they deprive you of outings, trips, events to photograph. Rather than getting depressed while waiting for the end of the confinement, practicing photography during a confinement is a great initiative. Here is a list of activities to do at home, or nearby, to keep you busy, enjoy your passion, progress.
20 photo activities to do during a lockdown: the list
Careful, take notes! Here is a list of ideas to help you practice photography during a lockdown.
Making progress in photography, developing your skills, enjoying what you’ve already done are different activities from taking pictures. But they are important too, and can be done at home, without going out, or very little. Rather than lose the urge, get in action and take pictures!
You can also download this article in PDF format, see at the end.
1. Sort your photos, remove duplicates, identify the best ones to make series.
Sort it out!
Take advantage of the long time you have at home to open your photo library, create it if you don’t have one, and sort your photos.
Delete duplicates, failed photos, tests, anything that doesn’t make sense once it’s done.
This allows you to free up space on your hard drives, simplify your backups (learn more) and, most importantly, identify your best photos.
Then you’ll be able to enjoy them instead of letting them sleep on a record.
2. Create photo books
Create a photo book
Looking for holiday gifts and can’t snoop around the shops? Why not create photography books?
You can prepare them at home, have them printed online and receive them without going out.
For example, prepare a book about the past year, the activities of a loved one, the first 20 years of a child’s life or the life of your family.
They are always appreciated gifts, they remain in the memories and are true souvenirs.
You can also, of course, create a book with your best photos, it will be a nice enhancement.
3. Photographing during containment: reorganize your workspace
Create your own photography space at home
Your photo corner is cluttered, you lack space, you would like to organize a space dedicated to your practice?
Clean up, get rid of non-essentials, organize spaces.
Do you have an attic or an unused basement? Why not turn it into a photo space just for you?
4. Sort your photo equipment, clean it, rediscover what you no longer use.
get your old cameras working!
Make an inventory of all the photo equipment you have, and take the time to clean, protect and store everything.
The housings age badly if they are not used, shoot several times, operate the shutters.
Lenses can be erased too, rotate the diaphragms, focus rings, zoom rings.
This simple maintenance ensures the proper functioning of your equipment.
Also remember to charge the batteries and check that they are still in working order.
5. Sell what you no longer use, or give it away.
les annonces photo Nikon Passion all brands
Unpack all your photo equipment and identify what you are not using. There are bound to be a few accessories, old lenses, old cameras that clutter up your cupboards.
You can sell them if they’re still valuable, like giving them away.
Selling your old equipment is another way to make someone you care about happy this holiday season, it’s a way to recycle and it can help a younger person get started at no cost.
6. Update your website, or create a new one.
Manage your photo site
Is your website gathering dust? You haven’t updated your best series? Take action.
Delete the photos you no longer like, add the most recent ones, reorganize the series.
An up-to-date website is a nice business card and the possibility to find partners to make new pictures.
IF you don’t have a website yet, create one. There are many possibilities, both free and cheap.
7. Expand your Instagram account to make discoveries and share with other photographers.
do not use Instagram to post only, exchange with others
Photography is a rather solitary activity and yet communicating with other photographers, taking an interest in what they are doing, identifying projects is part of the activities you should do every day.
Instagram is now the ideal place for this. You can discover many photographers around you, or in the same field as you.
Get in touch with them, ask them questions, take an interest in what they do.
It’s the best way to interact when you can’t get out.
This will allow you to make contacts and meet these people as soon as you can get out.
8. Photography during confinement: training for post-processing
learn post-processing with Lightroom, Luminar, Photoshop, DxO …
Have you ever approached post-processing? Using photo software to give your images the rendering they deserve is not cheating, it’s finishing the job started when you took the picture.
Take a tour of the software offerings, identify the one that’s right for you, install the software and get trained.
9. Learn a new technique, take an online course, read a book, or take part in a workshop.
learn a new technique, a new field in photography
Would you like to learn a specific photo technique? Take some time to train yourself. Browse the expert Youtube channels, the tutorials on the web, discover the online trainings.
Photography is learned on the field, by practicing, but acquiring the basics beforehand is a good option when you can’t go out or very little.
10. Photography during confinement: test the black and white
learn / discover black and white
You only take color pictures? Try black and white!
All you need is the right photo software and a few tutorials to get you started.
Once you start converting your black and white photos, you can move up a gear and specialize. Then get dedicated software (such as the Nik Collection) and work with your images as if you were in a film lab.
11. Discover photography with a smartphone in expert mode
iPhone 12 + flashlight – 26 mm – ISO 800 – 1/8 sec. – – f/1.6
Your smartphone can take great pictures if you use it correctly.
The question of whether taking pictures with a smartphone is heresy or not is no longer an issue. It is a reality and many pros do it, there are many references on this practice.
Depending on the smartphone you have, you can make beautiful pictures in JPG as well as RAW pictures before processing them in a suitable software like Lightroom Mobile (read more).
Take the time to understand how your smartphone works and enjoy always having a camera on you when you can go out after confinement.
12. Read the photo books that are waiting on your shelf.
Knowledge is in the books too
You bought some books in the photo but you never took the time to read them? Now’s the time.
Don’t just turn the pages, take notes, make sure you discover each photographer’s world.
If it is a technical book, identify what you are interested in, make the cards simpler to carry with you at all times.
You can use them when you get out.
13. Conduct a “containment” photo project
an image from my “photo project during lockdown”.
Why don’t you take advantage of this time to complete a photo project?
Choose a subject that is easy to approach without going too far, perhaps even indoors.
Have fun with light, indoor graphics, or nature through your window.
Make portraits of your loved ones.
Think of it as a project that must lead to something concrete: a book, an exhibition, prints. Don’t just store the photos on your computer.
14. Plan your exits as soon as containment ends.
During one of my Instameet photo outings in Vitry sur Seine with readers
Eventually we’re going to get our freedom of movement back. Prepare your next outings, identify places to visit and photograph, nature spots that you dream of discovering.
When you go out, you’ll immediately know where to go, with the right equipment, at the right time, and you’ll enjoy taking your pictures.
You can even use Instagram (see above) to identify places to be photographed, use the location functions for this.
15. Reread your equipment manual, discover hidden functions
Have you ever taken the time to read the entire manual for your camera? It’s boring when you buy it, hundreds of pages. But since you have time, it’s a good time to discover hidden functions, optimize settings, understand how certain modules like autofocus or video work.
You can’t find the manual anymore? Download it from the manufacturer’s website (Nikon for example).
16. Photography during confinement: participate in photo contests or challenges
Nikon Passion photo challenges
As long as the Internet works, everything’s fine. Identify photo contests, challenges and participate. Have you sorted your best pictures? Submit them.
It’s always nice to see your photos rewarded, or to receive notices.
The photo is also made to be shown and submitted to the gaze of others, do not miss these possibilities that are offered to you.
17. Propose your best photos to interested parties
the dancers appreciate having photos of their performances
Do you think your photos deserve better than a simple publication on the web? Why not submit them to interested parties? Get in touch with the people you had the opportunity to photograph during an event and offer them your photos.
You are not immune to a pleasant surprise, a publication, a sharing that will highlight your work. Take care to edit carefully, don’t submit dozens of unsorted photos. With a bit of luck, you can even hope to earn some income, it would be a nice reward.
18. Launch a discussion group among enthusiasts, motivate each other
We do not lack means of communication during a confinement: telephone, instant messaging (Whatsapp, Telegram), private groups, club sites…
Take advantage of these tools at your disposal to create your own exchange group. Contact your photographer friends, invite them, post messages throughout the day, show your photos.
The more you think photo and share your ideas, the more you progress. It’s a great way to pass the time until you can get out.
19. Discover the street photo around your home, in the city and in the country.
on a random one-hour outing less than a mile away
You can go out for an hour an hour a mile from your house. There are bound to be photos to be taken in this environment.
Wander the streets of your city, the paths of your countryside.
Spend several times in the same place, take advantage of changing weather conditions to shoot the same subject with different lights.
The landscape is constantly changing, show those changes. The city is in constant motion, show it too.
20. Identify your style, your desires, your affinities, develop your creative approach.
develop your style in photography, the secrets of Denis Dubesset
All these activities should also allow you to think about your creative process. What do you like to photograph, how, what is your style?
Ask yourself these questions.
Put your ideas, your feelings, your desires, your practices in black and white.
Get help to do this work if needed (by Denis Dubesset for example).
This work done on you will be useful to you afterwards.
The photo during a lockdown: but also …
These few ideas to help you practice photography during confinement are not an exhaustive list.
There are dozens of other ideas to have, projects to launch, activities to carry out.
Do you also have good practices to share? Tell me what they are! Questions about the above ideas? Ask me!
The confinements follow one another and do not look alike. But they have in common that they deprive you of outings, trips, events to photograph. Rather than getting depressed while waiting for the end of the confinement, practicing photography during a confinement is a great initiative. Here is a list of activities to do at home, or nearby, to keep you busy, enjoy your passion, progress.
20 photo activities to do during a lockdown: the list
Careful, take notes! Here is a list of ideas to help you practice photography during a lockdown.
Making progress in photography, developing your skills, enjoying what you’ve already done are different activities from taking pictures. But they are important too, and can be done at home, without going out, or very little. Rather than lose the urge, get in action and take pictures!
You can also download this article in PDF format, see at the end.
1. Sort your photos, remove duplicates, identify the best ones to make series.
Sort it out!
Take advantage of the long time you have at home to open your photo library, create it if you don’t have one, and sort your photos.
Delete duplicates, failed photos, tests, anything that doesn’t make sense once it’s done.
This allows you to free up space on your hard drives, simplify your backups (learn more) and, most importantly, identify your best photos.
Then you’ll be able to enjoy them instead of letting them sleep on a record.
2. Create photo books
Create a photo book
Looking for holiday gifts and can’t snoop around the shops? Why not create photography books?
You can prepare them at home, have them printed online and receive them without going out.
For example, prepare a book about the past year, the activities of a loved one, the first 20 years of a child’s life or the life of your family.
They are always appreciated gifts, they remain in the memories and are true souvenirs.
You can also, of course, create a book with your best photos, it will be a nice enhancement.
3. Photographing during containment: reorganize your workspace
Create your own photography space at home
Your photo corner is cluttered, you lack space, you would like to organize a space dedicated to your practice?
Clean up, get rid of non-essentials, organize spaces.
Do you have an attic or an unused basement? Why not turn it into a photo space just for you?
4. Sort your photo equipment, clean it, rediscover what you no longer use.
get your old cameras working!
Make an inventory of all the photo equipment you have, and take the time to clean, protect and store everything.
The housings age badly if they are not used, shoot several times, operate the shutters.
Lenses can be erased too, rotate the diaphragms, focus rings, zoom rings.
This simple maintenance ensures the proper functioning of your equipment.
Also remember to charge the batteries and check that they are still in working order.
5. Sell what you no longer use, or give it away.
les annonces photo Nikon Passion all brands
Unpack all your photo equipment and identify what you are not using. There are bound to be a few accessories, old lenses, old cameras that clutter up your cupboards.
You can sell them if they’re still valuable, like giving them away.
Selling your old equipment is another way to make someone you care about happy this holiday season, it’s a way to recycle and it can help a younger person get started at no cost.
6. Update your website, or create a new one.
Manage your photo site
Is your website gathering dust? You haven’t updated your best series? Take action.
Delete the photos you no longer like, add the most recent ones, reorganize the series.
An up-to-date website is a nice business card and the possibility to find partners to make new pictures.
IF you don’t have a website yet, create one. There are many possibilities, both free and cheap.
7. Expand your Instagram account to make discoveries and share with other photographers.
do not use Instagram to post only, exchange with others
Photography is a rather solitary activity and yet communicating with other photographers, taking an interest in what they are doing, identifying projects is part of the activities you should do every day.
Instagram is now the ideal place for this. You can discover many photographers around you, or in the same field as you.
Get in touch with them, ask them questions, take an interest in what they do.
It’s the best way to interact when you can’t get out.
This will allow you to make contacts and meet these people as soon as you can get out.
8. Photography during confinement: training for post-processing
learn post-processing with Lightroom, Luminar, Photoshop, DxO …
Have you ever approached post-processing? Using photo software to give your images the rendering they deserve is not cheating, it’s finishing the job started when you took the picture.
Take a tour of the software offerings, identify the one that’s right for you, install the software and get trained.
9. Learn a new technique, take an online course, read a book, or take part in a workshop.
learn a new technique, a new field in photography
Would you like to learn a specific photo technique? Take some time to train yourself. Browse the expert Youtube channels, the tutorials on the web, discover the online trainings.
Photography is learned on the field, by practicing, but acquiring the basics beforehand is a good option when you can’t go out or very little.
10. Photography during confinement: test the black and white
learn / discover black and white
You only take color pictures? Try black and white!
All you need is the right photo software and a few tutorials to get you started.
Once you start converting your black and white photos, you can move up a gear and specialize. Then get dedicated software (such as the Nik Collection) and work with your images as if you were in a film lab.
11. Discover photography with a smartphone in expert mode
iPhone 12 + flashlight – 26 mm – ISO 800 – 1/8 sec. – – f/1.6
Your smartphone can take great pictures if you use it correctly.
The question of whether taking pictures with a smartphone is heresy or not is no longer an issue. It is a reality and many pros do it, there are many references on this practice.
Depending on the smartphone you have, you can make beautiful pictures in JPG as well as RAW pictures before processing them in a suitable software like Lightroom Mobile (read more).
Take the time to understand how your smartphone works and enjoy always having a camera on you when you can go out after confinement.
12. Read the photo books that are waiting on your shelf.
Knowledge is in the books too
You bought some books in the photo but you never took the time to read them? Now’s the time.
Don’t just turn the pages, take notes, make sure you discover each photographer’s world.
If it is a technical book, identify what you are interested in, make the cards simpler to carry with you at all times.
You can use them when you get out.
13. Conduct a “containment” photo project
an image from my “photo project during lockdown”.
Why don’t you take advantage of this time to complete a photo project?
Choose a subject that is easy to approach without going too far, perhaps even indoors.
Have fun with light, indoor graphics, or nature through your window.
Make portraits of your loved ones.
Think of it as a project that must lead to something concrete: a book, an exhibition, prints. Don’t just store the photos on your computer.
14. Plan your exits as soon as containment ends.
During one of my Instameet photo outings in Vitry sur Seine with readers
Eventually we’re going to get our freedom of movement back. Prepare your next outings, identify places to visit and photograph, nature spots that you dream of discovering.
When you go out, you’ll immediately know where to go, with the right equipment, at the right time, and you’ll enjoy taking your pictures.
You can even use Instagram (see above) to identify places to be photographed, use the location functions for this.
15. Reread your equipment manual, discover hidden functions
Have you ever taken the time to read the entire manual for your camera? It’s boring when you buy it, hundreds of pages. But since you have time, it’s a good time to discover hidden functions, optimize settings, understand how certain modules like autofocus or video work.
You can’t find the manual anymore? Download it from the manufacturer’s website (Nikon for example).
16. Photography during confinement: participate in photo contests or challenges
Nikon Passion photo challenges
As long as the Internet works, everything’s fine. Identify photo contests, challenges and participate. Have you sorted your best pictures? Submit them.
It’s always nice to see your photos rewarded, or to receive notices.
The photo is also made to be shown and submitted to the gaze of others, do not miss these possibilities that are offered to you.
17. Propose your best photos to interested parties
the dancers appreciate having photos of their performances
Do you think your photos deserve better than a simple publication on the web? Why not submit them to interested parties? Get in touch with the people you had the opportunity to photograph during an event and offer them your photos.
You are not immune to a pleasant surprise, a publication, a sharing that will highlight your work. Take care to edit carefully, don’t submit dozens of unsorted photos. With a bit of luck, you can even hope to earn some income, it would be a nice reward.
18. Launch a discussion group among enthusiasts, motivate each other
We do not lack means of communication during a confinement: telephone, instant messaging (Whatsapp, Telegram), private groups, club sites…
Take advantage of these tools at your disposal to create your own exchange group. Contact your photographer friends, invite them, post messages throughout the day, show your photos.
The more you think photo and share your ideas, the more you progress. It’s a great way to pass the time until you can get out.
19. Discover the street photo around your home, in the city and in the country.
on a random one-hour outing less than a mile away
You can go out for an hour an hour a mile from your house. There are bound to be photos to be taken in this environment.
Wander the streets of your city, the paths of your countryside.
Spend several times in the same place, take advantage of changing weather conditions to shoot the same subject with different lights.
The landscape is constantly changing, show those changes. The city is in constant motion, show it too.
20. Identify your style, your desires, your affinities, develop your creative approach.
develop your style in photography, the secrets of Denis Dubesset
All these activities should also allow you to think about your creative process. What do you like to photograph, how, what is your style?
Ask yourself these questions.
Put your ideas, your feelings, your desires, your practices in black and white.
Get help to do this work if needed (by Denis Dubesset for example).
This work done on you will be useful to you afterwards.
The photo during a lockdown: but also …
These few ideas to help you practice photography during confinement are not an exhaustive list.
There are dozens of other ideas to have, projects to launch, activities to carry out.
Do you also have good practices to share? Tell me what they are! Questions about the above ideas? Ask me!
The confinements follow one another and do not look alike. But they have in common that they deprive you of outings, trips, events to photograph. Rather than getting depressed while waiting for the end of the confinement, practicing photography during a confinement is a great initiative. Here is a list of activities to do at home, or nearby, to keep you busy, enjoy your passion, progress.
20 photo activities to do during a lockdown: the list
Careful, take notes! Here is a list of ideas to help you practice photography during a lockdown.
Making progress in photography, developing your skills, enjoying what you’ve already done are different activities from taking pictures. But they are important too, and can be done at home, without going out, or very little. Rather than lose the urge, get in action and take pictures!
You can also download this article in PDF format, see at the end.
1. Sort your photos, remove duplicates, identify the best ones to make series.
Sort it out!
Take advantage of the long time you have at home to open your photo library, create it if you don’t have one, and sort your photos.
Delete duplicates, failed photos, tests, anything that doesn’t make sense once it’s done.
This allows you to free up space on your hard drives, simplify your backups (learn more) and, most importantly, identify your best photos.
Then you’ll be able to enjoy them instead of letting them sleep on a record.
2. Create photo books
Create a photo book
Looking for holiday gifts and can’t snoop around the shops? Why not create photography books?
You can prepare them at home, have them printed online and receive them without going out.
For example, prepare a book about the past year, the activities of a loved one, the first 20 years of a child’s life or the life of your family.
They are always appreciated gifts, they remain in the memories and are true souvenirs.
You can also, of course, create a book with your best photos, it will be a nice enhancement.
3. Photographing during containment: reorganize your workspace
Create your own photography space at home
Your photo corner is cluttered, you lack space, you would like to organize a space dedicated to your practice?
Clean up, get rid of non-essentials, organize spaces.
Do you have an attic or an unused basement? Why not turn it into a photo space just for you?
4. Sort your photo equipment, clean it, rediscover what you no longer use.
get your old cameras working!
Make an inventory of all the photo equipment you have, and take the time to clean, protect and store everything.
The housings age badly if they are not used, shoot several times, operate the shutters.
Lenses can be erased too, rotate the diaphragms, focus rings, zoom rings.
This simple maintenance ensures the proper functioning of your equipment.
Also remember to charge the batteries and check that they are still in working order.
5. Sell what you no longer use, or give it away.
les annonces photo Nikon Passion all brands
Unpack all your photo equipment and identify what you are not using. There are bound to be a few accessories, old lenses, old cameras that clutter up your cupboards.
You can sell them if they’re still valuable, like giving them away.
Selling your old equipment is another way to make someone you care about happy this holiday season, it’s a way to recycle and it can help a younger person get started at no cost.
6. Update your website, or create a new one.
Manage your photo site
Is your website gathering dust? You haven’t updated your best series? Take action.
Delete the photos you no longer like, add the most recent ones, reorganize the series.
An up-to-date website is a nice business card and the possibility to find partners to make new pictures.
IF you don’t have a website yet, create one. There are many possibilities, both free and cheap.
7. Expand your Instagram account to make discoveries and share with other photographers.
do not use Instagram to post only, exchange with others
Photography is a rather solitary activity and yet communicating with other photographers, taking an interest in what they are doing, identifying projects is part of the activities you should do every day.
Instagram is now the ideal place for this. You can discover many photographers around you, or in the same field as you.
Get in touch with them, ask them questions, take an interest in what they do.
It’s the best way to interact when you can’t get out.
This will allow you to make contacts and meet these people as soon as you can get out.
8. Photography during confinement: training for post-processing
learn post-processing with Lightroom, Luminar, Photoshop, DxO …
Have you ever approached post-processing? Using photo software to give your images the rendering they deserve is not cheating, it’s finishing the job started when you took the picture.
Take a tour of the software offerings, identify the one that’s right for you, install the software and get trained.
9. Learn a new technique, take an online course, read a book, or take part in a workshop.
learn a new technique, a new field in photography
Would you like to learn a specific photo technique? Take some time to train yourself. Browse the expert Youtube channels, the tutorials on the web, discover the online trainings.
Photography is learned on the field, by practicing, but acquiring the basics beforehand is a good option when you can’t go out or very little.
10. Photography during confinement: test the black and white
learn / discover black and white
You only take color pictures? Try black and white!
All you need is the right photo software and a few tutorials to get you started.
Once you start converting your black and white photos, you can move up a gear and specialize. Then get dedicated software (such as the Nik Collection) and work with your images as if you were in a film lab.
11. Discover photography with a smartphone in expert mode
iPhone 12 + flashlight – 26 mm – ISO 800 – 1/8 sec. – – f/1.6
Your smartphone can take great pictures if you use it correctly.
The question of whether taking pictures with a smartphone is heresy or not is no longer an issue. It is a reality and many pros do it, there are many references on this practice.
Depending on the smartphone you have, you can make beautiful pictures in JPG as well as RAW pictures before processing them in a suitable software like Lightroom Mobile (read more).
Take the time to understand how your smartphone works and enjoy always having a camera on you when you can go out after confinement.
12. Read the photo books that are waiting on your shelf.
Knowledge is in the books too
You bought some books in the photo but you never took the time to read them? Now’s the time.
Don’t just turn the pages, take notes, make sure you discover each photographer’s world.
If it is a technical book, identify what you are interested in, make the cards simpler to carry with you at all times.
You can use them when you get out.
13. Conduct a “containment” photo project
an image from my “photo project during lockdown”.
Why don’t you take advantage of this time to complete a photo project?
Choose a subject that is easy to approach without going too far, perhaps even indoors.
Have fun with light, indoor graphics, or nature through your window.
Make portraits of your loved ones.
Think of it as a project that must lead to something concrete: a book, an exhibition, prints. Don’t just store the photos on your computer.
14. Plan your exits as soon as containment ends.
During one of my Instameet photo outings in Vitry sur Seine with readers
Eventually we’re going to get our freedom of movement back. Prepare your next outings, identify places to visit and photograph, nature spots that you dream of discovering.
When you go out, you’ll immediately know where to go, with the right equipment, at the right time, and you’ll enjoy taking your pictures.
You can even use Instagram (see above) to identify places to be photographed, use the location functions for this.
15. Reread your equipment manual, discover hidden functions
Have you ever taken the time to read the entire manual for your camera? It’s boring when you buy it, hundreds of pages. But since you have time, it’s a good time to discover hidden functions, optimize settings, understand how certain modules like autofocus or video work.
You can’t find the manual anymore? Download it from the manufacturer’s website (Nikon for example).
16. Photography during confinement: participate in photo contests or challenges
Nikon Passion photo challenges
As long as the Internet works, everything’s fine. Identify photo contests, challenges and participate. Have you sorted your best pictures? Submit them.
It’s always nice to see your photos rewarded, or to receive notices.
The photo is also made to be shown and submitted to the gaze of others, do not miss these possibilities that are offered to you.
17. Propose your best photos to interested parties
the dancers appreciate having photos of their performances
Do you think your photos deserve better than a simple publication on the web? Why not submit them to interested parties? Get in touch with the people you had the opportunity to photograph during an event and offer them your photos.
You are not immune to a pleasant surprise, a publication, a sharing that will highlight your work. Take care to edit carefully, don’t submit dozens of unsorted photos. With a bit of luck, you can even hope to earn some income, it would be a nice reward.
18. Launch a discussion group among enthusiasts, motivate each other
We do not lack means of communication during a confinement: telephone, instant messaging (Whatsapp, Telegram), private groups, club sites…
Take advantage of these tools at your disposal to create your own exchange group. Contact your photographer friends, invite them, post messages throughout the day, show your photos.
The more you think photo and share your ideas, the more you progress. It’s a great way to pass the time until you can get out.
19. Discover the street photo around your home, in the city and in the country.
on a random one-hour outing less than a mile away
You can go out for an hour an hour a mile from your house. There are bound to be photos to be taken in this environment.
Wander the streets of your city, the paths of your countryside.
Spend several times in the same place, take advantage of changing weather conditions to shoot the same subject with different lights.
The landscape is constantly changing, show those changes. The city is in constant motion, show it too.
20. Identify your style, your desires, your affinities, develop your creative approach.
develop your style in photography, the secrets of Denis Dubesset
All these activities should also allow you to think about your creative process. What do you like to photograph, how, what is your style?
Ask yourself these questions.
Put your ideas, your feelings, your desires, your practices in black and white.
Get help to do this work if needed (by Denis Dubesset for example).
This work done on you will be useful to you afterwards.
The photo during a lockdown: but also …
These few ideas to help you practice photography during confinement are not an exhaustive list.
There are dozens of other ideas to have, projects to launch, activities to carry out.
Do you also have good practices to share? Tell me what they are! Questions about the above ideas? Ask me!
The confinements follow one another and do not look alike. But they have in common that they deprive you of outings, trips, events to photograph. Rather than getting depressed while waiting for the end of the confinement, practicing photography during a confinement is a great initiative. Here is a list of activities to do at home, or nearby, to keep you busy, enjoy your passion, progress.
20 photo activities to do during a lockdown: the list
Careful, take notes! Here is a list of ideas to help you practice photography during a lockdown.
Making progress in photography, developing your skills, enjoying what you’ve already done are different activities from taking pictures. But they are important too, and can be done at home, without going out, or very little. Rather than lose the urge, get in action and take pictures!
You can also download this article in PDF format, see at the end.
1. Sort your photos, remove duplicates, identify the best ones to make series.
Sort it out!
Take advantage of the long time you have at home to open your photo library, create it if you don’t have one, and sort your photos.
Delete duplicates, failed photos, tests, anything that doesn’t make sense once it’s done.
This allows you to free up space on your hard drives, simplify your backups (learn more) and, most importantly, identify your best photos.
Then you’ll be able to enjoy them instead of letting them sleep on a record.
2. Create photo books
Create a photo book
Looking for holiday gifts and can’t snoop around the shops? Why not create photography books?
You can prepare them at home, have them printed online and receive them without going out.
For example, prepare a book about the past year, the activities of a loved one, the first 20 years of a child’s life or the life of your family.
They are always appreciated gifts, they remain in the memories and are true souvenirs.
You can also, of course, create a book with your best photos, it will be a nice enhancement.
3. Photographing during containment: reorganize your workspace
Create your own photography space at home
Your photo corner is cluttered, you lack space, you would like to organize a space dedicated to your practice?
Clean up, get rid of non-essentials, organize spaces.
Do you have an attic or an unused basement? Why not turn it into a photo space just for you?
4. Sort your photo equipment, clean it, rediscover what you no longer use.
get your old cameras working!
Make an inventory of all the photo equipment you have, and take the time to clean, protect and store everything.
The housings age badly if they are not used, shoot several times, operate the shutters.
Lenses can be erased too, rotate the diaphragms, focus rings, zoom rings.
This simple maintenance ensures the proper functioning of your equipment.
Also remember to charge the batteries and check that they are still in working order.
5. Sell what you no longer use, or give it away.
les annonces photo Nikon Passion all brands
Unpack all your photo equipment and identify what you are not using. There are bound to be a few accessories, old lenses, old cameras that clutter up your cupboards.
You can sell them if they’re still valuable, like giving them away.
Selling your old equipment is another way to make someone you care about happy this holiday season, it’s a way to recycle and it can help a younger person get started at no cost.
6. Update your website, or create a new one.
Manage your photo site
Is your website gathering dust? You haven’t updated your best series? Take action.
Delete the photos you no longer like, add the most recent ones, reorganize the series.
An up-to-date website is a nice business card and the possibility to find partners to make new pictures.
IF you don’t have a website yet, create one. There are many possibilities, both free and cheap.
7. Expand your Instagram account to make discoveries and share with other photographers.
do not use Instagram to post only, exchange with others
Photography is a rather solitary activity and yet communicating with other photographers, taking an interest in what they are doing, identifying projects is part of the activities you should do every day.
Instagram is now the ideal place for this. You can discover many photographers around you, or in the same field as you.
Get in touch with them, ask them questions, take an interest in what they do.
It’s the best way to interact when you can’t get out.
This will allow you to make contacts and meet these people as soon as you can get out.
8. Photography during confinement: training for post-processing
learn post-processing with Lightroom, Luminar, Photoshop, DxO …
Have you ever approached post-processing? Using photo software to give your images the rendering they deserve is not cheating, it’s finishing the job started when you took the picture.
Take a tour of the software offerings, identify the one that’s right for you, install the software and get trained.
9. Learn a new technique, take an online course, read a book, or take part in a workshop.
learn a new technique, a new field in photography
Would you like to learn a specific photo technique? Take some time to train yourself. Browse the expert Youtube channels, the tutorials on the web, discover the online trainings.
Photography is learned on the field, by practicing, but acquiring the basics beforehand is a good option when you can’t go out or very little.
10. Photography during confinement: test the black and white
learn / discover black and white
You only take color pictures? Try black and white!
All you need is the right photo software and a few tutorials to get you started.
Once you start converting your black and white photos, you can move up a gear and specialize. Then get dedicated software (such as the Nik Collection) and work with your images as if you were in a film lab.
11. Discover photography with a smartphone in expert mode
iPhone 12 + flashlight – 26 mm – ISO 800 – 1/8 sec. – – f/1.6
Your smartphone can take great pictures if you use it correctly.
The question of whether taking pictures with a smartphone is heresy or not is no longer an issue. It is a reality and many pros do it, there are many references on this practice.
Depending on the smartphone you have, you can make beautiful pictures in JPG as well as RAW pictures before processing them in a suitable software like Lightroom Mobile (read more).
Take the time to understand how your smartphone works and enjoy always having a camera on you when you can go out after confinement.
12. Read the photo books that are waiting on your shelf.
Knowledge is in the books too
You bought some books in the photo but you never took the time to read them? Now’s the time.
Don’t just turn the pages, take notes, make sure you discover each photographer’s world.
If it is a technical book, identify what you are interested in, make the cards simpler to carry with you at all times.
You can use them when you get out.
13. Conduct a “containment” photo project
an image from my “photo project during lockdown”.
Why don’t you take advantage of this time to complete a photo project?
Choose a subject that is easy to approach without going too far, perhaps even indoors.
Have fun with light, indoor graphics, or nature through your window.
Make portraits of your loved ones.
Think of it as a project that must lead to something concrete: a book, an exhibition, prints. Don’t just store the photos on your computer.
14. Plan your exits as soon as containment ends.
During one of my Instameet photo outings in Vitry sur Seine with readers
Eventually we’re going to get our freedom of movement back. Prepare your next outings, identify places to visit and photograph, nature spots that you dream of discovering.
When you go out, you’ll immediately know where to go, with the right equipment, at the right time, and you’ll enjoy taking your pictures.
You can even use Instagram (see above) to identify places to be photographed, use the location functions for this.
15. Reread your equipment manual, discover hidden functions
Have you ever taken the time to read the entire manual for your camera? It’s boring when you buy it, hundreds of pages. But since you have time, it’s a good time to discover hidden functions, optimize settings, understand how certain modules like autofocus or video work.
You can’t find the manual anymore? Download it from the manufacturer’s website (Nikon for example).
16. Photography during confinement: participate in photo contests or challenges
Nikon Passion photo challenges
As long as the Internet works, everything’s fine. Identify photo contests, challenges and participate. Have you sorted your best pictures? Submit them.
It’s always nice to see your photos rewarded, or to receive notices.
The photo is also made to be shown and submitted to the gaze of others, do not miss these possibilities that are offered to you.
17. Propose your best photos to interested parties
the dancers appreciate having photos of their performances
Do you think your photos deserve better than a simple publication on the web? Why not submit them to interested parties? Get in touch with the people you had the opportunity to photograph during an event and offer them your photos.
You are not immune to a pleasant surprise, a publication, a sharing that will highlight your work. Take care to edit carefully, don’t submit dozens of unsorted photos. With a bit of luck, you can even hope to earn some income, it would be a nice reward.
18. Launch a discussion group among enthusiasts, motivate each other
We do not lack means of communication during a confinement: telephone, instant messaging (Whatsapp, Telegram), private groups, club sites…
Take advantage of these tools at your disposal to create your own exchange group. Contact your photographer friends, invite them, post messages throughout the day, show your photos.
The more you think photo and share your ideas, the more you progress. It’s a great way to pass the time until you can get out.
19. Discover the street photo around your home, in the city and in the country.
on a random one-hour outing less than a mile away
You can go out for an hour an hour a mile from your house. There are bound to be photos to be taken in this environment.
Wander the streets of your city, the paths of your countryside.
Spend several times in the same place, take advantage of changing weather conditions to shoot the same subject with different lights.
The landscape is constantly changing, show those changes. The city is in constant motion, show it too.
20. Identify your style, your desires, your affinities, develop your creative approach.
develop your style in photography, the secrets of Denis Dubesset
All these activities should also allow you to think about your creative process. What do you like to photograph, how, what is your style?
Ask yourself these questions.
Put your ideas, your feelings, your desires, your practices in black and white.
Get help to do this work if needed (by Denis Dubesset for example).
This work done on you will be useful to you afterwards.
The photo during a lockdown: but also …
These few ideas to help you practice photography during confinement are not an exhaustive list.
There are dozens of other ideas to have, projects to launch, activities to carry out.
Do you also have good practices to share? Tell me what they are! Questions about the above ideas? Ask me!
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