My Tog Blog About Awesome Content Creation

How to Never Run Out of Photo Ideas

• Tim (Mytogblog) • Season 3 • Episode 36

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The summer season is an excellent time for photography, but sometimes we need a little help with photo ideas. So in this episode, I share my top five sources for finding inspiration and new ideas for photography, covering landscape photography, street photography, and more. Whether you're a photography beginner or an experienced photographer, these idea sources will keep you going all year round.

Thanks to Popov Leather for the opportunity to try out the Leather Notebook holder and Moleskine Notebooks mentioned in this episode. I'm loving those as an addition to my idea generation and documentation system. 

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What's your favourite source for photography ideas?

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[00:00:00] Tim: So the summer season is here at last, and that means it's a great time to get out and do a little photography.

[00:00:07] But to get the most outta this photo season, we need to find a little inspiration for our photo ideas; otherwise, this whole season can end up being a real bust.

[00:00:15] That's why in this video I wanna share with you the top five sources that I've used over the years that have helped me to generate endless photo ideas.

[00:00:23] Because these sources cover a wide range of genres and techniques, I think you'll find that there's something here for everyone, and that's true whether you're into landscape, street, lifestyle, or even product photography.

[00:00:35] And if you stick around to the end, the last source I'm gonna share with you is not only gonna help you come up with ideas, but also show you how you can implement them as well.

[00:00:43] So if you're ready for all that, then let's get into it.

[00:00:45] 

[00:00:50] Tim: The first source for ideas I want to tell you about is called Guru Shots. It's a photo competition website billed as the world's greatest photo game, and in it you can enter competitions that have various different themes. You can see here examples like high-contrast, buildings with color, flocks of birds, and so on.

[00:01:11] Then once you've submitted your photos, you and other competitors vote on the ones that you like as these come up in a feed over the length of the competition.

[00:01:19] I like the site for a few reasons. Because as you're scrolling through to vote in the various competitions you've entered, you're seeing lots of photos from other photographers, many of which they'll consider to be among their best photos because they've entered them into these competitions. So that makes it a great source for photo inspiration.

[00:01:38] Secondly, I do find the game really fun to play. In fact, sometimes I'd find myself. Going out to take more photos just so I'd have more photos to enter into the various competitions.

[00:01:49] Beyond that, the site makes the research process for photo ideas more enjoyable. 'Cause you're not just scrolling through looking for ideas, you're actively engaged in a competition, which makes it more interesting.

[00:02:01] Now, some people don't like this site because there is a small cost to participate in the competitions and you can purchase various bonuses along the way that will help you in the game. So there's kind of a thought that it's like pay to win.

[00:02:15] However, from what I've seen, a bad photo is still not gonna win the competition. And there is an upper limit to how much a player can spend on getting it additional exposure, as they call it. And for me, the more important reasons for participating are to get some good photo ideas and have some fun along the way.

[00:02:30] And the third thing that I like about this site is that by participating in the competitions, you also develop a better eye for what's going to be popular among the other competitors. So in a way, this helps you become a better photographer because it gives you a better sense of what kinds of photos appeal to a broader audience.

[00:02:46] These ones here are examples of some of the ones that I've submitted over the years. Well, the thing about Guru Shots is that these are higher-quality competition-level photos, often showcasing unusual subjects, cool locations, or studio setups that take some time and effort to get set up. What about everyday photos that you could find in your day-to-day life?

[00:03:09] For that, I got a website for you called 3 6 5 Project. This website is based around the idea of a 3 6 5 photo project. That's where you take a photo a day, every day for an entire year. And because of that, the site includes a lot of cool and creative photos that people have taken in their immediate area, at home, in the few minutes they have to get that done.

[00:03:33] And that's one of the things that I actually like about this site. It's a good reminder that not every photo that we take has to be an Instagram-worthy masterpiece.

[00:03:42] In fact, that's one of the reasons I joined this site, was to encourage me to take more photos more often, even if it was just things in everyday life. And this is good because I was becoming way too picky about the photos I was taking and raising the bar to the point where I wasn't taking very many photos anymore.

[00:03:59] But of course, that's not reality. And as photographers, the thing that we need more than anything else to get good and to stay good is to get out there and to practice as much as we can. And this site definitely helps with that. 

[00:04:11] The main downside of the 3 6 5 project is that it actually can be really hard to take a photo a day, every day, even if you're not as worried about quality. For example, I already fell off the wagon with my own photo streak, which started in late April and kept going till about late May.

[00:04:32] I might try and restart this project soon. Now that summer's here, we will see. Um, but the thing I do like about it is that it does succeed in helping you to get out there and take some more photos.

[00:04:44] Tim: Speaking of getting out there, the third source I have for you is an app called Learn Photography 3 6 5. So that's distinct from the 3 6 5 project website. In this case, the app is designed to feed you a range of assignments that you can try anywhere, anytime.

[00:05:00] So let's have a look and see how the app is broken down into different categories. You can see there's a number of different options here. I'm gonna pick various subjects. And since we're in the city, I'll pick urban landscape. And you can see there's different photos that you can click on and each one has an assignment that goes with it. In this case, it's sunlight on architecture. And then, let's see another option here. This one is rectangles, for example, and it's nice how there's a sample photo with each assignment.

[00:05:32] I find this app is super handy for coming up with ideas on the spur of the moment. If you happen to have a pocket of time but you don't have a lot of ideas, you can always consult the app and it'll almost always come up with something for you.

[00:05:43] That brings us to the fourth source for ideas, which is just getting out and driving around, or looking for ideas even as you're going about your everyday life. There are opportunities that you're gonna see as you're out walking around, as long as you're open to it.

[00:05:57] Like the Collingwood Museum here, which is a site that I've driven by many times. It's a beautiful site, including this train station building from 1873.

[00:06:07] It's kind of like learning to see the world as a photographer or a videographer. Photo ideas are literally everywhere and can be found anytime, but the thing is, we can't always stop and just take a photo anytime that we feel like it. Maybe it's not safe or possible to stop at that time, or maybe you just don't have the time amid the hustle and bustle of everyday life. The thing we want to do in this case is jot down the idea before we forget it.

[00:06:33] That's why I was so glad to receive this brand new leather bound notebook holder from Popov Leather. You can see it's high-quality leather, handmade, and comes with a lifetime guarantee. You can also buy these cool Moleskin field note notebooks that fit right into the notebook cover. Personally, I like the Buffalo one. Reminds me of my time in Saskatchewan.

[00:06:54] Anyhow, it's a really good option for writing down ideas as they come up when you're out driving around, or as you're scrolling through some of those sites that we were talking about earlier.

[00:07:02] You know, they say that when you get an idea, you have only a few minutes to write it down or you're at risk of forgetting it. I'm sure we've all had that experience as creators where we have a really good idea earlier in the day, but then when we try to revisit it later, we can't remember exactly what it was. Having a notebook like this is exactly what you need to help prevent that. And if you're coming up with new ideas every day, you're unlikely to remember all of those anyways unless you have a place to capture those ideas. And by the way, I wanna say thanks to Popov Leather for the gift card that they sent me, which gave me the chance to try this out.

[00:07:37] But it's one thing to have photo ideas and another thing to know how to implement them properly. And that "how to" part is where our last source, Photzy, comes in. It's a site that provides both inspiration and education. You can see there's tons of resources here, including cheat sheets and eBooks, some of which are free and some of which are paid.

[00:07:57] The secret I wanna share with you is this is one of the main sources I've used to learn more about photography. I mean, the scope of the resources here is just really impressive. I. These are examples of a few of the creativity prompts that I've gotten over the years. You can see it's in all different kinds of categories, like pet photography, night photography, architecture, and each assignment includes a theory lesson as well as sample prompts for how you can try it out.

[00:08:23] There's also things like these composition action cards, which again, provide a quick theory lesson as well as suggestions for how to practice the theory. And then when you're ready to go deeper, there's entire book-length PDFs on different topics you can study like Light, DSLR Crash Course, Creativity Catalog, Visual Storytelling, and more.

[00:08:45] Now, it's not gonna get you to expert status without some kind of mentorship to go with it, but if you're an absolute beginner, it can take you a pretty long way. I hope you do get out there and have a great season of photography this summer, and if you reference a few of these sources, it should give you a lot of ideas to keep you going.

[00:09:02] But as you're doing that, and taking inspiration from other people's work, it's important to remember to do it in a way that brings your own unique perspective to it. And for that, you might wanna watch this next video right here, which will give you a bit of advice about how to do that effectively.

[00:09:16] Thanks for watching. I hope you have a great day, and we'll see you in the next episode.