The Ultimate Guide To Creative Photography 54 Tutorials

January 7, 2023 · 48 min · 10115 words · Brian Bradham

Table of Contents

We have collected our top articles to guide you in your creative photography adventures! [Note: ExpertPhotography is supported by readers. Product links on ExpertPhotography are referral links. If you use one of these and buy something, we make a little bit of money. Need more info? See how it all works here.]

Get Started With Creative Still Life Photography

Beginners Guide to Shooting Still Life Photography

Still life photography is an excellent way to dive into creative photography and improve your photography skills. You are in control of every single aspect. It gives you more freedom than any other photography genres. And you don’t even need a lot of fancy equipment. In this article, we’ve got some great case studies to help you get started.

10 Easy and Fun Still Life Photography Ideas

You don’t need any complicated gear or rare props for amazing creative photography. The most important thing you need is an inspiration and a good idea to start with. We collected ten easy and fun creative photography ideas that you can do at home. You can try playing around with patterns or shapes. You can include chalk drawings to make your images look fun. Or you can play with food or coffee. For the rest of the ideas, read our post here.

10 Great Tips for Shooting Still Life Photography

So the ideas above inspired you to jump into creative still life photography. But where and how should you start? Well, you need to start with the equipment. What type of lens should you use for your creative still life images? What about other essential equipment, like a tripod? We suggest getting one to have consistent results. A tripod also frees up your hand, which can be crucial when you start to experiment with dynamic creative images. Want to know the rest of the essential tips to start shooting creative photography? Check out this article.

8 Still Life Composition Tips for Photographers

As a beginner photographer, we hear way too many rules and have to learn a lot of academic knowledge. But often what we need is practical tips, instead of all the theory. For example, you can use simple shapes like triangles or curves as templates for your composition. Or use balance and symmetry to draw the viewer’s eye. We have a few more composition tips to help you improve your creative photography skills. And you can forget those mainstream composition rules for a little bit!

How to Use Complementary Colors in Photography

One of the easiest yet most effective ways to create eye-catching creative images is the combination of colors. Some colors pair well together and create visually pleasing results. Complementary colors are on the opposite of each other on the color wheel. They create the strongest possible contrast, which leads to vivid and energised effects. There are a few popular complementary color pairings, like red and green or yellow and purple. Learn more about using complementary colors in your photography.

25 Stunning Examples of Complementary Colors

You might need more inspiration and photography ideas for using complementary colors in your images. Think about red and green, which appear so often in our surroundings. A strawberry or a ladybug are excellent examples. But it’s not by chance that Christmas decorations are combinations of red and green. Or think about orange and blue. Both colors are associated with strong and opposing concepts. Warmth and cold or fire and ice. Check out this article with 25 stunning examples to find more creative inspiration.

How to Use Contrasting Colors in Photography (With Stunning Examples!)

If an image has contrasting colors, it easily catches and draws the viewer’s eye. In photography, we can talk about two types of contrast. One is tonal contrast which deals with the difference between the darkest and lightest tone in the picture, regardless of the hue. The other type is the color contrast which refers to the difference between the hues. But how can you build contrast in your image? When using contrasting colors, it’s a smart idea to keep everything simple. You can also highlight your subject by using contrasting colors. Or use simple shapes and pure tones. Want to know more about using color contrast in photography? Read this detailed article.

How to Use Color Contrast in Photography: Orange and Blue

Orange and blue are the most common complementary color pairs in photography. The reason is that combining these two colors results in the most notable contrast. The combination is so popular that even filmmakers have a special term for it: ‘amber and teal’. Orange and blue look fantastic because they create a great contrast and also emphasise each other. Now you know why it is good to use orange and blue combinations in creative photography. Learn how you can use it in your images.

5 Tips for Black and White Still Life Photography

If you want to take your creative photography skills to the next level, you should experiment with black and white photography. Without colors, you can highlight shapes and textures more in your image. You can do this by playing with the angles of the light. Black and white photography is also an excellent opportunity for visual storytelling. You only have to select the right subject like jewellery from an elderly relative, a children’s book or shells from your beach walk. For more creative black and white photography tips, read this article.

8 Tips for Perfect Flat Lay Photography

Creative photography isn’t only about composition or colors. It is also about angles. Flat lay images allow space for a lot of creativity. You can go for a minimalist style and photograph only a few subjects. Or you can arrange a lot of objects in the frame, and create organised chaos. Managing negative space is another way to improve your creative flat lay photography. For example, you can fill the frame with small objects and leave empty spaces that form letters, adding up to a message.

What Is Conceptual Photography? 32 Inspiring Examples

Conceptual photography offers the perfect opportunity to express yourself with symbols, ideas and themes. Conceptual photography allows you to make the most of your creative freedom. The only thing you need is a good idea. And where do you find it? Check out our 32 inspiring examples.

How to Create a Storyboard for Photography

Preparing for a creative photography photoshoot can feel overwhelming and chaotic sometimes. A storyboard can make the preparation process much easier and more efficient. A storyboard has information about the scene, the location, the camera equipment and the techniques. It contains many squares with pictures and illustrations that represent each shot. There are often notes and comments too. To learn how to create a storyboard for your photoshoot, read on here.

Creative Photography Ideas in the Kitchen

You don’t have to find a fancy studio or an extreme location for your creative photography. Your kitchen might have the perfect ingredients and subject for a creative photoshoot. Food is a simple and available subject that allows for a lot of creative freedom. Follow our recipe for creative photography!

Cookies are excellent subjects because you can tell various stories with them. Plus, they are easier to photograph than cakes or other pastries. So they are also perfect for beginners in food photography. Start your cookie photography with a plan that is based on your photo shoot’s goal. Choose a character who is making the cookies. You would design a different scene for a granny’s bakery and for a professional chef. Think about the location where you want to showcase the cookies too. Are you going to photographs them in the kitchen? Or maybe at a birthday party in the park? The location choice will also influence the set up of your cookie photo shoot. We have nine more great ideas for creative cookie photography in this article.

9 Best Techniques for Taking Amazing Coffee Photography

Coffee goes very well with cookies, so let’s learn more about creative coffee photography. The subject is simple but it has a lot of creative potentials. For example, you can showcase the details or the ingredients of a coffee-based drink. Capture a cappuccino with coffee beans, ground coffee, a glass of milk and with cinnamon powder around it. Or draw with coffee beans and add exciting typography to your pictures. But you can also add motion like splashes or steam to your creative coffee photography.

How to Create Magical Still Life Photos With DIY Flour Clouds

You can also opt for the most basic ingredients and use them as your creative photography subjects. Why don’t you give it a try and photograph flour clouds? You can create beautiful clouds by throwing flour in the air. But it’s a bit trickier than you might think. You cannot control the motion of the flour. And often it falls in ugly chunks rather than in dreamy clouds. The good news is that we have a step-by-step tutorial on how to create DIY flour clouds that make your creative photo look magical.

How to Photograph Glass: 8 Tricks to Improve Your Glass Photography

Glassware is a simple object to capture, and you surely have one glass item at home. But taking photos of glass is often a nightmare for photographers. There are a few tips that can help you take amazing glass photography. You can use a backlight to combat unwanted reflections. You can also photograph the glass in front of a black background. This way, you can create a stunning white glowing outline of the glass. For the rest of the eight tricks read this article.

How to Create Cool Broken Glass Photography

Talking about glass photography, why not try and photograph broken glass? You can turn the glass ruins into a piece of art and amaze everyone with your creative photography. Broken objects are charming because they all have a story. And you can tell this story with your photos. To create cool broken glass photography, you only need a few simple props and no fancy equipment. Read our step-by-step tutorial to build your scene and take awesome shots.

How to Shoot Creative Reflections in Drinks (All In-Camera!)

If you don’t want to break anything but still want to play in the kitchen, you can photograph creative reflections in drinks. The most important thing you need is a big source of soft light. This can be window light, a diffuser or a softbox. Find a constant light source so it will be easier to see the reflections in the drink. Read on for the whole process of shooting creative reflections drinks.

How to Photograph Levitating Coffee Splashes

Photographing splashes is fun and makes your creative images look unique. With a couple of props and a few photography equipment, you can create entertaining scenes. You will need two strobes or speedlights to freeze the splashes. It’s not the short shutter speed that is freezing the motion but the short flash duration. Here is our guide for photographing levitating coffee splashes.

Creative Photography Ideas With Everyday Objects

There are lots of everyday objects around us that make awesome subjects for creative photography.

How to Use Paint in Water Technique for Cool Liquid Photography

You can create amazing paint shapes with only a few simple ingredients. Gather a small fish tank, acrylic paint, syringes, the main subject and supports to keep your main subject at its place. Before starting to put everything into practice, plan your scene and the story you want to tell. Abstract pain clouds look nice, but you can get much more creative. You can choose fruits, vegetables or flowers to turn them into a colourful dissolving cloud. Or pour some paint into a long drink glass and prepare a cloud cocktail.

7 Tips for Creating Magical Still Life With Smoke Photography

Smoke looks mystical and cryptic and makes your creative photography very exciting. You can add smokey effect in post-processing but why don’t you create smoke on set? It’s much more fun, and the end results look stunning. The good news is that you can create smoke by using a bunch of incense sticks. Check out our step-by-step tutorial and set up a magical scene with only a few props.

How to Take Powerful Fire Photography Shots’

‘Where there’s smoke, there’s fire’, they say. So after the smoke photography tutorial, it is about time to talk about fire photography. The beauty of fire and flames is undeniable. And you can use simple objects like a fireplace or a candle to photograph fire. When it comes to fire photography, you have a lot of creative options to tale photos. You can capture sharp and detailed fire images. To achieve this, use a narrow aperture like f/8 or larger. But you can also use fire as creative and cosy lighting for portrait photography. Or capture silhouettes in front of a bonfire. For more fire photography ideas, check this post.

18 Tips for Beautiful Jewelry Photography

Everyone has some kind of jewelry at home. They make stunning subjects, and you can tell wonderful stories with them in your creative photography. There are two kinds of jewelry photography: product & e-commerce photography and editorial photography. The latter is the one that allows more creativity in your images. When you photograph jewelry, try to think about the story you want to tell with your photo. Read on for camera settings, lighting and other tips for beautiful jewelry photography.

10 Creative Tricks for Shooting Photos of Toys

Toys are fun and remind us of our innocent childhood. Children can play with a simple toy for hours, creating stories and living in a fantasy world. And as a photographer, you can recreate this imaginative world. You can photograph different kinds of toys. Lego toys, dolls, action figures, toy cars or Barbie dolls. And all of them offer excellent visual storytelling opportunities. You can take toy photos indoors or outdoors, using your environment to help to build your scene. Need more ideas? Check out our article on toy photography.

How to Use Smoke Grenades and Smoke Bombs for More Exciting Photos

Smoke grenades and smoke bombs are toys for adults only. You can play around with them and get fantastic creative photos as results. The first thing you have to keep in mind is safety. Never use them around children or animals. Always pour water on the smoke bombs after you used them. Be aware that some smoke bombs leave stains. When you ensured that you have the right location and the right weather conditions, it’s time to have fun with smoke grenades and smoke bombs. Capture smoke coming out of an object. Or use the smoke’s texture to get surreal photos. Or choose one of the ideas in this post.

Scanography – What It Is and Why You Should Try It Today

Do you have a flatbed scanner at home? Then you have another excellent opportunity to take your creative photography ideas to the next level! You can use a flatbed scanner to scan 3D objects and turn them into images. You only have to remove or prop open the lid and arrange the objects on the scanner’s glass surface. You can scan flowers, plants, rocks or even moving metal bike parts. Your creativity is the only limit for scanography. Here you can read the in-depth information about how to do scanography.

10 Awesome Tips for Photographing Neon Signs

Neon signs are all around us, and they make eye-catching subjects for creative photography. Their brightness can make neon sign photography challenging. But it is the perfect opportunity to improve your nighttime photography skills. To get the best results, take photos of neon signs at night. If it’s after a rainy day, even better! You can look for creative reflections. Read this article for more tips on neon sign photography.

10 Cool Ways to Use Your Speedlight

Speedlight is a simple piece of photography equipment that you can use in various creative ways. You can use it as your main light source. You can also a speedlight behind your subject, creating a glowing silhouette. You can even create your own moon with a sheet of black paper and a speedlight behind it. Speedlights can make objects glow from the inside. Or they can help you capture rising steam or smoke. How? Read the details here.

DIY Creative Photography Ideas

Besides using simple objects, you can also find fantastic DIY ideas to enhance your creative photography.

How to Make a Cool Hand Painted Background for Photography

Every image needs a background, so why not creating your own cool hand-painted one? It’s easy, cheap and unique. If you want to make sure that your DIY background will last, use acrylic paint. You can use it on almost every surface. And it provides excellent coverage. Read this article for more tips and to learn how to paint light, dark, outer space DIY backgrounds.

7 Great Alternatives to a White Photo Background

Okay, so you might not be into painting backgrounds. There are still ways to get creative and find more interesting alternatives than a white photo background. When you are looking for a background, it should have the right texture and colour. Plus, it shouldn’t cost you a fortune because there are enough things to spend money on as a photographer. For example, you can use wooden boards. They are affordable and versatile. And look very natural in your photos. You can find one-piece boards or versions that you have to assemble. But you can also use a piece of wooden furniture or a barn door. For the other six ideas, check out this post.

Try These 10 Easy (and Awesome!) DIY Photography Props Today!

DIY props are excellent both for beginner and for professional photographers. You can vary them as you like, they are affordable and make your photos look more unique. When you make something from nothing, your creative skills and imagination develop. That is beneficial for your photography too. And you don’t need fancy equipment for DIY projects. You can turn light bulbs into flower pots to spice up your image. Or you can creative fluffy clouds by using pillow stuffing and glue. Check out other easy and awesome DIY photography prop ideas.

8 Great Tips for Using Typography or Text in Photography

Using typography and adding text to your images can spice up your creative photography game. You can use traditional tools like pencils, ink, pens or paint. But you can also create your own travel stickers to match the photo’s atmosphere. Or you can use coffee beans and form letters from them. This way, the text will be your main subject or model. And how about using chalkboard writing and combining it with real objects? Click here to read more great tips for using text in photography.

Creative Photography Ideas for Every Season

Every season has its unique charm. And a lot of opportunities to get your imagination moving and find new creative ideas for pictures.

Spring Photography Ideas for When You’re Bored

Spring is the perfect time to experiment and try new things. It brings an extreme change in the scene with its flowers, leaves and sunnier days. You could pick one prop and go for a walk, taking images of the same object in different spring environment. Or you could explore the tiny world of the flowers popping up everywhere. It’s raining outside, and you don’t know what to do? Go out and take spring photos in the rain! But you can also mimic the rain in your warm and cosy studio. Here is how to do it.

12 Fun and Creative Easter Photography Ideas to Try

Easter is the perfect spring holiday when the family gathers together, and there are food, fun and people around you. They all offer excellent opportunities for creative photography ideas. You can take colourful flower photographs as well. Go to the local flower market or to a field full of beautiful plants, and capture the newborn nature. Want more fun and creative Easter ideas? Read them here.

17 Awesome Summer Photography Ideas to Try Yourself

Summer is full of adventures and exciting programs. Why don’t you capture the season on your photographs as well? A picnic is an amazing opportunity to take creative summer pictures. You can photograph the details of the picnic basket or take fantastic group photos. If you are into sports photography, summer is the perfect time to practice your skills. Capture surfers, windsurfers or people cliff jumping into the sea. Or go take photos of skaters, bikers and runners. Find more inspiration for summer photography ideas here.

How to Shoot Creative Still Life Photography for Halloween

Halloween is full of mystical, spooky and fun creative photography ideas. You would decorate your house anyway, why not set up a cool Halloween scene? You can capture the Jack-o’-lantern you carved and use it as your main hero. Use artificial spiders, old books, brooms and potion bottles as props. Or you can capture Halloween candies, cookies or pumpkin pies if you are into food photography. Read this post to learn how to set up a creative Halloween scene from scratch.

10 Christmas Inspired Ideas for Still Life Photography

After autumn is gone, winter comes with its cold and darkness. And Christmas spirit, of course! This holiday is full of lights, sparklers, food, decoration and cosy scenes. All of them are excellent bases for creative photography ideas. You don’t even have to create a specific photo scene to take pictures. You can capture moments that are part of your holiday celebrations. Get some inspiration here, and take your Christmas photography to the next level.

Christmas Cookies Photos: How to Take Levitating Still Life Photos Full of Cheer

Sure, you can take creative flat lay pictures of Christmas cookies. But why don’t you get more adventurous and take levitating photos of them? They will convey the true Christmas magic vibes. Levitating objects add dynamics to the scene. And they look super fun! You might think that it’s enough to grab a handful of cookies and drop them while you put your camera in Burst mode. But that would be only good for wasting your delicious cookies. Instead, you have several other solutions. Follow our tutorial to construct your levitating cookie-scene.

How to Use Sparklers to Create Otherworldly Still Life Photography

Sparklers are essential parts of the Christmas celebrations. They are affordable and easy to find. This makes them the perfect creative photography tools. Add sparklers to any photo, and they will bring a magical and festive atmosphere into the images. When you are working with sparklers, the best idea is to come up with a story. Like a New Year’s Eve celebration or an idyllic Christmas Eve. We created a few scenes in this detailed article.

How to Photograph Christmas Lights

Whether you are shooting indoors or outdoors, there are a couple of rules you should keep in mind when capturing fairy lights. For example, Christmas lights are beautiful but not very powerful. To make their glow visible, you need a slow shutter speed. This means that you also need to use a tripod. Otherwise, you cannot avoid camera shake and blurry lights. Check out other good tips on how to photograph Christmas lights.

Creative Fine Art Photography

We have talked a lot about still life photographing and capturing everyday objects in a creative way. But creative photography also includes photographing fine art.

What Makes Photography Art?

Before diving into the depths of fine art photography, we need to start from the basics. What is fine art photography? There is no strict definition. Its goal is to express an idea, an emotion or a message. Fine art photographs are created with a vision in mind. And as carefully as a painting. Often, they need more sessions before being complete. Fine art photographs should affect your emotions and trigger thoughts. But how do you know whether you created have fine art photos? And how can you create them? The answers are here.

Fine Art vs Commercial Photography

The concept of fine art photography is very abstract. There is no strict definition. But we can distinguish fine art from commercial photography in an easy way. Commercial photography is all about a product or a service. The main goal of the photograph is to sell the product. And your client will give you strict guidelines. In fine art photography, you have creative freedom. You can make your images as abstract or as clear as you want to. Learn more about the differences between fine art and commercial photography.

21 Inspirational Fine Art Photography Examples

To get you more excited about fine art photography, we collected 21 inspirational examples for you. They might get your inspired. Or they help you identify what belongs to the category of fine art photography. Some of them will make you think. Others will be disturbing or emotional. But none of these photos will leave you unaffected.

The 10 Best Lenses for Fine Art Photography

If you are serious about fine art photography, you will want to invest in the right lenses. We collected the ten best lenses to help you out. There is a 35 mm f/1.4 among them. It’s a wide-angle lens that helps you create story-oriented and atmospheric pictures. Or the Lensbaby Velvet 56mm/f1.6 is also one of them. It’s a very versatile lens which makes it a perfect fit for fine art photography. Want to know the other eight lenses? Read about them here.

7 Fine Art Photography Tips to Get You Started

As you follow the path of fine art photography, you will have questions popping up all the time. The good thing about photography is that it is a lifelong journey of learning. Start by writing an artist statement. It’s helpful to write it down before a project because it clears your vision about it. It doesn’t have to be a long paragraph, only a couple of sentences. More fine art photography tips are waiting for you right here.

How to Shoot Statue or Sculpture Photography

You might want to focus your fine art photography on a certain niche, and capture statues and sculptures. It is always tricky to capture pieces of art. What angle should you take the photo from? And what is the best light to emphasise the beauty of a marble statue? All your questions are answered in this article.

How to Photograph Artwork: From Settings to Lighting Setups

You might not only want to capture statues but other artwork as well. You can use our tips to photograph paintings, drawings, textiles, prints and many other things. We discuss everything from camera settings to lighting setup to help you improve your artwork photography.

How to Capture Stunning Fine Art Street Photography

Fine art street photography is the mixture of traditional photography, street narratives, art and post-processing. It is a complex niche in creative photography. Despite being challenging, it is an awesome way to tell stories through your artistic photos. The most important thing is patience. Take time to feel the environment and the people around you. Make a mental note of everything you sense: noises, scents, touches. This is the atmosphere you want to convey in a story.

22 Best Fine Art Photographers You Should Know

An excellent way to improve your fine art photography skills is to study other photographers’ work. Get to know their style, their subject choices or their editing skills. We collected the 22 best fine art photographers to help you find inspiration for your art.

How to Edit Black and White Fine Art Photography

Fine are photography often appears in black and white versions. Black and white photography allows you to highlight shapes, textures and emotions. It is easier to tell a story via black and white photography because the colours are not disturbing the viewer’s attention. You can capture pure and raw reality in black and white. To be able to get impressive results, you have to learn to edit your black and white photos. Here is our editing guide for stunning B&W fine art photography.

Make Sure to Avoid These 10 Fine Art Photography Mistakes

Photographers are also humans, so they make mistakes. Sometimes, you won’t be able to succeed in certain photography genres. Or you will fail to accomplish a photography project. But this is normal, and the best you can do is to learn from your mistakes. Or better, learn from other photographer’s mistakes. We collected ten fine art photography mistakes to avoid. For example, we don’t want you to spend a lot of money at the beginning of your fine art photography road. Use a camera, one lens and a simple background. Practice and take limited equipment as a creativity challenge.

The Complete Guide To Fine Art Photography: 135 Tips

Fine are photography is one of the most creative areas of image capturing. It allows a lot of creative freedom and keeps your imagination fresh. If you are all about fine art photography, read our complete guide here. We have 135 tips to help you master this beautiful niche of photography.

Post-Processing Ideas for Creative Photography

Creative photos wouldn’t be complete without some editing. Sometimes, you only need to play with the tones or the highlights. Or maybe you need to remove some unwanted details. But you can also make your creative photography more unique by using post-processing tricks.

How to Use Focus Stacking for Sharper Photos

Sometimes your images don’t turn out as sharp as you wished. Focus stacking is the right solution for your problem. Focus stacking is a technique that combines many images of the same object shot at different focus points. The result will be a photo that is sharp everywhere. It’s a very common technique in macro, landscape, still life and architecture photography. Here is a guide to using focus stacking.

How to Make Cool Glitch Art Photos

Glitch art is getting more and more popular. You can see it everywhere, from social media to music videos. You can edit your photos and add an extra creative wow factor to your photography. Check out this tutorial for making cool glitch art photos, and master your creative photography skills.

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title: “The Ultimate Guide To Creative Photography 54 Tutorials " ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-30” author: “Misty Riseden”