A DSLR camera on the floor infront of a plain grey background

Completed A 31 Day Photography Challenge

31st December 2023 - New Experience Number 46.

Jump to 'Try it yourself'

In an attempt to take better pictures, find my way around the settings of my camera and feel more confident out of auto mode, I decided to embark on a 31 day photography challenge.

I’d never done a photography streak before and it was a brilliant new thing to try. Over the course of a month I developed not only my confidence, but also my creativity. 

The 31 Day Photography Challenge

I set myself some simple rules to follow. If you fancy having a go you could use these or adapt them so they work for you.

  • Take a photo every day for a month.
  • The first photo on the first day contained one object, and the number of items accumulated each day up to 31 objects on the 31st of the month.
  • The objects changed each day.
  • The objects that were the subject of the picture had to be the same.
  • No photos were to be taken on the auto setting.
Stylish photograph of a low lit avocado infront of a dark background
1 avocado
A stylish image of two colourful snowmen Christmas decorations on a plain light background
2 snowmen decorations

Thinking Creatively

The first few days were relatively straight forward. It’s quite easy to find say, 4 items that are the same. Coming up with larger numbers of items, generally meant thinking smaller in terms of the objects.

As well as identifying what I was going to photograph, I also needed to think about how they were arranged.

There are so many different ways to do this. I could have just dropped them all and taken a close up of how they landed. The items could have been lined up neatly and I could have taken exactly the same shot each day just with different objects. I could have gone far more abstract pictures, They could have been much more commercial. 

There was no pressure to create anything specific, and I just set the scenes up as I felt on each particular day.

a stylish low light image of three succulents in terracotta pots in a dark environment
3 succulents, I like the lighting on this one
4 kirby grips in a pile in the corner of the image, on a pink background
4 kirby grips, not very creative but I like the colouring

Studio Shots

There are of course many objects in nature. I love the great outdoors and being in the fresh air. However, without really realising it at first, I was using things in the house.

I don’t have a studio, but I took most of my close up object pictures in the kitchen. It’s nice and warm and very convenient for a much needed brew when I’m snapping away for a while.

Looking back at the pictures I took, I seemed to have tried to capture the objects in a way that’s obvious what they are, but also tried to tell a bit of a story by some of the additional items in some of the pictures.

The way the pictures are lit using artificial light, and the way they are composed, they all look very staged – which actually I don’t mind. It was good to learn how to capture pictures in this way.

the nibs of 5 different pens to the left of the image. Well lit on a dark background.
5 pens. Not a favourite picture. I was lacking inspiration that day.
6 delicious chocolate truffles on a plain background sprinkled with a dusting of icing sugar
6 chocolate truffles - it took a lot of will power not to eat them!

Playing With Lighting In A 31 Day Photography Challenge

As my pictures seemed to be taking on a bit of a commercial feel to them, I was enjoying playing with lighting to create different effects.

I’ve got a brilliant LED light which is small but powerful and creates some brilliant depth and shadows in pictures. A torch is another alternative light source that I’ve used many times.

Although most of the pictures from this challenge look quite similar in terms of lighting, I learnt where to position my lamp and how it altered the feel of the picture depending on where it was.

An abstract image of 7 different coloured pieces of corrugated card lined up next to each other in rainbow order.
7 different colours of textured card
Looking down at some bright fresh cherry tomatoes scattered with the leaves of a green herb on a brown background
8 tomatoes, adding the herbs for an added feel of freshness

Going Manual

Auto is such a safe setting isn’t it? Point and press and the camera does all the hard work, usually resulting in good pictures.

But there’s something immensely satisfying about manipulating the settings yourself, controlling certain aspects of the shot to create different effects, and ultimately producing better pictures.

I used the Live View on my camera. It meant I didn’t need to use the viewfinder so much and could look at the back display to see the scene.

To minimise any movement on the camera, I used a remote to release the shutter, which helped to keep the pictures crisp.

I used my tripod to keep my camera stable and get different angles.

I tweaked the shutter speed and adjusted the aperture, learning how the two impacted each other and worked together. There were a lot of bad pictures along the way that were too dark or too light as I learnt to balance the settings.

Abstract image looking at 9 CDs which are reflecting the light. Taken as part of a 31 Day Photography Challenge
9 CDs. I didn't quite capture the reflections as well as I'd hoped
looking down at a small pile of uncooked penne pasta, garlic cloves, green herbs and a tomato puree tube all on a black background
10 pieces of pasta, with added items to try to create a story

What I Learnt From The 31 Day Photography Challenge

I took a lot of pictures. That’s one of the brilliant things about digital photography. Those pictures that were out of focus, or too dark, or over exposed have since been deleted, but they are a vital part of my photography learning journey.

For each bad picture, I could look and see what I needed to do to make it right. Sometimes it was the composition that didn’t look particularly good. Other times the shutter speed needed to be longer. It was all a learning curve.

Thinking about what to take a picture of and how to set it up was a fun part of the challenge that got me rummaging in cupboards and looking at objects that I don’t usually pay much attention to

Sometimes a picture wouldn’t end up as I had first thought it would. I liked playing around throughout the process to see how changing the composition or the lighting looked, and sometimes exploring an effect in more detail. I enjoyed not being committed to what I thought I was going to take, and the process being fluid.

Close up of a pile of 11 matches on a white corrugated piece of card
11 matches on corrugated card
12 pieces of cotton wool balls gathered together in the top right hand corner of the black and white image
12 cotton wool balls - experimenting with black and white

What Next?

I’m really happy with some of the results, and the 31 day photography challenge definitely helped me to understand my camera when it comes to taking still life, studio shots.

Now I need to challenge myself to other types of pictures; moving objects, landscapes, street pictures, portraits, wildlife and beyond.

It’s really easy to think we need a better camera to take better pictures. However, I’ve decided that I’m not going to spend any money until I really know my way around my current camera. It is capable of so much more than I am aware of, and I want to feel completely confident using it in any situation for any picture before I treat myself.

An image taken for a 31 Day Photography Challenge or 13 white cotton buds piled together in the top right of the image on a purple background
13 cotton buds
Red goji berries arranged on a spoon which is in the middle of the image on a light plain background
15 goji berries

The Rest Of The 31 Day Photography Challenge Pictures

These are the rest of the pictures I took during the month that I couldn’t quite fit into the post above. I hope they might help to give you some inspiration. 

16 one pence coins arranged around a black wallet on a green background. Part of a 31 Day Photography Challenge
16 coins.
close up of a pile of cardamon pods, one is slightly to the side and has been pressed open to show the seeds inside.
17 cardamon pods
Looking down at two lines of tablets next to an open pot containing more tablets. part of a 31 Day Photography Challenge
18 vitamins, technically there are more if you include the ones in the pot!
Looking down at a bowl of deliciously juicy olives. There is a pile of cocktail sticks next to it.
19 cocktail sticks
Looking down at a plate which has two silver spoons next to it. The plate contains herbs and spices that have been arranged into the shape of a Christmas tree.
20 herbs and spices - I think this was my most creative day!
21 sparkly bronze coloured lines of nail varnish on white paper. The nail varnish brush is to the side.
21 lines of nail varnish
cloves arranged into the shape of a flower and petal on a brown background. Part of a 31 Day Photography Challenge
22 cloves
An abstract image of blobs of blue toothpaste arranged in 4 lines with the tube of toothpaste just visible in the corner.
23 blobs of toothpaste
An abstract image of gold cable ties gathered together in the corner infront of a plain light background
24 cable ties - I was struggling for ideas on this day!
Close up of the tassles on the end of a colourful winter scarf, with some bright multicoloured gloves in the background.
25 tassles on a scarf
red tea lights piled up in the background. There is a single red candle in the foreground which is lit ad there is a match next to it.
26 tea lights
A pile of delicious looking chocolate buttons on a plain background sprinkled with icing sugar
27 chocolate buttons that got eaten shortly after this was taken
an abstract image of small colourful balls lit from the side, on a black background
28 hundreds and thousands - I had to use tweezers to move them about!
A small pile of pine nuts on a black background. There are some leaves of basil in the far corner. Part of a 31 Day Photography Challenge
29 pine nuts
Looking down at a blue pepper grinder which has peppercorns positioned to look as though they are coming out of the bottom.
30 peppercorns
A studio shot of a pile of chocolate swirls, with three individual swirls in the foreground.
31 chocolate swirls. Yes, more food!

Want To Try It Yourself?

  • You could simply follow the rules that I set for myself, or come up with your own.

  • Adjust the number of days of the challenge to the number of days in the month you do it.

  • If you have a mobile phone with a camera on it, you can try this challenge. Many phones have pro settings, meaning you can manipulate the way it take pictures rather than relying on the phone doing all the work for you.

  • Maybe there is a specific type of photo that you want to be able to take, so why not aim to take a photo of that everyday?

  • Perhaps it’s the post process you want to work on? You could take the same photo each day but challenge yourself to create different end results by using different functions in your editing software.

Cost Of Experience

  • Free!

  • Most of us have access to some sort of camera. If not, is there someone you could borrow one from?

Recommendations

  • Try experimenting with different coloured paper. A solid block of colour as a background can look really effective for some objects.

  • The picture doesn’t only have to contain the number of objects, you could add in something related to them that helps to convey a story.

  • Get creative!

  • Let me know how you get on, and please share any of your favourite pictures.

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