Photography Challenges to Stimulate Creativity

For aspiring photographers, going through formal learning is an automatic option to improve the craft. But those who really get good at the art are those who put it to practice at all times, even when there’s nothing or no one viable to use as a subject. In this article, we share photography challenges to stimulate creativity.

This is where a good photography challenge comes in. Engaging in such activities is a fun way to stimulate creativity while pushing yourself to improve, at the same time. 


Here is a list of five photography challenges you may partake in, which rely more on creating limitations to work with. It forces you to come up with other solutions outside of your go-to options to help achieve your goal.

Challenge #1: Take a photo each day of the year

This isn’t that much of a challenge if you think about it. It enables you to be the trigger-happy photographer shooting at whatever his or eyes lay on, with no context whatsoever.

But what’s great about taking one photo every single day of the year is it opens up eyes to different perspectives. Being compelled to take a snap of an image on a day-to-day basis forces you to look at subjects in a way you haven’t in the past.

Doing this practice also compels you to make time for your art. But don’t look at it as a chore. Instead, see it as a fun game you can play to open up creative avenues for yourself.

Challenge #2: Limit your equipment to a smartphone

Here’s a challenge for professional photographers: limit your equipment use to just your smartphone: no special lenses, no other settings, and features. You’ll instead work with a point-and-shoot, (with a few added enhancement features).

Think of it as learning how to drive both a stick-shift and an automatic transmission. It pays to be adept at both, especially during times when you only have either one of the two to work with.

In this case, you’ll get to discover the capabilities of your camera and app supplements which you never knew existed. Feel free to scour online stores for which ones to use.

I like this challenge because I am a big fan of the raw, less-professional looking imagery in photos and videos. It adds more of the photographer’s personal touch.

Challenge #3: Explore an entirely new genre

Just like how it is when trying out different delicacies, experimenting with a photography genre you never tried before also helps in stimulating those creative juices. Shoot portraits instead of landscape images, for one. Better yet, go out of your way and dive deep into underwater photography (pun intended).

Every genre is evidently different from one another, which means the styles involve also vary. Learning each of these different styles along the way can only add to your overall photography game.

Learning something new is always an advantage, especially for an ever-evolving art like photography.

As you can see, these are rather simple, uncomplicated challenges you can put into practice regularly to help improve your photography skills, one way or another. Try at least one of them, and you will see some positive changes along the way.

If you have any other ideas to add on photography challenges to stimulate creativity, let’s talk about it down below.