Have you ever become so focused on a creative goal that you develop tunnel vision and find yourself neglecting some of the photography fundamentals? That was where I recently found myself so I came up with a photography exercise to reset my brain. If you are looking to hit the restart button on your photography practice, you might want to give this a try too!

losing sight of photography’s core elements

A few years back, I fell unexpectedly in love with the wonderful but challenging genre of bird photography and became a little obsessed with the mastering the basics, i.e., finding the bird, getting it in the frame and locking in focus. I became so single-minded in trying to accomplish those things that I started to let the core elements of any style of photography — light and composition — slip way down on my priority list.

As I gained more experience with bird and wildlife photography, light and composition came back into the mix somewhat. But they still were not key players. It won’t be a big surprise when I tell you that I regularly came back from the field unsatisfied with my photos. Eventually, I forced myself to slow down, study my body of work, and consider why I felt underwhelmed by certain shoots. It finally became clear. I had been neglecting the most basic foundation of a beautiful photograph — light.

Composition could have used some attention too but, really, it was light that had all but fallen out of my consciousness. I used light only in the most utilitarian way and barely even considered it as a creative element. It may sound crazy to neglect something so basic. But my mind was stuck in a loop: find the bird, get it frame, lock focus, repeat. Embarrassing as it is to admit, that obsessive pattern lasted for YEARS! In case you have experienced anything similar, I wanted to share some of the exercises that I’ve done to shake out of that pattern and open up my creativity.

Self-Assignments CAN Help You reset your approach to making photographs

Determined to reconnect with the concept of light, I made myself go out with the camera — not at the fabulous times of morning or evening when good light comes easy, but in the middle of the day when light is notoriously harsh and uninspiring. My task was to follow the light and make a picture out of whatever subject I could find from there. On what looked like a pretty unremarkable stretch of a local nature trail, I focused on letting my eyes fall on any spot that had interesting light. It took a little while to get in the groove but, once I relaxed into the process, I started seeing things I would have otherwise missed. The images below are a few that I made while doing this exercise.

All photographs © 2020 Elizabeth Acevedo

Even though I later thought of ways that I could have executed the ant and red flower photos better, they were a success to me though because the light led me to them and I relaxed into the process enough to actually see the tiny scene in front of me. The photo on the bottom right has a little sci-fi vibe to me, which is fun and not like anything else I have made in the past.

If you want to see more, I put together a short YouTube video I put together right after doing the exercise.

Reconnecting with light is a key goal that I keep in the front of my mind when I’m doing nature and wildlife photography these days. And when I start falling back into old habits - oh yea, it still happens! — I know that I just need to slow down and forget everything else until the light tells me where to go.

Takeaway Photo Tip: let One Fundamental photography Element guide Your field Session

The broader lesson is that, whenever you start to feel dissatisfied with your photographs, first, step back and consider whether you might be neglecting one of the fundamental photography elements — light, composition, or moment. If you have been (or even if you can’t put your finger on what’s missing), grab your camera, head out the door, and let one specific element lead you for an entire photo session. I suspect that you’ll be happily surprised with the results. At minimum though, I bet you will have a lot of fun just shaking up your process!

Check out this post for another self-assignment designed to break up your photography routine and start seeing more creatively again.

Want more photography inspiration? Sign up for the newsletter in the box below and I’ll share future posts about other creativity boosting ideas and other photography tips.