25 Creative Ideas to Photograph in a Boring Location

25 Creative Ideas to Photograph in over 3000 words!

You may be living in a location where is not much to photograph or probably you cannot afford to travel too often on new places for new photographs, or simply your destination did not reached your expectation

Also, you may even remain without any ideas or the photographs you are taking in that specific location are not good enough, or you are just looking for some extra ideas to photograph, then you may be in the right place.

As an instance, I am living in UK on a seaside location. Despite the beauty of the seaside and the town I am living, for years and years I had to travel nearby and further for different things and scenes to shot, but not always possible.

Remaining out of ideas is a common thing, therefore I will try to sum up a few things to photograph in a boring location or your home location without the need to travel.

25 ideas to photograph in a boring location:

1. Not everything should be “big”. Shoot “small” (macro)
2. Candid photos
3. Photographing objects with a telephoto lens
4. If possible, try long exposures
5. Create a black and white photograph
6. Photograph through something
7. Create a spot colour photograph
8. Try different angles
9. Shoot reflection, if possible
10. Shoot panorama or vertorama
11. You can photograph silhouettes
12. Aerial photography, if possible
13. Shoot everything ultra wide
14. Take photographs at night.
15. Still life, on the location?
16. Tilt-shift photography
17. Shoot through a glass ball
18. Golden hour?
19. Create a story from a simple photograph
20. Weather photography, if possible
21. Photograph patterns, if any.
22. If during the night, photograph light trails
23. Shoot anything out of the ordinary
24. Create an imaginary character on a simple photo
25. Edit the photo beyond your imagination.

I know that not everyone lives in a place where are plenty of scenes or things to photograph, therefore it is a good idea to try at least some of the listed above which applies to your location.

Creative ideas to photograph #1: Shoot small, or macro.

Macro photography is always the number one option I am looking whenever I am in either a boring location or one I’ve been before.

By boring location, I mean that the location you are may not be very suitable for photography, by far for a masterpiece.

As an instance with the above photo I’ve photographed about two years ago, It was taken near a fence by a high traffic road.

There are way too many macro subjects that can be photographed in any given locations.

If you want you can read one of my posts ” 10 MACRO PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS” to get more into it.

Creative ideas to photograph #2: Candid photography

If your photography location is around an urban or populated area, it is a good choice (on your own risk) to photograph people on the street

Photographing people expression or while they are attending to their day-to-day tasks is an amazing way to create a story about a place or a community article.

Newspapers are always looking for this kind of editorial photographs to buy.

Creative ideas to photograph #3: Photographing objects with a telephoto lens

Telephoto lenses are not made only for wildlife photography, although taking wildlife pictures is always an amazing way to capture the nature.

Using a telephoto lens on your location (if possible, and if you own one) is always a good idea to create a shallow depth of field around an object from a distance.

Even more, photographing different scenes with a telephoto lens is a good idea to bring that specific scene way closer than it is.

Creative ideas to photograph #4: If possible, try long exposure

The above photograph is taken by myself with a GoPro, long exposure of the waves which gave a misty effect.

This is just one of the many examples I can give you where you can use your camera to take long exposures on your location.

But this is not a guarantee that you may have crazy results by photographing long exposures in any locations.

Pick your location wise where you want to do it.

If you want to know more about it, you can read one of my posts “A SIMPLE GUIDE INTO LONG EXPOSURE PHOTOGRAPHY”

Creative ideas to photograph #5: Black and white photography

Oh yeah! One of my favourites, indeed.

There is so much you can do with a never-dying black and white photograph.

The idea is that black and white photography will always work in many locations, even if they are totally boring and there is nothing to photograph.

I strongly recommend you to read also my other article ” ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY”

Creative ideas to photograph #6: Photograph through something

I gotta be honest, is not something I do it very often, but I definitely have to focus more on it.

Photographing through different objects or holes adds a bit of magic spark to the scene.

In a location where there is not much to photograph, try to create an artistic image by shooting through an object.

It will cost you absolutely nothing to try. Trust me, you will love the results.

Creative ideas to photograph #7: Create a spot colour photograph

Have you ever tried to create spot colour photographs? They are absolutely amazing!

It is one another type of photography I am in love with.

Take a look at one of my posts “what is spot colour photography” if you want to read more about it.

But it does not hurt to try one of your photos already taken where you have a specific subject with vivid colours.

Creative ideas to photograph #8: Try different angles

Is it as simple as the above photograph? Try to shoot different subjects on different angles, such as down-up or up-down.

It’s all about thinking creatively when taking photographs.

And trust me, this also works well in most of locations.

Creative ideas to photograph #9: Shoot reflections if possible. Or shoot a puddle.

This may be a very good example of what I am trying to say here.

Photographing a reflection in different angles, either yourself of a scene from near ground location, can add a bit of magic into your photographs.

Also, if you shoot a scene from a near ground location, try to flip the photo and your image will look like the reality is in the reflection.

Creative ideas to photograph #10: Shoot panorama or vertorama

Just a quick hint here, vertorama is actually a vertical panorama. The second image is an actual vertorama I took of a very tall church, made from panoramas.

Although my above photograph is not a boring scene, try creating a panoramic shot from something that does not reach your photographic standards

Don’t get me wrong, everything is worth photographing. But also creating a panoramic scene may add another spark of magic into your photographs.

Me with my sparks of magic. :/

Did you ever tried vertorama? try creating a vertical panorama the same way you create a classic one. Pick your subject, tall building, tree.

Make sure you don’t stand too close to the subject or the vertorama will become distorted (the idea of a distorted vertorama works also)

Creative ideas to photograph #11: Silhouettes

Photographing all kind of silhouettes against the sun or a very bright source of light can be always a good pick to express your creativity.

It can be silhouetting people, buildings, objects, nature or even a cityscape during the sunset for example.

Silhouettes are easy to create, in special in post-processing where you only have to flat the shadows and play with the sliders a bit for the desired results.

Creative ideas to photograph #12: Aerial Photography

Well, it is obvious that aerial photography is another way to photograph scenes.

As long as your location allows you to fly a drone and you own one, it is a good point to take some aerial shots.

You can check my other post also “5 TIPS FOR TAKING BETTER AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHS” if you want to read more about it.

Creative ideas to photograph #13: Shoot everything you can ultra wide

This is exactly the opposite of my recommendation to use the telephoto lens to shoot different subjects. Now try an ultra-wide lens.

I recommend using a lens under 18mm wide on a full frame camera. There are many on the market. You can also shoot fish-eye effect using either a special lens or a GoPro.

As an instance for the above photograph, I used my GoPro Hero 6 to take that ultra wide shot.

Creative ideas to photograph #14: Take photographs at night

Did you took on specific location photographs during the day but there’s nothing special about?

Sometimes, night photography gives the vibe of the image on your chosen location. It can either be a cityscape, street photography or even astrophotography if you are into it.

Try shooting during the night. You may need a tripod but I hope that won’t be a problem.

Creative ideas to photograph #15: Still life photography

You may’ve been heard about still life photography and is always an idea to try this type of photography to bring objects in a scene to life.

Use any object on your disposal at the current scene to create a still life photograph.

It is not hard at all, you just have to be creative enough. And trust me, you will be surprised with yourself.

Creative ideas to photograph #16: Tilt-shift photography.

Gotta be honest with you here, a tilt-shift lens is not cheap.

You can also achieve the tilt-shift effect of a photograph using Photoshop but it will not be the same.

If you already own a tilt-shift lens, you probably know the capabilities of the lens for creating those types of photographs.

It is not exactly the easiest pictures you can take but worth the effort and the investment.

Personally, I do not own a tilt-shift lens but I am willing to buy one in the near future for my Nikon camera.

You can read more about tilt-shift photography HERE (external link)

Creative ideas to photograph #17: Shoot through a glass ball

A glass ball is cheap and can be bought from anywhere on the internet.

Photographers are using glass balls to express creativity on a specific scene.

This works amazingly even on ‘boring locations’ where there is no much to photograph.

You should always have a glass ball with you and take your chances on creating something special

There are some photographers on the internet who are shooting only through a glass ball, creating their own personal type of photography.

It is a very creative way to reach the next level on photography.

Creative ideas to photograph #18: Golden hour.

This golden hour photograph always had a special title like “sad seagull going to work early morning” 🙂

It may not be the perfect example but there are many ways to photograph during the golden hour, either a landscape or inside a city, street photography (if possible), nature and so on

Everything looks better on the first hours and last hours of the day, accordingly sunrise and sunset.

Creative ideas to photograph #19: Create a story from a simple photograph

This is just one of many stories I once wrote (and poems) with the reference of my photographs:

The Thread

Like many of us we imagine and we know, the thread is often compared with the lifeline of a person.

As nobody is able to live forever, for sure nor a thread have an infinite length.

With the line of life being like the thread, we take one end on the day we are born, and slowly cut pieces of microfibres from that end as the time passes.

But the thread is not much rolled, as much is stretched under a slight pressure, more or less the stretching pressure is different for every person.

A thread is not very strong. If is stretched too much, it can break! That’s the life of a person.

You will never know how long is the thread, where is the other end, the weak spot or if there’s a chance for it to break!

Every second in our lives is extremely precious and should be positively spent with the people we do care about, and to do the things we love to do.

One thing which does not worth is to cut those microfibres for the things we don’t like, for the hate, war and the ignorance of the time.

Be happy! Love and you will be loved!

If you are creative enough, you can even make a website or blog where you can use your photographs to create stories, poems and so on.

I once did it but sadly I had to focus more on the photography than creating stories. Still, have a dozen poems and stories written by myself. Maybe once I will share it with you.

Creative ideas to photograph #20: Weather photography

I remember very well when I took this photograph, with a snow storm over a mountain.

I created this weather photograph in combination with silhouette and black & white and I love the results.

Photographing weather is a good idea if you are able too. But there are not always storms to photograph.

Storms, rainbow, snow, lightning strikes or even more if you are able to, are just a few of the examples I can give you.

There are even photographers who are shooting only storms and lightning strikes, and they are actually quite popular.

You can even make an income from it. There are many magazines and newspapers who may want your weather photographs to promote the nature destruction under different articles.

Give it a try. Next time you see a storm, take some photos.

Creative ideas to photograph #21: Photograph patterns

Patterns can be anything from a zebra-like on the above photo or different shapes which creates a specific pattern.

Do not skip this if you see any interesting ones. Photograph them.

Creative ideas to photograph #22: Light trails

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The above photographs I took are just two examples of what you can get by combining light in motion and long exposure at night.

I did wrote an article “HOW TO PHOTOGRAPH LIGHT TRAILS GUIDE” if you want to get more into it.

Light trail photographs are not hard to achieve. All you need is a camera, tripod and patience. And of course, a bit of creativity.

I am sure you have it.

Creative ideas to photograph #23: Shoot anything out of the ordinary

As I’ve mentioned, it can be anything you see out of the ordinary.

You may not always find subjects to photograph, but I am positive that if you see one out of the ordinary, you will definitely photograph it.

Don’t forget that you can always combine this idea with any other, as I’ve created a spot colour photograph from that toy monkey.

Creative ideas to photograph #24: Create an imaginary character on a simple photo.

If you are good at sketching or drawing, you can use your photographs to add imaginary characters.

Even more, you can create a story from a bunch of photographs by adding those characters performing different tasks.

I am not saying I am good at sketching, but If you like the idea, you can always follow some tutorials found on internet about how to improve yourself.

Take the above masterpiece as a reference of what I am trying to say. 🙂

Creative ideas to photograph #25: Edit the photos beyond your imagination

Post-processing is the ultimate “tool” which can makes a difference between a simple photograph and a real masterpiece

If you are good at it, use your skills to your advantages.

Post-processing is not hard and there are tons of tutorials on the internet to help you edit your photos.

My advice, don’t spend money buying online courses, as the internet is overloaded with tutorials and step-to-step guides about how to edit your photographs through Lightroom or Photoshop.

The above photograph I’ve created using ONLY Lightroom and nothing else at all.

Creative Ideas to Photograph – Conclusion:

There are definitely more creative ideas to cover but this post starts to be already way too long (3000 words).

It does not cost you anything to try a few of my examples to photograph on a boring location.

If you enjoyed this article you can read few other related below:

• The best 7 unique tips for new photographers
• 9 Tips to improve your GoPro photography
• 10 Tips to improve your phone photography