9 creative photo ideas to try in September

As part of our ongoing series to help you get more creative with your digital camera, each month we publish some fun, seasonal, creative photo ideas to help inspire your imagination.

Along with some amazing images, we’ve also provided some quick photography tips by both amateur and professional photographers who are experts in these fields.

We’re kicking off August with a new list of exciting photo projects like overhead portraits, visual storytelling, vintage still life, moving transport and much more!

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Creative photo ideas for September: 01 Shoot wildflowers with a long lens

Who says you need a macro lens when it comes to shooting wild flowers? Telephoto lenses are also very effective: they compress the scene and enable you to isolate the flowers between a beautifully blurred foreground and a bokeh background.

Landscape and nature photographer Guy Edwardes used this approach for this shot of wild orchids on Hampshire’s Martin Down earlier this summer.

He used a 600mm lens fitted with a x1.4 extender, giving an effective focal length of 840mm on his full-frame SLR.

“You need to get down low to make the effect work,” Guy advises. “If your tripod’s legs can’t get far enough apart, use a bean bag for support.”

To achieve the soft-focus effect on the stems, Guy positioned the front of his lens close to foliage in the foreground and shot through that. “The yellow smudges and circles are blurred-out buttercups,” he says.

Guy adds that wild flowers that grow in meadows are particularly effective for this type of set-up, although you’ll need to hunt around for the perfect specimen.

“Don’t settle on the first thing you see,” he says. “Look for perfectly formed flowers, as well as good background and foreground matter.”

“Shoot early in the morning or later on in the evening with a slight backlighting for best results,” he continues.

“Not only is the light softer at these times, but more importantly it’s less breezy!”

SEE MORE: 25 flower photography tips for beginners

Be prepared to get dirty
Using a bean bag to cradle a long lens on the ground is a great way to get the low angle you need. Cameras that offer a fold-out rear screen or a Live View feed to a phone app enable you to compose shots easily from this awkward position.

SEE MORE: Macro flower photography – 5 fresh ideas that will cost you nothing

How to boost the blur
Set the widest aperture on your lens and make sure there’s plenty of distance between the subject and the background. If there’s little foreground detail, try holding some grass close to the front element.

SEE MORE: Creative flower photography – how to shift focus using layer blending

Creative photo ideas for September: 02 Use flash for portraits

You may think that flash is more useful in low light, but on a sunny day a flashgun can prove to be invaluable.

Off-camera flash is great in intense sunlight and can help you add drama and impact to your portraits.

For our shoot, we had tennis coach Martin Wright as our model. Although a low angle isn’t flattering for most portrait shoots, for an image like this where you want to enhance the presence of the person, it looks really effective.

Include props, such as the tennis balls and racket we’ve used here, to add context to the portrait. It also helps if you photograph your sports star at the end of their game so they’re covered in sweat!

If they’re not sweaty enough, you can always enhance the effect by spraying some water on their face…

SEE MORE: Flash portraits – creative off-camera flash techniques you have to try

How to set up your shot
Set up your off-camera flashgun so it’s at 45° to the subject. To get the right exposure, meter the scene without flash.

In Manual mode, we set ISO 100 and a shutter speed of 1/200 sec, then adjusted the aperture until the background was underexposed by one stop. Now switch the flash on and adjust its strength.

SEE MORE: The easy way to set up off-camera flash for perfectly lit portraits

Creative photo ideas for September: 03 Photograph a robin in your garden

Earlier this year, the British public voted the robin as its national bird in an unofficial poll.

The small but mighty garden visitor is also a popular subject with British bird photographers, thanks to its approachable nature – but you need to take the right steps to get results as good as wildlife photographer Danny Green.

Small birds require long telephoto lens – think 400mm plus – possibly fitted with a teleconverter. They also require suitably fast shutter speeds to reduce the effects of camera shake and freeze the birds’ darting movements.

As a minimum, you’ll need to aim for a shutter speed of 1/500 sec – and much faster if they’re flying. To achieve this, you may need to increase the ISO substantially, or use the largest available aperture.

Finally, frame your bird against a plain background for the most effective results.

For total control over this aspect, set up a perch and feeding station in a photogenic spot weeks or months in advance of your photo shoot.

SEE MORE: Free bird photography cheat sheet

How to set up your camera
Use Aperture Priority mode as this gives you control over the aperture and the depth of field ‘on the fly’, But keep an eye on the shutter speed, too. If in doubt, set the ISO to Auto, as the camera will maintain a reasonably fast speed.

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