Dodho Magazine partnered with GuruShots “The Worlds Greatest Photo Game” in a photo challenge contest to its titled “Best Still Life Shots”  Over 100,000 photos were submitted and more than 45 million votes were cast!

Every subject of every still life photo has some sort of appealing feature. It might be the shape, or possibly its color. Sometimes it is the object’s function, its texture and so forth. There is something interesting. As an artist, it is your job to figure out what that something is. Or, if you just can’t find an intrinsic “interest factor” you need to create one with lighting or positioning and so on. Of course, the goal is to do both.

When you are searching for still life photography ideas at home, here is a challenge that can help improve your creative eye: Pick an object that appears to have no photo appeal at all. Then set up a still life photo using it and keep working it until you find a way to make a stunning photo.

Try showing the entire object in the frame, then move closer and show only a part of it. Try getting even closer and do a micro close-up. Try positioning it at various angles, try different lighting patterns and colors, and different backgrounds. Keep going until you have a shot that you are proud of. Then pick something else and do it again. Yes, it’s hard but it’s probably one of the most rewarding exercises you can do.