If you love photography, there’s no doubt that you want to know the best ways to improve your photography. There are countless blogs and articles on this subject alone; what I’m going to do is drop five ideas that might help you become better at photography.
Trying something new is also how you find your style and become the photographer you want to be. So, try these five ideas with your photography in 2022 to see if they help you grow as an artist.
Sharpen Your Composition
Shoot with one lens. There are times when we think more is better: more food, more friends, more clothes. This also applies to photography gear — more lenses mean we can shoot anything. However, sometimes, having fewer options can actually make us better photographers. When we only have one lens on our camera (or one option for composition), we're forced to think harder about how to frame our shot so that it looks interesting. This exercise can hone your composition skills and get you excited about shooting with just one lens. Shooting with one lens may sound limiting, but it actually helps you sharpen your composition skills. Rather than being tempted to move around and change the angle, you stay put and refine your framing technique. You'll quickly notice a multitude of different compositions available from the same vantage point, so choose carefully when composing your image. It will also force you to slow down and think about what you are doing, making sure that what you want is within the frame or deciding if moving farther back or forwards would make the image better before pressing the shutter release button. Most importantly, it will get you out of a rut and make you feel like a beginner again, which is when we all learn the most! 
Keep It Simple With Monochrome
Try monochrome. Black and white photography isn't just for film cameras anymore. Most modern cameras have built-in black and white settings. Shooting in black and white instantly removes all the distractions of color and makes everything simple and easy to look at. Photographs don't always have to be colorful; in fact, black and white images can be some of the most dramatic photographs you'll ever create. The lack of color can draw more attention to important elements in an image.
Of course, when you shoot in raw, it will capture all available hues in the scene, so just set your preview to monochrome. However, if you always shoot in raw for the extensive editing possibilities, be even braver and shoot in JPEG monochrome only, as this will really push your choice of subject matter and composition, as the editing scope is somewhat narrowed.
Change Your Perspective
Try shooting a new subject in a vastly different orientation. Don't just shoot it straight on or at an angle. Shoot your subject from an above angle or below angle, or even try shooting into the shadows. If you mainly shoot in landscape orientation, try limiting yourself to only shooting in portrait orientation. Doing this will allow you to focus on what is important in your scene and how the elements within your scene interact with each other to make your composition.
Spontaneity
Shoot quickly and spontaneously. Get over the idea that every image needs to be perfect or carefully composed so it can live on forever on your Facebook page or Instagram wall. Sometimes, spontaneity leads to that perfect photo. Don't overthink it! The best photos are often captured without any forethought or planning. Sure, you may end up with some odd angles or poor lighting conditions, but nothing will beat that raw emotion that pours out of you when you're just in the moment with no second thoughts involved. Sometimes, the best photos you can take are the ones that happen spontaneously. You don't have to spend forever finding that perfect shot. You just have to be there when it happens. And that's not so hard if you're ready to shoot quickly and spontaneously.
Take Time Off
Take some time off from shooting and then come back to notice how your view of the world has changed. Take a class, read a book, go on a vacation, do something that makes you feel differently about the world around you. Everyone can improve their photography skills by trying something new every once in a while. Try for at least a week without picking up your camera. You'll be surprised how much you can learn about the world around you without trying to capture it on camera. And when you come back to shooting, you'll have fresh eyes to see things in a new light.
Conclusion
You may be wondering why you should try new concepts and ideas for your photography. In the end, it can only serve to better you as a photographer. These ideas have been around for years, even decades. In trying these ideas, you are not only developing your own craft, but you are also opening yourself up to a new way of thinking. And if nothing else, this new approach might elevate the quality of your photography from merely just pictures to ones that convey greater meaning.
You may discover a new love for shooting in monochrome or letting yourself loose with your camera to allow spontaneity into your images. You should push yourself to try new things. That doesn’t mean you have to stop shooting in black and white or only shoot wide to capture the whole scene. It means that you should keep your mind open to new ideas and possibilities for photography.
The most important thing to remember here is not to judge yourself or others too harshly. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, and we’re all trying to get better at what we do. Also, remember that this is simply a starting point for you, not the definitive guide on great photography. Do your own research, shoot your own photos, try different techniques, and enjoy. This is a creative field we’re talking about, after all; there should always be room for creativity and growth.
"Shoot with only one lens."
As a wildlife photographer who often uses a 300-800mm zoom, that would be very difficult.
If I only use the big 300-800mm, with its 20 foot minimum focus distance, I don't know how I could effectively photograph small ground-dwelling critters like toads and spiders.
Conversely, if I forbid myself from using the 300-800mm lens, and only use my 100mm macro lens, then I don't know how I could shoot nice bird portraits of smallish birds that are kinda far away.
I just don't see how "shoot with only one lens" is sound advice for everyone. There are some of us whose photography would really suffer if we did that. Limiting ourselves to one lens doesn't force creativity ... rather, it stifles creativity.
Thanks for reading Tom. It's a general overview of a few suggestions and does depend on the type of subject matter you shoot. 99% of the images I've used are landscape shots bar one, so to be honest it's more geared towards landscape photographers for that part.
I'm sure however there are perhaps ideas that you could try as a wildlife photographer?
These are only ideas and also aimed to create a spark for folks to try different things with their own photography for a day.
Thank you for a well written article it definitely beats the video links.
I spent a whole day with a canon 24mm f2.8 on my 7D MK2, one of the pictures I took got me my highest placed photograph, so far, at my camera club's annual exhibition.
The picture was a jpeg apart from cropping and resizing it was unedited. The camera club restricts to 1600 x 1200 pixels.
So I agree with you. Limiting choices can force you to go back too basics, sometimes with good results.
It really is good to limit your choices, as you say 'you go back to basics' which is where we learn. Thanks for reading.
I agree with the idea of using a single focal length lens. Generally they are catigorized by angle of view, but each focal length offers a unique "perspective" and I believe we each have a way of seeing that naturally matches a particular lens. I used 120mm in 4x5 or 35mm in full frame for almost all of my work. Recently I have been using the Fuji X100, offering a similar perspective.
On shooting in Black and White, the use of contrast filters is a critical part of personalizing images, and shooting in raw offers these tools in the editing phase without carrying a set of filters. I tend to print my color images suppressing the color (saturation) quite a bit to walk a line between color and b&w. Thank for sharing your ideas.
Thank you for reading Douglas. I know exactly what you mean by seeing naturally matches a particular lens, I find myself approaching a scene that way, good point.
I'm embracing the monochrome more and more these days as I feel it takes you back to the basics and lessens the distraction of colors. Focussing more on the content of the image.
It occurred to me that the vast, vast majority of "people photos" I've taken are with an 85mm equivalent. My issue is that many of my photos end up looking the same because they are taken at approximately the same distance, and from a similar position/angle since the perspective is so tight to begin with. That said, I definitely have images that stand out in my portfolio simply for the fact that they are taken at unconventional distance, and a compelling composition, with a moving subject, for example. Anyway, serves as a good reminder not to get stuck on autopilot. If you're experimenting and finding good compositions, just because you're using one lens it doesn't mean all your images will look the same.