Daily, Weekly, and 30 Day Photography Challenges

As both blogs and digital photography become more popular, so do online photography challenges. For anyone who enjoys photography, sharing work online, and taking on new challenges, photography challenges may be a fun experience. There are numerous challenges out there, many of which fall into three categories: daily, weekly, and 30 day or month challenges. I have included some general information about challenges before I get into the list of some of the best challenges out there. I divided them by type of challenge and then within the daily challenges, by the day of the week.

Please note: I personally verified all of the challenges during June 2012. Blogs and challenge details are subject to change at any time without notice.

• Stretch your skills. That may seem obvious, but a good photography challenge will present a real challenge that may push you out of your comfort zone.
• Experiment with new subjects and techniques. It can be easy to use what you already know and do well. Many challenges will get you to consider new subjects and to try new techniques.
• Get feedback on your work. For any good challenge, the host and most of the participants will check out the other entries and leave comments. Challenges can be a great way to get a new audience for your photography.
• Build your photo database. Whether you're interesting in building your personal photo collection for writing articles, blog posts, etc. or are simply trying to capture more moments of your every day life, photo challenges can be a huge asset.
• Network with other photographers. Many people who participate in challenges have active blogs and/or a strong web presence elsewhere online. Participating yourself can be a good method for meeting some of these people.
• Have fun. The best photo challenges are a lot of fun. You'll enjoy getting out and looking for new inspiration that fits specific themes.

• Follow the directions for the challenge. Different challenges have different rules. Pay attention to what the particular host wants.
• Leave a comment for the host. Hosting a good challenge is a lot of work. If you enjoy participating regularly, take the time to leave your host some feedback and thank them for hosting.
• Visit and comment on other challenge entries. One of the best ways to get comments and to keep a good challenge going is to take the time to visit other entries. Make sure to leave a few comments, too.

• Monthly Photo a Day with Fat Mum Slim: This is one of the most popular monthly photo challenges out there. I just started participating a couple months ago and love it. You can read some of my thoughts on this challenge here.
• Project 366 Rewind: Each week there are different prompts to help you share 7 photos from the past week. The new prompts go live on Monday.
• zoom in on gratitude: 30 day photo challenge: You can choose to do this 30 day challenge any month that works for you.
• a week in iPhone pics: Share your phone pictures from this past week. You don't have to include photos from every single day. The link up goes up on Friday.

• Awww...Mondays: Who doesn't love adorable animal photos? Link you own up right here.
• Weekly Kodachrome: You can link up any photo.
• Macro Monday: Link up any macro or close up photo.
• You Capture: There's a new theme every week.
• Mosaic Monday: Create a mosaic with some of your favorite photos from the past week. There are lots of free programs and sites out there with mosaic/collage features such as Big Huge Labs and Picasa.
• Mellow Yellow Monday: Your photos can have a little or a lot of yellow.
• Blue Monday: For those of you who prefer blue over yellow, check this out instead.

• That's My World!: Give a little tour of your local area.
• Sweet Shot Tuesdays: Post your best/favorite shot from the past week.
• Perceptive Perspective: Use the weekly theme to take a new perspective on a familiar subject or to branch into a new subject area.
• Tutorial Tuesday: A couple great photographers have teamed up to present a different photography tutorial each week. Complete the tutorial and link up your result.

• Wordless Wednesday: There are tons of link ups out there for Wordless Wednesday. Head over to the original Wordless Wednesday site right here. Check out Daisy the Curly Cat, aquariann, and Project Alicia, too.
• Signs, Signs: Each week there is a different theme. See if you can find a sign that fits it!
• Outdoor Wednesday: This is for all of you who enjoy shooting outside.
• White Wednesday: Link up your white photos over here.
• ABC Wednesday: This is not a photo only challenge, but of course you can use photos for the given letter each week.

• Alphabe-Thursday: Like ABC Wednesday, this is not strictly a photo challenge, but many people choose to use it this way. Each Thursday, you write a blog post or share a set of photos around a word that starts with the letter for that week.
• This or That Thursday: You can link up any photo that you like.
• Embrace The Camera: Make memories for future generations by getting your camera out today.
• Motion Thursday: Share all of your action shots.
• Photo Theme for Thursday: Link up your photos for a specific theme each week.
• Theme Thursday: Another themed link up for Thursday.
• Lens Day: Have you gotten enough themes yet for Thursday? If not, check this out!

• Shoot.Edit.Submit: The concept here is pretty self-explanatory.
• Skywatch Friday: Take a picture of the sky every week and link it up right here.
• Photo Story Friday: Tell a story around a specific theme using photos.
• Weekend Reflections: You can post any photo that has a reflection.
• InstaFriday: You do not have to use InstaGram to share your photos here. You can use any phone photos.
• Favorite Photo Friday: Link up your favorite photo from the past week.

• The Saturday PhotoHunt: If you read blogs regularly, you've probably seen this one. There's a different prompt each week.
• The Paper Mama Photo Challenge: Each week there is a different theme that you must include in a photo of your kids and/or pets.
• iPhoneography: Link up your cell phone photos.
• Camera Critters: Share pictures of your pets and/or other animals that you've photographed the past week.
• Pink Saturday: Share your new favorite pink finds.

• Scavenger Hunt Sunday: This challenge is what first got me into photo challenges. Ashley is an awesome host, and the prompts are always interesting. There are 5 prompts each week.
• I Heart Macro: Share your love of up close photos with others.
• The Simple Things: Link up a photo of something simple from this past week.
• Sunday Snapshot: You can win prizes from awesome blog sponsors by linking up your snapshot.
• See It Sunday: Link up your photo for the given theme each week.
• SOOC Sunday: Share a photo that is Straight Out Of the Camera (SOOC).