Take a walk around your town or local park and you'll soon find a statue or monument. They don't move, or complain so are a perfect subject for a photographer and most are so well sculptured that you have the opportunity to shoot several varied photographs of them.

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1. Gear Suggestions

Unless you're a particular fan of the carvings that decorate the tops of churches you'll only need a standard zoom lens which means this is a project you can do with your DSLR or compact camera. If you want a little bit more stability take a tripod along but you can quite happily work hand-held.

2 The Statue's Position

When you come across a statue the first thing you should do is take a walk around it to look at the angle. As most statues have a dominating position raised up on plinths, shots of statues can often end up looking a little distorted due to the low angle you shoot from. To combat this just stand further back and use a longer focal length to fill the frame. To improve your shot further, if there are steps or a wall nearby stand on them to give you more height or if you don't mind the trial and error approach you could always put your camera up above your head and take your photo - you may get some surprisingly good results.

3. Think About Backgrounds

As well as looking for the right angle to photograph the statue pay attention to the background as this can change the overall look of the image. A messy background's distracting while a bright sky can affect the meter reading and leave you with a silhouetted statue. Metering from a darker part of the scene can wash the sky out completely so try using exposure compensation if you find metering to be a problem. If you've found an angle you just have to photograph but the background's spoiling the shot, use a wider aperture to throw the background out of focus.

4. Working In Shade

If your statue's in a shaded area, such as under trees, make sure your flash is off as this will blast light into the scene and all the shadows which emphasis the statue's shape will be lost. You may need to use a slightly longer shutter speed so make sure you hold your camera steady or pop it on a tripod to prevent camera shake.

5. Other Locations

When you've walked the length of your town searching for statues there are plenty of sculpture parks across the UK that give you the opportunity to capture several interesting pieces of art in one location.

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