A good beginner project is to pick a subject you genuinely enjoy and photograph it a lot. The key is repetition: take many photos of the same kind of subject, then vary your angle, distance, framing, and settings to see what changes.

You don’t need a complicated project at first. What matters most is practice. Shooting a lot will help you learn exposure, especially with your manual camera, and repeating similar scenes makes it easier to compare results. Once you’re comfortable, branch out into different lighting and situations.

So the best approach is both: start with one subject or situation you can shoot repeatedly, then experiment within it. That gives you a controlled way to learn, while still building confidence to handle other conditions later.