Converging Lines Assignment

I hope you did this week's assignment because lines make for very interesting photographs. Converging lines can take your viewer's eye on a journey. I did a simple shot of railroad tracks. Notice how I put the point of convergence in the bottom third of the picture using the Rule of Thirds. It's a very simple but effective photograph.



I hope you will comment with a link to your shot for the week. Next week's assignment:

-- A Sense Of Scale --

Take a picture that gives a sense of scale, whether true or false. How about a huge building with small figures standing at the bottom of it? Or tiny toy figures swarming over your dinner plate?

Circles Assignment

Were you able to get creative this week? I had a few ideas but went with this one. We have adopted the Sigg water bottles at our house. Check out their website (much better for you and the environment!). So I grabbed a few of them and put them in the foyer on the wood floor. Then I got my ladder to get high enough above them to shoot straight down. Fun little picture:



If you did the assignment, make sure you comment to this post with a link to your shot so we can see it.

Next week's assignment:

-- Leading Lines --

We should be able to get some great pictures for this assignment. Read this blog post for a great explanation!

Morning Assignment

Welcome back to Assignment Wednesday! If you took a picture for this week's assignment, just put a link to your picture in the comment section of this post. I took this shot of an old barn just after sunset and took advantage of the nice, long, warm rays of the morning sun.



Next week's assignment:

-- Circles --

I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Assignment Wednesday Is Back!

Let's get back to it. If you're new here, every Wednesday is assignment Wednesday. I give an assignment and we all go out and complete it during that week. You may not use a picture that might fit the assignment that you took some time ago. The point is to get you out and shooting and to consider the assignment... even plan it out.

Then, the following Wednesday I will post my picture from the assignment and you can post a link to your Flickr account with your picture so we can all see it. Make sure to explain the thought process behind the photo and how you got it.

This week's assignment:

-- Morning --

Anything that deals with the early part of the day, sunrises, work commutes, breakfast, etc.

Now get out and do it! I want to see some pictures here next week!

News Photography Assignment

Sorry I am posting so late on this Assignment Wednesday. I didn't get my pictures for this week's assignment until this morning. I was able to photograph Operation Uplift in action at the Lake Weir Middle School. Operation Uplift is a project sponsored by Chick-Fil-A who has partnered with numerous schools and businesses in the area to help fill all the food pantries close to Lake County. Today was one of the pickups and I got to take a few shots.


Some of the food that had been collected at Lake Weir Middle School.


Volunteers from nine different food pantries in the area walk out of Lake Weir Middle School with boxes full of food.

It was an exciting day, and I'm proud of Stephen May and his team at Chick-Fil-A for what they are doing.

Next week's assignment"

-- Food Photography --

You will probably have some good chances to do this assignment seeing that tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day! Have fun!

Natural Framing Assignment

Many times in nature or in our everyday surroundings, we can find subjects that are naturally framed by other objects. Whether it is a window, looking under a bridge, a break in the trees, or anything else, it's a neat perspective to have and many times makes for a great picture.

My shot this week is of some flowers and a waterfall but shooting through a glassless window with a cool design in it.



If you were able to get a shot this week, post a link to it in the comment section below.

Next week's assignment:

-- News Photography --

Get out there! Capture the news as it happens!... Or, Build a news desk and shoot yourself? Turn a child into a reporter? ...Just make it something that says to the viewer "News or Reportage"

10 Minutes From Home Assignment

Welcome back to Assignment Wednesday! This assignment was more fun than I thought it was going to be. I drove exactly 10 minutes from home, got out of my car, and started looking for things to shoot. I had my 60mm macro lens because it had been a while since I had used it and thought this would be a good opportunity... and I was right. I spent about 10 minutes walking around and taking pictures. Here are some of my favorites:











I hope you had a good time doing this assignment, and I'd love to see the pictures you got. Next week's assignment is:

-- Natural Framing --

This week's assignment is "Natural Framing". Basically borders, nature paths, windows, all of these setup a nice natural frame outline for the focus of the subject. See you next week.

Product Assignment

Welcome back to Assignment Wednesday! I hope you had fun doing your product shoot. You never know when that big company is going to come calling!

I have to admit that I cheated this week. I did not take a new picture but the moment I saw the back of my camera after taking this picture, I saw this ad. So I've been wanting to sit down and make it for a while now. Here's the ad and after the picture, I'll show you how I did it. As always, you can click on the picture for a bigger view.



How to do it:

1. Take a great picture
2. Take your product picture
3. Take away the background of your product picture
4. Move it over to your photo
5. Copy the layer of your product and turn the copy upside down. Then move it directly below the first copy. Adjust the opacity of the upside down layer to create your reflection.
6. All that is left is to add text.

If you attempted this, I'd love to see it and share it with everyone. Just comment to this post with a link to your shot.

Next week's assignment:

-- 10 Minutes From Home --

This week's assignment is Ten Minutes From Home". Walk, bike, drive or fly exactly 10 minutes from where you live and shoot what's there. No 9 minute or 11 minute trips!

Bubbles Assignment

We had fun with the bubbles assignment last night. What's a better way to use bubbles than to take a bubble bath?! Shame on you who were at the fall festival and didn't use the bubble machine and all those kids to get yours! Ainsley couldn't pick her favorite so here are a few:





Next week's assignment:

-- Product of your choice --

That's right! You've just gotten a job to do a commercial shoot for some product you love. You pick the product, you pick the idea. Make it good if you want to work again! Go ahead and add some text to it as well so your client will have the ad ready to go. Have fun!

Depth of Field Assignment

Last week's assignment was to explore depth of field by trying to blur your background. The way to do this, is to move your subject away from the background itself. Distance creates depth of field. So does aperture. So you should shoot at a large aperture (small number) to get the shallowest depth of field.

I took this first shot of Ainsley at f/1.4 leaning against the stone wall. It's a nice shot, but I think you will agree that the second shot has such nice bokeh and shallow depth of field, that it becomes the keeper of the two.



Another way to make your background even more blurry, is to get closer to your subject. If you tried the assignment, comment to this blog with a link to your pics.

Next week's assignment:

-- Low light or night photography --

See what kind of creative shot you can get with little to no sunlight. Have fun, and I'll see you next week!

Affirmative Assignment

Welcome back to Assignment Wednesday! Here is a quick refresher of what your assignment was:

-- Affirmative --

This should be a fun assignment. Basically it's just a goal to take pictures of things that suggest something showing an affirmation or approval. Suggestions of thumbs up, applause, those foam "we're #1" fingers, etc... Make sure you have some fun yourselves as well!

On Saturday night, Rachel and Tyler had a private, gourmet meal at her home cooked by her parents before we did our portrait session. I'm talking lobster, filet mignon, the works! So when Rachel's plate was set down before her, without even prompting her, I got this:

Classic! It didn't make the "keeper" stack from the shoot, but it was the perfect shot for my assignment this week. I hope you were able to try this assignment. If you did, just post a comment to this blog and add a link to where you keep it.

Next week's assignment:

Review my post from a few days ago on "Depth of Field" and try making two portraits of someone. One where the background is very close to them (think leaning against a fence or wall) and one where they are much further away from the background. It should be an obvious difference in the depth of field and one of them will probably be a much more pleasant portrait.

Eyes Assignment

Wondering how your assignment turned out. I'd love to see how they turned out. Just post a comment on this blog and put a link to where you keep your pics.

Next week's assignment:

-- Affirmative --

This should be a fun assignment. Basically it's just a goal to take pictures of things that suggest something showing an affirmation or approval. Suggestions of thumbs up, applause, those foam "we're #1" fingers, etc... Make sure you have some fun yourselves as well!

I have a few small jobs this week so I will let you know how they went. See you soon.

Welcome back to Assignment Wednesday

It's been a couple of weeks so let's get back to it! This week's assignment is....

--EYES--


The eyes, the window to the soul? The tell tale sign when we've done something wrong? The eyes are so many things, and, in a portrait, I find are key to either setting it off or making it work or not.

Get out there and make a great frame! Bring it back next Wednesday so we can see what everyone did.

Perspective Assignment

Your assignment this past week was to get a different perspective... to move around, to get higher or lower than your subject, or to shoot from a different direction. Maybe use a wide angle lens if your first instinct is to use your telephoto. Exercises like these will help you to see things in new ways.

My picture from this week was taken of my kids in the foyer of my house. I thought the dark hardwood floor would make a great background so I grabbed a ladder and made a portrait from above. I think it turned out great:



As always, you can click on the picture for a larger version.

Comment to this blog with a link to your picture so we can see it. Hope you had fun!

Next week's assignment:

-- Get a Flickr Account!! --

It's the easiest way to share your photos and it's free! You also will get an URL for every photo you upload so it will be easy to link to it from the comment form on my blog. Maybe this way we will get more photos to look at. So go do it! Here's the link:

Sunrise/Sunset Assignment

Welcome back to Assignment Wednesday! I'm going to break my own rule this week because I did not get a chance to shoot at either dawn or dusk this week because of my travels. So here's a picture that is probably my favorite sunset picture I have:



Even without Jake and the canoe, it would have been a pretty sunset picture because the lake is so still and there is a great reflection, but adding a subject just makes me love it!

If you had the time to take a picture this week, add it to the comment section below.

Next week's assignment:

-- Perspective --

When you see something you want to take a picture of, don't always be satisfied with putting your camera to your eye and pressing the shutter button. Look at your subject from different perspectives and see if you can make a more interesting picture. Climb a ladder to view your subject from above, or lay on the ground to get below it. Get behind the subject or just get closer. Have fun! It's due next week.

Bokeh Assignment

To get good bokeh, you need a couple of things:

-a good fast lens (one that offers big apertures)
-space between your subject and the background, foreground

In this picture, I was using my 70-200 f/2.8 lens which is great glass and I was zoomed in at 170mm. The background is not only blurred out, but it is a very pleasant look with those little circles of blur that you see.



There was nothing in the foreground because I was zoomed in so far, so there is no bokeh to be had in front of my subjects. I'd love to see some of your shots from this week so comment below with a link to them.

Next week's assignment is:

-- Sunset/Sunrise --

One of the most common photographs is that of a sunrise or sunset, so get out there early or late and see how creative you can get!

Blur Assignment

Welcome back to Assignment Wednesday! This week you were to capture motion by using a slow shutter speed so that your moving subject would be blurred out but keeping the rest of the frame in focus. I had thought I would take a picture at night on a busy interstate, but we've all seen those pictures where the headlights look like a long strand of neon. So I got my two favorite models (Brooke & Ainsley) to help me with this picture.

We went to the park and Brooke started swinging Ainsley around. They were moving so fast, my first few tries, I couldn't see them at all in the picture. So I didn't need as slow a shutter speed as I originally thought. Even the keeper was shot at 0.6 of a second and that may have been too fast. But... here it is:



Looks like fun, doesn't it?

Next week's assignment:

---BOKEH---

The parts of your frame in front of and behind your subject that are out of focus. Bokeh is what makes an outdoor portrait look so great to most people. A few different things can affect the quality and the amount of bokeh you will get in a picture:

1. Your aperture (the bigger the aperture, the shallower depth of field you will have)
2. The distance your subject is from the foreground or background (the further away, the more bokeh you will get)
3. Your lens (different lenses have different qualities of bokeh... aka... you get what you pay for)

Motion Assignment

I hope you enjoyed getting out and shooting this week's assignment. Our job was to photograph a moving object and keep it in focus by panning the camera and by doing so, putting everything else (even stationary items) in a blur. It definitely takes some practice to nail this technique, and I really want to see some of your shots. Here's the keeper of my bunch:



Not a very cool car I guess, but I got the side in sharp focus and the racing stripe made the picture for me.

So... this next week we are going to do the exact opposite. This time we want the stationary items in focus and the moving objects to be blurred. You'll need a tripod for this assignment. The way you do this, is to use a very slow shutter speed while your camera is on the tripod. Your focus needs to be on something that is stationary. This works very well at night when the blur from the car lights gets stretched out like neon. Very cool! See you next week.

New Assignment Wednesday

Ok, so back to our weekly assignments. I really hope more of you will do these and post your results next week.

I gave you a hint yesterday as to what this assignment would be so here it is...

Take a picture of someone or something in action. Put your subject in focus and choose a slow enough shutter speed to put the rest of the picture in motion blur. Make sure you give your subject somewhere to go. For example, in the picture from yesterday, Brooke was running from left to right in the frame so I made sure she was on the left third of the picture. If she was up against the right side with her nose, it would look uncomfortable for the viewer. So give your subject some room to breathe!



This assignment is due next Wednesday. Have fun!

Macro Assignment

Welcome back to Assignment Wednesday! I really want more of you to post pictures of these assignments! Use this as an excuse to make yourself get out and shoot. We will all get better because of it.

Last week's assignment was to shoot something with your Macro lens or to try and fake it if you don't have one. Before I show you my picture, I should say that I have nothing to do with Bulgari, and they did not ask me to take this picture. It's just for fun!



If you want to know how I took this picture, just look at this post here. I did exactly the same thing. I added the tile texture trying to go for a bathroom feel, although I'm not sure I like it. Anyway, after I had the shot, I felt like adding the text really made it look more like an ad. I had fun anyway!

Next week, there is no assignment. I'll be in Canada all week and I'm not sure how much I will be able to shoot or blog. So, just get out and shoot something for the fun of it.