This Week in the Digital Photography School Forums

First, let me say a big congratulations to BullDogMom who earlier this week found out that she was the winner of the Nikon D60 contest! Congratulations! I’m sure we’re all looking forward to seeing the pictures from the new camera.

Weekly Assignment

Last week’s assignment was Angles and there were a lot of great entries which made the job of choosing 3 to show this weekend very difficult! The angle shots were hard angles, soft angles, acute angles and obtuse angles, and lots of things in between. Our winner was Teewinot for her shot of a State Street building in Madison. The angles combined with the reflected clouds really made it stand out for us. Our first runner up was Cemil97 for the picture of angled raindrops falling on strawberries. It was the hard angled lines of the rain that stood out here against the strawberries. Our second runner up was Japaslavian for his incredibly disorienting view of a staircase, which had some great angles once you got your composure back.

This week’s assignment is Converging Lines. There’s still a few days left for the assignment, so if you’re still trying to come up with ideas, why not check out the blog post on converging lines to learn what they are and how they can crete an interesting picture.In order to be eligible for the mini contest to have you photos featured in this weekend write-up, your exif needs to still be intact, your picture must have been taken between 23 April - 6 May 2008, and your post must include the words “Assignment: Converging Lines” to show your consent to participate in the contest. Next week’s assignment is “Wide Open” so, whether your camera’s largest aperture is f/1.4 or f/4, just shoot it using your lens wide open!

Weekly Poll

SOOC This week we asked forum members whether most of the pictures that they post or show to other people were straight out of camera or post-processed. The results were closer than I would have expected with a lot of people using their pictures straight out of camera.

RussHeath said “I shoot RAW, convert to JPEG, and tweak from there. I definitely think that PP and work with the camera are distincly different skill sets, each very important to photography. While I enjoy shooting more than editing, a photo in the camera is only a starting point. You always want the best starting point possible, but it seems a waste not to adjust contrast, sharpness, and color — if you don’t do these in post then you’re really just letting the camera make these decisions for you.”

dmvp, however, said “Almost all of my shots are SOOC. I’m one of those “purists” that like to get it right in camera. I’m not against PP. People can do what they want, but I like to not use it if possible. I’ll crop or convert to B&W every once in a while, sometimes I’ll adjust exposure, but I don’t like to take the time to shoot in RAW and adjust everything later. Takes too much time.”

Watch for a new weekly poll posted later this weekend.

Hot Threads

How many photos do you take?: Well, the title says it all, but if you’re not sure how to check how many pictures your camera has taken then maybe this thread can offer you a few tips on how to find that number out. You may be surprised with how many or how few you’ve taken.
The Cost of Switching to Full Frame: Both Nikon and Canon have full frame models now, but the lower end models in both of their lines aren’t full frame. So, what happens to all those lenses you have from your old camera when you decide that full frame is something to consider? See some of the costs and benefits in this thread.
Should I photoshop to have good photos?: This thread is an older thread that didn’t get too many answers the first time around, but it came back with a lot of new thoughts this week. Is photoshop necessary to make a good photo or can you do it right out of the camera? You’ll find a lot of different answers, but here are just a few.
Thoughts on the Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM Lens: Another gear thread about this popular Sigma wide-angle lens. If you have one, maybe you’d like to share your opinion here, if you want one, maybe you can get some good information here. There’s also some info in this thread about a similar lens from Tokina if you’re looking for an alternative.

Other Threads to Note

Another week means another week of What Would You Do out weekly post-processing thread. First, let me say, I came across one or two pictures from people who sent my a PM that somehow got lost. I’ll be using those in the next few weeks. Sorry about that! What Would You Do is all about practicing your post-processing skills using a picture submitted by a forum user and showing us all what you can do with it. It’s also time for another edition of the Classic Rock Challenge which this week features songs by the Leningrad Cowboys (and links to their videos on YouTube. They are classic rock covers though!

Until next week, enjoy shooting!