Have faith in the mods, those of you who either don't like, can't do, or can't afford post processing
. Mods are always suggesting practice and improvement of technical ability, since that is the
main focus of this site, for us all to grow as photographers. I have faith that they will not choose 3 heavily edited photos for the contest, nor necessarily 3 that have minimal PP. I think they do a good job of balancing their choices, which must be difficult because photography (like all art) is so subjective, and look at the sheer volume of some of these assignments. Focus on your personal growth, and fear not, the deserving shall get what is coming to them...mwah ha ha
"Next week is "Scary or Spooky"...
Remember, you should be using some of the things you learned in past assignments. For an assignment like this, lighting can really make a difference. Use it to create a mood, hide something in shadows, imagine what ghetto lighting can do. Perhaps High ISO will give a graininess to your image that enhances the feeling. Remember the Negative Space and Contrast assignments? What have you learned about composition? Consider the Rule of Thirds and Natural Framing.
Creative assignments such as these need to include some of the technical things you know. The more you practice those technical basics with every assignment, the more second nature they become."