This Week in the Digital Photography School Forum

Weekly Assignment

Would you believe that the Negative Space in a photo can be just as powerful (and sometimes more so) than the subject? Well, last week that’s exactly what our goal was. While sometimes silence can speak volumes, negative space can show volumes. We had a very clear winner this week too. Nathan deGargoyle gave us a great example of how to use negative space well with his self-portrait. The darkness really added to the atmosphere. Speaking of atmosphere, phillj’s snorkel shot also spoke volumes about the atmosphere making that water seem a very cool, refreshing place while also showing us that a photo doesn’t have to be in B&W to take advantage of negative space. And last, but not least, liliann’s framed shot used a black background to create the negative space both within the photo and in the frame itself.

Whether it’s warm or Cold by you, cold is our newest assignment. So whether it’s cold weather or an ice cold glass of lemonade, your goal this week is to show us an example of cold. As always there are a few basic rules to follow to be included in the mini-contest to have your photo featured on the DPS Blog. First, your photo must have been taken between 28 January – 11 February 2009. Next, your post must include the words “Assignment: Cold” and the date that the picture was taken. And last of all, the EXIF should be intact. Next week’s assignment is the “Rule of Thirds“.

Hot Threads

• A Guide to Shooting Self-Portrats for Those Who Are Afraid to Try: Saralonde, one of our admins finished a 365 self-portrait project not so long ago. She found that she learned a lot from the experience and decided to put some of that into a post to help people who are new at self-portraits learn from her experiences. If you’ve ever considered self-portraits but just weren’t sure where to start, come read some of the advice here.
• CD’s: Our Earning with Photography section of the forums has been extremely popular, and one question that is on the minds of photographers more frequently is whether or not to give CD’s of images. But that also brings up another question and that is how do you present the CD to the client? Come share your opinions in this thread.
• What kind of photography do you do?: One of our forum members was curious about how whether most forum members’ shots were planned or unplanned. Without a doubt we have members that cover all areas of the spectrum, but why not come and share what portion of your photos are spontaneous vs planned.
• What Would You Do: Each week we have a post-processing challenge where members are able to edit the photo from another forum member to show us how they would process it. These threads are a learning experience for everyone, so whether you use Picasa or Photoshop, if you’re interested in post-processing, come and participate!