This Week in the Digital Photography School Forums (1-7 Nov ‘09)

Weekly Assignment

We wanted people to look at the less looked at things around them with our assignment on Architectural Detail. We got to see some very interesting parts of buildings that we wouldn’t normally see. Our winner this week was kurtwall’s Stucco and Beam. This shot really captured the idea of the assignment with looking at the details and showing how the details don’t have to be grandiose in order to catch our eye. The stucco gave the image a nice texture and the wood added to the warmth. Our first runner up was Boscopix’s BMW World. This picture of two lights on a corner showcased how the shadows and lines created an interesting detail. The photo had very nice contrast and the simplicity really showed off the detail well. And last but not least was crockny’s Horse on Horse. This shot was really well considered and well executed. The architectural detail was captured well by showing the horse in the window in the foreground and the out of focus carrousel horse in the background, further accentuating the horse concept.

This week our assignment focuses on The Economy. We know that times are tough everywhere, so why not use this as an opportunity to challenge yourself to show the concept of a troubled economy through your photography. As always, a quick reminder of the rules if you want to enter the contest to have your photo featured on the blog. Your photo must have been taken between 28 October – 11 November 2009. You must include the words “Assignment: The Economy” and the date that the photo was taken. Finally, your EXIF should be intact and it’s useful if you can include some of the main points (e.g. camera, lens, shutter speed, aperture, ISO). Next week’s assignment will be “Sound”.

Hot Threads

• Basic Texture Tutorial: If you’ve ever wondered about how people get those great textures on their images, one of our forum admins has offered a great tutorial for how to get started using textures on your photographs.
• Composition vs “Croposition”: As the number of megapixels on cameras increases you have more and more leniency to crop and still get a good size picture. So do you rely on getting good composition the first time around? Or do you rely on croposition and crop to get the composition you want after the fact?
• How to remember everything you learn about photography: As you learn any new topic you learn lots of new information. But how do you retain all of this information? One forum member has offered a suggestion for how you can learn to keep all of this information in your head. Come read about it over on the forum and offer some of your own advice.
• Are kit lenses rubbish?: Many cameras come with lenses when you buy them. These lenses are often referred to as the “kit lenses”. These lenses are typically lower cost lenses, but does that mean that they’re all rubbish? Pop on over to this thread to learn about how to get the best from your kit lens and learn some ways to tell if you need new glass or if you just need to learn how to get better results from what you have.
• What would you do?: Every week we run a post-processing challenge on the forums where you get the chance to edit someone else’s photo. Whether you’re a beginner or a post-processing pro, you’re welcome to participate in our “What Would You Do” weekly challenge.