This Week in the Digital Photography School Forums (22-28 Mar 09)

Weekly Assignment

We have quite a few bright photographers who participated in the Vivid assignment. There were some really excellent photos that captured the essence of colour and vividness. The bright paper curls by duna. This shot had lots of bright colours, lovely curves, and it kept your eye moving around the image while the shallow DoF and single blue curl drew your attention. All of the colours were very nicely balanced. Next was KatherineNaomi’s lovely, bright, and fresh kiwi fruit shot. The green of the kiwi had the most vivid colour and we felt that it was really emphasised by the blue sky and the contrasting darkness of the seeds and outer skin. And to top it all off, the light shining through really added to the overall picture. And last, but not least was JSMarshall’s Post-It notes. Yes, paper was a frequently used subject, but when it’s used well, it really stands out. We felt that this could almost be an ad for the product. The simple, bright colours really grab your attention and the colour is definitely a strong player in this shot.

This week we have a technical assignment that goes back to the basics again. The assignment is Shallow Depth of Field. A shot with a shallow depth of field is one where only a part of the overall image is in sharp focus with the rest being out of focus. It can be very useful to draw the eye to a particular subject within a photo. Whether you’re new to the assignments or have been doing them for ages, there are a few rules to remember. First, your image must have been taken between 18 March – 1 April 2009. Second, your post must include the words “Assignment: Shallow Depth of Field” and the date the picture was taken. Finally, your EXIF should be intact and it helps if you can include the main points such as camera, lens, ISO, shutter speed and aperture in the text of your message. Next week’s assignment will be “Wisdom” so we want to see your creative interpretations of what wisdom is and how you show it in a photo.

Hot Threads

• What’s your DPS nickname mean?: When you signed up at the forums, you may have signed up with your own name, a nickname, or simply something else that others may not understand at all. Come join in a bit of fun and tell us why you picked the name that you use at DPS.
• Cactus V4 Triggers: A few weeks ago, Cactus released the latest version of their wireless triggers. If you’re not familiar with these triggers, they’re one of the most affordable ways to take your external flash off camera (especially if your camera doesn’t have any built in sort of trigger). If you’ve used the newest version of the triggers why not come and share your experiences with them in the thread.
• Enter our latest DPS Competition: You may have seen on the blog that DPS is running a contest to win an Olympus Tough 8000 camera. All you have to do to enter is click on the link here and give us your favourite photo tip in 350 words or less. You can only submit 1 tip per person, so make it your best!
• Am I Too Young to Charge?: When are you old enough to be working as a photographer? Is it when you’re good enough or is it when you’re old enough to legally be able to enter into contracts? Come offer your advice in this thread for what a new and young photographer can do to help get started.
• What Would You Do: Nearly every week we run a post-processing thread where you can edit the photo of another forum member and show us your take on the post-processing. It doesn’t matter what level of skill your post-processing is at and it doesn’t matter what program you use, you just have to want to show us how you process things.