This Week in the Digital Photography School Forums (26 Apr – 2 May 09)

Weekly Assignment

Canon 50D | ISO 160 | 1/100 | f/10

Just go ahead and Jump! We finished the jumping assignment this week and there were a lot of creative and well done entries. And that always makes it hard to pick a winner, but this week’s winner is pianomom’s shot of her little brother and his girlfriend. While railroad track shots can be cliché, this one really showed off the couple’s personalities and had a great little sense of humour. Peeperita said that it “expresses a sense of joyfulness” and that the light on her shirt was perfect and the spontaneity of the jump was captured very well. Our first runner up was srt’s shot of the boy jumping on the beach. What we liked about this shot was the nice colours, the position of the sky, and the way that the birds balanced out the scene. You could sense the joy as if he were about to take off and join the birds in flight. And last but never least is HoosierGal who had a different take on the idea of “jump” with her jumping car shot. It was colourful and had a really nice angle and we liked the different subject matter.

We’ve also started an assignment where we want you to show us Your Evening. Whether your evening means cooking dinner, spending time with the family, spending time watching TV or playing on the internet, we want to see you make the mundane part of your evening into an interesting shot! In order to be eligible for the mini contest, you need to have taken your photograph between 22 April – 6 May 2009. Your post must include the words “Assignment: Your Evening” and the date that the photo was taken. And finally, the EXIF should be intact and it is helpful if you can include the main points in your post (camera, lens, shutter speed, ISO, aperture). Next week’s assignment will be “Kitchen Utensils”. Grab something from your kitchen and get creative with lighting and composition. Make us laugh, make us cry, but make your shot extraordinary!

Hot Threads

• Camera for Mom: How do you make a decision about buying a camera when it’s a gift for someone else? One forum member is looking for a Mother’s Day gift that is a versatile camera that will let Mom take high quality shots with the least amount of effort. What camera would you suggest?
• Who has the better opinion – Photographer or non-photographer: Everyone has an opinion. Sometimes they have an opinion whether you like it or not. But when people are giving feedback on your photos do you think that feedback from a photographer is inherently more valuable than feedback from a non-photographer or vice versa? Come join in the discussion and share… well… your opinion on the subject!
• DNG a.k.a. Digital Negative: A few years ago Adobe introduced the DNG format which is is an open format for images that you can convert your RAW files to. The file size is smaller but is it really worth changing your images over to yet another format? Come share your opinions and experiences with DNG and tell us why you do or don’t use it.
• Under-expose vs Bump ISO: One forum member had a difficult situation. They had to shoot a baseball game with cloudy skies and their primary lens is a 70-300 f/4.5-5.6. So how do you get close enough while getting a fast enough shutter speed to stop the motion while still getting a reasonably sharp image with as little noise as possible? Is it better to under-expose or increase the ISO? Sports photographers come give your advice.
• What Would You Do: What would you do, our weekly post-processing thread is back. WWYD is a thread where you get to show off your post-processing skills on another member’s photograph. Stop by the thread and see what this week’s picture is.