This Week in the Digital Photography School Forums

Weekly Assignment

This week’s assignment was Rivers. Rivers run everywhere. They’re one of those universal things. And it’s something about the flowing water that makes you want to pull out your camera and take a few shots. This week, our winner was SteveP for his picture of a waterfall at Sloughan Glen, Drumquin, NI taken using a long exposure and gracefully shown in black & white. Our runners up were psykon99 for his picture of a frozen marina near Peoria, Illinios and Cemil97 for the picture of the River at the Old Forest Mill in Aarhus, Denmark. Congratulations to the winners and well done everyone else.

This week we also started a new assignment, Shadows. Why not look at the way that the light creates shadows from things rather than the subjects themselves. Shadows are a fun way to play with light. In order to be eligible for the mini-contest, your photos need to have been taken between 20 Feb-4 March 2008, the exif must be in tact, and your post must include “Assignment:Shadows” somewhere in it. Next week’s assignment will be monochrome.

Weekly Poll

This week we asked for members: Do you have any of your pictures hanging in your home? After all, we’re taking all these pictures, so there must be something to do with them other than look at them on a computer screen. Lots of forum members said that they do have their pictures hanging on their walls.

laepelba said it most simply and said, If I don’t … who would?

And peeperita explained why she has so many of her pictures decorating her house: i definitely have more than a few of mine hanging……..it’s not that i have progeny to brag on…….i just like decorating on the cheap…..i’ve done all my own printing…..nothing special…..and nothing bigger than an 8 x 10….a couple of my bathrooms are make shift galleries with dozens of images from friends, family, and myself…..

And finally, Canadian Mum echoed the sentiment of a lot of our “no” answers and said, I don’t… yet. I am just learning photography skills… and I am sure that I will find the urge to hang shots that I have taken. Actually, maybe as incentive I am going to start looking and see if I already have one that I would like up!

This week’s poll asks Do you take most of your pictures on weekends or weekdays?

Hot Threads

• How to stop blown out clouds?: You’re taking pictures in the sunlight and you want to capture the beautiful sky that’s behind it all, you get home and you see that all your pictures have blown out edges on the clouds. This thread offers some advice on how to prevent that from happening.
• Share your Wallpaper: Do you use one of your own pictures for your wallpaper on your computer? If you do, you’re not alone. Thanks to Sandie and teinee, why not drop by this thread and show us which of you’re pictures you’re using for your computer wallpaper?
• Filter Mount Types: Filters are still an important part of digital photography, but if you have a few different size lenses and you’re just getting starting using filters, how do you decide which type to use? Do you get the size filter for each of your lenses? Do you get a square filter system? Do you buy the largest filter and use step down rings? It can all get to be a bit much. This thread offers some advice on the matter.
• Do you tag your photos?: Canadian Mum has been wondering whether or not people tag their photos and why. Lots of people tag their photos for different reasons, views, making them easy to find, helping you to remember details. Whatever reason you do or do not tag, why not drop by this thread and share.
• Do you use your 18-55mm EF-S Kit Lens: It’s a Canon related question, but psykon99 wants to know how many Canon users actually use this lens on a regular basis. If you have a Canon, why not drop by this thread and share your opinions on the matter?

Other Threads to Note

Would you believe that we’re up to week 40 of What Would You Do? Well, it’s true, we are. Nearly a year has gone by with our weekly post-processing thread where you get to practice your skills and show off your talents by working on a photo that’s been submitted by a forum member. If you have a photo you want people to work on or you want to show off your own edits, why not drop by the thread and have a look. Last of all, thanks to some prompting and pleading from forum member Leafyfingers, the Classic Rock Challenge is back with a guest DJ spot. This week’s album is “Recovering the Satellites” by Counting Crows. The game is simple, interpret one of the song titles or the album titles with a photo and post it. The photo can be new or old, so why not have a look?