This Week in the Digital Photography School Forums

Weekly Assignment

It happens every day, but last week’s assignment was Morning. We know not everyone likes morning (as evidenced by our winner, who seems to be having a very hard time getting out of bed), but there were a lot of well done and creative entries this week. We liked the creativity not only with subject matter, but also with lighting. So, our winner this week was WtihBrknWings for her shot, “Hard to Wake Up” which not only was a well composed shot, but also made good use of textures and definitely conveys the title well. Our first runner up was lovestained for the shot of blueberries since, as, the photographer said, there’s nothing better than waking up to find fresh blueberries sitting there ready to go into muffins. A tasty breakfast is a great way to help you get out of bed in the mornings in any case. And last, but not least, i speak in math’s “Sleeping Angel” used soft focus and soft lighting to really bring out the idea of a very early morning before you’ve even thought of waking up.

Our newest assignment is Filters. One way that you can add variety to your photos is through the use of filters. You can put actual physical filters in front of your lenses, or you can change the white balance creatively, or you can even add filters in your post-processing routine. This week’s assignment it to use one of these filters and show us your best result. In order to be eligible for the mini-contest, your photo must have been taken between 10 – 24 September 2008, your post must include Assignment: Filters to show that you want it included in the contest, and your EXIF must be in tact (and you should include the basics in your post). Next week’s assignment will be “Costumes”.

Hot Threads

• I learned not to fear high ISO and how: Sometimes it seems like using a higher ISO is one of those taboo subjects of photography. But that’s not always the case, as kirbinster explains just why it’s ok to push that ISO higher if you need to, and why it doesn’t always mean that you’ll end up with an unusable and grainy image.
• Where do you live? Why don’t you show us…: This fun game is a way for you to show us a little about your home town and tell us about it too. We have forum members from all over the world, so this thread is an interesting way to learn a little more not only about our forum members, but also about the world.
• Your photoshop tips please!: Consider this thread a quick and easy set of photoshop tips. Members have been offering up 2-3 of their favourite short tips for how to use photoshop.
• Possible to get started at a very young age?: What do you do when you want to earn some money through photography but you’re under 18? Are there any options? Or are you stuck honing your skills for the next 2 years until you’re older and not only can take care of the legal aspects, but also until you’re old enough to be considered more trustworthy?
• What Would You Do (#69): This is our ongoing post-processing thread, open to all levels of skill, where you get to try your hand at post-processing another member’s photo. The full rules are in the thread, and we’re always looking for new photos to use in the thread. So make sure to stop on by and show us what you would do.

Other Threads to Note

Last week an anonymous forum member sent an e-mail to Darren to let him know just how much they enjoy DPS. That forum member also offered up a Flickr subscription for one random forum member. So if you’re interested in going in the draw to win, simply click here and leave a comment in the thread in the forum, and maybe say something you like about DPS to keep those warm fuzzy feeling going.