This Week in the Digital Photography School Forums

Weekly Assignment

Filters were the topic of our recently finished assignment. Whether they were physical filters or photoshop filters, we wanted to see what people could do with their images when a filter was added. Our winner was dlaf for her shot of the seedpod silhouettes. We thought this picture was an excellent example of what a strong colour filter can do in post-processing. Our first runner up was duna for her picture of her grandfather’s table. She applied 2 filters in post-processing, one gold to warm up the image, and one blue to enhance the late night feel of the image. And last, but not least was BeguilingSunflower for an image which used physical filters. This image is a reflection of water on a bright sunny day, but you may never have guessed that because of the use of the filters. Nicely done to those who participated and we hope you’ll join us again this week with our next assignment…

… which is Costumes. Who said photography had to be boring? Well, probably very few people, but this assignment is one that’s fun and whimsical. We want costumes. They can be on adults, children, pets, or even inanimate objects. Costumes can even be things that may be specific to various parts of the world but that evoke the feelings of that time or place. So come show off those costumes. In order to be eligible for the mini-contest, your photo must have been taken between 17 September – 1 October 2008, the exif must be intact, and your post must include “Assignment:Costumes” to be included in the judging. Next week’s assignment will be Textures, so have a read of the texture part of the post on the Five Elements of Composition.

Hot Threads

• How do you protect your camera?: Just like every thing else, cameras are susceptible to injuries just like us. So, how do you protect your camera? Do you use filter or lens hoods? Do you just hope you don’t drop it? What steps do you take to make sure your camera escapes injury?
• DPS Business Card? – Doc format posted: Back in June Super Mod Seltzer came up with the idea of creating a quick reference card that also promoted DPS. He worked on it, and we now have an example of that card in the thread, along with the .doc file so you can print your own.
• Printing 20×30 or larger help?: Printing your work is one of the best things you can do because it lets you have a much more “real” copy of your work. But what do you do if you want to print something large? Do you upsize it using a program? Do you just print and hope it looks ok? How many megapixels is too few before you can no longer print those pictures large?
• Photos on screen to dark?: Have you ever had the problem of shooting your photos and seeing them look perfect on the screen, but then when you get back to your computer they’re just way too dark? Come share your best solutions in this thread about how to get your screen and camera looking a little bit closer.