This Week in the Digital Photography School Forums

We passed 5,500 members this week in the forums! So the questions are flowing, and we’re getting a chance to see new pictures from lots of members, so if you haven’t already done so, drop by the forums and say hi. Now on to this week’s highlights.

Assignments

This week the Strangers assignment finished and we were blown away by the quality of the shots. This week we had three entries that really stood out. The winner, however, was tad2106 for his picture called “The walk” which features a family on the beach. We couldn’t help but be drawn in by the girl looking back at the camera as she walks with her family. Our first honourable mention went to sybren for Man on a Bench. The sharpness, composition and lovely black & white made it an excellent shot.

Our final honourable mention goes to Susan though. Susan’s self-portrait of a stranger in her own skin was touching, and the story needs to be read as well. A short excerpt from her post: “There is nothing more likely to wipe the smile off my face than to find that the skin I have woken up in is so utterly different from the skin in which I went to sleep – my body has literally morphed into that of a stranger over night.”

We also announced the newest assignment this week, and it is Seeing Double. Items that are a pair are the topic of choice, and people are being very creative, so go out and take a shot of something that has you seeing double! In order to be eligible for the mini-contest, you need to include “Assignment:Seeing Double” somewhere in your post, and the picture must have been taken between 16-30 August 2007. Next week’s assignment will be Breaking the Rules, so if you need some inspiration, make sure to check out the posts on the blog about the topic.

Weekly Poll

This week’s poll asked forum member if they preferred taking pictures of people or places. The result’s are in, and more people liked taking pictures of places than people.

Peeperita preferred places because “they are so much easier than people….i can be shy, nervous about the shot, anxious about the set up time, and completely freaked about asking permission…..people move and change expression…..places just stand there patiently smiling while i think out the shot……

Of course, plenty of people still preferred taking pictures of people.

So Sime chimed in and said “If this question were asked a month ago, it would have been places, but for the last few weeks it has become people. I have just purchased a long lens which is great for candids. Nothing beats a picture of someone that “tells a story” through their eyes or the way they look / their surroundings.. People for me.

Stop by the forums and vote on our newest poll and tell us whether or not you have a photographic inspiration.

Hot Threads

What was your 1st digital camera?: When did you buy your first digital camera? Take a trip down memory lane and share what your first digital camera was. There have already been some very unique contributions to the thread.

Lunar Eclipse Photography: There’s another lunar eclipse coming up on August 28th. See this thread for the times, locations, and some tips on how to take photos of it. And of course, watch for all the eclipse pictures on the 29th.

Help! Rugby match in 6 hours: Sports photography is difficult at the best of times, and matthewcjh came to the forum with a question of how to shoot a game that was coming up in only 6 hours. This thread has some tips on sports photography, and of course, some of matthew’s successful shots.

End of Summer Burnout: No, it’s not a thread about getting burned out in your photography. Instead, it’s about how to fix a photo when you’ve burned out some of the detail. In this case, it’s a burnt out sky. So drop by and maybe pick up a tip or two to save a photo that you didn’t know how to save before.

Other Threads to Note

This week we’re up to R is for… in the alphabet threads. R is a lot easier of a letter to find pictures for, so drop by the thread and show off your pictures of items that start with the letter R. We’re also up to week 14 in What Would You Do, our weekly post-processing thread. Drop by to try your hand at editing a photo and show us what you would do.

Finally, August’s contest to win a Wallhog is coming to an end, so keep posting in the forums because every post you make earns you a chance to win a 4 foot Wallhog.