This Week in the Digital Photography School Forums

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and general Happy Holidays to everyone. I hope this season has been a very happy one and the upcoming new year brings you all sorts of wonderful things.

Weekly Assignment

This week we finished the Curves assignment. And speaking of wonderful things, our friends at Crumpler Australia have provided us with a 5 Million Dollar Home Camera Bag for the winner of this week’s assignment. Our winner was newPerspective’s eggs because we liked the curves on on the egg, beater, and plate and how the only straight line in the shot was the handle. Although curves probably weren’t the first thing that came to mine, they play a very significant roll in this shot. Congrats newPerspective! Of course, our runners up also had some really excellent shots. First up is KatherineNaomi’s pink baby shot. Although many people used feminine curves for the assignment, we thought it was interesting to view other human curves like eyelashes, cheeks, eyes, and other facial features. And last, but not least was irieness who found curves in the surrounding world. The curves were the clear subject and nothing distracted from them. Well done everyone! There were lots of really excellent entries to choose from this week, so keep up the good work!

As the year draws to a close, we get a chance to look back on what we’ve done in the year past. This week’s assignment is Best of… an we want to see the one picture that you think is your best shot from all of 2008. It can be one you already submitted for an assignment it can be new, it can be one that you’ve always just been proud of, just remember that it has to have been taken in 2008. So, as you can guess the rules are just a little different this week. In order to be eligible for this week’s assignment, you photo needs to have been taken between 1 January – 31 December 2008, your post must include “Assignment: Best of” somewhere in either the post or the title, and the EXIF should be intact. And to make this week’s assignment even more tantalising, we have yet another Crumpler 5 Million Dollar Home camera bag for the winner. Next week’s assignment will be “Fresh”.

Hot Threads

• What did Santa Bring You?: Well, Christmas is over, the presents are opened, and now is just the time to enjoy your new presents. So what did Santa bring you this year? Come tell us about your new toys (photography and otherwise) in the forum.
• Your Favorite FreeWare: If Christmas left your wallet feeling a little light or you just want to find yourself some great deals on software, come join in this thread which discusses people’s favourite freeware programs, which you may guess from their name, are free.
• Color Tips: Sometimes as photographers we’re faced with some difficulties. One forum member would like your tips and tricks for how to deal with post-processing photos when the photographer is colour blind. What tips can you offer?
• Help me decide which software to choose: With the holidays it may mean new computers, holiday money, or even options of new software as gifts. But how do you decide which piece of software is right for you with all the various options out there for both editing and organising software?
• Why is my flash sometimes working?: Whether your using the built-in flash on your camera or an external flash, one problem that you may run across is your flash not firing. But is this a problem with the camera or the flash? Not necessarily. Come find out what may be causing the problem in our forum thread.