Yesterday we published a post from Hailey Bartholomew with Tips for Taking Portraits that Reflect the Character and Spirit of Your Subject that gave me the theme of this weeks challenge.

Your challenge is to take and share an image on the theme of ‘Spirit’.

Feel free to approach the theme in any way that you wish – you might want to take a portrait that shows someones true spirit or you could photograph something that is ‘Spiritual’ or even photograph something that represents your spirit.

Be as creative as you’d like!

Once you’ve taken your ‘Spirit’ Photos – choose your best 1-2, upload them to your favourite photo sharing site either share a link to them even better – embed them in the comments using the our new tool to

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by Lynsey Peterson.

I hate nature. There. I said it. It’s like glitter—it seems like such a fun idea but no matter how careful you are, it gets all over you and 7 showers later you still find it in your hair. This is further complicated by the fact that I live in what is known around the planet as one of the most beautiful places in the world. As a photographer, it’s dreamy situation; I could photograph a family in a parking lot (and I have) and the surroundings are more beautiful than many conventional parks in the world. So most of the time I have to suck it up and schedule an immediate shower after to get the nature off me already.

But every once in a while I …

A Guest contribution by Hailey Bartholomew from You Can’t Be Serious.

1. Do Something

Who are you photographing? If you don’t know them well, find out what they love to do and where they relax the most.

Maybe they love to row boats or take picnics at their favourite park every Sunday.

Maybe you are photographing your grandmother who loves to be out in her garden. Go and do that with them.

Whatever they love to do to relax, tag along with your camera.

But don’t sit back on the sidelines hoping to catch a moment from far away – get down and into whatever they are doing. You need to be in IN that row boat and if your nana is kneeling in the dirt, you should be too. Get into the action and photograph your loved one or client …

Today we’re launching a new dPS eBook that I suspect is going to give a lot of our readers hours of fun while playing with their digital cameras.

It’s called Photo Magic: Special Effects Photography Made Easy – an eBook by Neil Creek.

As an Early Bird special you can grab it today at 25% off (just $15 USD).

Over the years we’ve published thousands of tutorials here on dPS – many of which are on topics like Portraiture, Landscapes, Macro and Street Photography.

However some of our most popular tutorials over the last few years have been when our authors have submitted teaching on how to do ‘trick’ or ‘special effects’ shots.

As a result, I’ve long wanted to publish an eBook on Special Effects Photography and recently asked one of our regular authors …

Cape St. Mary’s Ecological Reserve is about a one hour drive south on Highway 100 from the Marine Atlantic ferry terminus of Argentia. The drive to the reserve itself is fascinating and provides many opportunities for images of the rugged maritime coastline, particularly around Ship Cove and Gooseberry Cove. Should your departure point be the international airport at St. John’s, the drive will take about three hours as you travel inland via Salmonier Line, and south across the Avalon Peninsula to St. Bride’s.  Should you want the most scenic drive from St. John’s, take the 350Km coastal drive along what is known locally as the “Irish Loop.”  Be forewarned, however, you will want to stop continuously and can easily spend a couple of days playing tourist before you arrive at the Placentia Bay community of St. Brides.

Once at the reserve …