This month I encourage you to go out in to your community or any town close to home and see what you can find. This month is an open category which basically means go out and make an image of any subject of something you enjoy or challenge yourself to try something you haven’t photographed before.

Time to practice what you have learned so far; exposure, composition, finding a interesting subject, timing, and making use of the available light. Similar to previous challenges, it doesn’t matter what camera you have, even the camera in your phone will work. Depending on the gear you have it will allow you to take different images.

Below are some examples for some ideas.

Wildlife; This time of year there are lots of animals and birds to photograph. Getting out more often with your camera is the key. With some animals it depends on the time of day and sometimes being in the right place at the right time. Foxes can be found anytime of day usually around feeding time. Beavers are usually around early morning or late in the day when the light is challenging, which may require pushing your ISO higher and lowering the shutter speed which then requires you to push the shutter at just the right time. There are also many birds and butterflies as well, so just get out and you won’t be disappointed. Get down low as close to eye level with the subject, sometimes its not possible but just try to get as low as you can.

Boats; There is a lot of boating activity this time of year and with the right equipment or access you can get some great images of sailing boats and kyaks. It’s typically ok to photograph people when they are in public places as long as the photos are for personal use and not for stock photography. However, if its possible, ask the person(s) first and offer an email with the photo (remember to carry a few introduction cards with your email so they can contact you).

Interesting Subjects; Go out for a stroll and see what you can find in your area, even a town near by. It’s always interesting what you will see. The image of the Blue Cadillac below was taken with a longer focal length across the street to get the right composition. The image of the excavator was taken with a telephoto lens as well with a tripod as it was just prior to sunset. The image of the garage with painted sunflowers was taken with an iPhone when there was dramatic clouds, leave enough room when taking your photo so you can make vertical perspective adjustments during post-processing to straighten out the building removing the lens distortion.

Flowers; There are lots of flowers. Take your time choosing the right aperture and composition to get a clean background. You can also take colored sheets of paper to hold behind the flower to get a nice background as well. Remember to try Intentional Camera Movement (ICM) which also helps with blurring the background. Try not to move the camera too fast, you still want to be able to recognize the subject.

Sunsets or Sunrises; Go out when the sun is rising or setting to get that golden light. Make use of reflections and think about creating a story, such as the image with the tree stump symbolizing the end of a life with the end of day and the reflection reminds us to reflect on a life to remember.

Stretch your creativity and let’s see what images you create this month.

Students are encouraged to develop their ability to tell a story or invoke an emotion, as well as how to plan and troubleshoot while creating their images. As such it’s important to not only create the image but to also include a “title”, and write a short paragraph about; how they came up with the idea, any interesting back ground that compelled them to make the image, and describe any techniques on how they overcame any obstacles.

As always with our monthly theme challenges we try to seek out an instructional resource, below are some YouTube video links to help with some important tips, hints, ideas, or just something to think about.
Photography In Your Community instructional aids:
■ Photography Tips: How to find photos when the location’s ‘boring’ by: Mike Browne (11min 50sec)
■ Making Photography In A Small Town by: Evan Ranft (10min 30sec)

An important part of improving your photography is practice, which is one aspect of the monthly theme challenge, in addition you have an opportunity to learn about different genres, techniques and tips.

This month I encourage you to go out in Foggy conditions, which is usually the best early in the morning. Sometimes fog can enhance the rays of light, create an atmosphere, and help isolate subjects from an otherwise chaotic scene.

You may not tend to want to go out and take photographs when it’s foggy, but if you give it a try I think you will come back with images different than you typically take. Go out and experience the quiet and cool of the fog, see what happens to the light as the fog starts to lift as it creates amazing effects, and take advantage of the opportunity to isolate your subject.

Similar to previous challenges, it doesn’t matter what camera you have, even the camera in your phone will work. Depending on the gear you have it will allow you to take different images.

Let’s take a look at some image examples.

Boats and Wildlife; With boats you do not always have the perfect location from the shore view to isolate the subject. The fog also provides a dreamy feel to the final image. Wildlife set in the early morning fog also provides a minimalistic image.

Enhance the Light; As the morning sun breaks through the fog you can see the rays of light which is enhanced due to the sun back lighting the fog. It’s important in the photo below to place the sun partially behind an object to help reduce the extreme bright light of the sun. The Star burst of the light can also be enhanced by choosing a smaller aperture, this allows the light to bounce around the aperture rings in the lens creating or enhancing the star burst effect while the fog helps spread the light into rays.

Isolate your Subject; With the images below, typically without the fog the backgrounds are too chaotic, but with the fog it’s much easier to isolate the subject. The fog provides the means to remove distractions from your composition. Take a series of images in this situation because the amount of fog can change with each photo, you can then choose which image you like the best from the images you have taken.

Let’s see what images you create this month.

Students are encouraged to develop their ability to tell a story or invoke an emotion, as well as how to plan and troubleshoot while creating their images. As such it’s important to not only create the image but to also include a “title”, and write a short paragraph about; how they came up with the idea, any interesting back ground that compelled them to make the image, and describe any techniques on how they overcame any obstacles.

As always with our monthly theme challenges we try to seek out an instructional resource, below are some YouTube video links to help with some important tips, hints, ideas, or just something to think about.
Photographing in Foggy Conditions instructional aids:
■ How I Photograph Foggy Landscape Photography by: Michael Shainblum (13min 30sec)
■ How to Take THE BEST FOG Photos! Photo shoot training, editing suggestions by: Tony & Chelsea Northrup (4min 46sec)

An important part of improving your photography is practice, which is one aspect of the monthly theme challenge, in addition you have an opportunity to learn about different genres, techniques and tips.