Challenge Yourself

[TamberBliss]

I was making my rounds to my favorite photography sites and this was one of the topics of discussion. I thought it would be interesting to see what everyone comes back with.



Every athlete, musician and artist knows that to excel in their craft takes training and practice. Cameras today are sufficiently advanced so it takes no particular skill to take a properly exposed and sharp picture. But to become a really good photographer and produce a body of work that you’re proud of and others enjoy seeing takes a trained eye, creativity and effort.

The universe of possible photographic subjects and topics is so huge. Sometimes when you want to go out and shoot some pictures, it may be hard to narrow down what you want to shoot and where you should go to do it. This is where a self-assignment comes in handy. The nature of it will concentrate your inner vision and creativity. A self-assignment is also a good way to explore some aspect of photography you haven’t tried before. Here is a list of good topics, or use it as a starting point for developing one of your own. Select a self-assignment that interests and intrigues you, and dedicate some time to take a series of images of that theme only. When done, copy those images into a dedicated folder on your computer, or make prints so you can compare your images and pick your favorites.


The Self Assignment Topics were:

One color

Pick a color and concentrate your photography on scenes and objects that include your chosen color. If you chose yellow for your self-assignment for example, maybe your collection will include pictures as diverse as a someone in a street scene wearing a yellow raincoat, a yellow Corvette in a parking lot, or a tasty omelet you’re about to devour.


Monochrome

Instead of looking at a world of color, how about restricting your vision to a world of shapes, lines, contrast...all the artistic elements except for color? A landscape with an approaching storm, a granite office building with strong lines, reflections off the windows and deep shadows for dramatic contrast are just a couple examples of images that are essentially monochromes subjects.
A picture a day for a month Several years ago photographer Jim Brandenberg had a picture-a-day photo essay in the National Geographic. He spent 36 days in a cabin in the Minnesota woods in the winter, taking one (and only one) picture a day with his film camera, loaded with a 36-exposure roll of film. It created an interesting dilemma...if he chose to take a picture of a subject, he had to be confident it was the best opportunity he would likely see that day.

Tripod-only shots


We live busy lives, how about slowing down and restricting our photography to a tripod-mounted camera for a while? Not only will the solid support steady the camera for sharp images, it will help us to concentrate on what we see in the viewfinder instead of shooting rapid-fire style.

One lens

If you have one lens you seldom use, shoot with nothing but that lens for a self-assignment. If it is a zoom, go one step further and restrict yourself to one focal length setting to explore the perspective, depth of field, curvature of field and other characteristics.

Circles

How many different pictures can you take with a circle being the central theme? It’s infinite, when you consider how often a round object exists in our natural or man made world. From a beach ball at the lake to a tree stump in the woods, to a still life with flowers or fruit, circles are everywhere. Challenge yourself to find them.

Lines Making maximum use of lines is an important tool for photographers as we compress a three-dimensional world into a two-dimensional photograph. Fortunately curves and vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines are everywhere, from the outstretched arm of a portrait subject to the water’s edge and horizon in a seascape.

Series of the same scene, but different times of day or under different weather conditions. A favorite landscape nearby, a distinctive building, or a totally different object. How it looks depends on how light strikes it and that changes considerably from dawn to dusk, and with the presence or absence of clouds.

Slow shutter


We’re so used to pictures being crisp and sharp, that intentionally adding some blur is a creative challenge. A moving child in a static playground scene or car tail light streaks on a bridge are examples of how a slow shutter in dimly lit scenes can produce memorable images.
Vertical-only All too often we shoot the majority of our pictures in horizontal format. Forcing ourselves to shoot vertically makes us view the world a little differently.

Point of view

Shoot a building exterior with the camera on the sidewalk. Or take a portrait while you’re standing on a stepladder. These are just a couple ideas to try out, covering points of view markedly different from our usual eye-level perspectives.

Painting with light

What happens if you put your camera on a tripod at night, lock the shutter on “B” for time exposures, and “paint” a building, car, or person with a flashlight, or by popping off several bursts from a shoe-mount electronic flash held in your hand? The immediate results of digital photography make painting with light an interesting topic to explore.



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I hope you all enjoy these starter challenges and will share your results



Happy Shooting



Tamber

[photo4fun]

One of my friends belongs to a forum that does self-assignments kind of like what we do here with TPBM is of....
This is defiantly a list of "assignments" I'm going to give myself starting with the circles. :)

[Lilikoi the cat]

even without a camera I will try to figure out composition of something just for giggles. This is something which would help out unless you are truly gifted.