Sunday's Assignment

Sunday's assignment is to make a photo that involves or creates happiness to the viewer.
Make em feel it, not just see it!.

What a perfect subject- raincoat, rain umbrella and rain "hello kitty" boots.  I used the portrait selector on the dial as I figured I was way out of my league in this one. I am still having difficulty getting the right lighting and color.  And it's extremely difficult trying to take a photo of one who prefers not be be photogeneic.  But I was lucky to get this photo and of course, she makes me smile every time I see her.

Friday's Assignment

Novelty can help goose creativity.  Go somewhere today you've never been, even just a different street and make a photo.

Can you tell what this is?  It's the inside of my piano- not any place I've been before and if you look very closely you'll probably see 15 years of dust.  Kept taking picture after picture and none were too clear.  I don't know if I was shaking too much or I needed a "macro" lens.

I really wanted to take a picture of the students' bathroom at school as that is another place I've never been but figured that would be too weird.

Thursday's Assignment

Negative space can be just as important to a composition as your primary subject.  Explore negative space in a photograph.

And......what does that mean?  I'm at a loss for this assignment.   Guess I need to spend a little more time reading up on camera techniques.

Wednesday's Assignment

There is often a conflict between traditional and contemporary.  Make a photo that shows this tension.

Not a difficult choice today as there are several things in the house that I could have used.  But I actually shot this picture without a flash.  Wanted less shine on the cordless drill so opted to change the ISO to a higher number.  Don't I sound like I know what I'm doing now???

Tuesday's Assignment

cyanotype

black and white

sepia

Monochrome pictures do not have to be the result of processing or desaturation.  Find a monochrome composition and shoot it.

I guess I didn't follow the instructions exactly.  But I did find this cool feature on my nikon camera.  I used the landscape feature and shot the creek meandering through the neighborhood.  Then once I took the picture I could change the color in the menu selection.  But looking at the instructions I should have just taken a picture of something with one color- maybe I'll look around and come up with something else.  But in the meantime I like the look of these pictures.

Of course, as I am cleaning I am looking around the house trying to find something interesting that's also one color or objects of the same shade.  So here I go again with photographing a toy... which looks pretty monochromatic if you ask me.  Or,  on the other hand one could say my lighting is off (which it probably is).

Monday's Assignment

Squares and grids surround us in our built environment.  Focus on some squares today and make a photograph.

Thank goodness for toy blocks.

Sunday's Assignment

Backgrounds are tricky.  They can make a subject stand out or distract from it.  Todays' assignment is to take a photo with a good background.

You'd think I'd be embarrassed of this picture.  I am.  You think I'd never want to show this room off to anyone.  I don't.  But I couldn't find anything with a better background picture.  This background is excess stuff.  This room belongs on hoarder's anonymous.  DH says he's working on cleaning up the room.  I'm sure he is but it's taking a long time.  But I must say the background distracts from the subject so I guess I've done my job.

Used manual settings today.  I've discovered if I do automatic first then I can look at those settings and apply it to manual.  Because the room is dark I had to set the shutter speed to 1/60.  And used a flash.  And set the white balance to auto- actually I had set the white balance to incandescent but the flash must override.

Saturday's Assignment

An old adage in photography says if you want to improve your photographs move closer. Fill your frame today!

And use a tripod while you're at it- makes a big difference.

Friday's Assignment

Make a photo of a symbol that represents or stands for something else.

Is my bucket half full or half empty?

Thursday's Assignment

Make a creative photo with natural framing: windows, doors, trees, borders, etc.

This isn’t too creative is it? I've just spent the last twenty minutes trying different settings on my Nikon- aperature, speed, manual and then resorted to the next best thing: automatic! I still don't get this and maybe I never will. Bah humbug.

Wednesday's Assignment

Take a photo today of a person or object in a fragile state.

Not quite sure how to get my mind to be more creative when viewing the world. I began to think about photographing some cut glass bowls that I had inherited from my grandmother, but then I observed this icicle in my neighbor's yard. We've been in the depths of winter for many months now and seeing this icicle reminds me how fragile life is- that the isolation of winter often brings us misery but even in that cold we can find beauty.

Been thinking about this picture that I took.  Not quite happy with the color- I know that I set the white balance to shade.  But then what was my meter?  Or aperature?  Or setting?  I guess I was just primarily interested in getting the picture in focus.  That plus the fact that I was traipsing around in my neighbor's yard and if they had looked out their window they probably would have wondered about the nut holding a Nikon in her hands.

On a sidenote- what's up with this text?  I can't seem to match it to my other entries.  I guess I need to learn html along with all of the other things I am trying to cram into my life.

Tuesday's Assignment

Take a picture of something being built, assembled or fabricated.  

What else would I take a picture of?  I'm always working on constructing an afghan!  I took this picture using "S" on the Nikon dial- does "S" stand for something?  I'm sure it does.  The first shot I took was kind of washed out but then I had an ah ha moment- change the white balance to cloudy and then the picture at least had some color.  I'm sure I should have spot metered somewhere along the way but not sure what that means yet.

Introducing Maddux...

Photography

I am about to begin a new chapter in my life with my very new Nikon D60 camera.  Now if only I could figure out how to use it.  Be prepared to view some poorly done photographs and some very good photographs as I muddle through some beginner photography classes and of course, the Nikon for Dummies book.