With Spring in full swing, I wanted to give you an assignment to stretch your photographic knowledge and make you think a little more before pressing your camera’s shutter.  Many of you stated this was going to be a tough one.  It can be hard enough to get a good exposed photo and here I was asking you to be creative about it.

Let me say, you all took the assignment with much vigor.  I was thrilled to see you learning about your cameras and trying new things.  I am sure your families wondered what was going on.  I must thank them, too, for giving you time and sometimes assisting you.  I encourage you all to visit each of the links below and to read the sneak peak on the next assignment coming in July.

I will list the photographers as I found them on the assignment post.

Nye on her Creative Exposure post used a couple of preset modes on her camera.  The first was the Sports mode to freeze the action of her running niece.  The second was the Close Up mode to photograph colorful butterflies.  Nye did not just use these modes, she learned about them and what they did.  She is one step closer to taking more control of her future photographs as the Sports mode is really Shutter Priority set to a fast shutter speed and Close Up is Aperture Priority set to a small aperture number to create selective focus on the butterflies and a soft, pleasing background referred to as bokeh.

Carsten treated us to a very creative photo where not only were the subjects moving but so was the photographer.  Sort of a moving panning effect.  This is something I never thought to do in all my panning work and it created an eerie image with movement at night.

Anna took this assignment in a different tack using changes in white balance to see how it effects the exposure and color of a rain dropped peony in her garden.

Kathy found an Upper Peninsula of Michigan wild flower and tried out her point & shoot camera’s creative modes.  Kathy’s post is not only creatively written, it shows a series of photos of one prayful flower. Who knew one flower could preach so elegantly about photographic exposure.

I’ve known Chris as a travel photographer but, for this assignment, he showed us some slow exposure photos featuring fire and water.  Two opposing elements beautifully presented in Part I and Part II.

Karma was not to sure she would be able to do this assignment.  With some encouragement, research and reading her camera’s manual she asked for assistance from two family members, her husband and model, Teddy, their 1-year-old tri-color collie.  Together, they came up with a stunning result to the Creative Exposure Assignment.

Michaela in her 146th post of 2010, put together her Creative Exposure submission using her kitchen’s water faucet.  Ever wonder what water looks like flowing quickly or slowly?

Next, I showed how a slow shutter speed combined with tracking of a moving object can create a sharply focused race car with a moving background or is it the other way around? Track Exposures included how to create a starburst affect with aperture control.

It is always fun to watch the light go on with a student as a teacher.  Though I am only the facilitator with these assignments, seeing Truels post three submissions was fun. The link goes to the third submission which contains links to the other two.  In the first two, Truel used his amazing flowers in his garden to learn about aperture control while his Light at the End of the Tunnel post was a study in shutter speed showing the same scene three different ways.

I began this assignment by stating the first decision a photographer makes before s/he takes a photograph is what exposure to use.  That exposure does not mean the one the camera says is “correct”.  Kanniduba, or KD, shows us what to do when the photo the camera thought was technically correct is not the one the photographer was looking for.

In Birgitte’s post on her contribution to this assignment, she found three ways to be creative featuring a Christmas rose, a bunny and the moon.

A newcomer to my assignments but not to photography, mozemoua (pronounced moe-z-muah) joins us with her photos of motion and the moon.  Proving again we have many things in common whether we live in Denmark or Georgia.

Jennifer at Bread and Putter found a setting which allowed her to get colorful aquarium photos which are tough to get for any camera.  She did some white balance tests, too.

Over at Torch Lake Views, Gerry pulled out of her mulch pile a hyperfocused landscape.  I know she doesn’t know she did.  What she does know is how she did it which was what this assignment was all about.

From our western blogger, Deanna, we got creative exposures of a twirling daughter and angelic light.  Nicely done!

Give yourselves a round of applause everyone!  I hope going forward you remain aware of thinking beyond the Auto setting and continue to use creative exposures in your photography.

Sneak Peak

Assignment 8: Travel Photography

As I was planning out this year’s assignments, I found an article I thought would be an excellent reference for a summer long assignment on Travel Photography.  Specifically, I will be asking you to create a short photo essay of a minimum of three travel photographs.  You can use more if you want, of course.

I will officially announce this assignment on July 14 and I am going to leave it open for submissions until September 8.  With summer vacations already starting, I wanted to give you all an opportunity to start thinking and planning your photography for this assignment.

Did I say planning?

A good Travel photographer researches the destination s/he will be traveling to.  When I am going anywhere, I do online investigations to find places, people, events and things of interest to me.  To help, I have found some great links I will be sharing over the coming weeks to keep this assignment in your minds.  The first link has lots of ideas, in fact, you could chose three kinds of photos from its list: 21 Essential Shots You Should Capture On Your Next Trip.

Remember, you do not have to travel far to create travel photographs.  They can be right in your hometown or on a tropical island.  Have fun!