February Photo Challenge and Desktop

February Desktop

February Desktop

Well, the January Photo Challenge wasn’t very successful. There was only a few folks participating. Not sure what went wrong. There was a ton of interest in December.

I’ll try again! It’s worth keeping up with this for at least three months. I, for one, had a fun time shooting.

February Desktop Image

Download it here! Steve Heitz sent this one to me early in the 2015 Calendar competition. I saw stars and rainbows. It was put into the “yes” pile quickly for consideration. Thanks again for the great shot Steve!

Photo Assignment 2: Interior

It's all about the lighting

It’s all about the lighting

This one was requested and seems like a good idea – take a photo of your car’s interior. Doesn’t have to be the whole thing. You can shoot just the steering wheel, your gauges, your view from the driver’s seat… just about anything. You just need some interior elements.

The hard part is getting a good exposure. Letting your camera meter the scene for you will usually result in either a totally blown out exterior (if visible) or a murky interior with all details lost to the shadows. So, get an idea in your head of what you want the photo to look like and shoot until you get it.

Technical Assignment 2: Light Source IN the Frame

See photo above.

This one is pretty simple to do – get your main light source in the frame along with your subject. In the interior photo above, the only light is coming from the sun. I don’t have a reflector or off camera flash. And the result is pretty dramatic.

So, get your subject (which can be anything) and your light source (which can be any light producing object) in the frame together and expose so that your subject is well lit.

Bonus Assignment: Night Into Day
Starry Day

Starry Day

Another request was a long exposure assignment. But… well… how about kicking it up a notch? Take your long exposure and make it REALLY long. Grab your tripod and turn night into day. Try to do it in-camera and not with photoshop trickery.

Your subject can be anything. You will probably need to be outside for this one to work, but that’s not even a requirement. Just take a super long exposure at night that has the illusion of being shot in the day.

Discussion

Go here and find the thread in my comment section. Or post a comment below. EVEN if you think this stuff is a huge waste of time, I’d not mind hearing about it.

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  • Brad says:

    Adam, that picture of the tree and stars is beautiful. You’re giving me even more reasons to buy a tripod for our camera.

    If you don’t mind my asking, how long was that exposure?

    • Adam says:

      Sure! I just looked it up on my flickr site.

      20 seconds at ISO1600 and f/4. I believe it was a full moon too. A partial moon would require a much longer exposure.

    • Adam says:

      And about a tripod, you don’t really NEED one. I mean, every photographer should have one (I have 4 at this point) but you can use a lot of things to act as a tripod. A large beanbag on your car’s roof or hood works quite well. You just have to make sure it doesn’t move.

      • Brad says:

        In my experience, a tripod isn’t always necessary, but for the minimal investment (as far as camera equipment goes), they open up a lot of “nature” shots. In the past, I’ve used a lot of concrete planters, railings, etc, to get good night shots.

        Thanks for the picture info, gives me a ball park to work with. It’s been unusually warm here lately, so it might be a good time to get some shots south of town I’m thinking…

  • Corifto says:

    And done. Lots of great stuff, lots of old posts I remember reading over the years.

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