The last few Challenges have been themes rather than challenges in that the instructions related to the subject of your photo, not the method of taking it.
This week there is no restriction on what you can point your camera at, although Paul has suggested an exercise which explains how to use a box to frame your photos in-camera.
You can read the article for full details, but the gist of it is…
- Find a box and cut the ends off
- Stick the box over the end of your camera, so it appears in the image
- Take photos using the box as a “frame”
- You are not allowed to crop your photo!
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| Photos taken from diyphotography.net | ||
I haven’t tried this before, but Paul assures me it’s an excellent way of helping you to think carefully about the composition of your image. Think about the parts of your subject you want to include, but more importantly think about what you want to leave out!
It’s slightly more technical than the Challenges we’ve had in the past but everyone should be able to do it.
Let’s see what you can come up with! Entries in by noon on Tuesday 2nd March, please. Good luck!
Great idea! I might get an adult to help me cut the end off the box.
Ooooh now THIS is a challenge! I’ll have to think about this! Nice one Jon.
I probably should have said sooner – for further advice about composition, Stu‘s new photography guide CameraTutor includes some advice about the basics of composition:
http://www.cameratutor.co.uk/archives/13
I haven’t used a box yet, but on a shoot I did at the weekend, 90% of the pictures came out of the camera ready composed. I normally shoot wide and crop in later, but with this challenge in mind, I was composing in the viewfinder… very rewarding indeed (but you do have to be sure you haven’t missed a good wider composition!)
So I may not get an entry in, but the challenge has been very useful! Thanks, Paul for the suggestion, and Jonathan for posting it!
After much deliberation (and consultation with a few people!) I think I’m going to enter this shot:
http://www.paulseward.com/photos/2010/march-2010/DSC_1005-RGB_stairwell_medium.jpg.php
If nothing else, I’ll be using it as a location reference – it’d make a great place for a moody portrait shoot
A rare entry from me these days! One or two people obviously thought I was mad, taking pictures whilst holding a Philips 60-watt light bulb box in front of the camera! It’s here.
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