Challenge Yourself

When it comes to photography, it’s always a good idea to challenge yourself to do something new and different, just to keep yourself fresh as an artist.

I personally, and many other photographers will agree, that one of the best ways to challenge yourself is to shoot with only one lens. I love to do these kinds of challenges myself. I went to a car show last Sunday called Wish Upon a Car, which was raising money for the Make a Wish Foundation of Georgia.

Shot with my Canon EOS 5D Classic with the EF 40mm STM F/2.8

For this car show, I challenged myself by shooting the car show with my Canon EF 40mm STM F/2.8 pancake lens. I love this little lens as it has the new STM or Stepper Motor auto-focus system, which is very quiet and the lens itself is very small and lightweight.

I know you probably have a telephoto lens or two as I do, but when you take your telephoto lens with you all the time, you tend to get lazy and hang back and shoot everything from a distance, instead of getting up close and personal with your subject. Plus, as I mentioned in an earlier blog post, even though zoom lens technology has come a long way, primes still give you superior image and detail quality, especially when you are up close and personal.

Canon EOS 5D Classic with EF 40mm STM F/2.8

So, your challenge for the month of October, go out and shoot something with nothing more than one of your prime lenses and get up close and personal, as long as you can do it without endangering yourself or anyone else of course.

Comments/Questions

5 Ways to Honor Veterans with Your Photography

There are special times of the year in which we can challenge ourselves to go out and do some good with our photography; this Veteran's Day is a great opportunity to shoot with some extra purpose.  With over 23 million veterans in the United States, there is a very good chance that you might know a veteran, have one living on your street, or have a Veteran's Day celebration of some sort in your town.  Below are five ways to give back to the brave men and women who served, fought, and sacrificed for our freedoms.

1.  Document a Veteran's Ceremony.

Documentary-style photography doesn't have to be your niche to take good photos for a good cause.  Towns big and small will have concerts, flag ceremonies, speeches, and parades from veterans that beg to be documented.  Consider attending an event with your camera and capturing those special moments, then offer the photos to the organizations or people you meet as a way of showing your support and/or appreciation.

2.  Shoot family photos for a veteran's family.

If you know a veteran or someone who is currently serving in any branch of the military, ask if you can shoot a free family session as a promo for Veterans Day.  Family photos are precious items for most people, especially those who are far from home, who may be deploying soon, or perhaps those with a long lineage of military service.  You don't have to schedule the shoot for November 11th, but you can introduce the promo and schedule a shoot when it is convenient for all parties.

3. Visit an army hospital, convalescent home or homeless shelter.

There’s a good chance you’ll meet at least one veteran in a recovery home with a military buildup around WWII and the Korean war.  Arrange to visit one of these places that take care of veterans and take your camera.  Listen to veteran’s stories and take their portraits to remember their stories.  It is unfortunate that many of our veterans end up in places like this without family and your company and attentive ear has the power to make a huge difference in their day of celebration.











4. Take photos of your hometown.

Take landscape photos of notable spots in your hometown and make them into cards to send to a veteran serving from your area.  There’s a good chance that with so many people currently in the military, some of them are bound to be from your hometown and having a photo of home could hold a lot of sentimental value to someone who is serving far away from home.  If you don't know of anyone to send these to you find an organization that pairs up service members with people who want to send encouraging notes such as USO's, VFW's, American Legions, and MWR's.

5. Volunteer with an organization.

Many non-profit organizations serve veterans and their families and often these organizations often need or could greatly benefit from photography to help further their mission and raise awareness for the people that they are serving.  Consider reaching out to an organization in your area to volunteer your services for a good cause.  It doesn't even have to be photography-related but will look good as a donation of your time that you can promote on your business site.


Do you have any other suggestions for honoring our veterans with photography?  Post a comment below or if you get the chance to try out one of these five suggestions I would love to see the resulting images!  Here is one of my own:

Works Cited

Donner, Nicholas. "5 Ways to Honor Veterans with Your Photography." craftsy. Craftsy and Sympoz Inc., 10 Nov. 2014. Web. 10 Nov. 2014. <http://www.craftsy.com/blog/?p=126291&ext=FB_PC_PP_Registrations_20141108_blog_26&utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social%20Engagement&utm_campaign=Photography%20Club-Registrations&initialPage=true>

"Flags and Tombstones." Photograph. Encyclopædia Britannica ImageQuest. Web. 10 Nov 2014.
<http://quest.eb.com/#/search/139_1992968/1/139_1992968/cite>

"Florida, Miami, Biscayne Boulevard, Bayfront Park, Veterans Day PARADE." Photograph. Encyclopædia Britannica ImageQuest. Web. 10 Nov 2014.
<http://quest.eb.com/#/search/300_1821366/1/300_1821366/cite>

"Memorial Day Ceremony In Coconut Grove, Florida." Photographer. Encyclopædia Britannica ImageQuest. Web. 10 Nov 2014.
<http://quest.eb.com/#/search/115_2720589/1/115_2720589/cite>

Wide-Angle Wednesday: Shooting Macro

Welcome to the middle of the week!

Today I would like to share a theme I have been working on for my current course in Digital Image Management PH124. In week one of the course, students were asked to select four themes. The themes once approved by the instructor would be our primary focus in shooting next to learning how to organize and manage images in Lightroom.

The four themes I’m working on are Nature, Historical, Reflections, and Macro. The first two themes are in my comfort zone to shoot, but the last two themes was a challenge I purposely imposed on myself. I had never shot macro, and reflections have never been my strong point when shooting nature.

I decided to treat myself with a new lens, specifically the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM. Knowing that I really have no idea to what I’m jumping into in regards to macro photography, I started to watch video tutorials. Of course when the lens arrived the best way to learn anything is to get out and shoot!

Corina Scoggins Week 1 Macro "Holly Berries" Feb 2014

In the first week, I tried to handhold the camera a lot. Guess what in macro photography any camera shake in magnified. Lesson number one, use a tripod or try to stabilize your self by leaning against a solid object as much as possible. Lesson two for myself was not to have high hopes in achieving the finest of details the first week in using this lens. Just like anything we shoot, practices makes perfect. I tried a few moving subjects, and realized I needed to jump back and focus on subjects who were stationary to better myself using the lens.

Corina Scoggins Week 2 Macro "Algae Bubbles" Feb 2014

In week two, I focused on understanding the working focal length of the lens. Basically how close can I get to the subject and maintain a good amount of focus. I have realized now that when using a macro lens, the full frame will never be in complete focus. A light bulb went off in my head, to research why? We have all seen the macro images of insects and flowers in which everything is in pristine focus. Once again the video tutorials lead me to understand that macro images could be many frames stacked in post editing to achieve the clear full frame focus we have come to see. Of course this is a very small explanation in achieving full frame focus, as I have come to learn macro photography is beyond just clicking the shutter button. There is a lot of science involved first in understanding the subject, lighting, depth of field, and angle. 

Corina Scoggins Week 3 Macro "Vivid Carpet Fibers" March 2014

 Now I’m in week three of the course. We had an ice/snow storm blow through Sunday night, that I thought I could try to capture some snowflake and ice images. A couple images come back with detail, but of course I wasn’t satisfied with the images. I had mentioned in an assignment essay that I was disappointed in the images and truly felt that the images could never be seen as “macro”.  I was asked to further explain why, and it’s because I keep fighting the fact that the images are not in focus.

Corina Scoggins Week 3 Macro "Snowflakes on Blackboard" March 2014

The blog today won’t solve the issues, but it’s an example that we as photographers are always learning. I like to think I opened up a can of worms when I selected to shoot macro? I knew Macro was a challenge. Something I haven’t mentioned was lighting, because I haven’t used anything additional. Another aspect I need to read into as I’m learning that external lighting is very much used even in full natural daylight.

Sometimes I need that reminder that I’m truly a student, and far from being a photographer shooting for National Geographic. Critiques can be misleading, if the viewer is not honest. Of course honesty starts with one self, and honestly this is a work in progress. After all it takes a lot to write about issues and post it to a blog for all of the Photography Student Professional Network to read.

 

Corina Scoggins Week 3 Macro "Blue Sleet" March 2014

Today I ask the viewer to share your comments, stories, and suggestions. This response does not have to be related to the subject of macro photography.

Before I forget, tomorrow is Photo Live: Get Connected! Every Thursday Faculty host a live webinar for students to attend free of charge. Check out the event’s page on PSPN for upcoming Photo Live and Artist Talk events. Depending on the current course you are in, attendance in the event’s can earn you extra credit. More importantly you can connect with Faculty and fellow students, ask questions and learn something new.

PSPN Webinar Events

*Note: In order to attend the webinars, software will need to be downloaded and installed onto your computer in addition to registering for the event. Once again this software is at no charge and it’s a very simple install.

Corina Scoggins Week 3 Macro "Chert Rock of RBX" March 2014

From my camera to yours,

Wednesday Student Ambassador Corina

A video I really liked this week in regards to Macro Photography

Youtube Channel: Mike Howard

#86 - Don Komarechka - Macro Photography - jpeg2RAW Photo Podcast

A Photographic Challenge

Saturday Ambassador

Looking for an interesting challenge for your photographic skills? Consider abstraction:

 

Abstract, Deva Mayorga-Malone, 2013, Digital composite

 

You can create it, as in the digital composite above, with Photoshop's blending modes, effects and a bit of imagination. Or, you can find it:

 

 

Industrial Abstract, Deva Mayorga-Malone, 2013, Digital photograph

 

Either way, learning to see abstraction is a very good artistic exercise and will expand your horizons as a photographer. Knowing what the subject is surpasses the point of such art; abstraction is in the approach, an intentional effort of the part of the photographer to display only certain characteristics or qualities of the subject.

 

If anyone would like to delve into the art of abstraction, email small JPEG files to ambassadorsaturday@gmail.com and I'd be pleased to display them in my next post. Please include your name with the image if you'd like credit for it.

 

~Saturday Ambassador