TIGSource Forums

The challenge for the current week of October 8 to October 15, 2009 is:

Street Portraits (http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=8546.msg273190#msg273190)

---

Previous challenges:
October 8 to October 15, 2009: Bokeh (http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=8546.msg270217#msg270217)
September 16 - October 1, 2009: Game Architecture (http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=8246.0)

---

General Rules

• This is a challenge, not a competition. Basically, there is no wrong answer. This is a weekly exercise to encourage people to use their cameras in new ways, to explore the world around them in images, to practice techniques, and to broaden approaches to photography in general.
• Absolutely anyone with any camera is encouraged to participate.
• Challenges will run for one week each.
• Please try not to submit old photos. The point of this exercise is to get you out there, taking NEW pictures with NEW themes/styles/genres every single week.
• There is no limit to how many pictures you can submit in a given week, so long as you stick to the week's theme.
• If you're too late but have a great picture for an older challenge, please do not post them here but rather in the general Photography thread (http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=5575.0). We do not like to be distracted...
• Every week, a new challenge will be posted in this thread by Nava, Jrsquee, or GregWS. There will be a link to each previous challenge in this main post.
• If you've got an idea and you'd like to "host" the challenge one week, notify either Nava (http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?action=profile;u=3450), Jrsquee (http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?action=profile;u=1012), or GregWS (http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?action=profile;u=1493) (via PM or whatever other means) and we will leave the chair open to you on the next week. You can then post your challenge in this thread once the previous one ends.
• Do not post a challenge if we haven't been notified or if the previous challenge hasn't yet ended. It will be deleted. And we will be disappointed in you.
• If you want your submissions to be critiqued, just indicate so in your post.

Things that Should Not Even Need to be Stated

• No explicit nudity.
• No bashing another person's submissions.
• No gigantic image files posted directly into the thread. Flickr is free and compresses images wonderfully while providing links to higher resolutions. Seriously.
• HAVE FUN

Ah, cool idea. I just took some photos for school that might feature some bokeh-type shapes. Got to start scanning.

i'm game

time to set up the christmas lights!

October 8 to October 15, 2009

Bokeh


In layman's terms, bokeh are the little shapes of fairly solid color you sometimes get in an area of a photograph that is vastly out of focus and emitting/reflecting light. Bokeh are easiest to get (and maybe most drastic or apparent) when you have a sharp focus in the foreground and lights in the distance, as in my extremely cliché example photo:

(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2433/3994265002_0cd2629c97.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/navaboo/3994265002/)

However, that's not the only way to do it. You can set basically any shot up in such a way as to achieve this effect, with a little bit of planning.
All you'll need for this challenge is:

• a "subject" with lots of depth to it, containing a foreground and a fairly distant background that will reflect light at your lens (this is important; an unreflective object in the distance will not show up as bokeh)
• the ability to stop your camera down so that the lens opening is wider, or alternately just lots and lots and lots of depth

Increasing your aperture this way makes the depth of field shallower, which blurs out the non-focused elements, hopefully into Bokeh!
Note: smaller f.stop = bigger aperture = shallower depth of field = more bokeh. Play around with your camera's settings if possible :)

If you're worrying about your equipment's ability to do this, DON'T! Although some cameras do automatically set the aperture in silly ways to try to focus the majority of the objects in the the frame, many if not most point-and-shoots today come with at least a few manual options....
I used to have an old Fujifilm point-and-shoot that stopped down to an aperture of 2.8, and I had no problem getting bokeh, even with incredibly amateur skillz:

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3057/3994265444_cd1ffb51dd.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/navaboo/3994265444)

So, play around with your camera! Play around with different distances between foregrounds and backgrounds, or just play around with really out of focus lights. The possibilities here are endless; it's a simple technique that can render you some fairly interesting and artistic results.

(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2662/3996072347_9fbee9b849.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/navaboo/3996072347/)

Bokeh snow.... yes, it's snowing in Winnipeg.  :-X

Please allow me to second that.  :-X

And it's only the beginning of October...  :tired:

I had some really nice pictures like this BUT THE CAMERA DELETED THEM D:

I don't even know why :/

click to embiggen

(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2648/4002082514_3e8311797b.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jrsquee/4002082514/sizes/l/)

God why is the light in my room so bad I can't get a decent shot! I guess I should venture outside...

I'm too rubbish to take nice photos in the shitty light of non-summer England :(

I really want to go out on a (probably futile) photo-taking walk in search of the grimy underside of Cambridge (probably doesn't exist), so maybe something nice will come out of that.

I wouldn't risk it, if I were you.  :shrug2:

I actually went to try this tonight (being crazy busy aside), and didn't have much luck.  I think I need to find a scene with way more lights, and a more interesting foreground.  :(

There are areas of the city that my friend once described as 'Cambridge's crack-town', but nothing particularly grimy. Best thing you can do is find where the tramps hang out!

This is the best I could do. It's seriously shitty:
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3510/4013765182_08f6531176.jpg)

Lies! You got the bokeh, that was the point of this excercise  :coffee:

True! It was quite a nice sunrise, though, and I didn't capture any of that niceness. In fact, several of the bokeh are caused by smudges on my window.

Probably shouldn't be talking down my own photo, should I?  :giggle:

more photos plz

I would but I ain't got no camera.

It has been a week! Jr, you have the floor  :gentleman:

Shit; and I was hoping for an extension.  Ah well, I'll post a bokeh shot in this thread, or in the normal photography thread when I get the chance.  This week's just been...yeah.  :(

October 17 to October 24, 2009

Street Portraits

this one is easy!

grab your camera, take to the streets and walk around
then take a picture of a stranger!
not just any lame sneaky picture of someone's back
go right up, ask, and shoot

don't forget to get an email address to send a copy of the photograph if they want it

(I have a hard time with street portraits, personally. that's why I chose this challenge.)

it's hard! but it's good to get out of your comfort zone
really tough but super rewarding
you'll meet some interesting people

some tips (http://photojojo.com/content/photo-projects/how-to-shoot-street-portraits) and some more tips (http://www.flickr.com/groups/streetportrait/)

all you'll need for this challenge is:

• a camera (any camera)
• confidence
• deodorant
• a smile
• maybe a notebook+pen

gogogo you have a week

Sorry I haven't participated in these, but I'll try to for this one.

nothing? come on
even I did one
just need to scan it from the films
I'll do that tomorrow

Ack sorry. Ive been doing a shit ton of stuff this week, haven't had the chance to even touch my camera :(

I'm still trying to get some nice bokeh...  :-[

(And the thought of taking photos of strangers on the street really puts me on edge, so I think I'll have to pass on this one; just far too shy.)