I can spell confusion with a K and I can like it.

I'll blog properly when I'm in the mood to but my 3rd photo challenge is to set my camera to black and white and to shoot lots of monotone photos.

Laters.

Blow bubbles with their gum, take photographs have fun, have fun.

Ok so it is the end of 20th September so here is what I have decided on shallow depth of field (sdof).

• It is the focus I use most, without realising what I was actually doing.
• It works best with a close up object or a definite focus object and less so with general area.
• Works best, well so far, without too much clutter in the focus area but looks good with clutter in the unfocused area especially when it gets really unfocused.
• Makes for good macro shots but need to try portrait and landscape more.

I didn't take too many photos these past ten days but I did take more than I have done so that's a good start eh? :p This is really my forte when it comes to my photos. I love macro work and so I've done a lot of sdof without realising it. It was good, however, to learn what the hell made it the way it is and I know how to do it on my ME Super which is good :D I can't wait to try it out on film instead of all this digital faff that I'm having to jump through hoops for. (Talking more about the conversion from DNGs to PNGs than my camera or actual digital photography. Different programmes process the image differently to each other even when I don't want any processing but still want a watermark).

On that topic I'm trying to do more photography that is known as SOOC (straight out of the camera). The hardcore nazi soocs will tell me I fail simply because I use watermarks but regardless on if people would actually steal my pictures I will always watermark because I am paranoid and over protective :p. Another issue I can see arising is that I have to use photoshop to convert my images into PNG and the software that came with the camera does not convert to PNG. They say to convert to JPEG but you are losing colour quality there so... I don't know. As far as I care they're sooc (well when I label them as such). It's that whole trying to take what I see and not thinking "well it looks ok but I can add some awesome filters and tweak this, that and the other and it will be fabulous!" No! I am attempting to be more creative and do everything without superfluous processing. Although if I see a gem that needs polishing I'm gonna polish the damned thing until it sparkles so much wor Eddy C is jealous and cries in a corner.

Ok... so the images I've taken. I've been uploading them to Flickr as I type, which makes the whole process about a million times longer than it ever should be. I'm also not sure on how to link the images from there to here. It's probably really easy but they try and make it not easy so people don't go stealing photos and whatnot.

Ok so it's easier than I thought to do that (I wonder if I should look into my security settings or whatever they are to make it so you can't download my images or right click on them ¬¬) (also I say easier... blogger is a bitch to use when you want to mess around with formatting that isn't just a picture, in the middle of the page, breaking up text).

So these are my four favourite sdofs. Personally my favourite is the raindrops (middle of the three to the left) because the colours and the focus really worked in that image.

Actually that day was good for photos. I had great fun just photographing the sky. Post storm is always a good time for sky photos.

Notice the first image is in black and white? I never shoot without colour and actually it was really fun to play with. I definitely need to understand my camera's settings more. Also I need to find out how to make photoshop process my photos less when I open files. It's being very controlling over what happens... especially when I want it to do nothing ¬¬

So there's my sdof attempts. It was actually harder when I was specifically trying to take sdof photos. I was looking for things that would make it good instead of taking various photos and seeing how they turned out but the next challenge should help me out with just going for a shot and seeing the consequences later.

For September: Part Two my challenge is to shoot from the hip. It's a challenge I actually found in a photography magazine. You set the camera to auto, don't look through the lens or on the screen. Hold camera about waist height (or wherever your hand naturally sits when at your side) and take photos. I think the idea is mostly to get candid shots of people without them noticing (although if you're using a DSLR then good luck on making it take quiet photos and being subtle :p). This isn't a technique focusing one. I really want to do it more because it sounds really really fun. And it's only for the next 10 days (for me anyway)!

Also Anna-chan (I'm replying on here because blogger replies don't work very well unless you have subscribed for replies to be sent to your email) don't worry about it if you fancy starting from the last one and catching up or whatever. Pick and choose what things you fancy if you fancy them :D as always I enjoy looking at your photos (this applies to everyone actually not just Anna-chan, you need to do what you want folks and I will enjoy looking at any photos that come my way :D).

photoshop and take lots of photos this part (wishful thinking).

Lemons for all

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It's like forgetting the words to your favourite song, you can't believe it, you were always singing along.

Hum, where to begin?

I have stopped taking a photo a day and quite possibly the MSH challenge as well.

I did enjoy doing these things but whether it is the fact that I forget to take a photo because my memory is so bad now or the fact that I'm just really bored and not progressing in my photography as much as I was before I have stopped. Some of you probably weren't even aware that I was doing these things. That is fine, you did not need to be aware, this is more me just rambling away to myself.

Regardless, I love taking photos. I'm waiting for some equipment to arrive as we speak (darn delivery times and the fact that to me it feels like we ordered the stuff a month ago when in fact it was only last week ¬¬) and I have a lovely new 35mm SLR (called Chip). I love photography. Love. End of.

But my photography has become flat. Actually a lot of it is done purely to cover that particular day, or to cover that particular scavenger clue and recently you can tell that I was just putting up what I did to cover that. I don't have artistic drive today? Tough. Got a photographer's block? Hey look an item, photo that, there done. How crap. So I'm essentially making what I love into a chore. There's no real challenge and there's no progress. Whilst the MSH is a challenge to a degree really all I have to do is find a loosely related item and it's done. Technically I could take a photo of something barely related, yes I wouldn't get any good marking for it, it would be done.

I made a decision. I don't know much about photography at all. I don't know how to make photos good. I've had some good shots and all of them have been, from a photography point of view, luck. I can work out an alright composition from my art Alevel days, I know how to do that and I know what my strengths are, but taking a photo? Knowing how to get the best, or how to get a good, result out of a shot? Not a clue. Not even a little bit. I barely know how to use my camera and I bought that last December! I haven't played. I haven't learnt. I haven't actually settled on a name for it yet!

So I'm starting a new challenge, and any readers who wish can join in because quite frankly I can't stop you regardless :p, with the idea to learn what my camera does and what the terms mean and how it looks. I'm telling you my rules because I'm following them and I like to set out my intentions to other people because they may come up with a better idea. I think each of my challenges will last 2 weeks. It gives time for days when you just don't care and the camera lies on your desk (re: floor) feeling unloved. When creativity just doesn't happen. Take some photos based around what that is. Different places, settings etc. As many or as few as is fancied. Then when it is the end of that challenge to choose one that is your favourite. Sometimes they'll be camera/tech specific, sometimes they'll just be like a MSH.

I'm probably going to be uploading my "one" on here or on deviantart but I'll be uploading any I think are good on flickr. Annoyingly it's the 10th and I want to start now, because that is how I do things.I'm doing 10 days on this one and 10 on the next (splitting the remaining month into half). I can tell you what this one is, it's one that is good for me since I heart the macro!

SHALLOW DEPTH OF FIELD.

Told you it was macro based :p but I haven't really looked into specifically making my depth of field shallow before. In fact I didn't know how to do it until a few days ago. I thought you set your camera to macro (the little flower shape) and that was what it did. How mistaken! I mean macro settings may have that built in but what if you wanted to take it without using that setting? Or even what about when you use a film camera? I shall tell you the basics of what I know although really you should look into it yourself if you are interested because I might get something wrong.

The wider the aperture the shallower the depth of field. Where one thing is in focus and the rest of it blurs. If you have a long depth of field fewer things are blurry and more is in focus (landscapes are often deep).

To make the aperture wider you use a smaller f/ number. My DSLR can go down to about f/4.5 but I have a manual lens that shoots at f/2.8 if I wanted (I don't think it works with my DSLR though, it just sets to auto and runs through the camera but that is by the by).

So for the next 10 days I intend to take photos that are shallow. I shall let you know my results :D this isn't a huge step outside what I normally play with I just have a better understanding of what I am doing this time around. Macro is something I feel is a strength of mine and so away I go!

Ramble ramble ramble love

and lemons

Buttercup xxxxx