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