The List of 50

This is where my list of 50 assignments ended up, with links to those that I've posted to date. Today, I tend to think that 50 is too many, that I broke a few things down too far and there's too much overlap. But anyway...

Framing

  01 Rule of thirds 

  02 Fill the frame 

  03 Frame within a frame 

  04 Isolate via depth of field 

  05 Isolate via negative space 

Symmetry

  06 Symmetry 

  07 Off-center symmetry 

Lines

  08 Leading lines 

  09 Converging lines

  10 Curves/Spirals/Circles 

  11 Horizontal lines 

  12 Vertical lines

  13 Diagonal lines

Motion

  14 Motion blur 

  15 Freeze motion 

  16 Panning

  17 Full-scene sweeping blur abstract 

  18 Zoom blur – stationary lens – spiral 

  19 Radial zoom blur

  20 Light painting 

  21 Harris shutter effect (simulated) 

  22 Long Exposure 

  23 Star trails 

Portrait

  24 Candid portrait - family/friend

  25 Candid portrait - stranger (performer/in the public eye) 

  26 Candid portrait - stranger (spectator/part of the crowd)

  27 Self-portrait

Landscape

  28 High-horizon landscape 

  29 Low-horizon landscape 

  30 No-horizon landscape 

  31 Panorama 

Point of View

  32 Close-up/macro 

  33 High point of view 

  34 Low point of view 

  35 Dutch tilt 

  36 Deceptively not level 

  37 Purposely unfocused  

Patterns and Textures

  38 Texture 

  39 Pattern 

  40 Broken pattern

Color

  41 Single color 

  42 Two colors (complementary or warm/cold contrast)

  43 Combination of vibrant colors 

  44 Combination of pastel colors 

Light and Reflections

  45 Side light 

  46 Back light 

  47 Silhouette 

  48 Shadows and highlights 

  49 Reflection on water 

  50 Reflection other than on water 

So I see, after adding the links, that I actually got through 32 of the 50 assignments, even though I only counted up to 30. Looks like I re-used #20 and #23 in my counting. Oops.

Will I try to finish the list? I don't know yet. I still don't want to put myself in  the position of posting photos that I don't particularly like. We'll see.

That's Enough Assignments for Now

I'm going to officially put the "assignments" posts on hiatus for a bit. Life and weather are not conducive to taking a lot of photographs right now and I don't want get desperate and use shots I'm not thrilled with.

I have some other things to "talk out loud" about, though.

Taking a Break for 2013 Favorites

I've decided to take two, maybe three, Fridays off from my normal "assignment" posts to instead take a look back at what I've shot in 2013.  On no particular schedule, my plan is highlight my ten favorite shots of the year.  There's a good chance that I'll have already posted most of these - or plan to in the future - but for this exercise, perhaps I'll talk a little about them (something I've purposely avoided in the "assignment" posts).

As usual, this is mostly for me - it's encouraging to think that I might be getting better (whatever that means).

Perhaps a good way to start is to look at a few of what I considered favorites at the end of 2012.  I still like these - but I hope I like my 2013 favorites more.

I noticed these backlit leaves while walking my son to the bus stop one morning and came back with my camera and tripod after the bus came and went.  I liked the way the light enhanced the otherwise drab color of the leaves, especially in contrast with the pure black.

This is one of those pictures that nobody likes but me.  I get that it's really kind of gloomy with the gray sky and all and I find it more interesting than captivating, I suppose.  My favorite aspect is probably the double motion blur - the rotary blur on the wheels versus the horizontal blur of the background.  It was also instructional to me to notice that the deep background is much more blurred than that big bush - that taught me to consider the distance to the background when looking for opportunities to try for cool panning shots.  The horizontal lines add something too, I think.

While I was first gaining enthusiasm for this photography thing, I read somewhere that "great subjects make for great pictures" or something like that.  I don't know that I have very frequent access to great subjects but it has stuck with me that I should try to take advantage of times when I'm seeing something you don't see every day.  Like five mountain goats, including a baby, lined up facing me on a diagonal with a gradient blue sky in the background.  It looks like an album cover from the 1980's.  Great picture?  No.  But still one of my 2012 favorites.  This was taken on Mount Evans in Colorado.

Observations at Halfway

It appears that my “readership” is largely bots and phishers but that’s okay.  My primary goal at the outset was to broaden the way I think with a camera in my hand and I believe that that is being accomplished.  Publishing editorial-type posts like this might be a little silly, though.

A quick count suggests that I’ve shared 63 photos in the first 25 posts, split pretty evenly between photos that existed on the first day of this blog and photos taken since then.  I’m still reasonably happy with most of them.

My list of assignments has been fairly firm for a couple of months now, with 50 items.  Some are perhaps too closely related or overlapping but with what’s already been published, it’s too late for any substantial reorganization.  Besides, it’s all in fun anyway, right?  Might as well see if I can finish it out.

Towards that end, I have photos right now for less than half of the remaining assignments so it's certainly possible that I won't be able to keep up with my weekly schedule.  I’m going to treat that as motivation to keep shooting and hope to never compromise whatever standards I may have set thus far.  If I run out of fulfilled assignments, I don’t know what I’ll do.  Of course, the bots and phishers probably won’t care.

Target Audience

So who do I hope might find this blog?  Do I really think anyone will take these assignments to heart?

Good questions - that absolutely nobody asked.  Truth is, I'm doing this because I'm positive it will make me a better photographer.  I said earlier that I hoped to illustrate each assignment with examples of my own work.  I don't have all the necessary photos to do that yet.  I'll have to concentrate on some of these ideas in order to keep up with my proposed publishing schedule.  I'll have to get out and shoot.

On the other hand, I'd be thrilled if someone else finds some value here.  I'm perfectly aware that this is not a groundbreaking idea, but I know from firsthand experience that "Hey, why don't you go try [some obvious thing]" is, once in a while, exactly the push I need.

Mission Statement

I suppose I became a "serious" amateur photographer in May 2012 when I took some classes at the urging of my wife. I wasn't sure what to expect but I found that I was kind of excited to be assigned homework at the first class. When I went camping the next weekend, my photography seemed more focused (pardon the unavoidable pun) because I was actively looking for leading lines and symmetry around me rather than just something interesting to take a picture of.

In the year since then, I haven't lost my enthusiasm for having an assignment. I've learned a lot from watching videos and reading blogs, articles, books, and e-books. But I think I've retained the information better when I've made a conscious decision to immediately apply it - that is, to go out and deliberately try to use a specific composition method or certain camera settings. Eventually, I started keeping a list of these "assignments". At this moment, it has 41 items on it.

My intention here is to gradually put this list out in the open, along with examples of my own work. I'll publish one assignment each week and illustrate the post with, say, one to three of my photos, with a goal of being more inspirational than educational.  I anticipate stopping with a list of 50 (a nice round number) or 52 (once a week for a year) assignments.

At least that's the plan.