A self-made photo assignment
Today, I was on the front porch reveling in the warmth of the sun. I thought of a quick photo assignment for myself. I would walk around the outside of our house with my camera. I would use just the 24-70 mm lens. No filters, no tripod. Just handheld shots.
I did not have a limit to the number of shots, or anything else to limit me. As it turned out, I shot almost 40 frames. Out of them, I downloaded 35.
I went through each shot, one at a time, in Lightroom. Those that spoke to me I processed. Those that did not either were deleted or regulated to the maybe-I’ll-do something-with-them-later pile.
Looking at this porch light is what gave me the idea for photo assignment. I do like the shape of the lamp, along with the lines and details within. This is the only image I processed twice, once in Lightroom (this photo), and once in Photoshop. Usually, I do most of my black and white conversions in PS. For some reason, I like the LR version better.
This is the Photoshop rendition. It is just too plain for my taste.
Another shot from the front porch. I think these railings are from the 1960s or 1970s. It has probably been more than a decade since they have seen fresh paint. I have a thing for symmetry in objects. Most of the time it carries through in my photography. While the railing has symmetry, the actual photo does not. I don’t know if this was a subconscious decision or not.
The same railing post. Again with the symmetry. Usually I shoot with an aperture of f/11, but for this series, I chose f/2.8 for almost every shot. I really wanted to concentrate on the subject. I believe this is one of the few shots with little to no post processing.
Last shot from the front porch. I probably have done the whole assignment from there. As I kept from aperture wide open, my depth of field took a hit. With this shot that is okay though. It brings the eye to the center of the photo, which was my intent.
At last, I made it to the side of the house. I had intended this handle be centered, but being handheld, it came out like this. But, I like it. Just being off center just a tad works for me. This is another photo with little post processing.
A weed coming up through a crack in the back patio. My wife almost pulled it up before I got this shot. I hadn’t noticed how thorny this is until viewing it on my screen.
This thermometer must be a relic from the 70’s I would assume. I shot this twice. The first shot was in a 1:1 ratio, whereas this one was in a 4:3 ratio. I just like the latter better for vertical shots.
The whole assignment took an hour in all, between the shooting and the post processing. I do not give myself assignments very often, prefer having to shoot whatever I come across (provided I like it).
What photo assignments have you given yourself? What constraints, if any, do you give yourself? Let me know in the comments.
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