DPChallenge – Free Study 2009 – January Entry
I may not have made it an official resolution this year but taking more photos was definitely a goal. To assist this and force me to stay on track I’ve signed up for a number of projects like Jason D. Moore’s On the 4th, Picture a Week, and also attending more photowalks like the ones hosted by Aaron Brazell and Shawn Duffy. The end result is not only having fun but obtaining more experience both in the taking of the shot and the post processing experience. The best side benefit is it forces me to interact more with the community and creates more online and real life relationships with others that share a love of photography.
Another project I’ve taken on is the monthly Free Study challenge at DPChallenge.com. Unlike the Picture a Week project, which I also found at DPChallenge, the Free Study images are graded by the membership there. Members vote on the entries using a 1 to 10 scale and also are provided a way to leave comments for feedback, criticism and advice. I was told when I first joined that I should have thick skin as at times the feedback and scoring can be rough. That was good advice. Images I thought would do well have tanked while others I thought were so-so did better than I expected.
Here is my January Free Study entry. It received a 5.25 overall which is a little better than I expected. This shot was taken at The Melting Pot restaurant in Reston, Va during my 21st wedding anniversary dinner.
Camera specs: Canon EOS Rebel XS fitted with a 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens, f2.8 @ 1/100 seconds, ISO 200, 50mm focal length, hand held.
There are always 4 challenges going at DPChallenge, usually 2 open and 2 for members. They range from basic to advanced editing and cover various subject material. For example, the four going on right now are Free Study, Light on White, Skin, and Self Portrait without People. As you can see they not only challenge your photography skills but also your imagination and shot selections.
Here is a recent photo I entered in the Grey challenge that received a 5.09, much lower than I had hoped.
Camera specs: Canon EOS Rebel XS fitted with a 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 lens, f4.6 @ 1/85 seconds, ISO 800, 130mm focal length, hand held.
I can’t talk about DPChallenge without mentioning the person that got me involved there. Yo Spiff is a good Flickr friend that has probably been the best source of inspiration I’ve found on the web. You may remember him from a Spotlight post recently. He is a great source of feedback for me as I often look for his advice on images before I enter them in a challenge.
I’m in the process now of finishing my February Free Study entry. Its the first photo I’ve taken using the desktop studio my wife received at Christmas. I’m in the final Photoshop tweeking mode and am pretty happy with it so far. It might break a 5.5 score (well now I’ve cursed it by saying that out loud).
Check out DPChallenge.com and maybe enter a few challenges. Let me know how it comes out too.
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March 14th, 2009 at 1:49 am
Yup. You have doomed yourself to mediocrity by predicting a decent score. If you like, we can give it my stress-test. I’ll let my wife look at it and the more she likes it, the closer to a 5.00 you will end up!
Thanks for the mention in the above piece.
March 14th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
LOL, I totally forgot I made that prediction. Boy did I curse myself with that.