On Deadline: Blog Monthly Assignment Due on Sunday

You are officially ON DEADLINE! All entries for the March Blog photo assignment: YOUTH and MATURITY are due to my email by Sunday, March 22 at midnight.

Please email images to srwheelr@comcast.net. Include: a link to your photography site, Flickr page, etc. and a watermark to protect your image. Images should be no larger than 800 on the longest side.

Brush up on the rules by reading this previous post.

On Deadline: Monthly Photo Assignment Due on Sunday

You are official On Deadline! Entries for the January Photo Assignment: Seven Deadly Sins, are due no later than Sunday by midnight. Please email your entires to shebawheeler@picture-yourworld.com.

The photos should be no larger than 800 on the longest side. Watermarks are optional but highly recommended. Also, please include a link to your website page, Flickr account, etc. where others can view more of your work. And have fun. This is a challenging topic, and I can't wait to see what people have come up with. The voting polls open on Monday.

December Photo Assignment Topic Announced: The Decisive Moment

Sean Donnelly, winner of November's photo assignment, has chosen December's photo assignment topic.

The topic is THE DECISIVE MOMENT

(C) Image by Henri Cartier-Bresson

"There was a plank fence around some repairs behind the Gare Saint-Lazare train station. I happened to be peeking through a gap in the fence with my camera at the moment the man jumped." - Henri Cartier-Bresson

Henri Cartier-Bresson (August 22, 1908 - August 3, 2004) was a French photographer considered to be the father of modern photojournalism, an early adopter of 35 mm format, and the master of candid photography. He helped develop the "street photography" style that has influenced generations of photographers that followed. Cartier-Bresson is now synonymous with the term "the decisive moment" -- "There is nothing in this world that does not have a decisive moment."

"Photography is not like painting," Cartier-Bresson told the Washington Post in 1957. "There is a creative fraction of a second when you are taking a picture. Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera. That is the moment the photographer is creative," he said. "Oop! The Moment! Once you miss it, it is gone forever."[3]

Sean, who takes photography classes at the Denver Darkroom, struggled with capturing this assignment given by instructor Nick Reti, so he's curious to see what others can come up with. Reti described the assignment as: "The defining moment or passing time. Time can be shown in many ways in a photograph, a person can define time, a group of people, the seasons, time of day. In this assignment challenge yourself to define a moment or passing of time. Rusted fences, seasonal references, peeling paint. Take a photo that defines a specific moment or passing of time."

So there you go. Those explanations should be more than a enough to get you started. Just follow these guidelines please:

The rules:
1) The image must be taken between NOW and Dec. 28. The goal of the monthly topic is to get us out there shooting new subject matters on a regular basis. Interpret the topic as you wish, as long as the window is the main subject. Submit a photo related to the topic to my email at shebawheeler@picture-yourworld.com.

Please have EXIF intact. Photos not taken during the time frame will not be included.

Please send photos no larger than 1MB and add a watermark if you see fit.

Now, GET OUT THERE!

November Photo Assignment Topic Announced: Windows

Matt Lewis, aka gcmandrake has chosen November's photo assignment topic.

The topic is WINDOWS. Here's how Matt explained it: Windows seen from the inside or the outside. The window(s) must be the main subject of the photo.

The rules:
1) The image must be taken between NOW and Nov. 23. The goal of the monthly topic is to get us out there shooting new subject matters on a regular basis. Interpret the topic as you wish, as long as the window is the main subject. Submit a photo related to the topic to my email at shebawheeler@picture-yourworld.com.

Please have EXIF intact. Photos not taken during the time frame will not be included.

Now, GET OUT THERE!

ON DEADLINE: Monthly Photo Assignment Due by Sunday!

Cornelia: Notice Me Eyes, originally uploaded by Sheba Wheeler.

Dear blog readers, you've got until this Sunday to turn in your submission for September's monthly photo topic: THE EYES HAVE IT. Voting polls open on Monday for best interpretation.

Email your entry to shebawheeler@picture-yourworld.com

September Monthly Photo Assignment Announced: "The Eyes Have It!"

I wracked my brain trying to figure out what to pick as September's monthly photo assignment. But I have it now, and I shamelessly copied the idea from one of my favorite photography sites, Digital Photography School.

My topic choice is: "The Eyes Have It!" Since the eyes are the windows to the soul, let's see what's lurking inside. Have fun interpreting this topic. Remember, it doesn't have to be human eyes...it could be animal eyes, or whatever you define as "eyes." Need some inspiration? Check out the blog topic and some of the submissions DPS readers turned in here. The photo above is also one of my favorites focusing on Cordelia's lovely eyes.

The only stipulations is that the photo has to be taken between NOW and Sept. 28. Turn in your submissions at shebawheeler@picture-yourworld.com and they will be posted for voting when the polls open on September 29.

Now -- GET OUT THERE!

VOTE NOW: August Monthly Photo Assignment - Rural Architecture

Vote for your favorite interpretation of the monthly assignment topic: "Rural Architecture." Polls will be open from now until next Monday with the next month's subject announced at the same time. The winner of this assignment picks next month's topic.

Feel free to leave your comments about why you voted for a certain picture here. These assignments are designed to stretch our imagination, challenge our interpretation of topics and start shooting on a regular basis. Constructive criticism only helps us all get better at the craft we share and love.

ON DEADLINE: Turn in August Photo Assignment By Tomorrow

Hey everybody, you've got until tomorrow evening to turn in your images for this month's photo assignment: RURAL ARCHITECTURE.

Email me your photos no larger than 5 MB at shebawheeler@picture-yourworld.com with a link to your business website, flickr page, online galleries, etc.

Get the Job Done: Colorado Dragon Boat Festival Pics Finished!

Today, I uploaded the edited versions of my Colorado Dragon Boat Festival coverage for event photo coordinator Kit Williams. I fulfilled Kit's request for me to concentrate on storytelling shots featuring the sponsor booths and families enjoying quality time together at the annual event. See my gallery of images here.



Overall I am pleased with my coverage. This was the first time I had ever shot an outdoor festival and the first time attending the Dragon Boat Festival. It was a great chance to have a more intimate peek in the state's vibrant Asian community. The photo above shows a woman holding both an American and Philippine flag, showcasing her dual heritage. It's one of my favorite images of the day.







Plus, I will never forget how sick I felt from heat exhaustion when my four hours of volunteer service were done. It was well over 100 degrees that day, with very few trees to hide under for shade. So I definite spent a lot of time with families trying to keep cool. Some of my favorite shots include the crowd hanging out in the Misting Station where sheets of moisture fell like soft rain an anyone huddled under the tent. Even dogs were brought to the Misting Station to get some creature comfort from the sweltering temperatures.





The above shot is my most favorite from the day. There is something about being able to capture this wonderful loving moment that is a part of my signature photographic style. And I like the action shot above too, with the guy in the lower right hand corner adding depth to the image as your eye moves across the frame. I was serving as a volunteer photographer from the Denver Darkroom, but there were plenty of opportunities for me to pass out business cards for future shoots. One of the festival moms emailed me today looking for a specific picture I took of her children. I am hoping my generosity of giving her one of five images I took of her youngsters for free will keep me in her mind's eye should she ever need a photographer again, plus she can order the other four shots from my website. And I'm still hoping the young mother I met who needs a photographer to shoot her daughter's quincenera will hire me!



Shooting the festival let me know I still have a lot of work to do in bettering my photography skills when shooting in broad daylight. Many of the photos were overexposed, even though I had my Gary Fong Cloud diffuser. Some of the overexposure just couldn't seem to be helped as nearly everything - people and events - were in direct sunlight, as seen in the shot above. I figured I would be battling this particular photographer's nightmare shooting situation, so I shot everything in RAW so I would have a better chance of rescuing overexposed images. The best shots were those where I captured people under the shade of trees or tents and used a touch of fill flash to light up shadowed areas.

Got any tips on shooting in direct sunlight? Please share with me! Until then, hopefully this link might help us both out if you have trouble shooting in this kind of situation too.

My friend and photography colleague Tiffany Trott of 2*3 Photos offered this "Sunny 16" rule:

here's a brief explanation of the "sunny 16" rule..it's geared mostly to film but you can apply it to digital if you're shooting in manual mode.. hope it's helpful...


In photography, the sunny 16 rule (or, less often, the "sunny f/16 rule") is a method to estimate correct daylight exposures without using a light meter.

The basic sunny 16 rule, applicable on a sunny day, is this:

Set aperture to f/16 and shutter speed (reciprocal seconds) to ISO film speed.
For example, for ISO 100 film, choose shutter speed of 1/100 second (or 1/125 second)

The elaborated form of the sunny 16 rule for more general situations is:

Set the shutter speed to the setting nearest to the ISO film speed
Set the f-number according to the table below:
Aperture Lighting Conditions Shadow Detail
f/16 Sunny Distinct
f/11 Slight Overcast Soft around edges
f/8 Overcast Barely visible
f/5.6 Heavy Overcast No shadows
f/4 Sunset

August Photo Assignment Topic Announced: RURAL ARCHITECTURE

RURAL ARCHITECTURE is the topic for the PYWP blog August photography assignment. Brush up on the rules by reading this past post.

You will have from now until August 24 to submit only ONE entry. Voting polls will open and the winner will be announced on August 31. Email your submissions to shebawheeler@picture-yourworld.com. And good luck everyone!

Now: GET OUT THERE!

Congratulations July Monthly Photo Contest Winner: Anna Parsons

Anna Parsons is the July Monthly Photo Contest Winner with this entry for the "HISTORY" topic. Anna had this to say about her entry: "I am 100% amateur.... Thanks for giving me an excuse to get out there and do something creative!" Anna gets to choose what we will all shoot this month, and when she gets back into town, I will let you know what the topic is.

Vote Now For July's Monthly Photo Assignment: "HISTORY"

Vote for your favorite interpretation of the monthly assignment topic: "History." Polls will be open from now until next Monday with the next month's subject announced at the same time. The winner of this assignment picks next month's topic.

Feel free to leave your comments about why you voted for a certain picture here. These assignments are designed to stretch our imagination, challenge our interpretation of topics and start shooting on a regular basis. Constructive criticism only helps us all get better at the craft we share and love.