Fall Sunset

Photo © HCJames with permission to About.com, Inc.

Take a moment to visit the forum and view the other posted photos for a real treat.

Our learning assignment for October is centering vs. the Rule of Thirds. We've studied the rule of thirds and centering methods of composition. This assignment reinforced these methods of composition by comparing and contrasting them. Each entry for this assignment included two photos. For this assignment our members took two photographs of the same subject. One photo used the centering composition method and the other used the rule of thirds method. The entrants then had to decide which of the photos is the strongest of the two compositions.

Congratulations to our winner of the Composition Choices Assignment #56 - AmrJoe!

You can see all of our finalists in the Winner and Finalist Gallery

Please feel free to add your own images in the forum as well. We have a lot of amazing people as members in our forum and we would love for you to join us!

Photo © AmrJoe with permission to About.com, Inc.

November 9 through November 15 we are having a photographic scavenger hunt! Find and photograph the items listed below and then post your finds on the forum in the entry thread! Rules are listed in the entry thread.

Scavenger Hunt Entry Thread

1. Rock
2. Insect
3. Mammal
4. Water
5. Flower
6. Bird
7. Leaf
8. Food
9. Vehicle
10. Light
11. Shadow
12. Hands

Photo © Steve Gray with permission to About.com, Inc.

Each Saturday, an image will be posted here that was originally posted somewhere in our forum roughly one year prior. Be sure to check back each Saturday for our blasts from the past!

While its a relatively fireworks-free time of year for those in the US, our UK friends and others across the globe are gearing up for Bonfire Night (Guy Fawkes Night). To help capture the activities with your camera remember to ditch the flash, stay upwind of the smoke, and scout your photo location ahead of time. You can find more great tips in my fireworks photography lessons and my night photography lesson.

And please remember to carry some extra change on you for when the kids ask for "a penny for the Guy." Its all in good fun.

Lonely Bench

Photo © Rob Connelly with permission to About.com, Inc.

Take a moment to visit the forum and view the other posted photos for a real treat.

Every photographer, pro or amateur, has a first (or early) camera that they remember fondly. For me, it was a Pentax K1000. I bought the camera with money from my first after school job when I was in high school. I knew absolutely nothing about cameras except that the little 110 I had wouldn't take photos like I saw in magazines. With $100 I got my mother to take me to Service Merchandise and I picked out the K1000. I didn't realize until I got outside that lenses were purchased separately. My mother, thankfully, went back and bought a lens for me. I still have that K1000 tucked away in a closet for safekeeping.

I'd love to hear about your first camera, or a special camera you remember fondly. Take a moment to share your camera story with us.

Share Your Camera Story

The weather may be getting colder but motocross and supercross racing is still going on. Motocross is an easily accessible sport that can offer many more photography viewpoints than other sports where spectators are kept further away from the action. Many local-level competitions may include a dozen or more races in half a day of various skill levels and ages where spectators can walk right to the edge of the track. This can offer you a wealth of photo opportunities in a short amount of time.

Lesson on Motocross Photography - How to Take Great Motocross Photos

Photo © Liz Masoner licensed to About.com, Inc.

Don't forget about our 48 hour Halloween Shootout competition that runs today and tomorrow! See the forum for details!

Photo © CLD0708 with permission to About.com, Inc.

Each Saturday, an image will be posted here that was originally posted somewhere in our forum roughly one year prior. Be sure to check back each Saturday for our blasts from the past!

Happy Halloween everyone (yeah, its a day early - I just love Halloween)! Tomorrow our Halloween 48 hour shootout starts. From 12:01AM October 31st to Midnight November 1st take your best Halloween photos and post them to the forum in the entry thread. For this shootout everyone is allowed THREE entries.

Start planning your shots now. I look forward to seeing everyone's spooky Halloween photos! You can get some inspiration from the winners of last year's Halloween assignment and the Halloween photos posted this year in the forum.

To enter the shootout go to the shootout thread in the forum and post your entry images there.

48 Hour Halloween Shootout Entry Thread

Due to some technical difficulties with the entry process for our composition choices assignment the deadline is being extended until November 5th.

Composition Choices details

Index of entries so far

Apples

Photo © scrappinqueen with permission to About.com, Inc.

Take a moment to visit the forum and view the other posted photos for a real treat.

Adobe has released its Beta version of Lightroom 3 for public testing. As with all Beta software, there are likely to be glitches and problems but this is a great opportunity to see what's coming with the next version of Lightroom.

The Beta software can be downloaded from Adobe's website.

Photo © JB.Me with permission to About.com, Inc.

Each Saturday, an image will be posted here that was originally posted somewhere in our forum roughly one year prior. Be sure to check back each Saturday for our blasts from the past!

Halloween is almost here! Now is the time to be reading up on how to make your Halloween photos extra spooky this year. We have lots of ideas to help make your photos especially ghoulish for Halloween. Also, we have a 48 hour Halloween Shootout coming up Oct 31-Nov 1 so be thinking ahead of what you would like to photograph for the shootout.

Halloween Photography Tips

Blacklight Photography

Photo Gallery of Halloween Photography Ideas

48 Hour Halloween Shootout Details

Winners of 2008 Halloween Photo Assignment

Fall Colors

Photo © Stephanie Calhoun with permission to About.com, Inc.

Take a moment to visit the forum and view the other posted photos for a real treat.

Our first assignment for October is photographer's choice! This is your chance to show us your favorite photos. For this assignment images could have been taken anytime in the last year (between November 2008 and October 2009).

This was also our first assignment using the new submission system and I'm happy to report we received a large number of entries (135) with lots of new folks participating.

The quality of entries for this assignment was truly amazing! Please don't feel there was anything "wrong" with your image if you did not place in the winner/finalist list for this assignment. The competition was incredible and in many cases it was the tiniest items that moved one photo ahead of another. As always, if you would like a critique of your entry, please let me know and I will be glad to provide one.

Take a moment to view the entry list once you finish viewing our winner and finalist images.

Congratulations to our winner of the Photographer's Choice Assignment #55 - Mountain Twilight!

Winner and Finalist Gallery

Please feel free to add your own images in the forum as well. We have a lot of amazing people as members in our forum and we would love for you to join us!

Photo © MountainTwilight with permission to About.com, Inc.

Shepard Fairey, who has been involved in several lawsuits relating to whether or not his near copy of a photo of Obama is fair use, has admitted to lying in court and covering up evidence of which photo he used as the base of the "Hope" poster. On Fairey's website he states: "While I initially believed that the photo I referenced was a different one, I discovered early on in the case that I was wrong."

According to the New York Times, this admission has resulted in Fairey's lawyer, Anthony Falzone (the executive director of the Fair Use Project) to withdraw from the case.

Only time will tell how this will affect a set of already complicated lawsuits.

For more information on this story please see our earlier post about the photo copying.

Photo © LondonPhotographer with permission to About.com, Inc.

Each Saturday, an image will be posted here that was originally posted somewhere in our forum roughly one year prior. Be sure to check back each Saturday for our blasts from the past!

Our learning assignment for October is rule of thirds vs centering! We have already studied the rule of thirds and centering composition methods. This assignment will have you reviewing those lessons and making decisions about when to use each with comparison images.

Details for Photography Assignment #56 - Rule of Thirds vs Centering

Fall Splendor

Photo © Rindercella with permission to About.com, Inc.

Take a moment to visit the forum and view the other posted photos for a real treat.

There is still time to enter our photographer's choice assignment. The deadline is October 15th at 10PM Eastern Time. This is your chance to show us your favorite photos from the last year!

Details for Photography Assignment #55 - Photographer's Choice

List of entries so far

Photo © Rob Malgieri with permission to About.com, Inc.

Each Saturday, an image will be posted here that was originally posted somewhere in our forum roughly one year prior. Be sure to check back each Saturday for our blasts from the past!

Irving Penn, a hugely influential fashion/advertising photographer who got his start in the later 30s, early 40s with Harper's Bazaar passed away October 7th at the age of 92. Penn was known for his eclectic subjects (from fashion models to cigarette butts) and his stark minimalist style.

Irving Penn Bio