Roy stuck with the Easter theme, but had some difficulty with the idea of depth of field. His images sparked some great discussion about file size and image resizing, and the need to backup original images before beginning to edit them. 
Gary tried to superimpose an in-focus cross over the bright colours of easter eggs to highlight the real reason for Easter. Unfortunately the eggs became too much of an out of focus blur, not distinct enough to communicate the message of the image. 
Brett's image had a similar concept, but with an Easter Lilly in the background. The lilly was much more defined, even though it was clearly out of focus. These images (along with others) sparked a discussion about white balance settings and the use of flash or natural (incandescent) lighting.
Rachel was unable to get an Easter themed image, but participated with an interesting doll house image that showed depth of field. Everyone enjoyed this image as it was nicely composed with the subjects placed in good positions and good use of depth of field. It was felt that the image "told a story".Although not all of the images met the criteria of the challenge, it was fun to see what others had come up with in the four weeks, and there were certainly some very enlightening tips shared.
Mid-way shoot-out
Several possible mid-way (half way between our four week meetings) shoot-outs (outings where we get to take some pictures together) were discussed. Brett and Roy were going to look into gaining permission for some of these ideas. Hopefully more to come...
This 4wk Challenge!
Some time between now and the next meeting, shoot a series of photos based on the 4 week challenge. The photo has to be new and shot in the date range. Take as many as you like (It's a digital world) and pick a few of your best ones. Bring them on a media stick and we will display them on the projector for all to review.
NATURAL LIGHT PORTRAITS
This month's challenge is to take a portrait using only natural light. It can be a self portrait, a portrait of someone you love, or even someone you dislike, the only catch is that you cannot use a flash. The real challenge is to situate your subject in such a way as to use the natural light to highlight facial features in an attractive, or interesting way.
One of the best ways to do this, is to use an open window and situate your subject in front of the window in a way that the natural light strikes only the portions of the face that you wish. If the other side of the subject is too dark, try using a white piece of paper, bristol board or some other form of reflector to reflect some more of that natural light on the other side – but remember: no flash!
And of course some links to check out:
Here are dozens of images from someone else's challenge:
http://www.dpchallenge.com/challenge_results.php?CHALLENGE_ID=712
Some more images using natural light and some photoshop tips:
Freebie of the week:
Our next meeting: May 17th, 2009
