This Week in the Digital Photography School Forums (2-8 Jan ‘11)

After an extra long chance for people to submit their entries, we finished up the Holiday Food assignment this week. Food photography can be difficult at the best of times, and it can be even more difficult when you’re trying to not only showcase the food, but also put it into a holiday context. Out winners were able to demonstrate both of these tasks in their shots. Our winner this week was sfields‘ Pastry Box. Oh, that chocolate cake just looks like perfection. It was clean and simple, the square shape in the plate was echoed by the square cake, it was the kind of thing that if we saw that picture in the magazine we would definitely save the recipe. Our first runner up was fbroschart’s Checkerboard Cookies. Those kind of cookies take so much work to make, but when they’re lovingly photographed like this, it almost seems worth it! The ribbons really help tie it all together in a very seasonal photograph. And last, but not least we have duna’s chilli Christmas. It was a simple shot, and the colours were great. It was kind of a twist on the usual sort of thing you see at Christmas time, using chilli peppers instead of ornaments, a great way to use food in a photograph. Well done everyone!

It’s that time of the year again where we look back on all that we’ve done and all that we’ve photographed. And that’s why we have our current assignment, Best of the Year. We want you to pick out what you consider your best shot and share it with us. We also want you to include a brief sentence explaining why you consider this to be your best shot. So, as always, a quick rundown of the rules, which are a little different for this week’s assignment. First, your photo must have been taken in 2010. It doesn’t matter when in the year, so long as it was sometime between January 1st through December 31st 2010. Second, your post in the assignment thread must include both the date the photo was taken and the words “Assignment: Best of the Year – 2010?. Finally, your EXIF should be intact, and it’s useful if you can post some of the main points, such as camera, lens, ISO, shutter speed, aperture, etc. Our next assignment is Brand New. We want you to show us what Brand New means to you. It’s a new year, and a new start, so what better way to kick off the new year.

Tips for Older Lenses: Whether you’re a fan of older lenses or not, sometimes older lenses can be a real bargain. But they don’t always have all the features that we’re used to on newer lenses, like auto focus. So, how do you get the best out of old manual lenses on today’s cameras? Come share your tips and read other people’s tips over on the forum.Shaped Bokeh: Have you ever seen those photographs where the out of focus areas are shaped like something else, and then wondered how that was done? Christmas time seems to bring a lot of these sort of photographs out because the Christmas lights are helpful in creating the look. If you’ve ever wondered how it’s done or if you’ve done it yourself and want to share, why not drop by this thread over on the forums.365’s and Other Projects: Finally, the new year also tends to get a lot of people starting on a Photo a Day project, otherwise known as a “365?. If you’ve started a 365 or if you’re working on another project you might be interested in heading over to the forum that we have that’s dedicated to 365’s and other photography projects. It’s a great place to share your project!

Nicole is a DPS Forum moderator and keen photographer from New Zealand. See her blog and Flickr account.

View the original article here