This is going to be a 2′fer blog post.  Since the topic RUSTED is well under way – and there are many great photos up already, I can see that we’re off to a good start.

Rust has so many interesting characteristics.  It’s fun yet challenging to try and get just the right aspect or “feel”.  So that may be a good spin to put on your rust entry.  The FEEL can be both textural and/or topical.  Since  rusty things are usually old and decrepit, use lighting and angle to set the MOOD to create your work of art.  Ideally, as with most topics and races, give your rust entry that strong focal point.

Dust on the other hand, is going to be a bit more challenging race in my opinion.  There’s not a whole lot of color variations in dust.  However, when I used Google images and filtered out all the dust mites, I didn’t find too many interesting shots.  So for this weeks blog, I’m sorry to say that I’m going to look to the community for some suggestions and input.

Here’s what I’ve come up with so far:

1) Get a handful of dust. take a deep breath, SWOOSH it out of your hand.  Capture the action.

2) Arrange or go to a spot where dust accumulates (dusty trail, window sill) capture the dust in a varieyt of angles with focal points that help the eye travel around the dust yet keeping it as a strong subject.

3) Find a very light fluffy pile of dust.  Drop something into a small pile.  Capture an action/stop shot of the POOF

4) An old dusty article in an old dusty room?

5) Sun shining through a dusty cloud of POOF created by a car or horse

6) A dusty trail of a bike that’s traveled down a dusty path.  Framed with trees and false horizon

7) Find an antique store, get friendly with the shop owner, ask permission to take photo in that old dusty corner.

A DUSTing of snow?  A DUSTing of powdered sugar on a sweat treat or the remnants on the coounter?  A racing car getting left in THE DUST?

Please share more ideas in the community thread.

Did you know that about 80% of household “dust” is really your families dead skin flakes.  I bring this up in case some shoots a REALLY close up macro of their skin and call it “PRE DUST”.
http://www.achooallergy.com/blog/PBDE-in-household-dust/

Good luck everyone – AND HAVE FUN!!

Hey guys,

GreatPhotoRace will be down sporadically throughout the day. I will be migrating the website to a different host. I apologize for any inconveniences that this may cause.

Tony

I don’t really think this topic needs a lot of explaining, so I think I’ll let some photographs do the talking!

What I would really love to see this week? Photographs that master the use of color. Use the techniques that you’ve learned and perfected over the last months and apply them to this photograph. The topic is very open-ended, so spend most of your time perfecting the photograph, not just the theme.

Here are some photographs that I think use color incredibly well. I hope you find them as inspiring as I do!

I’ve always liked the idea of putting things in a row. Not because I’m an organized person, but because it it gives the objects the appearance of importance. It seems intentional, and if you’ve read many of my blog posts, you’ve probably realized that I use the word “Intentional” in nearly every one of them.

In my opinion, intentionality is what separates amateurs from artists. Intentionality shows that the photographer has the forethought to think through what he’s photographing a determines that he or she knows the best was to compose the photograph to be aesthetically on queue, but still full of story.

Lining thins in a row also gives the the photographer the chance to be ironic. That’s an opportunity I’ll take advantage of 99 times out of 100. Think about it, though, if lining things up makes the object seem more important, but the object is completely insignificant, it becomes  little funny. For example, I line up six marbles. The viewer is intrigued because the photographer has taken the time to not only find 6 marbles, but photograph them. Am I the only one that finds that funny?

Here’s a word of caution: Remember that EVERY photographer is being asked to submit a photo with objects lined up, so you need to bring your A game and wow us with something unique. Maybe try to find things that naturally appear in multiples. Or find 50 of the same object and line them all up. Just do something to make you images standout in the line up.

Oh, and have some fun!

What would photography be without light? Absolutely nothing, so pretty much any photograph you submit will fit this theme. But that’s not what this community is about, is it? We want to see photographs that showcase your best, most creative work. Wow us with your originality!

If I could be so bold as to suggest a slightly more strict approach to this topic, I would suggest that you focus on how you can manipulate late to create shadow. What I mean is how can you change the path or quality of the light source to produce a shadow. Perhaps make the light pass through another object like glass or water. Use mirrors to create composition and direction within the canvas. Things like that will make your image more unique and dynamic.

Last, but certainly not least, make sure you pay careful attention to your composition. No matter what the topic is, you want to lead your viewer around the canvas with a strong composition and a proper exposure technique.

Check out the work of Richard Vantielcke for inspiration.

This next topic is all about curves- and I expect to see some really original photographs because curves are EVERYWHERE! Roads, faces, architecture, in nature, man-made etc. They’re everywhere!

I would suggest focusing on a curve’s ability to lead the viewer’s eye around the image. Take advantage of it and build your composition around it. Make sure that all the elements in the image support the curve instead of competing against it.The more subtle the curve, the more support it needs.

Repetition is also another great thing to focus on. Why have one curve, when you can have seven? Seeing things multiple times in one image or body of work solidifies its importance to the photographer, and therefore, solidifies it’s importance to the viewer.

What new techniques have you learned over these last few topics that will help you with this assignment? Take what you’ve learned and apply it to this image.

Being at the edge of the water can mean several things. Taken literally, it means…well, that you’re standing at the edge of a body of water. Taken symbolically, it could mean a transition between one thing and the other.

If you decide to take the literal route, think of the techniques you used to make your landscape photographs from a few weeks ago really stand out. Apply those techniques to this assignment and remember to lead the viewer’s eye around the photograph.

If you take it more symbolically, try and find a way to depict what it means to be at the end be at the water’s edge. You’re not really on land anymore, but you’re not completely in the water either.

For those of you who may be a little uncomfortable in the symbolism arena, try starting with a word association exercise to help you figure out what the subject really means to you. It’s a great way to take a complex topic and focus it in so you can create a photograph that fits.

Here’s an awesome online word association generator to check out: www.visuwords.com

This next topic can be achieved in many ways, but I’m not going to bore you by listing them all. Otherwise. So for this topic, I propose that each photographer take a theme that he or she has been wanting to shoot and add the idea of extreme contrast to it. Every week, I see amazing topics on the list to be voted for and so many of them get overlooked. And since extreme contrast can be used in every setting, why not step it up a notch!

A few things to be mindful of:

1) Your choice of lighting. Obviously, light is one of the main ways of achieving a high degree of contrast. It’s typically easy to get a good exposure, but you will need a tripod, or something sturdy to anchor your camera to. Think you can sneak by without a tripod? Trust me, it’s worth it to use one.

2) If you go the contrasting colors route, make sure you use the colors in a deliberate way. Make sure the contrast is the dominate subject of the photo.

3) Be creative. We’ve all seen run-of-the-mill portraits of people with extreme contrast on the subject’s face. Step it up. Find a way to make your image unique.

4) Have some fun and try something new!

And here are some of my favorite contrasty photographs.