Practicing Photography Monthly

Monthly

Challenges • ideas • creativity • tips • more

What’s Happening

Photo Trip?

Plan your next photographic adventure or join me on one of my monthly excursions! Visit my website to see a schedule of upcoming photo trips. While you're there, be sure to sign up for notifications so you never miss an opportunity to capture stunning images alongside fellow photography enthusiasts.

April Photo Trip TBD for details: Photo Trip Schedule

Photo blog

Explore my blog for a rich collection of blog posts I’ve crafted over the years, and don't forget to browse the newsletter archive here!

Photo Adventures!

In March, I ventured out on numerous photographic journeys, from local explorations to an epic trek across the western landscapes, capturing stunning vistas and vibrant wildlife. If you're gearing up for your own photographic adventures, you'll want a dependable travel companion for your gear.

I highly recommend Think Tank products. If you have a lot of gear and are flying with your gear, the Airport Security v3.0 is a standout for its robust features and versatility

Watch my review now to see why the Airport Security v3.0 might be the best airport camera travel bag.

If you are staying local and need a smaller bag, this Think Tank (Sprint) backpack is my goto for local hikes. Check out my review of it here.

If you are looking to purchase a backpack, consider using my affiliate link for THINK TANK

Mastering Aperture Priority: Balancing ISO and Shutter Speed

In this tip, we’ll focus on using Aperture Priority mode and adjusting the ISO based on the available ambient light. For bright scenes, a lower ISO is ideal to maintain image quality. For darker settings, a higher ISO might be necessary to properly expose the image. The goal is to set your aperture and ISO while allowing the camera to automatically select the shutter speed.

Experiment: Try setting your ISO to automatic and use Aperture Priority mode. Observe how the camera adjusts the shutter speed to compensate for changes in aperture. What differences do you notice with various aperture settings?

Color Challenge

This month’s photography challenge is simple yet powerful—it will change the way you see the world around you! Your task? Pick a color and make sure it appears in every photo you take. The color can be anywhere in the frame, but it must be present.

This challenge works best in busier environments like towns or cities, where pops of color are everywhere. It’s a bit trickier in landscapes, but that just adds to the fun! Choose your favorite color and set a goal based on the number of photos you’ll capture. Let’s stick with last month’s levels but lower counts since it is a bit more challenging:

📷 Level 1 (Easy): 10 photos
📷 Level 2 (Beginner): 25 photos
📷 Level 3 (Intermediate): 50 photos
📷 Level 4 (Advanced): 75 photos
📷 Level 5 (Beast Mode): 100 photos!

Can you reach Beast Mode? Challenge yourself and share your results! 🚀📸

Last Month’s Challenge Photos

Last month's challenge was a thrilling exercise in creativity: capturing many photos of the same subject from various perspectives, ensuring no two shots were alike. Whether you managed a few photos or a whole collection, I hope you found value in this exercise. Here are 4 of the 26 photos I took at Dearborn Trails in Lawrenceburg. How many did you take? What did you learn?

The first photo encompasses framing and leading lines all in one photo for me. My eyes are held in by the trees on both sides and the bike bar leads me up to the Dearborn Trail sign.

The second photo is a close up of the big wheel on the bicycle showing the texture of the rust.

The 3rd and 4th include people. The 3rd is a sillohuette of a couple on an evening walk. The 4th is a couple of runners and one celebrating the run as he tapped the concreet underpass.

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Doug Gabbard