Growth with Gear and Styles Throwdown

[Robert Apple]

I did this with the 4H kids and participated Myself and it’s a great discovery tool for stretching your bounds and hopefully the community here will enjoy and benefit from it. I don’t know many folks that don’t have multiple lenses, but if you don’t , or have a point and shoot that’s OK too. Chose subjects, genres, that are easy for you and fit your schedule , and if you have more time make it more challenging. I’ll leave this pinned to the front for easy access.
The Guidelines are.
1. You pick one lens from your collection, if you have a point and shoot or a single lens skip to step 2.
2. Pick a single camera setting / for manual lenses select a single aperture if choosing aperture priority. Examples P, S, A, M, MACRO, Flash, ECT.
3. Pick 3 generes / styles, there is a great list at the bottom of this post and it doesn’t even cover everything.
4. Use that chosen combination for one week. Start any day you wish. M,T,W, ect.
5. Try to take at least two shots per day in your chosen gear combination and genres.
6. At the end of the week share your three favorite shots as well as you chosen gear combinations, settings, and genres and any Insights you gained from the experience.

Most importantly have fun with it , don’t make work out it.

The Most Popular Types of Photography Genres

1. Portrait Photography
2. Wedding Photography
3. Commercial Photography
4. Landscape Photography
5. Architecture Photography
6. Event Photography
7. Sports Photography
8. Editorial Photography / Photojournalism
9. Wildlife Photography
10. Fashion Photography

People Photography

11. Family Photography
12. Newborn Photography
13. Headshot Photography
14. Self-Portrait Photography
15. Glamour Photography
16. Boudoir Photography
17. Candid Photography
18. Lifestyle Photography
19. Documentary Photography

Capturing Places

20. Travel Photography
21. Cityscape Photography
22. Real Estate Photography
23. Street Photography
24. Urban Exploration Photography
25. Adventure Photography
26. Background Photography

Things and Objects

27. Product Photography
28. Food Photography
29. Still-Life Photography

Artistic and Creative Photography

30. Double Exposure Photography
31. Fine Art Photography
32. Abstract Photography
33. Minimalist Photography
34. Black and White Photography
35. Conceptual Photography
36. Fantasy Photography

Specialized Types of Photography

37. Aerial Photography
38. Drone Photography
39. Underwater Photography
40. Long Exposure Photography
41. Night Sky / Astro-Photography
42. Macro Photography
43. Pet Photography
44. Scientific Photography
45. High Dynamic Range (HDR) Photography
46. Panorama Photography
47. Composite Photography
48. Crystal Ball Photography
49. Forced Perspective Photography
50. Black Light Photography
51. Blue Hour Photography

[Tersha]

Great idea!

[Federico Alegria]

interesting! thanks a lot mate

[Patrick]

Thank you Robert , will do my best to have a go

[Tersha]

So, I had a go at this, not sure that I followed all the rules, but I tried.
All shots taken in 1 week, same camera, same lens (Lensbaby Spark), same set-up.
Black perspex sheet behind, and black Perspex sheet underneath. A flower or fruit under glass. Light from right.
Most with the same settings, but depending on the colour of the subject, the light had to be moved, and some settings tweaked a little.

12 photos in all, and my fav 3 are these:

[Robert Apple]

I like them all Diane , if you were in my class you would get bonus points for creativity.

[Tersha]

Thanks Robert! 🙂
I enjoyed the process, it made me think, so I’ll probably try another one.

[Frogdaily]

Diane, Great set! The Purple flower is my favorite

[Tersha]

Thanks Belinda.

[Robert Apple]

Of course I had to do The Argus C-four Cintar from the 1950s, on a OMD E1ii, In Full Manual. I did have trouble picking just three from 3 different Categories, one of the insights I gained is just the performance of this lens , which to many folks might be a throw away lens, Other then chromatic aberration in brightly contrasted photos I would rate its performance right up there with one of my $1000 Voigtlanders, you don’t have to spend a lot to get good glass.
The First is a macro shot of a back lit goldenrod leaf against a piece of granite.

The second from the Machinery Category, Looking through an old Apple Press. Enjoying the bokeh on the branches behind.

And the 3rd from the pets Category, Miss Molly Bee Behind the Apple press with some dramatic storm clouds behind

[Tersha]

Good set Robert, I like them all, but the one of Miss Molly Bee is special. That lens does well in all three shots!

[Robert Apple]

Thanks Diane, and as I’ve told Patrick before putting a dog in your photo is kind of cheating, its hard to go wrong.

[Frogdaily]

Great captures Robert and love the details in the images, I do agree the one of Miss Molly Bee is special.

Looks fun and rewarding, I want to try this with 3 different categories!  To clarify, I always shoot in Full Manual mode – am I to pick just one aperture for all 3 genres and adjust shutter and iso according to the shot or all the same settings in each individual genres?

[Robert Apple]

Thanks Belinda, and yes you can do it that way, The idea being to sort of force yourself to shoot in a way you dont normally do , keeping your gear the same, I did change apertures and shutter speed with my project as I was working with a new lens and a experimental set up. You having said you always shoot in full manual, which
I do 90% of the time, sticking with a single aperture is shooting in aperture priority mode by default so your working out side your norm. Looking forward to see what you come up with.

[Frogdaily]

Gotcha, Thank you Robert.  This is actually how I taught myself to shoot in full manual mode.  I started out in automatic then looked at what the camera set it at and would learn from it as I tried to duplicate the image while learning the various settings. Then I went to aperture priority, then shutter priority until I was comfortable shooting in full manual mode.  It is definitely a good learning tool.  Will give this some thought and have fun learning more.

[Robert Apple]

I dug out my old Nikon Bridge camera, going to try that next in one priority or another.

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