Photo Friday Challenge

Have you ever seen the Instagram weekend hashtag project? If you're on Instagram try following the 'Instagram' account where they set a weekend challenge to take a particular photo or video. I always want to join in but to be honest I never get round to it so I have been thinking about setting a similar challenge for myself. Then this Christmas I was given the 'A Beautiful Mess Photo Idea' book written by my favourite bloggers at A Beautiful Mess. It has lots of ideas for photos I would like to try but it could easily be something I read once and never actually do so I'm going to set myself one photo challenge per week this year.  This is going to take the form of the 'Photo Friday Challenge'. This is a self imposed challenge I am going to set each week.  Some of the ideas will be inspired by the book, others from the weekend hashtag project and others will be more focused on learning new camera functions or techniques in Photoshop.

Each Friday I'll share with you my photo that I took for the previous weeks challenge and let you know what I learnt from that challenge. Then I will set the challenge for the following week with the rules. (All self imposed so its possible I'll bend them from time to time!)

If you want to join in please do! Every challenge will be suitable for a beginner.  For most of the challenges all you'll need is a basic camera and some imagination. Occasionally you might need a DSLR or some editing software. You don't have to do every single challenge along with me but if you try out one or two let me know by commenting and leaving a link to your photo. Or you can share your photo with me via Instagram or Twitter (@zoeblofeld) or on Google+ (+Zoeblofeld).

General rules:

1. In general only minimal editing allowed. The idea is to practise taking photos that optimise what I have at hand so the post production can be kept to a minimum. So think about the light, the framing (minimal editing includes minimal cropping) and the background as well as your subject. If the challenge is to learn a new way to edit then obviously this rule won't apply.

2. Any camera can work unless that challenge says otherwise. It's not about having a fancy camera necessarily but about pushing myself (or yourself) to take better photos with what's available. 

3. Try to make each photo imaginative. 

4. Take a new photo for each challenge and not use an old photo that is stored on my computer. 

So those rules apply every week (unless stated otherwise in the challenge) and the following rules apply to just the first weeks challenge. 

Challenge 1: Simple Selfie (Experiment with light)

Camera: suitable for any camera

Software: none needed

Other equipment: a tripod, self timer or camera remote could be handy but not essential. 

Rules:

1.Take a photo of yourself. You must be the taker of the photo and you must appear in the photo. 
2. Try out different lighting, full sun, partial sun, shade, evening sun, inside lighting etc. 

If lighting is the most important aspect of any photograph then we should get this nailed first. So its just a simple one to get us started. Let me know if you'll be joining me. Zoe x