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52 Week photography challenge for 2019

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Although not as popular as they once were, due to the daily grind of platforms like Instagram, 52-week projects are still out there. And they’re great for those of us that might’ve just got our first camera, or for those who just want to try and push ourselves to take on new challenges.

This Project 52 challenge coming from Dale Foshe at Dogwood Photography, is now in its fourth year. Tens of thousands of photographers participated in the challenges of 2016, 2017 and 2018. So now he’s running the Dogwood 52 Week Photography Challenge again.

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Can you identify these 10 extreme close up macro subjects?

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Macro photography is such a fascinating subject. Getting that close to something isn’t something we normally see. We get to observe minute details that we’d never otherwise notice. A lot of things macro subjects are obvious, like bug parts, for example. But not everything is quite so easy to identify.

You might remember British contact lens retailer Lenstore from when they teamed up with Nikon to create 24 Hour London. Well, now they’ve come back with the “Close Up” macro challenge. Can you identify these objects from these extreme close-ups?

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Can you retouch a portrait using only the Brush tool?

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When editing a portrait, you will surely use different tools in Photoshop. But can you edit a portrait using only the Brush tool? Aaron Nace of PHLEARN took this challenge and used only the Brush tool for blemish removal, dodge and burn, even color correcting. This tutorial will show you just how much you can do with a single tool, but also help you learn everything there is to learn about the Brush tool.

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Photographing New Zealand landscapes for a week with only a 50mm lens

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My photography peers thought I was mad. I thought I was mad, taking just a 50mm lens and one camera to the south island of New Zealand for a week. The rules were simple. Attempt to make compelling photographs with a 50mm lens using any creative methods I could conjure up. Panos, single frames, cropping in post, long exposures and filters were used, but only one lens.  My itinerary included Queenstown and the surrounding grand mountain-scapes followed by Milford Sound with its utter incredible, king of the world, spectacular life changing scenery. Could a 50mm lens, with its boring and uninspiring focal length live up to the big time landscapes of New Zealand?

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How I shot a wedding with just one 35mm lens

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I recently shot a wedding with just one lens, a Rokinon 35mm t/1.5 on a Sony A7sII body. This was completely unplanned and wasn’t done to prove any point. I also carried multiple lenses and bodies in my bag that cover all the focal lengths I normally use: 24-70mm f/2.8, 55mm f/1.8, 85mm f/1.8, 70-200 f/2.8. Between these lenses, I’m covered for all the distances and lighting conditions I encounter while shooting weddings. I just didn’t have to use any of them on this occasion.

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52 Week Photography Challenge for 2018

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The first two Dogwood Photography 52 Week Challenges were an amazing success, with tens of thousands of photographers participating from around the world. We enter the third year of the challenge with the Community Challenge!

This challenge has been created by photographers who participated in past year’s challenges to push themselves, and you, even further in your photographic journey. The Community Challenge is a great follow on to the other two challenges, but is also suitable to be completed as a stand-alone challenge. There is no specific start date for this challenge. Each photographer is on their own journey, and only competing with themselves from week to week. If you wish to form a challenge group and compete with others based on this list you are welcome to do so! If you form a challenge group drop me an invite I would love to watch the progress.

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A black and white photography challenge by a colourblind photographer

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Earlier this year I wrote what I felt was quite a personal article about what it is like to be a colourblind photographer. In the coming weeks and months after writing and publishing it (and having it widely re-shared across some very big photography blogs) I had contact with so many other colourblind photographers who reached out to me to thank me for putting into words something many of us struggle to explain to others. One particular email was from a mother whose young son is also colourblind thanking me for giving her hope and opening up her eyes to not treating it as a physical disability. But on the flip side to the incredible conversations that I had with people who either understood what I was explaining, or who knew someone who was colourblind, there were also several rather negative conversations and comments from the typical anonymous trolls urging me to quit photography, or questioning my ability to be able to sell my work or offer the professional workshops I do.

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Ugly places, pretty photos: a photoshoot at Lowe’s

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A few weeks ago, a model friend of mine, Rachelle Kathleen, and I were planning to meet for a fun little photo shoot. Instead of searching out the usual beautiful locations around where we live, I had the idea to do just the opposite. I wanted to go somewhere “ugly” by all conventional photography standards, and then see what we could do with it, and Lowe’s seemed like the perfect option.

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Limit yourself to get out of a creative rut

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Getting stuck in a creative rut has happened to us all. It’s frustrating and it sometimes looks like it will never end. Fortunately, there are ways to make yourself inspired and start creating and enjoying the process again. Rachel and Daniel from Mango Street propose one of the ways in their latest video: restrain yourself.

It may sound contradictory: you already feel restrained, and now you need to add even more limitations. But, the truth is that this can push your creativity forward and actually make you more creative. Have a look how Daniel and Rachel applied this method.

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3 challenges you need to overcome if you want to do landscape photography

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Like every other genre, landscape photography has plenty of challenges. In this video, photographer Toma Bonciu shares three challenges specific for landscape photography – yet we may not think about them. While we worry about the gear, places to visit and the techniques we’ll use, there are a few other very important things to think about. Toma points out to them, and these are definitely the challenges you need to overcome if we want to devote yourself to landscape photography.

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