Your Assignment Is

"Your Assignment Is..." Photo Challenge

Now that the 365/52 Photo Challenge has ended, the Rockbridge Camera Club is starting a new challenge "Your Assignment is...", for 2022. Each month we will assign a photographic technique, and you may submit images taken using that technique.

Click here for description of the challenge and instructions on submitting your photos.

Click on the box below for the description of this month's assignment.

Click on any image to go to larger images and the photographers' full descriptions.

November - December 2023 Assignment: Rear Curtain Sync

Chuck Almarez's Presentation Notes on Rear Curtain Sync

October 2023 Assignment: Silhouettes

Judy Robichaux - Silhouette

We shot engagement photos for our neighbors; this one was back-lit with the couple underexposed, so I used masking in Lightroom to turn it into a silhouette. Upon export after editing, I realized that Neil had taken it.

Canon 5D Mark III, 105 mm, f/4, 1/250 second, ISO 200.

Ted Burrowes - Simple Grace

A minimalist silhouette of a single ornamental grass stalk. Taken with my iPhone, and very little editing except to ensure that the grass is totally dark.

Ted Burrowes - Chessie Bridge Over South River

Much of my effort for this month has focused on masking and layering – take something that is not immediately a silhouette but begs to be one – after all, not all interesting profile shapes can be captured in a backlit environment! This derivative of part of the steel bridge that takes the Chessie Trail over the South River fits this scenario to a T. The original photo is in the lower right corner, and it soon becomes obvious that I not only “solidified” the steelwork, but I then reversed the black and white so that the object is light and the background is dark – just to be a bit ornery!

Ted Burrowes - House Mountaines.jpg

Yes, I mean the “double plural”! There are two House Mountains – Little House Mountain and Big House Mountain. While some folks refer to the pair in singular form, I prefer the plural. And then my image is made up of three different views of the pair, each one having been distilled to a silhouette using an unnatural background. I had hopes of becoming proficient enough with my masking and layering to be able to combine these shapes in a more interesting manner, but the month has about run its course and this is as far as I have gotten.

Ted Burrowes - Where Are My Glasses?

And, finally, I will deviate from the classic “silhouette” in a different direction. For me, some shadows can qualify as silhouettes. This one of a framed work of stained glass hung in a mullioned window does not have the sharp outlines I'd normally expect of a “silhouette” but for me, the (natural, not edited) blur actually adds to my engagement with the shapes.

Michael Smith - Dunes Silhouette

We happened to be near Oak Island, NC for a memorial service this month and had a chance to view sunsets.

Dunes silhouettes was taken with my iphone SE. Adobe Lightroom was used to enhance the image.