FEATURED: Sharing the Gospel

[Lydia Bennett]

ASSIGNMENT DETAILS:
• Publisher: Creation Today
• Purpose: Creation Today struggles to find stock photos that depict the idea of evangelism/witnessing, so they would appreciate photos on that theme for use in their ministry!
• Request: Photos that depict an individual sharing their faith with 1 to 3 people. This would include ideas like:
1. Handing out tracts
2. Sharing from the Bible one-on-one
3. Sharing the gospel on the street with one to three people
• Special Instructions: To maximize beautiful background blur in your photos, take each photo at the most telephoto end of your lens’ zoom range. For example, if you are shooting with an 18-55mm, shoot at 55mm. If you are shooting with a 70-300mm, shoot at 300mm.
• Orientation: Any orientation.
• Photo Specs: Highest quality possible!
• How to Submit: Members can follow the A, B, C process outlined here. (Instructions for non-members can be viewed here.) You can submit up to 10 photos.
• Remuneration: The Lenspiration member whose photo is chosen as the winner of this assignment will receive a $20 coupon to use on Creation Today’s online store!
• Terms: By submitting your photo(s) on this forum, you agree to the terms outlined in the STS Photo Assignment Agreement. Creation Today reserves the right to use any of the photos that are submitted for this assignment.
• Deadline: Midnight Saturday, June 25, 2022 (or until this topic is no longer highlighted yellow).
• Important note: The people you photograph (or the parents/guardian of the people) will need to sign a model release (like this one). You do not need to submit the signed model releases to Lenspiration unless specifically requested.

LEARN HOW:
Watch how I shot this assignment and learn how to shoot it yourself at, On Assignment: Sharing the Gospel!

WATCH CRITIQUE:
Watch the photos submitted for this assignment get critiqued live by registering for the June 28 Photo Coaching Webinar!

[James Staddon]

Here are my photos for this assignment!

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[Hannah F.]

Hello,
Is it alright if I submit photos that are similar to Staddon’s second photo? Also, is a flat-lay of the tract placed in a restaurant server’s check book acceptable?
I agree with @JamesStaddon that this assignment is hard because handing tracts out is a general short occurrence in a day, and it would look odd to be lugging a camera around. So, are phone photos acceptable/okay? I use an iPhone 12, and can edit the photos via Lightroom (LR). Thank you for your patience in answering my inquiries. I appreciate it. This is going to be a tough assignment for me because when a member of my family hands out tracts to the restaurant’s server or another worker, the exchange happens so fast. I guess I might have to stage it!

To all the other photographers out there:
Don’t let this assignment daunt you! This will be a great assignment to stretch your creativity. So let the creative juices flow, get out there, and do your best!

Looking forward to see your work! 😀

Blessings,
Hannah F.

[Lydia Bennett]

Great questions, and I appreciate your spirit of encouragement, @hannah-f!

I would definitely encourage you to stage the photos for this assignment. You want it to look genuine and real, but it would be best to have specific people that agree to model for you. If the people in the photo are recognizable, it would be wise to get a model release (like this one) for each person. So if you tried to snap a photo of a tract being handed to a waitress or a random stranger on the street, you should ask them to sign a model release. Might make for a good witnessing opportunity, but I think it would just be a little awkward. 🙂

If they’re not recognizable (like in @jamesstaddon’s second photo), then you don’t need a model release, but it still might be awkward to try and inconspicuously snap a photo of the exchange. 🙂

And to answer your other questions…
– It’s fine to submit similar photos to the example images that James took!
– Flat lay is acceptable, though not the main focus of this assignment.
– Technically, phone photos are acceptable, but DSLR is always preferred and encouraged! I’d also encourage you to take on the challenge in the special instructions and shoot at the most telephoto end of your lens’ zoom range, to get optimal background blur!

[Lydia Bennett]

Oh, this assignment was SO fun to shoot!! Biggest hurdle for me was the logistics ahead of time….thinking of people to model, where to do the shoot, asking the people to model, & coordinating schedules.

But once all that was past and it was a matter of taking the pictures, it was so fun! Still challenges to face…wind blowing hair, people not sure what to do, etc, but there were some creative ideas and everyone enjoyed themselves! 🙂 Just take LOTS of pictures at each angle, so you are more certain of capturing good expressions.

If anyone needs help with ideas or brainstorming things, now’s the time to do it!!

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[Lydia Bennett]

And more!

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[James Staddon]

I think it’s neat that you did a lot of different type of activities. Like, not just handing out tracts, but also people praying together, reading the Bible, talking with the Bible close by. And different locations too. There’s lots of variety.

[Lydia Bennett]

Does anyone have any questions we can help you through? Any hurdles that are a challenge to overcome in feeling like this is an assignment you can shoot? Like…. time? Out of your comfort zone? Lack of ideas for models? Something else? Let’s talk through it. 🙂

We’re in the last week for this assignment so NOW is the time to bite the bullet and photograph it, if you haven’t already done so!

[James Staddon]

Interestingly, this photo sold almost immediately after it uploaded to stock. Don’t recall that happening before. I guess even something this simple is in demand since there aren’t many photos like it.

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[Lydia Bennett]

That’s incredible!! I haven’t yet submitted mine to stock, so now I’m super curious to see how well they do once I get them up there! 😀

[Blessings Captured]

I had the idea, and the people, but I was finely able to find the time. I used a tract that we had but then used PS to replace it with one of Creation Today’s tracts. (The “what if” tract wasn’t from CT). To make it look more genuine I used the warp transform tool.

@lenspirationlydia I like how you directed your models to look like they “didn’t care” and were distracted. That made it look more authentic.

@jamesstaddon I had looked on adobe stock for ideas for “sharing gospel” and your picture came up on the first page.

-Hannah

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[Blessings Captured]

Here are some I did with a Bible.

-Hannah

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[Blessings Captured]

Here are my two photos for the assignment. It was in the evening and was getting darker so I had to lighten it up in lightroom.
– Sarah

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[James Staddon]

That is really neat, @blessingscaptured!

[Samuel West]

Here are my pictures for this assignment. It was hard getting a good blurred out backround (and it was really hot outside!), but I enjoyed shooting this assignment.

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