Home › Forums › Shoot to Serve Assignments › FEATURED: Happy Thanksgiving!
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October 1, 2021 at 12:02 pm #64951
Lenspiration
ModeratorASSIGNMENT DETAILS:
• Publisher: Bethany, with Family Conferences
• Purpose: Looking for stock photos to use on our Social Media and other communications.
• Request: A fall or Thanksgiving-themed picture to wish our families a “Happy Thanksgiving!”
• Special Instructions:
1. Choose one of the following ideas (see reply below).
2. Replicate the photo as precisely as possible, carefully observing elements like objects used, placement, colors, background, lighting and perspective.
3. Replicate as many of the other ideas as you would like to do!
• Orientation: Square or slightly vertical.
• Photo Specs: JPG files preferred, but anything will work. Edits are fine, but not too stylized as we want the photos to look natural. The majority of these pictures get posted on Facebook and Instagram and need to be high enough resolution to look good there.
• 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: Lenspiration members will receive $14 if their photo is chosen!
• Terms: By submitting your photo(s) on this forum, you agree to the terms outlined in the STS Photo Assignment Agreement.
• Deadline: Midnight Saturday, October 23, 2021 (or until this topic is no longer highlighted yellow).LEARN HOW:
Watch how I shot this assignment and learn how to shoot it yourself at, On Assignment: Happy Thanksgiving!WATCH CRITIQUE:
Watch the photos submitted for this assignment get critiqued live by registering for the October 26 Photo Coaching Webinar!October 1, 2021 at 12:05 pm #65158James Staddon
KeymasterAttached are the idea images you can choose from to replicate! Carefully follow the steps in the details above, and reply with your submissions below!
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This reply was modified 3 years, 4 months ago by
Lydia Bennett.
October 18, 2021 at 8:05 am #65658Harry Lancaster
ParticipantThe leaves haven’t really started changing where we are, but there are pumpkin patches and things so this past Monday, my son and I set out to see what we could come up with. The first 4 pictures are the ones that I shot and edited while the last 4 are the one that my 12 year old son shot and edited. It was a fun challenge for both of us. I like my third picture and my son’s fourth picture the best.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 4 months ago by
Harry Lancaster.
October 18, 2021 at 10:59 am #65668James Staddon
KeymasterSo fun, @hmlanc! What a great excuse to visit farms and pumpkin patches. 🙂 I’m so glad you found some time to spend together, and the pictures are great! They are so “autumn”. 🙂
October 19, 2021 at 6:41 pm #65682Lydia Bennett
KeymasterWow, @hmlanc you really have a good variety of pumpkins and gourds to work with!
Alright, here’s what I got.
I wanted to try to photograph the first example image without merging multiple photos together in Photoshop.
First try (the other day), I naively left all photographic common sense behind and thought I would attempt to photograph it with a sibling tossing some leaves. Warning: not possible. 🙂 To get the leaf in focus and facing the right way and tack sharp and in the right spot…..impossible.
That set me behind in my schedule as I didn’t have an open slot on my calendar till today to try another attempt.
So, here’s what I did for my second attempt. I taped a leaf to a large piece of glass and had a sister hold that in place with a tree in the background. It sort of worked, sort of not. 🙂
Benefits: Leaf in focus, tree blurred out in background.
Challenges: reflections in glass, streaks on glass, tape visible (needed Photoshop out), looks a little fake.But, I’ve attached my attempt along with a behind the scenes shot I took on my phone so you all can see what it looked like after editing and what it looked like in real life! As you can see behind the scenes, we only buffed off the bottom half of the piece of glass to make it as clear as possible.
I failed at my attempt, but I just know there’s someone that could do a better job at it, so just wanted to put that idea out there for you creatives! 🙂
October 19, 2021 at 6:50 pm #65685Lydia Bennett
KeymasterI also replicated the last photo. We don’t have pumpkins or gourds at our house, so that made it challenging to do any of the photos that include those.
Leaves, we have! Don’t have a ton of colorful leaves in our yard, just the way the sun hits our trees, but found the most colorful ones I could and then warmed and saturated it in post!
I’m attaching a behind-the-scenes shot for this one too, for anyone who would like to get a feeling for the setup this shot takes.
I used our deck for the wooden background, just made to cover screws and the cracks between planks with leaves.
October 19, 2021 at 6:54 pm #65688Frazer Family
ParticipantOctober 19, 2021 at 9:52 pm #65693Blessings Captured
ParticipantI tried several different locations; each came with its own set of challenges. Overall, my biggest struggle was to leave enough space for text but at the same time include enough of the subjects.
Here are some questions and notes I had.
2nd and 3rd: I didn’t crop them to square because I wasn’t sure what portion of leaves the designer would prefer.
4th:To me, my photoshop job seems a little fake. In retrospect, I think I should have chosen only one type of leaf. I blended the background trees, foreground grass with leaves, and then six cut-out leaves.
5th: I used a white reflector to block the harsh light shining on the pumpkins. Do you think I focused on the proper place? (The large pumpkin’s stem, using a tripod). Even at f/4.0 the front of the pumpkins seem a little soft.
-HannahOctober 20, 2021 at 10:15 am #65701James Staddon
KeymasterI just love, love, LOVE pictures of autumn!!
October 20, 2021 at 11:05 am #65704Ezra Morley
Moderator@blessingscaptured, I respectfully disagree that your “falling leaf” photo looks fake. (I mean, yeah, as a photographer I know that it’s pretty much impossible to achieve all that in one photo…) But I think that the subtle “clues” (such as the leaves falling further away being blurred) help to make it a lot more realistic looking. I’d be proud to have an image like that in my portfolio! I do agree though that it might enhance the realism a bit to have all the leaves falling from the same kind of tree. 😉 Maybe consider removing 1 or 2 as well, so it doesn’t get too “crowded”.
Also, a quick tip for achieving maximum DOF with your pumpkin shot… If the goal is to have the stems in focus, then try to keep them the exact same distance from the camera. (i.e. in photo #5 the little punkin on the left should have been scooted forward just a tad to bring its stem in line with its bigger brother’s.) Then they’d both be in focus at the same time. Even so, there’s just too much “depth” to get it all in focus… Maybe consider focus stacking a couple of shots?
That is so creative, @lenspirationlydia! I would never have thought to tape a leaf to a piece of glass! 🙂 The only issue I see with that approach is that the leaf is a little too flat and parallel to the camera. I wonder if you could “bunch it up” a bit on the glass to give it some shape? Or at least maybe angle the glass a bit so that it’s not perfectly in line with the camera? (Of course, that probably makes more glare… 🙁 )
Now I’m kinda disappointed that we don’t have prettier leaves around here! This assignment looks like fun, but oak leaves aren’t very photogenic.
October 21, 2021 at 2:53 am #65810Caitlin Compton
ParticipantWow! Everyone’s pictures are so beautiful!
So, this assignment was quite the challenge for me. Number 1 us Australian’s don’t celebrate Thanksgiving and well, number 2 it’s Spring here in Australia right now. 😉 But, despite these two obstacles, I really wanted to attempt the assignment just for fun and to get some practise. Even though I would have to admit that my attempts didn’t turn out quite how I’d have liked them to and probably don’t really look very authentically like Thanksgiving. Here they are!
October 21, 2021 at 3:05 am #65813Caitlin Compton
ParticipantOctober 21, 2021 at 5:44 pm #65818Lydia Bennett
Keymaster@frazer-family, wow I am impressed! Great job on your photos!
@blessingscaptured, go you, tackling the Photoshop job! I also really love the texture of the wood in the photos with the leaves on top & bottom!
@buddingphotographer, good points! Those would be great ideas to try out sometime! And, I think oak leaves can be quite photogenic when used well. 🙂
@creative-click-photography wow you did so great, with all those odds against you! Your photos do have a fall feeling to them despite the fact that it’s spring for you! 🙂October 21, 2021 at 8:49 pm #65825Ruth
ParticipantOctober 22, 2021 at 10:16 am #65834Adrianna Spencer
ParticipantNone of the leaves have changed here!☹️ But I used some artificial leaves with a artificial pumpkin and used a coffee table in our living room and it turn out pretty good better than what I expected! I tried to find a clear piece of clear glass but I couldn’t!☹️ But I had a fun kick out of taking the pictures for the assistant! I had my two cats and I made it look like they where holding a pumpkin but I was really just a flop!!🙂🙁 But I should have dusted off the table after the cats where there!!
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This reply was modified 3 years, 3 months ago by
James Staddon.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 4 months ago by
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