Foto February 2017 | A Challenge

Foto February photos from years past 

So, I've been blogging for, like, ever. I was an avid Livejournal user in my high school days (some would say that's where Marshall and I met...) and then used Xanga some, then I blogged on Myspace occasionally in college, then gravitated towards Facebook notes, and then when I made plans to study abroad in college I decided to get serious and make a Blogspot Blog. Yep. Super serious. I'm so glad I did that, every once in a while I go back and get lost in those college and post-grad single gal days where I just wrote about random things. Such simple times that seemed so... not simple. Ha!

The whole point of this is to tell you, that in those days it was a BIG DEAL to get photos into a blog post. There were camera cords and Kodak software and folders and Picasa edits and all kind of things that went into it. It was quite a process. Especially when I was in Spain and Costa Rica. Now, it's silly easy, especially with the whole smartphone thing, although blogging with real camera pics does still require the upload and editing process. Back then, I made up this thing where I tried to take a real camera photo every day in February of random life stuff and never once made it through the entire month (which is why I LOL at the though of doing a real camera 365, but I digress...). I called this thing Foto February. If you would like to see the few posts I did on my old blog, yep, the college and post-grad one you can find those here.

So THIS YEAR I'm doing it again, but I'm actually going to do it! And I'm going to have a purpose behind it besides documenting "the everyday" because let's face it: our everyday is pretty well documented between Instagram, Twitter and all the other things. I am going to shoot things with my camera like I've never ever shot them before. I've made up my own lil' scavenger hunt for the month of February and I'm super pumped for it. You can totally jump in if you want, it's low key and flexible and most importantly, NOT CHEESY OR VALENTINE'S RELATED. If you search for "photo a day challenge in February" they will all be red, pink and heart related. Spare yourself.

I've been shooting exclusively on manual for quite a few years now and I understand what the things are and what they do, but I always play it in the safe zone. Safe f/stop for sharp images. Safe exposure for perfectly exposed images. Auto white balance for not funky colored images. I'm usually taking photos for someone or church or for my own posterity, rarely just for funsies to see what kind of cool stuff I can make with my camera. Also, I am on a mission this year to know and understand my gear (body + lenses) top to bottom, inside and out, so I need to see these things in action, rather than in theory.

Okay, so here are the details:

• There are 25 photo prompts. You can split it and do 25 separate photos, or combine them. Some will go hand in hand (fast shutter + low aperture or vice versa, etc; high ISO at nighttime; slow shutter for movement, etc.). It's up to you, totally customizable. 
• I plan to blog once a week in February and share my images. Obviously you can blog/post daily or however often you want. 
• Images are not to be edited! They are SOOC (straight out of camera) and not color/exposure or anything corrected. Not even adjusting the whatever it is it's called when you straighten an image. The point is learning, not perfect images. 
• With each photo, make a note for yourself with what you learned/observed. (ie; I had to use a slow shutter to allow enough light in to see subject, or whatever. Use actual numbers when possible.) 
• Obviously, you can take however many photos you want because #digital, and pick and share your favorites. 
• Have fun!
• Learn stuff! 
• The hash I shall be tagging is #fotofebruary. Feel free to use it (as have 184 people already on the Instagramz) or come up with your own.

The Prompts:

APERTURE

• f/ highest a lens goes
• f/11 
• f/8
• f/4
• f/lowest gear allows (for me that's 1.8!) 

EXPOSURE

• SLOWEST it goes 
• 1+ second shutter 
• 1/30 shutter
• 1/300 shutter
• FASTEST it goes 

ISO

• ISO LOWEST
• ISO 400
• ISO 800
• ISO 1600
• ISO MAX IT OUT

PLAY WITH LIGHT

• rim light
• external light
• flash
• dawn or dusk light
• nighttime 

RANDOM

• self portrait
• landscape
• animal portrait 
• water
• movement 

Comment, or email, or text me if we're real life friends and you want to participate. THIS IS GONNA BE REALLY FUN, YOU GUYS!