The winner will receive a Holga Starter kit, a set of Snapshot Coasters, and their picture will be featured on the blog as our Photo of the Week!

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[Originally posted by Jenna O. at Lookbook.nu]

We are all excited to start sharing our outfit photos on the ModCloth Style Exchange.

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It seems like EVERYONE here at ModCloth  has a new camera from the holidays, and being the resident photo geek, I have been getting asked all sorts of questions about the new gadgets.  I thought it would be helpful to answer some of the questions here on the blog. Feel free to send your own questions to danielle@modcloth.com or leave them in the comments below.  Everything is fair game, from operating your camera to lighting.  Because let’s be honest, what good is having the brand new Canon Rebel (Emily) if we don’t know how to take it out of auto mode?

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Composition

Today’s lesson and assignment is going to cover composition. Don’t panic, no discussion of the rule of thirds or leading lines. Composition can be a touchy subject; some swear by it and others find it constrictive. This week’s lesson isn’t about “teaching” you composition; it’s about revealing what you personally find compositionally-pleasing (which is WAY more fun).  Soon, you will have your own set of “rules” to do whatever you want with!

I came across this assignment at Petteri’s Pontifications and thought it was perfect for this week!

Grab the most basic camera you own (doesn’t have to be digital, but if you want to share your images with the group, I would recommend it). If you have a point and shoot, PERFECT! If you have an slr, put on your most basic lens (35-50mm is ideal) and set it to auto.  For all you photo geeks out there that insist on controlling things, try to keep it to the ISO and white balance.

Now go for a walk. You can walk to work, the bus stop, the park, store, walk around the mall, school, campus, etc. No time for a walk? Just keep your camera on you throughout the day.  Start taking photos; the key here is not to “look for photos.” Just take images of things that catch your eye. Petteri calls these “grab shots.”  Forget about all things you think you know about composition. Heck, don’t even worry about focus. Basically, you are going to snap a super-quick photo of  anything that catches your eye and move on.  I’d say take a minimum of 40-50 photos (but there is no limit – the more the better).

The next step is to look through your images and find five that you like the most and five that you think are total crap (excluding ones that are super technically flawed). Don’t be shy here; load them up to our ModCloth Photo School Flickr page and start to discuss the elements that you think made some images more successful than others.  What were others lacking that made them fail?  Soon you will start to recognize repeating trends in your photography that keep things interesting, and before you know it, you will have your own set of  ”composition rules.”

Still daydreaming about the rule of thirds or figure ground juxtaposition??  You can begin your journey into the  world of rules here.

Lesson One: Inspiration!

For the very first lesson, we are going to be talking about inspiration. What is it that you would really like to take better photos of? A new puppy? Daily outfit photos? Your adorable niece or nephew? Are you a crafter interested in cataloguing or selling your creations? Do you want to take a photo-a-day of yourself for a year?  Pick something that excites you. Got it? Okay. This is going to be the subject you use to apply the techniques I will be presenting in future posts.

Homework assignments:

Start an inspiration journal

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