Dogwood Photography Presents

52 Week Photography Challenge for 2017

The original Dogwood Photography 52 Week Challenge was a huge success, with tens of thousands of photographers
participating from around the world. In celebration of those who have completed the first challenge, a new challenge is now
here! The challenge for 2017 has a higher difficulty level than the original challenge. While this challenge is a follow on to
the original challenge, it is also suitable to be completed as a standalone challenge.

Story Telling: Good photographers can take beautiful images of something. Great photographers can take an
image that tells its story. This category makes use of compositional rules and directed prompts to push you
towards not just looking at the beauty of something, but to find a way to tell that somethings story.
Technical: Technical Aptitude is just as important as creative inspiration in photography. With that in mind this
category is a mix of in camera and post processing techniques designed to expose you to new technical skills and
techniques.
Artistic Impression: When this category comes up, you really have room to express yourself. You can interpret
the assignment literally or figuratively. Unlike the other two categories that are more focused, the idea of this
category is to let your creativity shine.

WEEK 1

Story: Rule of Thirds

The rule of thirds is the first compositional rule most photographers learn; but most
don't know why they learn it. The rule of thirds is amazing for telling a story. Tell a
story using rule of thirds.

WEEK 2

Technical: SOOC

Straight out of the Camera. No Photoshop. Shoot a compelling image and post it
without edits. No cheating! (Be sure and save the image file for the end of the
challenge!)

WEEK 3

Artistic: Land

Your inspiration this week is land. This could be a landscape, or an image inspired by
the land in some way.

WEEK 4

Story: Mirror

Tell a story using a mirror.

WEEK 5

Technical: Ten Shots

Shoot 10 shots of the same subject. Each shot should be from a different angle,
distance, and focal length. Share your favorite image from the set.

WEEK 6

Artistic: Candy

A throwback to one of the favorite weeks of the original challenge. Your artistic
inspiration this week is candy. Since this is the advanced challenge... you can't
actually use candy in the scene.

WEEK 7

Story: Forgotten

WEEK 8

Technical: One Shot

WEEK 9

Artistic: Still Life

Your inspiration this week is Still Life. A couple of pieces of fruit on a table won't
impress in the advanced challenge though... so really be creative.

WEEK
10

Story: Perspective

Perspective for the purpose of this challenge is the relationship of objects in the
scene. If you really want a challenge this is a good chance to use forced perspective.

WEEK
11

Technical: Split Tone

Split Tone is an editing technique where the shadows are toned one color, and the
highlights a second color. Split toning is often used with color grading in the media to
give a scene a desired look and feel.

Abandoned was a very popular week in the original challenge. For the advanced
challenge tell the story of something forgotten.
Imagine that it is the last frame on a roll of film, and you have to nail it. For this
challenge only take one shot. No deleting, no 2nd shot. The honor system is in play.

WEEK
12
WEEK
13
WEEK
14
WEEK
15
WEEK
16

Artistic: Orange
Story: Golden Hour
Technical: Panning
Artistic: Hard
Story: leading Lines

Your inspiration this week is orange. Either the color orange or an actual orange. Or
both.
The golden hour is the hour before sunset or after sunrise when the sun casts
amazing golden tones. Find a way to use the golden hour to tell a story.
Use the technique of panning to capture a subject in movement. Panning is using a
slower shutter speed while following the subject with the camera to create the sense
of movement in an image.
Your artistic inspiration this week is hard. Hard is both an adjective and an adverb.
Interpret this how you wish.
Leading Lines are a very important compositional element that every photographer
needs to master. Use leading lines to tell a story. No train tracks.

Technical: Loop
Lighting

Loop lighting is one of the most used portrait lighting techniques. Shoot a portrait
using loop lighting. If you don't have an off camera flash setup, get creative with how
you light your subject.

Artistic: Purple

Your inspiration this week is purple. Purple is the color of royalty, magic, and
mystery.

Story: Back Yard

Tell the story of your immediate surroundings. Give us a glimpse into your daily life.

WEEK
20

Technical: Sky
Overlay

Sometimes the sky just doesn't cooperate. This week replace the sky in your image.
If you need a sky to use in the replacement, search flickr.com for an image to use
under Creative Commons Licensing.

WEEK
21

Artistic: Soft

Your artistic inspiration this week is soft. Just like hard earlier in the challenge, soft is
both and adjective and an adverb. Interpret this how you will.

WEEK
22

Story: Geometric
Shapes

Triangles, squares, and circles. They are all very strong compositional elements in an
image. Find a way to use geometric shapes in your storytelling.

Technical: F/8 Portrait

Shoot a portrait using an aperture setting of F/8. Since this is the advanced
challenge, be sure to find a way to isolate your subject other than shallow depth of
field.

Artistic: Green

Your inspiration this week is green. Green is the color of life, nature, and hope.

Story: Toy Story

Not the movie! Tell a story with toys or about toys. (Kind of like the movie...)

Technical: Light
Painting
Artistic:
Communication
Story: Portrait as
Landscape
Technical: Water
Drop

Put your camera on a tripod at night, open the shutter for 30 seconds, and paint
your subject with light. Flashlights, LED strips, and even laser pointers work great.
Your inspiration this week is communication. We live in the age of endless
communication, so there is inspiration everywhere.
Shoot a portrait that is posing as a landscape. Tell a story of the subject using the
landscape around them. Fool the viewer.
Photographing a water drop is a mix of lighting, macro, and patience. There are
plenty of ways to pull this off, enjoy figuring it out!
In the last challenge you shot a family portrait. This time use family as your
inspiration. Since this is the advanced challenge no people can be in the image.
Another classic compositional tool is to frame the subject within the frame of the
image. Use this technique this week to tell your story.
HDR is the technique of combining several photos of the same scene but shot at
different exposures to create an image with a High Dynamic Range.

WEEK
17
WEEK
18
WEEK
19

WEEK
23
WEEK
24
WEEK
25
WEEK
26
WEEK
27
WEEK
28
WEEK
29
WEEK
30
WEEK
31
WEEK
32
WEEK
33

Artistic: Family
Story: Frame Within a
Frame
Technical: HDR
Artistic: High Key

High Key was one of the most interesting during the last challenge. Last time it was a
portrait; this time it is back as inspiration.

WEEK
34
WEEK
35
WEEK
36
WEEK
37

Story: Stranger
Technical: Stitched
Panorama
Artistic: Low Key
Story: Balance

Tell the story of a stranger. Try using their environment to really inform the viewer of
their story.
A stitched panorama is an image made up of several smaller images stitched
together during editing. For an added challenge try using the Brenizer Method.
Low Key is the opposite of High Key. Shoot an image where most of the tonal range
is on left side of the histogram.
Balance is the compositional technique of giving each area in a scene equal visual
weight. You can achieve balance using color, tone, or juxtaposed subjects.

Technical: 50mm

Learn to sneaker zoom! Shoot an image using only the 50mm Focal Length. Either
use a fixed 50mm lens or set your zoom lens to 50mm. Since this is the advanced
challenge make sure the image is compelling.

Art: Water

Your inspiration this week is water. Interpret this how you will.

Story: Colorful B & W

Tell the story of a colorful scene. Because this is the advanced challenge, no flowers.
Do it in Black and White.

Technical: Levitation

Levitation is part camera trick and part photoshop. Create an interesting levitation
image this week.

Artistic: Music

Your inspiration this week is music. This is wide open so have fun with it.

Story: Movement

Capturing and creating movement in a still photo is a challenge for every

photographer. Use movement this week to tell a story.

WEEK
44

Technical: Magic ND
Filter

Use an ND filter combined with a shutter speed of 30 seconds or even longer to

create your image. Try a waterscape or even a busy landmark to see the magic
happen.

WEEK
45

Artistic: Cold

Your inspiration this week is cold. Interpret this how you want.

WEEK
46

Story: Landscape
Foreground

Many stories are based around portraits, but landscapes can have stories also. Tell
the story of a landscape by using the foreground as the subject and the background
as the scene.

WEEK
47

Technical: Shaped
Bokeh

Bokeh was one of people's favorite weeks. This year take it a step further and create
a scene using shaped bokeh.

WEEK
38
WEEK
39
WEEK
40
WEEK
41
WEEK
42
WEEK
43

WEEK
48
WEEK
49
WEEK
50
WEEK
51
WEEK
52

Artistic: Bodyscape
Story: Blue Hour
Technical: Full Edit

The human form has been the study of art since art was first inspired. Your
inspiration this week is the human body.
The Blue Hour is the hour after sunset or the hour before sunrise when the sky is
dominated by amazing blue and purple hues. Use this to tell your story this week.
Use the SOOC shot from the beginning of the challenge and re-edit it to it's full glory.
If that shot isn't available feel free to re-edit any of your past work.

Artistic: Fear

Fear is your inspiration this week. Find a way to show fear in a way that your viewer
feels it.

Story: Your Story

Tell your story.

Challenge List: https://dogwood.photography/52weekchallenge2017.html

Flickr Group: https://www.flickr.com/groups/dogwood2017
Facebook Discussion Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/photographychatter