Week 20 of the photo a day challenge

The theme this week was openings. Openings of all different kinds are all around us, from the obvious like a door or window, to the less obvious like a gap in the hedge or the hole for an earphone jack. The brief was to try and capture the more unusual openings around you, if you opted for obvious then make it interesting using angles and/or staging.

I was quite excited this week as I had just got myself a DSLR camera! It was second hand but works perfectly and so my photo for Sunday was the first one I used in the challenge taken with it (I'll blog about my new camera in a separate post). I was particularly proud of the picture too. I've never had a SLR camera, so before starting this challenge I didn't know anything about photography beyond 'point and click' and using the pre-programmed settings on a compact camera. I have been picking up all sorts from the group though and got a beginners guide to DSLR photography Magbook from the pound shop. So I was starting to understand about shutter speed and aperture size and ISO and how you can use these to create particular effects. I spotted a brilliant opening in a ruined castle we were visiting - an arrow slit and to get the picture to work I had to be brave and switch to manual, it took a few attempts but I managed to get the tree in focus and the right ISO to stop all the foreground from being completely black.



On Monday used this shot taken at the same castle yesterday, I really love this one.



On Tuesday I got my macro lens for my iPhone out and took a few different versions of the openings of a sieve, with and without flour and from the inside and outside. After seeking some advice from a fellow group member about which one was the best I settled on this one.


On Wednesday I used this shot I'd taken the night before when I was in the bath - the openings in these natural sponges which came with my face mask.



On Thursday I snapped this on the way to work, the level crossing barrier near the train station opening



On Friday I hit the end of week inspiration lull, but while sat on the train the way home from work I saw this women opposite me. She had a nice bag and it was on the table so that the opening of it was pointing towards me. As I got my phone out and tried to surreptitiously take a shot she moved the bag and took out her kindle, so I caught this shot of her opening her kindle cover instead.



On Saturday I wanted to do something arty again, I still had some glow sticks left from action week, so I cracked a few and put them back in the tube, closed the curtains In the bedroom and turned off the lights. I used the NightCap app to get this image.


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