I’ve decided to change the format of the Hunt from three a week — which seems awfully difficult for almost all the participants — to three a month. If you can’t — or don’t want to — take three photos a month, you shouldn’t be in the group and you shouldn’t have bought a fancy camera to begin with.

We’ll do this for the next few months to see whether it should be changed, or whether it’s worth bothering with the Scavenger Hunt group at all. I have put roughly an hour in a week (not including taking the photos, processing them and uploading them) to keep the group running, but in recent weeks the participation has been so low it’s not been worth it.

Since Dad made the effort to take three photos this week, I’ll talk about them (instead of mine). The Architecture shot is nothing to write home about. The Ride shot shot I like, and wonder how you got such a short depth of field — did you buy some sort of camera attachment? The Letters shot though, I really like. I think in regards to the placement of the blocks the ‘R’ should have been a bit more to the right, but otherwise, I like everything else about it. Well done.

Now, I’m not going to bother posting any topics for the remainder of this month, I’m going to use the three already posted.

So, the three topics for April are:

• Letters
• Ride
• Architecture

Enjoy (and if you aren’t participating, shame on you).

My bridge shot turned out alright, though a little blurry. The bridge and point of view are interesting, but my positioning was not that great. Just an average shot, I’d say.

Jump was a fun topic to do, but my legs hated me for it the next day (I climbed up and jumped down those stairs onto concrete for a good half hour). The sense of movement are interesting but in the end I gave up trying to get a “perfect” shot because my feet hurt!

The shot I took for framing was not intended as a “framing” shot, and it didn’t really turn out to be a proper one either. I quite like it, even though it’s not particularly fantastic, because it gives a view of before entering a bustling, busy, excited stadium so shows off anticipation. Plus, I never crop shots square so it was fun to do.

Socrates Smith’s framing shot is a much better example, and I quite like the shot. It’s a bit of a pity that the flash went off which makes the tower difficult to see, but I know how hard it is to do a night shot with an IXUS 55 and no tripod.

We’re into the eighteenth week now, and the topics are:

• Letters (suggested by innercreation)
• Ride
• Architecture

I really hope that people put in a bit of effort this week; it really doesn’t take that long to take a photo and upload it. I know a lot of people say that “don’t have time”, but to be honest, if you really wanted to do it, you’d make the time.

My sign shot turned out a bit more bland than I had envisaged. I think the grass in the foreground works alright but I had trouble with where to actually fit the sign in the background. I had a few other ideas but couldn’t find signs in a suitable spot. This was actually the first topic I thought up for the group!

The play topic was a tougher topic than it initially seemed. I expected to see shots of people holding guitars, or sports teams. I am happy with the my shot, though it’s not “excellent”, just “good”. I’m not sure how it could be improved

On to my motion shot now, and these sorts of shots are quite difficult without a tripod. I’ve managed to capture the runner’s number and lower torso in good focus but I would have liked to see the upper body and head in sharp focus too. Overall I’m pretty happy with it, though. The effect works well.

My picks are:

• Sign: Doggy Don’t by mrdehoot
  Wins by default. It’s definitely a shot of a sign, but it could have been a lot better.

• Play: Play by Socrates Smith
  Not sure why, but I quite like this shot. I think it might be because of the low angle and the muted colours.
• Motion: InMotion by theblueboy
  Great shot! I like the colours, angle and the idea presented. Unfortunately, the left-most swing is moving and there’s a little bit too much noise due to the high ISO speed. I think I would have preferred the red line to be on the closer swing, but I like it anyway!

We’re into the seventeenth week now, and the topics, as chosen are:

• Bridge [2 votes]
• Jump [1 vote]
• Framing [2 votes]

Please note that I chose Jump over the other voted-for Ride for two reasons. One: The coin came up tails twice in a row (best 2/3) and; Two: I was able to think up more ideas for Jump photos. Dark was not valid as it was chosen as well as Framing by one voter.

Pretty happy overall with my pics this week. My Black photo came out quite well but I found it surprisingly difficult to actually take a detailed photo of such a dark subject — it all came down to the poor lighting; and I was unable to use the flash because of the extension tubes poking out. Quite a good macro in the end, I think.

My Numbers shot was inspired by our recent poker game, and I’m pretty pleased with the results. The shot conveys the feeling of trying to hide your cards while playing Texas Hold’em. Probably my second-best of the week.

Although the Spin photo is a great technical accomplishment, the photo is pretty boring. It took about 30 minutes to get this shot, and it’s not impressive at all. The coin was frozen in time from the flash, and the “ghosting” that goes to the upper-left of the shot is actually where the coin went after the flash went off. It looks fake but isn’t. Still unexciting.

My picks:

• Black: Chip by stardust96
  This and the Black Knight photo by mrdehoot were both pretty good, but I think the depth of field is great on Chip. I didn’t initially like the thing in the background but I think it really helps — it would be great if it were a deck of cards or something else but it’s good as-is.
• Numbers: Numbers by stardust96
  I’ll be blunt, I don’t think the numbers photos were that good, so I chose this one because it’s the one I dislike least. It is 42 though, so let’s use that as my excuse.
• Spin: Spinning Top by mrdehoot
  I really liked Poi #2 as well but I think Spinning Top is a better photo compositionally. It might not be as exciting as it doesn’t have the flashy colours of Poi #2 but I still think it’s the better shot — they’re both more interesting than mine, anyway.

So, we’re up to the sixteenth week now. Topics for the next week are:

• Sign [2 votes]
• Play [0 votes!] (suggested by stardust96)
• Motion [1 vote]

Ever since the inappropriately-named Scavenger Hunt began, the emphasis has been on quality and I think that most of the regular participants have been growing artistically. I personally think I have; one of the best ways to improve at photography is to take a lot of photos, and fairly critique them yourself and the group’s been good for me.

My tear photo was actually a lot more difficult to get than I initially thought. I wanted to get some paper being ripped with a nice motion blur, and though there’s some blur on this photo, it doesn’t really work. It still came out “just OK” though in the end.

The photo I took for emotion was unplanned and I don’t really think it came out very well. I tried to “black and white” it to make it more impressive but that didn’t really work either. Oh well, maybe next time. It was a very tough topic. And I don’ t think I look sad, do I?

I am quite impressed with my symmetry photo. It’s not totally symmetrical but it’s close; the main veins of the leaf are what to look for if you can’t see what I was trying to do. I like the outcome in any case.

This week, I liked:

• Tear: Tearing off the days by mrdehoot
  I think the idea here is better than in my tearing photo. Perhaps a slightly tighter cropping may have improved it — we don’t need to see the whole calendar.

• Emotion: Happiness by innercreation
  Wins by default, the subject is cute but the photo isn’t that exciting. Nice colours.
• Symmetry: Go to bread by stardust96
  Since the only other symmetry photo was doctored I choose this one. I like it better anyway; the colour is great and the lines draw the eye well.

We’re into the fifteenth week now, and the topics, as chosen are:

• Black [1 vote]
• Numbers [2 votes] (suggested by innercreation)
• Spin [2 votes]

C’mon, we can get eighteen shots this week, can’t we? With the possible exception of Spin those topics ought to be easy

Of my photos, I think my pink photo is by far the best of my three this week. The other two were a little rushed whereas with this one I took my time. I really like the colours and the angle on this one, and the depth of field is great. I’m pretty impressed with the results.

My shadow photo looks — to me — like a bird, but it seems like others can’t even tell what it’s meant to be. A bit of a disappointing photo, really; it was a hard topic, though.

Lastly, my lock photo was done with three extension tubes totalling 68mm, and a 50mm lens. I’ve no idea what the ratio is but it turned tiny little padlocks into huge pictures. This one was not cropped. It came out quite well but isn’t really exciting.

My picks:

• Pink: Pretty flower by stardust96
  It’s interesting that the subject of this shot looks so fake, since I know first-hand that it’s not. I suspect it was because of the flash.
• Lock: Lock by mrdehoot
  The framing could have been a bit more exciting but I like the subject and the colours.
• Shadow: Shadow me by innercreation
  A tough topic, and the photos proved it. I don’t think any of the three efforts were particularly good but since this one’s different to the other two, I chose it.

The topics for the next week are:

• Tear [2 votes]
• Emotion [1 vote] (suggested by theblueboy)
• Symmetry [1 vote]

Obviously there’s not much interest in choosing your own topics. Suggest better topics, pick the ones you want to see! Look what happened this week, no one was interested and the chosen topics reflect that. Or, would people rather to be told what topics to do?

My soft photo was the result of not being able to think of a good or interesting shot for the topic. The photo is interesting with the way that the layers of paper are shown, but not particularly exciting.

The idea I came up with for my fire photo was a good one, and the results were alright, but not excellent. It took about ten attempts but I finally managed to capture the lighter as it burned off the excess gas when it initially lit.

Lastly, my Dutch camera angle shot is of a pretty dull subject. That said, I like the way that the path and house’s roof interact with one another to draw the eye around the scene.

My pics for this week are:

• Soft: Soft by jestavalon
  Probably the most interesting “soft” shot and the one that portrays the topic best to me. Not a bad shot, either.
• Fire: Fire & Ice by neofitou
  Easily the best “fire” shot. I would have liked to see more detail in the match and the ice, though.
• Dutch Camera Angle: DCA by mrdehoot
  The most exciting shot of the lot, as the topics for most were pretty ordinary.

After some late voting, the topics for this week are:

• Pink [2 votes]
• Lock [2 votes]
• Shadow(s) [2 votes] (suggested by mrdehoot)

Let’s get shooting!

Sixteen photos were submitted this week from nine different people, so participation is obviously up but all topic completion seems to be down. It seems to me that most people are only doing the topics they like from week-to-week. If this is the case: Suggest or Vote for the topics you want to see!

My Metal shot came out quite well — it’s not totally obvious that the shot is a macro (until you look at the larger views and see the large chunks of dust!) which is what I wanted. Even though the subject is pewter is doesn’t really come across as metally. Sharpness and depth of field are good thoug.

I had a little trouble coming up with a Leading Lines shot, but while riding saw the bridge and thought it would suit. To me, it works as a leading lines shot as the eye follows the bridge, but it’s just not that exciting.

Lastly, the Sweet shot came out quite well, but when viewing the smaller versions it’s interesting to see a large gaping dark hole in the middle of the shot. When you view it larger it’s not as distracting, but still a bit annoying.

My picks for week 11:

• Metal: metal by mrdehoot
  I’m glad I SMSed you the topics for the week, because I think this one came out pretty well. Perhaps getting closer to the subject could have made the shot a bit more exciting, but I like it anyway. Heavy metal by Roley was also a really good shot and I found it a tough call.
• Sweet: Sweet as… by Socrates Smith
  As good as Sweet! by NOR071 is, it’s tough to compete with such a cute kid. The shot could be improved a little in a few ways I’m sure, but none of that matters.
• Leading Lines: Reaching new heights by Roley
  I think the execution was a little off (the bright sun, the distracting background behind the subject), but it works so well that I don’t care; it’s a great shot.

The topics for the coming week are:

• Soft [1 vote]
• Fire [2 votes]
• Dutch camera angle [2 votes]

Note that even though Lock also had two votes, I decided to use Fire because they were both in the same groupings and I wanted to try and appease most of the people who voted for a topic this week.
I would love to see everyone who participated this week manage all three shots in the next week — that would mean twenty-seven new shots!

My Light photo this week turned out quite well, I think. I’d originally uploaded a closer version of the shot but wasn’t happy with it; I much prefer the second one, due to the way the shadows work.

The Cable shot gave me a good chance to flex my macrophotography muscles and I think it came out well; could probably be improved but not bad.

Lastly, the Contre-jour photo worked out well but I would have preferred to see the fly a little bit closer to the sun for a tighter crop.

Choosing both Light and Contre-jour as topics in the same week was, I think, a bad move and if I notice things like that in the future I will swap the topics around, regardless of the number of votes.

• Light: Torch Light by neofitou

  I don’t really like the “beer bottle” windows, but the lighting in this shot works pretty well, I think.

• Cable: Cables by innercreation

  A pretty boring topic really, though a few of the shots ended up quite good. This is by far the best of the cable shots in my opinion. Probably because of the colour and the fact that I see these things all day long.

• Contre-jour: Palm by stardust96

  Excluding the tiny little helicopter that popped it’s head into the shot, I really like this shot. The tree is obviously being blown at the time and the plain background seems to work well to emphasise the shot. Probably would have worked well with clouds too but it’s fine as is.

Finally, the topics for this week are:

• Metal [3 votes] (suggested by stardust96)
• Sweet [1 vote]
• Leading Lines [1 vote]

Let’s see if we can get the participation back to last’s weeks high!

On to discussion of the photos:

I took a decent photo on Australia Day of a “Spirit of Ecstasy” hood ornament which I initially used as my “rule of thirds” photo, but couldn’t quite get it right, so I gave up and put up a rather simple photo of a street light near our house. I actually think it was a better photo in the end; simple but good. My “post” photo was of a similar street light but framed very differently, I think that photo looks pretty good too actually — it’s probably the best of the three I uploaded. My “orange” photo of a bin is probably a little more “brown” but that didn’t stop people last week so why should it stop me? I think it came out quite well actually.

And then on to my picks:

• Orange: lolly by stardust96

  It’s the most orange of all the photos so it wins by default! It’s also very tasty, I must say.

• Post: Freebie by Roley

  I thought there would’ve been more photos of this topic, but never mind. This won also wins by default.

• Rule of thirds: 234 by theblueboy

  Surprisingly, more people entered a Rule of thirds photo than any other topic this week. I’m glad to see people exploring and learning photographic techniques and concepts, and that’s what the group’s all about!I think theblueboy’s photo was the best of the Rule of thirds photos; I really liked the lighting and black and white [I have since been notified this photo has not been converted to black and white] was probably the right choice here, though it probably doesn’t convey the rule as well as some of the other shots do.

Six people particpated this week, but only two managed all three topics. If it’s because you didn’t like the topics, make yourself heard! The topics this week are:

• Light [2 votes]
• Cable [3 votes]
• Contre-jour [3 votes] (suggested by theblueboy)

I gave myself a little challenge this week to make all my three photos portrait orientation rather than my usual landscape orientation and I’m happy with them all. I think Mysterious Door is the best of the three with Pour coming second (mostly for the idea, not the execution which could have been better). Surfers Shotty is not quite right, but I’m not sure why.

My choices for the photos this week are:

• Purple: Purple by mrdehoot

  Of the six “purple” shots, one was pink, two were blue and three actually contained purple. While it’s not purple I think this photo is the most interesting of — to my mind — a pretty average bunch (including my own).

• Mystery: Can by stardust96

  A hard topic and a hard choice for me as I thought most of the “mystery” photos were also rather average. I chose Can because I think it’s really the only shot with an element of mystery.

• Cook: Cook II by mrdehoot

  The first version of this photo wasn’t particularly interesting, in my opinion. This second one, however, simply works. The colours, the angle, the subject, are all really good. Well done.

Since there were only three people who voted for topics this week, and some were the same, I’ll take one from each voter:

• Orange
• Post
• Rule of thirds

I am happy with the number of participants though of course would like to see it grow, but I would love to see the quality of the photos improve this week and I think using the concept of Rule of thirds may help everyone think more critically of their own shots.

Good luck!

A few joined, left, and we’re now at 11 members with fourteen photos submitted this week. Six (a group high) managed to snap all three topics and I think we can easily match that again this week.

My picks are:

• White: White golf ball by innercreation

  I really like this shot, it works well. The sky is, I think, a little too blue; I don’t know if you changed it or if it’s your camera, but it’s overdone — check the blue sky my camera captured barely two hours later on the same day. Is the golf ball a real golf ball or is it that big one at that place on Springvale Rd?Horsehead by theblueboy was also good but I think it needed some light/contrast tweaking and slightly different cropping to win, especially with the competition.

• Square: Square by mrdehoot

  I like the idea, it’s a different take compared to others’. I think the framing and angle could be improved but the idea won here.Actually, I thought Square scrapbooking by stardust96 was best but I helped with the cropping (though the angle, choice of subject and everything else had nothing to do with me) and I don’t pick my own photos.

• Street: My Street by neofitou

  A tough one between the winner and Street by mrdehoot (again for the interesting slant on the topic, just needed to be a bit more exciting, I think).I think the photo could be improved by having the rest of the picture a bit brighter. The street light makes it though. Perhaps mutiple bracketed exposures blended might have worked?

I would like to see other’s thoughts on the best shots (and why!); perhaps post in that week’s topic post or go wild and reply to a post on this site!

The plan was for people to vote for the topics they want and though it didn’t turn out as well as I’d hoped, at least we have a bit more member input into the topics.

I would like to mention that the point of the group for me is to not only get out everyone out there and take photos, but hopefully improve my own technique and take photos I wouldn’t normally consider taking. Adding objects or emotions as topics I think makes the topics a little too task-based (look at the “street” photos as an example, they are all a little too similar; now compare with the “square” topic and see how many different interpretations there are).

Not to mention that I think successfully capturing things like emotions in a week will be terribly difficult and I wanted the topics to be open to as much interpretation as possible to allow for as much freedom as possible. That’s how I want the group to work, and there are already other groups if you just want to hunt down “things on a list”.

The topics for the following week are:

• Purple
• Mystery
• Cook

I didn’t use any of neofitou’s votes because he broke the voting rules (used two from the one group), not that it changed the outcome. Phew, a big post this week. Let’s get to it!

P.S. Sorry to theblueboy, but even though I quite liked your street photo, it was too late to qualify! I also updated the post to reflect that you got all three topics.

Since no one cares, I’ll make my choices quick and get this over with:

• Green: Foothold by neofitou

  There’s something missing, I don’t know what. Still not bad though.

• Open: Open door by innercreation

  I think all the ‘open’ pictures were a bit uninspired. Probably down to the topic.

• Shiny: Shiny by stardust96

  He’s not shiny, but he’s just too cute to ignore!

This week’s topics are:

• White
• Square (suggested by innercreation)
• Street

We’ve all recovered from Christmas and the New Year, and we’re mostly back into our routines, so let’s try a bit harder, shall we?

At the time of writing this, six (of eight) people participated in this fortnight’s hunt, and two people managed to take all five shots (two more managed three and a further two managed two). I think a couple of the topics were quite difficult, though they couldn’t have been too hard if people are managing to take shots within those topics.

Perhaps three a week is too much? Perhaps I’m choosing topics that are too hard (if so, please suggest your own, as long as it is a very broad topic)? In any case, we’re back to our three a week unless we decide to change the format.

This week’s picks from me are:

• Red: Red Beach Box by neofitou

  Not a lot of red, but I think this is a quite impressive shot; love the colours. I’d like to know how you got them to look that way; obviously it’s a night shot.

• Lines: Liney by stardust96

  On Boxing Day there were three people competing to take this shot, startdust96′s is the only one that made it into the pool (so to speak) and there are certainly a lot of lines in the shot!

• Nature: nature by stardust96

  “The shopping trolley in it’s natural habitat,” what more can I say?

• Cold: Cold peas by innercreation

  Makes me pine for a macro lens.

• Below: Horse below the water by innercreation

  A tough topic, and an interesting idea. Didn’t come out so well but it’s a better idea than my attempt.

Back to three topics for the week, and this week they are:

• Green
• Open
• Shiny (suggested by stardust96)

I tried to make them a bit easier this time; let’s get to it.

Here we go with my non-me picks for the week:

• Brown: brown by neofitou

  I like the angle used here

• Wet: Wet by stardust96

  At first glance it’s difficult to locate where the fake drops of water stop and the real ones start

• Different: ‘Different’ perspective by innercreation

  This one wins by default, but the colours are interesting anyway

Since it’s Christmas and people will probably be less likely to be near a computer, I’m going to expand to five topics, but run them over two weeks. I’m finding it difficult to come up with broad topics so remember to suggest some in the flickr post!

Here we go:

• Red
• Lines
• Nature
• Cold
• Below

What are your picks for this week? Remember to stop back on January 4th for my picks and more topics!

Picks this week were pretty easy, with the exception of the reflect category which managed to get some pretty good shots:

• Blue: Eeyore Christmas Ornament by stardust96
• Reflect: Helpful by theblueboy (runner up – Reflect by mrdehoot)
• Empty: Blue Reflect Empty by neofitou

This week’s topics are:

• Brown
• Wet
• Different

We have added two members in the past week but haven’t increased the number of people snapping shots of each topic!

As stated, I’ll choose the best shot from each category (that’s not mine) and post a link here, which I’ll do now:

• Yellow: Tweety by stardust96
• Happy: Cropped Billboard by theblueboy
• Travel: Travel by mrhoot

This week’s topics are:

• Blue
• Reflect
• Empty

I hope to see five people managing all three topics this week!

Every week I will suggest three categories and you just have to submit the best of your photos taken for each category (just submit them to the bludger.org Scavenger Hunt flickr group, which is invite only [so you'll need to ask me if you want friends added!]). My pick for the best of each category will be posted to this site.

Now, onto the “rules”:

• Photos must retain EXIF data (if you use Photoshop, don’t use “save for web”)
• Photos must be taken during the week of that hunt (i.e. you can’t cheat and use old photos that fit)
• Photos must be photos (no scanned drawings, 3D images)
• Only minor manipulation of photos is allowed (colour correction, sharpening/softening, cropping, and so on), “Photoshopping” such as this is discouraged
• That is all

This week’s categories are:

• Yellow
• Happy
• Travel

Depending on how things proceed, this might be the last scavenger hunt, or it could be the start of something beautiful. Now get out there and start shooting!