Well done everyone who took part. What a great record of everyone's creativity. Such great ideas and experimenting!

To show your images in Photo Club, send in any pictures you are particularly proud to classtwo@prestonjmi.herts.sch.uk. It might spark an idea for someone else! 

29.5.20 "Hands"

So today its is all about hands. What could they be doing or making? Is there a story you are telling or an emotion you are trying to show? Is there a weird way you could paint the nails or the hands? Are they making an imprint or a shadow? Time to get messy?

Last day today, so photo will go up at 5pm and any voting has to happen by 6pm when the winner will be announced. Thank you for playing!

28.5.20 "Reflections"

This could be a reflection in a mirror, off any shiny surface, or someone looking thoughtful. You could you get some funny reflections on a curved surface.

So impressive the commitment you creative photographers are showing! Mirrors were clearly taken into gardens, water thrown and lots of crawling around to find the perfect angle from below. How experimental! Look at the fabulous results! It is going to be really hard to choose!

Not surprisingly, it was extremely close and a lot of joint winners. So many good ideas and such different interpretations. Every photo had merit.

27.5.20 "Surprise!"

Is your photo going to be someone being literally surprised and if so was it a nice surprise or a nasty one? 

Is it going to be more of a mystery, weird, scratch your head, puzzling sort of surprise (such as a kiwi in an orange skin or a blue carrot!).

Have fun!

Today's title is very abstract - Music! You might want to photograph a musical instrument, or someone playing, or a close up of a singer, or music notes...who knows! Get creative. You might want to use the Rule of Thirds. Basically, all it means is that you do not have to always put the main thing you are focussing on, right in the middle of the photo. Sometimes it looks better to one side. Try it out. Trust your gut. If you like the photo, others probably will.

Some super ideas again. Great to have past pupils joining in! Some people are revealing their music tastes!

WHEN VOTING, THE NUMBER IS BELOW THE PHOTO!

"Black and White"

Some stunning images! Well done everyone. 

There are some super examples of the use of the Rule of Thirds. Also some strong uses of diagonal lines leading the eye into the picture and some great use of contrasting tones, (light and dark parts), which has highlighted the subject (the interesting part of the photo).

Well done to Harry, who was the only entry in KS1 but his beautiful photo of his dog was so stunning, I am sure everyone else is glad it wasn't in their section. Well done to Toby, for a spookily extra-terrestrial water tower which looks as if it just landed; strong contrasts and vertical lines. Robyn's deer skull, with its equally strong contrast and diagonal lines was a really close runner up. Well done to Mrs Williamson for a gorgeous natural portrait, in a perfect setting.

17.4.20 "Mystery Object"

What are all these strange and mysterious objects that you have photographed? Try and name each object and send in your answers before 4pm, when the answers will go up. Remember to send in the name of your object, as some are so well disguised they are hard to guess! We will have a Best Guesser and Best Disguised Object today.

Thank you all for taking part and making this so much fun. The photos will be a lasting memory of your impressive creativity. If you would like to continue during the next term, with may be a photo a week challenge, or have a better suggestion for a competition, then send in your idea. Perhaps it could be fun to have a Preston Scavenger Hunt at a certain time each day. The winner would be the person to send in a photo of the objects first. 

Some photos are still a mystery! Let us know what they are!!

Wilde family won the guessing!! 

17.4.20 "Mystery Object"

To end our photo competition, the challenge is to take a photo of an everyday item in a way that disguises what it is. Then the photos will form a mini mystery object competition, and you can try to identify all the things. 

You might need to find the macro setting for you phone camera or digital camera to help you take a close up, or only photograph part of the object from a weird angle.The photo must be in focus or it will be impossible to guess. The winning photo will be the one the least number of people guess correctly.

16.4.20 "Tasty" 

What a great range of tasty items you have photographed. It will be hard to look at them without your mouth watering! Choose which one makes you drool the most and vote for it. 

Well done to today's winners. Harry, we all want that bowl of strawberries and ice cream please! Audrina and Mrs RDS both captured beautiful close ups. Eva's drink was stunning with the sun shining through it. Noah's retro arrangement of the cucumber against the cool background was very neat and stylish!

16.4.20 "Tasty"

Taking photos of food and drink, and making it looks tasty, is a real skill.

There are special tricks to making fruit look tastier- polish the skins with cooking oil or spray with water then add a strong light source to make it look really shiny. May be you will go for a pour shot, (where the sauce or drink is being poured. To make drinks look cold, spray water onto the glass. May be you want a close up bite shot or after the bite. May be the food will be arranged in a pattern. How can you persuade us that you have taken a photo of the tastiest thing in your house? 

15.4.20 "Play"

Some fun-filled photos for you to enjoy! Each one makes you smile and you can almost hear the laughter! It will be hard to choose, as they are all so great, and show your wonderful personalities! 

Two fantastic photos, which unfortunately were too late for "Big", but were so good you will want to see them, from Mrs Clark and Scarlet B. Scarlet has impressively found out how to Scarlet has learned how to edit contrast levels and  alter colour using photoshop. The result looks very professional.

15.4.20 "Play" is a really broad topic. You can tackle it in so many ways.

 If you have never tried taking an action shot, this could be a fun time to do that. Jumping, cartwheeling, swinging can all give you great shots. Use a fast shutter speed or look for the sports mode on your camera. Some phone cameras allow you to film action and then take a still from the film. Just think about getting a plain background. If you take a shot from low down, the sky can make the subject stand out.

If you prefer abstract patterns, you could arrange your favourite toys in colour to make a pattern. Or set up an interesting scenario like a board game and take a low level shot of a hand coming in. If you like portrait photography, this could be a good chance for some face painting or dressing up. 

You are all getting really good at spotting a good picture from voting for each other. Some pictures just draw your attention.

14.4.20 "Big"

That was a tricky challenge but you all coped really well and created some very funny photos. Obviously the photos had to be big to look at them as some of the details are tiny. 

Today's top tip: "Play" is a really broad topic. If you have never tried taking an action shot, this could be a fun time to do that. Jumping, cartwheeling, swinging can all give you great shots. Use a fast shutter speed or look for the sports mode on your camera. Some phone cameras allow you to film action and then take a still from the film. 

If you prefer abstract patterns, could you arrange your favourite toys in colour to make a pattern. Or set up an interesting scenario like a board game and take a low level shot of a hand coming in. You are all getting really good at spotting a good picture.

14.4.20 "Big"

Today's challenge is a bit different but should be really fun. Make sure you check out the power point above on "Forced perspective" photography. Basically you hold a small object close to the camera and line it up with a larger object that is further away. This makes a really funny photo. Below are a few examples and there are more in the power point. Can't wait to see what you come up with.

13.4.20 "Circles" A stunning selection of abstract photos. It will be hard to choose today so please remember to vote. Choose one photo you like in KS1, one in KS2 and  one Adult (so three votes each person).

Well done to Audrina for her stunning photo of milk bottles from above which won KS1 section. Harry's knothole in wood was a great frame for a picture.

Louis's tea collage was a popular winner. Apparently all the teas was drunk to wash down some chocolate eggs! Artistic and delicious! Gary's beautifully framed tree and Beau's unique view point, were also interesting runner-ups. 

Looks like everyone had a lovely Easter! Since it is a bank holiday today, if anyone has another photo they would like to add to Easter it will be accepted until 12pm. 

Today's Top Tip - Patterns are everywhere. You could make up your own, arrange a lot of circular objects, cut them out of scrap paper or take an interesting photo of a man made pattern.

Check out the amazing artist Andrew Goldsworthy and his circular creations made from nature. 

Simple but effective. Get creative! Do not feel you have to copy his ideas. Be original!

10.4.20 "Easter"

Well done to Harry for his photo, which captured the fun and lighter side of the holidays. Gary's carefully crafted cards and Beau's egg monster caught everyone's attention. Mrs Hart's delicious looking simnel cake photo won the vote for the adults. Mr Hart's photo shows a virtual egg hunt, which was a genius idea. Harriet created her interesting, half black and white, half colour effect by playing around with some effects on the phone after she took the photo.

10.4.20 "Portrait"

Stunning photos everyone! You have excelled yourselves again! Some very creative and artisitic interpretations of a portrait, shows a real variety of moods. Hopefully you enjoyed it and now have a gorgeous photo to keep.

Well done to Hetty and Nina for winning KS1. Black and white was a popular choice today, and really brought out the fine features and differing expressions. Nina said "Because Noah had so much freckles I decided to take a picture. After I took it I clicked on edit and pressed black and white and I put half of his face in because I thought it would look good." Very true. It made i very dramatic.

The joint KS2 winners were Isla and Gary. Isla’s original photo showed two original looks in one. Very careful hair and make-up preparation and a great expression made an interesting photo.

Gary says, “I thought I would do an Easter Selfie as my portrait to send Easter wishes to my school friends :)” 

9.4.20 "Light"

Another superb, creative set of photos. You are all finding some really interesting images. Well done to everyone! Check out ideas for today's challenge in the power point above, or come up with your own unique idea. It is worth clicking on each one to see all the details.

The website is having work done on it tomorrow, so it will not be possible to add anything to it. The weekend's title will go up at 4pm today and photos can be sent in until 9am, Monday 13th April, when the new challenge will be set.

Top tip - When taking a photo, make sure there is enough light. Light from a window is a good source of natural light or use a lamp. You can add diffused light by blowing up a white plastic bag and shining a torch through it or reflecting light off a sheet of white paper. You will need an assistant to keep it out of the shot, 

Not surprisingly, this group of photos completely split the vote and today we have two KS1 and four KS2, all of whom are deserved winners. Each one is a unique take on the subject and such a clever idea. Well done to you all. If any of you want to share your ideas or if you did anything special when taking the photo or editing it, email Classtwo@prestonjmi.herts.sch.uk

Audrina said she wanted to take a photograph of the sunlight through the water so lay on the ground and asked her daddy to use the hosepipe above her to capture the perfect picture. Now that is dedication.

8.4.20 "Different"

What a lot of different ways to interpret this title! Perfect! Some superb entries today, with really interesting ideas, clever use of colour and lining up the subject. Some of you have started editing and adding filters, which was very impressive.  

Top tip - Crop your photo to make the main things stand out. Most camera's have a feature to do this.  Get rid of anything you don't need around the outside of the photo.

Some last minute voting made it impossible to split the KS1 winners. Well done Hetty and Audrina. Audrina liked the contrast between the metal and the material. Hetty said "I had lots of different doggies, so mummy & I lined them up together so you could see all of them". Good idea! Congratulations also to Aleshya and mum for really unusual photos. Aleshya learnt how to edit her photos to change the tones then cut them in half, and pasted them together on "Paint". She carefully matching up the branches to make a very successful image. Will's photo with Fran was very clever too.

A special mention for Nina's photo of an empty street, which was very poignant.

7.4.20   "Colour"

What vibrant colours you found. Well done for all the creative arrangements of objects and careful selections of backgrounds. The results are fantastic. Harry said, "I love all the colours of the rainbow. They make me happy"

VOTING - Please choose your favourite photo in each group, (Reception and KS1, KS2 and adult). Just email Classtwo@prestonjmi.herts.sch.uk with photo number and the number of votes. If there are any other family members wanting to join in, either sending a photo or voting, they are very welcome. 

Today's Top Tip: Check your photo is in focus (not blurry). If the thing you were trying to make the centre of the picture is blurry, then the camera had not focussed on it properly. It might have been too close, so try moving back slightly. If the whole picture was blurry, you probably moved the camera just as you touched the screen or button. Easily done. To solve this, stay really still as you take the photo, or rest the camera on a solid surface when taking the shot.

 6.4.20  "Beautiful"   

Wow! They say 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder', and you have found an impressive range of beautiful things. You also sent in some excellent explanations, saying why you found the things beautiful.

Top tip 6.4.20 : Take lots of photos, from different angles, close up and further away. Then look at them and ask yourself which you like best and why? Ask others in your family for their opinion. Some of the best photos are happy accidents. Only being able to send in one makes you think about what makes a good photo. Check out the powerpoint for more "colour" ideas. 

KS1 winner, Emily said, "“When I went outside the flowers and the tree inspired me to take a picture of them because I thought they were pretty.” The shadows make really interesting lines, and the composition was really well balanced, making a beautiful photo.

Beau said, "I decided to put my gems on the window sill in the sunshine, so you could really see their colours and the reflection."

The close up is really well focussed. The reflection of the sky and the bright colours, makes this a beautiful photo.