Thoughts on Themes. Autumn: You could photograph the changes in weather or take falling leaves or the colours of trees. You could take pictures of people inan autumn environment, anything that says autumn. Try to pick a subject that shows the unique side of Autumn, e.g. fruits that are bursting on trees etc. Christmas: Christmas gives many opportunities from street scenes, decorations, Christmas markets, family scenes. Light may be difficult, think of the colour temperature of the light, the limitations and usefulness of flash, direct or bounced. People: Probably the most common topic but also probably the most challenging to get more than a snapshot. You don’t need fancy studios, try bouncing flash or natural light, try bouncing light back into the subject from a white sheet. A golden rule for a portrait is that the nearest eye to the camera must be sharp. Think about the depth of field for F stop you intend to use, portraits that drop off in focus towards the back of the head can be effective. Getting the subject to relax is paramount, especially with chilidren. Snow: If you have a camera that has scene mode there will probably be one for snow or bright beach scenes. This will prevent the cameers from under exposing. If you are taking pictures using manual or other control methods you will need to compensate for the high level of white light and over expose by a couple of stops to get detail into the dark areas. Exposure bracketing is a great technique for this. Macro: The two common problems with macro are focussing and depth of field. Focussing is usually best done manually. Focus the camera and move the body to focus rather then the lens. Depth of field is small at close up distances, Depending on the subject you could use a focus rack or focus bracketing and then blend the images in photoshop. These are just a few thoughts for stimulation on the themes we shall touch on through the year.