For the Feb. 2015 gallery, TDS shooters waved farewell to 9 years of photo assignments. Join them for one last showing: Goodbye.

Photo by Brian Reynolds. Brian writes, "Since October 2007, I've participated in 42 Photo Assignments. This is my 43rd and last Photo Assignment. It shows prints of the previous selected entries along with some of the cameras and equipment used to make them. In the back (propped up by just a few of my camera bags) you can see the Sizzlpix from the "Eyes" assignment. So long, and thanks for all the fish." See all of the great images from this month's assignment by visiting the gallery, Goodbye.

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For the Jan. 2015 Photo Assignment, TDS shooters faced the sun and raised their cameras. See for yourself in our gallery, Backlighting. (Amazing images...)

Photo by Ernesto Pono. See all of the great images from this month's assignment by visiting the gallery, Backlighting.

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For the Dec. 2014 Photo Assignment, TDS shooters pulled on their mittens and ventured out into the cold. See for yourself in our gallery, Frozen. And which one will be the SizzlPix Pick of the Month?

Photo by Lori Rowland. Lori writes, "I had seen frozen bubble images on the Internet and decided to try some of my own. First I had to experiment with bubble recipes. You want a bubble that won't instantly pop. I used my patio table with snow on it as a platform. I moved my table to a location where I liked the background.

I shot this with a Pentax *ist DS, Pentax FA Macro 50mm Lens, ISO 200, ƒ11, 1/250, RAW. I processed with Adobe RAW and cropped it down a bit."

See all of the great images from this month's assignment by visiting the gallery, Frozen.

Note About Metadata

I noticed that Google Gmail was stripping the metadata out of your images when I saved them via right-click. Unfortunately, I didn't discover this until I had assembled the gallery. But I will work around it next time.

Participate in This Month's Assignment

The Feb. 2015 assignment is "Good Bye." (This will be our last photo assignment...) I'll talk about this in Tuesday's podcast. Details for submission can be found on the Member Participation page. Deadline is Feb. 28, 2015. No limit on image size submitted.

Please follow the instructions carefully for labeling the subject line of the email for your submission. It's easy to lose these in the pile of mail if not labeled correctly. For example, the subject line for this month's assignment should be: "Photo Assignment: Feb. 2015." Also, if you can, please don't strip out the metadata. And feel free to add any IPTC data you wish (These fields in particular: Caption, Credit, Copyright, Byline), I use that for the caption info.

Gallery posting is one month behind the deadline. So I'm posting Dec. 2014 gallery at the end of Jan., the Jan. gallery will be posted at the end of Feb., and on and on.

Good luck with your February assignment, and congratulations to all of the fine contributors for December.

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You can share your thoughts at the TDS Facebook page, where I'll post this story for discussion.

For the Nov. 2014 Photo Assignment, TDS shooters worked on many levels. See for yourself in our gallery, Layers. And which one will be the SizzlPix Pick of the Month?

Photo by Victor Hermand. Victor writes, "With this month's assignment, I am happy to celebrate a year of virtual camera club participation. Thank you for all the fun!
Here is the recipe for this month's entry:

• 1 layer of fresh snow
• 1 layer of long exposure
• 1 layer of painting with light
• 1 layer of star trail
• Multiple layers on my back

Participate in This Month's Assignment

The Jan. 2015 assignment is "Backlighting." Details can be found on the Member Participation page. Deadline is Jan. 31, 2015. No limit on image size submitted.

Please follow the instructions carefully for labeling the subject line of the email for your submission. It's easy to lose these in the pile of mail if not labeled correctly. For example, the subject line for this month's assignment should be: "Photo Assignment: Jan. 2015." Also, if you can, please don't strip out the metadata. And feel free to add any IPTC data you wish (These fields in particular: Caption, Credit, Copyright, Byline), I use that for the caption info.

Gallery posting is one month behind the deadline. So I'm posting Nov. 2014 gallery at the end of Dec., the Dec. gallery will be posted at the end of Jan., and on and on.

Good luck with your January assignment, and congratulations to all of the fine contributors for November.

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You can share your thoughts at the TDS Facebook page, where I'll post this story for discussion.

For the Oct. 2014 Photo Assignment, TDS shooters got their feet wet. See for yourself in our gallery, Water. And which one will be the SizzlPix Pick of the Month?

Photo by Glenn Hubbers. Glenn writes, "I took this shot at sunrise after being out for half the night trying my hand at astrophotography. Despite going out to capture star trails, (which was a failure that will need more practice!) I decided to hang out to see the sunrise. After all was said and done, I thought this shot was the best of the trip. I had travelled for the weekend up to Tobermory, Ontario to get away from light pollution. It was a great trip, just me and my camera kit hanging out for the weekend." See all of the great images from this month's assignment by visiting the gallery, Water.

Participate in This Month's Assignment

The Dec. 2014 assignment is "Frozen." Details can be found on the Member Participation page. Deadline is Dec. 31, 2014. No limit on image size submitted.

Please follow the instructions carefully for labeling the subject line of the email for your submission. It's easy to lose these in the pile of mail if not labeled correctly. For example, the subject line for this month's assignment should be: "Photo Assignment: Dec. 2014." Also, if you can, please don't strip out the metadata. And feel free to add any IPTC data you wish (These fields in particular: Caption, Credit, Copyright, Byline), I use that for the caption info.

Gallery posting is one month behind the deadline. So I'm posting Oct. 2014 gallery at the end of Nov., the Nov. gallery will be posted at the end of Dec., and on and on.

Good luck with your December assignment, and congratulations to all of the fine contributors for October.

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You can share your thoughts at the TDS Facebook page, where I'll post this story for discussion.

For the September 2014 Photo Assignment, TDS shooters opened a rear window to the world. See for yourself in our gallery, Shot from Behind. And which one will be the SizzlPix Pick of the Month?

Photo by Ramin Hamedani. Ramin writes, "On a nice summer day, I decided to sit by the lake on a dock. Using my iPhone, I took this image of myself staring into the peaceful surroundings. It was quiet except with the sound of water gently hitting the rocks beneath me. I did have my DSLR as well, but the wide angle of view on iPhone was tempting, and I did not want to change the lens on the DSLR anyway." See all of the great images from this month's assignment by visiting the Shot from Behind.

Participate in This Month's Assignment

The November 2014 assignment is "Layers." Details can be found on the Member Participation page. Deadline is November 30, 2014. No limit on image size submitted.

Please follow the instructions carefully for labeling the subject line of the email for your submission. It's easy to lose these in the pile of mail if not labeled correctly. For example, the subject line for this month's assignment should be: "Photo Assignment: Nov. 2014." Also, if you can, please don't strip out the metadata. And feel free to add any IPTC data you wish (These fields in particular: Caption, Credit, Copyright, Byline), I use that for the caption info.

Gallery posting is one month behind the deadline. So I'm posting September 2014 gallery at the end of October, the October gallery will be posted at the end of November, and on and on.

Good luck with your November assignment, and congratulations to all of the fine contributors for September.

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You can share your thoughts at the TDS Facebook page, where I'll post this story for discussion.

For the August 2014 Photo Assignment, TDS shooters got up close and personal with their subjects. See for yourself in our gallery, My Favorite Close Up. And which one will be the SizzlPix Pick of the Month?

Photo by Gerry Legere. Gerry writes, "This is a ship anchor chain closeup." See all of the great images from this month's assignment by visiting the My Favorite Close Up.

Participate in This Month's Assignment

The October 2014 assignment is "Water." Details can be found on the Member Participation page. Deadline is October 31, 2014. No limit on image size submitted.

Please follow the instructions carefully for labeling the subject line of the email for your submission. It's easy to lose these in the pile of mail if not labeled correctly. For example, the subject line for this month's assignment should be: "Photo Assignment: Oct. 2014." Also, if you can, please don't strip out the metadata. And feel free to add any IPTC data you wish (These fields in particular: Caption, Credit, Copyright, Byline), I use that for the caption info.

Gallery posting is one month behind the deadline. So I'm posting August 2014 gallery at the end of September, the September gallery will be posted at the end of October, and on and on.

Good luck with your October assignment, and congratulations to all of the fine contributors for August.

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You can share your thoughts at the TDS Facebook page, where I'll post this story for discussion.

For the July 2014 Photo Assignment, (Our 100th!!!) TDS shooters turned up the heat to produce these smoldering shots. See for yourself in our gallery, Smokin' Hot. And which one will be the SizzlPix Pick of the Month?

Photo by Rodney Campbell. Rodney writes, "This final image is actually a composite of two (along with near zero photoshopping skill). One 394-second long exposure shot at f/7.1 and ISO 100 - a little lighting of the dunes with low sculpted light from the far sides (most on the right and a touch of fill from the left), and a touch of white light on the tree, some red light torch shining up into the tree from below along with a burning steel wool spin behind. Combined with a 31 second shot wide open at f/4 and ISO 6400 to capture the stars in an almost clear sky (just a few whisps of clouds left)."

"Each of the two individual shots actually look pretty good - however even the 394-second (over six minutes) long exposure shot had essentially a black sky with a few trailing stars - but together they just give you more of everything good." See all of the great images from this month's assignment by visiting the Smokin' Hot.

Participate in This Month's Assignment

The September 2014 assignment is "Shot from Behind." Details can be found on the Member Participation page. Deadline is Sept. 30, 2014. No limit on image size submitted.

Please follow the instructions carefully for labeling the subject line of the email for your submission. It's easy to lose these in the pile of mail if not labeled correctly. For example, the subject line for this month's assignment should be: "Photo Assignment: Sept. 2014." Also, if you can, please don't strip out the metadata. And feel free to add any IPTC data you wish (These fields in particular: Caption, Credit, Copyright, Byline), I use that for the caption info.

Gallery posting is one month behind the deadline. So I'm posting July 2014 gallery at the end of August, the August gallery will be posted at the end of September, and on and on.

Good luck with your September assignment, and congratulations to all of the fine contributors for July.

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You can share your thoughts at the TDS Facebook page, where I'll post this story for discussion.

For the June 2014 Photo Assignment, TDS shooters turned their back on the sun and looked for alternative light sources. See for yourself in our gallery, Any Kind of Light but Natural. And which one will be the SizzlPix Pick of the Month?

Photo by Ashwin Chathuruthy. See all of the great images from this month's assignment by visiting the Any Kind of Light but Natural gallery page.

Participate in This Month's Assignment

The August 2014 assignment is "My Favorite Close-up." Details can be found on the Member Participation page. Deadline is August 30, 2014. No limit on image size submitted.

Please follow the instructions carefully for labeling the subject line of the email for your submission. It's easy to lose these in the pile of mail if not labeled correctly. For example, the subject line for this month's assignment should be: "Photo Assignment: August 2014." Also, if you can, please don't strip out the metadata. And feel free to add any IPTC data you wish (These fields in particular: Caption, Credit, Copyright, Byline), I use that for the caption info.

Gallery posting is one month behind the deadline. So I'm posting June 2014 gallery at the end of July, the July gallery will be posted at the end of August, and on and on.

Good luck with your August assignment, and congratulations to all of the fine contributors for June.

Want to Comment on this Post?

You can share your thoughts at the TDS Facebook page, where I'll post this story for discussion.

iPad for Digital Photographers

If you love mobile photography like I do, then you'll enjoy iPad for Digital Photographers-- now available in print, Kindle, and iBooks versions.

For the May 2014 Photo Assignment, TDS shooters explored new territory around their homes (with camera in hand). See for yourself in our gallery, Around the House. And which one will be the SizzlPix Pick of the Month?

Dominick Chiuchiolo writes, "Here is a shot from around the corner of my house. I love this horse farm. I shot this just as it started to rain and the horses were having a little 'horse play.' It's definitely around their house." See all of the great images from this month's assignment by visiting the Around the House gallery page. Photo by Dominick Chiuchiolo.

Participate in This Month's Assignment

The July 2014 assignment is "Smokin' Hot." Details can be found on the Member Participation page. Deadline is July 31, 2014. No limit on image size submitted.

Please follow the instructions carefully for labeling the subject line of the email for your submission. It's easy to lose these in the pile of mail if not labeled correctly. For example, the subject line for this month's assignment should be: "Photo Assignment: July 2014." Also, if you can, please don't strip out the metadata. And feel free to add any IPTC data you wish (These fields in particular: Caption, Credit, Copyright, Byline), I use that for the caption info.

Gallery posting is one month behind the deadline. So I'm posting May 2014 gallery at the end of June, the June gallery will be posted at the end of July, and on and on.

Good luck with your July assignment, and congratulations to all of the fine contributors for May.

Want to Comment on this Post?

You can share your thoughts at the TDS Facebook page, where I'll post this story for discussion.

iPad for Digital Photographers

If you love mobile photography like I do, then you'll enjoy iPad for Digital Photographers-- now available in print, Kindle, and iBooks versions.