Bloggers Community Photo Challenge

Community Photo Challenge- Festivities

2011-12-11T15:47:00.003-05:00

December's challenge is to photograph a festive scene. Here is a link on Christmas Light Photography Tips . The Challenge starts today and ends Dec. 31st.
Have fun, and....
PLEASE READ:
No rules, just a few guidelines...

1. The photo must be your image.
2. You may enter more than one photo on your blog in the same post, but only add one ENTRY to our Challenge blog.
3. Make sure your link is to your post, not to your entire blog. This way we know which images you're entering.
4. Images must be posted as a new post.
5.Please mention our challenge & include our challenge blog link to our challenge, on your entry, in case others want to join in.

Community Photo Challenge- People in Landscapes

2011-11-01T14:04:00.002-04:00

This month's challenge is "People in Landscapes. You have to the end of November to post on your blog and come back here and leave your link on the bottom, by clicking on the blue button.

PLEASE READ:
No rules, just a few guidelines...

1. The photo must be your image.
2. You may enter more than one photo on your blog in the same post, but only add one ENTRY to our Challenge blog.
3. Make sure your link is to your post, not to your entire blog. This way we know which images you're entering.
4. Images must be posted as a new post.
5.Please mention our challenge & include our challenge blog link to our challenge, on your entry, in case others want to join in.

Community Photo Challenge- LANDSCAPES

2011-10-04T20:02:00.005-04:00

"Landscapes" is this month's challenge. No rules, just a few guidelines...

1. The photo must be your image.
2. You may enter more than one photo on your blog in the same post, but only add one ENTRY to our Challenge blog.
3. Make sure your link is to your post, not to your entire blog. This way we know which images you're entering.
4. Images must be posted as a new post.
5.Please mention our challenge & include our challenge blog link to our challenge, on your entry, in case others want to join in.

The Challenge starts today and ends October 31th, to enter click on blue button at bottom/left side of this post.
UPDATE: Please check your links to make sure they are working. ;)
Correction- Oct. 31

Community Photo Challenge- Reflections

2011-09-03T09:26:00.003-04:00

" The real journey of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes."
~Marcel Proust

So with this in mind, I hope some photographers will think outside the box and try something different.

There are simple guidelines that I hope you all will follow:

1. The photo must be your image.
2. You may enter more than one photo on your blog in the same post, but only add one ENTRY to our Challenge blog.
3. Make sure your link is to your post, not to your entire blog. This way we know which images you're entering.
4. Images must be posted as a new post.
5.Please mention our challenge & include our challenge blog link to our challenge, on your entry, in case others want to join in.

The Challenge starts today and ends September 30th. To enter click on blue button at bottom/left side of this post.

Community Photo Challenge-VANISHING POINT

2011-08-07T11:07:00.002-04:00

The Challenge for this post is Vanishing Point, so feel free to post ANYTHING as long as it fits the challenge, Vanishing Point. Google Vanishing Point in photography and you will get some great examples.

This month there will be 2 challenges, WATER and VANISHING POINT. You may do one or both. Challenges will end August 31. Post your images and come back to the challenge post and add your link to the blue button on the bottom of each post for that challenge.

Remember to include the link to THIS challenge on your blog post.

Cummunity Photo Challenge-WATER

2011-08-07T10:57:00.003-04:00

The Challenge for this post is WATER, so feel free to post ANYTHING relating to water.

This month there will be 2 challenges, WATER and VANISHING POINT. You may do one or both. Challenges will end August 31. Post your images and come back to the challenge post and add your link to the blue button on the bottom of the post for that challenge.

Remember to include the link to THIS challenge on your blog post.

UPDATE!! FIREWORKS CHALLENGE

2011-07-08T09:56:00.002-04:00

There will be an extension on the FIREWORKS challenge. You will have till the end of the month to post your images.

Community Photo Challenge-FIREWORKS!

2011-06-24T22:49:00.004-04:00

This is a great time to have a FIREWORKS Challenge!! This challenge will last for 2 weeks, starting today and ending July 9th.
If you never shot fireworks, you will need a tripod, camera with a shutter release or remote. Set your camera to manual mode, your aperture to f8 and snap shutter at the start of the explosion , hold the shutter down as it burst, then release. I use ISO 100 (but you can use 200)
Remember to post the images on your blog, come back here and leave your link by clicking on the blue Inlinkz button at the bottom of this post.

Community Photo Challenge-MACRO

2011-04-30T14:11:00.003-04:00

Starting today our new challenge is MACRO.
You will have 2 weeks to post a close up of anything, a MACRO shot, on your blog. Then comeback here and leave your link. This challenge ends on May 15th.
Image must be taken by you. And we ask you leave a link to our challenge on your post. ANYONE can join in!
To enter, click on blue link on bottom of this post.

Community Photo Challenge - Spring

2011-03-31T00:00:00.004-04:00

Community Photo Challenge - Spring

Upcoming Challenges...and my activity update...

2011-03-22T11:33:00.002-04:00

Hi, all. I know I've been bad about posting and keeping up with things in our challenges and Blogger community in general so Marie thought it would be a good idea to update everyone on my personal 'challenges'. Nothing bad...it's all good, actually. Just time consuming.

Last year, I was elected President of my camera club (Monmouth Camera Club) in New Jersey. Since then, I've been working hard to make the club an exciting experience for every member...and it must be working because we're getting new members at every meeting! One thing I do is work with our events chairman to set up some great trips (Longwood Gardens, Eastern State Penitentiary, DUMBO to name a few) every month. Our February trip was something special--a photo safari to Grand Central Terminal in NYC. This trip included a list of topics for a photo contest that we ran. The photos are posted in a Facebook album and Marie agreed to judge them (THANK YOU Marie!). Well, it was a huge success, we had some very happy members, and now folks are asking for more.

The reason for all this information is that the topics we used are going to be upcoming challenges here on this blog. We're going to have challenges for:

--Motion

--Vanishing Point

--Reflections

Check out the album of images from our club to get an idea of how the members responded to these topics:

Monmouth Camera Club Grand Central Photo Safari Contest

And...be prepared for the next few challenges!

Post by Vicki :)

Community Photo Challenge-RED

2011-03-13T10:59:00.003-04:00

Community Photo Challenge-RED

This challenge is RED, could be an image more than 95% red or something that is RED as the main subject. Could be a B&W with selective color-Red....These are all suggestions.
Lets see what you come up with and come back here, leave your blog link, by clicking on the blue link at the bottom of this post.
Starts today and ends March 27.

Reminder

2011-03-05T11:40:00.003-05:00

This is only a reminder about our double challenge. If you were planning on participating you only have less than 2 days to join in. All are welcome!

Community Photo Challenge- Still Life

2011-02-21T08:33:00.003-05:00

This Challenge is a Still Life. Definition of a Still Life can be Googled or click here.
Some beautiful examples can be found on RedBubble.

We will have 2 different Challenges this month. You may join in on both or select one. Because it's a double challenge, we will have two weeks to post.
They will both start today and on March 7th. Please include this challenge link in your post. Thanks~

Each Challenge will have it's own post, so make sure you enter the image that belongs to the challenge. Post you image on your Blog, come back here and click on the blue button on the bottom of this post to enter your image.

Community Photo Challenge-STORMS

2011-02-21T08:25:00.003-05:00

We are looking for Storms which includes stormy skies, snow storms, ice storms, lightening storms....also, the after effects of a storm.

We will have 2 different Challenges this month. You may join in on both or select one. Because it's a double challenge, we will have two weeks to post.
They will both start today and on March 7th.

Each Challenge will have it's own post, so make sure you enter the image that belongs to the challenge. Post you image on your Blog, come back here and click on the blue button on the bottom of this post to enter your image.

Community Photo Challenge-WHITE

2010-12-30T18:00:00.004-05:00

This challenge is "White on White" or simply...WHITE. Try to post something 95% white.
You will find samples of what I am looking for here.
http://www.redbubble.com/groups/white-art-photography-writing/art?page=1

Starts today and ends January 7th. You will have 1 week to post on your blog, come back here and add your link by clicking on the blue button below.

Voting was disabled on my account, w/inlinkz, so there will be no voting on this challenge.

You will notice another change, how we link our entry to this blog. As I understand it there will no longer be a thumbnail image of our entries. So enter your post by clicking on the blue button. I think there will only be a link to our blog. This is new to me too. ;)

ALSO....try to link this challenge on your entry..;))

Reminder: TIME TO VOTE

2010-12-23T19:58:00.001-05:00

Reminder: TIME TO VOTE

Community Photo Challenge-Lights!

2010-12-09T18:42:00.002-05:00

This month's photo challenge is LIGHTS! We have beautiful holiday lights all around us. You can venture out and capture city lights or even towns lit up at night. You can use anything, it's not just holiday lights.
The Challenge starts today, and ends on Dec. 23, 2010. You have 2 weeks to post.
Remember you have to post your image on your blog, come back here and click on blue button on the bottom of this post. SELECT your image, NOT your profile image, the image you are submitting for the challenge. Follow the EASY directions.
Voting will start on Dec. 23th(only one week to vote)

Try to link to this challenge on your blog post.
Have fun!

TIME TO VOTE

2010-11-11T17:51:00.002-05:00

As a reminder, please vote for your favorite autumn photo.
To vote for an image, just click on "vote" under the image you like best.
Click HERE to bring you to the original post and vote.

Community Photo Challenge-Autumn

2010-10-30T12:04:00.001-04:00

FIND AUTUMN COLOR IN YOUR HOMETOWN OR STATE. POST YOUR IMAGE ON YOUR BLOG, THEN ADD YOUR IMAGE HERE, BY CLICKING ON THE BLUE BUTTON ON THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST. FOLLOW THE EASY INSTRUCTIONS

ALL IMAGES MUST BE TAKEN BY YOU. PLEASE GIVE US INFORMATION ON WHERE YOUR IMAGE WAS TAKEN.

CHALLENGE STARTS TODAY, BUT YOU ONLY HAVE ONE WEEK TO POST YOUR IMAGES. VOTING STARTS ON NOV. 9TH & ENDS ON THE 15TH

For Photographers looking for their own Gallery

2010-07-08T08:43:00.002-04:00

Hi Everyone,

As you may already know, I have been using Zenfolio hosting service for organizing and presenting my photos online. You can view my home page at http://barcia.zenfolio.com/

I think Zenfolio is a great service, and I recommend you open an account as well.

Some of the features Zenfolio offers are:
- Unlimited storage
- Elegant pages with a choice of layouts and theme designs
- Highest quality presentation of photos online
- Easy to use intuitive interface
- Full screen Slideshow
- Links from auctions, blogs, and forums to seven different image sizes

You can use my referral code DGV-WDR-WNC during sign up to save $5.00 off your own subscription. Once subscribed, you'll get your own code, and if you get enough referrals, you may never need to pay for the service again.

Zenfolio offers a Free Trial account for two weeks so you can see if you like it.

http://www.zenfolio.com

Regards,

- Marie
http://barcia.zenfolio.com/

TIME TO VOTE

2010-06-21T19:47:00.000-04:00

Reminder, VOTING TIME for our FLOWER challenge, Click here for the challenge.

Community Photo Challenge-Our Personal Challenge

2010-06-14T19:51:00.004-04:00

Our Personal Challenge

Michael Staley said it perfectly....."There is no challenge more challenging than the challenge to improve yourself"

This next challenge will be ANYTHING that you want it to be, but it must be something new to you. I have decided to work on a few different types of photography this summer. I am concentrating on HDR & digital Infrared photography. HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. You use bracketing on your camera & Photomatix to transform your images into HDR. Visit Trey Ratcliff @ Stuck In Customs & scroll down to his video at Google.

Infrared Photography has always been an interest for me since the late 1970s, but now with digital, it is done a lot differently...
These are my personal challenges.... What are yours??

With the summer approaching & a low participation anticipated.....we will make this a 2 1/2 month challenge. You have 2 1/2 months to challenge yourself.....& post here. On your blog, post as many images as you want with an explanation of your goal, & what you've accomplished. You can go into detail, if you want. When you post here, it can only be of one image.

Your challenge could be very simple, does not have to be difficult. If your new to photography you can concentrate on "composition", or "Black & White Photography" OR even RAW images
The idea it to select something that you will learn from. Youtube.com has many tutorials. Google anything that you might want to improve on & see what comes up.

Here are some suggestions.....Macro, Bokeh, Color, Black & White, Infrared, HDR, Composition, Textures, Portraits, Still Lifes, Nature, Underwater photography, Night photography, RAW images.....the list is endless. Just select something that is new to you.
Have fun!!! Ü

This link may give you some ideas
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/types-of-photography.html

This challenge starts on Wednesday, June 15 & ends August 30th.

If you have any questions, email me. Enjoy this challenge!

To enter, click on Blue Button below, which will appear when the challenge starts.

Community Photo Challenge-Flowers

2010-06-14T19:42:00.002-04:00

There will be two challenges this week that will be posted....THIS one will only last a week & the following week you will have the opportunity to vote on your favorite image. This week's, challenge is "Flowers". You can do a flower garden, a macro, landscape image with flowers. It can be any kind of photo as long as it has a flower in it.
Post your images on your Blog. Come back here & click on the blue button below & follow the easy instructions. This challenge starts today & ends on Monday, June 21, the voting starts on the 21st, ends on the Monday the 28th.

Community Photo Challenge-COLOR

2010-05-19T11:19:00.007-04:00

This month's subject is color...but NOT just color. We want to see you create something special color-wise. Something your camera did not see. Something you saw in the photo and created in post processing.

There are a lot of ways color can be used:

1. Selective color...create a black and white or other monochrome photo with just a touch of color...blue eyes, a child's red jacket, whatever you choose, but make most of the image monochrome.

2. Play with the different color modes in your photo editing software. Create a duotone, or make a monochrome using something other than black & white or sepia.

You can post a colorful image... Can be of one color, 2 colors or MANY colors. You do not need any photo editing programs to join in.

This challenge is limited only by your imagination so get out there and IMAGINE COLOR!

So come & join in the challenge, if you haven't joined in yet, this is a great challenge to start!!

Remember to post your images on your blog, come back here & click on the blue button on the bottom, left side of this post. Follow the easy directions. You can only post one image here, but as many as you want on your blog.

Sorry it started late, I was sick the past week. This challenge usually starts on the 15th of every month, It begins today & ends on June 15th.

Here are a few links on color that I found.
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/colour_theory.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_color
http://www.selectivecolors.com/
http://www.pxleyes.com/blog/2010/03/50-outstanding-examples-of-selective-color-photography/

Community Photo Challenge-Gardens

2010-04-14T19:36:00.003-04:00

Our new photo challenge is "GARDENS". You can photograph your own garden, or a local garden. It can be a detailed shot or a wide angle view. My image for the banner above was taken at Old Westbury Gardens in Old Westbury NY. If you choose to photograph a public garden, PLEASE include the name & location of the garden. (Optional-a small paragraph of info on the history of your garden or link to info)
What I am looking for is a display of beautiful gardens through out the world. So where ever you may live, find some beautiful gardens(private or open to the public) & show off your photography. Only one can be posted on our challenge blog, but you can add as many as you would like to your blog entry.
Follow the easy instructions by clicking on the blue button at the bottom of this entry. Select the image you would like to display on here. The Challenge starts on Thursday April 15th & ends on Saturday May 15th. The inlinkz button will appear when the challenge starts.

Community Photo Challenge-WINDOWS

2010-03-15T17:28:00.004-04:00

This month's photo challenge is "WINDOWS"....or "Window". The main focus is "window". You can use your imagination & be creative. You can use the window as a framing tool, but it must have a window in it. You can have one window, or many windows, but remember the focus is on windows.
Starts today & ends April 15th.
Post your windows on your blog, come back here, click the blue button, follow easy directions, post your image on here.

At the bottom of the post you will see "ADD YOUR LINK" CLICK on that button....Fill in & lets see everyone's images on this blog.

When you click on ADD YOUR LINK you will enter the URL of your post, your name and your email. After that you will click "next" which will show images available on your post. Just select the image & your done!

Blogger's Community Photo Challenge-TREE

2010-02-14T23:43:00.006-05:00

This month's challenge is TREE or TREES, whether it is one unique tree or a small grouping, find an image that includes trees. The tree or trees should be the main subject. You can post more than one photo on your blog, but when you come back to this blog select your favorite to post on our new system.

The Challenge starts Feb.15th & ends on March 15th. Post your image on your blog & come back here & try out new system. Click on the blue button, at the bottom of the post & follow the simple directions.

At the bottom of the post you will see "ADD YOUR LINK" CLICK on that button....Fill in & lets see everyone's images on this blog.

When you click on ADD YOUR LINK you will enter the URL of your post, your name and your email. After that you will click "next" which will show images available on your post. Just select the image & your done!

Update: With this new system, it does not send us alerts when people leave their link. So I recommend you check this Challenge blog, occasionally, to see if there are any additions. Try to visit all blogs, you may find some extra photos on each post...;)

Transportation Challenge

2010-01-24T19:25:00.007-05:00

Martha from Color Carnival & Menagerie is using a new system for posting your links to our blogs, I think it's a great way to get everyones links & images on the challenge blog. This system does all the work.
Thank you Martha!
I am copying & pasting Martha's simple directions here.

When you click to play you will enter the URL of your post, your name and your email. After that you will click "next" which will show images available on your post. It's ok if you prefer to use your profile photo/avatar, but it would make a beautiful display if you click the image that you are using for your challenge photo. So far I love the new Inlinkz!

Now all I ask is that if you already added your link to the comment section we will need you to add it again, but click on the blue link. Go to Transportation post below this entry.
At the bottom of the post you will see "ADD YOUR LINK" CLICK on that button....Fill in & lets see everyone's images on this blog.

UPDATE!!!!
IT WORKS! So try it out. Remember, this is the first time we are trying this. Hopefully we will use this for now on. THANK YOU MARTHA!

Community Photo Challenge-TRANSPORTATION!

2010-01-15T18:26:00.008-05:00

Our photo challenge this month is TRANSPORTATION. You can use cars, trucks, trains, planes, even motorcycles! Some kind of transportation with or without people. You can be creative, you can use Photoshop or a paint programs. It starts today & ends Feb. 15. Post it on your blog, come back here I leave your link. Remember to visit everyone's entry to see what they contributed.

To ADD your link,
Go to blue button"Add Your Link" on lower left side of this post.
When you click on button, you will enter the URL of your post, your name and your email. After that, you will click "next" which will show images available on your post. It's ok if you prefer to use your profile photo/avatar, but it would make a beautiful display if you click the image that you are using for your challenge photo.

Community Photo Challenge-GREETING CARD!

2009-12-17T21:04:00.003-05:00

With the Holidays approaching I thought it would be fun to create our own greeting cards.
It could be Christmas theme, Festival of Lights or any religion holiday you celebrate, or.....New Years, birthdays, anniversaries.........Landscapes, Still lifes, portraits....any type image can be used. You can do more than one.
This should be a good challenge for everyone. So please find the time to join in, I know that will be hard this time of the year.
You can add text to it. If you don't have any software to edit it, you can add your text in the post.
ANYTHING goes on this one. Be creative & have fun!

Post it on your blog, come back here & leave your link in the comment area. I posted late, but it should have started on the 15th & will end on the 15 of January.

Community Photo Challenge-Leading Lines!

2009-11-16T11:16:00.003-05:00

example;

Marie 2009

Our new challenge, LEADING LINES, starts today & ends on Dec. 15th . There are many lines to look for when shooting your images....Vertical, horizontal, diagonal, curves & "S" curve....even converging lines.
Some examples can be found here;
http://www.brighthub.com/multimedia/photography/articles/959.aspx

example;

Marie 2006

The use of Leading Lines in your photographs can have a very powerful effect.
• They can create depth and perspective to an image.
• They can convey distance and provide a relationship between the foreground and background of the image.
• They draw the eyes into a picture, leading them through a scene or directing them to an area in the image that the viewer would otherwise not have noticed.
[above taken from http://blog.fotonomy.com/tips/creative-composition-leading-lines/]

example;

Marie 2007

You have a month to post your image on your blog, come back to this entry & leave your link/URL in the comment section. Remember to mention the challenge in your blog, makes it easy for others to find your image. Try to leave a direct link to the post.

Make sure you visit all the entries in the last challenge. We really had some beautiful autumn color this year & everyone had success in showing off their autumn!

DSLR Tips & Picks

2009-11-03T09:29:00.004-05:00

DSLR Tips: Using polarizing filters

I wanted to share a few websites and books with you.
I think video tutorials really help me to understand photography.
Whether I am looking for a tutorial on Photoshop or understanding studio lighting, I usually check out Youtube.com & do a search.

I found using a polarizing filter really intensifies my landscape photography. If you haven't purchased one yet, here is a video you should watch, using polarizing filters.
Also check out dslrtips.com for more interesting tips.
Gordon Laing, Editor of http://www.dslrtips.com
& cameralab.com makes it easy to understand anything in photography.

Here's the "simple to understand" video on polarizing filters.
Click here for VIDEO or copy & paste
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Vvz_d6APXk

I also want to suggest few books that I have read. These make great holiday gifts for any photographer. I am presently reading Matthew Bamberg's "Quick and Easy Secrets for Using Your DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHS" I find this to be one of the most helpful books I ever got. It shares websites for photo storage, portfolio sites, family tree sites.....to start..Ü
I am still reading this one, but will do a review once I finish it.

I also have Matthew's "101 Quick and Easy Secrets to Create Winning Photographs"
This new book is for anyone that wants to improve their images.
MY REVIEW

I read Volumes 1 and 2(2 out of 3) "The Digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby.
Amazon is selling a boxed set. You need to read the first one, before you purchase the second. He is a clever business man, but he is annoying..;)
He now offers the set of 3 for a reasonable price, just in time for Christmas!

OK, thats about it for now. If you haven't posted your Autumn photo yet, you still have time before we start the next challenge. Remember all challenges are announced on the 15th of each month. So you still have time to post some autumn color.

Welcome Back!

2009-10-15T19:44:00.003-04:00

Welcome back, Photo Challengers!!!

We hope you're all well-rested and ready for another great year of shooting. Once again, we're going to make some changes in how we manage things here in the Challenge. Here's the scoop:

--Challenges will be posted once a month (on the 15th)
--Shoot for the challenge, post your photo(s) on your blog and link to the challenge entry via comments on our blog
--Others will use the links you post to view and comment on your photos
--There will not be a vote--we're all in this for the fun and for having an 'assignment' to shoot for AND to share our visions
--The next challenge will then be posted (again, on the 15th)

In addition to challenges, we will post some photography tips a couple of times a month. If you have any suggestions or requests, drop a line to Marie or Vicki and we'll try to include your ideas into our lessons and tips.

As you can see, our first challenge has been posted. Remember...fall colors don't ALWAYS mean oranges, reds and yellows...what does fall color look like in your area?

The Colors Of Autumn

2009-10-15T17:31:00.005-04:00

Our challenge this month is "The Colors of Autumn"
Be creative if you do not have the typical autumn that New Yorkers have. We will be giving you a FULL month to find some AUTUMN images. Have fun. Post your photos on your blog, come back here & leave your link.

The Challenge starts today & ends on Nov. 15th. The each challenge will be posted on the 15th of every month.

We will be posting some changes in the challenge. So watch for the post. BUT for now, lets get out & find some beautiful scenes.

Rule Of Thirds-Winner

2009-06-14T21:27:00.007-04:00

Vicki 's Secret Garden is our winner. Non of the team members were involved with this contest. That is why I had everyone send me their images & votes. Thank you all who participated & voted!
We will still post helpful photography tips, so you may still get alerts from the challenge blog.

Check out our future topics on the sidebar.

Enjoy your summer & take plenty of pics.

Congratulations Vicki!

Here is a helpful link on Composition.
http://www.johnharveyphoto.com/LearnComposition/

RULE Of THIRDS -VOTE!

2009-06-12T19:26:00.007-04:00

This contest is The Rule Of Thirds. Above is an example of a photo applying The Rule of Thirds. Below are the images that we are voting on. Remember to not only keep in mind the challenge theme, but also the quality, composition & impact.
E-mail your vote to me @ Mariebm56@aol.com from now to Sunday June 14, 9PM EST
In the subject of the e-mail type- VOTE
in the email type-the number of the image.
Example:
Subject-VOTE
In e-mail-#5 (just an example, there is no #5)

RULE Of THIRDS Challenge -REMINDER

2009-06-10T14:06:00.002-04:00

Just a reminder, today & tomorrow starts the "Rule Of Thirds" challenge.
Go to the original POST & read requirements before sending your image.
Thanks~

Future Challenges

2009-06-07T19:47:00.002-04:00

These will be future subjects, so keep these in mind for the next few months. May was our last month of challenges. June, July & August we will take a break. I want to use this time to get out & shoot. I am not sure where I will be this summer & what access I will have to the internet, but in September we will resume challenges.
Here are our lists of future challenges.

Night Photography
Motion
water
Leading Lines
Texture
Framing
Colors
Windows
Golden or Magic Hour
Transportation-Cars,trucks, trains..planes,
Trees
Plain & Simple
Empty chairs

If you never did "night photography"....or do not know what the "rule of thirds" is, this is a great way to learn. Google the subject or search on Youtube.com for info on whatever you want to know.

Alphabet Challenge is still open & will remain open till the end of the November.
So if you have not done your name or want to try the whole Alphabet, you have about 6 months to find your letters. The entry is on the side of our Challenge blog, just scroll down, click on the image & add your link to the comment when you are completed.

Summer Photo Contest

2009-06-05T11:27:00.003-04:00

The subject can be of anything, but you must follow the "Rule of Thirds" You should know what this is. Google it, if you don't.

There are a few added guidelines.

1. All images will be a certain size 72 DPI 4X6(432 pixels X 288 Pixels)Try to get as close as you can, no larger.

2. No watermarks, signatures or copyrights symbols on photos.

3. To submit,you must send a copy of your image to me @ Mariebm56@aol.com & I will add all photos to a post. Please label the subject area - Challenge Contest. Days to submit photos JUNE 10 & 11th only. We should have the voting on the 13 & 14th.

4. Our team members/judges will decide which best follow the challenge & also include good photographic qualities.(sharpness, contrast, color or B&W)
Once our team makes the final selection, we will leave it up to our community to vote on the winner.

After the contest, anyone who would like a critique on their image, let us know, Rob has volunteered to help anyone who is interested. It will be a private email sent to you.

FLOWERS Challenge

2009-06-05T10:50:00.002-04:00

We had a nice selection of flowers for this challenge. To visit all those who submitted flowers, please go to the original post for links to their blog.
Thanks to everyone who participated!

Community Photo Challenge- FLOWERS!

2009-05-28T16:43:00.002-04:00

Flowers is the last challenge. We will resume in September. So go find some flowers....or anything to do with flowers for the challenge. Post anytime from now till Thursday, June 4th 9PM EST.
Remember to follow the Guidelines.

Community Photo Challenge-Our Photo Stories!

2009-05-25T16:43:00.002-04:00

I hope everyone got to visit all our photographers' blogs to view their Photo Stories. If not, here are the links to all our Photo Stories.
GINA, CONNIE, VICKI, MARIA, JEANNETTE, rROSE, DONNA, NANCY, MARTHA, KAT, MARIE & CAPTNANCY

HOPE YOU HAD A WONDERFUL HOLIDAY WEEKEND~
Marie

Community Photo Challenge-A Photo Story

2009-05-14T11:59:00.003-04:00

Our Photo Story Challenge starts today & ends on Thursday May, 21st. You have a week to post on your blog a 3-5 image Photo Story. Come back here & add your link in the comment section of this post.. Please follow Guidelines.
The post below shows an example & 2 links to show more samples of a Photo Story.

If you do not have a photo software editing program & cannot display them on one document, you can post them all in one entry. They can be anywhere from 3 to 5 images for your Photo Story.
Add some information &/or location of your photo story.

Community Photo Challenge-A Photo Story INTRO

2009-05-09T12:38:00.004-04:00

We will be doing Photo Story Challenge next. It is a small group of 3-5 images that either tell a story or relate to each other.
Examples-
1. A newborn baby, a shot of him or her arriving home, a few close ups like baby booties..bottles...
2. Vacation trip- could be any shots that relate to each other.
3. Wedding-bride & groom, closeup of flowers with rings, a church/alter shot

Here is an example of one.

We posted early so you can see more examples. CLICK HERE
Photographs & Memories and here, Gina's Space.

This was taken last year on my visit to the Cameo Factory in Italy.

If you do not have a photo software editing program & cannot display them on one document, you can post them all in one post. They can be anywhere from 3 images to 5 for your Photo Story. This will take time so I am posting this early so you can work on it.

To enter your Photo Story you will have to wait till Thursday to post. As usual, you will have a week to post. I plan on posting another entry for this challenge. So PLEASE wait till Thursday to post.

Community Photo Challenge- Tranquility

2009-05-07T20:47:00.003-04:00

Even though we did not have many images for this challenge, we did have some beautiful images. I want to thank everyone who contributed to our challenge & even those who visited our blogs & left comments. They ARE appreciated!

As a reminder, we only have 2 more challenges left till the summer break. So if your thinking of joining in, do it within this month. We will resume in September.
If you missed our entry "Changes in the Winds" click & read it.

I will be explaining the next challenge this weekend. I will also show some samples.
So watch out for it.

Finding Something New....

2009-05-06T16:36:00.008-04:00

Someone mentioned to me that they were going to Buffalo, then heading to Niagara Falls to take photos, but said it was hard to get a shot that no one else has done.

This is what I do...Ü

Let say we are going for waterfalls...

I would get as many shots as I can even if they were very common shots
I walk around & try different positions & angles.
Try wide angle & closeups
The time of day is also a major factor. So consider early morning,or evening shots.
Night shots with interesting lighting(Niagara Falls)
Adding something in the foreground like ...people, bridges, grass or rocks. Try EVERYTHING!

Here are some examples of a small local waterfall found on walking trails near the Bronx River Parkway, in Scarsdale NY.

This one is my favorite. I used the texture & pattern in the rock in the foreground to pull your eye inward towards the waterfall.

On The "Technical" Side...

2009-05-02T06:57:00.003-04:00

I attended about a half a dozen classroom sessions at the Foto Festival. There were so many choices, but as I made my selections I had one primary goal in mind. I wanted to learn more about achieving good exposure. I'm happy to say that I came away with a better understanding and a lot to practice with.

As a photographer, you have a concept of what you want to convey or capture in an image. But without an understanding of exposure, it becomes an issue of luck. I definitely have a problem with nailing my exposure more often than not. But I intend to put these points into regular practice and hopefully with time, they will all become second nature.

The number one tip I learned (which I already do) is to put your camera in manual. As long as you're shooting in aperture or shutter priority, you are not in complete control of your exposure. Your camera can make a very good estimation of what you're going for, but it is programmed to make white gray. If you want to stay in one of these priority modes, learn about EV and how to use it to compensate.

A stop is a halving or doubling of light. If you shut down one stop, you have halved the light that will hit your sensor. If you move up a stop, you double it. One click of your shutter speed, aperture, or ISO is not necessarily one stop. In my camera, it is set that each click is 1/3 of a stop. So, I need to make 3 clicks in a single direction to adjust my exposure one stop. The stop adjustment can be made using a combination of ISO setting, shutter speed and aperture depending on what the photographer is trying to achieve with the image. (Stop action, bokkah, etc)

Expose for highlights! If your highlights are blown out, they are gone and that often blows the image. In bird photography, you cannot blow out white highlights and capture feather detail in the white end of the spectrum. I had a lot of trouble with this, I was not as sensitive to the location of the hottest highlights as I needed to be. This is where the histogram becomes invaluable.

The histogram is a wonderful tool. I would check my histogram on many of my images, but until now I didn't take advantage of some of the valuable information it provides. Your histogram shows you the distribution of tone in your image. If it is pushed to the right, you are going to have a light image. If there is a spike on the far right, you are going to have blown highlights and you need to stop down. I can see that even a small spike on the right indicates that something is overexposed in the frame. It might be just the top of a bird's head, or a peak of light between leaves. In that case I might want to stop down a fraction of a stop to correct that.

Stop down = increase shutter speed, increase aperture, or decrease ISO. Any of these actions will reduce the amount of light reaching your sensor.

If your histogram is pushed way to the left, your image will be very dark or underexposed. This is preferable to overexposed as the details may well exists in the shadows and can be revealed in the editing process. However, they may be a lot of noise in the shadows as well.

A histogram shaped like a wide U means that your tones are concentrated in both highlight and shadow. This is a tough exposure situation. I would probably shut down to accommodate the highlights (hoping to retrieve detail in the shadow), change my angle or composition to attempt to remove hot highlights from the scene, or wait for the light to change.

A histogram that has a skinny spike in one area is not a bad exposure (unless it's all the way to the right or to the left). I believed that a good exposure was indicated only by a nice bell curve, and a spike was bad. This is not the case. It means that all the tones in the scene are concentrated in one range. This is the type of histogram that would often occur photographing a bird on the beach or in the sky. Most of the tones in the scene are the same (the spike) with the tones of the bird being spread throughout the rest of the histogram.

Learning to get the right exposure is a real challenge. The beauty of digital is that we can review an image instantly and the camera provides us with a histogram for exposure evaluation. We're not taking home a roll of film and crossing our fingers while we wait for processing. We're all destined to miss the mark again and again, but with practice, we can develop an eye for proper exposure. I believe it's part of learning to see with a photographer's eye. I intend to go out and shoot a lot in less than perfect conditions, the challenge being learning to see the exposure that will make the best image.

I want to take it to heart that a day of shooting, with no great shots is not necessarily a bad thing. Yeah, those days are disappointing, but I have to look at them as an opportunity to learn. I'd like to share a wonderful post I read recently by Marc Graf on Embracing Failure. After reading this essay, I will never look at a "bad" day of shooting the same way again.

Florida Birding & Foto Festival - One Week Later...

2009-05-01T21:30:00.003-04:00

Well, I had the best of intentions of blogging from the festival with my latest pictures. I should have known that the time I was participating in the events, my driving time, and the time involved in reviewing/editing pictures would prohibit much of anything else. I didn't want to waste a moment of my field time, and the number of images I came back with is staggering. Finally, I have a days worth ready to share.

My second day of the festival was primarily in the field. I started with a morning long visit to the Jacksonville Zoo, featuring their wood stork rookery. What an amazing place for a bird fan. It was fascinating to watch them nesting and caring for the babies. I could have stayed there all day. If I lived in Jacksonville, this would be one of my regular haunts, at least during nesting season.

The woodstorks weren't the only birds to be seen there, of course. These are a few others that I came across that day.

After four hours at the zoo, I drove the hour (plus) down south of St. Augustine for a workshop on some tips for bird photography. The speaker talked about all kinds of gear and how to approach the birds to get a great shot. PATIENCE is the key....it's that simple. I learned that the truly great wildlife photographers are either the most patient people on the planet, or they know all kinds of tricks to stage a shot. Personally, I'm disappointed to think that some of the photos that have wowed me in the past were not a spontaneous capture, but a well thought out staging. I was naive, I guess. One speaker talked about going out into the wild where he knew there were eagles and throwing fish into the lake in front of his camera. They would swoop down and grab the fish right where he wanted them...and that's how he got the shot. It kind of bursts your bubble, doesn't it.

I wrapped up Tuesday with a four hour field shoot at the beach. They drove us out in pickup trucks and when we spotted interesting birds, we'd all pile out and start shooting. I got some decent images, but I felt like a rank amateur. There were at least a dozen guys with HUGE lenses on their cameras. They had them mounted on a dish type support that held the camera low to the ground and could be pushed through the sand. This would allow them to belly crawl slowly toward the birds like GI Joe. It looked kind of hysterical really, and I didn't mind that I wasn't prepared to crawl through the sand. I did fine kneeling behind my tripod with the other less experienced avian paparazzi. It was a beautiful night and we were out until we could see that the tide was about to render the beach impassible. I returned to my sister's that day with three 4 gig cards FULL...and a lot of work to do.

Aren't these terns a riot?!? I think they look like they're both wearing a bad toupee!

I'll be posting more images on my blog 'In My Dreams I Can Fly...,' tonight if I have the time. If not, they'll be there sometime tomorrow.

Community Photo Challenge- Tranquility

2009-04-30T20:34:00.003-04:00

This week's Challenge-Tranquility. Find something that represents tranquility to you. For me it is the beach & water, what is yours??
Starts today & ends May 7th. All are welcome to join in.
Please follow the Guidelines posted on the right side of this blog.

The Great Outdoors Challenge

2009-04-24T11:13:00.002-04:00

Here are our Great Outdoor Challenge Photos for this week.
I decided to post all, even though we had quite a few. Like I have said in the past, I will not be able to do this each challenge, I haven't figured out how to select a few to highlight.
Check out all images & blogs by CLICKING HERE to bring you to (the comment section) links to all blogs that joined in this challenge.

Florida Birding & Foto Festival - Day1

2009-04-24T05:05:00.004-04:00

I began the festival with a relatively light day....and I'm glad that I did. It turns out that the anchor location, is over an hour away from my sister's house. That's going to make the days extra long, but I know every minute will be worth it.

Busy and I drove down to the Whitney Marine Labs for my 8:30 class on raw processing. So far, everything I know about photo editing has been self taught. It's a big undertaking to learn this sophisticated software and I've learned it piecemeal....as needed. The instructor doled out a LOT of information on how to use Adobe Camera Raw and it was unbelievable what he was able to do with a few clicks of a mouse. Of course, he has the latest version (and I'm one behind) and some of the coolest tricks were done with the latest tools. Now, I have to start considering an upgrade.

I had four hours before my second lecture, so Busy and I found a very cute little restaurant and had brunch, then walked across the street to Flagler Beach for a nice stroll. It was an incredible day in Florida and the beach was beautiful! The water was so blue and there were very few people on the beach. We walked and talked and picked up shells and I took pictures. I didn't have any actual photo sessions scheduled, so I was glad to get a chance to take a few shorebird photos.

My afternoon session was called "Light Illuminates/Shadow Defines" and was taught by Chaz Glatzer. Frankly, I found his talk a little confusing, and I know others did too based on the questions that were asked. I don't know if anyone walked out of there confident they could put his information immediately to work, but I think with some practice...I can figure it out and benefit from what he had to say. He suggests that (when shooting in manual), you start from a baseline setting he called the "sunny 16", and teach yourself to be sensitive to relative quantities of light on the subject and adjust accordingly. You must also take into account the effect you wish to achieve (stop action, bokkah, etc) It was obviously second nature to him and he rattled off a lot of numbers (shutter speed, ISO, F/stop) and that's where the confusion set in. I'm going to start to try and put it into practice today at my field shoots. He is an award winning and extensively published photographer and the wildlife shots he brought along were breathtaking. He does use shadow and light to bring out every feather on a bird as well as every hair on a bear.

I'll be leaving shortly for my field shoot. I'm doing a before hours trip to the wood crane rookery at the Jacksonville Zoo. I'll have a four hour pass to the zoo and I'm looking forward to taking tons of pictures there. This evening, I'm going on an evening photoshoot at the beach. So lots of time with my camera when the light is magic.

Here are a couple of quick pics from yesterday at the beach. I was especially intrigued by the Caspian Terns. They are such funny looking birds. I'm still working on trying to specifically identify the sandpiper. If I can't put a name to it until I get back to NY....oh well.
:)

Adventures In Photography - Florida Birding & Foto Festival

2009-04-21T14:31:00.003-04:00

We all catch the bug the same way. We pick up a camera, snap a few photos and low and behold...they're not that bad! I started developing my skill by studying images that appealed to me and trying to emulate what I saw that I liked. It got me a long way, but I've always felt that my technical understanding could use some honing. And like all photography fans, I welcome exploring somewhere new.

Last year, I visited my sister in Florida in mid April, and picked up some materials on the Florida Birding & Foto Festival. I'd missed it by a week....but I made a mental note that THIS was something I wanted to take advantage of. It's been a long year of waiting, but finally...tomorrow...I will get on a plane and head down for a week of family, and long weekend of workshops that will (hopefully) make me a better photographer.

The Festival is anchored in St. Augustine and takes advantage of the birding opportunities in the area. It is sponsored by both Audubon and Outdoor Photographer Magazine. There are four days of workshops and field trips led by some well known names in nature photography. I was able to schedule a nice mix of classroom sessions focusing on technical knowledge along with some field outings that I hope will provide outstanding photo opportunities.

I'm very excited to spend a few days with accomplished photographers and to get some insight into how they create their phenomenal images. It would be very tempting to fill the time with field outings as they are many and varied. But, I know I will benefit from attempting to expand my technical understanding. I joke that I "use the Force" to find my settings. It often works. However, when I consider what I have paid to put the latest high tech equipment in my hands, it seems foolish not to try and learn to use it to its full potential.

I'll be starting my adventure bright and early Thursday morning in a class on "The Power of Raw." I often shoot in raw, but I don't know how to make the very most of those humongous files. I'm looking forward to discovering what can be done with all that data. I'll be following that up with a 2 hour workshop entitled "Light Illuminates, Shadow Defines."

On Friday morning, I'll attend my first field outing. I'll be going to a "before hours" visit to the wood stork rookery at the Jacksonville Zoo & Gardens. I expect to see a wide range of birds at this location and it concerns me that I'll end up with more files than I'll be able to manage. I guess that's the one downside of digital....that you can take more photos than you can look at in a lifetime.
:)

I'll be posting a synopsis of my adventures, along with photos both here and at my own photoblog "In My Dreams I Can Fly..." I look forward to sharing my experiences along with some tips and tidbits that I pick up along the way. In preperation for my trip, I've been spending a lot of time here on Long Island seeking out and photographing birds. I've been concentrating specifically on birds in flight and I've got some practice shots up on my journal. I hope you'll stop by...and please leave me a comment to let me know you've been there.

Now, I've got to finish packing!

A Little Help...

2009-04-21T10:08:00.004-04:00

Hi, Kat, and everyone...I mentioned in the comments on Kat's entry that my normal method of reducing color cast didn't work on this photo. I'm sure it was because it's lighting that caused it...and after posting that, I went back into Photoshop to try something different. Here's the result of that attempt:

This is by no means perfect, but at least the wood of the guitar neck looks more natural. The biggest problem is that there's so much digital noise in the photo because of either high ISO or just plain darkness. All I did to this was apply a Filter...the Photo Filter. I applied the Cooling Filter (82) at about 50% density. It looks a bit magenta, but I think a bit more work would take that away. Kat...does this help at all???

Help Wanted....

2009-04-21T06:53:00.003-04:00

As mentioned in the previous post, I am going to a photography workshop that I'm very excited about. I'll write a bit more about that next.

Before I go and generate countless new files, I'm trying to get through some overdue editing I'd like to get done.

I LOVE concert photography and take every opportunity I can get to photograph musicians. But, the ever changing light and color makes concert venues especially challenging. I usually try to find the most accommodating settings for the conditions to capture the maximum number of images. But, there are invariably images that need a lot of work with color cast and extreme shadows and highlights, and I'll admit...many are not salvagable.

The photo I'm posting is an example of the type of image I'm trying to rescue. I was wondering if anyone out there with some photoshop expertise could advise me on how to improve this type of photo. I'm not looking for all the concert ambiance to be eliminated, but I would like to bring out a little of the natural color in the skin tone and for the resulting image to be less monochromatic.

Knowledge of photo editing software is part and parcel of high quality digital imaging. Yes, ideally we'd all like the perfect image to come right out of the camera. But, we have the tools, I'd like to better know how to use them.

Changes in the Winds

2009-04-20T19:47:00.003-04:00

Hi, Photo Challengers...

After a lot of discussion among the Photo Challenge team, we've decided that there will be some changes here in the Challenge Blog.

--We're taking a sabbatical from June through August. There won't be any challenges for those three months but we'll post our ideas for future challenges so you can keep them in mind while you're enjoying the summer--out and about with your cameras.

--Voting will be discontinued for our regular challenges. There may be an occasional contest challenge for those who would like to participate, but our regular challenge won't be judged or have polls.

--There will also be some feature articles about photo experiences and photography in general posted by our team members. We want to continue with the goals of this blog--sharing our passion for photography...learning...challenging ourselves. The team: Kat, Gina,Rob, Vicki and I will share our photographic journey. Others are invited to join in--just let Vicki or me know what ideas you have. Kat has a few wonderful ideas that we are considering, including: 1. Adventures in Photography and 2. Look What I Found! The first experience Kat will share is a bird Photography event in Florida that she'll be attending soon. We're really looking forward to 'seeing' the event through her eyes and learning new things.

--One thing we'd really like to request is that all our readers and participants make every effort to visit each blog and view the submissions. While there, leave a comment. We all know how good it feels when someone has visited our blogs. It's an easy thing to do--I do it for every challenge--and is such a wonderful way to show others that you enjoy the results of their efforts! This challenge is about sharing and supporting each other--and this is how we do it.

Please let us know what you think about these improvements and any ideas you have to make things even better!

~Marie

Community Photo Challenge- THE GREAT OUTDOORS

2009-04-16T21:30:00.002-04:00

This weeks challenge is "The Great Outdoors".
Anything goes as long as it is taken outdoors. Starts today & ends Thursday April 23th at 9 PM EST. Remember to follow the GUIDELINES
All are welcome to join it.

Spring Time!

2009-04-10T10:59:00.008-04:00

Here are our submissions for Spring. Thank you everyone for showing us your Spring!

EmmaRose's Spring

Krissy's Spring

Guido's Spring

Far Side of Fifty's Spring

EaglesBrother's Spring

Elisabeth's Spring

Shari 's Spring

Marie's Spring

Apologies to Shari, her image was overlooked b/c of copying problems.
Thank you for informing me...;)
If I left anyone else out, please let me know.
Thanks~

All images are included in our GALLERY.

Community Photo Challenge- SPRING

2009-04-02T13:11:00.003-04:00

This Week's Photo challenge is Spring....or the first sign of Spring. Here in NY we are just starting to see some flowers popping up through the ground. So lets see what Spring looks like by you. When posting your image, tell us where the photo was taken (include state &/or country) & when. You can use a file photo, but remember to give us a location & date.
Challenge starts today & ends April 9 @ 9PM EST
All are welcome to join in & .
Please follow Guidelines

Mailbox Challenge

2009-03-26T21:09:00.003-04:00

This week we only had a few photographers that participated so we included everyone in the Gallery collage.
Congratulations to all who participated ....& thank you for joining in.
The collage will appear in our Gallery.

Community Photo Challenge- MAILBOXES

2009-03-19T16:34:00.003-04:00

This weeks photo challenge is MAILBOXES. Find an old beat-up mailbox, an unusual, creative one...or concentrate on a lovely photographic shot of your own mailbox or even a group of mailboxes. They come in all shapes & sizes. This should be another easy challenge, so get out & shoot!
Don't forget to follow the GUIDELINES, come back here & leave your link.
All entries must be posted between March 12th to March 26th at 9 PM EST.

Birdhouse Challenge-Winner

2009-03-15T21:41:00.006-04:00

Congratulations to Julie @ My Photo Journey
Who is our Gallery Winner!
Her image represents this weeks Challenge "BIRDHOUSES"

Birdhouse Challenge

2009-03-13T12:51:00.008-04:00

Please vote for the best image to represent this challenge for our Gallery.
Only one vote per person. Use the poll & also email me your vote. We are still trying out the POLL services. VOTE @ Mariebm56@aol.com

Remember, if you have problems with the POLL, Try another browser, like Internet Explorer, Safari or Firefox, & leave the message in the comment area that you are having problems voting. Please do not say who you are voting for in the comment area. Just email me. Thanks~
Voting ends @ 9PM EST on Sunday March 15th

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 3

PLEASE READ ABOVE BEFORE VOTING. ALSO check the results before you vote, then vote. Make sure youR vote goes to the photo you want. Then check the results afterwards.
You must e-mail me your votes too.

Community Photo Challenge- BIRDHOUSES

2009-03-06T12:32:00.003-05:00

This week's challenge is BIRDHOUSES! It's an easy challenge, so make sure your images are sharp, good lighting & follow the GUIDELINES~

The challenge starts today, March 6th & ends March 12th, 9 PM EST. You can add images afterwards, BUT, to be considered in the challenge POLL you must submit before the deadline.

For those who are new...Ü...All helpful info with linking your blog are on the right sidebar, just scroll down. You can always just copy & paste your URL in the comment section.

Have fun~

WINTER CHALLENGE WINNER

2009-03-02T10:59:00.003-05:00

Congratulations to Michelle from MORE THAN WORDS
winner of our WINTER Photo Challenge

CLICK here for her entry WINTER CHALLENGE

Being we had so much trouble with the Polls, we decided to post both images b/c it was close in the polls. I will be trying different POLL services, so please be patient, while we work through this...Ü

Carol from Carol's Images won second place.
Congrats to Carol~

WINTER CHALLENGE-new poll

2009-02-28T12:18:00.003-05:00

Photo 1

Photo 2

Please take the time to vote again.
I am trying a new service, b/c there were problems with the other poll.
If you for some reason cannot vote try using a different browser. AOL browser has issues.
Thanks~
&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://polls.blogflux.com/poll-32170.html"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Take the poll&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br /&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br /&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://polls.blogflux.com/"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Free Poll by Blog Flux&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

"Winter" Challenge POLL

2009-02-27T12:04:00.003-05:00

Photo 1

Photo 2

Please vote for the "Winter" Challenge
As always ONE vote per person.
IF you have problems voting, try a different browser(like Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari....If it continues e-mail me your vote.

POLL Vote on Change

2009-02-25T11:09:00.002-05:00

WE have 3 options for a change on the challenge. Please read all three before you vote.

We can keep the challenge the same.

We can just eliminate the voting all together & also eliminate the Challenge Gallery

We can just have the same judges select 2 or 3 top images & add them into the Challenge Gallery, as the top images to represent the challenge.

Even though I would love to include all images on the Gallery Blog, it cannot be done. Too many enties with some challenges, plus it requires downloading images that I cannot always snag, b/c of photobucket, flickr.....It also has become time consuming, so that is out of the question.

As always I'd like to see what suggestions others have, so E-MAIL me, if you have an idea.
Thanks~

Blogger's Community Photo Challenge- WINTER

2009-02-19T19:57:00.002-05:00

Blogger's Community Photo Challenge- WINTER

Our WINTER challenge starts today & ends on Thursday Feb. 26 @ 9PM EST. This challenge is about WINTER, could be something representing winter, a snow scene, snowflake, snowstorm...... you may use a file photo, but it must be your photo.
Please follow guidelines.
As always, make sure your entries are in focus, good composition, good lighting & follow the theme of this challenge.
Don't forget to leave your entry link in the comment section. Ü

Blogger's Community Ohoto Challenge-Close up WINNER!

2009-02-15T21:23:00.005-05:00

Julie from Julie's Photo Journal won our Close-up Challenge.
You can visit her @
http://julia-myphotojourney.blogspot.com/2009/02/community-photo-challenge.html
Her beautiful photo of her husband's grandmother's thimble came in first place.

Congratulations Julie!!!
Visit our Gallery for her photo & other winning images.

Blogger's Community Photo Challenge-HEARTS Collage

2009-02-14T10:46:00.003-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day to Blogger-land!

Here are 2 collages from Bloggers sharing their Artwork & Photography. Thank you for participating in our Heart Challenge!! You may visit everyone's blogs by finding the original posting, here & locating there links in the comment section.

http://communityphotochallenge.blogspot.com/2009/01/fun-bloggers-community-photo-challenge.html

Artwork

Photography

Close-Up, Macro Voting POLL

2009-02-13T12:14:00.005-05:00

Select your favorite Close-up, Macro shot. Only 1 vote per person.
If you have a problem voting, use Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Safari browsers.
If you still cannot vote, email me your vote.
Voting starts today & ends Sunday night Feb. 15 @ 9 PM EST.

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 3

Photo 4

REMINDER* Blogger's Community Photo Challenge-HEARTS!

2009-02-09T13:34:00.003-05:00

FUN: Blogger's Community Photo Challenge-HEARTS!

The HEART Challenge already started & ends February 12th. You still have time to join in, if you already haven't. There are 2 parts, you are welcome to do 1 or both, your choice. No Poll on this challenge, it's just for fun.

1. Take a picture of a heart.
Could be something that is in a shape of a heart or small objects making the shape of a heart, a man made heart, not human..... BUT remember is should be something that you would like to see framed in a collage, so a human heart might not work....Ü. Lighting is essential, & clarity is also important. So make sure you use a tripod, or steady your arm on something , so you don't move when you snap the picture. If you don't have enough light, use a flash or take it outside. Filtered sunlight is excellent.

2. Paint a heart, draw or sketch a heart, color a heart. Be creative.
Must be colorful, or just use color, no B&Ws on this one.
Remember, You will need to scan or photograph your heart.

Both should be posted on your Blog, like all challenges, then add your links here, in the comment section. Remember to follow the GUIDELINES

There is also an additional request.
This challenge requires an image to be 3 inches X 3 inches at 72 dpi, I am planning on doing a collage of all images & then posting it on my flickr & the challenge blog. There maybe 1 or more collages depending on the amount of entries. Then anyone that would like to snag the collages(for printing) can probably do it off of flickr, not sure. If not I will send anyone interested in the collages, a copy. So if you don't want your image snagged along with others, then don't enter in this challenge.

There are 2 challenges within this challenge. You may enter in both.

Important: All entries NEED to be 3 inches X 3 inches & @ 72 DPI
-NEEDS to be a square.

Remember to post your link in the original Challenge Entry
HERE http://communityphotochallenge.blogspot.com/2009/01/fun-bloggers-community-photo-challenge.html
Thanks~

Blogger's Community Photo Challenge-Close-ups

2009-02-05T18:09:00.006-05:00

Macro is Close-up Photography

In this Challenge we are looking for Close-up or Macro images.
It is capturing something, usually small, at a close range, & seeing things at a different viewpoint. You can use a macro lens, macro settings...or just get as close as you can, but make sure your subject is in focus.
The challenge starts today & ends on Thursday, Feb. 12th @ 9PM EST. Please remember to follow the GUIDELINES. Poll will start on Friday, 13th.

It is important that your image be in focus, have good lighting, & good composition, also color should not be washed out, unless you want that look.

Here are a few websites that show some examples of close-ups:
•Close-Up photography
•Adventures in Close-Up Photography
•HP
•Close-Up Photography Basics

Alphabet Challenge

2009-02-04T12:10:00.002-05:00

Donna from D's Designs & Other Things has taken the Alphabet Challenge by completing her name.
Visit her Blog @ http://dsdesignsandotherthings.blogspot.com/2009/01/photo-challenge.html

Great Job, Donna!
Anyone want to take the challenge???
Ü
All are welcome~

Blogger's Community Photo Challenge-FOOD Winner

2009-02-01T22:15:00.006-05:00

Congratulations Kat!!!

Kat, our new friend from CatHouse Chat is our winner for Blogger's Community Photo Challenge-FOOD.

You can also view Kat's winning photo in our GALLERY.

http://bloggerscommunityphotogallery.blogspot.com/2009/02/community-photo-challenge-food.html

We had a great turn out for voting, a total of 57 votes.
Photo #1-22
Photo #2-8
Photo #3-28

Some votes did not go thru & were mailed to me. For some reason that poll did not work with AOL browser. I will try another, next challenge.

FOOD Challenge

2009-01-30T11:25:00.009-05:00

Food Challenge
Select your favorite Food Image
Photo 1
Photo 2
Photo 3

Poll starter: Marie See Results

Remember to view through another browser to see all images before voting.
Please read note below in RED, if you can't vote. AOL browser doesn't seem to support this poll.
Please Vote for your favorite FOOD Photo. Only ONE vote per person.
We want to thank everyone who participated, we had a nice turn out & look forward to the next challenges.

NOTE: If you are unable to vote using AOL browser, try using Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Safari.
copy & paste URL in another browser-

http://communityphotochallenge.blogspot.com/2009/01/food-challenge.html

If you are still unable to place your vote here, you may send your vote to me @
Mariebm56@aol.com

Post a Weblink to the Comments

2009-01-27T11:32:00.003-05:00

Here is another way to post a weblink in the comment section for a challenge entry.
Krissy, from Photo Journal, suggested this, it is an easier way for you to post without having to do the coding. (note: the coding lets the link continue over in the email- doing it this way, does not)
THANK YOU Krissy! Ü

Blogger's Community Photo Challenge-FOOD!

2009-01-23T10:48:00.004-05:00

We have a few Challenges still going on, but our bi-weekly challenge starts today & ends on Thursday Jan. 29 @ 9 PM EST. Our Poll will begin on Friday, Jan. 30th.
This week's Challenge is FOOD! So you may cook, bake, or just take an interesting shot of anything that we eat. Can be growing on a plant, can be placed on a decorative plate, as a still life image..... Can be just fruit in a dish. Try to be creative, make sure you have plenty of light, & again keep a steady hand when snapping the shutter....Ü
Clyde had a perfect one for this challenge, but it was perfect for the Still life too.
So here is an example of a FOOD image, & desserts are my favorite...Ü
Don't forget to follow the GUIDELINES.

Clyde's Still Life

Our other challenges , The ALPHABET CHALLENGE, (Names too) & HEARTS are still going on, so all are welcome to join in on those too...Ü

Thanks Clyde! ;)

The Power of Photography

2009-01-21T15:22:00.004-05:00

(Please note: I would love to share the image referenced below, but I do not have the permission of the family and refuse to intrude upon their privacy at this time. I hope you understand, and can still gain value from the words alone)

I guess I shouldn’t be anymore, but I am continually amazed at how photography can bring people together and touch the lives of others in both simple and profound ways.

My photography club held a field trip to record a unique local area called the Cultural Gardens last spring, and subsequently formed an alliance with the organization that oversees its growth and maintenance to use our images to help promote visibility of this beautiful cultural amenity. Several of our photos were printed and framed and auctioned by the Federation as a fund-raiser – and one of those images was a photo of a smiling woman and her mother, posed outside the India Garden.

Word came today that the woman in the image was tragically killed in a car accident last week – and the photo was given to her family and displayed at the funeral home as a memento of happier times. It helped to bring healing at a time of profound loss – and will help to keep her memory alive for years to come.

Photography can be many things beyond the alchemy of art and science swirled together to capture a moment in time. It can touch lives and bring healing long after the image is made - and we never really know the potential impact of the next click of the shutter.

Rob

http://lordiwasbornaramblinsam.blogspot.com/

FUN: Blogger's Community Photo Challenge-HEARTS!

2009-01-20T09:54:00.004-05:00

The HEART Challenge starts today & ends February 12th. There are 2 parts, you are welcome to do 1 or both, your choice. No Poll on this challenge, it's just for fun.

1. Take a picture of a heart.
Could be something that is in a shape of a heart or small objects making the shape of a heart, a man made heart, not human..... BUT remember is should be something that you would like to see framed in a collage, so a human heart might not work....Ü. Lighting is essential, & clarity is also important. So make sure you use a tripod, or steady your arm on something , so you don't move when you snap the picture & if you don't have enough light, use a flash.

2. Paint a heart, draw or sketch a heart, color a heart. Be creative.
Must be colorful, or just use color, no B&Ws on this one.
Remember, You will need to scan or photograph your heart.

Both should be posted on your Blog, like all challenges, then add your links here, in the comment section. Remember to follow the GUIDELINES

There is also an additional request.
This challenge requires an image to be 3 inches X 3 inches at 72 dpi, I am planning on doing a collage of all images & then posting it on my flickr & the challenge blog. There maybe 1 or more collages depending on the amount of entries. Then anyone that would like to snag the collages(for printing) can probably do it off of flickr, not sure. If not I will send anyone interested in the collages, a copy. So if you don't want your image snagged along with others, then don't enter in this challenge.

There are 2 challenges within this challenge. You may enter in both.

Important: All entries NEED to be 3 inches X 3 inches & @ 72 DPI
-NEEDS to be a square.
Thanks~

WInners of the Still Life Challenge

2009-01-18T21:45:00.002-05:00

We have 2 winners for the Still Life Challenge. Congratulations to Lisa & Betty!

Lisa from Life On A Bison Farm
http://wwfbison.blogspot.com/2009/01/photo-challenge.html

Betty From Creativity-Bits And Pieces
http://creativitybitsandpieces.blogspot.com/2009/01/still-life.html

More Names -Alphabet Challenge

2009-01-18T10:03:00.009-05:00

Krissy From Photo Journal was the first to do the whole alphabet, but we will only post her name. To see all three of her creations, check out her blog!

Missie's A Middle Aged Mom's new Hobby did a wonderful job on her name, check it out on her Blog!

Nancy @ Capt'n Nancy also did a lovely post~
Visit Nancy's, here.

Still Life Poll

2009-01-16T11:27:00.006-05:00

Here are our choices for The Still Life Challenge.
Voting starts today & ends on Sunday night, January 18th at 9 PM EST.
We had many wonderful images entered & it was very hard to limit it to 3.
Please, only one vote per person.

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 3

First 2 Alphabet Challengers~

2009-01-11T20:34:00.005-05:00

Our first challenger for our Alphabet Challenge is Jeannette

Our second is Veronica

As people try this & post their names, we will post them on here. This challenge will not be voted on. Everyone that enters will get their names posted on here.

All are welcome to join in. Click here to play~

UPDATE: You do have all year to do the Alphabet project. You also have plenty of time to do your name, there is no time limit. So have fun!
REMEMBER TO POST YOUR ENTRY IN THE ALPHABET CHALLENGE POST! (or people might not see it)

Community Photo Challenge- Still Life

2009-01-08T20:15:00.004-05:00

This weeks Challenge is "STILL LIFE". Post your Still Life between January 9 & Thursday January 15, 9 PM EST on your blog, come back here & leave your link.
Please follow the guidelines & remember to link back to this Blog.
The Poll will start on Friday the 16th, so remember to back here & vote.
All are welcome to join in on the challenge!
Have fun & be creative!

The Alphabet Challenge

2009-01-04T13:24:00.006-05:00

The Alphabet Challenge in shapes.

This main challenge may take months to create. It is a challenge, that I have seen before & I thought it would be fun. It will train your eye to find shapes & letters in everything you see. You should be able to find the alphabet in shapes & not use the actually letters in signs, try to use shapes & objects that you see in your journey through discovering the world around you..
Once you've collected your images, you will then make a collage of all the letters you have found. If finding the whole alphabet is too much for you, you can just do the letters of your name.
Soooo lets start here;

Part 1 -You can start by finding the letters of your name.
Part 2- The Whole Alphabet-optional.

Once you have finish your name, post it on your blog, come back here & add it to our challenge comment section. You may continue & finish the whole alphabet, it's up to you. Both Part 1 & 2 will be included in the same challenge.
I will leave a direct link on the sidebar to this challenge for easy access. Once you complete Part 1, post it. Then you have the option to continue to Part 2, if you want.

For those unable to do a collage. You may enter each letter separately, but small, side by side on a post.

Here are some examples

http://www.beyondphototips.com/2008/01/26/photo-project-the-urban-alphabet/

http://www.pbase.com/tfredriksen/image/70674994

http://www.pbase.com/abbarich/image/18004012

We will post completed NAMES as we go along.
So here is mine, as an example; Marie

This will be an open challenge, no time limit.

Something NEW!

2009-01-01T23:08:00.004-05:00

Here are all the entries for our Something NEW Challenge. Thank you everyone for joining in.
We will be going back to our Polls in the next challenge.
Hope you join in~

NOTE....Some people are having problems view the whole image. I use a different browser, Firefox or Safari to view the blogs when I cannot see the images. So try a different browser if you are having problems viewing. You can also try IE.
I made the image public on my Flickr account, so you can click on image to view.

Community Photo Challenge- Something NEW!

2008-12-26T13:22:00.005-05:00

Our Challenge is finding Something NEW & posting on your blog. It must be a new entry posted between today & January 1st before 9 PM EST. Come back here & leave your link.

Blogger's Community Photo Challenge-Ornaments

2008-12-19T07:57:00.003-05:00

Blogger's Community Photo Challenge wishes everyone a very Merry Christmas!

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.

- Burton Hillis

Peace on earth will come to stay, when we live Christmas every day.

- Helen Steiner Rice

NOTE: If you can not see the whole image, try using another browser, such as Firefox , Safari, or IE. AOL does not allow you to view the whole image. You can click on image too.

Community Photo Challenge- Christmas Ornaments

2008-12-12T12:36:00.002-05:00

This week's challenge is Christmas Ornaments. I am looking for square photos, if you can, with either your favorite Christmas ornament or just an ornament. If you are not able to submit a square, I will crop to make it one. Like the last 2 challenges I will do a collage of all entries. Please post your entry between now & 12/18 no later than 9 PM EST, to be included in the Christmas Ornament collage. If you don't celebrate Christmas & would like to join in, you may include a decoration that would represent your holiday.

Festival Of Lights

2008-12-12T11:49:00.002-05:00

Thank you Bob from Eaglesbrother blog for submitting Christmas lights for our Festival of Lights Challenge.

Community Photo Challenge-The Festival Of Lights!

2008-12-04T21:31:00.006-05:00

This Challenge is...The Festival of Lights! It can be anything representing Hanukah. Menorah, dreidel, Star of David... it can be family gathered around the lighting of the Menorah...ANYTHING, just no moving photos or slideshows.
Starting Tonight , Dec. 4th & ends Thursday, Dec. 11 please post an image on your blog, come back here & leave your link.

Of course, If you don't celebrate Hanukah, you may post something that represents your holiday in lights!

We hope you all enjoy this challenge & join in~

Christmas Season

2008-12-04T21:05:00.003-05:00

When we decided to post this challenge, we planned to keep it fun, simple and not have a poll. The plan was to create a collage of ALL entries--as long as we don't have TOO many. Ü We're going to do the same thing for Part Two of this challenge, which will be posted tonight--it was planned as a surprise to our readers. We hope you join in...
Check out Our Gallery for this Christmas Season Collage~

Community Photo Challenge-Christmas Season

2008-11-28T16:40:00.003-05:00

This Challenge is.....The Christmas Season! It can be anything representing Christmas. A Santa photo, a church, a nativity scene, you can make your own Christmas card, a Christmas scene, you can do a collage. It can be ANYTHING, just no moving photos or slideshow.
If you don't celebrate Christmas, you may post something that represents your holiday. Our Challenge starts today & all photos must be posted between now & Thursday Dec. 4th at 9 PM EST.

Try to add an active link when posting your entry in the comment section. Tutorial below or click here.

Adding an Active Weblink in a Blogger Comment

2008-11-24T22:08:00.009-05:00

One of the conveniences missing in Blogger is the ability to easily leave a weblink in a Comment. Here at the Photo Challenge, we ask people to leave links to their entries so that we can see their wonderful images, but in most cases we have to copy and paste the links into a browser window in order to see them.

There IS, however, a way to leave a real link within the Comment field. It takes a verrrrry small amount of html code, but it works well and allows people to more easily reach your entry.

Here’s how it works:

- Save the short html string below somewhere you can easily retrieve it – in a word processing document or email, for example.
- Leave your comment as you normally would, but instead of pasting the “http….” link to your entry, paste it into the string below instead, substituting your link information in the area highlighted in blue - i.e., between the " " marks.
- In the area highlighted in red, type the words you’d like to appear in your Comment. These are the only words that will actually appear visible – the link info itself will be hidden. These words will appear underlined to indicate they are a weblink and, when clicked, will take the viewer to your entry.

NOTE: In order to show you the HTML string, it needed to be embedded as an image rather than text in this entry – otherwise it would do exactly what its supposed to do: act as a link and not show you the underlying code! Click on the small words directly below for an image that’s easier to read, then retype the text EXACTLY as you see it into a document for later editing. You can keep the blue and red colors in your link to help you if you wish – html is colorblind and will not recognize or duplicate the colors when you paste them into your Comment.

The sample string above will take the viewer to the Photography Basics 101 entry in this Journal. (Click the blue words to test it).

To test your link and see how it will appear, simply go to your own Journal and paste the string you typed from the above example into the Comment field. Once you’re sure it works, you can delete it.

Hope this helps make your Blogger experience a little more user-friendly. THANKS for supporting our Photo Challenge. Tell your friends!

Rob

Give Thanks for.....Winner

2008-11-24T11:09:00.003-05:00

Congratulations to Rob!
As of last night at 9PM the votes were very close. In fact, a tie at 9PM EST!
My deciding vote was for Rob. His whole entry was outstanding.
You may visit his Blog @Lord, I Was Born a Ramblin' Sam
or http://lordiwasbornaramblinsam.blogspot.com/2008/11/giving-thanks.html

So thank you everyone who participated, & congrats, again, to Rob!
He is added to our galley!
Visit
http://bloggerscommunityphotogallery.blogspot.com/2008/11/give-thanks-forwinner.html

Reminder To Vote!

2008-11-23T12:09:00.003-05:00

This is only a reminder to vote for our "Give Thanks For...."Challenge.
You have till 9PM EST tonight, Sunday to cast your vote.

We have some ideas for the next few challenges, but if anymore would like to make some suggestions for the future challenges, e-mail me at Mariebm56@aol.com
&/or Vicki @ CmishVICKI@aol.com

Thanks~

Poll for Give Thanks for.....

2008-11-21T10:14:00.006-05:00

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 3

Photo 4

Photo 5

Photo 6

Photo 7

We decided to include all images for this poll due to low participation in this challenge.
PLEASE, only one vote per person.
Remember the voting starts today & ends on Sunday Nov.23 @ 9 PM EST
To view larger images, all photos can be viewed on the owners blogs.
Check out the links in the original Challenge post under comments.
Before voting, I recommend you visit some of the blogs that participated, some people really wrote beautiful entries. Also keep in mind the challenge subject. This is not about popularity, it's about the images & what each represents.

Rob has discovered a way to post our LIVE links, into the comments area, watch for his tutorial on that.

Sharing is Caring...Ü

2008-11-14T21:21:00.004-05:00

First off, I miss the email address on our alerts & comments from AOL. It was nice to be able to answer questions that were left on our journals or just to say thanks for the kind words. AOL made it real simple.
The past month I have noticed that some emails from Blogger comments have a specific email address in the address window, other than mine. Having this made it easy to respond to that comment. All you have to do is hit reply. I remember Gina & Donna having this feature. Well, I found out how...Ü
Each comment that you leave on someone's blog is actually coming from you.

I went to DASHBOARD/ EDIT PROFILE
I checked SHOW MY EMAIL ADDRESS
Make sure your email address is filled in under IDENTITY/email address.
Click SAVE Profile

In the process of trying to figure out how to do this, I found 2 Blogger blogs
Blogger Tips and Tricks
Dummies' Guide to Google Blogger

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