Welcome Back!

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?

A Little Help...

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???

Blogger's Community Ohoto Challenge-Close up WINNER!

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.

Close-Up, Macro Voting POLL

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



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Photo 4

Close-Up
	Photo 1
	Photo 2
	Photo 3
	Photo 4
pollcode.com free polls

Blogger's Community Photo Challenge-Close-ups

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

FUN: Blogger's Community Photo Challenge-HEARTS!

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~

The Alphabet Challenge

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!

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!

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.

Our New Sidebar Banner

Anyone wishing to post our new

Challenge banner on their new blog, may copy it.