The Sunday Challenge (TSC)

Well, BabyAnne might be keeping her excitement under wraps, but I'm NOT!! I am totally thrilled to be a part of this wonderful group of such talented and fun people. I am often pleasantly surprised by the skills I have added to my bag of photographic tricks and cannot imagine how I would have learned these things without our weekly challenge. Thank you TSC for adding a new dimension to my life and thank you Wendi, Jon, Christine and Val for keeping us on our course.

Thank goodness for Photofunia. It's easy and you get a free cinnamon roll. Yum... :D

TSC: Low ~ Key Blue Bunnies Best on Black! Bette Midler: Am I Blue

TSC - High Key ~ High Tea Well, a couple of years ago I made a photo light box from instructions I found on the internet. I never had any luck getting really great shots with it, but thought I'd try it for this challenge now that I know about the "exposure value" (EV) setting on my camera. I took some pics with it stepped up a couple notches (keeping ISO at 160) and was able to get a much brighter, lighter photo. I used 3 photo lights and the light coming in the window to light the scene. I also did a little p.p. This is new for me so I appreciate any constructive criticism. Thank you! This is "Foley Bone China" Made in Merry old England (a gift from my sister)

Well, this week's challenge is "What's Left" and since I've had the flu all week you guys get "what's left" from last week's challenge candidates. (I think most of you enjoy back lighting.) I hope to get caught up with everyone soon. :) Can anyone guess what kind of leaf this is?

Apple Tree at Sunset Enya - May it Be

TSC - Comic (done in iPiccy) I walked into my bedroom only to find my camera snapping a "selfie" in the mirror. Oh well... it is her birthday after all. Happy 1st year little Panny! Original here (Thanks to Jon for helping me get a new camera when mine broke last year. It's been a great experience.)

TSC- Looking Down Looking Down at Easter Breakfast Hoppy Easter Everyone!

TSC - DOORS

The Sunday Challenge - Leading Lines

These are a couple of trees growing right next to our house. I always thought they were cedar trees, but I guess they aren't "true" cedars, but are actually thuja trees. You can read about them here: Wikipedia - Thuja

TSC: HDR photography For this challenge I used 3 different online editors to show some "examples" of HDR photography. Much more is possible if you have Photoshop. This was an interesting challenge I would like to pursue further cause I think it can be very beautiful (as you will see in other entries.) I wonder which one you prefer? More info: HDR Photography

Panning! This was a rather intimidating challenge as I don't do much shooting without my trusty tripod. I almost didn't make it until the last minute when it finally started making sense what I needed to do. I went through several hundred shots and this was the best one of the bunch. It helped when I discovered that "Continuous Auto Focus" was called "Burst Mode" in my camera and once I was able to turn the "Review" feature off I could get the camera to take the continuous shots that were needed for this "panning" (ahem)... technique. All the tips and links from the group were great help with this. One tip was to use the"center auto focus point" setting, but mine is "greyed out" on my camera and I haven't been able to figure out how to change that yet. I think that would help me a lot with the focus part. I am eager to try this technique on something other than a car, but that was all that was available to me this week. It was actually getting fun towards the end (don't hit me!) ;)

The Sunday Challenge - Gadget "Go go gadget!" Another trip to the "man cave" for this week's challenge. This is one of my husband's gadgets.

"Photograph a Stranger" This was a weird one for me this week. I felt like I was doing something wrong photographing someone like this... very out of my "comfort zone" but hey, it's a challenge right? Time to step up. I tried out my "Shutter" mode (thanks AutoPaul) and my Panasonic 45-200mm lens for the first time and used auto focus. OMG, I don't like it now that I've been using manual, but I didn't think I had the time for manual so I left the focus up to my camera (which it seemed to struggle with somewhat.) I did my "stake/steak-out" at the local corner store/BBQ and Grill. "Smokin' Robinsons" has a BBQ outside that smoked the area up quite a bit. It didn't seem all that smoky while I was there, but the camera sure picked it up and I wound up with only one useable shot. I would say that I focused on this gentleman's profile mostly as he pumped his gas (at only $2.09 a gallon for regular, I might add.) It's not my best entry, (I would have liked a much more crisp focus) but I'm glad I made it after a week of nursing an injured shoulder. I hope it passes the test you guys.

3 of a Kind I don't know why, but this was a tough one for me this week, just deciding on a subject and then being happy with the outcome after leaving it until the last minute. Urk!! This is a photo I took of a framed photo in my house. I took it in color using manual focus and then converted it to black and white. I also did a little p.p. using PicMonkey. 3 Beatles and the age old question.... who is your favorite? Hopefully you can tell by my focus. (Of course I love them all and it really pained me leaving John out of this shot, but I had to think for myself, right? Song written by my fav: Think for Yourself Think for Yourself and some history of the song: Wikipedia

"Tools of the Trade" Show us what you do, did, used or wanted to do in the way of a 'job' and show us those tools (using manual focus.) Here are some of the tools I have used to create tiny clothing for dolls. If I could, I would do this full time, however a horseback riding accident has made it so I can only do this very sparingly now. I enjoy it so much whenever I can. If you'd like to see some of my finished pieces there is a note in the photo.