Hooray! I won at last!

I finally feel like I might be getting somewhere with my little hobby. I finally won a ribbon for one of my photos! I entered this photo of Kaylee in a challenge called "Got Milk" and I got 3rd place! I got this little ribbon next to my picture and my photo is on the front page of the dpchallenge website for a whole week! So check it out http://www.dpchallenge.com/.

My ribbon winning entry:

I am also entered in two other challenges at the moment. This one is doing really well. I am a little surprised because I made a huge mistake when photographing it with my settings. It caused the photo to be really grainy. I had my camera tied to the basement ceiling so I wasn't aware I had it on the wrong setting until the photo shoot was over. I did my best to fix it in editing, but the quality just isn't right. I think its a good idea though, and probably why its getting a pretty good score. The challenge was called "what doesn't belong"

Title:

Which one of these kids is doing their own thing?

This next one is for a challenge called "leading lines" there is suppose to be a line in the photograph that sort of moves you through the photograph. I took so many pictures for this, of all sort of different subjects, and just wasn't happy with any of them. This one was finally the one I settled on. It's doing reasonably well. I actually entered a color version but this was the version I would have liked to have entered. I just couldn't get it right, and ran out of time before the deadline was up. Oh well.

Title:

Around the bend

Here is another shot of the same area, this is what it looks like in color.

This is the one I really wanted to enter. I love it! But some of the friends and mentors didn't think it fit the challenge theme well. It's kind of different but I think this would make a great wall hanging. In fact I think I am going to print this out and hang it in my front room. I love that it is neutral and will go with my decor.

Here is another one they didn't like. I like it, but not as well as the one above. Mostly because of the building in the background. I may edit it out and see what I think.

This is one I took just for fun. I was trying out a new (used) lens a friend gave me. I really played with the editing on this one. Different but fun.

Portraits with Studio Lighting

I managed to round up enough flashes to make a make shift portrait studio in my basement. I still haven't got all the bugs worked out. I can only get the flashes to fire about half the time, so I have to have really patient models.

I also made my own soft boxes and wow do they ever look homemade but they work and that is all that matters. I taped some cardboard lined with tinfoil together to make a box that covers my flash to diffuse the light I have them taped to my flashes right now. Just think if I actually had paying costumers they would look at my homemade setup and run away. Luckily my models aren't paying me and they have to sit there patiently while I mess around with my homemade equipment.

This first one is my favorite and what inspired my to make my homemade studio. The challenge this week is "Got Milk?" We are suppose to take a picture of someone with a milk mustache. Kaylee was my very patient model.

Titled:
Straw Verses Milk Mustache



Kaylee was also good enough to sit and pose while I was getting things set up. She was just in her pajamas and didn't have her hair done but I still think this turned out cute.



Here another one I took while I had everything set up. I wanted to enter a portrait for my free study this month this is what I came up with:
Title:
A Sisters Love


Notice how I didn't have Sydnie in any of my studio portraits. She would never have been patient enough for this. These two did such a good job of holding still and doing just what I asked them to do.

I also did some landscape work this week for some challenge entries. We had a challenge called wheels and I found these to subjects to take a picture of:


This is the one I ended up entering. I think the one above is a better quality photograph, but I just loved this one. I passed him when I was going down a rural road looking for broken down tractors and wagons. I just had to flip a U turn and come back around to get a shot of him coming at me. He just smiled at me and looked at me like I was crazy.
Titled:

Road Hog

This one is for an Elements challenge. It had to include all for elements: Water, Earth, Fire and Air.
Titled:

A Wind in the Rushes

This one is for a challenge called Sentinel. You are supposed to take a picture of something then title it sentinel. So that is what I did. I don't know how sentinel this is, its probably going to score low for that reason. Oh well.

Title:

Sentinel


These next two are not challenge entries, just ones I took for fun. I am taking a portrait a week for a side challenge I am in. This was last weeks entry. They are not judged they are just for fun. Sydnie looked so cute in her towel after taking a bath I decided to snap a few shots of her using natural light from the window. I like how they turned out.

This one I saw someone else do and I wanted to see if I could copy it. I think it turned out fun. And its a great one for the upcoming holiday. So Happy Valentines Day everyone!

Back into it

So the holidays sort of threw me. I had a hard time with everything going on to do much with photography. I've had a few weeks to settle back into regular life, and finally I've had some time to catch back up on my photography.

I will start with my non-challenge entries first. These are ones I've taken and like but they don't fit into any of the challenge themes.

This one I took while I was in Idaho over the holiday's. I liked the shot and have been meaning to do something with it. I finally got some time and worked on it, and I really like the results. I have to say it is one of my favorites:


This next set is for an upcoming challenge. I took a trip to the Salt Lake City Temple to get some shots for a challenge called 100 years. For this challenge you must take a picture of something 100 years or older. I chose the Salt Lake City Temple. I have taken a lot of pictures of this temple and I wanted to do something different, so I went at dusk Friday night and shot a few just as the sun went down, and the lights on the temple came on. I think they turned out really nice. The first one is my favorite and the one I will be entering for the challenge.

Title:
The Salt Lake City Temple Dedicated 1853

Another good one:


I loved the sky in the background for this one:

This one was for a challenge called "bits and pieces. I filled a paint drawer we had with different spices. I like the colors in it.

Title:

Kitchen Pantry

This one was for a challenge called "Out of Balance". This one was tricky because as photographers a balanced photo is a good photo, so it was hard to take a photo that disregarded those rules but still looked good. The concept behind this photo was to not only have an unbalanced photo by having a large strong color on the right, and a smaller muted color on the left. I also wanted to show unbalance in the focus made on one girl over the other. The title also shows this, and no she is not, daddy's favorite. I was also using the title to convey an imbalance.

Title:

Daddy's Favorite



This next one was for a challenge entitled "work" I wanted to try and copy the Rosie the Riveter posters from World War II. I think I did a pretty good job but the focus is a bit off. This was one of my most frustrating challenges to date. It was really hard to take a photo of myself I seriously tried almost 200 times. Either the lighting wasn't right, the pose wasn't right or I wasn't even fully in frame. Finally I got this one, like I said the focus was not in the right place (it was on my shirt not on my face) But the pose was good and the lighting was decent so I gave up and just went with it.

Title:

Women at Work "Rosie the Riveter" circa 1943

Here is one of the original posters for comparison:

This final one is one of my favorites. It was for a challenge called Rubber Ducky. It was kind of a silly challenge. Here are the specifics:

In the photo you must include the following: Exactly 1 rubber ducky, a piece of rope or string, one or more vegetables, and something red. This is what I came up with.

Title:

Ducky, having much success during the annual run of Swedish fish.

Odds and Ends

I had a bit of a crazy Christmas and photography sort of took a backseat to everything else. I actually did take a lot of pictures but most of them were just snapshots or I haven't gotten around to editing them. Here are a few miscellaneous shots that I have gotten done.

This month I am working on improving my still life photography skills. I have been taking pictures of various object around the house. This type of photography is harder than it seems.

The one has kind of a complicated setup. First I suspended a large white cutting board between two chairs. I placed my external flash (that I got for Christmas) underneath. Then I laid the object on it, and positioned my tripod above it facing down. When the flash from my camera goes off my external flash senses it and also goes off lighting it from behind. This is what you get kind of cool huh!

I guess this also qualifies for still life. Outdoor still life anyway. This one I took of a crab tree covered in snow and then added a special effect in photoshop to make it look painterly. I decided it sort of looked like a Christmas card so I added the text.

Challenge entries:

I did manage to enter some challenges this month despite the hectic holiday schedule.

This one was for a challenge called inside looking out. I decided it would be fun to give a mouses view of Santa's Christmas Eve cookies:

Title:

Twas the night before Christmas

This was my free study entry

Title:

December Sunrise

This last one is one of my favorites of all time. I don't know what there is about it but I like the mood of it. Me liking it doesn't seem to be helping it in the challenge it is only doing average. I really thought it would do better but sometimes its hard to guess. The challenge was called Contre jour which is a fancy french word meaning toward the light.

Title:

Reflecting on the Dawn of a New Year

A Christmas Baby

My friend and neighbor had a little boy about a week ago, I have really been wanting to practice taking pictures of babies so I asked her if she would mind if I shot a few of her new little one. I had big plans for some sleepy shots since newborns usually are sleepy and its hard to catch them with their eyes open. He had something else in mind, and it was a lucky thing because he has such amazing blue eyes. I didn't get to use all the fun props I brought over but I got some fun shots anyway.

Here is one of my favorites. I added a few embellishments to make it even more Christmas like. Talk about baby blues!

I did manage to get 1 sleepy shot. He is so alert for a week old baby I couldn't believe it:

This is what he was doing most of the time. I thought it was cute anyway:

This is what he wanted is Binky and blankey. So I just decided to go with it and take a few more of his beautiful eyes.

One more he was almost asleep, but anytime I got that camera anywhere near him he would pop those eyes open:



Another one almost asleep, but he just couldn't let go and close those eyes. His mom said he slept for 4 hours strait after the photo shoot. He must have wore himself out trying to stay awake.

One more:

I took Sydnie Christmas shopping at the outlet malls last week. I dressed her up cute for a photo shoot I had to do for a challenge called window shopping. I really loved the way these turned out I think I am going to frame one for my wall. However they are not doing well in the challenge, not because they are bad pictures but because I cropped too much of the window out and it is hard to tell she is window shopping. Oh well that's a mother for you, I just couldn't help cropping it down to what I thought was the best part of the picture.

This is the one I entered. I wish I could get her to smile she did when the camera wasn't pointed at her but whenever I pulled the camera out she would get mad. Poor girl is going to have a camera phobia because of her mother.

Titled:

All done shopping.

Here are a few more. I love them all despite her grumpy looks.

Here is another challenge entry for a challenge called "from the ground up" This didn't turn out quite as well as I had imagined it. But sort of interesting anyway. It is doing fairly well but not exceptional.

Title:

And we all float on

Here is one I took for fun it was sort of an ordinary photo until I played around with it a bit. I really like it now and I can't even explain why.

I woke up to a spectacular sunrise about a week ago here is one of many great shots of that sunrise I took. I may enter it for my free study, I haven't decided yet. At any rate it needs a bit more editing if I do.

More Textures

I have had fun playing with textures this month. It is fun to play with them I think I might use one of the shots below on our Christmas card. I like using textures but they are not allowed in the challenges I enter, so that is why you will never see a texture on any of my challenge entries.

The pictures below I shot for a challenge these didn't work out because the lighting was bad. They are perfect candidates for textures. They hide most of the imperfections and highlight the good parts of the photo you want to show.

This was at the end of the photo shoot and Sydnie was getting tired of posing, so she started to play with her hat. I think they are really fun shots of her.

The goal of these pictures was to try and get some cute shots of Sydnie holding Lu Lu. The lighting was bad so they ended up a little blurry, but you can't tell with the overlay.

This one I just liked because of her cute smile and her eyelashes.

This weeks challenge entries

This one is for a challenge called "Faces in Houshold Objects". It took me a while to figure something out but I finally pulled our Wii out and saw that the disk opening looked a little like a mouth, but what to use for eyes. I looked through the basket of Wii stuff and found the numb chucks, perfect! This one is doing pretty well, it is just above a 6 and any time I get above a 6 I am really happy. A low 6 means you have mass appeal and most people like your photo. High (like a 6.8) and you are in ribbon territory.

Title:

Wii see you!

This one is my Free Study entry for the month of November. Generally you save one of your best shots from the month and enter it in the Free Study. This is the one I chose. It is doing pretty well. Currently it is at a 6.2 and for a Free Study with over 260 entries that is really good. So I am happy I won't win a metal, but my score means I am on the right track as far as my photography and editing skills go.

Title:

A Tranquil Autumn Lake.

This one hasn't gone into scoring yet it is for a challenge called "Horizons" I had a hard time finding a day when the mountains would give me a good horizon. Finally early one morning I looked out my back window and saw the sun reflecting on the fog over the lake. I ran out in freezing weather but managed to get some pretty great shots. I am going to start to try and predict my scores this one I predict will score around a 6.4 or higher, part of the reason I think it will do so well is because of the low number of entries around 70, when there is less competition your score tends to be higher.

Title:

A Misty Morning Horizon

Here is another shot from that morning, I am not using it for a challenge but liked it anyway.

This one is for a challenge called "celebrating life" I took my girls and some of their friend sledding to take some pictures. They started sledding down the hill with just their coats and so I laid down on the hill and waited for them to go zooming by. I just love their faces in these. My girls were right behind them and you couldn't see their faces so I had to cut them out. This one is harder to predict because the photo quality isn't as good, but it has a lot of emotion so that will get me points. I am predicting 5.8 or higher, but I am hoping it will surprise me and get me above a 6.

Titled:

Who Needs a Sled?