View allAll Photos Tagged 2018photochallenge
With apologies to Mondriaan. I'll be glad to get this out of the way. Added various yarns to my childhood potholder loom. Attempted to photograph from directly overhead with piece of white cardstock behind. After looking around, I thought this would be easier than finding something with the Mondriaan look in my travels. Adjustments and cropping with Windows 10 photo editing . Comments welcome.ƒ/4.5 29.0 mm 1/50 sec ISO 800
#2018photochallenge
The challenge:
This week, we’ll be focusing on Abstract Macro photography. In a nutshell, we want to focus on the curves, patterns, colors, and shapes within your subject, rather than on the subject itself. One important part of Abstract Macro photography is to try to obscure your subject– at least somewhat– so that it’s not immediately obvious what it is. Ideally, your photograph should capture the viewer’s attention, while they try to figure out what they’re seeing.
My process:
I’ve been cleaning out my mom’s house recently and have saved a bunch of items for photography purposes. This is one of those items. It was a lot harder than I thought to come up with an abstract composition that I was happy with. I knew I wanted to use a shallow DOF, but so many of my compositions looked unbalanced – heavily weighted to one side. I tried rotating them in all directions, but nothing helped.
Finally, I took the camera off of the tripod and got creative with some handheld positions. Ideally I would have retaken the image on the tripod once I found one I liked, but I was happy enough with the clarity of my handheld test.
Any guesses as to what it is?
Lessons learned:
In the initial creative exploration of a subject, handholding the camera allows for more creative angles which results in more compositional options.
CC appreciated.
2018 WEEK 1: 2008 FLASHBACK – MY NEIGHBORHOOD – 10th Anniversary Trevor Carpenter Photo Challenge
For week 1, I decided to get take an IR image of what used to be a wooded area along the river. That was a very long time ago, when I came back from California 20 years later, it was developed into a nature park. Where majestic trees stood, now is a welcome center... It's been turned into an urban nature park with bridges, bike paths, cross-country skiing and more. Nature turned into more of a City like a place where I feel people don't appreciate nature and respect it but abuse it for their own selfish needs.
I know I sound a little extreme on this one, but you have to be there to experience it for yourself...
#10thanniversaryphotochallenge #2018photochallenge #photochallenge #tempusaura
On a walkabout in a nearby woodland, my little girl spotted this little hole in a tree, still holding on a bit of water from the rain.
Hope you enjoy it! ;)
Didn't get the time to do what I wanted for this challenge so I improvised. Water splashing on the deck. Not a good effort
I've been on a trip through Utah for the past couple of weeks. There was a LOT of rain, which made for a lot of water-filled pot holes in the sandstone. I was experimenting with reflections and took this one at Arches National Park this past Tuesday. The large rock formation is "The Organ" taken from the bottom of the Park Avenue trail. I chose not to clone out the two people in dark blue near the center of the photo so that you can get a sense of scale of the tower. I held my camera very close to the surface of the small pool of water (probably about 2 feet across) to capture the reflection. The "wood" in my photo is not as prominent as either the water or the rock formations, but it's there in the Utah Juniper trees on the left.
Canon 5Diii with Canon 24-105mm lens (at 35mm), f/20, 1/40, ISO 640. Processed in LR, PS & Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
I've played with the camera all week looking for something stunning. This is the best I have to offer. I love when the camera sees more than I can. I used the tripod and morning light through the window. Comments welcome. Cropped and edited some dust and cat hair from the shot.
Canon EOS Rebel T6
EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II
ƒ/13.0 55.0 mm 0.4 sec ISO 100
#2018photochallenge
WEEK 36: B&W with colored filters.
I used ACR's 'yellow' filter to lighten the habanero relative to the other peppers. Selective application of curves was also applied to reduce emphasis on the background. Finally, a slight orange tone was applied to the overall image.
2018 Photochallenge - Week 6: Macro Texture
Detail of a rusty latch on an old banjo case that belonged to my grandfather.
#10thanniversaryphotochallenge
#2018photochallenge
#photochallenge
#tempusaura
The challenge:
This week’s challenge is about creating compelling black and white images of water. So often we rely on color to make our water images pop, so this week we’re removing color to focus on the other aspects of water that add interest to our photos: motion, texture, reflection, etc.
My process:
We recently put out a bird bath and I so badly wanted to get a photo of a bird with wings outstretched and water splashing up around it. But after three days of trying to capture the amazing image in my head, it became obvious that it wasn’t going to happen this week. I did pay attention to the way the birds were drinking however and noticed that the grackles tended to flip the water up with their beaks.
I’m not entirely happy with the technical quality of this photo, so I’m hoping that there is enough storytelling and/or emotional impact to make up for it. I was limited in my DOF because I was using my 600mm lens and the subject was just 10 feet away from me (through my glass door). That makes my DOF just ¼-inch. I chose to focus on the eyes, but that means the water drops are a bit out of focus. Argh.
Since the purpose of this challenge was “water”, I purposefully darkened the already dark bird to lead the eye the water drops. The eyes of the bird still demand attention because they are both sharp and bright, but in some ways I think they mimic the water drops. (Or maybe I’m just stretching to make the photo “work”.)
Lesson learned:
I would have liked to use a flash to freeze the motion (and lower my ISO), but the grackles do _not_ like it! They fly away whenever it fires. So I upped the ISO and shortened the shutter speed and hoped for the best.
CC appreciated.
Week 16: Beverly’s challenge - Maaike a contributor friend like myself at the Trevor Carpenter Photo Challenge created this week's challenge around the loss of one of our long time community members, Beverly Furillo Madison who recently passed away.
Colors were very present in Beverly's paintings and for me, birds are full of life and magic, enjoying the freedom of flight just like I imagine Angels do.
For me, Skittles the Rainbow Lory was just the perfect one to bring homage to Beverly. Even with the somber lighting of a gray and overcast Spring, Skittles' vibrant colors still shine through.
I was inspired by this abstract painting by Beverly - www.instagram.com/p/BYWpaPwDjCC/?taken-by=furillo222
#10thanniversaryphotochallenge #2018photochallenge #photochallenge #tempusaura
The challenge:
Seeing shadows is not always easy because as photographers, we’re not only drawn to beautiful light, but often we try to eliminate shadows (especially harsh ones) because they can be unattractive. However, shadows can be used to great effect as a compositional element adding balance, depth, definition and/or drama to a photo. The challenge this week is to look for interesting shadows that catch your eye and work the scene to capture a strong composition. Or create interesting shadows with lighting of your choice and capture that. Your final image should be a B&W grayscale image.
My process:
[I want to thank everyone for raising the bar this week – you inspired me to up my game. I was planning to go with a snapshot I had taken on my phone earlier in the week, but you all inspired me to go out one last time and see what I could find. The fact that we had snow last night and sunny skies this morning certainly helped as well.]
I waited until the last possible day to post my photo this week and I'm glad I did because all the other challenge submissions inspired me to up my game. . I was planning to go with a snapshot I had taken on my phone earlier in the week, but you all inspired me to go out one last time and see what I could find. The fact that we had snow last night and sunny skies this morning certainly helped as well.
This old fence line in a nearby open space has always fascinated me and I knew the direction of the shadows would be coming towards me in the morning sun. I tried a lot of different perspectives of the fence line. When I held the camera higher, the shadows were more prominent in the frame, but it threw the top of the fence below the horizon line so that it didn’t stand out as well in the frame. I hadn’t planned on including the sun in my photo, but when I knelt down to position the fence higher than the horizon, there it was! I decided to include it along with the shadows since the sky was quite blank without it.
Lessons learned:
I enjoy taking photos a lot more when I give myself time to wander aimlessly (aka explore). Walking outside definitely helps focus my mind and open up the creative size of my brain.
CC appreciated.
2018 WEEK 10: Picture a Song
The challenge:
This week, we’re going to let our favorite musicians inspire us! Just like poetry, a beautiful lyric can evoke an image in our mind’s eye. This challenge is about finding imagery in your favorite songs and capturing it in a photograph.
My process:
Early in the week this earworm started in my head and would. not. leave!!
“Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’ into the future” (youtu.be/HlItAutxJzk)
It took me until Wednesday to get an idea for how to capture the concept of time passing in a single image. My original plan involved a time lapse of the transition between night and day. I spent two days researching and planning. Using Google Earth and the PhotoPills app on my phone, I figured out that I could capture both the moon and the rising sun in the same composition – I just had to wait 90+ minutes between the two events. I’m grateful to my ever patient and supportive husband who got up at 3:15am with me to come along for the photo shoot. (I was especially grateful he was along when we arrived at the trailhead parking lot at 4:15am and found a lone pickup truck sitting there with engine running. If I’d been by myself, I would have turned around and gone back home. Safety first!)
While I had some issues with the actual time lapse, I successfully captured the two images that mattered most: the moon and the rising sun. (If you look close, you can see the Milky Way below and to the left of the moon.) I brought both images into Photoshop and blended them with a layer mask.
Humorous anecdote: The next line (and the title) of the song is “I want to fly like an eagle”. As I was in the middle of planning for the photo shoot, I joked that it would be way easier to get a photo of an eagle. Wouldn’t you know it, after I had packed up and we were headed back to the car this morning, a bald eagle flew directly over our heads!
Canon 5Diii, Canon EF16-35mm f/2.8L III (at 24mm). Daytime shot: 1/8, f/18, ISO 100, RAW. Bracketed +/-2 EV (Shutter Priority) and merged to HDR in LR. Nighttime shot: 13.0 sec, f/4, ISO 1250, RAW. Post-processing in LR. Both images combined in PS.
CC appreciated.
The challenge:
Just like in the original challenge, we’re not only looking for great images of entire vehicles. Cars are a little like buildings in architectural photography, just like we can choose to photograph an architectural detail on a building, we can photograph specific details of a vehicle. This is all about having fun and tuning in your sense of observation on a specific vehicle that attracts your attention. From multiple vehicles to tiny specific details of a specific vehicle, it’s your choice for this Photo Challenge.
My process:
I’ll be the first to admit that cars are not my “thing”. The first time I did a car challenge, I grumbled all week and then took a quick snapshot of a tail light with my phone. My goal this week was to prove to myself that I could create a good image even if I wasn’t inspired by the subject. I always tell others that you can create an interesting image out of just about anything with a macro lens, so I decided to test that theory.
A friend told me about a junkyard that allowed photographers to walk around, so I spent a couple of hours there this morning. I went from being uninspired to total inspiration overload in a matter of seconds! I probably covered less than 10% of the junkyard, but I found a section with old rusted cars and trucks and was fascinated with all of the textures and curved lines.
I took over 300 photos and had a difficult time choosing which one to post. Ultimately I chose the one I did because (1) it is very different colors and processing than I usually do and (2) I added a texture that I took this morning as well.
Lessons learned:
I always forget how much less DOF I get with a 100mm lens vs. a wide angle. I’m not entirely happy with the image because the foreground truck is not quite in focus. If I had remembered the DOF issue, I could have tried focus stacking. (I’m not sure a smaller aperture would have been enough to fix the problem.) Alternatively, I could have used a wide-angle lens to give me a greater DOF, but then the trucks in the background would have appeared much smaller due to the nature of the wide-angle lens. If I were to return and retake the photo, I would try both options to see which one I liked best.
CC appreciated.
I'll be the first to admit that I ran out of time and ended up going back through photos I took this week to find one that fit the theme. I'm kind of glad I did because I particularly like this photo of a fledgling Spotted Towhee. Birds are my go-to subject and luckily they just happen to have lots of implied triangles.
I like that there are triangles inside triangles depending on how you connect the points of the tail, eye, beak, legs and feet. And I like that the background is clean so the implied triangles really stand out. In addition, the personality of this little one really shines through in its stance.
The challenge:
Your goal this week is to take a B&W photo with holiday lights as a component of your composition. Not only does B&W give a feeling of timelessness to the image, but it is also unexpected since most holiday images are shot in color.
My process:
It has been a while since I’ve had time to focus on a photo challenge and this week was no different, but I didn’t want to forego the chance to send holiday greetings to everyone. Happy Holidays!
My husband and I went out to dinner on Christmas Eve since it was just the two of us this year. I took this photo with my phone as we left the restaurant. I had hoped to return with my “big” camera later in the week, but that didn’t happen. I wish that I had used my wide angle lens to get some starburst effects on the holiday lights, but alas, my phone does not produce nice starbursts. I thought about adding them in post processing, but decided it is good enough (for now at least).
I got the building as straight as I could with my phone camera and fixed whatever still needed lining up in Camera Raw. I did a quick conversion to B&W using Silver Efex Pro. When I asked a friend what he thought, he said, “It’s a shame the holiday lights don’t show up very much.” I hadn’t even really noticed that! So I reworked the image and played around with the colored filters in Silver Efex Pro. Lo and behold the blue filter made the lights jump out and become much more noticeable! Thanks Eric!
Lesson learned:
Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback on your photos. Sometimes a fresh pair of eyes helps you see something you totally overlooked.
Camera: Standard camera app on Google Pixel 2 XL. Processed in Camera Raw, Photoshop, Topaz AI Clear and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.
CC appreciated.
The challenge:
Create a black and white long exposure photograph taken with cloud movement. Depending on how fast the clouds move, you may be able to achieve the look you are looking for in one long exposure or by stacking multiple long exposures.
My process:
The real challenge this week turned out to be the weather. We either had clear skies or overcast/hazy skies. When there are clouds, there is hardly any definition. The wildfires in the western US are sending smoke our way and when mixed with the humidity we’ve been having (quite odd for us here in Colorado), the skies just aren’t very photogenic right now.
We were camping up in the mountains earlier in the week and I hoped to find some more interesting skies at the higher elevation. I was not disappointed! But then the challenge became finding a pleasing composition. I practiced using my IR filter around the campground one morning, but the clouds did not appear in the right part of the sky for the compositions I liked. Argh.
We went on a hike later in the afternoon and I carried my tripod hoping I might find a decent composition. We had just started climbing up some switchbacks when I found this view. I wish the trees didn’t extend quite so much into the sky, but at least I was able to capture some clouds in the sky. I was glad I had practiced with my IR filter earlier in the day. I had already figured out the correct white balance and exposure settings, so I didn’t have to interrupt our hike for too long.
With the IR filter, I was able to capture a 4-minute exposure in broad daylight! The clouds were moving so slowly that I could’ve sworn they weren’t moving at all. So I was very excited to see how the sky looked in the long exposure I captured. If the clouds had been moving more quickly, a 4-minute exposure would have been way too long.
Lesson learned:
Given that the camera metered a proper exposure of 1/250 sec at f/11 without the filter, that means the IR filter reduced the light reaching the sensor by 16 stops. Wow! I don’t know if I can apply this calculation more generally however. I will need to do a bit more experimenting to figure that out.
CC appreciated.
This picture is based on the song "I would walk 500 miles" by the Proclaimers.
Lyrics
But I would walk 500 miles
And I would walk 500 more
Just to be the man who walks a thousand miles
To fall down at your door
So I thought a photo next to a walk marker.
The challenge:
This being our 10th Anniversary here at the Trevor Carpenter Photo Challenge, we’re going to explore the different facets of the number 10. How would one use the number “10” or the word “TEN” in photography?
My process:
My process was a bit convoluted this week. At the beginning of the week I had an extremely vivid and life-like dream in which I took a photo for the photo challenge that I loved, but I could not find it on my phone after taking it. I looked and looked (in the dream) and it just wasn’t there. I woke up and still felt like it should be on my phone! LOL
Needless to say, I was a bit confused all week as to whether I had taken a photo or not. I really wanted to find an “X” and noticed a couple of cracks in a rock behind my house that made an X, but try as I might, I couldn’t make an interesting image out of it – at least not without losing the “X” in the process.
I had just about given up when I looked outside and was inspired by a pine branch. I didn’t see any “X”s or obvious groupings of 10 in the branch, but I had enough experience to know that the lines would create a beautiful kaleidoscopic image and that’s where I was headed.
I used a spray bottle to add some water droplets to the pine needles and then played around with different apertures and took photos at different angles to change the background. I noticed that the water droplets against a darker background stood out more and a small aperture gave me a bit of a starburst on the water drops.
Since my idea was to turn the photo into a 10-point star, I was going to need a background to layer the star on. I noticed some wispy clouds in the sky and snapped a few photos before heading inside to my computer.
I realized pretty quickly that the warm colors of the sunlit pine needles were not going to work with the blue sky. Not even a little bit. But since I knew the pine needles were going to be abstracted for my final image, I felt comfortable pushing the colors into the unrealistic realm. I tried simply changing the color temperature of the white balance, but it was not sufficient for my needs so I used the Split Toning panel in Lightroom for the first time ever. I made the colors more blue and loved the result.
Next I ran the photo through my Kaleidoscope Kreator software to create a 10-point star featuring the water drops and in-focus pine needles. Then I ran the sky photo through Kaleidoscope Kreator as well to create a square background for the star. (I used the same number of segments in both kaleidoscopes so that they would line up nicely in the final image.)
Finally, I brought both kaleidoscopes into Photoshop, layered them and adjusted the colors, contrast and brightness of each to make the star “pop” in the final image.
Lessons learned:
I want to play with Split Toning a bit more. Lots of fun to be had there!
Canon 5Diii, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 L Macro lens, 1/100 sec, f18, ISO 640, RAW. Post-processing in LR, Kaleidoscope Kreator and PS.
CC appreciated.