Community Photo Challenge - FIREWORKS!

This is a great time to have a FIREWORKS Challenge!! This challenge has been extended to the end of July.

Here are a few of my fireworks images:

April Challenge - Window/Windows

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.

Click on the banner above to check out the other images and to join the fun!

This photo is a reflection of the Sandy Hook Lighthouse--one of my favorite places to photograph. The building where the window is located is across a parking lot and, as you can see, is really in need of repair.

I thought I'd post my photo early for this challenge to make up for the lateness of my last one. LOL

March Challenge - TREE

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. Click on the banner above to check out the other entries.

This image is one of my favorites ever...it was shot in Newport, Rhode Island, at the Doris Duke estate, Rough Point.

I know this is really REALLY late...actually it's borderline TOO late...but I wanted to get this in. I've been swamped and sick, so this challenge has been placed on the back burner. I hope to be much better in the future, folks.

Community Photo Challenge - Transportation

The subject of this month's challenge is...

Marie states, on the Challenge Blog: 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.

My entry is titled: Your Ride Awaits

...not that I'd actually ride in either of these trucks. Found them at a flea market/auction along a country road. I've passed this location hundreds of times in my life, but never actually got out with a camera. Not sure why I waited, but it's definitely worth stopping. I got a lot of great photos that day...but this is one of my favorites.

The style of this image is HDR or High Dynamic Range. It's created by taking three exposures of the same scene (on a tripod) and then combining them as a single HDR image (using either Photoshop or Photomatix) and then applying some tone mapping (again using either the Photomatix plugin in Photoshop or the standalone Photomatix Pro program). I love creating these and hope you all like this, too.

To further clarify, Photomatix is a program created by and available at http://www.hdrsoft.com/. It's not very expensive (under $100 with a discount code...email me for that code) and totally worth the price.

Photo Challenge: LEADING LINES

This month's challenge is "Leading Lines." The challenge reads: There are many lines to look for when shooting your images...Vertical, horizontal diagonal, curves & "S" curves...even converging lines. You have a month to post your image on your blog, and leave your link/url in the comment section of the challenge blog. Well, here are three photos that use leading lines to lead the viewer into the photo. Be sure to check out the other entries at Blogger's Community Photo Challenge! The first photo is from Newport, Rhode Island, taken along the 10 mile Ocean Drive. The second photo is one of the wonderful views of Manhattan from Governor's Island. The last photo is from one of my favorite locations...Sandy Hook.

Current Challenge - Colors of Autumn

Marie posted the current challenge back in the middle of October and, of course, we chose an Autumn theme for it. Rather than grabbing local color, I waited until I was able to go to Newport, Rhode Island (this year's fall color trip for my husband and me). The following are three photos taken on that trip. Hope you enjoy!

Rule of Thirds Contest

Well...it was a real surprise and honor to be selected as the winner in the Rule of Thirds Contest on our Bloggers Community Photo Challenge! Thanks to all who voted for my image. I realized after posting the other two examples for this subject that it was to be a secret vote, so I sent Marie an entirely different photo. It really wasn't hard to do that, since I frequently compose my images using this rule of thirds. Sometimes I break it on purpose, but I have a lot of images that conform to the Rule. Here's my 'winning' photo, entitled SECRET GARDEN:



Here's what Marie wrote in the Challenge Blog:

"Vicki 's Secret Garden is our winner. None 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/"

I would like to wish everyone happy shooting this summer...and be sure to keep the topics in mind when you're out and about with your cameras.~Vicki

Bloggers Community Photo Challenge: RULE OF THIRD CONTEST

This is a fun way to learn about photography...one of the fundamental rules (and one of the main one that can be broken with great results once you've mastered it) is the Rule of Thirds. It's more of a suggestion than an actual rule, but is something that's very important for photographers to understand. There are also some 'rules' for this contest:

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.

I'm sending one of the images below to Marie for the contest...want to guess which one? :)

Blogger Community Photo Challenge: Tranquility

(click the banner to go to the Challenge and to view the other entries)

This week's challenge is "Tranquility"...a very ephemeral thing. It's not something you can describe in concrete words...it's a feeling more than anything else. Not everyone will agree with everyone else about what's tranquil, or at least the first thing to come to mind for one person will not be what a second person will think of right out of the box. I have a ton of photos that I consider tranquil, but this is one of my newest, so I thought I'd use it. It's a photo of a wildlife viewing area on Sandy Hook, part of the Gateway National Park System--a wonderful place for viewing wading birds. Hope others find it as tranquil as I do.



The same day, I took the following photograph. I always find flowers a tranquil subject...this is no exception:

Blogger Community Photo Challenge: Birdhouses

Thought I'd be really pro-active this week and post my photo at the beginning of the challenge, instead of at the very end just under the wire. I just got some new plug-ins for photoshop and decided this would be a great chance to play with them. I took a photo that wasn't the best one and tried to make it better using onOne's PhotoTools2 and PhotoFrames4. I think the photo turned out nicely...so am anxious to use it on a photo that starts out as a good one. :) Here's my entry for "Birdhouses:"

Blogger Community Photo Challenge: Close Ups

The current challenge is Close ups...and I'm lucky that the Deep Cut Orchid Show took place last week at a location very near me. I went there three out of the four days it ran and had a lot of fun shooting the orchids. They are such weird flowers--some look like faces, some look like aliens...all are beautiful! Here are a sampling of some of my shots with my macro lens. Hope you enjoy...

Hearts Challenge

The Bloggers' Community Challenge "Hearts" is in progress. It's just for fun, no voting on this one. To check out the information for this challenge, and to see the other entries, click on the banner below:



My entry below was taken in St. Augustine, Florida. These flowers were growing in the courtyard of the bed & breakfast where we stayed, and they really did look like there were hearts in the flowers.

Hearts 'n Flowers

Photo Challenge - Christmas Season

This image and the wish behind it is appropriate for any time of year, but especially for this season. It's my wish for the new year!
Check out the other images at the Blogger's Community Photo Challenge!

Blogger Community Photo Challenge: SPOOKY

This week's challenge is "Spooky" and it's SO appropriate! Click here: SPOOKY to play along. Here's my entry--just for fun--not in the running to win.

'Graveyard Ghost'

Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot - Fences And What's Behind Them

I've never participated in Carly's Monday Photo Shoot before, but thought I'd give it a try...here's my fence. It's located in one of my favorite places to shoot, so what lies beyond the fence is the wealth of nature and beauty that is Sandy Hook National Park.

Moving in...

Hi, welcome to my new 'home'! Hope you like it here...help yourself to some wine and cheese and find a nice comfy chair and, as my relatives down south say, set awhile! I'm glad to see you made the trip over the bridge to this new and, hopefully, wonderful home that we've all found here. Be sure to check out the Bloggers Community Photo Challenge and participate if you're so inclined. Marie went to a lot of effort to pack up all our winning entries from our old home, load the truck, and unpacked them in our brand new Bloggers Community Photo Gallery, so be sure to check that one out, as well. All future challenge winners will be posted there, so it will continue to be the Best of the Best! Glad to see you. Enjoy your stay!