Blogger Community Challenge - Flowers

Marie changed things up for the current challenge...Here's what she wrote: "There will be two challenges this week that will be posted....THIS one will only last a week & the following week you will have the opportunity to vote on your favorite image. This week's, challenge is "Flowers". You can do a flower garden, a macro, landscape image with flowers. It can be any kind of photo as long as it has a flower in it.Post your images on your Blog. Come back here & click on the blue button below & follow the easy instructions. This challenge starts today & ends on Monday, June 21, the voting starts on the 21st, ends on the Monday the 28th."



(Click on the banner below to visit the Challenge Blog and see the other images)




My flower image was shot in April at the Willow Wood Arboretum in Morris County, NJ. That park is a real treasure and I STILL haven't finished culling the bad ones and processing the keepers, but I loved this Golden Poppy:

Blogger's Community Photo Challenge - COLOR

This month's subject is color...but NOT just color. We want to see you create something special color-wise. Something your camera did not see. Something you saw in the photo and created in post processing.

The following image was shot in a series of ballet classes that my granddaughters attend. This is my youngest granddaughter and I absolutely loved the pose but wanted to do something more with the photo. Hope you like what I did in post processing. :)

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!