Photography Playgroup: December 2011

Thursday, December 22, 2011

First Photos from Bob!

Bob got his first two photos of the year turned in this week. One from a recent trip to D.C. where he worked to capture a great photo of the new Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial at night with limited limiting. The other is a great photo illustrating that rule about "fill the frame". This photo just would not be as great if the rib eating was lost in the middle of a photo of the entire dining room. But here we get just the action!

7 Days Portfolio - Mary Alice (part 2)

Wounded Warrior In My Backyard

Morning Sky

Choir

7 Days Portfolio - Mary Alice (part 1)

Our first official 7 Days portfolio has been submitted. Seven photos in seven days. However, Mary Alice did say that only 6 of those photos turned out really well...so her 7 Day challenge has 6 photos. And that is still awesome!

Here are the first three...with her captions...

On My Way to Work

Camouflage

Lily Helping Me Wrap

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Breaking the Rules with Holiday Items - Emily

Breaking More Rules - Emily

Sunrise? Sunset?

Breaking the Rules - Emily

Our first photos of the year from Emily. Yea!!

Emily says all of these...spread out over the next three posts...are some of her efforts at breaking rules. And she is clear...she loves breaking rules!

First up...some interesting perspective on portraits...

Fog - Emil

One morning early this month we had a very foggy morning. I thought the white fog against the dark tree trunks and the still green grass was a nice contrast.

Then I made one change to my settings...and got a very interesting photo of that same fog. And no, this has not been converted to black and white in photoshop...this is how the color shot turned out. Not sure if it is spooky, ethereal...or just boring. But I like it.

25 Days - the tree and bokeh

The Christmas Tree is one of the items on the 25 Days list. And I had also prompted folks that the tree and the lights were the perfect items for practicing and learning the bokeh technique. So here is our tree. Sorry to bore you...but there are three of them. I was having fun playing!

25 Days - bokeh play - Emil

As you can tell with some of the depth of field play, I'm working on that bokeh effect. You can see a bit in the Candy Cane on the previous post. And with one of the reindeer pics.

Here was another attempt...this was my "Something Red" photo. But my hand moved. Even the ornament, which is supposed to be the sharply focused item was a bit blurry. Should have used the tripod. However, I liked the blurry look on the glitter...so I kept it! Mistakes sometimes make for fun photos!

25 Days part 2 - Emil

A Candy Cane...

Something Sticky...

A Decked Hall...

Reindeer...

25 Days - Emil

I really wanted to push myself to take more photos on a regular basis...not just wait around for those "special occasions". So I took on the challenge of the 25 December Daily Photos. I'll admit right up front, while I may end up with 25 photos, I haven't taken a photo every day. But I have taken photos on 10 of the first 14 days of the month. And some days I got several. Not all of them were good...but some were okay.

You'll notice I've been playing with depth of field...really trying to get one spot in focus while blurring the items in front and/or behind. Not always successful, but fun!

So in these four posts, in no particular order, are my first 9 photos.

A List...

A Wreath with a Red Bow...

Santa Claus...

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

A few more from Mary Alice

A trip to NYC was a great opportunity for taking great pics and playing with rule breaking - altering composition, interesting angles, different perspectives.