I'm Just Sayin

2021 Photo Critique Group

Challenge: Jagged 
Photo by Sandy McCurdy

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Sandy says:

I borrowed my husbands's handsaw, used a flashlight to back light it and a long exposure in a dark room to emphasize the jagged teeth.
Edited with a little healing brush in PS to remove a bit of saw support and a little exposure reduction in LR to tone down a distracting bright spot plus basic edit sliders adjustments.

52 Week Challenge Class

Challenge: Forks
Photo by Scott Conway

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Scott says:

Background hand-died fabric by Cassie Conway. Forks suspended in space with vice grips 4" above fabric. Lens flare created by iPhone "flashlight" under fabric. Tripod, full manual. Shutter remotely activated with iPod. Natural light through window. Highlights +100, shadows -100, clarity -55, whites +26, blacks -16

2021 Smart Phone Challenges

Challenge: Single Leaf
Photo by Charlotte McNaughton

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Charlotte says:

It’s been extremely cold around here this week. -25 to -35 C cold! So I haven’t been venturing outside much this week. Last night I found a leaf under some snow just outside my back door. Put it in a bowl of water outside and waited for it to freeze.

Ricky's Challenge Photos:

Challenge: Single Leaf
from the 2021 Smart Phone Challenges

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Ricky says:

This is a poinsettia lease that had fallen down and slightly dried. I placed it on the marble countertop for the texture in the background. I edited in both Prisma and in BeCasso.

Challenge: Jagged
from the 2021 Photo Critique Group

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Ricky says:

This is my gastro aloe that has survived my black thumb now for three years and has sent up a bloom spike about 6 times. It's showing age, but it's definitely one of the most jagged subjects I had around. Cropped square. Edited to a high key BnW - then exported both the high key and the color edtied and did a BnW dreamscape, with the BnW sharp, and the color out of focus. Because of the white edge, I decided to add a frame so there was an obvious frame edge. My frame is the photo rotated 180˚, then blurred and enlarged so to fit the expanded canvas.

 Announcing the  GRAND PRIZE WINNER in the RISE UP QUILT CHALLENGE!

Xanadu
by Carol Moellers of
Greene, Iowa, won 2nd place.

Carol says:

These last 10 months there have been lots of ups and downs, good days and bad. Being a business owner there have been some very uncertain, stressful moments. Making business altering changes to protect our staff and clients. Calming fears and trying our best to keep everyone safe from contacting the virus. Working through dealing with supply shortages of paper towels, cleaners, masks, hand sanitizers, spending hours trying to find suppliers to send us these needed items. Days were long and stressful. At the end of the day I would go to my studio to unwind and just relieve the stresses of the day. Xanadu was made to symbolize the emotions during this pandemic. I named it Xanadu because this is my "place" where I go to find peace and contentment. I was sitting on the couch early one morning working on my computer and looked up as the sun was rising. This beautiful, colorful sunrise was being painted across the morning sky. At that moment it hit me what to create for this Rise Up Challenge.  

2021 Photo Critique Group

Challenge: Obsessive Compulsive 
Photo by Ross Millikan

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Ross says:

A marbled godwit among the American avocets. Shorebirds that dig in the mud often gather in large flocks at high tide, waiting for the tide to drop and expose the mud flats again. They usually gather by species, but there are often a few interlopers. I took a bunch of shots and like having the godwit off center. There is another just out of the frame on the upper right. Minor light adjustment in Lightroom.

52 Week Challenge Class

Challenge: One Shape
Photo by Jeff Aleman

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Jeff says:

Wheelbarrel in the snow

2021 Smart Phone Challenges

Challenge: Point
Photo by Laura Minch

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Laura says:

I’m fortunate that there is a lot of math homework in my house. I had many pencils to choose from.

Ricky's Challenge Photos:

Challenge: Point
from the 2021 Smart Phone Challenges

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Ricky says:

My attempt to compose a point with a reward at the end. This is actually just a light on the ceiling and my outstretched arm. It is edited with an extreme filter from prisma.

Challenge: Obsessive Compulsive
from the 2021 Photo Critique Group

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Ricky says:

I was in LaVeta from mid-week dealing with the hard-drive failure and still trying to present my first virtual Quilt Luminarium. In all of the chaos, I did not bring my camera to town. I'm still in town tending to the wrap up, and (being very bad) posting nearly 12 hours after the deadline. This is iPhone - I have all the little soldiers stair-stepping, but one is shorter and leaning - maybe a bit drunk...which I think is what I need to be after what transpired these past 8 days.