Photos of the Week - Week 15

Critique Group Challenge: 

Week 15, FT

Photo by Carol Bergers

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Carol says: 

FTs in Fruita, Utah’ (Part of Capitol Reef National Park)

I have just returned from a six-day ‘Road Trip’ to Southern Utah, where I visited three National Parks and five Utah State Parks. While I was in Capitol Reef National Park, all of the old fruit trees were blooming at the time. Part of this National Park used to be an old settlement where 8-10 Mormon families used to live. Long ago, they planted apple, apricot, peach, and plum trees in this fertile location. The fruit orchards are now being maintained by the Park Service.

I cropped this photo in Lr, and then took it into Topaz Studio 2 where I added the Orton Effect filter to give it some softness, and then added a vignette.

52-Week Photo Challenge Class
Week 15 - Selective Color

Week 52 Photo Challenge:

Week 15, Selective Color

Photo by Dolores Wood

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Dolores  says:  

Spring is finally starting to blossom out in Idaho. Had to work hard to select the red flowers, but I did it!

Smart Phone Photo Challenges
Week 15 - Straight Up

Smart Phone Challenge:

Week 15, Straight Up

Photo by Rosie Riewer

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Rosie says: 

Looking up at my shirts from the bottom of my closet. All edits were phone edits: square crop, a bit of vignette to soften the edges, and Palma filter.

Smart Phone Challenge:

Week 15, Straight Up

Photo by Ricky Tims

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Ricky says:

\

Critique Group Challenge:

Week 15, FT

Photo by Ricky Tims
from the 2022 Critique Group

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Ricky says:

I experimented with several options - which is fun. In the end, during golden hour on this glorious day on the mountain, I put my phone on the ground in some tall dead weeds. I was surpised to see the color shift in the sky. I also used the wide angle option.

Photos of the Week - Week 14

Critique Group Challenge: 

Week 14, Floating

Photo by Laurie Lee

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Laurie says: 

Oil and liquid soap floated on water with some color lights underneath the container. Basic LR adjustment

52-Week Photo Challenge Class
Week 14 - Street Photo

Week 52 Photo Challenge:

Week 14, Street Photo

Photo by Diana Weir

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Diana  says:  

I was uncomfortible with this assignment, seemed invassive, and shot many images with my camera at my hip plus avoided any shots with children. I became more comfortible and this is my favorite - giggling teens breaking ice on a pond with their feet. Minimal LR adjustments, except vibrance -100, which I liked better than B&W.

Smart Phone Photo Challenges
Week 14 - Fifty-Fifty

Smart Phone Challenge:

Week 14, Fifty-Fifty

Photo by Nancy Nelson

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Nancy says: 

This is a shot of the edge of the building where I work and the sky. I was going for two rectangles. It was taken during the day with a clear blue sky that wasn’t too interesting so I edited in SnapSeed and used the double exposure tool to overlay a picture I took recently of the sky with clouds and the moon. Then I decided to make it b&w so it would look like it was taken at night. Not sure how successful my efforts but it was fun to try.

Smart Phone Challenge:

Week 14, Fifty-Fifty

Photo by Ricky Tims

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Ricky says:

\

Critique Group Challenge:

Week 14, Float

Photo by Ricky Tims
from the 2022 Critique Group

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Ricky says:

Not a lot that floats around here, but I do have a few rubber duckies... I know... TMI. Anyway, they got to have a little escape on a lovely Spring day to enjoy a little swim in the pond.

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Photos of the Week - Week 13

Critique Group Challenge: 

Week 13, Nonsense

Photo by Francisco Valladares

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Francisco says: 

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

My submission is based on the above section of the poem. For this submission I used seven layers and used the same number of photos to create the collage.

1-The first and second layers were the background of the photo, I used a rusted sculpture we have in the backyard and a photo a took this week of our oxalis plants in our front yard after a rain.

2-The third photo is a photo I took in the Penwith Peninsula in Cornwall, England, this is the ruins of Carn Galver Engine House which was part of a 19th century mine.

3-Photos five, six and seven were the three characters on the photo. The Jabberwock is a phot of a figure standing in the front of a house in our neighborhood, it was put there for Halloween but never left, it still standing there guarding the house. The Jubjub bird is a weathervane in our backyard which I distorted to make it look funny and disproportionate. Finally, the Bandersnatch is the photo of a famous artwork in town by late local musician Daniel Johnston which he called “Jeremiah the Innocent Frog”, this mural was commissioned by the owner of a record store and was almost destroyed in the early 200s, however, the local population rallied to save it when new ownership of the building was set to destroy it.

This was a long process but I enjoyed the creative part of it.

52-Week Photo Challenge Class
Week 13 - Composite Montage

Week 52 Photo Challenge:

Week 13, Composite Montage

Photo by Cheryl Franklin

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Cheryl  says:  

I had to take one last picture of my favorite fishing pond. I've spent many fun times here. I'm hoping the new owners will love it as much as I have. My texture overlay is a field of Texas wildflowers, mostly bluebonnets and Indian paintbrushes.

Smart Phone Photo Challenges
Week 13 - Scissors

Smart Phone Challenge:

Week 13, Scissors 

Photo by Kristin Farwig

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Kristin says:

A jumble of scissors. Square crop. Prisma filter.

Smart Phone Challenge:

Week 13, Scissors

Photo by Ricky Tims

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Ricky says:

\

Critique Group Challenge:

Week 13, Nonsense

Photo by Ricky Tims
from the 2022 Critique Group

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Ricky says:

In a whirlwind of a busy week I managed to shoot this while getting a few pots for landscaping while in Wichita Falls. I liked the variety of colors and shapes and perhaps it makes no sense to chop up the image and shift the colors - so, this is my nonsence submission.

Photos of the Week - Week 12

Critique Group Challenge: 

Week 12, Free For All

Photo by Chris Maher

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Chris says: 

On Sunday I attended the World Guard International (WGI) Regional in Bethlehem PA. For the challenge, I decided to put some limits on myself that I couldn't do normally since I was not the official photographer for the event. My limits were to put my 30 fps camera in single shot mode, shoot only in B&W (since it is mirrorless I basically watched the show in B&W which was a cool experience), and use one prime lens - the 135 f/1.8. I caught this shot pretty early in the event and it turned out to be my favorite. I decided to bring it into Photoshop and add a background since the original had one person in the stands and I thought it was distracting. The gym was pretty dark and the B&W processing seemed to fit the venue well. My year word is Value selected, in part, to encourage me to do more black and white photography, so this was the perfect opportunity. This is Hempfile HS and their show had something to do with gold.

One other thing I did that I could never do as the official photographer - I took a break and missed three groups! I didn't want to get caught in the lunch rush, so I went out early. I not only grabbed some food but ran into some friends. It was a good break. When I got back, sitting right behind me was a good friend who was also shooting Sony. I hadn't seen him in a while and it was very nice to catch up. I headed home as soon as the last group finished as we had a family dinner planned.

52-Week Photo Challenge Class
Week 12 - Do Over

Week 52 Photo Challenge:

Week 12, Do Over

Photo by Denneen Peterson

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Denneen says:  

I hunted on our property for subjects and wasn't feeling it today for the cacti or poles. However, I saw these doves that posed for quite a long time on this ocotillo wand as I moved closer and closer. I set ISO at 100, aperture at 2.8, and used the meter to turn the shutter wheel to 1/800. I like how the doves and a portion of their ocotillo perch are in focus and the closer ocotillo wands and background vegation are out of focus. I cropped to leave out a distracting ocotillo wand and to make a decent composition for the birds. This was late afternoon light, so I adjusted highlights and shadows, whites and blacks. I put some of the blacks back in to make the background trees darker. I masked and darkened all four edges. I also darkenened a bright spot beneath the doves.

Smart Phone Photo Challenges
Week 12 - Paper

Smart Phone Challenge:

Week 12, Paper

Photo by Katie Sprugel

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Katie says:

I wanted to create a double image with paper and trees. I used Image Blender to overlay a photo of tree bark and a stack of magazines. I like the way it almost makes the photo 3 dimensional. If you look on the left , you see more of the bark snd from the right you see more of the magazines.