Hot Cakes

I had so many ideas for this challenge but because I'm a procrastinator many were taken. Great shots everyone! I was hoping to get a great sunset shot because it's the hottest thing in the universe but we had a cloudly, rainy day. So I rushed in to make 'hot cakes' dripping in all the good stuff. Not the picture I wanted but oh so yummy!

CC always welcome!

Not So Hot Anymore

Far from my best picture, but I thought it was pretty cool. This is what it looks like when hot hamburger grease, from thawing hamburger in the microwave, cools down. Kinda gross, but kinda neat too.

Enhanced brightness and contrast.

CC

When I Get All Steamed Up...

Tip me over!

This is my teapot, though I use it to make hot cocoa, cider...and jello. I took it in my kitchen light, decided I didn't like the lighting, and took it to picasa and did a tint job. I liked the warmth it gave the picture. I really struggled...and then I looked at what everyone else had done and found that all my little ideas were taken (and beautifully, I might add!).

CC as always!

Burn Baby Burn

Today is COLD outside... so the whole "HOT" theme was escaping me. Until Hubs wanted to grill up some dogs. HELL-O inspiration! I Boosted and Defined/Sharpened from PW's actions. I also burned off all my knuckle hair getting this shot. Not that I had hairy hands to begin with... um... awkward.

A HOT Iron

Pretty self-explanatory here! A nice, HOT iron, ready to do some damage!

Hot enough to...

fry an egg on the sidewalk.

(iso 100, f5.6, 1/3200, cropped, saturated)

~CC~

And, my self portrait. 

Hi! I'm Corynn. I am from Arizona. I am new to real photography, but I have always loved taking pictures and scrapbooking. Currently, I am a stay at home mom with my five-month old, Jake, and I am taking a photography class at the community college. It is almost over though. :( And, in case you are wondering, I shoot with a Canon Rebel Xs. I look forward to being challenged! 

HOT: Pink

I stepped outside yesterday to grab the mail, and saw these HOT pink azalea buds on the bush in front of my house.

About the photo: adjusted color and contrast, saturated color a little, sharpened, and adjusted shadows so that pink was even brighter.

HOT Out of the Oven

My husband works as a baker at a local bakery, and he gave me the idea of taking pictures of his HOT out of the oven baked bread for this challenge. Well, I thought it was a great idea, and just loved how the steam looked in this particular shot. =)

Taken with a Nikon D-40, on automatic setting, then cropped. CC welcome.

Red Hot

(55mm, F5.6, 4 sec., iso100)

SOOC

It looks like me and Hotmama03 had the same idea! I actually thought about the shot I wanted all day at work yesterday and was a bit dismayed to find out someone else had already gone for it. Hotmama03, hope you don't mind I gave it a go anyway because of lack of time. This was fun! Britt and I got out the toys for this one. I turned off all the lights (it was 10:00 at night) and got out the tripod and remote so I could get a shutter speed of 4 seconds.

Hot Chocolate

It is a gray and miserable day in Indiana, a perfect day for hot chocolate!

Photo was taken under a white florescent light (and white balance was set to reflect that), 1/6 sec, f/8.0, ISO 100. I adjusted colors with the curves function. I used Nestle Rich Chocolate and spiked it with cream. cc

The Other Lindy

(D70, 50mm, f7.1, 1/80 sec, 800 ISO)

Pretty self explanitory, I think. All I did was crop it, use gradient map to make it even more black & white, and then used a Level Adjustment Layer to make the blacks & whites really pop. Then I added the border and my watermark, actions provided by MCP Actions. CC

hot, me.

right when i read this challenge i wanted to show the 'hot' beauty of being a mother... a sort of classic pose from the Renaissance period and a new age mom...me. i set it on the tripod and got it just as i wanted it and then jon pushed the trigger. I love it. i actually feel pretty looking at it. there is nothing too sexy about a back, but the idea that i am a mom, and older now ~ the candles, the blanket... it feels hot to me. and therefore the theme ~ hot.


Taken on nikon d300
iso 3200
speed 40
f stop 2.8
lens 14-24 2.8
black and white alteration in adobe cs3 and added border.

cc as always :)

Hot & Sweaty

nikon d90, f6.7, 1/500, iso 800, 300mm

Nothing like running around a soccer field for over an hour to make you hot and sweaty! I got a chance to practice my sports photography skills (ha! skills!) today while watching some of "my girls" from church play a soccer game.

cc

Melting

I went through a whole tray of ice cubes trying to get this shot (good thing they're cheap). They kept melting too fast :). Now, I'm off to take care of my HOT, fevering little one. Sigh.

300mm macro mode, F10, 1/400, ISO100
In RAW editing I sharpened and increased the clarity and vibrance.

CC always welcome

Hot Days

Nikon D80, f/8.0 120 mm ISO No Flash

Nothing says HOT better than cold ice cream melting in the sun. YUMMY

Cropped so only the black plate (not sidewalk) was showing, did a color boost and added a border.

Please CC!

Hott Stuff

I couldnt figure out what to do for it. It is NOT hot around here, just chilly. So i found my husbands stash of Hot Sauce and decided to play with color.

I used my Nikon D60, with the Picasa program and used the Saturation element for some fun.

CC always welcome, please

Hot Mamma

1/640, F4, ISO 80

Too much of a stretch? There's nothing "hot" about April in Idaho, but when I saw this little piglet curled up against his mamma for warmth, I couldn't resist.

CC

Hot: Boiling

This idea hit me quickly, and I jumped to do it just in case anyone else had the same idea. Not only did I have and idea but knew how to do it too. It was crazy!!!



I took this in my kitchen with our wonderful red sauce pot. (which had to be scoured) I put some water in and let it boil. I originally was going for the steam out of the pot but the bubbles looked so cool when I caught them in the camera. In PS I cropped just a little, and boosted the color by saturating it. The red pot just wasn't red enough.
-CC-

Challenge: Hot

My word that I came up with is hot. I hope this is a good word for you guys. I had another one, but heat is what is on my mind this morning. This post is going up a little late because our air conditioner was all but working last night, so I hardly slept at all!! I'm so sorry it's going up late. Please forgive!!

I can't wait to see how you guys interpret this word!!

Please have your pictures posted by tomorrow at midnight and...

Happy Snapping!!! :)

Wisdom: WINNERS!

Good morning everyone! Let me just say again that I am so impressed with all the different interpretations we had this time around, and I'm really grateful that each of you shared a personal experience with your picture. I know that I was definitely blessed by participating in this particular challenge.

Okay, enough gushing. You're just here to find out if you won, right?

Congratulations to Mindy, who won Best Lighting for her pearls of wisdom, to Brittney who won best over all with her canine wisdom, and to Felicia, who earned the most combined votes for her square foot garden (which might have to be the way I start a garden...not too overwhelming).

Please scroll down for today's Tuesday Tutorial, and we'll see you again tomorrow with a new challenge.

(Click here to see all the winning pictures from every challenge.)

The Running Man

I've finally gotten together the tutorial for my "running man". I've never put together one so I hope it makes sense - if anyone has any questions please ask! Sorry for the delay- my life got a little hectic! As a disclaimer these pictures that I'm using aren't the best- but they work for demonstration purposes.

Couple of tips for getting the pictures:
-Use a tripod- that way it's easier to make sure everything will line up right in the editing.
- If your subject is running/walking you want to close down your AP (higher number) so you make sure you are getting more in focus. I didn't do it and as a result (and you can see in the photos) the gate was in focus and because my son was far enough ahead of it he isn't quite sharp. It's hard to get the focus on your subject when they are running in front of you because you want to keep your camera in the same spot to make this type of composition work- and I know for me I can't change my focus points fast enough to keep up with him.
- Do several tries - just to make sure you get a good progression.

Editing:
I shoot raw so the first thing I do is look at my photos in bridge and then open all of the ones I want to open in Adobe Camera Raw. There I make sure they are all selected so that I know they will look the same with their WB and Exposure. Then I open them in PS. Then I do a general edit on each picture - on this example I turned them all B&W. Here's the photo that I want at the end of the series:
Then I drag another photo using the move tool (top tool on the left toolbar) onto this photo. It puts it on a layer on top- as you can see in the lower right on the layers menu. I lower the opacity to where I want it and try to line up the photos as best I can. So I try and make sure all the lines in the fence and sidewalk are right on top of each other. With the new photo layer selected I erase (with eraser set to 100% and a soft edge) everything but the subject. For these ones I went from darkest to lightest (right to left) so this one still had a high opacity.
Then I dragged two more photos and did the same thing as described above - now I have four boys on four layers. Each with varying opacity and all but the first layer with just the boy showing.
Then I just flatten the image (ctrl+E) and do my finishing edits. For this I fixed the shadow and did some sharpening as I had already changed to b&w. Then I changed size and saved for web and you're done!

Mission 24 business

Since we are starting this week with a few changes, I figured I would start by following through the our scheduled Monday business post. I will try to keep Mondays for all things to note...reminders on things, feedback for changes, etc. so that we can keep the rest of the week free to photograph! :)

I have sent everyone an email with the featured Photographer questions on it. IF YOU DID NOT RECEIVE IT, PLEASE LET ME KNOW. I have tried to go in and correct the emails, so if you were missed by some chance, I will get it fixed for sure. We have gotten several back so far and I have loved reading them so far...you didn't think I could WAIT did you?? :)

ALSO, The feature Friday has changed and will now be a TUESDAY TUTORIAL so we can have a Feature Photographer Friday. I think that should work out nicely.

I really appreciate all your feedback and ideas. You are each a big part of this blog and I thank you so much.

Before signing off, I just want to really CHALLENGE you to push yourselves this week. Ask yourself a few questions before you post your picture for the next challenge...

--is this my best? Did I really take the time and effort to ponder the challenge and realize what it means to me? Sometimes I take pictures of 2-3 different objects--even if it means a hundred shots a piece...to find the object that FEELS right to me. Or even with my UNO picture last week, I had taken it the first day of the challenge. And then I decided to sleep on things...decide what I thought in the morning. When I woke up and looked at it again, I wasn't 100% happy. So I REDID the whole shoot. Another 100 pictures. And I was so glad I did. I saw things in a different light and felt like it came together like I hoped.

--Would I frame this? I know that probably sounds silly, but I have found as I ask myself that lately, it has made me really THINK about my picture instead of just posting one. We usually frame the pictures that we LOVE because of an emotion we feel when we see them. PUT THAT INTO YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS and you will be SO amazed at how much your photography changes.

--Have I taken the features/tutorials people have posted into consideration? I know there were some really great ones early on about filling the frame, taking a new viewpoint, and using different settings on your camera--even the point and shoot ones. Taking a look back might help put you in a different spot when you find yourself in a rut.

--Am I improving? I think each person can determine this themselves...but it doesn't hurt to do an honest evaluation with yourself. Look back at a picture you took a month ago, and one you took now. If you don't feel you are really progressing, it might be a great chance to look at what you can do to improve. Even the best photographers still have room to grow. The art of photography is ever-changing...

Those are just a few things I have thought of as we have had these challenges lately. I hope you each feel inspired by the talent we have here, and that you feel you have the opportunity to better yourself, no matter what camera you have. I am so proud of where everyone is going with this--I can see immprovements each time and I hope you each know how wonderful I think you are!

(scroll down for voting!!)

Wisdom: VOTING!

Good morning everyone! I love that we all have such unique interpretations of this challenge word. It was great. I think it helped us get to know each other a little better, too, because we each had something about ourselves and our life experiences to share, as we explained our photos.

But on to the voting. Dave, Katy, and Rachel are ineligible this time around, due to being so completely awesome on "One" last week.

And since we're still flying by the seat of our pants a little bit with the new voting, I'm picking a random category again: Best lighting.

Please word your votes like this:

Best lighting:
Best overall:
Shoutouts:

Get your votes in by midnight tonight, and have a wonderful Monday!

Man's Search for Wisdom

Both my husband and I took pictures for this challenge, and later decided that we liked this one of his best, so this one's from both of us. =)

Socrates once said that "True wisdom is in knowing that you know nothing." So, in our picture, the "Thinker" symbolizes man's unending quest for wisdom (or knowledge), and what better place to look for wisdom than from the word of God (The Book of Mormon)?

Taken with a Nikon D-40, on automatic setting, with overhead lighting. CC welcome.

(P.S. It IS only 10:15pm in our time zone, so hope this counts!)

A wise face

Continuing the gardening theme, this woman has a fabulous garden, and a face that I think speaks to wisdom gained by years of hard work and happiness.

Many of the international students in my University bring their parents over for the summer, and many of those parents spend their time gardening. Last year my husband and I were quick to realize that the most prolific gardens were those cultivated by people using non-western techniques (including this woman), so we started to watch what they did and emulate them.

About the photo: iso 100, f/5.6, 1/400 sec exposure. I should have taken it slower and with a higher f-stop given the lateness of the afternoon. In any case, I cropped it, turned it to sepia with the "old photo" function in gimp, and increased the contrast. CC, as always.

Square Foot Garden

I have always wanted to grow a garden and my father suggested I do a square foot garden and there was so much wisdom in that suggestion. It makes gardening so fast and easy and has kept me from getting overwhelmed or frustrated. I can't wait until everything I am growing is fully grown and ready to eat, I have never been so excited for vegetables. If you are interested in easy gardening I suggest the book called "The All New Square Foot Garden" The guy who wrote it is also full of gardening wisdom!
Taken outside lighting no flash on automatic settings and sharpened and saturated in photoshop.

Word of... and all of that trash is not...

I did a challenge!

We went on a family walk, and along side the road were a plethora of empty beer cans.

I subscribe to the Word of Wisdom, and the knowledge that SOMEONE, SOMETIME had consumed all that beer, well, it didn't seem very wise. Oh, and it's so not wise to litter!

Here's my beer can, in all it's unwise glory!

*My mom couldn't figure out why beer was getting such a prime place in my pictures tonight :) *
I just got PaintShop Pro, and I did a couple of things, but I was just playing around and I have no idea what...

CC as always.

Wisdom is learned...

Nikon D80, F 5.6m, 135mm, ISO 250, no flash

SOOC

What a tough mission this was for me!

This is really not what I set out to post as my "wisdom" post, but I wasn't able to find an elderly person who fit my "mental" picture of my ideal model for WISDOM. C'est la vie.

Instead, (in my attempt to find this said person) we went to feed the ducks at a nearby pond and to my surprise, there were some rather large geese making a visit. They were unlike the ducks, in that they were VERY eager to approach us, as they knew we were packing some yummy treats.

So, I thought, "Wow, these are very wise geese! They know exactly how to approach us and not to bite the hand that feeds them." It was a new experience for my kids (and me) to hand feed WILD geese.

Pearls of wisdom--a different take

Sweet Mindy and I had the same idea! I PROMISE I took my picture earlier this afternoon but am just getting to posting it now. She beat me to it!! (and hers is AMAZING). ISO 200, 98mm, f 5.6, 1/25 second


I wish I had a beautiful string of pearls to use for this...I looked, but couldn't even come up with cheapy plastic ones from the toy box. :) So I went to the backup pearl--my mom and dad gave all of us girls a pearl and diamond necklack when we turned 12.

I really am not a necklace girl, so I had it made into a ring when I was in college.
Lots of symbolism...and pearls of wisdom. :)

white pearl = white for purity and also told us how a pearl is made. starts as a grain of sand gets in an oyster. Over time, after lots of aggitating and pressure, the pearl comes to be. A symbol that even the smallest thing can become precious through struggle and pressure.

Diamond= the story of the diamond is that it starts out as a piece of coal. The most brilliant of diamonds go through the hottest of fires and the most extreme pressure.

And a little quote to go with that..."It is through the flames of difficulty that the steel of faith is forged. Ease does not call forth greatness"

While that refers to steel, it is something I always think of when I see my ring.

"Plant a Garden"

In my church there's a primary song, "The prophet said to plant a garden, so that's what we'll do"- well, I've tried. For three years now I've tried but it seems that all I get are weeds. So, this represents wisdom in the sense that it was told by the leader of our church, in all his wisdom, that we ought to plant one. Also, it seems that some wisdom is required in order to actually make it grow.

I took this picture from my 2nd floor bathroom window. I was taking pictures of the flower buds on a different tree but then I spotted my new garden box (b-day present) and I liked how the bright smooth new wood contrasted with all of the textures around it- old fence, newly budding tree. I liked it.

I did boost the colors a bit and did some burning to make it look like the sun was shining only on the garden- truthfully it was a very dreary rainy day!

CC ALWAYS WELCOME!!

Wisdom: Applying Intelligence

So apparently Janelle and I are on the same wave length. Because I often think of wisdom as applying intelligence. In the picture are some of the things which display my growing wisdom.



I took this picture late in the evening, with a flash. In PS I cropped and saturated the color a little bit. Sadly the feature I really wanted to use is in a program that just died on my computer. So sorry it's not as sharp and defined as it could have been. -CC-

(also I apologize for any grammar mistakes or odd sentences. My brain just isn't quite working right.)

And His Mother Was Glad

There never was a child so lovely, but his mother was glad to get him asleep.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

I'm a big quote person, they are often full of wisdom. Ever since I had my son I've liked this quote because it always applies to me. I love my son to pieces and think he's the greatest thing in the world, that being said, I'm always one happy mama when he's asleep!

Cannon XSi, 55 mm, 1/60s, f/5.6, ISO 400 cropped and sephia added.

Question; Does the framing with crib distract from my sleeping boy, or add to the pic?

CC always welcome!

Wisdom: Old meets new

They say that wisdom is applied knowledge. When I got married, I hadn't really done a lot of cooking on my own, but I found that it came naturally to me. I enjoyed cooking, and I really wanted to be one of those people who can cook by taste and smell. I'm not 100% there, but there are definitely some things I can do by taste. Ever since I started cooking regularly, it's really been easy for me, and a couple of months ago, I had an epiphany as to why. I have read hundreds and hundreds of recipes. My mom's recipe cards, her cookbooks, my cookbooks, food blogs, newspapers, you name it. I gained a lot of knowledge that I have been able to apply as wisdom, because I know what herbs and spices go with which base foods, and house to mix things together, etc. These are two of my cookbooks, an old one and a new one (I would highly recommend the new one, by the way...lots of good how-to information in it).

About the photo: late evening, flash, cropped, saturated colors, sharpened image, increased shadows.

CC

Pearls of Wisdom

Wisdom isn't always learned from books... and sometimes smart people aren't very wise. Some people have the gift of being inherently wise, and some of us learn how to be wise through life's lessons.

I treasure little pearls of wisdom that are given to me from time to time... thoughts that will make me grow and learn, and become a little wiser myself. This one is from a woman I love and admire... a woman who is full of wisdom, Marjorie Hinckley.

Wisdom Wears a Beard

(ISO 400, 1/60, f4.5, natural light)

When I think of Wisdom, I think of an old man with a beard (or an owl). Since I don't have any old men with beards at my disposal, I settled for my bearded Jack Russell Terrier. (Can you see his beard? People tell me he has one, but I see him so often, I can't tell!) Not only is he bearded. He is surely a wise old friend.

I would have loved to put a frame around this like I've seen some of you do. Can anyone tell me how to do that? Is it done in Elements, regular Photoshop, Picasa or on Blogger? Thanks.

Knowledge is Wisdom

ISO 100
F3.2
1/100
50mm
Natural Light

PS Elements: Auto Lighting Levels; Fluorescent Chalk Effect

~CC~

A Wise Mother...

Chooses her battles.

After an interesting occurance in December, I am less quick with punishments for eating suckers and much more aware that all my scissors are locked in boxes eight feet up. (For the full story, go here and here...since it was twice in one week!)

Photo stuff: EV:0, ISO:auto, WB: cloudy, Flash level: normal, macro:on. Now that I know where to find all this, I'm much more likely to change it up and try harder on it all. Also, took the pic to Picasa and cropped it and gave it "I'm feeling lucky" which makes it look better somehow.

CC welcome, as always!

Proverbial Wisdom

Don't throw bricks when you live in a glass house.

Some Sage Advice

A wise woman once said, "Katy, get your bottom inside that house RIGHT NOW and put some sunscreen on this instant".

Thanks, Mom.

But now, turns out I'm a little bit of a SPF-aholic. My sweet Hubs (whom I lovingly call Pale-Face) thinks it's crazy for a dark-skinned Asian to be so concerned about sun damage... but like I always say, "Tis far, far better to have a face.... than NOT to have a face at all". Ok, I really don't always say that, but I should.

Honestly, I'm not too proud of this picture. It's cloudy out today (surprise, surprise) so my "genius" ideas are all miffed by our finicky Idaho weather. Yesterday, I walked around parks and stores to hopefully stumble upon a Wise Old Indian Woman or an Owl or maybe if I'm really lucky an Elephant who is wise beyond its years. Turns out Elephants don't frequent the Rexburg Wal-Mart like I think they ought to. O Well! Happy Sunday

Wisdom Missed

(Nikon D70, 50mm, 1/15 sec, f8, 800 ISO)

This was my first go at a challenge with my 50mm lens...ok, my husband's 50mm that I stole. I'm still learning, but I have to say that I l.o.v.e this lens.

The photo is of my wedding bouquet (in the background), but more importantly, of Marla's corsage that she wore at Nathan and my wedding. Marla was my mom's best friend and a second mom to me. Only 7 months after our wedding, Marla lost her year and half long battle with ovarian cancer. The house we live in now is the one she left to us. I miss her so much, that over two years later it still hurts when I think of her, and I would give just about anything to see her hold our boys just once...she was a twin and I can only imagine how much she would love Levi and Asher.

This photo represents wisdom to me in so many ways. First, I can't even explain how much I miss being able to call Marla up and ask for her advice. It was always straight forward and to the point, she didn't pull any punches, and most of the time that's exactly what I needed. I know my words aren't doing her justice, but I'm trying. Also, it amazes me to think back to the day that these flowers represent and realize just how much wisdom Nathan and I have gained since saying our vows. I would say that I wish we had that wisdom back then, but that's the fun of growing together, right?

PS. I've missed you all in the past couple of weeks!