Tag Archives: 30 day challenge

Tah-Dah! I made it!

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Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the last day’s challenge photo of my very first ever month long photo challenge.

My self-portrait.

Me

It’s a bit brighter than I’d like it to be, but other than that, I think it turned out pretty well. Actually, surprisingly, I like a few of this day’s results.

I also liked this one, though it didn’t feel right to use it for my challenge photo since I’m not facing the camera.

Me again

However, I am still looking forward to my wireless shutter release remote that is coming to me in the mail as we speak. I hope to get more natural looking photos with yours truly in them.

And so, my 30 day challenge comes to an end.It was fun, and really good on a couple days to have that guidance to work from.

From now until March 1st, I will be taking pictures of whatever I want. Stay tuned.

I see the world in Black and White

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Well, I tried to see in black and white today!

Isaac and I were back up in Bellevue today for the Humane Society training. There was an hour in between (which turned into two hours when the first session finished early, I digress…) our “animal handling” training (I put a leash on a chihuahua, exciting stuff)  and my “pet publicist” training.

So, we went looking for a place where I could possibly get a black and white shot in for the day! We found a trail system called Newport Hills, and Isaac wanted to see where it came out, so off we went! We got about 1.2 miles in (the sign told me so) when it came time for us to turn back or I’d miss my training.

Isaac on a bridge

 

Also, I think as this 30 day challenge comes to a close, instead of taking on two separate challenges (month-long challenge and 365 challenge) I’m going to combine the two and offer you, the reader, just one photo a day. Or more, if I have good ones to offer. I love taking photos, and it’s been super helpful to have a daily guide to get my creativity in motion, but I will start applying those photos to my 365 project.

That being said, since I started my blog/photo challenge/learning process in the middle of January, I’ve been a bit off on the monthly prompts. Tomorrow, is my last photo for this 30 day challenge, a ‘self-portrait,” and so once I’ve finished with that I won’t be starting a new one until March 1st. I’ll just be taking photos of whatever strikes my fancy.

Whew, I feel like I’m babbling.

 

The last four days

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…oh, this page is still blank?? Aren’t these things supposed to write themselves?

Huh.

Guess not.

Alright, here goes.

Rather than bombarding your in-boxes, RSS feeds, etc, with a separate blog post for each of the past four days worth of challenges and 365 photos, I’m going to offer you with just one post for each type (challenge and daily).

I give you challenges #25 – 28: something pink, close up, from a distance, flowers.

#25 something pink - I saw these guys by the sign for our apartment complex, I quickly jumped out and took a few photos before we left for Spokane.

#26 close up - I love this one, and the other close ups I took of these cattails. I took a little walk from Isaac's parents house to this spot; I'd seen these from the car several times, and they were my goal. Glad I overcame my laziness!

#27 from a distance - this one was taken from the car as we drove home yesterday. I was trying to capture the colors of the sky and the red and white of the hay covers, which I'm not sure I succeeded in doing here, but I still like the outcome.

#28 flowers - this is actually another of the shots I took before we left on Friday. This flower, and those behind it are in fact the same pink of the first photo, but I wanted to offer something different and I think I got it in the B&W. I might try again to photo these guys, with the flower 'facing' me

And a silly bonus from the “something Pink” challenge. Just as we were pulling onto Isaac’s parents street, Pink came on the radio. :)

#25 something Pink

Stay tuned!

Animals

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The only purpose of the internet is to distract me. Ugh!

Today’s challenge is ‘animals’ and I found a few today, though the photos I took were not what I wanted them to be. I glimpsed a bald eagle as we were driving along and I made Isaac stop and let me jump out, which I did, but the bald eagle was wary of me and took off. This is the best shot I got of him before he got too far:

Bald Eagle

I’m kicking myself for not getting a better photo, but deep down I know that was next to impossible without a longer zoom lens. It was just too forest-y and he took off pretty quickly. But I thought it was too cool not to share a photo of a bald eagle just hanging out there. Sorry I bothered you, big guy!

I also saw an awesome banana slug on the trail, but none of my photos of him are crisp enough. :( I thought they were at the time I took them, but, turns out I was wrong. I was using my extension tubes, and focusing on his little eyeball/antennas but I guess I wasn’t stable enough. Argh.

And this is my “official” photo challenge photo of the day:

Mallard

Give him a hand!

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Oops! I didn’t post yesterday’s photo challenge photo!

Ah well. Here it is today.

The challenge was “hands” and so I thought, what with it being Valentine’s Day, that I could get a photo of Isaac and I holding hands! It’s harder than I thought it would be, probably mostly because I don’t have a remote shutter release, so I would set up the shot, hit the timer button and run over to where Isaac was standing. The results are not very natural looking shots.

So, after a bit of trying that, Isaac got bored and started throwing crazy hand gestures to the camera. I decided to use of those instead.

Thumbs up! or hitching a ride?

Another reason these photos didn’t turn out how I’d imagined them was the weather. I know, I know, don’t blame the weather, but it was nice-ish out when we got to the park, but started raining shortly there after. Thanks Isaac, for putting up with it all! :)

Mysteries of bokeh

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Bokeh defined: a Japanese term for the subjective aesthetic quality of out-of-focus areas of a photographic image

Today’s challenge: bokeh

I thought it would be cool to try my hand at some of the DIY bokeh lenses I’ve seen around the internet, so I got out my black construction paper and scissors and set to work.

Unfortunately my lens largest aperture is just 3.5, which made it harder (note to self, save up money for 1.8 lens AND that tripod…) I ended up using my 55-200mm lens with the 36mm extension tube for the majority of these.

In most of my photos the bokeh cover I made was visible. I have read in the DIY tutorials that it shouldn’t be, and I’m thinking it’s because my lens aperture isn’t large enough.

Here is a smattering of examples from today’s attempt:

It’s kind of random, a mini cilantro plant in front of colorful Christmas lights, but it’s what I had to work with, under the circumstances! :)

Orange you glad…?

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Today’s challenge: “Something orange”

And what is more orange than an actual orange? Hmm?

I am loving my new extension tubes.

Long Exposure

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Okay okay, so I’m already off schedule on posting! Gah!

My task yesterday was to use a longer exposure time than normal. When I tried to get Isaac running, around 4pm, it was still way to light out, so I decided to wait until later and try on some cars, maybe with the city view in the background.

In my dreams, it looked something like this or this. Wow.

Unfortunately, I didn’t plan ahead, and for example, KNOW where this particular shot was taken, so I could at least try to recreate it. So, we drove around a bit, looking for a potential spot. The closest I came was this:

Which is a far cry from this.I see now that I needed to be further from the freeway itself. And it probably wouldn’t have hurt to try a little earlier than midnight, some time when more cars were on the road.

I also took a couple from the Aurora Bridge, which don’t have the city in them, but I love what the long exposure (1 second) did to the street lights. Coool.

Anyway, now that I know where I need to go  (Dr Jose Rizal park) I want a do-over!