Simple tips for winning photo competitions

Actually, these are really just good tips for improving your photography in general. I'm not sure I like the idea that you should solely focus on winning a competition.

http://www.my-photo-school.com/2012/07/25/photography-competitions-how-to-improve-your-chances-of-winning/

Where there's a will, there's a way

And Mother Nature ALWAYS has a strong will.

She can even encourage moss to grow in as inhospitable an area as a rusty old truck's running board.

Icy Twig

Cropped a slightly sharpened. I really liked the shallow depth of field here, so I enhanced it as I did with Pretty In Pink a few days ago.

Daily Photo

I have discovered the 365 Project, and for now, I am going to be posting my daily photos there instead of here. I have a couple more days preloaded here, so I'll let them run out, but then all of my new pictures will be here: http://365project.org/staceyb/365 We'll see how that works out! Perhaps there will be outings where I still want to share multiple pictures, and then I may return here for that purpose.

I will be aiming not just to post a picture every day, but to take that picture on the day it is posted. Wish me luck, and please come visit!

Chain Plant

I used the macro lens for this one and then heavily cropped it to get just what I had wanted in the first place.

This is just a really cool plant!

Shattered

I did not have a macro lens when I did this, but I think the picture worked out very well anyway. I like the shallow DOF, which allows the background to give context but not intrude too much on the subject.

Pretty In Pink

This picture looked great (to me) right out of the camera!

But I played with it anyway, because how else will I learn anything? First, a little obligatory cropping. There was a pale pink smudge on one side that had to go, and I wanted the flowers to be just a bit more off-center than they were. I also used the feature to adjust depth of field, so the flowers stayed brilliant, but the background was pushed even further back than it already was.

Happy New Year!

Wishing you all a bright and beautiful 2014!

White Amaryllis

I took this picture early in the day, before I decided the flash was just screwing everything up.

Viewed on the camera screen, I thought this was awful. There was no context! The flash had brightened the white flowers and killed the entire background! When I saw it on my computer screen, however, I liked it a lot more. I think it looks neat the way the flowers almost seem to be floating in nothingness.

I did clone out a little bit of stem at the bottom and played a little with the brightness and sharpness. But nothing too severe. I like the droplets of water on the petals, too. :)

Fall colours

This one I played with a little bit in post-processing.

This scene and therefore the image already had great colours. Late fall gave the gorgeous reds and oranges, and the sun was setting, leaving the pinks on the left. The water was quite still, giving a very beautiful reflection. So, what did I do to this?

First, I cropped it. I actually cut out most of the sunset, because that isn't what I wanted to focus on. Then I added some "warmth" to the picture. It gave the sky a slightly odd cast, but I think it made the rest of the colours pop even more. Third, I increased the saturation a bit, again, just to bring out those gorgeous colours even more.

I love this picture.

Leafy Waterfall

I go back and forth a lot on whether I like this one or not!

I do like the contrast between the large, colourful leaves that are sharply in focus and the muted rocks and waterfall in the background that are softly blurred. Maybe it's just the angle I'm not sure of. Anyway, minimal post-processing here. I cropped out some distractions to either side and did a very slight smidge of sharpening.

Blue Poinsettias

This is not as sharp as I would like, but it's still a fun and pretty picture.

I should maybe have darkened this one a bit. Hmm... Anyway, I did change the horizon so that I could get a nicer crop, cropped it heavily, and tried to sharpen it a little bit. It's hard to see, but the blue leaves also have sparkles on them! :) (Yes, the snow is very fake. This was an indoor display.)

Data Management: The Mundane Side of Photography

A very nice article about storing all those photos.

http://www.scottdavenportphoto.com/blog/2013/12/19/data-management-the-mundane-side-of-photography

Littlest Rainbow

FYI it is very hard for a camera to focus on a rainbow! Apparently the sensors can't figure out what/where/why.

Beautiful Girl

My Cleo is a little exhausted by all the paparazzi!

I love everything about this picture. Taken with my macro lens, I love the DOF.

Merry Christmas!

30 Day Challenge: Take 2

Looking back through old blog posts, it would appear I never actually shared the original 30 day challenge list. So here it is. On to the new!

I have wanted to take another stab at this challenge. I enjoyed it for the most part, but there were items that didn't suit my interests and other things I thought were missing. Therefore, I'm editing the original list to better reflect my own photography goals and interests! I will begin on January 1.

The one thing I'm struggling with is the order. I'm currently leaning towards being a little flexible with the actual order these are done in, since many need a specific location or can't be dictated. (I can't force a bird to appear on the appropriate day, as much as I would like to! And I'm not going searching for one if it's 30 below.)

Here's my challenge. Let me know if you're going to join me!

Holiday Lights

Mickey, Minny, Snoopy, and all the rest are wishing you a very happy holiday!

Christmas: Bright Snowman

Another from an older set. Cropped and sharpened a bit to compensate for being hand held.

Christmas: Ornament 2

Another cell phone picture. Again, I'm quite pleased with the crispness and DOF on this one. I loved how shiny and sparkly this ornament was!