August Photo Challenge Winner

Once again, I received SO many amazing photos for the August photo challenge.  Thank you all for playing along - I love seeing your photos and I hope this little challenge has inspired you to get out your camera more and play around with the settings.  The more pictures you take, the better they will be.  So really, everyone's a winner.  However, since I did have to pick an official winner (I had to get help choosing from a trusted friend), without further ado...

(Little Black Button)

I mean, is that not just absolutely gorgeous?  Le swoon.  

Congratulations Whit! I will be contacting you soon about your prize!  

Thanks once again to Make Pie Not War and Snow & Ivy for this month's prize package! I hope you'll go check out their Etsy shops and let them know I sent you!  

August Photo Challenge

The August Photo Challenge is officially up and ready for your entry!  This month's theme is:

Please remember to choose only ONE photo.  I will be taking submissions this morning through Wednesday night.  The photo can be a recent picture that you took (maybe with the help of this tutorial) or one of your favorites from your archives.  You can submit your photo a couple different ways:

• Put your photo in a blog post (please reference/link to this blog post) and add your permalink (URL) to my linky below.  If your post has more than one photo in it, please make sure you clearly designate which photo you are submitting.

• If you don't have a blog, email me your photo (my email address is to the right) or submit it on my Facebook page  (make sure you're a "fan") and make sure I have your name and email address.

(Canon 7D with 50mm 1.4 lens - settings: f/2.8, 1/200 sec., ISO 100)

I'd also love it if you explained why you chose that photo, how you got the shot, what settings you used, if you did any post-processing to the photo, or any other fun info that could help others achieve a similar shot, but that's not required.  The more info, the better so we can all learn together.  

Winner will be chosen (and announced on the blog) later this week!  The winner will receive the following AWESOME prize:

1. your choice of any of these amazing necklaces from 

Make Pie Not War

(initial, ampersand, heart, bow or (my personal favorite) a CAMERA necklace)

2. a gift certificate to create custom photo postcards from

 Snow & Ivy

(perfect for sending all those thank yous for birthday gifts, showers, etc.)

Linky is below!  

Good luck!

*Prizes were donated by Make Pie Not War and Snow & Ivy.  I was not compensated in any way.  

August Photo Challenge Theme - Sunshine

Since I had such a great response to July's photo challenge (and on such short notice), I thought it'd be fun to try again this month and give you all a little more time to get that perfect shot. 

Because August is the last official full month of summer, this month's theme is:

Here's how this will work:

ONE - Get out your camera and play around with it!  Make sure to keep the theme SUNSHINE in mind when taking your photos and then get to shooting.  Take 4,396 photos!  The whole point of this challenge is to get you to feel more comfortable with your camera and the best way to do that is to experiment.  Why not?  It's digital and if they all suck, you can just erase them.  What do you have to lose?  

TWO - Pick your favorite photo (only one) and submit it in the link-up that will be up on the blog on Monday, August 26 (closing that Wednesday evening).  That means you've got two full weeks to find a photo (that you took, duh) that you love and fits the SUNSHINE theme.  It doesn't have to be one that you've taken recently, but it'd be great if it was.  

Feel free to get creative with the theme.  Maybe you've got a photo with amazing sun flare and beautiful beams of light.  Maybe it's sunshine coming into a dark room through an open window.  Maybe a photo of a beautiful sunset at the beach or light coming down through the leaves of trees in the woods.  Maybe it's just a photo of your adorable kid playing in the sun in the front yard.  Anything goes! 

(Psst: there may also be a fun tutorial here on the blog within the next couple days that should go perfectly with this theme...stay tuned)

THREE - I (along with help) will pick the winner by the end of the month.  This month I have TWO incredibly AWESOME prizes for the winner, so I hope you'll be extra enticed to play along.  Two of my favorite Etsy vendors have graciously donated some kick-ass photography related prizes that I know you are going to want.  

The August photo challenge winner will receive: 

1. your choice of any of these amazing necklaces from 

Make Pie Not War

(initial, ampersand, heart, bow or (my personal favorite) a CAMERA necklace)

2. a gift certificate to create custom thank you postcards from

 Snow & Ivy

(perfect for sending all those thank yous for birthday gifts, showers, etc.)

Seriously, how awesome are these prizes?!  

A big, giant huge thanks to Make Pie Not War and Snow & Ivy for being so generous and just plain freaking awesome.  

I hope you'll get out your camera and play along.  

I can't wait to see your photos this month!  

Let the sun shine!

July Photo Challenge Winner

You guys, there were so many amazing entries in the July Photo Challenge!  I loved doing this, but man it was SO HARD to pick a winner.  There were over 30 entries!  And I love them all!  I wish I could give you all a prize just for being awesome enough to play along and for getting your camera out.  I really hope to do this again in August, so be on the lookout for this month's theme (if you have ideas for a theme or prizes, let me know).  But next time I'm roping someone else in on making the final decision because that was tough!  

So, without further ado, here is the winning photo...

From the second I saw this photo, I loved it.  I love the lighting, the mood and the little boy running through the sprinkler.  It's almost sunset and this photo really captures that magical "golden hour" right before the sun goes down.  Love the light coming through the water and the reflection of the sunset in the puddle.  Love that it's taken from a low angle looking up.  Love it all.  

Congrats Jamie!  I'll email you the gift card from Pinhole Press so you can make your own personalized coasters or memory game with your favorite photos (you know, in your abundant amount of free time).  

Thank you all for playing along!

July Photo Challenge

I hope you all have been having fun with your camera this summer!  It's now time to submit your best/favorite WATER photo.  It can be one you took last weekend or last summer, anything goes as long as there's WATER in the photo. 

Please remember to choose only ONE photo.  I will be taking submissions this morning through Wednesday night.  You can submit your photo a couple different ways:

• Put your photo in a blog post (make sure you reference/link to this blog post) and add your permalink (URL) to my linky below.  If your post has more than one photo in it, please make sure you clearly designate which photo you are submitting.

• If you don't have a blog, email me your photo (my email address is to the right) or submit it on my Facebook page  (make sure you're a "fan") and make sure I have your name and email address.

(f/1.4, 1/2500, ISO 320, edited in PSE with Florabella Subtle Color action)

I'd also love it if you explained why you chose that photo, how you got the shot, what settings you used, if you did any post-processing to the photo, or any other fun info that could help others achieve a similar shot, but that's not required.  The more info, the better so we can all learn together.  

Winner will be chosen (and announced on the blog) later this week!  The winner will get a gift certificate to Pinhole Press to use your own photos to create personalized coasters or a custom Memory game for your kids.  

Good luck!  

I can't wait to see your photos!

*Gift certificate donated by Pinhole Press

Announcing a Photo Challenge

Since we had such a great reaction to the idea of a photo challenge, I'm pleased to present the very first...

Running From the Law Photo Challenge!

And since we're smack dab in the middle of a summer heat wave, I figured it would be appropriate for the theme to be: 

~~WATER~~

Here's how it will work:

ONE.  Get out your fancy camera and play around with it this weekend.  Take a couple photos (heck, take 600 photos!) that you feel represent this month's theme (water).  For example, take photos of your kids in the pool, playing in the sprinkler, at the splash park, going down the Slip 'n Slide, taking a bath, jumping in rain puddles, etc.  Or if you don't have kids, take a picture of your dogs swimming, or a photo of waves on the beach, you fishing or your friends lounging by a lake/pool.  Get creative with the theme or go traditional.  Anything goes, as long as there is water in the photo somewhere.  Easy enough, right.  

TWO.  Make sure you read last week's tutorial on taking better photos (HERE).  That will give you some good advice on how to improve your photos.  Think about your location and the settings you want to use.  If you're outside, lower your ISO.  If you want bokeh, use a wide open aperture (lower f/stop number).  If you want to freeze water droplets in the air, you'll want a faster shutter speed.  Play around with angles and perspectives - get low, get high, get behind something or shoot through something!  Work on getting exactly what you want to highlight in focus.  Experiment!

THREE.  Pick your best/favorite photo to submit next week.  ONE photo.  On Monday I will have a post on here where you can link up over the next couple days to submit your photo.  I will be taking submissions Monday morning through Wednesday night. You can submit your photo a couple different ways:

• Put your photo in a blog post (make sure you reference/link to this blog post) and add your permalink (URL) to my linky (lnky site will be up and running on Monday).
• If you don't have a blog, email me your photo (my email address is to the right) or submit it on my Facebook page  (make sure you're a "fan") and make sure I have your name and email address.

I'd love it if you explained why you chose that photo, how you got the shot, what settings you used, if you did any post-processing to the photo, or any other fun info that could help others achieve a similar shot, but that's not required.  The more info, the better so we can all learn together.  

FOUR. I will pick a winner out of all the entries (and maybe a couple runners-up) by the end of next week and announce it on the blog.  The winner will get a gift certificate to Pinhole Press to use your own photos to create personalized coasters or a custom Memory game for your kids.  Such an awesome prize!  Pinhole Press is one of my favorite companies and they graciously donated this gift certificate for our little contest here (seriously, they are the bomb!).  I made some of their coasters for Ryan for Father's Day and they're awesome - super thick and gorgeous.  I can't wait until Mac's a little bit older so I can make a memory game for him.  Either product is an awesome way to display your photos. 

So make sure to get out there and take some photos this weekend.

I'll see you back here on Monday for the link up.

NOW GET SHOOTING!