Burst of Color

"Snow Day" - Matt

Just when you think spring is about here... Those Vicksburgers send photos of flowers and washing fire engines and get us all ready for spring. Then, BAM! 5" of snow. Caleb was so excited to eat the snow, sled in it, roll in it, throw snowballs, etc. that he was almost beside himself. Liz was less enthralled... it's hard to walk in, it's cold, and it's windy... what's so fun about that? Jen was awed by the winter transformation and was anticipating the ramifications (hot chocolate!). And I was happy that I had Caleb around as an excuse to roll around in the snow like a kid.
38mm, 1/90sec, p-mode

"Camelia Blooming" - Mike
I had some other ideas for this, but I just didn't have time to try them out. However, we do have these very colorful camelia blossoms that are opening up right now. I really need to remember to take my camera off of ISO 800. I keep forgetting to switch it back after taking indoor photos.
55 mm, f/6.3, 1/80 sec, ISO 800, Matrix, A-Priority

"Colorful Carabiners" - Cary

Carabiners are very useful things, I've learned. As I was seeking for suitable subjects this week, I noticed the colorful one on my camera bag and decided several strung together might make a nice composition. I could have used Mike's studio lights for this one but I'm not displeased with the result.

E-3 w/ 12-60mm @ 21mm, 2.5 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 100, RAW proc. in ALR2

Next week's challenge:

Southern Shots

5 March 2009 - Weekly Photo Challenge: "Bokeh"

Due: 11 March 2009

The word "bokeh" (pronounced "boke-aay" or "boke-uh" - either are acceptable) is from the Japanese word for "blurred or fuzzy" and refers to the out-of-focus areas of an image, usually made when using a narrow depth of field. However, rather than just have this be an exercise in shallow depth of field (a challenge we had back in May), this challenge should focus (no pun intended) on using bokeh as an important element of the overall composition. Some good examples of this can be seen here, the last three images in particular (click on the images to see them full size).

It should also be noted that bokeh effects can be added in post-processing using a variety of image editing tools.

Good luck and happy shooting!