Photography Challenge - Weeks 4, 5, & 6

I've been back from Florida for a while now and I'm finding it hard to get back into the swing of things. Sewing, crafting, blogging, cleaning, laundry, cooking, grocery shopping...you name it and I will find an excuse to put it off. Procrastination should be my middle name. Anyway, it's time to play catch-up in the Photography Challenge being hosted over at A Step in the Journey. I missed week 4 due to vacation and week 5 due to pure laziness, so I'm going to post photos for those two weeks along with this week's entry.

The theme for Week 4 was "Dinner."  I am amazed by some of the beautiful food photography I see on the web.  I'm pretty sure the Pioneer Woman could make a Hungry Man frozen dinner look delicious just by taking a photo of it.  My food photography skills leave quite a bit to be desired (as do my cooking skills, but that's another issue entirely! ha!)  My dinners never look "cookbook perfect" and the lighting in my kitchen in the evenings is terrible, but every now and then I make a breakfast that's not too shabby and the morning light on my kitchen table is pretty great, so I'm going to showcase breakfast instead of dinner.  We'll pretend I took it at dinnertime and call it "brinner."

I snapped this photo at around 10am at my kitchen table.  My daughter and I had just made cinnamon waffles topped with apple butter syrup and were about to dig in when that little voice inside my head said "take a picture."  I had the idea to make the photo look like an old-fashioned advertisement for an diner, so played around with the Posterize effect in Picnik and added a bit of text.  Meh.  Not exactly what I imagined, but close enough.

The task for Week 5 was to take a photo from a high angle.  I tend to do this quite a bit whenever I'm taking photos of my crafts or quilts, so I cheated and dug around in my photo stash and found this one...

This photo was taken from straight above.  This is just a small section of a huge cathedral window quilt made by my grandmother, known as GeeGee to my kids.  The full sized quilt is made of hundreds of these "windows," and the entire thing was made completely by hand with a just scissors, needles, and thread.  Not a sewing machine or rotary cutter in sight.  In other words, GeeGee is amazing.  :)

And finally Week 6...this week's goal was to capture a photo from a low angle.  As soon as I saw this week's theme, I knew exactly which photo I wanted to use. 

This photo was taken inside the Illinois Memorial at the Vicksburg National Military Park.  We stopped in Vicksburg on our way to Jackson, Mississippi, the halfway point in our drive to Destin.  I'm a huge history nerd, so I made my husband drive through the Vicksburg battlefield.  I'll post a few more photos from the battlefield in another post.  The Illinois Memorial is a large, domed white marble structure that sits atop a hill.  My daughter and I climbed the 47 steps (one for each day of the Siege of Vicksburg) to the inside of the memorial.  Inside, bronze plaques line the walls, listing each of the 36,000+ soldiers from the state of Illinois who participated in the siege.  This memorial was truly awe inspiring.  The glimpse of blue sky through the hole in the domed roof was so serene and beautiful, I couldn't help taking a photo.

Okay, now I'm back on track.  Next week's theme...what you wore today.  Who wants to see a picture of my gnome jammies?  ;-)

Photography Challenge - Week 3

For this week's theme, the Photography Challenge at A Step in the Journey highlights bold colors.  I have always loved black and white photos with a little pop of color, so this week I took the opportunity to play around with this effect. 

One day I noticed that my brand new blue pedicure (Towel Boy Toy by China Glaze for anyone who might be interested) and my favorite sandals made quite a colorful combination, so I snapped a quick photo while standing outside on my patio.  Using Picnik, I gave the colors a tiny boost, changed the photo to black and white, then spent waaaaay too much of the baby's naptime re-coloring the accent areas.  I love the combination of the hot pink plaid with the bright turquoise toenails against the black and white background.  The colors really pop!

Next week's theme...dinner.  Hey good lookin', what ya got cookin'?

Photography Challenge: Week 2

 This week's theme for the Photography Challenge at A Step in the Journey was "What Makes You Smile?"  I love this theme, because there have been quite a few things this week that have definitely not left me smiling.

Like this...

 

And this...

Anyone know a good tile guy?

But then yesterday morning as I was drinking my coffee, I heard my daughter Bailey playing in her room.  When I peeked around the corner, I found her sitting on her pink ladybug beanbag, playing with her dollhouse, singing to her toys...all while wearing fairy wings.  This definitely makes me smile!

I snapped this photo early in the morning with my Sony Cybershot point and shoot camera.  Using Picnik, I lightened the exposure just a bit and hit it with the Orton-ish effect (one of my favorites) reduced to about 50 percent.  I like the glow that this effect gives it.  I think it makes her look downright angelic...it's a great optical illusion!  haha!

Next week's theme...bold colors.  This one's going to be fun!

Photography Challenge: Week 1

As if I don't already have enough things to keep me busy, yesterday I decided on a whim to join the Photography Challenge at A Step in the Journey.  My picture taking skills definitely have some room for improvement and I love to fiddle around with Picnik and pretend to be artsy-fartsy, so why not?

My goal is to take, edit, and post one photo each week for 20 weeks.  Each week has a different theme.  The challenge kicks off this week with self portraits.  Here we go...

Week 1 - Self Portrait

I snapped this photo standing in my hallway, facing into the light streaming in through my patio doors.  I used the macro setting on my Sony Cybershot point and shoot camera.  I think you can see the reflection of the patio door in my eye.  Using Picnik, first I gave it a Boost, then added the Thermal Heat Map effect.  I like how my eyeball looks like one of those electric globes that makes your hair stand up when you touch it.  I only wish I had thought to curl my eyelashes before snapping the photo.  My lashes are really long and I think it would have made a nice frame for my eye.

Next week's theme...something that makes you smile.  So many possibilities!

Let's Go Picniking!

Have you heard of Picnik?  It's a fantastic website that lets you edit your photos for free.  I stumbled across it last fall and since then every photo I post receives the Picnik treatment. 

For example, in my last post I showed you my new favorite photo of my kiddos.  That photo actually started out as a bit of a mess, but with a bit of cropping and the addition of a few cool effects, my photo went from just another crazy photo to one of my absolute favorites...

This example shows one of my favorite effects in action, Cross-Processing...

A few more examples of photos I've "Picniked"...

Nearly every photo I snap takes a trip through Picnik before being posted.  I love that Picnik lets me remove red eyes, straighten photos, boost colors, add text to my pictures, and even create collages.  But Picnik's usefulness isn't limited to just photos.  I worked my Picnik magic to create my header and avatar for my Etsy shop and I used a combination of text, stickers, and frames to create packaging for my hairbows...

I even used Picnik to create my Christmas card and the invitation for my kids' upcoming birthday party...

While Picnik does offer a premium package with tons of effects, fonts, stickers, and extra photo storage for a fee, I've found that the free effects and fonts meet my needs perfectly.  If you haven't tried Picnik, you should definitely check it out.  You'll be amazed at what it can do to give your photos a little extra oomph!  It's just plain fun!

I have not been paid by Picnik for this review.  I just love it and wanted to share it's awesomeness with you!