Photography Challenge | The more we shoot, the better we get.

Details of the Photography Challenge

WHY

This photography challenge started one afternoon when Addie and I were chatting about wanting to increase our photography skills and creativity. We both wanted to take a class but lacked the time and money. We decided then and there to have a 12 week photography challenge. We put together the 12 topics and challenged each other because we know that the more we shoot, the better we get. As we began, many friends became interested to join in the challenge and push their creativity and photography skills to the next level. The purpose of this challenge is to get yourself out shooting and become better no matter your current level behind the camera. Some of us are beginners and some of us are professionals. We welcome anyone to join us in this adventure. If you want to participate but don’t want your name attached to you photos, you are welcome to send us your images with a screen name for us to use so that you can stay anonymous.

WHEN

Take pictures everyday anytime! The 12 week challenge is outlined below and the assignment is due before Monday @ 5:00pm PST.

HOW

Once you have completed the weekly challenge pick your favorite picture, title the picture, and email the picture to Jm3bee+Addie@gmail.com with all of the metadata. We know it can be difficult to narrow down to one picture, but that is part of the Photography Challenge assignment. Feel free to create a flickr account (JamieBEE and AddieWhite) and send us the link with all your amazing pictures!

WEEKLY ASSIGNMENTS WITH DATE DUE

November 14: Silhouettes
November 21: Leaves
November 28 Food
December 5: Happy
December 12: Hands
December 19: Holiday

Make-Up Assignments

If you would like to join mid-challenge, please send all make-up assignments in with your current assignment in order to be featured on our site.

October 3: Self Portrait
October 10: Jumping
October 17: Hair
October 24: School
October 31: Costume
November 7: Eyes

Comments

In order to help each other improve, we have enabled comments on each post. Please take some time to comment on the photos. We’d ask everyone to follow a few rules when commenting: 1. Please be positive. 2. Look for the things you like. 3. If you see something you think will help the shooter to improve, please be constructive, not destructive. If you have submitted and don’t want any comments on your photos please let us know and we can disable comments on your photographs.

Postponement

Due to the craziness of this season of the year, we have decided to pause the challenge until the first of the year. We hope you all have a great holiday! Jamie and Addie

Leaves: Addie

info coming soon

Leaves: Laura Jennings

Here is my assignment for next week. I will be out of town and have decided to leave my computer behind! Yay!

This is one of the jasmine trees we have in our front yard, yesterday am after it rained. I was literally IN the tree with my face all smushed in the leaves to get this shot. Luckily my neighbor knows better than to question my strange photo habits ;)

Canon Rebel
f/7.1
ISO- 100
+.7 (used my macro)
Flash did not fire

Leaves: Jennifer Dumont

Ruby in the leaves

1/125 sec @ f / 4.5
75 mm
iso 200
flash did not fire

Next Assignment: Leaves

Due Nov 21 Leaves: Typically a leaf is a thin, flattened organ borne above ground and specialized for photosynthesis.

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Silhouette: Addie

Andrew is finally on the mend… he had a stomach virus and an ear infection. Then he had a surgical procedure on the inside of his upper lip that was a little more traumatic than we expected. I finally had a few minutes to catch up. These shots are of my daughter Eliana. I like them both.

Shot with Canon 5 D Mark II with 24-70 lens in manual mode ISO 250 f 7.1 1/500

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Silhouettes: Laura Jennings

My son, playing with my iphone, at my daughter’s soccer practice. I love how he’s short enough that his feet aren’t touching the ground.

Shot with my Canon Rebel
f/13
1/400 sec
ISO-100
No flash

Silhouette: Heather Abbott

This week’s challenge isn’t happening. Instead of skipping over it, I’m cheating and sending in my most favorite silhouette that I’ve ever taken. I just adore it, it’s blown up big in my little boys room.
ISO 800
f/5
1/1600s
24mm

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Silhouettes: Jenolyn

1/250
22
ISO 800
Bumped up the contrast a bit and a little edge burn

A favorite from a recent family session I did. This was a really cool spot at the top of a hill with the light from the valley below coming up right at them. I will definitely visit this spot again!

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Silhouette: Jennifer Searles

My friend, Ally, by the lake.

1/500 sec @ f / 6/3
100mm
iso 100
flash did not fire
shot with my Sony DSLR-A230

Eyes: Laura Jennings 2

Here is another shot that follows the rule of thirds more (I am habitual offender of this rule, but to me it always depends on the shot)

Canon
f/5.6
1/60 sec
ISO-100
55mm away

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Eyes: Jamie Braithwaite

Here are our eye pictures. Dirty faces and all. Sometimes the hard part about taking pictures of your own kids is you want it to turn out perfect so you scrub their faces, fix their hair, clothes, etc and you miss that golden opportunity when everyone (including the husband) is happy. So here these are after dinner pictures in our quick “happy” photo-shoot. I love comparing eyes and seeing similarities!

1/2000 sec at f 3.5
50 mm
ISO 6400 (oops)

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Eyes: Shelly Shaw

1/60 sec
f 5.6
ISO 400
focal length 171mm

name would be “weez”

Edited and cropped in picaso

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Eyes: Jennifer Dumont

This is Katie…she’s two, and I had the privilege of taking her pictures just a few weeks ago…
she has the most beautiful, electric, crazy (in the best way) blue/green eyes I have EVER seen!

i love this pic,
she looks like a porcelain doll to me
…
but, i wish i had not cut off her pony tail.
Ultimately, i went with this over the others because despite its imperfections, it left its mark on me…

1/125 sec @ f / 5.6
75 mm
iso 100
no flash

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Eyes: Heather Abbott

ISO 500
f/5
1/160s
46mm
no flash

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Eyes: Jenolyn

“He has crazy eyes”

Jarin was so proud of himself. I wish I could have taken a video of me trying to demonstrate how to hold the eyes. Hilarious!

1/80
2.8
ISO 1250 (it was pretty dark in the room)
cropped out a lot of the extra forehead, some magic lasso and layers for the eyes, and of course, TRA “Pross Crocessed #1″

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Eyes: Laura Jennings

Shot with my Canon
f/6.3
1/200 sec
ISO 1600… hmmmm

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Eyes: Casey Tobler

shutter speed 1/200
f2.8
ISO 200
focal length 50mm

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Re-do School: Laura Jennings

Took your advice and cropped (and then straightened) a bit, thoughts

Due Nov 14 Silhouette: A silhouette is the image of a person, an object or scene consisting of the outline and a basically featureless interior, with the silhouetted object usually being black. From its original graphic meaning, the term “silhouette” has been extended to describe the sight or representation of a person, object or scene that is backlit, and appears dark against a lighter background.

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Eyes: Addie

This past weekend was my Grandma’s 85th Birthday party. We drove up to Salt Lake city for the event. My goal was to get a good shot of my grandma’s eyes, but when I saw how close in color Julia and my Grandma’s eyes are, I wanted to get a picture of them together. It’s interesting to me that as I get older, I see older people differently. I see beyond the wrinkles and age spots and when I look into their eyes, I see more of their spirit than just an aging body. So the shot of Julia and my Grandma, remind me of their similarities rather than differences.

Metadata

All shot in manual with Canon 5D

ISO 500 f 2.8 1/200

Continue Reading →

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Costume: Jamie Braithwaite

The thing about Halloween events is they always happen AT NIGHT! It is so hard to get great pictures. This is at our Trunk or Treat. Gracie is spinning her glow stick. It is not perfect, but it captured the moment of fun, candy, and costumes, at least to our family.
1/5 Sec at F 5/6.
18 mm Focal Length
ISO 6400
Flash did not fire

I also took a picture of Gracie wearing Vampire teeth. I did post production to make her eyes look red hungry for blood.
1/125 sec at f 4.0
50mm
ISO 100
Flash did not fire
Post Production Light Room

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Costume: Jamie

Dearest Amazing Photographers,
I have an announcement: I have a tiny bean growing inside of me that is sucking all the creative juices out of my life! We barely celebrated Halloween using stuff we had around the house. By 7:00pm I turned out all the lights, everyone was in bed, and I put a “Go Away” sign on the door. I did use my big camera for a few pictures at the Trunk or Treat but they are still on the CF card somewhere in my piles.

So Thank you all for getting your pictures into me in a timely manner. I am a day slow on posting and I haven’t even looked at my own CF card (shame on me)!
I’ll try and get my picture up in the morning or evening or sometime before or after my mid-day nap.
Keep Shooting! You inspire me!
Love,
The 9 week morning sick pregnant Jamie
PS this is our Fam on Halloween taken with my iPhone. I have gotten pretty good at taking pics with my handy-dandy device I always have in my pocket. You can see more on my family blog: famBEE.org

Do you have a blog?
Post a link in the comments

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Costume: Heather Abbott

Superman
ISO 1250
f/3.2
1/400s
24mm
Post processing: cloning houses out from in front him :) Simple color boost, Totally Rad Action: TDW No Glow at a really low opacity, levels layer with soft light filter with an even lower opacity just to sharpen it up a bit and bring out some color.
Light was fading, kids were anxious to get on with the festivities. I wish there was a little sharper focus on him and I should have taken the time to redo my settings and tightened up my aperture. With my kids, what you get, is what you get. Their attention span in front of the camera is very short :) But I do love the way his cape is flowing behind him as he’s running. Looks almost like he may take off flying any second.

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Costume: Shelly Shaw

delicate pirate karlee
taken in auto mode
ISO 400
1/60s
f 5.0
focal length 100.0 mm