April/May Submissions

Is anyone else amazed that nearly a month has passed already?  We’re nearing the half way mark towards our June 30th deadline for our April & May tutorials and I have a few submissions to share!

Jennifer Lundsten, of SK, sent me this photo for the Depth Perception tutorial, with her adorable focal point.  She used the trees as background and the wagon in the near foreground to create depth.

Taken with Pentax K-R at f/5.6, 1/2500 sec., ISO 800

So cute!  Thanks for sharing, Jennifer!

Agatha Wiebe, of ON, sent me this photo for the same tutorial:

Taken with Canon EOS Rebel XSi at f/7.1, 1/320 sec., ISO 200

Notice the bush on the right side acts as the foreground element and the barn/garage is in background, while the play set is the focal point.  Great light patterns, Agatha!

Agatha also sent me a submission for the May tutorial on Balancing Elements.

Taken with Canon EOS Rebel XSi at f/5.6, 1/125 sec., ISO 400

While this photo of the flower would be gorgeous on its’ own, by adding the out-of-focus branch in the “white space” of the composition, it adds more visual interest.  Beautiful!!

Do  you have any submissions to share with us?  All you have to do is use our submission form and send us your image, along with camera info and settings used and you could win a 3 Bugs In a Rug or Bo Bunny prize pack!  More details in our April and May tutorials posts here and here.

Cheers,

March submissions

Here are the March submissions for our photo assignment on Backgrounds!

Lise Malette, of ON, was first out of the gate with this assignment.  She sent me these two images:

Taken with Canon EOS Digital Rebel at f/16, 1/200 sec., ISO 400

In this photo, the railings and poles compete with the subject as well as the background and create a chaotic scene.  As well, the backlighting is creating lens flares and causing the subject to lose detail.

Taken with Canon EOS Digital Rebel at f/10, 1/400 sec., ISO 400

In this photo, Lise moved herself (or the camel did!) so that she was looking up at him/her, using the clear blue sky as a backdrop which coordinates beautifully with the brown fur.  I hope you were using a zoom lens, Lise – don’t camels SPIT?!  Thanks for sharing!

Carrie Butterwick, of AB, also sent in two photos to illustrate the advantages of eliminating a distracting background:

Taken with Pentax K100D Super at f/11, 1/500 sec., ISO 400

In this photo of her friend, holding her adorable daughter, there are distractions that lead the viewer’s eye away from the subject, like the sign beside their heads.

Taken with Pentax K100D Super at f/11, 1/500 sec., ISO 400

By moving to the side, and having her subjects follow her, she effectively removes the cluttered background and replaces it with a snowy scene.  Thanks for your submission, Carrie!

Another set of submissons received came from Agatha Wiebe, of ON:

Taken with Canon Rebel XSi at f/4, 1/64 sec., ISO 400

In her first image, you can see her adorable subject peeking through the window of his toy car.  But by zooming in and cropping out the distracting background, she ended up with this image:

Taken with Canon Rebel XSi at f/4.5, 1/64 sec., ISO 400

Thanks for sharing, Agatha!

Lastly, I want to share these submissions from Lee-Anne Thorton, of AB:

Taken with Canon EOS 30D at f/8, 1/10 sec., ISO 200

This lovely colourful display on Lee-Anne’s coffee table manages to mix a variety of textures into one photo.  But watch the simple effectiveness when she zooms in on one of the elements:

Taken with Canon EOS 30D at f/5.6, 1/13 sec., ISO 250

Gorgeous!  Thanks for your submission, Lee-Anne!

I did receive several submissions that did not meet the requirements for this particular assignment, (i.e. sending me two photos of the same subject, taken with a difference in backgrounds).  I do however, want to share this submission from Sharon Muyser, of AB.  While it is ineligible for the assignment, you will agree with me that it is too spectacular not to share!

Taken with FujiPix JV100 at f/4.3, 1/1351 sec., ISO 100

Look at that beautiful pattern left behind by Jack Frost!  Thanks for sharing, Sharon!

Thanks to everyone who participated – I will randomly draw a winner tomorrow!

Cheers,

Jan/Feb submissions!

So sorry for the lack of posts this month, everyone!  As you may know, if you follow my blog, I have had some serious dental issues over the last few weeks.  I have had three rounds of antibiotics and they really knackered me!  I’m happy to say that I’m finishing up Round 3 of antibiotics and I *think* we finally have this thing licked!  (Touch wood!)

I have many submissions to share, and I certainly enjoyed receiving them, even if I couldn’t drag myself out of bed to post them.  We had 23 submission for January and February!  And we’re going to pick TWO lucky winners once I’ve posted them so check back Friday to congratulate our winner… Who knows?  It may be YOU!

Speaking of winners, I also have the prizes to share with you!!  All photo submissions will be eligible for both prizes, regardless of the photo subject, but I will pick a winner for both January and February.

January’s prize is this yummy pack of adhesive goodness from :

January Prize Pack by Scrapbook Adhesives

And our February winner will receive this prize pack from Magenta Stamps:

February Prize Pack by Magenta

Now onto our submissions!

April Childs, of AB:

Taken with Nikon D80 at f/5.6, 1/125 sec., ISO 125

Nathalie Cormier, of QC:

Taken with Canon EOS XSi at f/5, 1/60 sec., ISO 1600

Agatha Wiebe, of ON:

Taken with Canon Rebel XSi at f/5.6, 1/60 sec., ISO 400

Taken with Canon Rebel XSi at f/10, 1/320 sec., ISO 200

Lynette Parent, of AB:

Taken with Canon EOS Rebel XT at f/5, 1/60 sec., ISO 400

Diana Hetherington, of NB:

Taken with Canon Rebel XSi at f/4, 1/64 sec., ISO 400

Sarah Fitzpatrick, of ON:

Taken with Canon PowerShot SD1300 at f/8, 1/250 sec., ISO 80

Valery Klassen, of AB:

Taken with Canon EOS Rebel T1i at f/10, 1/320 sec., ISO 100

Jennifer Lundsten, of SK:

Taken with Pentax K-R at f/16, 1/640 sec., ISO 3200

Lise Malette, of ON:

Taken with Nikon Coolpix S630 at f/14, 1/86 sec., ISO 64

Taken with Nikon Coolpix S630 at f/14, 1/82 sec., ISO 64

Taken with Nikon Coolpix S630 at f/3.5, 1/340 sec., ISO 64

Taken with Nikon Coolpix S630 at f/3.5, 1/113 sec., ISO 64

Taken with Nikon Coolpix S630 at f/5.1, 1/207 sec., ISO 64

Taken with Nikon Coolpix S630 at f/11, 1/577 sec., ISO 64

Taken with Nikon Coolpix S630 at f/5.3, 1/440 sec., ISO 88

Jill Sparks, of ON:

Taken with Nikon D60 at f/6.3, 1/160 sec., ISO 100

Taken with Nikon D60 at f/5.6, 1/60 sec., ISO 200

More from Lise Malette, of ON:

Taken with Nikon Coolpix S630 at f/3.5, 1/340 sec., ISO 64

Taken with Canon EOS Rebel XTi at f/4, 1/60 sec., ISO 400

Taken with Nikon Coolpix S630 at f/5.1, 1/440 sec., ISO 158

Lee-Anne Thorton, of AB:

Taken with Canon EOS 30D at f/5.6, 1/15 sec., ISO 500

Taken with Canon EOS 30D at f/7.1, 1/8 sec., ISO 400

Thank you to everyone for their interpretations of this month’s photo assignment!!  And thanks for being patient with me…

I will announce the winners on Friday!

Cheers,

Final December submissions

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and wishing you all a very safe and happy 2011!

I’m back from a self-imposed computer break and I have to say, while I missed it, it was nice to kick back and relax!  However, now I have a MASSIVE pile of submissions to share with you so it’s your turn to kick back, relax and enjoy our readers’ photography.

Jaime Matthews, of ON, sent me this adorable photo of one of her five children, Spencer:

Taken with Sony CyberShot at f/4, 1/40 sec., ISO 125

 Look at those dimples – thanks for sharing, Jaime!

Sharon Peters, of AB, shared this photo of her daughter-in-law, Rachael, and grand-daughter, Mary:

Taken with Nikon D90 at f/5.3, 1/160 sec., ISO 400

I love how the cropping brings the focus onto their beautiful faces.  Great job, Sharon!

April Childs, of AB, sent me this abstract photo, creating bokeh from her Christmas tree lights (see our December 2009 tutorial for more info on bokeh!):

Taken with Nikon D80 at f/5.3, 1/4 sec., ISO 640

Lovely – thanks for your submission, April!

Next, I want to share this colourful photo by Lynette Parent, of AB:

Taken with Canon EOS Rebel, at f/5.6, 1.3 sec., ISO 100

I love how the yellow just POPS - Great submission, Lynette!

Agatha Wiebe, of ON, sent in two more submissions this month – the first is a fantastic shot of an ornament that she made with her children:

Taken with Canon Rebel XSi at f/4.5, 1/60 sec., ISO 400

How cool is that?  I’m going to have to make those next year with my kidlets!  I also want to share this submission from Agatha:

Taken with Canon Rebel XSi at f/4.5, 1/60 sec., ISO 400

Love how you captured the well-loved look of your bible – thanks for your submissions, Agatha!

The next two submissions come from Brae Montgomery, of ON.  I had the pleasure of meeting Brae this fall at the CreativFestival in Toronto – I spent all of my hard-earned money at her booth!   Brae’s first photo is an extreme close-up:

Taken with Canon Rebel T2i at f/4, 1/30 sec., ISO 3200

Love it!  Great depth of field, too, by using a smaller aperture of f/4.

Brae’s second photo captured their Christmas traditional Elf on a Shelf – his job is to report back to Santa at night while the family sleeps! 

Taken with Canon Rebel T2i at f/5.6, 1/60 sec., ISO 400

I think we need one of these at our house…   Thanks for submitting, Brae!

Jill Sparks, of ON, sent several photos this month, as well, capturing a Christmas treat and her family this year in the snow:

Taken with Nikon D60 at f/4, 1/6 sec., ISO 100

Taken with Nikon D60 at f/5.3, 1/125 sec., ISO 400

Taken with Nikon D60 at f/14, 1/200 sec., ISO 1600

Taken with Nikon D60 at f/18, 1/200 sec., ISO 1200

Looks like everyone had fun – thanks for submitting, Jill!

This next beautiful image comes from Margaret Stewart, of AB:

Taken with Nikon D40x at f/5.6, 1/160 sec., ISO 200

So pretty!  Thanks for your submission, Margaret.

Check out these next two photos from Nicole Alvey, of ON:

Taken with Canon Rebel XTi at f/5.6, 1/60 sec., ISO 400

Hee hee – love your little assistant, peeking over your shoulder!  

Taken with Canon Rebel XTi at f/5.6, 1/160 sec., ISO 100

Great use of natural light, too!  Thanks for sharing, Nicole!

Lise Malette, of ON, sent in these photos, taken on a recent trip to Florida:

Taken with Canon EOS Rebel XTi at f/9, 1/500 sec., ISO 320

I can almost imagine his whiskers twitching!

Taken with Canon EOS Rebel XTi at f/9

Pretty – Thanks for submitting, Lise!

As we come into the home stretch, I want to share this one sent in by Shannon Celeste, of ON:

Taken with Nikon Coolpix 100 at f/3.5, 1/30 sec., ISO 306

Love this candle!  Thanks for sharing, Shannon!

Teresa McNutt, of NS, sent us this photo of her youngest daughter, who turned six on Dec 31st:

Taken with Nikon D70 at f/4.5, 1/60 sec.

Happy Belated Birthday to her – and thanks for your submissions, Teresa!

Lastly, I have two adorable images to share from Bethany Hoskin, of AB, of her daughter.  In one, she is digging into some Oreos:

Taken with Canon EOS T1i at f/4.6, 1/60 sec., ISO 200

 Oh, I can relate, my little friend – they’re my favourite, too!!  Yum!

About the next image, Bethany writes, ” a photo of my daughter, inspecting our Christmas decorations, shortly before removing as many as she could reach, of course!”

Taken with Canon EOS T1i at f/3.5, 1/25 sec., ISO 400

 That made me smile – been there, done that!  Although my kids usually just tried to stuff them in their mouth – or that of the dog, who was only too happy to oblige!  Thanks for your submissions, Bethany!

Whew!  What a great crop of photos we had this month!  Thanks to everyone who submitted – I love seeing your photos and sharing them with our readers.  Stay tuned for an announcement of our December photo assignment winner in the next day or two – and watch for our January tutorial to be posted on or around January 8th, 2011!

Cheers,

More December Submissions

I have lots of photography goodness to share with you today!

Lee-Anne Thorton, of AB, kicks us off with three of her holiday-inspired photos:

Taken with Canon EOS 30D at f/3.5, 1/8 sec., ISO 100

Taken with Canon EOS 30D at f/3.5, 1/20 sec., ISO 100

Taken with Canon EOS 30D at f/4, 1/6 sec., ISO 100

Great job – thanks for sharing, Lee-Anne!

Next, Jill Sparks, of ON, shares this fun, winter image:

Taken with Nikon D60 at f/18, 1/200 sec., ISO 1200

That looks fun – and cold!! Brrr! Thanks for sharing, Jill.

Heidi Brand, of ON, shares an image of her daughter’s birthday cake, showing an interesting perspective.

Taken with Canon 40D at f/6.3, 1/10 sec., ISO 100

Yum!  Those silver non-pareils are the perfect touch!  Thanks for your submission, Heidi.

Our next submission was sent in by Mindy Smith-Bernard, of ON:

Taken with Canon Rebel XTi at f/2, 1/20 sec., ISO 800

Love the warm ligthing – thanks for sharing, Mindy!

Maxine Lozinski, of AB, shared this image of her grandson and his friend, Apollo:

Taken with Canon Rebel XSi at f/5.6, 1/20 sec., ISO 100

What a beautiful rotti, Maxine – and your grandson is handsome, too!  Thanks for sharing.

And finally, Carrie Butterwick, of AB, sent in this image of her son, fresh off the hill after a day of ‘boarding:

Taken with Pentax K100D at f/9.5, 1/125 sec., ISO 400

Another handsome young man!  Love the cropping – thanks for submitting, Carrie!

Lots of submissions from AB and ON today!  Hopefully, they inspired the rest of you to grab your cameras and try our December photo assignment!  Deadline is January 2nd, 2011 at 11:59pm EST – get out and play!

Cheers,

December submissions to share

I have another round of submissions to share with you today!

Agatha Wiebe, of ON, sent me this photo of her son:

Taken with Canon Rebel XSi at f/5.6, 1/50 sec., ISO 400

Thanks for your submission, Agatha!

April Childs, of AB, shared another photo for this photo assignment, this one of her son “helping” his Daddy shovel the driveway:

Taken with Nikon D80 at f/14, 1/200 sec., ISO 1600

How adorable!  Thanks for sharing, April!

Our next submission comes from Lise Malette, of ON:

Taken with Canon EOS Rebel XTi at f/4, 1/60 sec., ISO 400

Ho ho ho!  Thanks for sharing, Lise!

Jill Sparks, of ON, sent us this submission:

Taken with Nikon D60 at f/5.3, 1/125 sec., ISO 200

Love it!  Thanks for sharing, Jill!

I love seeing your submissions come in – remember to include your camera information to have your image shared on our blog!

Cheers,

Our first December submission!

Thanks to April Childs, of AB, for sending us our first December submission for our photo assignment:

Taken with Nikon D80 at f/5.6, 1/3 sec., ISO 1600

Love the reflection – and great use of filling your frame!

Be sure to send me your images for a chance to win a set of 5 Canadian Scrapbooker Basics books!

Cheers,

November Submissions

Well, let me apologize to all of our submitters this month!  I’m sorry that I’m just getting around to posting all of your submissions today – it’s been a crazy month!

Without further ado, let me share some fantastic submissions by our readers!

Bev Beaudette, of ON, sent me this photo that was taken of her view across the street:

Taken Nov 9th, 2010 with Canon Rebel T1i at f/4, 1/60 sec., ISO 400

I love how the windows frame the cars – thanks for sharing, Bev!

Lori Ann Frey, of SK, sent me this photo taken at Manitou Lake, while out quadding:

Taken Nov 7th, 2010 with Nikon D5000 at f/9, 1/320 sec., ISO 200

I love how she’s framed – thanks for sharing, Lori!

Conni Frankl, of SK, took this photo of their new house, using the trees to frame it:

Taken on Nov 23rd, 2010 with Nikon D5000 at f/10, 1/400 sec., ISO 200

Beautiful shot, Conni – thanks for your submission!

Next, we have two photos from Lee-Anne Thorton, of AB:

Taken on Nov 17th, 2010 with Canon EOS 30D at f/4, 1/1250 sec., ISO 100

Taken on Nov 23rd, 2010 with Canon EOS 30D at f/6.3, 1/15 sec., ISO 100

Fantastic use of framing, Lee-Anne – thanks for sharing!

Another two photos to share come from Nathalie Cormier, of QC, of her children:

Taken on Nov. 26th, 2010 at Canon EOS XSi at f/4, 1/60 sec., ISO 400

Taken on Nov. 27th, 2010 with Canon EOS XSi at f/8, 1/60 sec., ISO 800

Very, very cute!  Thanks for sharing, Nathalie!

Our last two photos come from Sharon Peters, of AB:

Taken on Nov 29th, 2010 with Nikon D90 at /f5.6, 1/125 sec., ISO 250

Taken on Nov 12th, 2010 with Nikon D90 at f/8, 1/320 sec., ISO 200

Gorgeous!  Thanks for sharing, Sharon!

Thanks again to everyone for submitting your photos!  I will announce a winner of the Harmonie Prize pack soon!  And watch for my December tutorial to be posted on or around December 7th!

Cheers,

Final October submissions!

My apologies to the next three readers who sent me their photos before the deadline - I didn’t get a chance to post them with the crazy-ness of Hallowe-en, but of course, they were received in time and are still eligible for our October photo assignment.

Did everyone enjoy their Halloween?  Our kids had a great time, dressing up – and more precisely, getting candy!    Looks like my hubby read the October tutorial on perspective – here’s one of his photos that he took of my son in his Hallowe’en costume (you can see his entire costume on my blog here):

Now if I could only get him to stop using the flash!

Speaking of Hallowe’en, April Childs, of AB, sent me this photo of her son, in his Hallowe’en costume, taken at eye level:

Taken with Nikon D70 at f/5, 1/60 sec., ISO 200

Look at that dimple!

Here’s another that April sent in, taken from just below eye level:

Taken with Nikon D80 at f/5.6, 1/30 sec., ISO 220

Thanks for your submissions, April!

Lee-Anne Thorton, of AB, sent me these two photos for the October photo assignment:

Taken with Canon EOS 30D at f/5.0, 1/30 sec., ISO 100

Beautiful flowers, Lee-Anne!  Were they for a special occasion?

Taken with Canon EOS 30D at f/5.6, 1/10 sec., ISO 250

 Oh!! These look delicious!!  Do you think they would ship well to Ontario…?   Thanks for sharing, Lee-Anne!

And last, but certainly not least, our final submission for October comes from Karly Potts, of AB:

Taken with Samsung PL80 at f/3.4, 1/98 sec., ISO 80

Brrr… Snow?  In October??  Maybe I won’t complain about our southern Ontario humidity so much anymore…!  Thanks for sharing, Karly!

And thanks to everyone who played along this month!  I will be posting a winner tomorrow morning so please check back then -  and watch for our November tutorial and photo assignment to be posted on or around November 7th!

Cheers!

More October submissions

I have a few more submissions to share with you today!

Melanie Godecki, of ON, shared this lovely photo of her friends, Frank & Katie:

Taken with Canon 5D at f/4, 1/125 sec., ISO 200

Love the angle – thanks for sharing!

Nathalie Cormier, of QC, sent in a couple of submissions – one from above…

Taken with Canon EOS XSi at f/5.6, 1/80 sec., ISO 200

And one from eye level:

Taken with Canon EOS XSi at f/5.6, 1/60 sec., ISO 800

Thanks for sharing these lovely fall photos, Nathalie!

Our last submission today comes from Bethany Hoskins, of AB.  Bethany writes, “The only way to get the dog to look right at me while I have the camera is to have her beloved ball, so I decided to keep it in the shot and use it also as a depth of field exercise as well as perspective.”

Taken with Canon EOS Rebel T1i at f/4.5, 1/500, ISO 100

Fantastic – love it, Bethany!

Remember that the deadline for our October photo assignment is November 1st so be sure to send me your photos!

Cheers,