A Photo a Week Challenge: Light the Night

A few years ago, we had the opportunity to travel to the Mesa/Gilbert, Arizona area for a family wedding. While there, we experimented with long exposure night photography. The LDS Gilbert Arizona Temple proved to be the perfect subject for our venture, and the weather cooperated better than we could have hoped, and we are very pleased with the results. When working with longer shutter speeds, it’s vital to have a tripod and really nice to use a shutter remote instead of having to touch the camera. It’s also important to be patient and experiment with different settings on your camera. We got better results with f-stops of 5 or higher to avoid too much light hitting the sensor.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE YOUR FAVORITE NIGHT SHOTS (WITH LONGER EXPOSURE TIMES OR NOT).

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography. Here’s how it works:

  1. Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ and “Photo a Week” tags.
  3. Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
  4. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.
Advertisement

Thankful November 22nd: The Moon

“Art thou pale for weariness
Of climbing Heaven, and gazing on the earth,
Wandering companionless
Among the stars that have a different birth,—
And ever changing, like a joyless eye
That finds no object worth its constancy?”

To The Moon (fragment)
Percy Bysshe Shelley

I love taking pictures of the moon. It took me a while to figure out how to do it well, and I have to admit that on the really cool I cheated. That photo was taken with a camera telescope at an observatory, but I did take it.

The moon is an amazing heavenly object. without it, you earth would probably not be inhabitable. It regulates our tides and keeps the earth from spinning faster than it should. It’s also beautiful in the night sky.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Fire

fire_nmp

We’ve had the opportunity to visit Hawaii a couple of times the last few years, and each time we’ve been to a different luau on the island of Kauai. The highlight of the show at each of these luaus has been the fire dancers. Their skill with the fire sticks or flaming poi balls is amazing to watch. Fire is such an essential element. Without it, humans would never have figured out how to cook their food (not to mention no fire oven pizzas) or to heat their dwellings. I love building fires in the fireplace at our family cabin. It links me to my past. My grandmother and uncle gathered and hand-laid the stones in it. I’m fascinated by the movement of flames.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR MORE) OF FIRE

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

  1. Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
  3. Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
  4. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo A Week Challenge: Lit from Within

lit_within_nmp

Some of my favorite Christmas decorations are luminarias. I love simple ones (I’ve seen them made from milk cartons and Christmas lights) and the more elaborate ones (like this one at Temple Square in Salt Lake City). I love the warmth created by the light within.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO OF THINGS LIT FROM WITHIN.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

  1. Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
  3. Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
  4. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Do not go gentle into that good night

do_not_go_gentle_wpc

For more from this challenge, visit Weekly Photo Challenge: Half-light.

A Photo a Week: Vintage

vintage_nmp

The vintage look is very popular right now. It’s a fun look to play around with. Most photo editing software will come with canned vintage presets you can apply to your images. In Photoshop, I use Curves, contrast, and saturation to get the vintage look I want. It’s fun and challenging at the same time.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR THREE…) OF THAT HAVE OR USE A VINTAGE LOOK.

Note: Older photos you can in that naturally have a vintage look are welcome, too.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography. Here’s how it works:

  1. Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ and “Photo a Week” tags.
  3. Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
  4. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Lights

lights_nmp

With the Christmas season upon us, lights have become an important part of most people’s homes and cubicles at work. At the Draper City Park, this tree is the center point of their light display. To get this shot, I placed my tripod on the hill overlooking the tree and asked people to let me get a clear shot.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR THREE…) THAT FEATURE LIGHTS OF ANY KIND.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography. Here’s how it works:

  1. Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ and “Photo a Week” tags.
  3. Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
  4. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Unusual Clouds

unusual_clouds_nmp

I love taking pictures of clouds. The night of the super moon, I was disappointed by the cloud coverage until I started processing the photos, and then I was thrilled with some of the images because of how the clouds added to the images.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE ONE OR TWO PHOTOS WITH UNUSUAL CLOUDS OR CLOUD FORMATIONS.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography. Here’s how it works:

  1. Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ and “Photo a Week” tags.
  3. Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
  4. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.