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Photo of the Week

2021 Smart Phone Group

Challenge: Tilted
Photo by Lucy Snyder

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Lucy says:

"Tilting at Windmills" and Don Quixote is a major theme in my life and relationships, so this week I took photos of the several Quixotes in our collection. I removed the background in the Canva program and replaced it with an image in that same program. Made some small edits in LRC and voila!

2021 52 Week Challenge Class

Challenge: Abandoned
Photo by Emma Voss

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Emma says:

No boats in the marina. It's amazing to see the difference in the place between winter and summer! It's such a cold desolate feeling place here in February, whereas in summer there is a comforting hustle and bustle to the place.

2021 Critique Group

Challenge: Pins & Needles
Photo by Cate Armstrong

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Ricky's Challenge Photos:

Challenge: Pins & Needles
from the 2021 Critique Group

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Ricky says:

This started with one felt ball and I put pins with yellow ball heads radiating out. In between those I used flower head pins. I added a few other color flower head pins closer to the center. This was then set on a black box so I could spin it like a top and push in while spinning. I opted for my iPhone because of the angle and the situation, but also to share this bit of info if you don't know it. I shot using the LIVE option. When you shoot an image with LIVE it captures a second or so of 'video'. If you swipe up from the bottom you get options. The far right option is "Long Exposure" where it blends the little short movie into one single image. From there, I went to Topaz for a filter called City Lights which gave it some punch and a pseudo dreamscape appearance. Cropped square.

Challenge: Tilted
from the 2021 Smart Phone Challenge Group

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Ricky says:

This is my little favorite tea pot, from Dingle pottery on the Dingle peninsula and Ireland. I used snap seed to clone out my fingertips because I wanted the teapot floating. The level of the tea in the cup should mess with your mind a little bit.

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Featured Quilt: Heart Flower

Heart Flower by Deborah Kemball (Brazil)

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Over the years I've had a small obsession with collecting quilts. Most of them have been acquired from miniature quilt auctions. Some at local guilds or charity fundraisers. Many of them were acquired during International Quilt Festival at the Celebrity Miniature Quilt Auction that was associated with the International Quilt Association which as an annual fundraiser for the organization.

The quilt in the IQA auction were generally submitted from prize-winning quilt artists. Several years ago this quilt caught my eye. I loved that it was hand made—hand needle-turned appliqué with hand embroider and densely quilted by hand. Deborah Kemball. This quilt measures 24" x 24" (61cm x 61cm).

A picture is worth a thousand words. Check out the details by clicking on the images for a larger view. Learn more about Deborah Kemball, her books, quilts, and awards HERE.

TRY THE JIGSAW PUZZLE

Choose your own difficulty. Click the 9-patch grid to change number of pieces. Click the circle arrow to make the puzzle pieces rotating instead of stable orientation. Also, there are tips under the "?" on the upper right of the puzzle. If you'd like a full screen version, click the button below. Have fun!

Jigsaw Puzzle

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Photos of the Week

2021 52 Week Challenge Class

Challenge: Black and White
Photo by Sarah Carpenter

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Sarah says:

Well, it seems silly to take flowers and turn them into black and white. This is the end of my Valentine's Day Flowers, and I put them on my light box. I shot the picture (s) then came to LR and turned them B&W. After adjusting the "normal " sliders, I adjusted the clarity, texture, dehaze, and vibrance sliders down, to create a dreamy feel. I used the brush tool to darken the edges, ( lowering the exposure slider), squared everything, and used the spot healing brush in PS to clean everything up. I learned a lot.

2021 Critique Group

Challenge: Use A Mirror
Photo by Lorne Wald

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Lorne says:

The Mirror Doesn’t Lie, but Neither Does It Tell the Truth”

This week’s theme was quite a challenge for me; I rarely even notice mirrors, let alone reflect on them, and I really can’t see myself looking in a mirror.

I know this image might strike some viewers as being unrealistic, and they’d be right - I actually haven’t been outside in ages.

As I turned up the collar of my favourite winter coat I asked my wife if she could think of a good quote or song title for this photo, but she was too distracted to answer and only grunted “I’m Looking at the Man in the Mirror”.

Incidentally, the pose was necessitated by my limitations in Ps. I kept on getting halfway through my edits when I would suddenly notice something amiss - for example, a straight on shot wearing a shirt would mean the back of my shirt behind my head would have to be visible, so I tried with a tie, then with a coat and scarf. It finally occurred to me that if my mirror image and I were both facing away from the camera it would be much easier. Similarly, having a hat to adjust made the image both more natural and, I think, more interesting.

2021 Smart Phone Challenges

Challenge: Upside Down
Photo by Karen W

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Karen says:

Lila upside down on the beach. Distressed edits added with birds.

Ricky's Challenge Photos:

Challenge: Single Leaf
from the 2021 Critique Group

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Ricky says:

Other than the permanently installed mirrors in my bathrooms, the only mirror I had available was a round hand-held makeup mirror. (don't ask). So, I walked around seeing what I might capture of interest using that. The big boy camera was cumbersome, so I switched to the iPhone. I took all sorts of images, and even tried a distored panorama and my striped shirt, but when I discovered how the mirror worked with the organ keyboard, I liked what I saw and played with that for a while. I also like that the black curved mirror frame mimicks the keys.

Challenge: Upside Down
from the 2021 Smart Phone Challenge Group

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Ricky says:

I suspect like many of you finding some thing that was upside down that seem to work, was really a challenge. This is my pump organ, photographed upside down, at least at a vantage pointe that the keys are not as I see them while I’m playing. This was edited in Prisma using the Berries preset option

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Featured Quilt: Bears in Bertie's Log Cabin

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Detailed view - Click to enlarge.

Bears In Bertie's Log Cabin by Ricky Tims

In 2002 I was able to purchase forty acres in a fir forest at high elevation in central Southern Colorado. In 2003 a little log cabin was erected. It was only 10’ x 12’, had no electricity or running water, and had a little pot belly stove for warmth. I named the cabin the Bertie Marie, after my maternal grandmother—my Granny. It was a fantasy to imagine staying in that cozy space for a few days…and QUILT!

I like sewing on a machine. That became possible at the cabin because I acquired a Singer treadle sewing machine—and what better project to work on in a log cabin than to make a log cabin quilt? We also have bears roaming the woods and so I decided to incorporate the bear paw block into the quilt too. Being truthful, this quilt was not entirely made in the Bertie Marie cabin, but many of the log cabin blocks were stitched on that treadle sewing machine during the times when I would stay there.

The fabrics are all hand-dyed. The border design is quilted with Razzle-Dazzle (in the bobbin). The Razzle-Dazzle was stitched while it was still a quilt top - so in essence, it is “embroidered”. Then, once the quilt sandwich was assembled, I just used regular thread and free-motion quilting and stitched directly on top of the embroidered Razzle-Dazzle. The effect is...that the quilt is bobbin quilted, but in fact, it’s not.

As many of you know, in 2018, an extensive and destructive wildfire burned about 109,000 acres in southern Colorado. It was called the Spring fire and it burned all of my land. The Bertie Marie and my tipi were lost. Miraculously, my house, which had just been completed in March 2018, was spared (unscathed) even though the fire came within thirty feet of the structure.

Many days after the fire, when I was finally allowed to return to the area, I went down to the cabin to see what remained. The pot belly stove was about the only thing to survive. The Singer treadle was destroyed. Someday I hope to rebuild the Bertie Marie and then I will begin the quest to find another very functional and operable treadle. Bears in Bertie's Log Cabin holds the memories of a wonderful time when the Betrie Marie was a refuge and solace. That’s the thing about quilts—isn't it? They hold memories, and in turn become family treasures.

The Bertie Marie Log Cabin

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Inside the Bertie Marie

After the fire, the Singer sewing machine became a tangled mess.

TRY THE JIGSAW PUZZLE

Jigsaw Puzzle

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Photos of the Week

2021 Photo Critique Group

Challenge: Jagged
Photo by Sandy McCurdy

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Sandy says:

I borrowed my husbands's handsaw, used a flashlight to back light it and a long exposure in a dark room to emphasize the jagged teeth.
Edited with a little healing brush in PS to remove a bit of saw support and a little exposure reduction in LR to tone down a distracting bright spot plus basic edit sliders adjustments.

52 Week Challenge Class

Challenge: Forks
Photo by Scott Conway

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Scott says:

Background hand-died fabric by Cassie Conway. Forks suspended in space with vice grips 4" above fabric. Lens flare created by iPhone "flashlight" under fabric. Tripod, full manual. Shutter remotely activated with iPod. Natural light through window. Highlights +100, shadows -100, clarity -55, whites +26, blacks -16

2021 Smart Phone Challenges

Challenge: Single Leaf
Photo by Charlotte McNaughton

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Charlotte says:

It’s been extremely cold around here this week. -25 to -35 C cold! So I haven’t been venturing outside much this week. Last night I found a leaf under some snow just outside my back door. Put it in a bowl of water outside and waited for it to freeze.

Ricky's Challenge Photos:

Challenge: Single Leaf
from the 2021 Smart Phone Challenges

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Ricky says:

This is a poinsettia lease that had fallen down and slightly dried. I placed it on the marble countertop for the texture in the background. I edited in both Prisma and in BeCasso.

Challenge: Jagged
from the 2021 Photo Critique Group

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Ricky says:

This is my gastro aloe that has survived my black thumb now for three years and has sent up a bloom spike about 6 times. It's showing age, but it's definitely one of the most jagged subjects I had around. Cropped square. Edited to a high key BnW - then exported both the high key and the color edtied and did a BnW dreamscape, with the BnW sharp, and the color out of focus. Because of the white edge, I decided to add a frame so there was an obvious frame edge. My frame is the photo rotated 180˚, then blurred and enlarged so to fit the expanded canvas.

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