December 24, 2022

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #230 Last Chance

Tina leads our photo challenge this week with a unique topic. She suggests we feature favorite pictures taken in 2022 that have not been shown before and do not fit into any particular category. In keeping with the Christmas season, these carolers from Charleston sang holiday favorites during a friend’s Christmas party.   In August we spent a week in Newport, Rhode Island, touring the town and then several days on Goat Island for a friend’s wedding celebration. Part of the week was rainy but once the storms cleared out, the sunsets on the Island were specular. In July we traveled to Quebec, Canada, and played golf at Owl’s Head Golf…

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written by Sylvia - Posted in Landscape, LENS-ARTISTS, Photography, Travel

December 17, 2022

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #229 Perfect Patterns

“Some of nature’s most exquisite handiwork is on a miniature scale, as anyone knows who has applied a magnifying glass to a snowflake.” – Rachel Carson Nature has a way of creating Perfect Patterns, at least to My eyes the patterns are perfect! Fortunately, Ann-C mentioned this when suggesting our guidelines. She wrote, “Of course there is no such thing as a ”perfect” pattern…but it could be perfect in Your eyes, perfect for camouflage or perfect for its purpose…or simply radiating ”perfect”.  To me flowers, butterfly’s wings and trees are just about perfect! “His talent was as natural as the pattern that was made by the dust on a butterfly’s…

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written by Sylvia - Posted in Butterflies, Flowers, LENS-ARTISTS, Nature, Photography

December 10, 2022

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #228 Diagonals

Diagonal lines play an important part in creating a more interesting photograph. Consciously or unconsciously, they tend to move a viewer’s eyes through a picture. This week’s challenge is to consciously look around for to see how often diagonal lines are visible, either in nature or man-made. When composing the shot below, I took advantage of the digonal line created by sand dunes in the forground. Does this line plus the tall sea oaks lead your eye to the focus of the picture, the sun and clouds? This golf course picture shows two types of diagonal lines. First, is the shadow at the base of the putting green (right side, middle…

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written by Sylvia - Posted in Kiawah Island SC, LENS-ARTISTS, Maine, Photography

December 2, 2022

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #227 Home Sweet Home

“Your home should tell the story of who you are, and be a collection of what you love.” – Nate Berkus This week Tina suggests we think about where Home Sweet Home is to us. We may consider the country we live in to be our home, a neighborhood or our residence. My husband and I live on Kiawah Island and our home sweet home is a special place for us and our family. The house is surrounded by tall trees, blooming plants and an abundance of wildlife. There always seems to be pretty colors in our yard from a tree or two that is blooming at the time. Now…

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written by Sylvia - Posted in LENS-ARTISTS, Photography

November 26, 2022

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #226 Textures

“It’s an obvious opportunity for black and white when a scene contains little color but lots of texture.” – John Beardsworth Texture is an important part of our interaction with art and photography. It is said to be an important factor along with line, color, shape, form, value and space. In a photograph it can add visual interest, highlight unique patterns, or even evoke emotions.  Texture in Nature:  The opening header shot was taken in Maine right after a hurricane passed through. I feel like this picture is full of different textures; the sharp rocks with soft moss growing on the tops, fast moving water with air-filled foam on the surface and the…

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written by Sylvia - Posted in Atlantic Ocean, Flowers, Landscape, LENS-ARTISTS, Nature, Photography

November 12, 2022

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #224 Exposure

This week the challenge is learning more about Exposure and showing a few examples. When using your camera, the amount of exposure is determined by how much light passes through the lens. Exposure levels can also be determined in post editing using software such as Photoshop or Lightroom or the editing software in an iPhone. The picture below was edited using Photoshop and bumping the exposure slide up to give the image an ethereal look. The second one looks more like the image in the camera. Is there one look you prefer over the other? This is another example of how an original image can be converted into a high…

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written by Sylvia - Posted in Fine Art Photography, Landscape, LENS-ARTISTS

November 5, 2022

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #223 Flights of Fancy

“Never underestimate the power of a small group of committed people to change the world. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has.” ~ Margaret Mead This past week John (photobyjohnbo) has challenged us to “… consider sharing images of interesting or unusual subjects that represent notions or ideas that seem incredible even today or seemed unrealistic at some point in the past.”  I decided to feature the Constitution, a former warship located in Boston National Historical Park, part of Charlestown Navy Yard in Charlestown, Massachusetts. The USS Constitution, one of five frigates built for the United States Navy in 1776, gained recogination during the War of 1812 and then…

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written by Sylvia - Posted in Boston, LENS-ARTISTS, Photography, USS Constitution Warship

October 8, 2022

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #219 Treasure Hunt

Tina is hosting a treasure hunt this week so she made a list of subjects for us to feature with our pictures.  The first is about umbrellas and extra credit if people are using them in  the rain. Another is the picture of a truck and extra credit if it includes the driver and/or what the truck is hauling. Happily, I earned plenty of extra credit again😉 because the driver is loading his truck with shipping contains full of lobsters, headed for  market.  And, there is also the fire engine with the driver and his passengers as the header! Pets are also on her list; this is our two cocker…

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written by Sylvia - Posted in Photography

September 23, 2022

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #217 Opposites

This week we are challenged to show examples of opposites. They can be seen in many places, a few examples could be red and green or other complementary colors on the color wheel, light and dark, circles and straight lines, hot and cold, soft and hard. A well know quote by Niel Bohr is “Opposites are not contradictory but complementary.”  This is so true because when opposites are together it is easy to see how well they complement each other. For example, the header shot of fall foliage shows two opposite colors on the color wheel, red and green.  Below are two pictures of my granddaughter which show the opposites…

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written by Sylvia - Posted in Autumn Colors, Opposites, Photography

September 17, 2022

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #216 Urban Environments

“I look out the window and I see the lights and the skyline and the people on the street rushing around looking for action, love, and the world’s greatest chocolate chip cookie, and my heart does a little dance.” – Nora Ephron Our host this week, Sofia of Photographias, challenges us to feature pictures showing different urban environments. She says, “There are no two identical cities, they’re a product of many different aspects from history to location, to culture and to the people….There’s something mesmerizing about city views. Obviously, some cities offer better views either for geographical reasons or due to the type of buildings.” Every city’s skyline is unique,…

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written by Sylvia - Posted in City Scapes, Montreal, New York City, Photography, Toronto, Travel