Weekly Header Challenge - Thank You

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Craver VII 

Fishing Guy 

Katney 

Imac 

Lew 

I'm joining in the group above for this weekly challenge.

Feel free to click on the other participants' blogs

to see what they've come up with!

Theme ~ Thank You

I wish I had one single image to portray this theme of thanksgiving!  I think this is the highest number of images I've posted for these weekly challenges, but I narrowed it down as much as I could.  I started thinking about what to be thankful for, in a year filled with Fernando's job layoff and back surgery, my own back problems, no money to spend on Christmas, and many other "bad" things that have happened.

I decided that this sunrise is a good way to show that hope does not disappoint, and that as surely as the sun rises, we are in His care.  A quote about thanksgiving in all circumstances:

Be anxious for nothing,

but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving

let your requests be made known to God.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension,

will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6-7 NASB

Thank You for hope!

Thank You for my country.

Thank You for family who loves me enough to play my favorite game with me!

Thank You for autism, because You are glorified in our weaknesses.

Thank You for little and fun reminders that You care.

Thank You for a hubby who helps me build kitchen drawer organizers!

Thank You for signs of spring.

Thank You for leading and guiding my sons in their lives.

Thank You for long life for my parents for us to enjoy them!

Thank You for awesome teenagers.

Thank You for all the wonderful beginnings we celebrated this year!

Thank you for guys who help me in my garden.

Thank You for daisies in my yard.

Thank You for strong, godly sons.

Thank You for sunsets right in my own suburban back yard!

Thank You for garden strawberries that help make this possible.  ;)

Thank You for flower gardens.

Thank You for peaceful spots near home.

Thank You for technology!

Thank You for garden harvest.

Thank You for hard workers at home.

Thank You for Jacob's tree in autumn.

Thank You for my bench in my little corner of back yard.

There is so much more to be thankful for, but this sampling helps me realize I have ever so much to be thankful for!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge - Purple

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Craver VII 

Fishing Guy 

Katney 

Imac 

Lew 

I'm joining in the group above for this weekly challenge.

Feel free to click on the other participants' blogs

to see what they've come up with!

Theme ~ Purple

I didn't think I'd use this picture for my header--it's not all about purple!  But since I just took it, and since purple is a dominant feature in the rainbow (the I-ndigo and V-iolet of the ROYGBIV colors), I figured I'd feature it.  It's a reminder of God's promise to never flood the earth again.  It was especially significant this past Sunday, since these were the very storms that brought tornadoes and devastation to our nearby Illinois towns.  It was a triple rainbow for not-quite-enough-time for me to get a picture, but a double rainbow is pretty special, and I've never captured any rainbow from end to end.

Now, lest I persist with piles of paragraphs and punctuation, I present to you, dear people, my purple pictures!

Chives in bloom.

Honeybee on purple variegated beard tongue.

Jacob graduating from JJC.

Purple clematis.

Wildflower at a local park, hiding deep in the grass.

Crocus at a friend's home.

Scilla in my spring garden (it's more blue than purple).

Convocation at Western Illinois University.

Purple onion growing in my garden.

Purple fireworks (looks kinda blue, huh?).

Grape preserves canned last September--yum!

Thanks for perusing my plentiful pictures!  Perchance you'll pass this way again soon!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge - Panning

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Craver VII 

Fishing Guy 

Katney 

Imac 

Lew 

I'm joining in the group above for this weekly challenge.

Feel free to click on the other participants' blogs

to see what they've come up with!

Theme ~ Panning

For this week's header, I chose the only picture I have of true panning!  I took it (there really are two!) for a photography class lesson on...panning lol, and capturing action.  Here are the two full images I took:

For this class lesson, I asked Danny (left) and his friend Nathan to run by me.  Since we were doing this after church on a bright, sunny Sunday literally at noon, I knew I'd have to fiddle with settings in order to achieve the blurred panning look I wanted.  The settings:

• ISO 100
• Canon 17-85mm lens at 28mm
• f/22
• 1/30 second shutter speed

The reason behind the settings:  I recall trying to get a slow enough shutter speed to achieve blur in the image, so I set the shutter speed first and adjusted the rest so the images would be properly exposed.  In the bright noon sunlight, this meant the lowest ISO possible, and a pretty high f-stop.

I also used the AI Servo focus mode so that the camera would continually focus/refocus as I panned with the guys.  This form of panning is a great way to achieve a sense of motion, if that's what you want to convey in the image.

I do use panning, just not with the above effect.  For Thomas' football team, for which I was the official team photographer, I had to pan with the players running around on the field.  I did not want to have the blur, however; I wanted the sharpest images possible, to stop the action in the image.  Here's a series of images I took of Jonah, the team's captain, as he ran with the ball one play:

In order to achieve the stop-action look, I knew I had to set my shutter speed at 1/500 second or faster (according to the quick research I did as a non-sports photographer!).  So I set the shutter speed and set everything else to jive with it:

• ISO 500
• Canon 70-300mm lens at 170mm
• f/5
• 1/1000 second

Fortunately, this was an afternoon game, meaning lots of light.  My 70-300mm lens is not the best, but by bumping up the ISO to achieve a fast shutter speed, I could get a nice overall sharpness.  The F-stop was set as low as the lens would let me.  And, of course, I used AI Servo focus to continually focus/refocus as Jonah ran up the field.  (BTW, I captured a little face-mask action there--tsk, tsk, Jonah!)

One final shot, but it's not really panning.  Panning is basically moving the camera in order to follow the subject.  But what if the subject is stationary?  Can you still move the camera somehow and achieve a blurred effect?  You sure can.  :)

Now, I'm no expert, haha.  But I read about this particular technique right before Fernando and I went to Paris.  And there was a stationary subject that leant itself to this technique, in my mind, so I figured I'd try it.  And what came out of my camera was pretty cool.  Here it is, the Arc de Triomphe on a beautiful Friday evening:

It's called zoom blur, and it's achieved by keeping your camera stationary, but turning the lens to zoom in (or out) while the shutter is open.  Click here if you want to read a detailed tutorial.  But basically, the essentials are a steady hand (or tripod), a slow shutter speed, and a zoom lens of course!  As soon as you click the shutter, twist the zoom lens in (or out depending on how you started).  The settings:

• ISO 100
• Canon 17-85mm lens starting at 85mm, ending at 17mm as I twisted
• f/4
• 1.3 second shutter speed

Here's another tutorial (click here) if you're intrigued; the really cool images are the three examples at the end.  I'd like to experiment more with zoom blur; I think it achieves a sense of motion in a unique way!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge - Memories

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Craver VII 

Fishing Guy 

Katney 

Imac 

Lew 

I'm joining in the group above for this weekly challenge.

Feel free to click on the other participants' blogs

to see what they've come up with!

Theme ~ Memories

When I first saw the theme for this week, my mind took a trip down...  Oh, well, you know.  :)

I immediately thought of Christmas last year, which had an added element of special-ness to it.  See, last June my parents celebrated their silver anniversary, but due to selling their house so quickly in May, they had to spend an extended summer up at their Lake Bonaparte summer house while their new house back home was being built.

Because they stayed through September, we never really had a chance to celebrate their anniversary with the entire family--even though there are only 11 of us altogether!  We just were never able to get everybody together at the same time.

Here's a picture of my dad and mom that I took for their 2011 Christmas cards:

So the months went by, and we finally decided to wait until Christmas to present our "labor of love" to them.  It was a memory book of their lives, before marriage, then celebrating all the years they've been together since.  It was filled with old pictures (many digitally scanned by my younger brother) and other digital images sent in by family and friends, with words of encouragement and blessing sprinkled throughout.  It truly was a memory book for them!

Here is the photo documentary, from them opening the gift, to our little extended family gathered around, enjoying leafing through the pages of time.

Yeah, my dad's pretty goofy.

I love my parents, and I love the memories they've given me over the years.  It was a blessing to give back to them.  :)


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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