***The MAY contest theme is BACKLIT***

[Celebration]

Thank everyone for voting! Stay safe and get in the shade when you take backlit photos out in the sun, please! Tentatively, the entry thread will open on Sunday, May 15, and close Wednesday, May 18. I can't wait to see everyone's entries, and hopefully the rejects as well. Good Luck.

[Mira]

1. While I already had the camera out

I took my first serious back lit reject. Here it is for you.

Grocery bags on my kitchen floor




What's a lot more interesting is that in the process since yesterday, I have come up with three potential entries.
Geez.
That's kind of tragic considering what happened May 2010 and May 2009 (I won first place both months :))I was going to sit out May since it seems a "dangerous one" for me.

[Celebration]

2. I personally believe

you should live dangerously ;)

[Mira]

3. Usually I do, and just like you said about yourself

we won't win again.

:rofl:

[Solly Mack]

4. There are going to be some outstanding photos in this contest.

Great theme!

Congratulations on your win, Celebration!


I can't wait until this move is over. I should be in the states in June. My furniture is waiting on the movers now..takes weeks to ship back across the pond. I'll get there well before my stuff. I packed my camera equipment myself for my own peace of mind. I left out a point and shoot but I'm waiting until the move is over to do anything with the pictures I have stored on several flash drives. I'm still taking photos...I have to do that..makes me happy. I'm using the lap top I'm taking on the plane with me but as it is also used for work, I won't be adding any photo programs to it..or any photos for that matter. I'm whining...lol. I'm sorry. I hate not entering the monthly contests. I feel like I'm no longer part of the group if I don't enter. I really miss entering. Soon I'll be in the dark completely..phone, cable, internet...all off soon.

Poor me...boohoo...lololol

I'll live....barely. lol

[Mira]

5. I read this with a heavy heart right after reading your declaration of loving

Germany, my country of origin til I was 20. I love Germany too. To visit.
It means a lot though to be at home in two cultures and languages. I hope you get to go back there to visit or retire !!!

I will think of you, and miss your photos, and your involvement here and your joie de vivre which is infectious to me.
You'll be back before we all know it, June is not at all long away. I'll try to keep your spirit alive til then and so will the others.

:rofl:

I wish you a very good passage, and I'm glad you are making your peace with coming back to the country that has become my real home and which I love.

[Solly Mack]

8. That's awfully kind of you, Mira.

There's a lot of good about going home. Family being the biggie. I have some family where I'm going to live - we're scattered all over the U.S.. Getting together will be ever so much easier now though. And I always miss the Blue Ridge.

We were looking at houses in North Carolina several months back when we thought we might just go ahead and take an early retirement but the option of coming back here (to work/semi-retire) is now back on the table, so we'll see. We were looking at the Raleigh/Durham area. Have family in NC as well. We could end up anywhere when the time comes, we're both fairly free spirits about that sort of thing. We both like the new and different. (and this move is new and different - never lived in the state of my next home)

"Retired" for us would be some place to come back to from time to time between wanderings. Some place with flowers...I must have flowers.

Still, there's a sadness about leaving Germany.

[regnaD kciN]

6. If I'd known this was going to be the May theme...

...I wouldn't have wasted last month's entry on "Negative Space."



:grr: :argh: :nuke: :banghead: :grr: :argh: :nuke: :banghead: :grr: :argh: :nuke: :banghead: :grr: :argh: :nuke: :banghead:

[Celebration]

9. one of my faves from the contest!

Beautiful, especially nice with the sun being just slightly off center from the building. It helps balance the whole picture.

There were a couple of other nice backlit photos in the contest, including the third place one.

You still have plenty of time to take some more photos, or go through your extensive archive. I am sure you have more than one wonderful backlit photo...........

If you are looking for an outdoor photo, I will hope with you that the sun will shine brightly in Seattle over the next couple of weeks. My daughter who lives there would like that too!

[Mira]

7. Presenting you with today's reject

but I'm learning some stuff

[Celebration]

10. If that is the reject

then I can't wait for the non-reject!!

This is a perfect example of one of my favorite kinds of backlit photos. The leaves or flower are well lit.........but from the BACK. It is fun to look for shots like this.

[Mira]

11. Thank you, I'm catching on then. Once a theme is given, the mind and eye get stretched

and as the saying goes: never go back to their original dimension.

What I like very much about our longer shooting times these days (which we have thanks to you) is that I have not been looking at my files so much, but rather I have been pondering, discovering and shooting the theme. Whether I could participate or not :rofl:.

I appreciate you acknowledging my rejects, you asked and I felt encouraged.
:)

[Celebration]

12. Backlit is interesting

Because it encompasses so many different types of photos--silhouettes!! (love them) "see through" things that are lit from behind (your reject) and all sorts of halo effects around everything. I'm going to enjoy trying to look for more backlit photo opportunities myself. Photos can be backlit by the moon as well (I have that photo of the blackbirds in front of the moon) or the water (as my photo here shows).

We are barely getting in three weekends of shooting time. It is fun to have a photographic goal for a couple of weeks, even if we end up using archives.

[Mira]

13. A new reject - but I like it anyway - maybe I'm just posturing :)

[tabatha]

14. That's a really great picture.

No blown out whites; but enough light for detail in the backlit items. Neat.

[Mira]

17. Thank you Tabatha, I'm learning from you to look for blown out whites. I have

noticed before that this is something you don't like and I never ever much looked at before.

[tabatha]

19. The reason for that

is because there is no detail in blown-out whites. It is something that photographers like to avoid (no detail), while others don't mind it in high-contrast images, especially B&W.

Personally, for me, it is because the detail is lost.

Professional photographers also like to look for shadow detail in images.
However, for me anyway, often solid dark areas are unavoidable in such scenes as sunsets, where the detail is not important
And also, where a solid background is desired, such as your last photo.

[Celebration]

15. can't believe I missed this

Here is why I like it. It provides both the silhouette in the vase, and the "light through the petals", all in the same photo. I also like the horizontal of the blinds against the less graphic looking vase and flowers. All in all, very interesting photo. :thumbsup:

[Mira]

18. Thank you, Celebration, just found your kind comments and what you like about it.

It's a favorite reject and if I start to dislike my front runner I might use it.

[Mira]

16. A new one I won't use...

though I considered it because I like the squiggly line through the diagonal.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

20. I think this is gorgeous, my dear Mira!

Classic, elegant, simple...

Beautiful!

[Mira]

22. Thank you very much, dear Peggy. I rejected it not very willingly. I'm glad

you like it.

[Celebration]

21. Seeing your rejects

Makes me anxious to see your entry!!

[Mira]

23. Because of these kind words, my (maybe) next to the last reject just for you

I'm holding what may be my favorite reject, because it's a little different, for another day.



I'm not shooting for a few days - Mothers day is a big deal around here.