Upcoming L.E.N.S. Challenge-all about bokeh

The challenge for this Saturday's
The LEarning Never Stops Photo Challenge is bokeh.

I heart bokeh. Everyone needs a little bokeh in their life....

Need a translation? Need an example? Here are two I pulled from the blawg...

In non-technical blog-speak, bokeh effect is a blurry background. See on the photo above- the grass-like plants are in focus in the front, and the background is all blurry and out-of-focus.

Here's another example- I focused on the yummy snack, getting real close to it- I actually had my camera setting on 'aperture'- the little 'A' button on the top left of my nikon. My camera then chose the shutter speed for me. I like either/or scenaros, it just simplifies things for me...

Before I found out about the aperture setting...I learned a neat little bokeh trick- use your micro setting on your camera, it's usually a button with a flower on it. Get in close to a subject and make sure you are focused just on the subject- you might have to play a little tug-of-war with your auto-focus...I did with the grass picture above. If you are focused on the closest thing, the background will be blurry. If no blur, try getting closer to the subject and re-focusing.

Here are links to better, more professional descriptions of bokeh, how to get it and how your aperture settings work-

Now you are armed, so get out there and capture some great bokeh!

See you Saturday, July 17th for a Bokeh-Fest!

L.E.N.S. -WINNERS! -Red, white & blue

Here are the winners for The LEarning Never Stops photo challenge-
Red, white & blue

1) The Family Trifecta


Beautiful shades of red, white and blue. It's art- the photo and the food!

2) Learning Laughter Love

-All the shades, and it's a craft they did! Beautiful and a creative direction. Loved it!

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Next weekend's photo challenge, July 17th will be 'bokeh'. I will have a post tomorrow explaining what bokeh is, how to get it easily using your camera's settings, and I will have a link or two to other blogs explaining how to use your aperture settings to achieve beautiful bokeh- I'll also post a photo of two as examples.
*bokeh is a blurred background

thank you everyone for participating, I hope you all had a chance to visit around and see the great entries- we had some really wonderful photos shared.

L.E.N.S. Photo Challenge-Numbers

I am so sorry internets! ..because of all the busyness at my house, due to our Bible conference-I forgot that today is Saturday!!

So, here is the linky for this week's the LEarning Never Stops photo challenge.
The theme is Numbers.
go ahead, be creative with your subject!

I will keep the linky up an extra day because of the holiday on Sunday..so the linky will close
10pm Monday night.

Next week's theme is 'red, white & blue'

L.E.N.S. Photo Challenge-"Summer"

The LEarning Never Ends photo challenge for Saturday, June 19th is now live!

This weekend, the theme is "Summer". Share a shot that says "summer" to you.
Linky closes Sunday night, 10 pm pacific time. *Remember to visit at least 3 other entries, and if you do any edits, we would love to know what you did, and how.

Look on the sidebar to see upcoming themes***

L.E.N.S. WINNERS! -nature is my classroom

Wow, this week was a hard one to choose the winners- well, all the weeks have been a little hard, but this week it was very difficult to just choose 2 winning photos. Sure, technical and/or artistic skill grabs me, but beyond that- a great display of the theme also grabs me. We had so many entries that just shouted "nature is my classroom" even if technically not an incredible shot...

Here are the winners for this week!

1. Melissa at Missionary Mama. Beyond this shot at the beach being beautiful in composition and beauty, I love, love the intense concentration on this little one's face as he considers nature.

2. Lizzie at A Work in Progress. oh how I love the different, beautiful shades of green, and the two children sharing together about something out there.

Congratulations! I hope you will all come back and play next week!

The theme/challenge for this Saturday will be "Summer"

We are heading into summer, for many this is the end of the school year, or for many homeschoolers, a break time or the change into a lighter study load. Catch a shot that either yells "summer!" to you..or reflects the change in learning routines.

I can't wait to see what you come up with!