Picture This

Alphabet Soup

Staff  |  Sep 12, 2011  |  First Published: Aug 1, 2011

Our Picture This! assignment this month was Alphabet Soup, and we asked readers to go on a kind of letter treasure hunt and find either actual mixes of letters or naturally occurring forms that made the shape of letters. Some readers responded with literal, if you will, images and others found forms and shapes in nature and architecture and even sculpture that filled the bill. This is what you could call a “frame of mind” assignment, where once you begin to seek a particular form or shape you almost can’t help seeing that form around you.

Crate & Letters

Robert Santeramo found this mix of colors and forms in the Turks and Caico Islands. He photographed with a Nikon D700 and a Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 lens with an exposure of f/6.3 at 1⁄250 sec. © Robert Santeramo

Sky

While some readers sent in images of one or a few letters, Frank Goroszko included them all in this photo of an old Underwood typewriter he found in front of a second-hand store. Exposure with a Nikon D300 and a Tamron 17-50mm VC lens was f/11 at 1⁄125 sec at ISO 400. © Frank Goroszko

S-Flamingo

Tina Marie Brookes saw this natural “S” curve in the new flamingo exhibit at the Nashville Zoo. The light fell just right for her exposure of f/9 at 1⁄160 sec with a Canon EOS 7D and an EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM lens. © Tina Marie Brookes

Crosscut O

The colors, shapes, and design of this most decorative “O” was photographed by Vera Blair with a Canon EOS Rebel T2i with an exposure of f/8 at 1⁄100 sec. © Vera Blair

Mirror Z And Built-In V

This complex set of intersecting letters was spotted by Gregg Buonomo in Key West, Florida. Exposure with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II with a Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS lens was f/4 at 1⁄400 sec. © Gregg Buonomo

Neon Boneyard

John Kompare found these decorative letters gone to seed in Las Vegas, Nevada. Exposure with a Canon EOS Rebel XSi and a Sigma 24-70mm lens was f/22 at 1⁄30 sec. © John Kompare

Rusty W

Kurt Kramer spotted this worn letter in an industrial neighborhood west of the Chicago Loop that could also serve as a rusty “M” in a pinch. He photographed with a Canon EOS 5D and an EF 28-135mm lens. © Kurt Kramer

Team Hats

Arnold Kaufman found a host of logo letters in an athletic hat store in Burbank, California. Exposure with a Leica M9 was f/4 at 1⁄125 sec at ISO 160. © Arnold Kaufman

H Is For Hot

This hearth and chimney shows how observation and point of view work hand in hand. David Fischer made this photo of the remains of a Civil War-era home on Harris Neck WMA in Townsend, Georgia. He photographed with a Canon EOS Rebel T1i with an 18-55mm lens with an exposure of f/8 at 1⁄30 sec at ISO 200. © David Fischer

Paris Subway Wall

Perhaps the most literate subway walls in the world are in Paris, proven here in this photo by Becky Brinn. She photographed with a Canon PowerShot SX20 with an exposure of f/2.8 at 1⁄20 sec at ISO 400. © Becky Brinn

 

Picture This! – Our Next Assignment
Handheld Pan
Panning involves relatively long shutter speeds and moving the camera along with the principle subject(s) as it moves across your point of view. Doing this and getting the shot just right is difficult enough—doing it handheld introduces a whole other set of motions and effects into play. Our Picture This! assignment this month is for you to try your hand at handheld panning.

This photo of horses at full gallop was made with a Canon EOS 40D with an exposure of f/22 at 1⁄4 sec at ISO 100. © George Schaub

Please Read This
It is important that you read and follow these guidelines. We need to follow this procedure because of the large volume of images we receive. If you have any questions, please e-mail us at: editorial@shutterbug.com.

1) Images sent to us cannot be returned. You retain complete copyright over the images, but do grant us permission to print your image(s) in the magazine and on our website, www.shutterbug.com.

2) Because images are not returned please send a quality print or duplicate transparency. We will not accept or view images on CD, ZIP, or any other electronic media.

3) Images will be selected on the basis of content and technical quality. Please mark your outer envelope with the topic of the month (for example, “Wide View”).

4) Enclose a short caption with the image stating camera, lens, film and exposure, plus location. If you are submitting an image with a recognizable person we must have a model release or signed permission from that person to reproduce their image in the magazine and on the website.

5) Please submit no more than three photos for consideration (4x6 up to 81/2x11).

Send your image and information to:
Picture This! Shutterbug Magazine,
1415 Chaffee Dr., Suite #10, Titusville, FL 32780.
Deadline for submission: September 15, 2011.
Images will appear in our December 2011 issue.
Our next topic: Pen And Ink
Deadline: October 15, 2011
Publication Date: January, 2012

Please note: We receive hundreds of submissions for Picture This! each month and want to be sure we properly identify each image we publish. Please be sure to attach your name and image information to the back of each submission.

Want to see images selected for past Picture This! assignments? Go to www.shutterbug.com and click on Picture This! in the “More Articles…” box on the homepage.

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