Silhouettes

Relay
Chuck Steenburgh was photographing a cross-country race when he “decided to change things up and set a -2 EV exposure compensation and shot into the sun.” Exposure with a Nikon D90 and a Sigma 18-250mm lens was f/10 at 1/4000 sec.
© Chuck Steenburgh

Our Picture This! assignment this month was Silhouettes and readers responded with a wide variety of images that used shadow and background effectively. In essence, the inversion of context and figure was used for both compositional and contextual ends. Often mysterious and elusive, images using this technique more often than not coax our mind to form a picture of what lies within the deep shadow. Think of Thai Shadow Puppets and the way their forms play along the screen, and how the drama of the play becomes somehow more poignant when we fill in the blank, if you will, with our own references and dreams.

Falconer
The overcast and mottled sky and framing of trees provided the perfect context for this image of a statue in New York City’s Central Park. Jim Mitchell worked with a Nikon D300 and a Nikkor 18-200mm lens with an exposure of f/8 at 1/350 sec at ISO 400.
© Jim Mitchell

Sunset Gazebo
The shimmering water, golden light, and idyllic setting at this waterfront park was photographed by Fotini Taylor with a Canon EOS Rebel T3 and a Canon 75-300mm lens.
© Fotini Taylor

Airport
Bernd Geh wrote: “I took this picture in November 2009 at Incheon Airport in South Korea on my way to Singapore to a very difficult technical meeting with a customer. At this moment I still didn’t have a clear idea how to manage this upcoming meeting the next morning. This picture always brings back the memory and the emotions of that evening.” He photographed with a Canon EOS-1D Mark III and a Carl Zeiss Planar T* 85mm f/1.4 lens. Exposure was f/1.4 at 1/100 sec.
© Bernd Geh

Rainy Night
Frederick Piccarello caught the mood and the motion of a rainy night in New York City with a Sony Alpha A77 and a Sony DT 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 lens. Exposure at ISO 3200 was f/5.6 at 1/30 sec.
© Frederick Piccarello

Civil War Reenactment
These reenactment soldiers and the canon firing silhouetted against the billowing smoke was photographed by Jack Bachelder with a Nikon D90 and a Nikkor 18-105mm lens with an exposure of f/7.1 at 1/1000 sec.
© Jack Bachelder

Photographer On A Frozen Lake
Stevan Tontich wrote: “This photo of my friend was taken on a cold February morning on the shore of Lake Michigan by Wind Point Lighthouse near Racine, Wisconsin. Winter was harsh and being out on the lake was an exceptional and unforgettable experience.” He photographed with a Nikon D7100 and a Nikkor 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR lens. Exposure was f/13 at 1/500 sec.
© Stevan Tontich

Headshot
Photographer Rich Monyer (Paul Marcus Photos) wrote: “This model had such beautiful strong and distinct features we wanted to capture all of the great shapes and lines her face produced.” Exposure with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II and a Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens was f/22 at 1/200 sec. Image was shot with a Flashpoint 320 with a 30x60-inch softbox and edited in Photoshop CS5 and Nik’s “skin softener.”
© Rich Monyer (Paul Marcus Photos)

Thor’s Hammer
Charles Gonzalez wrote: “Thor’s Hammer is one of the icons of Bryce Canyon National Park. Normally it is not photographed as a silhouette, but because it is recognizable to anyone who has visited Bryce, I couldn’t resist taking the photo.” Exposure with a Canon EOS-1D Mark II and a Canon 28-135mm lens was f/22 and 1/160 sec at ISO 400.
© Charles Gonzalez

Bird On A Wire
Jeremiah S. Rutherford wrote: “This photo was taken of a bird resting on some power lines in my backyard. I love the simplicity and graphic nature of the image.” Exposure with a Nikon D600 and a Sigma 150-500mm lens was f/7.1 at 1/2000 sec at ISO 400. The black-and-white conversion was done with Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.
© Jeremiah S. Rutherford

Frisbee At Dusk
Kenneth Kast made this photo many years back with a Nikon F2 and a Nikkor 24mm f/2.8 lens on Ektachrome 400 film; he then scanned it with a Nikon Super Coolscan 5000.
© Kenneth Kast

Summer’s Day Play
Chip Weiner told us he made this photo in a park in downtown Tampa and it caught his eye because of the innocence of the scene and his own reminiscence of playing on a hot summer day. Exposure with a Canon EOS 5D Mark III and an EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM lens was f/10 at 1/500 sec at ISO 200.
© Chip Weiner

Picture This! – Our Next Assignment
Panorama

Whether you create it with a panoramic “sweep mode” (in camera stitch) or shoot a series of images that you stitch later in software, panoramas offer a unique view of the world that no single lens can match. You can shoot with tele or wide, interiors or exteriors, but make it grand!

This photo was shot outside Jackson Hole, Wyoming, with a Sony Alpha SLT-A55 in “sweep” panorama mode at a 28mm focal length with an exposure of f/3.2 at 1/80 sec.
© George Schaub

How To Submit Online
1. Go to www.shutterbug.com and register. Scroll down the page and on the right side you will see a box for entering your username and your password. If you have already registered and/or submitted images for the Galleries you can skip this step. Respond to the activation e-mail. Registration is free. You will use your username and password whenever you visit or, with some systems, it will automatically load for you when you visit www.shutterbug.com.

2. Check the assignment and closing dates in the magazine. When the magazine is printed we will create an appropriate gallery for your images. The limit is two images per assignment.

3. Select and prepare your images. We only accept files at a maximum 5MB size, JPEG format. Save the JPEG at a quality level of 10 or higher. Note that file size in your image folder directory will determine upload size, not the “opened” file size, as JPEG compresses at 1:4 at higher quality ratings. If your images do not load it probably means you have exceeded the file size or have not used JPEG format.

4. Click on the Galleries tab on the homepage. In the Category section use the drop-down menu to select the Picture This! assignment. Note that images are simultaneously loaded into the assignment category as well as your own personal gallery. When the Picture This! assignment deadline date has lapsed the assignment gallery will be removed, but your images will still reside in your own gallery.

5. In the Description box add title, camera, lens, exposure information, and your full name. Also add any other comments or anecdotes you think relevant. We reserve the right to edit comments as needed.

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8. We will choose the images after close of the due date.

9. Please feel free to comment on images submitted by other readers.

Scorecard
Deadline For Submission: August 15, 2014.
Images will appear in our November 2014 issue.

Our Next Topic: Red
Deadline For Submission: September 15, 2014
Publication Date: December 2014 issue

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