Picture This

Without a doubt, the most popular images on the Internet (aside from cat photos) are of sunrises and sunsets. What is it about these daily acts of nature that so inspire us? It’s hard to say but easy to see. 

For this month’s assignment, we asked you to post images that exemplified what famed French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson called “the decisive moment,” i.e., real-life subject matter that’s captured neither too early, nor too late, but at the peak of emotion and expression. We got some beautiful moments from Shutterbug readers, including everything from a breathtaking goal line flip during a football game to a poignant kiss between a bride and groom with several unexpected onlookers sharing the couple’s “decisive moment.” Here are our 10 favorite examples of decisive moments from Shutterbug readers.

Despite all the advancements in imaging—including the advent of color and the now dominance of digital—there’s something about classic black-and-white photography that will never go out of style. That’s not to say that just because a photo has been shot in or converted to monochrome, it’s guaranteed to be a great photo. The choice to go black and white must have some meaningful relationship to the subject matter or scene to be effective. For this assignment, we were looking for your best black-and-white photos that use the dramatic impact of monochrome in a powerful way. Here are our six favorites.

Today’s camera gear is faster than ever and much of it is tailor-made for capturing any sort of motion or movement. So then why do so many photographers struggle to shoot compelling images of action? Part of it has to do with timing and part of it has to do with composition. Your camera and lens can only do so much and there’s more to a great action shot than simply capturing the moment and making sure it’s in focus. For this assignment, we were looking for images of anything from basketball to dance to wildlife, just as long as there was some kind of action in the scene. For the winning images, we were looking for great composition, effective use of backgrounds and scenery, and powerful emotion: human, animal, or otherwise. Here are our six favorites.

While it’s true that black-and-white photography presents a classic look that will likely never go out of style, if you want to create an immediate impression with an image, some stunning color certainly doesn’t hurt. This Dazzling Color assignment proved just that. We wanted Shutterbug readers to show us images of a variety of subjects as long as they included a stunning use of color. Photos could include everything from landscapes to still lifes to portraits or action shots.

Shutterbug readers got super artsy with this month’s Fine Art Photography assignment and the results were stunning. While it may be hard to precisely describe what fine art photography is, the 10 images we chose this month all struck us as being gallery-worthy. These shots display a firm vision, a great eye, a keen knowledge of forms, and, overall, an appreciation of the abstract beauty of the natural and man-made world.

If you think about all the people snapping shots of their favorite meals with their smartphones these days, you might say food photography is one of the more popular imaging genres right now. But while many of these phoned-in food photos end up on Instagram and other social networks, most of the images are downright unappetizing.