PJ Taylor
This shot was taken from the shoreline at 150mm, f/10 and ISO 200 (no tripod) on a hazy mid-day.
While a telephoto perspective and the absence of shadows did help to emphasize the contrast in subjects,
the original blank sky made the imagery a bit too stark.
Eventually, with colour correction and new clouds blended in, this tableau easily qualified for the ZOOM II Catalogue.
To see more of my work, check out the new Insight.
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It's Killing Me
Bert Vereecke
"The idea of my series ‘It’s Killing Me’ started when I got
a self portrait assignment in photography evening school. As a photographer, I had always
been intrigued by this concept, to literally "put yourself in the
picture". Years ago I saw a photograph on
Flickr similar to 'The Knife' in 'It's Killing Me' and I
always kept it in my mind. So for this assignment I started with the making of
this particular photo in my bathroom and came up with idea to shoot four more so
it became a short series.
All the pictures were shot in and around my house with my old Canon EOS 400D, its self-timer and a tripod. Because I’m pretty familiar working with Adobe Photoshop as I am also a graphic designer, I experienced almost no problems with blending the three different pictures into one layer. You just have to ensure that all the light conditions and shadows are realistic in the final photo.
Shooting the pictures was more challenging because you sometimes have a particular scene in mind but this turns out wrong when actually playing the scene. And because my 400D had no Live View feature, it sometimes took a while before I found the right angle or until the different versions of me were in the right place. Another difficult point was the changing light while shooting the scene. Since I only worked with natural and existing light - and sometimes shooting the scene took about one hour - there was a visible change to the angle of sunlight in the different pictures, even inside the house.
You also have to be mindful of details such as changing
clothes/glasses/watch/ between photos to make the whole scene
more believable.‘It’s Killing Me’ is all about the feeling that someone is following or
keeping an eye on you when you’re all by yourself, but in reality there is no
one there. An inner voice tells you then that it’s just imagination… I took it
a step further by expanding each picture to a killer scene.
And hey don’t worry, I don’t have suicidal or schizophrenic
thoughts…"
Editor's note: Another short series by Bert Vereecke has been selected for the Photography Circuit of Flanders season 2012~2013 exhibition. Congratulations on 'Please, be seated' and best wishes to you Bert.
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Sunrise at 't Loo
Henk ter Horst
"I heard the evening before, at the weather forecast, that the next day would be sunny
and would start with mist or fog.
Well then you know you can make nice photos. So in the early morning, 7:00am,
I was outside traveling from spot to spot, shooting at three different locations.
My camera is a Canon 60D and because of the low light conditions, I used a monopod
with my 100-400mm lens.
The place is near where I live - Eibergen - rather close to the German border,
in the eastern part of Holland."
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Destined
Shane Peterson
"Here is a little insight into how I shot Destined.
The shot was taken at 165mm, f/8, and ISO 500. These settings were input manually because of the very fact that I wanted to control the severity of the bokeh in the background and the movement of the prop. For the rpm setting of the subject plane (a 1980s Christen Eagle), 1/1250th of a second shutter speed achieved a proper motion blur for the propeller while still allowing adequate sharpness for the rest of the picture.
The photo was taken out of the open window of another aircraft which I was in. Once the two aircraft joined formation, the shooting began. It was very helpful to have the subject fly at a slightly lower altitude trailing behind my aircraft. This yielded the best results for composition. The slight cloud coverage that day really helped achieve a nice soft light that brought the colors of the plane out very well.
This was no doubt a challenging photo shoot. Hanging out of an open window tying to photograph a moving subject while flying 120 miles per hour had its downsides, but I am very happy with the results! I would do it again in a heartbeat"
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Making the Lahuh
Haim Srur
"Breslev's Hassids are very religious people who spend most of their time praying, learning and wondering about the miracle of the creation (creation ex nihilo). Usually [the men] don't work for their living; their wives go to work or they [depend on] donations. This specific one makes his living by selling this Yamane food called 'Lahuh', a bread with egg."
"The main challenge was the low light combined with movement, which you will find in small workshops. I stood outside of the room and used the external light that was soft because it was reflected from the wall behind me. The back of the room was lit by low light from the lamps but it was enough for the background."
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Wildflower
PJ Taylor
The Wildflower series was composed with macro settings and shot through a telephoto lens to minimise depth of field as in the example above. Given the play of dappled sunlight and soft shadows from overhanging shrubs, there wasn't any real need for flash units or reflectors. To see more of my work, check out the new Insight.
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There's No Going Back
John Powell
The January event is especially tough as the temperature barely goes above freezing. What drew me to this particular shot was the steam generated by the runners as they waited to pass though a bank of tyres. At this point in the competition there really is; No Going Back! Finding some colour in a sea of mud is also challenging."
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Joyful
Ario Wibisono
"The black background originally is caused by some bamboo trees which are very dark (approximately 8 stops different from the subject). Just a tweak in Photoshop and the result is what you see here."
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Picturing Photographers
John Sharp
In his themed album, John Sharp captures the intensely focused photographer, dedicated to bagging the money shot that makes it all worthwhile. See what it takes to join such well-equipped professionals at a cycling event through John's coverage of the UCI 2010 World Championships in Geelong, Australia.
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