Camera Labs

OCTOBER 1ST - Submissions closed, time to vote for your favorite!

Polls close at midnight GMT 21st October.

PS - please remember to vote fairly. Please don't ask your friends to vote for you as this can easily skew the result. Thanks, Gordon


Hi everyone! Welcome to September's Assignment!

The theme for this month is "Unnatural", as suggested by Synchestra who won the June 2010 competition. Be sure to read the whole post for the rules.

In Synchestra's own words:

"After a little bit of thought, the theme for this month's assignment is un-natural. You can interpret that any way you like - I can think of at least two ways you could approach the assignment, and I'm sure there are more. I'd really like to see people push the boundaries on this one! But keep it clean and family-friendly - ED.

If you feel like a series would express your idea better than a single photo, feel free to enter up to three shots, arranged however you like, but they have to be obviously connected.

Last thing: please keep the PP to a minimum; levels, contrast, sharpening etc are all OK but keep that Warp tool where it belongs."



The rules!

1: This month you can submit one, two or three images in one post, but they have to be related and MUST be taken during September 2010. Photos taken earlier will be disqualified!

2: All images submitted must be no more than 500 pixels on their longest side, although you can include a link to a full resolution version if you like. Flickr users must link back to the original version to comply with its latest rules.

As always, please exercise good judgement on what is suitable for the forum. Keep it clean and family-friendly or it'll be removed. See the Forum Rules for guides.

Please include a sentence or two with your photo describing what you were trying to achieve and if there were any particular challenges in doing so like, for example, any special exposure or lighting setup.

We're all enthusiasts here, so it's also great to see what equipment you used and the settings too. So please also include the following:

Camera Model:
Lens and focal length:
Aperture:
Shutter Speed:
Sensitivity:
Post processing:

Submissions will close at midnight GMT on 30th September 2010. The final poll will follow.

Please remember this thread is for submissions only. If you'd like to comment on any of the submissions or ask any questions, please do so in the September 2010 Comments and Questions thread!

Thanks and good luck!

Gordon

"I DON'T WANNA BE U'RE FRIEND ON FACEBOOK"



14mm | f/8 | 1/160 | ISO200

SOOC jpeg -> resized

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/53061745@N02/

Panasonic G3: 9-18mm, 14mm, 20mm, 45mm

Found this spider in the garden doing an un-natural impression of a monkey



Larger version here http://www.keystrokesukimages.com/Animals/Animals/spider-in-web/991925887_R7nS6-L.jpg

Note to self, never try to take shots of a spiders web when its windy.

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Nikon D90
Nikkor AF-S DX; 18-105 f/3.5-5.6G VR, 55-300 f/4.5-5.6G VR, 35mm f/1.8G
Speedlight SB-700

http://keystrokesukimages.com

Reminder: SET WHITE BALANCE BACK

Was shot in an Unnatural white balance setting. The result of not checking the camera's white balance before shooting: Tungsten in broad daylight.


Camera: SONY
Model: DSLR-A700
ISO: 200
Exposure: 1/250 sec
Aperture: 2.8
Focal Length: 24mm
Flash Used: No

Golden: So... This is where the "unnatural" smell came from ..??

Camera Model: A700
Lens and focal length: Sony 50 F1.4
Aperture: F2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/200sec
Sensitivity: ISO 200
Post processing: None

Positive-Negative? A conundrum
Topography has always fascinated me, I think that it all started when learning to dress myself and being amazed by the concept of 'inside out'. This image is intended to challenge the viewer to try and resolve whether it is positive or negative, rightside or inside out.

Everything you see here is actually the underside of a surface seen through a transparent medium (glass). The effect is created in a piece of hand-crafted Polish glassware by the way that the craftsman has flawlessly welded the stem onto the bowl. I don't know whether it fits the brief but it does require a certain inside-out way of looking at it to work out what is going on. I've been wanting to take this shot for ages, so thought this a perfect excuse!!




Higher resolution version: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4112/4976853673_91aacf88ba_b.jpg
Pic of the whole piece: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4088/4976408991_a6267f3baf.jpg

Canon Powershot G10 macro setting ISO100, underexposed 1 stop.
PP: Crop, rotate, sharpen, reduce to 500pix

[img]"[img]http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4131/4977250507_6632e53840_o.jpg[/img]
DSC02526 by Elmore Photography, on Flickr
[img]
50mm
f/2.0
ISO 500
1/80

GRRRRRRR

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Sony Alpha 700, Minolta 70-210 f/4 and some other stuff

Zen gardens are made from natural objects relatively positioned each to the other according to very precise rules.
That makes for a very odd contradiction of Natural v. Contrived which I hope fits the bill?

Shot in insect-infested, dull, grey and drizzly conditions for added spirituality!



Canon EOS 350D 18-55mm kit lens set on 20mm ISO 200 1/60 @ f.5.6
Post processing: Brighten, extra contrast, a little extra saturation, crop, resize, add border.

Hmm...the theme is "Unnatural" -- with special instructions to interpret however we'd like and push the boundaries -- at the same time that I decide to practice my architecture photography and explore processing software? I guess this is as good a month as any for my first submission.

Reflection of the Trinity Church in the Hancock Tower, Copley Square, Boston (click for link to a larger version):



Camera Model: Canon EOS 1000D
Lens and focal length: 18-55mm kit lens at 18mm
Aperture: f/8
Shutter Speed: 1/200s
Sensitivity: ISO 200
Post processing: (using GIMP)
1. Duplicate the layer
2. Invert the colors on the top layer
3. Gaussian blur a little on the top layer, then set layer mode to dodge
4. Merge the layers, then duplicate the resulting layer some number of times with layer mode set to multiply. (I don't remember how many times I had to duplicate the layer for this particular image. Also, some layer modes should be set to burn instead of multiply. It varies by image, and I've used this effect on a few dozen photos.)

Unnatural VIP Beach Entrance



Camera Model: Nikon D40x
Lens and focal length: Nikkor 18-200 VR11 @ 32mm
Aperture: f8
Shutter Speed: 1/250
Sensitivity: ISO 100
Post processing: Remove sensitive parts

Currumbin beach and 26c in the 2nd week of spring.

Full Size: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4087/500 ... e229_b.jpg



Cheers

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Nikon D7000, D40X, Nikkor 18- 200 VR II, f3.5-5.6, 70-300 AF non VR, Kit Lenses.

As a tennis fan in North America, (we are few and far between) this is really unnatural to see a court look like this.

Camera Model: Canon 50d
Lens and focal length: 50mm 1.8
Aperture: f1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/2500
Sensitivity: iso 100
Post processing: Curves, sharpening and slight vignette

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Michael
"A photograph is usually looked at – seldom looked into."

Withered street lamp:



Link to larger size (where you can better see the idea of the photo):
http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/4904/p1010244f.jpg

Taken September 19th 2010
Camera: Lumix ZS7
Shutter: 1/320
Aperture: F 5.6
ISO: 80


B&W in camera picture adjust

Circle time! Old houses go!



Camera Model: CANON XSi

Shutter: 1/1500

Aperture: f 4.76

ISO 800

Taken September 19th 2010

Post processing ACDSee Pro 2

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Best wishes, Oleg

I have mixte opinions if this classifies for the assignment,
I'm just happy to have found this old camera...

DSLR A350
ISO 400
Brightness 0.12
Aperture 5
Shutter 0.2s
taken the 21 september 2010

these pics is taken from our backyard

UNNATURAL FOOD SOURCE



Camera Model: D90
Lens and focal length: 18-55mm @ 50mm
Aperture: f3.8
Shutter Speed: 1/2500
Sensitivity: iso 100
Post processing:none