Atherton & District Amateur Photographic Society

To explain, what I'd like for this competition is for you to 1) Choose a technique and 2) Post an image that's a superb example of that technique.

For example, you could choose one of the following: Depth of field in a landscape, out of focus background in a portrait, stopping action with a fast shutter speed, showing movement with a slow shutter speed, multiple exposure, use of soft focus, HDR, monochrome toning, infra-red or anything else you can think of. It can be in-camera or Photoshop technique, I don't have any preconceived ideas about it.

Please state what technique you have chosen as I will be judging not only the quality of the image but also how well it fulfills the technique chosen.

To give you plenty of time to shoot an image if needed, the closing date will be midnight, Wednesday 30th November. Don't worry if you are new at this, just make it fun!

Technique: 'Dragging the Shutter'

When balancing flash with the available light, the combination of settings is usually chosen so that the mood of the place and surrounds is retained – or at least have the available light add to the image. In doing so, the advice is often given to “drag the shutter”. In allowing a slower shutter speed, more of the ambient light is allowed to register and influence the final image.

For more information see:
http://neilvn.com/tangents/flash-photog ... e-shutter/
http://neilvn.com/tangents/2008/02/29/d ... revisited/


I photographed Laura in her bedroom. Laura was lit with a single studio flash-head, slightly to camera left. The dressing table lamp behind Laura was giving a rich yellow glow and I wanted to incorporate this into the image. If I had used regular exposure settings for this type of flash shot, eg something like 1/125 at f/8, the lamp light would have been totally drowned out, so I chose to use a much slower shutter speed (drag the shutter). Settings used were 1/30 of a second hand-held at f/8. Normally, one wouldn't be able to get a sharp image hand-held at such a low shutter speed, but when combined with flash to 'freeze' the subject you can get away with it.

Depth of field

Taken today at Ness Gardens on the Wirral. Exercise in DoF focusing on the second hole from the right on the back of this wooden bench. f16, 1/125 sec

Centaurea Bud - Depth of field. 1/60 at F4.3 Focal Length 26mm using macro filter. ISO 140

Technique: Swirling Pools.

If you see the water swirling at the foot of a waterfall and you would like it to show in your image, you will require an exposure
of 10secs. and above.
You must also take into account the flow of the river. (Don`t get your feet wet.)
Des

LAYERS IN PHOTOSHOP ( I'M NOT SHOUTING, I'M JUST LAZY. TOO MUCH TROUBLE TO PRESS SHIFT KEY)

Technique, PANNING,
To get a sense of speed with any fast moving subject, birds in flight, motor sport etc the panning technique needs to be mastered, to fast a shutter speed will freeze the action and make the subject look static, I always use manual focus, centre weighted or spot metering depending on the lighting, a wide apperture, this shot was taken at 250th shutter speed iso 200, centre weighted metering,manual focus, F5.6 using a 70- 300 lens.

Depth of field in a portrait, the groom is actually sat next to her. 135mm prime at f/3.5, 1/2000sec shutter. The nice bokeh of this lens also hides the fact that this was taken in the beer garden of one of Atherton's not to salubrious pubs

Exposure Compensation
In backlit pictures, like this one of a fllower girl against a large window, digital cameras make it easier to get good results when using exposure compensation.
In metering for the outside left the girl as a dark range of tones. By dialling in +2 exposure compensation
brightened the ' dark side' and lightened her face yet kept both the detail in her dress, flowers and background.
I used f2.8 aperture, 50th of a second shutter with a 28 -70 mm f2 lens
A subtle vignette and the semi sepia colouring effect keeps the tones tidy

This photograph is an application of the cut and paste technique in photoshop. The photo of john was taken at a portrait shoot at Atherton taken on a white background to test the lights, meter readings and my camera settings. The background was taken at a local church while I was attending a wedding with Mike.
I used the magnetic lasso tool to cut out the figure of john then placed him on the new background, then using the clone tool to tidy up all around the edges and some dodge and burn tools in photoshop to add shadows and take out some of the bright parts on Johns face.

Depth of Field. I hope that the background, although out of focus, still reflects the tone, colour and shapes of the main image.

Technique - Turn Day Into Night using off camera flash
Equipment - Camera, Lens, Speedlight.

Expose the background as required in manual mode.
Add a model.
Speedlight, off camera, bare bulb directly at model.
Adjust light to achieve desired effect.

Taken at around 2pm on Saturday afternoon, which was a glorious day.
ISO 800, 1/100 sec, f8.

No fill in flash or reflector to achieve effect.

This was taken at the studio shoot last Friday at the club, I know I have already posted this under a different thread but wanted to post it in this competiton too.

The technique is lighting. There were two soft boxes one placed to the left and one to the right of myself facing Lisa (the model). There was a third light placed to the right but slightly behind Lisa, this had a snoot on and was pointing down onto her head to cast light onto the top of her hat to make it stand out against the background. Because her hat had a wide rim, the light to my left was casting a shadow on her face, to eliminate this I had someone hold a silver reflector to bounce the light back onto her face. The photo was taken using 50mm fixed lens at f9 & 1/125 shutter speed.

This picture was taken at f5.0, 1/25th with 50-200mm lens to demonstrate depth of field and the unusual pattern of these building supports

Breaking the rules with digital infrared on skin tone.

Changed the channel mix in the red tones and added glow with a blur and softlight on the infrared.
Added some HDR Toning to bring out the contrast and detail lost on the glow / blur from the infrared and blended this with a softlight.
Added a curve to recover the blacks lost in the softlight.
Then added depth to the image with blends and contrast.
To finish off, added contour to the lips and sharpened the eyes with highpass and screen.
Altered the depth of field to keep the focus on the eyes and to soften the skin.
And finally added a black and white adjustment with further tweaks on the red tones.