DG Site Updates: Announcing the winners of the 2006 Photo Contest!!, 1 by wallaby1

wallaby1 wrote:
Good, now we are all happy campers again lets discuss other things. Move on.

nap, I think we all feel a bit of the inequality of what we have to go on, lacation, camera, etc. I decided that if I couldn't compete with the fantastic vistas I see then I would choose what I thought to be my most artistic pictures. If I decided not to enter because I thought I may not win, and others did the same, there would hardly be a contest. I just hope I gave some entertainment by entering, and I think you have some very good pics you could have entered which I have seen on the photos forum. I would encourage you to join in next year too!

I quote nap on "After all, are we voting on the most appealing subject? Or the eye of the photographer? Or on one's "luck" at being in the right place at the right time?" I think all of these things can come together in a way which makes a photo appealing, again with some difference in personal taste.

"Or on whether one lives close to the ocean, or the mountains? My tiny garden can't compete with some of the lush, meandering vistas I've seen here" Again I neither live next to the ocean nor the mountains, but I do live in a country location. My garden isn't huge but isn't tiny either, but a flower can make a wonderful picture, a butterfly will land in a large or small garden. Then it's how we see it, how we capture it if we can, and that means spending time in the garden when the chances are there.

I'm not sure if the quality of camera here is making a lot of difference, some of the best quality pictures don't win. I would love to have a good lens to attach so I can take a wider variety of shots, but the 4x optical zoom I have give me a resonable zoom range, which I do without a tripod, a butterfly won't wait for you to set one up. I wondered if people thought my pic of a peacock butterfly was photoshopped, impossible as I have no advanced programmes, but the butterfly does appear to be floating on the picture. My Sony camera happens to love the colours of peacock butterflies, and I can take macro shots from 4", if good weather and with a lot of care i can do it from 2". My butterflies have got used to me, even newly hatched ones I could get 2" from them to take shots and they take no notice. I must have learnt how to approach them with care, last year was the first ime I tried it and I could only get to within 6". The same with dragonflies, the darters that we around this year I could get very close to their faces by starting at a distance and moving in very slowly.

Just to show you how a boring scene can be turned into an interesting shot when nature presents a beautiful sunset, my two scenic shots were taken from the bedroom window, I stood on the window board, one leg in and one on the window ledge outside fearing for my life! I thought if I couldn't compete with grand vistas then an artistic shot would at least give something for people to look at and ponder. My shot of a vibrant pink and blue sunset was as the camera took it on scene mode, zoomed in to the most colourful area then cropped, these sunset pics cannot be altered to make them better, they turn out brilliantly if you can keep the camera steady on zoom hanging out the window. The eye doesn't pick up the colour at a distance as a zoom camera does, but on the zoomed pic it is there. My other shot of a telephone post is out the same window, it is on the road side and cables always get in the way. The shrubbery at the bottom of the pic is the top of the hedge and trees around, the sunset was a mix of stripey pastels and it so well mimicked the crossing cables of the post. I sometimes take as many as 200 pics while the sun is setting, one after the other, so happen to get the occasional one which is maybe worthy of showing, but I think I have almost worn my battery out, I don't get the same shooting time now!

I hope I helped to make the contest interesting even if I didn't get a win. Here is the view taken today from the bedroom window from which I got my sunset pics, without standing in the window!