November 'Motion' contest winners
Of this photo, judge Peter Southwick of Boston University's photojournalism department said: "A really engaging image that earned the highest ranking because of the creative angle, and the right choice of lens and shutter speed to accentuate the action. The difficult light is handled well, and the subject's expression made it a winner. Everyone who looked at this picture smiled."
"It looks as though this image employed a lot of Photoshop post-production work, but the final result screams MOTION," Peter said. "Creativity was very much in play in the choice of camera angle and the use of slow shutter that accentuated the motion in the light sources while keeping the main subject sharp."
Peter said this photographer employed "a tried and true technique utilizing a slow shutter and zoom during exposure, but it's not easy to do this successfully. Great care has to be given to the coordination of the zoom and shutter, but even more important is the arrangement of elements in the frame so the viewer feels the effect of the motion. This photographer pulled it off very well."
Every time I show your photographs to whatever professional photographer happens to be judging or critiquing in a given month, they look them over and inevitably say, "Wow -- these are really good." Peter Southwick was no different.
"It's a pretty impressive set of photos," said Peter, former photo director of the Globe. "There were plenty of days when I would have used one of these for a Metro section front in the paper."
Peter has been a photojournalist for many years -- with the old Real Paper, the Herald-American, the Associated Press, and the Globe. But like many photojournalists, he was too busy taking photos to ever have an exhibit of his work -- until he got to BU. The Center for Digital Imaging Arts talked him into it, and in 2006, he put on his first show. You can watch a video about the exhibit here.
The rest of this month's winners (click "Full screen" to get large versions):
Congrats to all the winners, there is some great stuff there. I made the final 50, but didn't even vote for myself - there were too many shots that were much more creative than mine.
Thanks to the judges for taking the time to judge this contest. I'm sure it ain't easy
Wow. 2nd Place. That's great. It may be surprising, but there is minimal Photoshop work on my "Warp Speed" image. The colors were really vibrant straight from the camera. It was a perfect time of day at dusk while the sky was still very blue but all the street lights were on. Of course you can't choose a color temperature that will match both the sky and the street lights and so you end up with contrasting colors. I did have to come up with a system that used a bungee cord to hang my tripod and camera off the side of my scooter and I was happy with the result. Thanks to everyone that voted.
whoah, some pretty impressive work, congrats to the winners...
Thanks, everyone, for looking at my picture. I'm delighted that it made 4th place - the competition was really strong. This was my first attempt at light trails and I was very happy with the result. I've never been able to get another shot I like as much as this one (although I keep trying) perhaps because I haven't been able to find such a good location. Anyway, congratulations to the winners. I wonder if shoothead would mind telling us how he took such an amazing picture?
Thank You to the RAW members for making this such an enjoyable opportunity to photograph. The photo submissions are outstanding and I've learn from each one.
Thanks Teresa for your great ideas and support of photography...the RAW site is interesting, informative and instructional - great work.
Thanks Jill. I liked your photo a lot too.
For "like a record" I put the camera around my neck and used the self timer to get the shot on Tv trying various shutter speeds until a) I got a good composition and b) I got an exposure I was happy with. We spun around together maybe 15 times and I got pretty dizzy but she loved it (obviously...). I used the Canon 10-22mm lens at 10mm to get as wide an angle as possible on the 20D.
Congrats to everyone, especially to Lee. He is quite the shoothead. :)
Three months in a row, the winners all share a few things in common. They have stories to tell, and bring smiles to viewers (something in short supply during these harsh times). The September winner and the October second-place finisher were shot with very inexpensive cameras, and I suspect that the November winner was also.
The other photos may be technically better, but the techniques and subjects have been beaten to death by many. They add nothing new. Viewers may find them VISUALLY stimulating, but simply will not respond to them EMOTIONALLY.
This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.
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