The Wave Swinger by Henry Chan

5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
Nikon D700 with a Sigma 15mm f/2.8 fisheye lens.


Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
1/40 sec at f/5. ISO 1000. Camera was set to aperture priority at +1/3 exp. Shot RAW and JPG files concurrently.

Q3. What software did you use during the post-production?
I used Picassa to edit the JPG file from the camera, mainly contrast, saturation and sharpening. I generally like working with the JPG file rather than the RAW file.

Q4. What is the location?
The photo was shot at the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) in Toronto. The CNE is the largest annual community event in Canada and the fifth largest fair in North America.

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
I go to the CNE annually and look to shoot this ride every year, and try to do it differently somehow each time, at different times of the day and using different lenses.

Ghost in the Machine - Madonna by Erika Iris Simmons

5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
Canon Rebel. The cassette tape photographs work well with soft lighting and flash.

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
F9, ISO 200

Q3. What software did you use during the post-production?
Sometimes I use Lightroom but I never photoshop my images.

Q4. What is the subject of the photo?
The subject is a portrait of Madonna made out of cassette tape

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
This is a part of my "Ghost in the Machine" series where I have many portraits out of cassette tape or old recycled film.

Penmon Point Star Trail by Kev Lewis

5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
Canon 5D MkII and Canon 24mm f1.4 MkII lens. The camera was powered by an external 12v battery which also powered the dew control heating tape wrapped around the lens to prevent the lens misting up (but the heater died after an hour so I had to regularly check for any condensation on the lens)

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
10 second exposures at f2.8 @ ISO 1600 continuously for 6 hours.

Q3. What software did you use during the post-production?
The final result was 2016 images captured on a 64Gb CF card. I also shot 20 dark frames with the lens cap on to use for noise reduction. The raw files were converted to 16-bit tiffs in Capture One Pro. The tiffs were then individually checked to remove any aircraft trails, about another 6 hours work.

Startrails.exe was then used to compile the 2016 images and 20 dark frames to produce a single tiff file. The composite image was finished in CS5 ready for printing and display.

The computer used runs Windows 7 64-bit on an i7 system with 2 x 200Gb solid state drives for temporary working space, 24Gb of 1600Ghz ram and 4 x 2Tb drives for local storage.

Q4. What is the location?
Penmon Point on Anglesey in N. Wales, UK

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
The idea was to take the next step up in star trailing. Most trails are maybe 1 or 2 hours maximum so I was aiming for as long as possible, i.e 6 hours from sunset to sunrise.

Extra Q: Please share an interesting or funny fact that happened while working on this photograph.
While the camera was shooting the sequence I was wandering around the beach taking pictures and generally enjoying the night when I almost fell over a seal that had come up onto the beach to have a nap. I don't know who was more scared, the seal or me, from the smell I think it was probably me! :)

Efímero by Alisa A

5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
The equipment I used is Canon 450d and Canon EF-S17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM lens

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
The image was shot at 200 ISO, f/8.0 and 1/50 sec, using a Flash Pro 285HV (strobist)

Q3. What software did you use during the post-production?
Photoshop CS5

Q4. Who is the model?
The model is me. Ha-ha... It´s something like a self portrait

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
Well, this idea came up many months ago I think, while I was listening to Puccini´s "Madame Butterfly". But I didn´t know how to use CS5 properly in order to create that effect. And the make up is some kind of imitation of the Dior models I saw once in Vogue magazine.

Pepper Splash! by Dennis Ramos

5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
My camera equipment used in this image was a Nikon D300S with a Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens. For the lights, I have the Nikon SB600, a YongNuo YN460 and a red-gelled Quantaray PZ-1 for the background.

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
ISO-200, 1/200 sec @ f/11, 50mm focal length and 0 exposure compensation.

Q3. What software did you use during the post-production?
I used Photoshop for my post-production to sharpen some details, contrasts, and shadows.

Q4. What is the subject of the photo?
The subject is a red bell pepper I found in the fridge.

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
It was one rainy night and I was bored and hungry. I got some food but still wanted to eat more so while I was rummaging the fridge I saw this shiny red bell pepper, so perfect and red that I thought about this composition. It took me around 80 shots to get that perfect "splash" with the right focus. The next night I found this red bell pepper in the dining table stewed among the beef.

Storks at Cabo Sardão by Stephen Davies

5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
Canon EOS 300D & Tamron 28-300 mm lens

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
The image was shot at ISO 400 and 1/3200 sec

Q3. What software did you use during the post-production?
Canon's Digital Photo Professional for the RAW image and Picnik for the Jpeg

Q4. What is the location?
Cabo Sardao, Alentejo region, Portugal

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
The shot was sheer chance, I had been travelling around Portugal with a friend when we decided to drive to Cabo Sardao - not knowing what to find there. When we got there we discovered a lighthouse but behind that were these amazing cliffs with several pairs of nesting white storks. We spent a considerable time lying at the edge of the cliffs photographing these birds :-)

Midnight Sun by John & Tina Reid

5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
Canon 5D Mark II with a Canon 24-105 mm lens

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
30 second exposure at F5 - ISO 200

Q3. What software did you use during the post-production?
I used Lightroom 3 and Photoshop CS5 to retouch this image - the final image is almost straight out of camera - the only change was removing my underwear which was sticking out from the top of my shorts.
The image looks slightly surreal because we manipulated the light. My wife (the photographer) used a graduated filter for the sky and ran around me popping a flash multiple times during the exposure. It sort of gives the appearance that I'm glowing.

Q4. Who is the model?
The model was myself. I hardly ever take self portraits, but in the middle of Iceland, at 12 at night, not many models would pose in their costumes at an ice lagoon :)

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
The idea was born from the fact that I was struggling to get a unique image of Jökulsárlón. I had a few flash units with me, so I thought of including a person in the scene. It evolved from there.

Extra Q: Please share an interesting or funny fact (if any) that happened while working on this photograph.
Lying on the stones covered me in black gravel. To get changed and clean required stripping on the spot. I figured at midnight, no-one would come exploring, so I assumed it was safe. Whilst completely in my birthday suite, I heard people coming around the corner. It was a mad scramble to get my clothes on, but I managed it in about 10 seconds flat.

Robbie by Will Manning

Tim Flach, professional animal photographer: "I think this image works well."



"The employment of black and white separates this image from many others, while shallow depth in field helps the viewer to navigate from the carpet to the eye of the dog.
This photograph represents to me, with the choice of the King Charles Spaniel: the archetypal lap dog in it's natural habitat i.e. domestic". - Tim Flach


5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
I used a Canon 5D MkII dSLR with the Canon 85mm f/1.8.

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
I shot wide open at f/1.8 and ISO 1600 because of the low light environment. The shutter speed was 1/100.

Q3. What software did you use during the post-production?
I used Adobe LightRoom 2 in conjunction with PhotoShop CS4. There was not much post processing on this image, though - just a slight boost in exposure, a little contrast, and a black and white conversion.

Q4. Who is the model?
The model is my dog, Robbie! He's pretty old now, but my whole family loves him.

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
I was just walking around with my camera, and I decided to snap a few shots of him. He was finally sitting still, so that made it easier. I also wanted to play with the depth of field on the 85mm f/1.8.

Extra Q: Please share an interesting or funny fact (if any) that happened while working on this photograph.
I thought it was kind of funny that he was looking at me while I was taking it... I was lying on the ground across from him, and he seemed kind of confused about what I was doing.