The Golden Snitch by Cameron Ross

5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
Nikon D700 mounted to a tripod, 
50mm f/1.4 Nikon Lens

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
f/16, exposure time was 226 Seconds
ISO was set to 200

Q3. What software did you use during the post-production?
LightRoom 3 was used for minor level adjustments and cropping

Q4. What is the subject of the photo?
The "Orb" or ball of light was created using a light wand mounted to a stand. The starbursts in the center of the orb were created by pointing a yellow LED Keylight directly at the camera and the "Wings" were created by taping a 10 foot length of EL (Electroluminescent) wire to some PVC pipe and waved on each side of the orb.

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
I came up with the idea after testing different colors with the light wand. This photo is one of the first light paintings that I have created completely on my own after working with my dad (TxPilot) on light painting photos for the past year.

The "S" Family by David Pinkerton

5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
Nikon D90, Nikon 85mm f/1.4 D lens, SB-600 flash in a Lumiquest Softbox III (very close to each face for soft light and little spill), 2nd SB-600 (bare) above and behind for hair light.

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
ISO 200, 1/200 shutter, f/6.3

Q3. What software did you use during the post-production?
Adobe Photoshop Elements 9. Each head shot was taken individually and then they were all put together in Photoshop Elements. However, there is no post-processing on the exposure in any way. The lighting balance was all done on location and in camera. This was shot in a small dining room.

Q4. Who are the models?
The models are members of a local family who agreed to do some purposeful advertising for my business and let me get some specific shots for my portfolio (this being one of them) in exchange for free sessions and discounted products.

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
I have seen this type of shot exactly three times on Flickr before I started doing it myself.

Extra Q: Please share an interesting or funny fact that happened while working on this photograph.
The only funny or humorous fact about this shot is that the baby was only two weeks old so it was quite difficult to get a shot of her with her head in an upright position!

The Blue Sailor's Song by Purvi Joshi

5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
I used Nikon D90 camera with 18-200mm Nikon VR DX lens.

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
I had to click about 3 separate photographs for this image. I clicked all of them on Manual mode and manual focus. But the shutter speed and aperture setting were different for each one of them.

Q3. What software did you use during the post-production?
I used Adobe Photoshop CS3.

Q4. Who is the model?
It's a self portrait... So it's my own photograph clicked with help of a tripod and the camera timer.

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
This shot is inspired by one of my favourite song's video - "If a song could get me you" by Marit Larsen.

Extra Q: Please share an interesting or funny fact that happened while working on this photograph.
The interesting fact would be that I myself wasn't so happy with the final result but it turned out to be my one of the most favourited images on Flickr.

Color Splash by Marco Veringa

5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
Сanon 50D , 100 mm f/2.8 macro lens, radio trigger, canon 430EXII flash on a super clamp, Manfrotto tripod with pistol grip

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
100 ISO, f/22 for DOF, shutter set at 1/200, and fired repeatedly trying to get in sync with the sound bursts

Q3. What software did you use during the post-production?
Solely used Lightroom 3

Q4. What is the subject of the photo?
The subject is water based paint flying of a speaker

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
Paint dancing to music on top of a loud speaker was inspired by Linden G's work for the new Canon Pixma adverts.

Contemplation by Bill Gekas

5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
Pentax K7, DA40 ltd lens, Westcott 50" softbox camera left with Yongnuo YN460-II flash inside at 1/4 power fired with Cactus V4 rf trigger.

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
Manual, ISO 100, 1/180 , f/6.7

Q3. What software did you use during the post-production?
Lightroom 3 and Photoshop CS3

Q4. Who is the model?
Model is my 3 year old daughter as she's always available when an idea clicks in my head.

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
I've been sort of interested in the late 19th century paintings of child portraits and wanted to recreate something similar. Originally it was meant to be in color but the vintage B&W seemed the better choice. We shot about 20 or so frames and towards the end I got this one shot where she was looking down and we went with it.

Extra Q: Please share an interesting or funny fact that happened while working on this photograph.
Getting a 3 year old not to fool around is the difficulty. Q: So how do you bribe a 3 year old to co-operate? A: "Chupa-Chups".

Untitled by Alexandru Balan

5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
Olympus SP-570uz

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
ISO 100, 1/125, f/4.0, 9.8mm focal length

Q3. What software did you use during the post-production?
I used Photoshop for contrast

Q4. What is the subject of the photo?
The subject is two morning glory flowers

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
I wanted the light to glow through petals,to have their own source of light from the center and to illuminate the darkness around.

Fire and Ice by James Neeley

5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
Nikon D3s with the Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8 lens

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
The shot was taken at f2.8, ISO 3200, and 30 sec. exposure.

Q3. What software did you use during the post-production?
I used minimal post processing, only curves adjustment in Photoshop.

Q4. What is the location?
The image is taken from the bridge of the outlet of Convict Lake, California.

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
We went to the location to do some night photography as part of a workshop I was leading with Mountain High Workshops. Our intention was to shoot the Milky Way over Convict lake and reflecting in the lake. Much to my surprise and chagrin the Milky Way was to the right because the lake is oriented to the southwest which I did not appreciate until we were on site. There was also more light pollution in the west than I expected. So to get some kind of interesting shot I pulled out my little LED flashlight from my camera bag and quickly passed over the foreground rocks during one of the exposures. On review of the image it looked like it would be successful. We tried other light painting shots but the others just didn't work out as well.