We met Santa Claus by Gaston Batistini

5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
Canon 5DMKII with the 24/105mm 4IL IS USM

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
ISO 100, 1/6 sec, f/4.0, @55mm

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

Q4. Who is the model?
An old guy who is doing Santa Claus every year in the Bitcher'land in France

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
I went to my parents in law and in the middle of the night I woke up and I told to my wife that I want to make a picture of Santa Claus in his house. The morning we called him and I told him that I was a fan of him and I wanted to visit him in his house to make the picture. He was astonished but finally I convinced him and he agreed.

Extra Q: Please share an interesting or funny fact that happened while working on this photograph.
There was no way to come with a lot of material while a single flash was not the best way to do it. So I put him on a chair near a window and it gave this great Santa Claus look.

Solway Clouds by Robert Friel

5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
This shot was taken with a Canon EOS5D 17-40f4L Gitzo3540 Tripod with Manfrotto 410 geared head. Lee filters inc Big Stopper.

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
Exposure 90 sec, aperture f/11.0, focal length 17 mm, ISO 50

Q3. What software did you use during the post-production?
Processed in Lightroom 3 - blue tint applied to base using a local adjustment (graduated)

Q4. What is the location?
Beckfoot, Solway Firth, Cumbria, UK

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
It's a location I've been to before and there were fast moving clouds blowing directly towards the hills in the distance. The colour idea came from looking at it in mono.

Singapore National Day by Souvik Bhattacharya

5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
Nikon D90 with Sigma 10-20mm lens

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
F/11; Shutter: Bulb; ISO: 100; Focus: Manual

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

Q4. What is the location?
Singapore

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
I wanted to capture fireworks in Singapore from some new location. So while exploring the surrounding I thought to try this angle.

Corn Lilies by Barrett Donovan

5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
I used a Canon 5d Mark II with a 24-105L lens

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
F/8, ISO 200, 1/8 sec. with the lens at 65mm

Q3. What software did you use during the post-production?
Photoshop CS4

Q4. What is the subject of the photo?
Corn lilies near Lake Tahoe, USA

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
I saw a huge patch of corn lilies on a mountain bike ride last summer after they were past their prime and knew I had to go back. To help with the wind I brought a huge reflector to shield them from movement. Many shots of many corn lilies later I finally found the group I liked. Sore back aside I had a great time being outside wandering around the forest - not a bad way to spend a morning. This shot is a blend of two images for depth of field which I did using the new auto-blend functions of CS4, which work great.

Peeling The Moon by Sean Bagshaw

5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
Canon 5D MK II, Canon 24-105mm f/4 IS lens, Gitzo Tripod, my jacket

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
1/6 second @ f/22, ISO 100

Q3. What software did you use during the post-production?
This was originally a very low contrast image. In Photoshop CS I used a series of Curves adjustment layers with blending modes set to overlay, soft light and screen. This increased contrast and saturation. I further worked the luminosity and contrast with some localized dodging and burning on a dodge/burn layer.

Q4. What is the subject of the photo?
This is dry, cracked mud in the Utah desert that has been pitted by rain drops.

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
I was hiking several miles across the Utah desert to photograph a remote slot canyon. Along the way I noticed this wonderfully textured mud in a dry river bed. The mid day light was very harsh and contrasty so I shaded the area with my jacket. This allow the more subtle warm light reflecting from the bank of the river bed to be visible. I felt that the abstract pattern, pitted surface texture and the way that the light caught the tips of the curled mud made a compelling image.

Extra Q: Please share an interesting or funny fact that happened while working on this photograph.
When I finally reached the slot canyon I found it filled with water. I waded into the icy water with my camera bag held over my head. The water quickly became deep and soon only my head and camera were not submerged. Not able to continue farther I had to hike back to my car in wet clothes and without a photo from the slot canyon. The photo of the cracked mud was a good consolation however.

Cuando el día acaba by Luis Mariano González

5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
Camera Panasonic DMC-FZ50

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
Exposure: 1/400 sec, aperture: f/5.6, focal length: 32.9 mm, ISO 100

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

Q4. What is the location?
It is a road near my house in Meco, a town 35 kilometers from Madrid (Spain)

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
This is a place where I often walk. In fact, I think I have dozens of photos of this tree and others nearby, in different seasons, at different times. But undoubtedly, the best time is when the sun goes down, "la hora bruja."

Extra Q: Please share an interesting or funny fact that happened while working on this photograph.
There is a movie that has a wonderful light and that I like a lot: Days of Heaven, Terrence Malick (the photograph was the work of Nestor Almendros). When I pass by that tree and the sun goes down, I remember the light appearing in the film...

Sea of Fog at Acherlipass by David Kaplan

5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
I used a Nikon D700 with attached Nikkor AF-S 24mm f/1.4G lens and a Feisol carbon tripod.

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
Because it's an HDR there were taken multiple exposures. So overall exposure time was around 800s. Aperture was wide open (1.4) and ISO speed was set to 1000.

Q3. What software did you use during the post-production?
First step: Nikon Capture NX2 to convert the RAWs to 16bit TIFFs after white balance and CA correction. After that all the images were processed with my self-developed neoHDR software which combines all images including the moving stars and creates a non-tonemapped HDR. This HDR image was tonemapped in Photomatix. After that I used Lightroom to fine tune the result and finally I added a little glow in Photoshop to pop out the sea of fog a little bit more.

Q4. What is the location?
The image was taken at Ächerlipass near Lucerne in Switzerland. It was the highest open passroad at this time of year.

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
Taking landscape pictures at night is one of my favourite subjects. I always wanted to shoot a sea of fog, lit by a city underneath. I waited for months until the weather finally became like this.

Extra Q: Please share an interesting or funny fact that happened while working on this photograph.
The clouds down the other valley, which is not visible on this picture, growed very fast. At the time I drove up the passroad with my motorcycle there was only a slight haze down the valley. Only on hour later there was a huge sea of fog only a few meters below me. A few minutes later I was completely lost in fog and could barely see my hand. The weather in the mountains can change very quickly.