Vancouver Moonrise by Lloyd Barnes

5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
Olympus Pen E-PL1 camera, Olympus 50-200 mm zoom lens, tripod

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
For the city scene: focal length 50 mm, 8 sec at f/5.6, ISO 100. I used the self timer to take the photo without touching the camera during the exposure to avoid motion blur.

For the moon: focal length 200 mm, 1/125 sec at f/16, ISO 100

Q3. What software did you use during the post-production?
Lightroom 3.3 and Photoshop CS4

Q4. What is the location?
Vancouver, BC, Canada

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
I wanted to combine the beautiful cityscape with the fresh snow on the background mountains and the full moon. The settings for the moon exposure were very different than the settings for the cityscape, so I took the photos separately and combined them in Photoshop. I thought it would look more interesting if the moon was rising over the mountains. Later, I converted the photo to black and white in Lightroom and loved the results!

Extra Q: Please share an interesting or funny fact that happened while working on this photograph.
This is the first shoot that I did with my new Olympus Pen E-PL1 camera and I was very happy with the results!

Meltwater by Matthew Howarth

5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
This was one of my last shots on my Canon 300D, with my 24-105mm L lens. I had a 9 stop ND filter (Lightcraftworkshop ND500) on, and, unsurprisingly, a tripod and cable release. I was really tempted to get rid of the filter for a shot, but knew how I wanted it to look and took the risk to keep it on.

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
I metered for the water before putting the ND filter on, then, as the light suddenly changed, was guesstimating the exposures and checking on the LCD for feedback. It was taken from a footbridge, so as people walked over I had the opportunity for test shots at higher ISO. When I got a break I dropped the ISO back down to 100 and shot - I got only a handful of opportunities, so things were a little tense with the light only a brief moment.

This shot ended up being; 55 seconds ¦ ISO 100 ¦ f/11.0 ¦ 24mm, shot in RAW.

Q3. What software did you use during the post-production?
Lightroom 3 was used first to create three versions of the shot. I applied a lens correction in each case, as well as some noise reduction. The water and sky versions were practically identical, with a slight drop in clarity, slight desaturation and a boost to the brightness. The snow was very blue and underexposed, so that had a stop of exposure added and massive desaturation to the blue channel.

I dropped the three images into Photoshop 7.0 and manually blended them using a tablet. Curves and the hue/saturation sliders were used on the snow layer to try to blend it in naturally - not entirely successfully!

Q4. What is the location?
It's the footbridge near the entrance to the Rickmansworth Aquadrome, a local nature reserve in the UK - a ribbon of lakes sandwiched between a couple of rivers and a canal.

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
It was at the end of a long day shooting only somewhat successfully in the heavy snow, and I was trudging back home. When I got to the bridge, the snow on the trees along the river was so striking that I thought I'd take an extra ten minutes to have a play with a recently acquired ND filter.

The initial shots were fine, but uninspiring, experiments with a grey winter sky. Suddenly the sky lit up to the East and swept round into frame. The main decision was whether to keep the filter on and take fewer shots, or to take it off and lose the blur to the river.

Extra Q: Please share an interesting or funny fact that happened while working on this photograph.
First off I had a kingfisher flying around to the right of the frame, daring me to abandon this one, but I figured I couldn't get a decent shot of it with the kit I had in the low light.

The main frustration was the passersby, all of whom slowed down, very kindly, to minimise shake to the camera, whilst I wish they'd just run across and given me more time with no one walking over.

p i l a r by Martin Andersson

5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
I used Nikon D90 with the 18-105mm lens

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
F/5.6, 1/400 sec, 66 mm, ISO 200 and Exposure +1,7 step because of the snow

Q3. What software did you use during the post-production?
Photoshop CS4 and Nik SilverFx to turn the picture B&W.

Q4. What is the location?
The photo is taken in Skåne (Scania), South Sweden.

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
I was out driving and looking for trees to capture with my camera. When I was driving on a small quiet winter road I saw the tree line of Pilar (pilträd in swedish). I parked the car and went out in the snow to capture the beautiful scene. I was really happy with this shot.

Frosty Tree by Jeff Dalton

5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
I used a Nikon D300 with 18-200vr lens

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
F/7.1, ISO 200, 1/800 sec, focal length 62mm

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

Q4. What is the location?
Aldford in Chester, Northwest England, United Kingdom

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
I regularly walk my dog in this area and have taken pictures of this tree and gate before in nicer weather. I always liked the composition of the picture and decided that on this particular day that the snow and frost would add something extra to the shot so decide to take my camera along whilst walking my dog. I was not disappointed. However my dog was not impressed at having to wait around in the cold whilst I took some pictures.

Radiant London by Constantinos Hinis

5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
Nikon D300, 12-24mm, cable release, Manfrotto 190CXPro4 tripod, ball head.

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
12mm, f/11, ISO 200, various shutter speeds, vertical orientation, multiple shots blended for exposure correction and stitched to form a panorama.

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

Q4. What is the location?
Thames river, opposite Westminster Palace, London, UK

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
There really is no particular reason... It's just that I am in London, and Big Ben is perhaps the most iconic place in London, and I wanted to take a different shot of this over-photographed place.

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.

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.

More wee rocks by Mark Littlejohn

5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
Pentax K-X, Sigma 10-20mm, Hoya polariser, B&W110, Hitech 0.9 soft grad & Redsnapper Tripod.

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
F/8, ISO 100, 91.6 seconds, focal length - 13 mm.

Q3. What software did you use during the post-production?
I used Silkipix on the RAW file for the white balance and then used ACDSee to make sure it was level and make a very slight crop.

Q4. What is the location?
The location is Ullswater in the Lake District looking towards St Sundays Crag/Heron Pike, England, UK.

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
The water was quite calm but not completely still. I also noticed that the clouds were moving nicely over Heron Pike. I thought that both factors would make for a nice long exposure. I also decided to leave put the polariser on, as combined with the Hitech it can produce quite pleasing colours at sunrise/sunset.

Extra Q: Please share an interesting or funny fact that happened while working on this photograph.
You'll notice that the rocks in the foreground are wet - I'd damped them down with my hands which I think worked. The only problem was it was about -5 or -6, and over the next few minutes they froze solid as I'd forgotten my gloves and had nothing to dry them on. I'd only just got them dry when the exposure finished. I then moved the camera at the end of the exposure and the filter fell off into the water - I'd attached the hitch with blutac so I had a wider field of view. Hands got wet (and cold) again.

Paris Cityscape by Barry O Carroll

5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
Canon 40D, Sigma EX 24-70 lens, a tripod

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
This is an HDR from 3 images taken at 3 different exposures:
-2 ISO 100 F22 1/100 sec
0 ISO 100 F22 1/25 sec
+2 ISO 100 F22 1/6 sec

Q3. What software did you use during the post-production?
I used Photomatix to blend the 3 images with the strenght set to 70%. I then used a combination of Lightroom and Photoshop to finish the processing.

I darkened the photo in Photoshop using curves and then painted back in using masks the areas of light for a more dramatic and cinematic effect. This is definitely one of those photos where I've pushed the meaning of "what is photography" a little.

Q4. What is the location?
The photo was taken in Paris along Quai de la Tournerlle looking towards the Île de la Cité. Notre Dame de Paris is to the left and the Tour Saint Jaques is just visible to the right of the photo.

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
The shot and the the style of processing is inspired by 2 French photographers: Stephane Rey Gorrez and Jean Michel Berts.

I love taking photographs in Paris in general. It is a stunningly beautiful city that contains some of the most magnificent architecture and monuments in the world. I love trying to capture the beauty but also mood of the city in my shots. Paris is by far my favourite photography location.

The processing in this photo is meant to portray the dark moodyness that hung over the city that day. There was heavy grey cloud through wich occasional rays of light burst through illumination buildings or sometimes parts of buildings.

Kinderdijk by Eddy Blokhuis

5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
Canon 50D, Sigma 10-20 mm, B+W ND110 filter, tripod and a a canon remote-control.

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
Exposure 180 seconds (3 minutes), Aperture f/20.0, Focal Length 10 mm, ISO 100.

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

Q4. What is the location?
Kinderdijk, the Netherlands.

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
This is a touristic area in The Netherlands, and lots of shots have been taken here. But I wanted to be original and different!

Vestige décoloré by David Keochkerian

5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/2.8D + Hoya ND400 filter

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
I took 3 photos at different exposure time, in order to make a DRI (digital increase range)
24mm - f/8 - 100 iso - 2, 4 and 8 seconds

Q3. What software did you use during the post-production?
DXO for my raw converter and Photoshop CS5

Q4. What is the location?
It's the "Pointe du Hourdel" Beach in Somme, France

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
I saw a shot of this place by one of my flickr contacts. On the day of my shot the wheather was so bad - with rain and wind!!!!!!!!! Perfect for a dramatic shot in a historic place.

A Night and A Storm by Dan Ballard

5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
Nikon D700 and Nikon 70-300mm

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
6 second exposure, f/4.8, ISO 400

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

Q4. What is the location?
Plains of South-East Colorado, USA

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
I was out shooting a summer storm with my girlfriend and we came to the outside edge of it where we could see "into" the storm. It was amazing!!!

Extra Q: Please share an interesting or funny fact that happened while working on this photograph.
Let's just say we had a few issues with totally darkness and cow patties. :))

Untitled by James Gallimore

5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
Canon EOS 5D MARK II with Canon 17-40mm f/4L lens.

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
77 seconds, f/6.3, ISO 200, 17 mm.

Q3. What software did you use during the post-production?
Photoshop was only used to cloned a signpost out of the picture, no other adjustments were made.

Q4. What is the location?
It's an old red phone box in rural Cheshire, UK.

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
I've been shooting phone boxes at night for years, there's something incredibly surreal about the effect their lights create.

Extra Q: Please share an interesting or funny fact that happened while working on this photograph.
This shot was actually a test shot for something more complicated I was working on, but the lighting effects I was trying just didn't work as well with the subject. I just left it naturally lit and I'm incredibly happy with it.

E. A. Poe "The Crow" by Jose Vitti

5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
Sony DSC-H50

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
Exposure 1/400 sec, Aperture f/5.0, Focal length 7.9 mm, ISO 100

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

Q4. What is the location?
Fazenda Monte White, Itapetiniga, Brazil

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
I watched the 1960's movie "The Raven" and now the second version of 2010. From there came an inspiration to create a cover for the story. The proper location was found by old fazenda and the creepy atmosphere was adjusted by HDR system in Photoshop.

Towards Stanage Edge by Mark Helliwell

5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
Nikon D300, 18-200 Nikkor lens at 18mm, Lee 0.9 GND filter

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
ISO 100, f/11, 1/10 sec

Q3. What software did you use during the post-production?
Processed in Nikon Capture NX2.2.4

Q4. What is the location?
Stanage Edge, Peak District, England

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
Foreground interest is key on such landscapes, and the small pool of water in the rock caught my eye.

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.

Kawagebo, Yunnan, China by Ping Ping

5 questions about this photo:

Q1. What equipment did you use?
Nikon D80, 18-135 mm lens

Q2. What settings did you have on your camera?
F5.6, 1/250, ISO 160, EV -2.0

Q3. What software did you use during the post-production?
I remember that there is no post-production on this photo.

Q4. What is the location?
It is right at the boundary of Tibet and Yunnan province in China. Actually it is one of the most famous and important mountains in Tibetan buddhism.

Q5. How did you come up with the idea of this shot?
I just got my first camera during that trip. I tried to take photos of everything. Once I saw a photo of the gold shining snow mountain there. I asked my friend where was it and how to take those kinda photos. After talking for a night, we decided to go there the next day.

Extra Q: Please share an interesting or funny fact that happened while working on this photograph.
The lights in the sunrise turn the white snow mountain into gold shining color so I woke up around five in the morning to wait for the moment. Unfortunately the weather was not good enough and there were too many clouds in the sky to cover the whole mountain. In addition, It was so cold that I felt that I had lost my figures and nose. When I almost gave up after being frozen for almost two hours, Kawagebo showed its face to me! It only lasted for several minutes. I love nature!

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! :)

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 :-)