Picture This

Our Picture This! Assignment this month was "Shallow Depth Of Field" and judging from the many entries received we just might have titled it "The Birds and the Bees and Flowers in the Field." Readers sent us a profusion of great shots that depicted etch-edged butterflies, flowers with beautiful backgrounds, and even close-ups of insects that made us feel like we were nose to nose with them in the garden. All in all, each picture provided us with textbook examples of why we use shallow depth of field and get close--to reveal a world of beauty rarely seen by the unaided eye.

Blue Butterfly: Cesar Rivera made a trip to Butterfly World in south Florida and brought back this amazingly sharp image using his Canon D60 and Sigma 7-300mm f/4-5.6 APO Macro lens. He set his white balance to cloudy and used his Canon EX550 flash to reveal the texture and detail of this amazing creature.
© 2003, Cesar Rivera, All Rights Reserved

Mantis World: This praying mantis seems to be from another world but Diana Settar photographed it in her kitchen using a Nikon N70 with a Micro Nikkor lens on her N70 on Kodak Royal Gold film.
© 2003, Diana Settar, All Rights Reserved

Soft Focus And Shallow Depth: This beautiful picture was made by John Feller using his Mamiya 645 Pro with a 120mm Mamiya Macro lens. His exposure was f/5.6 at 1/30 sec on Fujichrome Velvia film. He got the effect, he said, by photographing through "water on a glare-less glass."
© 2003, John Feller, All Rights Reserved

Echoed Forms: Gil Santos lit this vase of gladiolas with a single halogen spot and made the picture with his Nikon Coolpix 5000 in manual mode at f/4.5 at 1/60 sec with the camera set at ISO 200. Wrote Santos, "Interestingly, the shallow depth of field pushed the background stalks way out there. However, all the stalks were in the same vase.".
© 2003, Gil Santos, All Rights Reserved

Picture This! - Our Next Assignment

Found Still Life

Some photographers spend hours (and days) in their studio arranging objects for carefully thought out still life images. But the world is filled with objects and subjects arranged in many ways just awaiting your creative framing and eye. You can find still life subjects at flea markets, on the street, or, as with this image, in the washed out pilings at the seashore. So keep your eyes open and get ready to frame and capture all those great still life images just waiting for you in the wide world. It's all about composition, balance, and exposure...and keeping open to the possibilities all those found still life subjects afford.

Please Read This
It is important that you read and follow these guidelines. We need to follow this procedure because of the large volume of images we receive.
1) Images sent to us cannot be returned. You retain complete copyright over the images, but do grant us permission to print your image(s) in the magazine and on our web site, www.shutterbug.net
2) Because images are not returned please send a quality print or duplicate transparency. We will not accept or view images on CD, ZIP, or any other electronic media.
3) Images will be selected on the basis of content and technical quality. Please mark your outer envelope with the topic of the month (for example, "Wide View").
4) Enclose a short caption with the image stating camera, lens, film and exposure, plus location. If you are submitting an image with a recognizable person we must have a model release or signed permission from that person to reproduce their image in the magazine and on the web site.

Send your image and information to:
Picture This! Shutterbug Magazine,
5211 S. Washington Ave.,
Titusville, FL 32780.
Deadline for submission: October 15, 2003.
Images will appear in our January 2004 issue.
Our next topic: Group Portraits
Deadline: November 15, 2003.
Publication Date: February, 2004