Our Favorite Reader Photos from the "Street Photography & Urban Landscapes" Assignment

 

Too Busy To Eat
William Carson shot this frantic photo of Rockefeller Center in New York City at a shutter speed of 1/5 second to “provide the movement to the pedestrians who appear to be too busy to eat.” He captured it with a Nikon D90 and a Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 lens at f/16, ISO 400.
© William Carson

Anyone who has walked the streets with a camera (or a smartphone) has witnessed scenes of everyday life that seem too good to pass up for a photograph. But how often do you stop and actually capture them? That’s the trick to great street photography: you’ve got to be ready and you need to have no fear of shooting candid images of people on the street, most times without their permission. But there’s another type of street shooting that can be a little less stressful and that’s urban landscape photography. For this assignment, we asked you to think of your town or city as an urbanized Grand Canyon and to look for unique angles and great lighting to capture the architecture and setting. We asked you to submit either Henri Cartier-Bresson-type “decisive moments” of people in street scenes or fine art-worthy images of urban landscapes. Shutterbug readers gave us both and entries were some of the best we’ve ever received for a Picture This! assignment. Here are our eight favorite images from a very strong field of submissions.

Man with Two Spirals
Jolanta Mazur captured this artful image of a man strolling through a hedge maze in a park from the 29th floor of a residential building in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was shot with a Sony Alpha NEX-6 mirrorless camera and a Sony E 55-210mm lens at 1/40 second, f/6.3, ISO 100.
© Jolanta Mazur

Selfie
Henrique Penha shot this image in Kyoto, Japan, of “the young generation dressed up and ready for selfies.”
© Henrique Penha

Beauty of Science
“I noticed this location from a postcard in a souvenir shop in Boston while on a work trip,” Givanni Mikel writes. “I managed to get to the First Church of Christian Science right before sunset and waited for the reflection pool to settle down. I was rewarded with a brilliant sunset and still reflection and was able to merge two exposures, one for building and sky, into this final picture.” It was captured with a Nikon D750 and a Nikkor 14-24mm lens at 14mm, f/7.1, 1/30 second, ISO 100.
© Givanni Mikel

The Pigeon Man
“The Pigeon Man is a fixture in Washington Square Park in New York,” David Hurwitt says about this delightful shot. “He and the pigeons love each other!” Hurwitt used a Canon EOS 6D with an EF 24-105mm lens at f/5.6, 1/125 second, ISO 400.
© David Hurwitt

Bubbles and Fits
“I asked a vendor, blowing bubbles on the street, if I could try my new camera out and try to capture the bubbles,” Karen E. Mackey explains. “I didn’t do so well with the bubbles, but I captured the different feet of a group of kids that walked by.” She shot it with a Nikon D7100.
© Karen E. Mackey

Super Moon Over NYC
“Shooting from the New Jersey side of the Hudson River, timing and the right location helped produce this image,” Rob Santeramo notes. For this five-second exposure, he used a Nikon D800 and a Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 lens at 70mm, f/11, ISO 200.
© Rob Santeramo

Gondola
“Venice is one of the most spectacular places in Europe,” Onur Cepheli writes. “Last time I went there it was the Carnival time. I was having a really hard time deciding whether to photograph the great urban landscape or the people attending the Carnival.” We think Cepheli made the right choice with this image. It was shot with a Nikon D800 and a Nikkor 16-35mm f/4G ED VR lens at 35mm, f/7.1, ISO 50.
© Onur Cepheli

Picture This! – Our Next Assignment
Sunrises & Sunsets

Without a doubt, the most popular images on the Internet (aside from cat photos) are of sunrises and sunsets. What is it about these daily acts of nature that so inspire us? It’s hard to say but easy to see. Even the most jaded photographers still feel a tingle when watching the sun come up in the morning or go down in the evening, and reach for their camera (or smartphone) to capture the moment. Obviously, sunrises require a little more commitment, namely waking up early enough and preparing to shoot when you’re likely not fully awake. Sunsets? Well, everybody and their brother have shot those but clearly some captures are better than others. For this assignment, we’re asking you to submit only the sunrise or sunset images you think to be truly spectacular and unique. Yes, it’s a tough assignment and there are liable to be a lot of entries so give us images that truly shine!

Deadline for submissions: March 1, 2017(Images will appear in our June 2017 issue.)

Happy Snap
I’m not going to lie: this is a straight-up vacation photo I shot with my iPhone. When I shared it on Facebook and Instagram though, it got the strongest positive reaction of pretty much any image I posted last year. In fact, it garnered more likes and hearts than photos of mine I believe to be far superior to this sunset snapshot. The reason why is simple: this image takes you to a happy place, in this case, the Hawaiian island of Maui where I was vacationing with my family last summer. I shot it with an iPhone 6 Plus at f/2.2, 1/1000 second, ISO 32. None of those settings really matter though; it’s just what the iPhone auto-selected right after I pulled it from my pocket and snapped the photo. What might have helped though is that I ran it through the iPhone’s Process photo filter, which mimics a cross-processed film effect, giving the image a nostalgic “throwback” quality. Or maybe it’s just a pretty image of a sunset and people just love sunsets. Yes, that’s probably the reason.
© Dan Havlik

How To Submit Online
1. Go to www.shutterbug.com and register. Scroll down the page and on the right side you will see a box for entering your username and your password. If you have already registered and/or submitted images for the Galleries you can skip this step. Respond to the activation e-mail. Registration is free. You will use your username and password whenever you visit or, with some systems, it will automatically load for you when you visit www.shutterbug.com.

2. Check the assignment and closing dates in the magazine. When the magazine is printed we will create an appropriate gallery for your images. The limit is two images per assignment.

3. Select and prepare your images. We only accept files at a maximum 5MB size, JPEG format. Save the JPEG at a quality level of 10 or higher. Note that file size in your image folder directory will determine upload size, not the “opened” file size, as JPEG compresses at 1:4 at higher quality ratings. If your images do not load it probably means you have exceeded the file size or have not used JPEG format.

4. Click on the Galleries tab on the homepage. In the Category section use the drop-down menu to select the Picture This! assignment. Note that images are simultaneously loaded into the assignment category as well as your own personal gallery. When the Picture This! assignment deadline date has lapsed the assignment gallery will be removed, but your images will still reside in your own gallery.

5. In the Description box add title, camera, lens, exposure information, and your full name. Also add any other comments or anecdotes you think relevant. We reserve the right to edit comments as needed.

6. Click the Save button at the bottom of the page. This uploads the image.

7. You retain copyright on the image.

8. We will choose the images after close of the due date.

9. Please feel free to comment on images submitted by other readers.

Please Note: If the photograph includes a minor or a recognizable individual or group you are guaranteeing that you have a signed model release form, and especially a parental or guardian release form for minors. You should keep a copy of that release in your files. Scan that release and keep it handy. If an image is chosen for publication, failure to provide a form when requested will eliminate the image from consideration. You can find release forms at http://asmp.org/tutorials/model-release-minor-child.html and other resources on the Internet. By uploading images you attest that the model release form is valid, that any depiction of a person is with their consent, that you have a model release form available on request, and that all images you submit have been made by you.

Scorecard
Deadline for Sunrises & Sunsets: March 1, 2017.
Images will appear in our June 2017 issue.

Upcoming Topic: Wildlife & Nature
Deadline: April 1, 2017
Publication Date: July 2017

Please Note: By submitting you agree to give us the right to show the image(s) on the web and for publication. You give us publication rights in the magazine and on the website(s) of TEN: The Enthusiast Network, LLC.

Want to see images selected for past picture this! Assignments? Go to www.shutterbug.com and click on picture this! In the “more articles…” box on the homepage.

If you have any questions or problems e-mail us at editorial@shutterbug.com with Picture This! in the subject line.

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