Our Favorite Reader Photos from the "Wedding, Portrait, and Boudoir Photography" Assignment

 

In Love
Katherine Plessner captured this classic image at her brother’s wedding using a Sony A350 DSLR with the lens at 18mm, 1/100 second, f/10, ISO 100. She writes, “A second marriage for both of them and a match made in heaven!”
© Katherine Plessner

For this assignment, we were looking for your best wedding, portrait, and boudoir images and while Shutterbug readers submitted many good wedding and boudoir shots, it was the portraits that really stood out. Overall, we were looking for interesting angles on these popular photography genres and we got them. We didn’t want those standard “grip and grin” group shots from your Aunt Sally’s wedding reception and we weren’t seeking cheesy boudoir images that look like they should be on the cover of a romance novel from the 1960s. Shutterbug readers, largely, delivered but the portrait submissions were, far and away, the best of the bunch, which is why they comprise the majority of our seven favorite images from this assignment.

The Big Day
Chris Paden shot this interestingly composed image of “the big day” with a Canon EOS 5D Mark III and a 24-105mm lens at f/4.
© Chris Paden

Marzio Grimaldi / 032
We love this well composed portrait of Marzio Grimaldi by Augusto De Luca.
© Augusto De Luca

Retirement Long Due
“This old man from the vastness of Bandhavgarh has all but lost his descendants to the cities to earn their living,” Abhinash Jena says about the subject of his portrait. “This 85 year old spends long days of labor collecting twigs and wood; only to exchange it for a bowl of rice, for his dinner. Through his beady eyes and broken Hindi, he seeks hope in every outsider for salvation.”
© Abhinash Jena

The “Eyelashes” Have It
We don’t know if you’d called this a wedding photo, a boudoir shot, or a portrait (or all three) but we’re fond of the framing, the color, the light, and, of course, the eyelashes.
© Amy Little

Massimo Bottura
Harrison Epstein shot this appetizing image of Chef Massimo Bottura with a Canon EOS 6D and an EF 24-105mm f/4L lens at ISO 400, 82mm, f/5.6, 1/80 second.
© Harrison Epstein

Rochelle
“This photo of my good friend Rochelle was made on a plateau in the Badlands of South Dakota using only natural light and without light modifiers,” Jim McKinniss notes. He shot it with a Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II and a 100mm lens at f/8, 1/800 second, ISO 800.
© Jim McKinniss

Picture This! – Our Next Assignment
Wildlife and Nature Photography

Wildlife and nature are favorite subjects of our readers so we expect to see tons of amazing images for this assignment. But before you decide to submit every photo you’ve ever shot of a bird or flower, take some time sorting through your wildlife and nature images to pick out something truly special. Not only are we looking for the subjects to be in focus, we’d like to see wildlife and nature photos that offer a fresh and interesting perspective or tell some sort of a story. This should be a very competitive assignment, so give us wildlife and nature images that truly stand out.

Land Of The Lost
If you’ve ever been to Olympic National Park in the state of Washington, you know that traveling there is like traveling back in time. Back to prehistoric times, that is. Indeed, while hiking this vast park’s winding trails you almost expect to come across a stegosaurus or a brontosaurus chewing on some plant life. And there’s tons of dense, gorgeous plant life. This can make for compelling though somewhat difficult photo opportunities. (How many times can you point your lens upward to shoot the tree canopy?) On a trip to the park in 2004, I took hundreds of photos with a Canon EOS 20D but only got a few “keepers” of the thick forest. This was one of them. What makes this image work is the intense light shining through the trees which gives this shot detail, depth, and drama. I also find this photo deeply mysterious. I’m not sure what’s going on here but I like it. I hope you do, too.
© 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 submission: April 1, 2016.
Images will appear in our July 2016 issue.

Our next topic: Close-Up and Macro Photography
Deadline: May 1, 2016
Publication Date: August 2016

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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