Picture This

Our Picture This! assignment this month was "It's What's Up Front That Counts," the implication being that the lens, lens attachments, and of course where the lens is pointed has a profound influence upon any image. Although you could crop into an image made with a 24mm lens to gain the same perspective as one shot with a 50mm, there's the context of...

Our Picture This! assignment for this month was Keep It Steady--Tripods Only, the idea being that even with modern marvels such as Vibration Reduction lenses there are some shots that can only be made with the help of a steadying tripod. Readers responded with images made at shutter speeds beyond any hand holdable range that depicted motion in ways impossible to see with...

Our Picture This! assignment this month was “Leading Lines: Into Infinity.” We called for images that brought the viewer’s eye into the frame with various compositional techniques, including leading lines, S-curves, and parallel lines that seem to meet at infinity, or vanishing points. Readers responded with a host of architectural, urban, natural, and highway images, all of...

Our Picture This! assignment this month was “Light Patterns: Cast Shadows,” and this turned out to be one of the most difficult for us to choose as we received so many excellent entries. The use of shadows in images allows the photographer to bring enhanced form and content into scenes where other lighting conditions might have been less dramatic and graphic. Shadows not only allow us...

Our Picture This! assignment this month was "made in the shade"; pictures made under overcast sky, dark forest canopies, or anywhere the bright sun doesn't shine. Ask a wedding photographer, for example, his or her preference for a wedding day's shoot and generally they'll tell you one with a good cloud cover, even though the bride and groom might be...

Black and white has always been a very expressive photographic medium. When digital came along it was all RGB, all the time. But black and white was always there, although in some cases it took some skill in image editing to get it right. Increasingly, digital cameras feature a Monochrome mode, many including "filter" effects that emulate the tonal interpretation as if...

Our Picture This! assignment this month was "On the Beach," images made where the land meets the sea. Readers responded with images from around the world showing a sense of color and design that the areas inspired. Quality of light, form, and line and shadow all play their parts in these locales, and images showed the grand and macro, the simple and complex, and most of...