Picture This!
Vanishing Points

Shutterbug Staff, July, 2004

Vanishing Points This month’s Picture This! assignment was Vanishing Points, those leading lines, S-curves, and visual tricks that engage the viewer in the image. Readers sent in a host of variations, including never-ending tracks leading to the horizon, roads winding through the desert, and fog-shrouded piers and bridges that lead you into the void. In all, it shows how using the right lens and point of view on a subject can create a heightened sense of visual participation in any scene.
Manhattan Beach Pier: Larry Mendelsohn mounted his Canon D60 on a Slik tripod and got his 28-135mm lens ready for the setup—surf breaking on the bottom of this pier. Wrote Mendelsohn, “The surfer came by and started doing stretching exercises against the column. The surfer was the magic that made the shot.” © 2003, Larry Mendelsohn, All Rights Reserved The Bridge: Wrote Keith Munger, “When trying to establish vanishing points I love it when the vanishing point is ‘Nothingness.’” Munger made this photo of the Golden Gate Bridge with a Nikon D100 and Tamron 20-40mm lens. © 2003, Keith Munger, All Rights Reserved Marina: The splayed lines, distant fog, and walkway seeming to lead us forever into the distance make this an evocative image. Robert Jay Russell made this shot at Lake Otswego near Cooperstown, New York, with his Olympus Camedia C-2000. © 2003, Robert Jay Russell, All Rights Reserved Color And Design: The leaves lead you right into this autumn scene and the varied colors add visual spice. Jim Brockman used his Canon A-1 and 28mm lens with a Tiffen Enhancing filter and recorded on Agfa Vista 100 film. He set the lens at hyperfocal distance (thus maximizing depth of field) on f/22 and came up with a 1 sec exposure time. © 2003, Jim Brockman, All Rights Reserved	Desert Highway: Wrote Lewis Kay Shumway, “Having visualized this shot in the middle of the night, I could hardly wait for the right light the next day. Perched on a high ledge above the highway I forced my natural fear of falling to quiet down, waited until no traffic was visible and then took a few shots, and happily moved to safer ground.” Shumway worked with a Nikon D1X and Nikkor 28-70mm AFS f/2.8 lens. © 2004, Lewis Kay Shumway, All Rights Reserved Down The Tracks: Catherine Terroni made this photo of the old Reading Railroad line near Hopewell, New Jersey. She worked with a Nikon FM and Sigma 35-135mm f/3.5 lens and recorded the scene on Fujicolor Superia X-tra 400 film. © 2003, Katherine Terroni, All Rights Reserved Boardwalk: Donald W. Loring told us that this boardwalk is “828 ft long” and extends out into a salt marsh in Yarmouth, Massachusetts. He helped us feel and see every step by using his Nikon D100 and Tamron 24-135mm lens and an aperture setting of f/11. © 2003, Donald W. Loring, All Rights Reserved
© 2003, George Schaub, All Rights Reserved Picture This! - Our Next Assignment Color In Black And White There’s something about a monochrome scene made on color film that adds a sense of luxurious texture and tone to the highlights and shadows of an image. It’s not that you wish you had black and white loaded; it’s that the subject has little or no hue other than creamy whites and deep, sensual blacks, and perhaps even a touch of gray to add to the mix. So keep your eyes out and check your files for those captured moments when the gray scale spectrum is dominant in your image, with perhaps a slight touch of color to add to the visual mix. These conch shells sat stranded at low tide and were photographed with a Nikon FM2 and 55mm Micro-Nikkor lens on Kodachrome 64 film. 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 website, www.shutterbug.com. 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 website. Send your image and information to: Picture This! Shutterbug Magazine, 1419 Chaffee Dr., Suite #1, Titusville, FL 32780. Deadline for submission: August 15, 2004 Images will appear in our November 2004 issue. Our next topic: Silhouettes Deadline: September 15, 2004 Publication Date: December, 2004