Picture This

Being practitioners of a two-dimensional medium, photographers rely on various techniques, both tonal and compositional, to bring viewers into the frame and to create a sense of depth in their images. Some of these visual effects are as old as Renaissance perspective techniques itself, including vanishing points, leading lines, and pointers that bring the viewer's eye into the scene or that focus attention on a specific subject within the image borders. This month's Picture This! assignment was just that, and readers responded with a host of images that worked with many of the techniques from the visual perspective book.

Pigeon Point Lighthouse: Carl Palka literally walks your eye into the frame in his photograph of a lighthouse in California. He photographed with an Olympus 5050 with a 34mm focal length and exposed at 1/800 sec at f/4.5.
© 2004, Carl Palka, All Rights Reserved

Bike Bridge: The receding shape and strong shadow bring the eye down and into this fence enclosed overpass. Kurt Englund shot with a Nikon D100 and Nikon 18-35mm lens.
© 2003, Kurt Englund, All Rights Reserved

Follow The Rail: B. Kent Joosten worked with a Nikon D100 and 17-35mm Nikkor lens set at f/8 and 1/640 sec to make this dynamic shot at the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa in Walt Disney World.
© 2003, B. Kent Joosten, All Rights Reserved



Bridge Over Bayou: Kalman Biro framed the light and reflections on a bayou near Lafayette, Louisiana, with the long bridge receding into the distance. He worked with a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S75 with a focal length of 9.3mm (about 45mm on a 35mm setup).
© 2003, Kalman Biro, All Rights Reserved

Night Bridge: Alisa Fulghum worked with the strength of the line of the railing to lead us toward the Shelby Street Bridge in Nashville, Tennessee. She photographed with her Minolta DiMAGE A1 camera.
© 2003, Alisa Fulghum, All Rights Reserved

Picture This! - Our Next Assignment

Silhouettes
When your point of view puts the subject in front of a bright light source, and you choose not to work with reflectors or fill-in flash, you're in silhouette country. Once you frame your subject all you need to do is read from the background, and usually you'll record only the outlines of the form. So find those subjects that, in essence, "fall into their own shadow" and send them in for our next Picture This! assignment. This lone pine stands on a hillside, silhouetted by the setting sun, at Torrey Pines Beach north of San Diego, California. Photographed with a Nikon F3 and 28mm 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: September 15, 2004
Images will appear in our December 2004 issue.
Our next topic: Neon City
Deadline: October 15, 2004
Publication Date: January, 2005