foto Priority

Hey all, this looks really cool, Canon have come up with a monthly challenge designed for amateur photographers. Each month Graham Monro from GM Photographics will give you a brief, you then set out and submit your best shot related to that theme.

Once uploaded you have the chance to become the people’s choice winner or the judge’s winner! The winner will receive an A2 printout of their image.

For more info check out the 1wall home page where you can find lots more info including conditions of entry and the “wall” where you can start judging for yourself.

Be quick at this months challenge “emotion” ends in 7 days, get shooting!

This years Canon Photo5 competition brought many challenges. One of those being the pair of cardboard spectacles. Andrew Foo submitted the below image to Canon and has kindly shared his insight to the creation and thought process behind it. Enjoy

© Andrew Foo

Getting creative… creative flash that is!

Thinking up an idea that is both original and witty for a creative portrait is hard. Well, actually I lie. Neither isn’t terribly difficult, it’s executing on the idea where the hard yards are.

The inaugural competition Canon Photo5 competition came and went again this year and there’s nothing better than a good competition to bring out the best in your creative side.

The “portraiture” brief commanded the use of a supplied black spectacles made from thin piece of cardboard paper. How you used it in the shot, was open to the photographer’s interpretation. In keeping with the competition’s judging brief I wanted to create an image that would engage and probe more questions from the viewer. In “Think it’s time for a new pair…”, I played with the idea of a different kind of portrait and uniting fake with reality. Having worn the spectacles, the main subject could not see any better and proceeds to attempt to clean the cardboard spectacles with a lens cloth. This somewhat felt like a surreal moment, so I thought a ‘dreamy’ cast to the image would be a neat idea.

Having had the opportunity to attend one of SPW’s recent Shots @ The Arthouse (Flash Dance night) I felt more equipped to introduce some off-camera flash in getting a bit more creative. Shot inside one of my rooms in my house later in the day I didn’t have much ambient light to play with. I started by exposing for the ambient lighting for the room’s background. The idea was to keep the foreground pin sharp and in focus, so I dialed in a higher ISO to maintain a shutter speed of 1/50th of a second to eliminate camera shake. Using a wide aperture of f/2.8 allowed me to keep the foreground sharp and throw the background out of focus in emphasizing the action and the object in hand.

A radio remote trigger fired off a flashgun placed left of camera through an umbrella for a softer light. Needless to say I had a lot of fun doing this and comps are a great way to focus on a specific theme and get your creative juices flowing!

Camera and Lens: Canon EOS 450D, Canon EF 50mm f/1.8

Off-Camera Flash: Canon Speedlite 430EX II attached to stand and shot through umbrella @ ¼ power

Remote triggered by Speedlite Radio Kit

Exposure: Shot handheld at f/2.8, 1/50sec, ISO800, Flash WB

Cheers,

Andrew Foo

Check out the link to the image – Think it’s time for a new pair

Andre Code - Fallen Angel

Congratulations this week to Andrew Code for taking out the “Shots @ The Arthouse” Shot of the Week, selected from the Shots Flickr Group. I asked Andrew to pen a few words about his inspiration along with some of the technical aspects of it’s creation.

‘The shot was inspired by one of my favourite TV shows Supernatural. The purpose was to focus on creating a simple but effective composition using a couple of lights to light the model. It was taken in my warehouse, hanging from a window on the second floor looking into it.

The lighting was a couple of cheap flood lights from Bunnings behind a diffuser. The wings were added post (after experimenting with drawing it on the floor). Taking the photo from above using the floor as a back drop really created the different look i was after. It would have been much easier to take it standing against a wall – but the result would not have been as effective.’ – Andrew Code

Hi everyone, well it’s back for another year – the Canon EOS Photo 5 creative photography competition.

You will need to register to enter the competition to receive you’re brown box. Inside this box there are 5 separate photographic briefs to challenge you, follow the detailed briefs provided for each. For some briefs you will have to use the exact item provided, whereas for other briefs you will be able to source additional items.

To give you an indication, the previous years box contents are listed below

2007
-Balloon
-Cellophane
-Chalk
-Dots
-Box

2008
-Umbrella
-Red Ribbon
-Tea Light
-Crayon
-Bubbles

The registration period commenced on the 31 August and closes on midnight 27 September, or once the limited number of boxes has run out.

For more information and registration click Here, go on, release your creative juices!

Jose