At long last, summer is here. And so are your photos from this week’s Shooting Challenge. One image is NSFW.
Dive
Went to shoot sunset photos and came upon this diver (he was probably spearfishing). It looked like an ideal subject for the current contest, with the sea and late afternoon lighting. The picture is the result of an hour and a half of careful waiting and looking for the perfect moment. Shot with a Canon 70D, EF-S 18-135mm lens at 135mm, 1/200s and f/5.6.
Matjaž Pečan
Bayou Bloom
Golden Hour for me, on the first day of Summer, started at 7:29pm. I walked over to a little spot in my neighborhood in St Petersburg, FL where I knew I could get some shots. Planted around an old, possibly decorative, probably Masonic well near our bayou are a bunch of bougainvilleas that are in full bloom right now.The setting sun provided the perfect contrasting backlight to show off their hidden detail. I took this picture at 7:51pm, right before the sun went below the tree line. I shot it on a Nikon D3100 with a vintage Minolta MD Rokkor-X 50mm lens. The camera was set at ISO 100 and a 1/1000 shutter. The lens was set at f/2.8, focal length was about 6 inches. I love using this Minolta lens on our Nikon. It works more like a macro with a very adjustable and unique depth of field; it’s a little weird to use, but once I got my head around how it works, it’s produced some great and otherwise impossible shots. I ran the image through Photoshop CS6 for a little exposure and contrast adjustments, and then cropped the picture just a bit.
Gabe Loewenberg
Not Quite Golden, But Still Gorgeous
This image was taken at Gasworks park in Seattle at 9:23pm. There were quite a few people here watching this beautiful sunset and welcoming in the first traces of a long awaited summer! Nikon D7100. f/3.5-5.6. ISO 160, f/7.1
Karen Brooks
Make Love Not War
I was sitting outside of a shop enjoying my coffee when this guy with a stroller passes by and hits the table, spills the coffee (luckily not on me!), and doesn’t even turn back to say sorry. “What a complete a$@hole!!!” i thought to myself. As i stood up to yell at him, i saw him walking away and it looked like a nice picture, so i followed him for a few blocks and took his photo instead of yelling at him. Shot on a 7D, 24-70mm 2.8 lense. ISO 400. 1/60 sec. f/3.5
Javier Federico Kaplan
Amazon Crocker Park
You can see 3 planes going by as the SFO Airport is in that direction. As I am pointing east, the golden part is the clouds reflection close to horizon. Using Sony a6000, 18-200 lens at 23mm and f/3.5, ISO100. Exposure about 1 minute holding the button. It is just 1 exposure.
Gonzalo Merayo
Sailboat
Picture of a sailboat taken off of the Eau Gallie pier earlier this week. I liked how the combination of the light and focus gave the image a vaguely-painting like quality. Canon 60D — f/9 — 1/200” — ISO100 — 135mm.
Mike Case
Bunny Rays
In the midst of a rainstorm, the sun came out long enough to take this shot. Ollie is my go-to subject and she looks pretty fab in these rays! Nikon D3000 f 5.6, 1/100, ISO 200
Hannah Nofsinger
Poppies
These are some poppies growing in a planter along the Percival Landing public waterfront in Olympia, WA. I was going for the back-lilt hairs on the stems, while setting the exposure time long enough for a breeze to blur the flowers. Taken with a Canon D60 DSLR, 1/6 second exposure at f/9, ISO 100. 45 mm focal length.
Brian Hall
A Damn Fine Commercial
As if the day wasn’t good enough with it being Father’s Day and the first day of summer, we also got to celebrate the new boat arriving with a maiden voyage cocktail cruise. Not a bad way to celebrate ‘golden hour’! This scene will be on repeat for the next 3+ months. Shot with a Nikon D610 and a 50mm f1.4 on Lake Union in Seattle.
Jeff Peffer
Mother’s Yard
Took the advice of taking a pic of some of the flowers in my mother’s yard. Here in Hawaii the plumeria is a big part of sharing “aloha” with each other in the form of leis or floral decorations. I thought this would be an excellent way to bring you all to the islands and enjoy my version of summer. Shot this with my Sony RX-100. ISO 125; f5.6; 1/320sec.
Morgan Cuizan
Celebrating Indoors
Admittedly, I am a bit of a bookworm. One of my favorite parts of summer vacation when I was in school was getting the summer reading list, so I decided to try to get a picture of my favorite reading spot. And, as a little bonus, the book on the chair is called The Original Boy’s Handy Book. It was written by one of the founders of the Boy Scouts of America and contains all types of goodies like how to make a kite, tie knots and play numerous games. I still use this book whenever I need something interesting to do on a long hot weekend. Taken with my LG G4 on Thursday at 8:18p in Southern California (Golden Hour started at 7:37p).
Timothy Erling
Balboa Island
My wife Silvia and me went to Balboa Island near Newport Beach California after Silvia woke up and said let’s go to Balboa Beach. It’s been 30 years since we have been there, when we were dating each other. It brought back a lot of good memories and now some new ones. I took the shot on the ferry between Balboa Island and Balboa Beach peninsula at 7:30 p.m.. I used a Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS F/8, exp time1/1250 sec, ISO-80, 0 step exp, focal length 6mm
Kerry Westerfield
Fence
One of my favorite places to explore in all four seasons, but especially in summer when the grasses grow chest-deep. Mornings are spectacular, buzzing with life below in the field and birds above searching for sustenance. Sony RX100 II
Mark Nofsinger
Sitting Together
This picture is from Fathers Day. It’s me and my 13 mo old son Alex. We were out seeing some local music. I was wanting to take a golden hr photo when the bench sitting there all alone gave me an idea as I was walking with my son. It is taken with an iPhone 6 not the greatest but it made me happy to share.
Scott Norton
Sun Zebra
I used a Sony DSLR a7, full automatic mode (yep, super lazy). The sunset was coming into our house and the blinds gave a killer contrast to my wife’s golden colored body. I simply had her stand in front of our window and I shot away. The blind shadows show the contour of the body, which makes an interesting image,almost zebra like.
Dennis Crane
DC
Early morning in DC by the monuments is packed with young and old going for their morning runs. The evening time is far too busy with tourists for me to get my good shots in of the mall, but getting to Lincoln by 6:15am allowed me set up shop for a nice morning photo. I shoot with a Nikon d3300 and recently acquired a Tokina 12-24mm. This photo was taken at 24mm f/5.6 ISO 400 1/1,250. The single person in the photo shows how peaceful this city can be at the right time.
Robert Elias
Excellent work all around. Now turn off your computer or put down your phone, and go enjoy the outdoors already.
