How I Took that Shot – Zane Llewellyn

In our recent ‘Perspective’ competition, Zane Llewellyn took first place in Grade A, for the third time in a row this year, with the clever image (left).

This is how he made the image:

When I think of perspective, I immediately think of the “Small, Far Away” scene in Fr. Ted.
I really wanted to use this as my inspiration, but unfortunately there weren’t any cows out in March and I was also missing a priest costume.
Plan B…
The first step in taking this photo was to move all the furniture out of the way, as this was the only floor that would look like a wall.
I took the photo in landscape so it would be in portrait when rotated which would help to emphasise the vertical lines and make it more believable. I positioned the table and chair while checking the framing, once I was happy with the basic composition I set up the books, picture and lamp. I only thought afterwards that I should have tried turning the lamp on!
I had to handhold the camera as I was backed up into the corner to try and get everything into frame, I tried the flash directly and bouncing it off the ceiling but the dark floor was proving difficult. So, I ended up using a white umbrella just out of shot.
I tried to coax my dog into the photo, but she didn’t want anything to do with it, so I grabbed the neighbours cat!
Then the fun began, the cat was walking around wondering what was going on, while I shot a handful of photos. My model son?, my son the model played a blinder and he really made the shot. So a big thanks & some biscuits to him for that 🙂
I used the following settings for the final shot,
24mm 1/180s @ f/8 ISO100
Flash – ETTL mode shooting through a white umbrella.
Fantastic shot Zane. Well done!

How I Took that Shot – Eileen Upton

In our recent ‘Perspective’ competition, Eileen Upton took first place in Grade B with the image above. This is how she made the image:

When the theme of “Perspective” was announced I immediately thought of my friend, Elizabeth Mansfield , an Artist, whom I photographed last year in Ballycotton when she was starting a painting. Elizabeth is a member of “en Plein Éire” and works in both oil and watercolour mediums. I told her of my idea for a photograph and asked if she would recreate the scene for me but this time with the finished painting. We met up at the original vantage point and with paint brush in hand she posed for me. In my photograph I tried to portray my perspective of the Painter’s perspective of the Island of Ballycotton.

Taken with Canon EOS 80D

Settings used :-
Manual Mode.
Lens : 17 – 55 mm
Aperture: F 9
Shutter speed: 1/250.
ISO: 400.

Well done Eileen!

Click here to see a gallery of images from the competition. Enjoy!

See also:
How I took that Shot – Zane Llewellyn
How I took that Shot – Sonja Eisenberg
Competition Gallery
Winners Presentation Photos
Competition Results and 2016 League Table

If you are interested in photography and would like to know more about East Cork Camera Group, click the ‘Contact Us’ link above.

 

How I Took that Shot – Sonja Eisenberg

In our recent ‘Perspective’ competition, Sonja Eisenberg took first place in Grade C, for the third time in a row this year, with the image above. This is how she made the image:

I shot this in a town called Weimar in Germany at the end of last month. I originally had another idea in mind (right) However the lighting wasn’t right/i didn’t have my tripod. Again I used my trusty Nikon D3000, F-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6.
I was sitting down to have a much needed cup of coffee when I noticed that the flower pots in the town produced an excellent reflection of the cobbled streets. I said I would try out a shot to see if it would reflect my colourful runners well, giving a bit of a focal point and some nice leading lines with the sides of the pot. I was pleased how the pot was placed between two shop building, which were painted a different colour, as it creates some nice symmetry too. I decided to not crop out the flowers in the pot as it gives the viewer a better idea of exactly what is reflecting the shoes and cobblestones.
The settings that were used were: ISO 200, zoomed to 18mm, minor adjustments in post processing to ensure the shoes were centre focus, at ƒ/3.5, 1/50. In the post processing on the Macbook air I increased the colour a big to bring out the shoe colour more (i doubt it needs it!) and reduced the shadows, increasing the contrast so you see the cobblestone better.
Well done Sonja!

Click here to see a gallery of images from the competition. Enjoy!

See also:
How I took that Shot – Zane Llewellyn
How I took that Shot – Eileen Upton
Competition Gallery
Winners Presentation Photos
Competition Results and 2016 League Table

If you are interested in photography and would like to know more about East Cork Camera Group, click the ‘Contact Us’ link above.

ECCG ‘Perspective’ Competition – 18/04/2017

Zane Llewellyn’s clever shot (left), took the overall top score and first in Grade A in our recent competition with the theme, ‘Perspective’.

It was Zane’s third win in Grade A on the trot this year which surely shortens his odds to win this year’s Photographer of the Year competition, a title he holds from 2016.

Look out for Zane’s ‘How I took that Shot’ post which will explain how he made this image. It will be posted here in the next few days.

While Zane had a convincing winning margin of 61 points, the rest of the results were very close with positions altering frequently as the scores were counted. This is how the top three in each grade finished:

Only 4 points separated John Tait and Finbarr O’Shea for second and third in Grade A while Eileen Upton equalled Finbarr O’Shea’s score to take first place in Grade B, squeezing past Colm McSweeney and Noelle Lowney who were just a few points adrift.

In Grade C Sonja Eisenberg mirrored Zane Llewellyn’s feat by winning her grade for the third time in a row with Andrew Foley and Dominic Griffin close on her heels to take second and third places.

Well done to all 22 competitors.

Click here to see a gallery of images from the competition. Enjoy!

See also:
How I took that Shot – Zane Llewellyn
How I took that Shot – Eileen Upton
How I took that Shot – Sonja Eisenberg
Competition Gallery
Winners Presentation Photos
Competition Results and 2017 League Table

If you are interested in photography and would like to know more about East Cork Camera Group, click the ‘Contact Us’ link above.

How I Took that Shot – Jim O’Neill

The fantastic action shot above got first place for Jim O’Neill in our recent competition, themed ‘Motion’. This is how he made the shot:

This was taken at the first “motocross” I was at and the last, for now at least, to be held in Kilva, Cloyne.

I had only touched on “panning” shots before now and with the speed these bikes were taking the jumps, it was the perfect and mostly only way to capture the action.

I used a Nikon 70-300 lens on Nikon d5000 body at focal length of 70mm (105mm on crop sensor) f/14, ISO 200 and 1/60th Sec shutter speed.

In post processing I cropped the image to suit and straightened the horizon, reduced highlights for the sky. I also sharpened the image and increased the vibrancy slightly to give the bike and rider a bit more punch.

Brilliant shot Jim. Well done.

See also:
How I took that Shot – Zane Llewellyn
How I took that Shot – Sonja Eisenberg
Competition Blog
Competition Gallery
Winners Presentation Photos
Competition Results and 2016 League Table