Tag Archives: Competition

How I took that Shot – Anthony O’Connor

Anthony O’Connor took first place in Grade A in our recent ‘Urban’ competition with the self portrait/ graffiti shot. This is how he made the image:

I had a few different ideas for the Urban theme but settled on graffiti, and there are plenty of good examples around.

I took the image in the car park on White Street, Cork where most of the wall space is covered in works by various graffiti artists.

I tried a number of different compositions standing in and out of the shots, this one was my favourite.

It’s a HDR image processed in Photomatix essentials from a single RAW image, and finished in Photoshop.

The camera was mounted on a tripod using the timer. Settings were: f/8, 1/30 sec, ISO 100, 24mm.

Move the slider left and right below to compare the pre and post processed shots.

[bais_before_after before_image=”http://eastcorkcameragroup.ie/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Original_JPEG.jpg” after_image=”http://eastcorkcameragroup.ie/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Final_JPEG.jpg”]

– Anthony O’Connor

How I took that Shot – Jim O’Neill

19 Jim O'Neill - Urban

Jim O’Neill took first place in Grade B in our recent ‘Urban’ competition with the shot of Cork City’s French Church St. above. This is how he made the image:

I had a shot in mind for the “Urban” theme competition and thought Cork City would be the best place. With the help of “Google Street Viewer” I set my sights on a couple of streets off Patrick Street. I was looking for a narrow street with high buildings and settled on “French Church Street”

I took several shots at different angles. The low angle shot, to me, gave good depth to the image and I was happy with the leading lines from the side and the drain up the middle.

To add mood to the image I thought Black and White worked best but the sky was too grey and blown out. With an “app” on the ipod i was able to change the sky to add more mood.

Taken on Nikon D5000, Tokina 11-16mm wide angle lens at 12mm focal length. Aperture 7.1, ISO 400, 1/6s shutter speed. iPod app, “Juxtaposer”

– Jim O’Neill

How I took that Shot – Keith Johnson

15 Keith Johnson -Urban

Keith Johnson took first place in Grade C, for the second time in a row, in our recent ‘Urban’ competition with the unusual shot of Cobh town above. This is how he made the image:

This unusual picture of Cobh was taken from the top deck of the cruise liner, MSC Splendida, while it was berthed in Cobh last summer.

Taken handheld, hanging over the top guard rail to get a clear shot!

Using my Canon 650 with a 17=85 lens ISO 100, F20, 1/30sec

– Keith Johnson

ECCG ‘Urban’ Competition – 01/03/2016

‘Urban’ was the theme of the second internal competition of 2016 held at the Midleton Park Hotel on Tuesday 01/03/16. Following two viewings of the twenty-two entries, marks were awarded which yielded the following results:

: Grade A – 1st – Anthony O’Connor

: Grade A – 3rd – Kevin Day

Photographer of the Year 2015, Anthony O’Connor was back on the winners podium in Grade A while Mervyn Daly was second and Kevin Day, third.

: Grade B – 1st – Jim ONeill

: Grade B – 2nd – Denis OFlynn

Jim O’Neill came first in Grade B with Denis O’Flynn only one point behind in second place. Dave Geary took third place.

: Grade C – 1st – Keith Johnson

: Grade C – 2nd – Eileen Upton

: Grade C – 3rd – Magda Mani

With two in a row for the year, Keith Johnson came first again in Grade C with Eileen Upton taking second place and Magda Mani continuing her recent good form by taking third.

In the overall high scores across all three Grades, Anthony O’Connor, Jim O’Neill and Denis O’Flynn took the honours.

Well done to all entrants, especially those new members entering for the first time, and congratulations to those who gained valuable points towards this year’s Photographer of the Year competition.

The image below is the overall highest scoring image by Anthony O’Connor. Click the image to see all the entries. Enjoy!

How I took that Shot – Fidelma Read

11_Fidelma Read - Winter

Fidelma Read took first place in Grade A in our recent ‘Winter’ competition with the stunning portrait above. This is how she made the image:

Snow Fidelma Read-1129-2 I took this shot last Winter. My daughter was home from school with a tummy bug that day and then, just after lunch, it began to snow. Well I never saw a child’s face to light up as much when she looked out the window.. ! I managed to capture that also as I had the camera ready before I told her.

The tummy ache was soon forgotten and out it was, with the wellies and hats, to throw snowballs. It was super fun. I love to capture these fun times, they are so so precious as they grow up so quickly. I took lots of photos of snowballs going around and the joy of the moment but this one stood out for me. It was a fleeting moment but there is direct eye contact which is what I was hoping for.

It’s not always possible with child portraiture and candid shots but I do purposely try to keep an eye to the background and pick my moments as it has a huge bearing on the image. It had turned quite dark with the stormy sky, so to keep my speed up as we chased around I had to push my ISO up to 1000, aperture of f5.6 and speed 1/400. I just did a small bit of post processing then to make it pop a bit more, levels, sharpening etc.

I hope she will enjoy having these images in years to come as much as I have treasured capturing them..

– Fidelma Read

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