How I Took that Shot – Sonja Eisenberg

Posted on 02/05/2017 by admin

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!

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

Posted on 30/04/2017 by admin

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!

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

Posted on 11/03/2017 by admin

Sonja Eisenberg has come first in Grade C in both competitions this year so far. The image above was her winning image in our most recent competition, themed 'Motion'. This is how she made the image:

This was shot whilst on a weekend away in London, using my Nikon D3000 and VR Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6. Waiting for my tube at Euston Square to come along I thought it was the perfect time to get some practice shots on a moving object. It took some time as there were a lot of moving people running for their trains too, and this was not something I had envisaged in my photo!

After a short wait I spotted someone engrossed in their phone and happy that it contrasted well with the red and white of the oncoming tube I adjusted my ISO to 200, moved in to approx 188mm (this photo was cropped in post processing, taking out the lighting above - which had helped light up the moving tube nicely). It was shot in JPEG ƒ/3.5, 1/15 in the poor light nonetheless.

The only post processing I did was to crop the picture and increase the colour to bring out the red in the tube, with a slight vignette in the Macbook Air photo processing system.

One of my favourite things about this shot is that the leading line brings you to the person on his phone, who I imagine has got a lovely gift for a friend in the bag that is swinging by his side and is on his way to deliver it.

Well done Sonja. Lovely shot.

ECCG ‘Motion’ Competition – 07/03/2017

Posted on 08/03/2017 by admin

With 28 entries, our recent internal competition, themed 'Motion', drew the biggest entry in a while with a wide interpretation of the theme. The image above by Zane Llewellyn won Grade A and also took the overall highest score of the night across all Grades.

The breakdown of the final results was as follows:

Grade A was a tightly contested affair all through the voting process but Zane Llewellyn won out by 9 points in the end from Gráinne Davies in second and Finbarr O'Shea in third.

Grade B saw Jim O'Neill once more in first place winning with 23 points to spare from Noelle Lowney in second and Eileen Upton in third.

Sonja Eisenberg came first for the second time on the trot in Grade C followed by Jim Curtin in second and Karina Leeson.

In the overall scores across all grades, Zane Llewellyn and Jim O'Neill had equal scores but the tie was split by the number of higher scores received giving Zane the edge and first place while Gráinne Davies took the third spot.

Well done to all concerned.

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

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

Posted on 19/02/2017 by admin

Sonja Eisenberg certainly isn't one to let the grass grow under her feet! Only a few weeks a member of East Cork Camera Group and competing in her first internal competition, themed 'Weather', Sonja only went and won Grade C with the image above. This is how she did it:

It was taken on a Ryanair flight from Cork to London in late January 2017, just after take off around 11am. Shot out of the right hand side of the plane looking down on water. Shot on NIKON D3000; AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm lens; f/3.5-5 . Raw File; ISO 200, 30mm, -0.67 ev, f13, 1/640. Sunny setting, centre focus.

Post processing: brought up the overall light but reduced the highlights, increasing the contrast and colour. Also increased definition and reduced down noise as much as possible; there was also a slight vignette and some sharpen intensity. Post processed on the iPhoto in-built adjustment tool on MacBook Air.

Well done Sonja!

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