ASSIGNMENT

The winners of last month’s ‘ Beauty in the Banal’ contest – and details of the next competition…

Enjoy the winners of our ‘Beauty in the Banal’ photo challenge, and discover the theme for our latest mission

Every issue, we challenge you to take the most creative and arresting shot around a theme, and share it with the online community at Photocrowd

(www.photocrowd.com). Here, you’ll be able to browse the entries and vote for your favourites. The best entries receive a critique from our judging panel – and one winner receives a special prize!

Your mission in issue 190 was to capture the beauty in the banal. The judges were looking for shots that showed imagination and a keen eye for composition. The following winners all found an interesting twist on an everyday object or scene that we enjoyed… This month’s photo assignment is to shoot bad weather! You can find all of the details over the page…

Pascale Cad ieux It really doesn’t get much more banal than a discarded shopping trolley partly submerged in a river. However, Pascale has artfully created a beautiful image of this mundane everyday urban scene. The clever use of neutral-density filters to smooth the water through longexposure techniques has worked extremely well, especially when combined with the subtle colour palette and simple composition. Kit Nikon D7000 with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens Exposure 30 sec at f/22, ISO 100 Elizaveta Buzova Elizaveta’s fabulous travel image is a delight to view. The colourful laundry criss-crossing the scene creates an almost abstract image that draws you in. It just goes to show that even the most mundane subjects can make stunning images. Clever composition, focal length and depth of field all help to accentuate the image. Kit Nikon D800 with 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 lens Exposure 1/800 sec at f/5.6, ISO 125 Marco Mazzini

This is the kind of scene that one walks past every day without giving it a second thought. However, if you take the time to stop, look and observe, you’ll find beautiful little images like this one everywhere. The tenacious little dandelion has managed to grow in this concrete corner. It’s been keenly observed by Marco, and he’s used the sharp angles, lines, colours and textures of the steps to create a delightful contrast with the natural yellow and green hues of the weed. Kit Canon EOS 5DS R with 17-40mm f/4 lens Exposures 1/40 sec at f/4.5 -2, 1/80 sec at f/6.3 and 1/160 sec at f/9 +2; all ISO 100