Assignment
Enter our contest to capture the spirit of performance
Every issue, we challenge you to take the most creative and arresting shot around a theme, and share it at the online community at Photocrowd ( www.photocrowd.com). Here, you’ll be able to browse the entries and vote on your favourites. The best entries receive a critique from our judging panel – and one winner receives a special prize!
Your mission in issue 170 was to shoot blackand-white landscapes. Whether you chose to shoot at the coast or head for the hills, we wanted to see images that made the most of the monochrome medium.
Some photographers went to town, ramping up contrast, crushing blacks, applying heavy vignettes and other substantial edits to create impact. Others went for more subtle reading of the scenes in front of them…
1
lee acaster -A simple but highly effective shot of the coastguard cottages at Shingle Street in Suffolk. The location lends itself to the minimalist, long-exposure treatment, and the silky, comparatively restrained black-and-white conversion adds to the evocative mood. It would have been easy to go overboard here, dodging and burning the shingle and sky for dramatic effect, but the expanse of darkness on the left of the frame and the intense brightness of the cottages act as fitting counterpoints. Kit Canon EOS 5D Mark II with Canon 17-40mm f/4L lens Exposure 180 sec at f/9, ISO 100
2
Aun raza - When it comes to Mongolia scenics, we’re more accustomed to seeing sweeping grasslands dotted with a fistful of yurts than stark images like this. It’s a refreshing approach, and a landscape shot that tells a story. Kit Nikon D800 with Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 lens Exposure 1/100 sec at f/2.8, ISO 200
3
tim bow - This picture invites you in with its delicate use of light and shade. In less refined hands, the same view would have become grandiose, rather than the quiet and reflective scene we have here. Kit Canon EOS 550D with Canon 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 lens Exposure 1/160 sec at f/8, ISO 100