By PRM Photography

Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Exposure: 0.02 sec (1/50)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 85 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire

This was shot at the Neon Boneyard (Neon Museum) in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Most of my shots from this interesting museum were fairly wide angle shots of the different signs but I did get some close-ups as well. I had this shot all planned out when I was looking at it and I knew that I wanted to keep the focus of the bulb further back while blurring the foreground. I did this by setting the camera to Av mode, selecting the largest aperture my lens allows, and manually selecting the focus point. I didn’t get the extreme depth of field a f/1.8 or f/1.4 prime lens would have given me but I am still happy with how it came out and it’s an example of getting what I was seeing in my mind to turn out almost exactly how I had imagined it.

Shot in RAW and edited in ACR and Photoshop CS4. I adjusted levels and boosted saturation and contrast. I also turned the clarity slider up quite a bit in ACR.

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By Gary A. Stafford

Camera: Canon EOS 5D
Exposure: 1/320 second
Aperture: f/4.5
Focal Length: 100 mm
ISO Speed: 125

Bright amber-colored morning sunlight, illuminating frost-covered leaves in Corbett’s Glen Nature Park, late Fall.

HDR image using a 3-shot bracket in Photomatix Pro 3.2. Photographed with Canon EOS 5D and Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM Lens from tripod. Exposure of f/4.5 for 1/320 second, +/- 1 2/3 EV, at ISO 125. Processed in Adobe Lightroom 2.5, with post-processing in Photomatix Pro 3.2 and Adobe Photoshop CS3.

Using HDR really helped me hold detail in the highlight and the quarter-tones, while not loosing the mid- and three-quarter tones. I also like bokah, which is enhanced by both the slight movement of objects in the background and by combining the three shots in Photomatix.

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By Matt Siltala

Camera: Canon EOS 20D
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 55 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0/2 EV
Flash: Flash fired, auto mode, red-eye reduction

I wanted to test selective focusing to achieve a very shallow depth of field–also known as bokeh. Even though the largest aperture I could achieve was f/5.6, by using a zoom lens at 55mm, I was still able to get that bokeh effect.

I was actually trying to focus on the tip of the snowflake, but ended up focusing on the center. I ended up liking this shot regardless–and liked the out of focus at the front and back.

I added a little flash to make the snowflake sparkle.

The image was captured in JPEG with no post processing or enhancements.

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