School of Photography Newsletters

Stacey Lamb, Haskell, NJ, USA - Jungle Fever

Stacey recently completed the Glamour Photography Course and has also completed our Digital Photography Course. Even in our Digital Photography Course her photos showed her favourite subject to be of the glamour variety. In fact this isn’t the first image that Stacey has had the honour of being presented on the gallery. She also had an image from her Digital Photography Course projects titled “Late Night Phone Calls” selected for the gallery.

Jungle Fever is a very carefully executed image that really shows Stacey’s knowledge and understanding of light and studio settings. Most importantly however is pose, expression and preparation of the model. All comes together beautifully in this image.

Andrew Swiney, Suffolk, UK - A Good Glass of Wine

This image has been very well taken by Andrew. Though it is a fairly simple subject, it can be quite difficult to get the results just right. Setting up an image like this takes time if it is to be done perfectly. The bubbles in the glass and their sharpness, aided by a 1/1250 shutter speed, is the clincher with this image.

Andrew is currently doing the Basic Photography Course and this image was part of his first project submission. With a start like this, we have high expectations of Andrew.

Equipment Used:
-Canon EOS 400D Digital SLR
-70-300mm lense
 Exposure Details:
-ISO 200
-Shutter Speed 1/1250
-Aperture f.56
 Location and Lighting:
On a table in my garden, weather was sunny

Olga Carlberg, Harjumaa, Estonia - The Muse

Our tutors probably see thousands of images like this one. A students child playing a piano or some other musical instrument. However this image stands out and much that can be attributed to this is the lighting. It is all too easy to pop the flash on in situations like this, ruining any ambient effects. Olga just happened to have some natural daylight coming in a window and it has lit her daugther perfectly. A lighting situation that just cannot be matched by on camera flash.

Olga is doing our Basic Photography Course and this image was part of her first project. Looks like Olga may have a ready and willing model to help her through the rest of the course!

Canon EOS 350D
Canon 18-55mm lens at 28mm
1/20 sec at f/5,6, ISO 800 

You can view all three of these images at http://www.schoolofphotography.com/gallery/gallery13.html

Here is the top fifteen entrants for our Expression Competition.

1 Miron Mikita, Killarney, Co. Kerry,Ireland…………………..100 points
2 Ben Simmonds, Wellington, Somerset, UK…………………..92 points
3 Merel Schoneveld Den Haag, The Netherlands……………..84 points
4 Raymond Widawski, Brussels, Belgium……………………….76 points
5 Brianna Williams ……………………………………………….68 points
6 Andreas Budiwidjaja, Jakarta Indonesia……………………..60 points
7 Sandesh Dhagle, Yavatmal, India…………………………….54 points
8 Liesbeth van Dalen, Amsterdam, Netherlands……………….48 points
9 emma Bartlett, bracknell tasmania……………………………42 points
10 Jennifer Smith, Livermore Falls ME, USA……………………36 points
11 Kelly Morgan, Haysville, KS, USA……………………………30 points
12 Marta Azevedo………………………………………………..24 points
13 Ginger Attaway, Pacific Palisades, CA. USA……………….18 points
14 Rebecca Herren, Harrisburg, IL, USA……………………….12 points
15 Harjono Djoyobisono, Northcote, Vicotoria, Australia……..6 points

Photographer of the Year 2007 Table
Totals after three

1 Miron Mikita, Killarney, Co. Kerry, Ireland…………………..260 points
2 Raymond Widawski, Brussels, Belgium………………………168 points
3 Anna Herrington, London, UK………………………………..148 points
4 Andrea Dudasova, Svidnik, SLOVAKIA……………………..144 points
5 Ben Simmonds, Wellington, Somerset, UK………………….128 points
6 Liesbeth van Dalen, Amsterdam, Netherlands……………..116 points
7 Tilly Meijer, Spijkenisse the Netherlands……………………108 points
8 Harjono Djoyobisono, Northcote, Victoria, Australia………106 points
9 Gerry Priest, St Andrews Fife Scotland…………………….102 points
  Celeste McKenzie, Villieria, Pretoria, South Africa…………102 points
10 Andreas Budiwidjaja, Jakarta Indonesia…………………….96 points
11 Ivano Adversi, Bologna Italy…………………………………92 points
12 Merel Schoneveld Den Haag, The Netherlands…………….84 points
13 Brianna Williams ……………………………………………….68 points
14 Willems Heidi, O.L.V.Waver  Belgium…………………………60 points
15 Marsha Barritt, Upton, WY, USA……………………………..54 points
   Sandesh Dhagle, Yavatmal, India……………………………..54 points
   Ginger Attaway, Pacific Palisades, CA, USA…………………54 points

Here are the latest images to be included in The Gallery.

Bodyscape in Blue - Lars Swann

Simple is usually best with the photographic image and this is a good example of how simple can work best. The image is monochrome only for a blue bikini bottom, a shade of blue that really stands out against the monochrome background.

Lars submitted this image as part of his final project for our Glamour Photography Course.
Fruit Vision - Ben Simmonds

Ben is doing our Basic Photography Course and he used this image as part of his submission for Project 3, an image depicting Still Life. This image is a classic still life image with a slight difference. The strawberry reflected through the glass ball is a nice touch and murch more difficult to master than it may appear.
You can view these images here:
http://www.schoolofphotography.com/gallery/gallery12.html

The updated basic photography course is now available. Please note that it is NOT necessary to have a Digital SLR to follow the course. Any camera, film or digital that allows manual control may be used for the course as most of the techniques apply to all cameras.

Existing students will be able to follow the new course automatically, some lesson numbers may have changed however. If you are still viewing the previous version (v.4.0) please go to the login page, then before logging in, refresh the page by using the shift + refresh button (on PC’s). Then login as normal and you will see a new layout for the course with module navigation to the top left, lesson navigation on the bottom left and the course content in the main area.

It seems we have just wrapped up the competition for 2006 but here we are now introducing the School of Photography Photographer of the Year 2007!!

Anupam Pal has held the title for the last two years. So there is double inspiration for our competitors in this years competition; to challenge Anupam and to win the many prizes we have on offer this year.

For the winner of the title of Photographer of the Year 2007, we have a Pentax K110D digital SLR camera up for grabs! This has all the features of the worlds most popular design of camera; interchangeable lenses, multiple exposure modes and a 6.1 megapixel image sensor to list just a few.

For every competition there are Amazon Gift Vouchers to be won. First prize is $75, the second placed competitor gets $40 and third prize is $25. Also the winner will receive a copy of CyPics Photo Album Software.
The format of our competitions for this year will be very familiar to anyone who has taken part before. For those of you who haven’t entered before, you will find the process quite easy.

There will be five themed competitions run over the course of the year. Each entrant is allowed to enter ONE photo in each of the competitions. If a photo places within the top 15 places in any of the competitions, it earns points toward the Photographer of the Year table. The person with the most points when all the competitions are completed is the winner of the Photographer of the Year 2007 title and the Grand Prize of a Pentax K110D SLR camera.
The Competitions

There are a total of five competitions run over the course of the year. Here are the themes and closing dates for each.

Round 1: Winter - Closing date - February 28th 2007

Round 2: The Night - Closing date - April 30th 2007

Round 3: Expression - Closing date - June 30th 2007

Round 4: Special Effects - Closing date - September 30th 2007

Round 5: Open - Closing date - November 30th 2007

Keep an eye on this ezine. Throughout the course of the year we will be giving tips and ideas on these themes.
The prizes for each competition:

* First Place - $75 Voucher for Amazon.com and the CyPics Photo Album Software.
* Second Place - $40 Voucher for Amazon.com
* Third Place - $25 Voucher for Amazon.com
 
Photographer of the Year Prize:
 
The entrant with the most points accumulated from the five competitions will be declared the “School of Photography.com Photographer of the Year 2007″ and win the grand prize of a Pentax K110D digital SLR camera. This truly is a prize worth working towards.

So if you want to know what is needed to win our competitions, here are a few tips. 
* Impact - The photo should stand out in a crowd and catch and hold the judges eye. Aspects like a strong color, lines or a strong subject that is tightly framed are usually best. Avoid fussy images where the subject is hard to define or there is more than one subject in the image.

* Perfect in technical aspects - The image must be sharp and well exposed. No matter how eyecatching the image, if it is poorly exposed or soft, it will not win.

* Follow the Rules - Read the rules of entry carefully and make sure your images are entered correctly. They must be submitted on time and be the proper sizes. For example digital image files that are too big will not be accepted. Make sure digital image titles are indicated properly as outlined in the rules of entry. Make sure ALL details are filled out properly in the entry form. We have seen many good images in the past disqualified because they did not comply with the rules of entry.

These three simple steps should ensure your image gets a proper view from our judges. For more information on what can make a winning image, visit our Phototips page at http://www.schoolofphotography.com/if/nov2001InFocus.html

 

Rules of Entry

* The School of Photography.com Photographer of the Year 2007 Competition is open only to amateur photographers (Those who do not have photography as their main source of income) worldwide.

* Each entrant is only allowed to enter ONE photograph. The entry must be accompanied by a fully completed entry form found at http://www.schoolofphotography.com/comp.html. 

* Photographs can be entered by email or by post.

Email entries should be in jpeg file format at an image dimension no larger than 800 pixels in longest width. File sizes should not exceed 1.5mb. The entrants last name must be included in the front of the image file name. For example; “smith_flower”. Please see our Phototips page on sizing and compression before sending images via email at http://www.schoolofphotography.com/if/infocus26.html

Postal entries can be prints, slides or digital storage media. Prints can be color or black and white. Print sizes can be any size but no larger than 12 x 8 inches or A4. Slides can be 35mm or medium format transparencies (No glass mounted slides please). Digital images can be on floppy disk or CD. Sorry but postal entries will NOT be returned. 

* The School of Photography.com reserves the right to publish any winning entry in relation to the competition. The photographer retains copyright and can be assured no other usage will be made of the image.

* While every care will be taken, The School of Photography.com is not responsible for photographs that are lost or damaged.

* The judge’s decisions will be final. No correspondence may be entered into on the judges’ decision.

* The prizes stated are final and no cash equivalents will be awarded.

For further information and entry form go to http://www.schoolofphotography.com/comp.html
Postal entries must be addressed to

Competitions
School of Photography.com
P.O.  Box 314
Tralee
Co. Kerry
Ireland
Do you want to learn how to take winning photos? Join our Basic Photography Course. See the full syllabus at  http://www.schoolofphotography.com/basic_photography_course.html

If you would like to enrol in our Basic Photography Course, do it today! Just go to
 
http://www.schoolofphotography.com/fees/

The Gallery is a showcase of images taken by students for their projects. Our tutors select a few outstanding images from recent projects for display on the Gallery. Any student who has a photo displayed should be proud as their image is selected from hundreds of submissions. 

Here are the latest images to be included in The Gallery.

Rossbeigh - Nina Finn-Kelcey, Glenbeigh, Co. Kerry, Ireland

In some of the projects in our Basic Photography Course students are asked to take a photo using a particular technique. The easy thing to master is often the technique. The hard part is finding a suitable subject to carry out this technique upon. In Project 2 one of the exercises is to show controlled blur. Nina has found an interesting way of depicting this. Using a slow shutter speed and the camera mounted on a tripod, the moving subject is blurred while the background remains sharp.
 

Waterskiier. James Thompson, Vancouver, Canada

Another exercise for Project 2 in Basic Photography is to freeze all moving elements in an image, which this image would be a great example. However James submitted this as part of his Module 3 project depicting the subject of sports. James has done extremely well in freezing movement and coming up with a very well taken photo of a waterskiier. Notice the real attractive element in this image is the water spray behind the skiier, every droplet is clear and sharp.
 

You can view these images here:
http://www.schoolofphotography.com/gallery/gallery12.html

For the second year in a row Anupam Pal has won the School of Photography.com Photographer of the Year Award. He fought off some stiff competiton this year but consistantly high quality images have helped him regain the title. There looked as if a late flurry by a few contestants could beat Anupam to the post. However only one contestant, Miron Mikita showed any sort of threat.

For his trouble, Anupam wins our grand prize; a Nikon D50 digital SLR camera. Congratulations and good shooting Anupam!

Of course we cannot forget the winner of the final competition; Gerry Priest. His fine black & white study of a ruined Cathedral stood head and shoulders above what was a very good show of images.

Second place went to Mark Anthony Kathurima of Kenya with a very strong close-up portrait.

Third place was won by Marija from Latvia with a nicely constructed abstract image.

Congratulations to all and we hope to see your work again in our competitions next year. 

You can see all the winning images for 2006 at http://www.schoolofphotography.com/results2006.html

Competition 5 Results:

1 Gerry Priest, St Andrews Fife U.K………………………………100 points
2 Mark Anthony Kathurima, Nairobi, Kenya………………………92 points
3 Marija, Daugavpils, Latvia…………………………………………84 points
4 Vanwalleghem Frederic, Bavikhove, Belgium…………………..76 points
5 Tilly Meijer, Spijkenisse, Netherlands……………………………68 points
6 Milos Hlinka, Killarney, Co. Kerry, Ireland………………………60 points
7 Hugo C. Cardoso, Amsterdam, Holland………………………..54 points
8 Marsha Barritt, Upton, WY, USA………………………………..48 points
9  Liesbeth van Dalen, Leeuwerikstraat…………………………..42 points
10 Miron Mikita, Killarney, Co. Kerry, Ireland…………………….36 points
11 Suzanne Wheeler Price, Northampton, UK…………………..30 points
12 Beel Wout, ROESELARE, Belgium……………………………..24 points
13 Anupam Pal, State College, PA, U.S.A………………………..18 points
14 Wendra Ajistyatama, Jember Jatim, Indonesia……………..12 points
15 Patty Nieuwenburg, London, UK………………………………..6 points

Photographer of the Year Final Results
1 Anupam Pal, State College, PA, U.S.A………………………….254 points
2 Miron Mikita, Killarney, Co. Kerry, Ireland………………………226 points
3 Gerry Priest, St Andrews Fife U.K……………………………….192 points
4 Milos Hlinka, Ross Road, Killarney, Co. Kerry, Ireland……….162 points
5 Anna Herrington, London, UK……………………………………160 points
6 Raymond Widawski, Brussels, Belgium………………………..158 points
7 Tilly Meijer, Spijkenisse. the Netherlands………………………146 points
8 Yolande Scheepers, Al Ain, U.A.E……………………………….144 points
9 ANDREAS BUDIWIDJAJA, Jakarta LFCN, Indonesia………….132 points
10 Eduard Maydanik, Fellbach, Germany…………………………100 points
11 John O’Neill, Waterford, Ireland…………………………………92 points
   Yoran van Leeuwen, Gouda, The Netherlands…………………92 points
   Tom Martens, Riemst, Belgium……………………………………92 points
   Mark Anthony Kathurima, Nairobi, Kenya………………………92 points 
12 Anton Bredell, Brackenfell, South Africa………………………84 points
   Michael Lewis, Vancouver, BC. Canada………………………….84 points
   Marija, Daugavpils, Latvia………………………………………….84 points
13 Marsha Barritt, Upton, Wyoming, USA………………………..76 points
   Patty Godsalve, Silverdale, WA.USA…………………………….76 points
   R.C. Jenkins………………………………………………………….76 points
   Vanwalleghem Frederic, Bavikhove, Belgium…………………..76 points    
14 Lia Gunster-Schröter, Westerbork, The Netherlands………68 points
   Boris Michalicek, Poprad, Slovak Republic………………………68 points
   Carolien Willems, Rotselaar Belgium…………………………….68 points
15 Caleb Foster, Pittsburgh PA. USA………………………………60 points
Keep a close eye on our website and this ezine for details of next years School of Photography.com Photographer of the Year competitions.

 

Student Gallery - Stefan Edwards and Julian King

Here are two more project photos taken by students and selected for their outstanding quality for our Student Gallery.

National Museum Roof: Stefan Edwards, U.K.

Stefan recently completed our Digital Photography Course and this image was part of his last project. What makes this image stand out is the perfect symmetry of the glass framed roof. This may look easy to take but it takes a good eye and photographer to get it right, as Stefan has done.

Clown Fish: Julian King, Tuffley, Gloucester, U.k.

Rich colours are one of the strongest forms of impact you can use to catch the viewers eye. Julians image has this eye catching quality in full with this colourful fish. Julian is a Basic Photography Student who recently submitted this image as part of her Project 3 entry. This image was of great advantage to her as the compositional quality plays a major part of the final grade for Project 3.

 

You can view these images here:
http://www.schoolofphotography.com/gallery/gallery12.html

The popularity of our competitions is really starting to take hold as the number of entries are increasing with every round, this one being no exception. Also one might expect with quantity the overall quality of entries might suffer, but this is not the case as in general, the quality of images was very high, making our judges job a tough one.

One point we have made in the past is the significant number of entries disqualified because the rules of entry were not followed. This still seems to be a problem as there was quite a few images that were disqualified, in particular for not following the instructions regarding the specified image sizes when emailing.

However on with the results and the winner is Eduard Maydanik from Fellbach, Germany. Eduard won with an eyecatching photo of dancers taken using a slow shutter speed creating motion blur.

Second place went to Gerry Priest St Andrews Fife U.K with a photo of a dirt biker. The movement was enhanced in the photo by using zoom burst to perfection. 

Third place was won by Michael Lewis Vancouver, BC. Canada with a photo using a slow shutter speed of a moving train. The static figure of a photographer stood well next to the blurred train.

One final fact to note is the top seven people who placed in this competition have not scored points in the competition so far this year. Therefore even though he didn’t gain points in this competition, Anupan Pal still holds a comfortable lead on the photographer of the Year table. If Anupan wins the Photographer of the Year 2006 title, he will have won his second in a row, the first person to achieve this.

With only one competition to go, there are still four other contestants with a realistic chance of making that final sprint to overtake Anupan. These contestants include; Miron Mikita, Anna Herrington, Raymond Widawski and Yolande Scheepers. Hopefully these five contestants will pull out all the stops with their entries in the last competition to really make it a “Photo Finish”!

You can see these and past winning images at

http://www.schoolofphotography.com/results2006.html

Do you want to take photos like the images that won this months competition? Then simply enrol in our Basic Photography Course. For further information go to -

http://www.schoolofphotography.com/basic_photography_course.html
You can enrol today at http://www.schoolofphotography.com/fees/

Movement Results

1  Eduard Maydanik, Fellbach, Germany………………………..100 points
2 Gerry Priest, St Andrews Fife U.K…………………………..92 points
3 Michael Lewis, Vancouver, BC. Canada………………………..84 points
4 R.C. Jenkins……………………………………………..76 points
5 Carolien Willems, Rotselaar Belgium…………………………68 points
6 Caleb Foster, Pittsburgh PA. USA……………………………60 points
7 Richard Eyley, London, UK………………………………….54 points
8 Miron Mikita, Killarney, Co. Kerry, Ireland………………….48 points
9  Lenny Dorodny Brooklyn NY, USA…………………………….42 points
10 Iris Mager, Groningen, Netherlands…………………………36 points
11 Milos Hlinka, Ross Road, Killarney, Co. Kerry, Ireland……….30 points
12 James Tockuss, Sydney, NSW, Australia………………………24 points
13 Bram Huvenaars…………………………………………..18 points
14 Tilly Meijer, Spijkenisse, Netherlands……………………..12 points
15 Raymond Widawski, Brussels, Belgium…………………………6 points
 

Photographer of the Year table after 4 competitions
1 Anupam Pal, State College, PA, U.S.A………………………..236 points
2 Miron Mikita, Killarney, Co. Kerry, Ireland…………………190 points
3 Anna Herrington, London, UK………………………………..160 points
4 Raymond Widawski, Brussels, Belgium…………………………158 points
5 Yolande Scheepers, Al Ain, U.A.E……………………………144 points
6 ANDREAS BUDIWIDJAJA, Jakarta LFCN, Indonesia…………………132 points
7 Milos Hlinka, Ross Road, Killarney, Co. Kerry, Ireland………..102 points
8 Eduard Maydanik, Fellbach, Germany………………………..100 points
9 John O’Neill, Waterford, Ireland…………………………….92 points
  Yoran van Leeuwen, Gouda, The Netherlands……………………92 points
  Tom Martens, Riemst, Belgium…………………………………92 points
  Gerry Priest, St Andrews Fife U.K…………………………..92 points
10 Anton Bredell, Brackenfell, South Africa………………………84 points
   Michael Lewis, Vancouver, BC. Canada………………………..84 points
11 Tilly Meijer, Spijkenisse. the Netherlands…………………..78 points
12 Marsha Barritt, Upton, Wyoming, USA…………………………76 points
  Patty Godsalve, Silverdale, WA.USA……………………………76 points
  R.C. Jenkins……………………………………………..76 points   
13 Lia Gunster-Schröter, Westerbork, The Netherlands……………..68 points
   Boris Michalicek, Poprad, Slovak Republic……………………..68 points
   Carolien Willems, Rotselaar Belgium…………………………68 points
14 Caleb Foster, Pittsburgh PA. USA……………………………60 points
15 Cheryl Mazak, Ottawa, Canada………………………………..54 points
   Andre Gilden, Haarlem, Netherlands……………………………54 points
   Richard Eyley, London, UK………………………………….54 points

 

 

For information on further competitions, rules, prizes etc see our competiton page at http://www.schoolofphotography.com/comp.html
 

What does it take to get your photo on the Student Gallery? The photo would have to be of perfect technical quality and would need to stand out from a crowd. Take Caroline Whittaker’s image titled “Night Gull”: Here we have a bright white bird against a dark and brooding sky. The image is conjured through a digital editing program by adding the bird to the monochromed sky but all this is carried out perfectly.

The other latest image to hit our Student Gallery webpages is Stepping Stone by Tim Wilson. This is a straight forward image but it stands out. Technically it is top drawer as it is so sharp and well exposed, you can feel the water, leaf and flower. Every detail is perfect and the colours of the leaf, ripples in the water and the nice shadow patterns all blend to make an image you can almost taste.

You can view these images here:
http://www.schoolofphotography.com/gallery/gallery12.html