Photo Contest

Professional photographer André Costantini. Costantini, who has run workshops designed for scrapbookers at several scrapbook stores and regularly lectures on portrait photography around the country, provides 10 Photo Tips for the Scrapbooker that are sure to help photographers of any level make better pictures.

===============>  ENTER OUR PHOTO CONTEST   <===============

Enter Tamron’s “An Emotional Appeal Photo Contest” Send us your favorite photo that expresses an emotion: happy | sad | tired | mad - any image that depicts human emotion. Winner receives an award-winning Tamron 18-200mm Di-II zoom lens and will be announced in Creating Keepsakes December Newsflash and on Tamron's website. Judging by professional photographer André Costantini. Deadline is 11/30/06. See below for André's top 10 photo tips, contest rules and entry form.

Stopping action in its tracks is an effective way to create images that grab the viewer’s attention. Indeed, by selecting shutter speeds from 1/250 sec up to the camera’s fastest speed of 1/4000 sec or less, you can record events that are not perceivable by the human eye, and that adds to their charm. Another way to achieve the same effect is by using electronic flash, which usually exposes the subject in a burst of 1/1000 sec or less. This appealing picture of a young girl “levitating” on her umbrella with her feet off the ground is a fine example of the visual impact that can be achieved using this simple technique. You can even do it on “auto pilot” by setting your camera to S (shutter-priority mode), and choosing a fast shutter speed. Just make sure your ISO setting is high enough to give a good exposure at fast shutter speeds—try ISO 400 or 800.

According to the rules, portraits are supposed to be shot with medium telephoto lenses (about twice the focal length of your camera’s normal lens), not wide-angle lenses. This is because close-ups taken with wide-angles tend to exaggerate certain facial features, notably noses. However, this is one rule that’s made to be broken because without a doubt some of the best, most intimate and revealing portraits are taken with wide-angle lenses. Here’s a classic example of a boy and a girl just bursting with life and joy. The wide-angle lens not only provides an intimate glimpse of this dynamic duo, but also gives enough depth of field to get a reasonably sharp image of the girl in the background.

Using flash outdoors or in daylight to fill in the shadows is a great way to achieve properly exposed faces while retaining detail in a dramatically backlit background. Fill flash is what enabled the photographer to shoot this classic double portrait that captures full facial detail, dramatic cloud formations, and even some shadow detail in the Statue of Liberty in the background. Fill flash used to require extensive calculations, but today many cameras provide an auto fill flash setting that make taking pictures like this quite easy.

Rembrandt used it and so has every other great portrait artist and photographer down through the ages. The soft diffuse light you get by posing your subject near a window is simply beautiful, combining definition with diffusion that is almost impossible to achieve with complex lighting setups. This compelling black-and-white fashion portrait shows what can be done with this simple, eloquent, universal light source.

Using a long telephoto lens to compress the apparent depth of a scene is a time-honored method of creating dramatic street shots and cityscapes, but it can be equally effective in establishing visual intimacy when photographing people as well. Here the photographer used a long lens to create a visual bond between an artist and his subject. To create a more compelling image of the process, he focused on the model and the painting, so the artist, who is closer to the camera, is slightly out of focus.

“Fill the frame” is one of the oldest rules in photography and it’s one of the best techniques for enhancing visual impact. By eliminating extraneous detail, you force the viewer to concentrate on what’s important, and you can delineate details that give the subject its special character. Establishing a visual connection between two or more subjects is also essential in creating powerful images, and people close together or even “cheek-to-cheek” is a simple and effective way to achieve this. This engaging picture of two attractive but very different young women is a fine illustration of the synergy you get by combining both of the above-mentioned techniques.

Selecting a wide aperture to minimize depth of field and achieve a narrow plane of focus is an effective way to get the subject to “pop” off the background, and is also a great means of de-emphasizing a distracting background. Both elements are shown in this amusing portrait of a young hooded bubble-blower. Both the greenery in the background and the big bubblers in the foreground are fuzzy, which draws your eye to the pursed lips of the irrepressible subject.

Placing the main light source, natural or artificial, behind the subject can produce dramatic results like this dreamlike, high key portrait. Note how light spills around edges of model’s face and neck to soften contours. In-camera exposure systems can be fooled by backlight, so you may have to dial in 1-2 stops more exposure with your camera’s exposure-compensation control.

Selecting colorful details in foreground or background that complement or harmonize with your subject’s attire is a good way to unify the composition and create images that stand out. Here, the pinkish blossoms in the foreground frame harmonize with the model’s pink dress to produce a pleasing effect. Note also effective use of selective focus—the out-of-focus flowers in the foreground lead the eye to the main subject.

Setting a slow shutter speed is an effective way to blur a moving background, which draws your eye to the main subject while conveying a feeling of action. Here the exuberant young girl on the swing is rendered with sufficient sharpness to capture her engaging smile while the background is attractively blurred to suggest a swinging motion. Scenes like this can be captured at the peak action moment (just when the swing stops moving forward before moving backward) or by using slow-speed flash.

Send us your favorite photo that expresses an emotion: happy | sad | tired | mad - or any other human emotion.

Deadline: November 30, 2006

Prize: Win a Tamron AF18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 XR Di II

Subject: “An Emotional Appeal Photo Contest”

The photo contest winner will be announced in the December issue of Creating Keepsakes Newsflash and on Tamron's website.

• Mail-in entries are accepted (do not send original materials - entries will not be returned). Or submit any digital or scanned original photograph(s) by e-mail to webmaster@tamron.com. Subject line should read “An Emotional Appeal Photo Contest.” You may enter as often as you like.
• Images can be submitted in either TIFF or JPEG format, prints any size (color or black/white), or duplicate transparencies (no originals).
• Contest is open to amateur photographers only. Employees and families of Tamron USA, Inc. and Primedia Inc. are not eligible.
• The winning photo will be chosen by our judge André Costantini based on originality and overall quality. All decisions are final.
• You must include your name, address, email address, and daytime phone number, along with equipment used and all other pertinent technical data.
• Winners may be asked to sign an affidavit of eligibility and grant of rights, and to submit all model releases and comments required for publication. By entering, contestants certify that photo(s) are original and do not infringe on any third-party rights.
• Contestants will retain the rights to their photographs. However, contestants grant Tamron USA, Inc. and its agency unlimited rights, for 18 months, usage of the winning image, the winner's name, photo, and likeness in any advertising/promotion efforts by Tamron USA, Inc.
• Open to U.S. residents only.
• Entries must be received by November 30, 2006
• Void where prohibited by law. Any tax on the prize is the winner's sole responsibility.

Mail submissions to:

 

Tamron USA, Inc.

10 Austin Blvd.

Commack, NY 11725

Attn: “An Emotional Appeal Photo Contest”

 

Or email to:

 

webmaster@tamron.com

Subject Line: “An Emotional Appeal Photo Contest”

Tamron USA, Inc., 10 Austin Blvd., Commack, NY 11725