More viewers' pictures # 6

Owen Jaen says he is new to digital photography, but you couldn't tell it from this captivating image. It is a photograph anyone would be proud to have taken.

He writes, "I shot this pic when I was in a local food festival here in the Philippines. I used the memory stick on my brother's Sony VX2000 digicam. The pic was just a crowd shot and I don't even know the man in the picture. I was just captivated by the way he was looking at me."

It was around 3:00 pm on August 2, 2002 when Owen took the picture. He said, "I was standing across from the man as he was waiting for the results of the Palagsing food-making competition. " 'Palagsing,' by the way," says Owen, "is a local delicacy found here. It's made from the pulp of a Lumbia Palm that's found abundantly near the riverbanks."

Owen is a 23-year-old Filipino who is taking up AB Political Science in a local college. "I dabble in digital photography in every spare time that I have," he says.

"This is an example of a shot that I feel was well composed," writes photographer, Kennard Yamata from Chattanooga, Tennessee. "I welcome your criticism. The photograph is of my cat, Nixon,on the living room floor, basking in the sun streaming through the window."

Kennard, who describes himself as an "extremely amateur photographer," says he used a Canon G3 camera. "I tried to follow the rule of thirds," he say, "by keeping Nixon's face and eyes in the right third of the shot."

"I really enjoy your web site," he says. "Thanks for making the resource available."

The photographer who took this striking image, Jim Helleck, lives in Soldotna, at the heart of southern Alaska's Kenai Peninsula. Jim writes, "I do a lot of night-time shots with snow. Here's an example."

It's a wonderful time-exposure picture. Jim says it was taken near Cooper Landing on the Sterling Highway using a Nikon 35mm camera with a 50mm lens at f/1.8 for 25 seconds on Fuji 400 print film.

Here is another of Jim's Alaska photographs. "I took this picture on a winter's morning behind the airport in Kenai," he says. "I've had a number of compliments on it, and it's one of my favorites."

The picture was taken on Fuji 100 slide film with a 19mm lens. "I call it "Dawn's Early Light," says Jim.

Note: For information on shooting sunrises and sunsets, visit Photographing sunsets.

And yet another of Jim Helleck's Alaskan scenery images. Jim says he felt this photograph might have been improved by using a gradated ND filter "so that the mountains and sky wouldn't look so washed out."

Although such a filter could certainly have been used and would have made a noticeable difference, Jim may in fact have created a feeling of greater space and added three-dimensionality by not having employed the filter. The foreground and background are separated by their differences in density, allowing the viewer's eye to seem to "see further" into the picture.

The last in our mini-collection of four of Jim Helleck's Alaskan landscapes, this picture is of a winter sunset taken at Kelly lake on the Sterling Highway with a 105mm f/2.5 lens and a 35mm Nikon camera mounted on a tripod.

Thanks, Jim, for providing us with your personal glimpse into the rugged beauty of a great State.




To see more Viewers' pictures, click here or on a link below.