It's still weird to me to think that it is a new year, and 2020 is officially behind us on the calendar. As the longest year ever came to a close, no one held back with the images submitted to the photo dumps. Everyone continued to absolutely blow me away with the unique and fun images submitted, and choosing this handful was definitely a challenge! Time to take one last stroll of our P52 Clicks 2020 memory lane with the final "bokeh" highlight reel. Congrats to the countless number of members who completed their 52 week projects, and stuck with us to the very end! Peace, love, and low light ahead,
Gear: Canon 6D Mark ii, Sigma 35mm Settings: ISO 1600, f/3.5, 1/400sec
The Shot: This is a composite of two images. First, I focused on my son's eyes through his magnifying glass. Second, I switched to manual focus to get a nice, unfocused image of the tree lights for the bokeh effect.
Post Processing: I did some light manual edits in LR to warm up and brighten his skin tone and enhance sharpness and clarity around his eyes. I then moved into PS to remove my hand from the image, where I was helping to hold the magnifying glass steady where I wanted it. I created a bokeh overlay using the tree image and used a layer mask to remove it from my son in the foreground.
Gear: Canon 5D Mark IV 35 mm
Settings: ISO 400, f/2, 1/400s
The Shot: We were out looking at Christmas lights downtown and there was a clear box filled with lights, my kids were looking through to the other side and I grabbed a few shots.
Post Processing: Edited in LR with preset, adjusted vibrance, highlights and temp.
Gear: Sony a7iii with sony 35 mm
Settings: shutter speed 1/640 f9/ ISO 4000
The Shot: this is a frozen bubble in mid formation shot in reverse lens macro. The conditions have to be just right. Cold enough and no wind or you have to be somewhere sheltered but with lots of light. At -31 degrees Celsius a bubble will freeze solid within 7 seconds so you have to work fast. This particular bubble was shot at -19 degrees Celsius. The bubble solution I’ve use is usually just the normal bubble solution my kids use but I added sugar to this one to strengthen the bubble solution. I’ve also made just a water/dish soap/sugar solution (less successful than my kid’s bubble solution). PLUS you need to blow onto a surface using a straw otherwise your bubble will just float away!
Post Processing: edited In affinity photo. cropped/highlights down/ contrast up/ shadows down/ adjusted curves/texture up/clarity up//sharpened.
Gear: Canon EOS R6 Canon 28-70 at 28mm
Settings: 1/100 f22 ISO 10000
The Shot: This was Christmas morning after all the gifts were unwrapped and the kids went up to eat breakfast. The sun was hitting the back window of the truck across the street and made a huge bright glare in the room for a few minutes. I love me a sunburst when I can make one, so I closed down my aperture to f22 (since it wasn't a concentrated source of light, like the sun or a flash, it needed to be at a very high aperture before I got distinct rays) and compensated with ISO so the room wasn't completely dark. I always have a UV filter on my lens (because kids) and it apparently needed a clean because every particle of dust showed up. I liked the bokeh effect it made though. I took some with the filter off and liked the bokeh better
Post Processing: Edited in LR. Decreased highlights and warmed the color of the picture by increasing temperature. Used adjustment brush to lighten the floor and dehaze to bring back some contrast. Applied a color preset.
Gear: Canon 6d mkii, sigma art 35mm
Settings: f/2.8, 1/125, ISO16000
The Shot: I wanted to get a photo of the kids with the christmas tree and its in a bit of an awkward spot usually, so I shuffled some furniture around and moved it against this wall and put some candy canes up high and told them to go and find them so I could grab a few shots
Post Processing: In lightroom i applied a preset and applied a radial filter around my eldest son just to try and lighten him up as the light wasn't wonderful on that side, i then took it into photoshop to remove the furniture that i just couldn't get out of the way enough and then brought in a bokeh overlay
Gear: GoPro Hero 9
Settings: f2.8, 1/950, ISO 396
The Shot: My daughter was swimming and I was experimenting with different ways to capture the way her brightly-coloured swimsuit reflected in the water.
Post Processing: Applied a base preset and cropped in LR, then added LOTS of contrast, some vibrance and saturation and tackled the colour cast on her face in PS
Gear: Canon 5D miv and lensbaby sol 45
Settings: F/3.2, ISO 500 1/160
The Shot: Our annual trip to the Christmas market which wasn't a market this year due to covid but still festive. It was an overcast day and I believe just before sunset.
Post Processing: Edited in LR with Wilde Preset and curves in PS. Insta
Gear: Nikon D750, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm
Settings: 1/200 sec., f/2.8, ISO 320, shutter priority
The Shot: No judging....haha. I have been giving peanuts to a rat that lives under the porch of our storage building. It has slowly been coming out in the open so I wanted a picture. I shot low. The light was dim out so I had to set the shutter priority for 1/200 sec because the rat was pretty quick. I let the camera do the rest of the thinking for me this time. I wasn't trying to get bokeh but when I saw it in editing, I had to post.
Post Processing: Edited in Photoshop using a Krautkopf preset.
Gear: Canon 5D mkIV 35mm
Settings: f4.5 1/320 ISO640
The Shot: While out back with my girls I was looking in the bushes for our cat. I happened to see this leaf on the ground and I have never seen anything quite like it! I carefully picked it up, stood on a chair and held it out between my camera and the patio lights we have hanging on our patio.
Post Processing: I cropped, adjusted highlights, shadows and levels, sharpened and added a slight vignette in Photoshop
Gear: Canon 5DIV Sigma 85 mm f/1.4
Settings: F/1.8, 1/1600 sec, ISO 200
The Shot: The sun was setting across the river and I noticed the golden light on my daughter’s face. I wanted a painterly look, so I used my 85 mm at f/1.8 to give compression and blur. I saw the strong leading lines in the railing and used them to direct attention to her. The green also contrasted with her red coat. I made sure that she was on the rule of thirds.
Post Processing: In Lightroom, I brightened my daughter using a brush, increased contrast and decreased shadows. I straightened it and slightly cropped so that she was on the rule of thirds. In Photoshop I removed a few distracting elements and added a colour overlay to further enhance the painterly effect and deepen the colours.
Gear: Nikon D750, Nikon 35mm 2.0
Settings: ISO 640, F 2, 1/400
The Shot: How did you shoot this: My son was playing with a noise maker on NYE. I moved him in front of the Christmas tree for the picture.
Post Processing: Slight adjustments in LR and lifted some of the shadows on his face. In PS I added extra bokeh from another picture I took of our tree. (My first overlay ever!)
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