Photo of the Week – Dale Forrest

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Creative Response to “Working” Assignment

Dale Forrest - "Workin" Drill Press

Dale Forrest - "Workin" Drill Press

This week’s photo is a preview look at one of many submitted in response to the “Working” theme assignment for May. Dale is a member who knows how to best use his equipment to transform his creative ideas into a striking photographic image. To help offset the low ambient light, he attached a very fast f/1.5 lens, a Russian made 85mm Helios 40, to his Sony A700 DSLR. An ISO of 640 and a relatively slow shutter of 1/60 second were selected, allowing sharp focus of the stationary elements and a motion capture of the rapidly spinning drill chuck and bit. Those ghostly appearing horizontal streaks are metal shavings clinging to the drill bit as it penetrates the metal object. It’s the inclusion of the fingers and the cleaning brush that lifts the final image out of the ordinary, adding the human element to the cold blue of the machinery.

Photo of the Week – Christopher Pratt

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High Dynamic Range – As Good As It Gets

Christopher Pratt - Belk Library - ASU Campus

Christopher Pratt - Belk Library - ASU Campus

Recent member Christopher Pratt gets the credit for this great floor-to-ceiling capture of the entrance foyer of the Belk Library on the ASU campus. He initially intended to shoot only the circular balconies, walls and ceiling but wisely decided to include the bronze statue in the foreground which adds depth to the scene and a very definite focal point. It was this decision that took the shot out of the ordinary.
To achieve the lovely lighting and control the dynamic range, Christopher used a tripod and remote cable release to take five consecutive bracketed shots at 1 f/stop intervals, then loaded all five RAW images into the software program Photomatix to combine all the exposures. He then applied what is called “Tone Mapping” in Photomatix to produce this final image. The result is an excellent HDR capture that doesn’t go over the top but provides a realistic photographic image. The great depth and sharp focus is the result of using a very wide angle 10mm lens.