August 2008 Photo Contest Winner - MAGFX

[Junior]

This Month's Theme: "LX After Dark"
This Month's Winner: MAGFX


MAGFX's photo techniques of "LX after Dark"

Here is my final picture. It was cropped, at an angle (which I just learned), the contrast was increased a bit and the brightness decreased.


I wanted to find a place to shoot my Mag in total darkness, so I finally got a chance, after work, to use an area of the shop that I had been working at. I covered the windows and shut the lights off to clear the area of all light sources. I did miss the green exit light, though.

Here is my four year old, 7.2MP, Casio EX-Z750 compact digital camera with lost front shield and glued battery door. As you can see from this, one does not always need a fancy camera to take a fun photo. Also, note the tiny tripod. This tripod is something that everyone needs, due to it's compact size and versatility. I swear by it and use it often.


And here is my fancy light source. It is a AA Maglite with triple LED bulbs. I think that the LED's are why some of the pictures have a blue tint.


Here are a couple of my untouched photos.






I set the camera in "manual" mode and set the exposure from 1.5 to 3.0 seconds. Since the flashlight beam was so small, I would wave it over the car during the exposure. You can see where I did not always have consistent light saturation. I found that I could use this to my advantage in order to keep some areas in the dark while lighting others. It was the only light source that I could find at the time, but it worked better than I expected.

If you could see me doing this, since I did not have a helper, you would probably laugh. I would trigger the shutter, on a ten second delay, run over to the car and wave the flashlight around the car while moving my position. The only light that I had to see was the time delay red blinking light. Also, I tried to add sparks with a grinder which was another dance in the dark.

Here are some of my other cropped and brightness/contrast adjusted photos. Cheers...JONN

[FreeBird]

From the mind of a Special Fx guy....Unreal! If I only had a 10th of your creativity....
Thanks for sharing, again!

[iRock]

Congratulations Jon! You certainly deserved it, not only with these great shots, but the effort you put in with it. Love the sparks. Can't wait for the next contest. I never did get an opportunity for this one.

[spenosk8er]

great thread man, sweet shots!

[bipto]

Very cool explanation, man - thanks for posting!

Congrats again!

[MY - HEMI]

Thanks Jonn! Great job!

[JarZ]

I love this one:

[joe incognito]

Congratulations Jonn, great shots. I love that they're done taken with a point and shoot.
Proves that it's 10% camera 90% creativity

[bruno]

Congratulations, Jonn! Simply amazing photo! Thanks, too, for the lessons you provided as well.

Looking forward to your selection of this month's theme!

bruno

[fnkychkn]

congrats Jonn.
i gotta get in on this contest someday, if for nothig else than to provide comic relief.

[Wellsy]

Great shot Jonn, much deserved win, and also proves that you don't need the best to shoot the best...

[rwalshphoto]

nice job Jonn! great shot!

[bruno]

i gotta get in on this contest someday, if for nothig else than to provide comic relief.

With your goofiness fnkychkn, I have no doubt you will!

[DETN8R]

Congrats on a winning shot! Always good stuff coming from this guy..On a side note where did you get the tripod? I have been looking for one that small because my camera is about the same size as yours.

[Motor]

Congrats again!