"Main Street"--Third Place!

Nikon D700, 14-24mm f/2.8 lens @ 14mm, f/7.1, 1/2s., ISO 800, SB-600 with 1/4 CTO gel through white umbrella.

Here's the one I settled on for my portrait entry this year. T. was such a pleasure to work with, and we made a million great images that could have been entered. She was so good at working with the vision I had for this shoot. I've been envisioning this image and several other similar setups for months. I have literally awakened before sunrise with ideas for these racing through my mind. 

I've heard lots of supposition at the Summerfest contest about how much Photoshop was used here. Besides the Black and White work, this image does not have any appreciable Photoshop work done. To create this set up we first adjust camera settings to make the light from the flash look soft and gently wrap around the truck bed and T. Next, I made sure the lights on Main Street and the sky were just the right tones; this required a long shutter speed as part of the plan. Finally, we drove down the road. With the flash set to rear sync (second shutter on Canons) the light comes on at the end of the exposure and makes T. nice and crisp. So, the truck is moving and the shutter is open causing the streaks of lights, but T. is lit separately and sharply. This is the moving, fun, summer-is-here look I was going for.

Lots more in this style to be done. Any seniors out there ready for Pictures?

This is my submission for the landscape category. The judges didn't look at it twice. Ah, well...

Nikon D700, 28-300mm f/4.5-5.6 VR lens @ 28mm, f/22, 9 frames from 1/60 to .6s, ISO 200, HDR in CS5, BW in Nik Silver Efex.