Photo Contest: Hot Pics for December

Subscribers to Dave Johnson's Digital Focus took these shots; read Dave's January 1, 2008 column for the Hot Pic of the Month winner.

By Dave Johnson, PCWorld

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12/4 Hot Pic: "Water," by Nicholas Kosloski, New Britain, Connecticut

Nicholas writes: "I took this photo using a black backdrop and two strobes. I placed one strobe in back to illuminate the water, and one on the camera to serve as a fill light. I had a partner drop the ball into the water, and I captured the result."

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12/11 Hot Pic: "Nature's Lantern," by Tom Thompson, Hamilton, Ontario

Tom writes: "I took these flowers in the town of San Quirico d' Orcia, south of Siena Province, Italy, with my Canon Rebel XTi. I thought that the original picture was too cluttered with green leaves and background flowers of various colors, although I liked the rough texture of the leaves with the veins running through them. I used the quick selection tool and magnetic lasso to select the flower and then converted the background to black and white."

12/18 Hot Pic: "Roadside Attraction," by David Lykes Keenan, Austin, Texas

David writes: "This colorful scene appeared on the side of Interstate 35 between Austin and Waco. I took the picture with a Ricoh GR-D digital camera and then processed it in Photoshop CS2 (I did a slight perspective shift, minor color and contrast adjustments, and added some high-pass filter sharpening)."

12/25 Hot Pic: "Divine Tree," by Angelia Frost-Rogers, Phenix City, Alabama

Angelia says that she took this photo while hiking in Pine Mountain, Georgia after she became fascinated with the tree's unique design.

12/4 Runner-Up: "Green Flash," by Alfredo Garcia, Jr., Torrance, California

Alfredo writes: "I was recently at the beach near Manhattan Beach, California, trying to capture an image of the rare atmospheric phenomenon known as the green flash. On September 30, around 6:43 PM, such a flash occurred and I captured it with my Canon Digital Rebel XT. I used an Orion 120mm f/6 refractor telescope and exposed for about 1/500 sec. You can see the little flicker of green atop the sun."

12/11 Runner-Up: "Market Colors," by Noel Hayward, Newton, Massachusetts

Noel took this photo with a Canon G7 at the Icmeler Market in Turkey. "I was impressed by the wide range of colors of the spices," he writes.

12/18 Runner-Up: "Irondequoit Creek Turbulence," by Charles Vaughn, Spencerport, New York

Charles writes: "Here is a picture I took while practicing depth-of-field shots for my first photography class. We had just talked about how to make moving water have a cotton-candy effect. I used a Nikon D70S camera on a tripod."