Photo Contest: Hot Pics for January

Jeff took this silhouette of a hot air balloon and a photographer at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta using a Sony DCS-H5.

Lucas writes: "The colors in the Shenandoahs reach their peak during the beautiful fall months. I was lucky enough to go there on a misty foggy weekend." He took this photo with a Canon SD410.

Terri writes: "I took the photo during the peak autumn color season at Butchart Gardens in Victoria, BC. Then I used the liquefy filter in Photoshop Elements to change the shape of the leaves and applied a filter called "Flood" to add the water and reflections."

Mark writes: "I took this photo with my Canon Digital Rebel XT on a recent trip to Block Island, which is a small island 14 miles off of the Rhode Island coast. ... This is North Light, one of two lighthouses on the island."

Christine writes: "I took this photo during a light, steady rain in the Utah desert. The usually spectacular scenery had faded to gray, but the rocks beneath my feet created their own landscapes."

Leon writes: "This gecko lives on my front porch. I used a Minolta Maxxum 7d camera with a 50 mm lens and a macro extension tube to get a really high magnification. I also added a polarizer filter to reduce the reflection in the gecko's eye from my flash."

Peter writes: "I took this photo at a store window on Newbury Street in Boston. It was part of the Boston Museum of Fine Art exhibition on French designers." He used a Sony DSC828.

Charley writes: "I used my Canon 20-D on a tripod to take this photo on a cold November evening. It is a picture of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, which spans Brooklyn and Staten Island. It's a time exposure of 10 seconds at f/11, with my zoom lens set at its widest to 19mm."

Scott writes: "We were in a flight of Blackhawk helicopters after a long day of transporting soldiers to Iraq. We were heading back to Kuwait for the night... I took this picture from the front seat of the chase aircraft." He used a Canon SD750.