APOY 2013 Round Ten – Under the Weather
Please visit the APOY 2013 home page to find all the rules for entry, terms and conditions, the APOY ENTRY EMAIL ADDRESS, and the disclaimers that must be copied and pasted into an email entry.
Entries must be received by 5pm on 29 November 2013
Round 10 of this year’s Amateur Photographer of the Year
competition is Under the Weather (autumn and winter weather). It can be all too
easy to let the cold weather get you down. As summer slips into autumn, the
temperature drops and people huddle in front of the fire. However, any
photographer worth his or her salt will see the weather as a challenge, throw on
a scarf and face the elements, camera in hand. Some of the most striking
location shots can be found in the autumn and winter, so we want to see what
you can find on your travels. Just remember to wrap up warm.
We have thousands of pounds’ worth of fantastic Panasonic
camera equipment up for grabs, as well as the chance to be crowned Amateur
Photographer of the Year 2013. The closing date for round 10 is 29 November
2013. First prize is a Panasonic Lumix DMC-G6 plus Lumix G Vario 14-42mm
f/3.5-5.6 Asph Mega OIS and Panasonic Lumix G Vario 100-300mm f/4-5.6 Mega OIS
lenses, worth a total of £1,179.98. Second prize is a Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF6
with Lumix G Vario 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 Asph Mega OIS lens, worth £499.99. Third
prize is a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LF1 worth £379.99. That’s a prize package worth
more than £2,000! The top 30 photographs will be published in our 21-28
December issue, while the scores from the top 50 images will be posted on our
website.
How to enter
Please visit the APOY 2013 home page for information explaining how to enter. Please use your full name as the file name and paste
the disclaimer into the body of your email if you are sending your entry to us
electronically. We also need to know where and how you took your image, plus
the camera and lens used with aperture and focal-length details. Remember to
include a telephone number and your postal address so we can contact you if you
win.
Photo by Aindreas Lynch
It’s a very British thing to complain about the weather.
When it’s hot, it’s too hot. When it’s cold, it’s freezing. However, there is a
small section of society that craves the extremes: the photographer. As a
photographer, you must be adaptable and willing to keep your eyes open to any
possibility. Extraordinary scenes don’t all have to be shot in bright natural
light. As we mentioned on the previous page, autumn and winter can offer the
photographer some genuinely beautiful and atmospheric scenes. Rain, snow, mist
and even the dreaded hail can give your photography a dramatic edge. But don’t
just think in terms of landscapes – your images can be taken anywhere, as
you’ll see by our tips and suggestions.
The urban environment can offer as much to these
types of images as any lush vista or mountain range. You should know by now,
and as evidenced from previous APOY rounds, that there are fascinating scenes
and subjects at every turn. You can shoot anywhere you want and focus on any
subject you wish, just so long as the autumn or winter weather plays a part.
And let’s face it, the weather is likely to be pretty dire over the next few
months so you may as well get used to it, put your eye to the viewfinder and
snap away.
First Prize
The first-prize winner will receive a Panasonic Lumix DMC-G6
with Lumix G Vario 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 Asph Mega OIS and Lumix G Vario 100-300mm
f/4-5.6 Mega OIS lenses worth a total of £1,179.98. The G6 is a digital
single-lens mirrorless camera with a 16.05-million-pixel, micro four thirds,
Live MOS sensor. It has 7fps high-speed continuous shooting, a 3in,
1.036-million-dot TFT LCD with Touch monitor, and a 1.44-million-dot OLED EVF.
Other features include full HD (1920×1080-pixel) video at 50p (50Hz) in AVCHD
Progressive and MP4 format, plus Wi-Fi connectivity with NFC technology. The
Lumix G Vario 100-300mm f/4-5.6 Mega OIS lens incorporates Panasonic’s Mega OIS
(Optical Image Stabilizer), which aids shooting in low-light conditions without
a tripod by suppressing the blur caused by camera shake. The lens uses
multi-coated elements that reduce ghosting and flare, helping to deliver a high
optical performance.
Second Prize
The second-prize winner will receive a Panasonic Lumix
DMC-GF6 with Lumix G Vario 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 Asph Mega OIS lens worth £499.99.
The 16-million-pixel GF6 has a Live MOS sensor and Venus Engine featuring an
advanced noise-reduction system. It also boasts quick start-up and Light Speed
AF, making it possible to capture fast-moving subjects clearly. Other features
include creative panorama and creative control with 19 filter effects, Wi-Fi
connectivity with NFC technology and full HD (1920×1080-pixel) video with
stereo sound.
Third Prize
The third-prize winner will receive a Panasonic Lumix
DMC-LF1 worth £379.99. The pocket-sized LF1 compact has a 1/1.7in,
12.1-million-pixel High Sensitivity MOS sensor and 28mm wideangle Leica DC
Vario-Summicron lens with 7.1x optical zoom (35mm equivalent of 28-200mm).
It
also boasts a 0.2in EVF with 200,000-dot resolution and 100% field of view, Wi-Fi
connectivity with NFC technology and a 3in, 920,000-dot TFT LCD. Other features
include an ISO range of 80-12,800, full HD video and 10fps burst mode.
Here are some
tips and suggestions to help you get started
Why not try…
Photo by Paul Broadbent
Weather Conditions
As already stated, it isn’t just spring and summer
conditions that can make great images. Autumn and winter have their own unique
charms. For example, the rusty brown of autumn leaves can offer you a beautiful
foreground that leads into the mist-enshrouded skeletal woodland that lays
beyond. Or you could take the approach of Paul Broadbent (above). His shot says
so much about winter. Playing in the snow when you’re a child is one of the
most exciting things in the world and here we see our subject with one of the
greatest inventions known to man – the sledge. It’s a nicely composed image
that makes great use of the mist in the background to ensure that the main
subject stands out in the foreground. The fact that the subject is such an
engaging one makes the image all the more special.
Photo by Martin Greskovic
Something Different
The image we see here from Martin Greskovic is most
definitely an usual one. It’s a subtle look at the themes we are exploring in
this round and functions on a very abstract level. However, we can clearly see
where he is coming from. We can assume that the surface we are seeing is either
a window in his home or a pane of glass in his greenhouse. The rain clinging to
the glass throws the branches beyond out of focus. The sepia tone caps it off
by giving it an unusual timeless quality.
Photo by Dan Deakin
In the City
The city is an environment that is as fascinating, inspiring
and visually engaging as any natural landscape. That’s why we often find
ourselves drawn to having a city-based round in each APOY year. Here we see
that APOY regular Dan Deakin understands that rain and bad weather can find an
aesthetic application with the urban environment. His stark tonal range helps
to emphasise the torrential downpour. The fact that one of the children is on a
bike and the other on a scooter adds to the sense of urgency that they really
want to get out of the rain and into the dry. It’s a subtle effect, and
possibly accidental, but even the slightly off-kilter camera angle works. It’s
an image to learn from then.
Please visit the APOY 2013 home page to find all the rules for entry, terms and conditions, the APOY ENTRY EMAIL ADDRESS, and the disclaimers that must be copied and pasted into an email entry.
Entries must be received by 5pm on 29 November 2013
