420 Magazine's Creme De La Creme Photo Contest: July 2017

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This is such a difficult contest to judge. We have to look for quantity as well as quality and there are always some superb individual photos. We truly appreciate all your entries.

A special mention this month to KelticBlue for a couple of super seed shots. A few more of those and you'd have definitely been in the winners. Next month please!

The first place winner wasn't too hard though. What fabulous photos - great colour, clean shots, sharp as a pin, beautifully composed and (as the guidelines post details) editable. :bravo: again, Hyena Mercia. Textbook stuff.

1st Place - Hyena Merica
2nd Place - GrowchyzGardenOfGreen
3rd Place - LiveAndLetGro

:thanks: everyone. See you in the August contest.
 
Congratulations once again Hyena!:thumb: Excellent job!:bravo:
 
Teddy Edwards;35634.32 said:
This is such a difficult contest to judge. We have to look for quantity as well as quality and there are always some superb individual photos. We truly appreciate all your entries.

A special mention this month to KelticBlue for a couple of super seed shots. A few more of those and you'd have definitely been in the winners. Next month please!

The first place winner wasn't too hard though. What fabulous photos - great colour, clean shots, sharp as a pin, beautifully composed and (as the guidelines post details) editable. :bravo: again, Hyena Mercia. Textbook stuff.

1st Place - Hyena Merica
2nd Place - GrowchyzGardenOfGreen
3rd Place - LiveAndLetGro

:thanks: everyone. See you in the August contest
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THANK YOU so very much 420 Magazine, the members and awesome staff!

It is a pleasure beyond measure to be part of such a great community of cannabis aficionados. :Love: I love it!

I am fortunate to have somewhat of an eye for photography, but like all photographers, my greatest joy is to share the images with others.

I loved so many of the images submitted this month...there are more and more people capturing some really great stuff. Thanks to everyone who entered and please enter more. I never know what I will see each month and that's cool.

I want to say anyone can learn to do great photos of their plants with a little practice and a steady hand. It doesn't take fancy equipment! I have some very expensive cameras but I don't use them...every picture I have ever posted on 420 was taken with my Samsung Galaxy 5 phone. Like I said it just takes practice!

Thank you 420 for the forum you provide, and for once again allowing me to share the beauty of our favorite flower. Love to you all!

Peace, Hyena
 
TheGreenYeti said:
You want to break down what you do with your Galaxy S5 to get such good shots? I have started to get better pics with mine lately but they still are not great
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Sure thing!

First, the two main elements of a good photograph are composition and lighting.

By composition, I mean finding a view of your subject that emphasizes the subject, and avoids other elements that may clutter or otherwise diminish the subject. It sometimes takes a little effort and creativity to find that perfect view but when you do you can capture it, if you also get the lighting right...

A typical grow room has LOTS of good lighting plus the camera has a flash, so it's relatively easy to find angles on your subject that have good background light, and then you fill in the subject with added on-camera flash. A good rule is the subject should be about twice as bright as the background lighting. Balancing the foreground fill and the background is often a matter of luck, as much as skill, which leads to the most important thing...

Take lots of images! Once I find a view of my subject that will make a good composition, I may take ten or more shots to find the one that is truly balanced. The automatic cameras like my Galaxy 5 phone contains constantly recalculate things, so they tend to vary the added flash and focus considerably even when taking the same shot multiple times. This usually results in enough variation that one shot will stand out from the others with just the perfect balance of everything.

The results are worth the effort. It's ultimately a practice thing. Hope that helps!

Peace, Hyena
 
Teddy Edwards said:
A special mention this month to KelticBlue for a couple of super seed shots. A few more of those and you'd have definitely been in the winners. Next month please!
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Aw. You kids rock, thanks! I share what I got as I go, right now I have nuthing in bloom. As I photo-journal my grow I am happy to share a couple of me-better ones with you for whatever you need. Take what you need and leave the rest.
:cheertwo:




TheGreenYeti said:
Thank you. I try to take multiple pictures but most of the time they seem the same. I do not have a super steady hand so that could be part of it. I will take what you have said and apply it though :Namaste:
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I do not have a steady hand either.
I have my CREE cobs as bright as possible during the photo to get as fast as possible shutter speed to minimize shake. Turn the fans off or away so they are not moving about.
I use (mostly) a casio point and shoot. (An EX ZE-100) not that that matters.

Here is my 'most common' setting, best shot is a "flower mode" with high saturation or any high saturation mode. (<---- probably not that important or common a choice for setting) Next.......
Then I put the ISO to 100 (or as low as it will go) I turn the flash off or as needed.
Now here is one point that I think is important with I match the COB light temp with the white balance as close as possible. So my COBs are listed at 3500K, the tungsten light setting is 3700K. Gives me great color realism, i think. This is something I change if I am under florescent (CFL) I use the florescent setting or whatnot. Trick is to find the White balance setting and what Temperature it is Like if your veg CFL is 6500K find what setting is close to 6500K. Or trial and error with different setting for best color rendering. White balance can be worked on after in post process but that takes time.

Now for the close ups, I have a super close Macro setting, works good for loooking at trichs and loooking for pre-flowers.

Funny thing I have a nice Canon DSLR that I use for wildlife shooting but almost never for plants. I just dont have a close up lens that makes me happy with the Canon. So i go with the tiny point and shoot


Here is some new seed makers awaiting capture to make more seeds if I can find a girl willing to go all the way.
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