Bruce Hartsell
The Photography Club of Quail Creek announced the winners of the November photo contest with the theme of Holiday Season.
Shari Rogers won first place with Midnight Santa Attack. Shari said, there is “nothing like a grandson in a Santa suit to excite my pooch. I was able to capture this shot as she tackled him to the ground and gave Santa some kisses. One of my favorite captures.” For this shot, Shari used a Nikon D500 70 mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec, ISO 2200, EXP -1.
Jeff Krueger won second place with Christmas Angel. He described his process as follows: “After we decorated for Christmas and set up our tree, I turned on the lights, and as it was night and the window shade was open, there was a great black background against the tree. I noticed this angel ornament had an interesting glow to it because of the yellow light behind it. I shot the image with intentional shallow depth of field (wide open shutter) to blur out the detail behind it to highlight the angel. With the camera on a tripod, I shot at 1/6th second at f/5 to get the desired effect. Canon EOS RS 62mm, ISO 200.”
Jim Burkstrand won third place with Thanksgiving Welcoming. Jim described his process: “My wife Marilyn decorated our front entryway for Thanksgiving, removing and storing away the Halloween decorations. These particular items have served us for years, moving houses as we have moved. Appropriately, we have a son and daughter, so that adds to memories. I took this shot with my new Pixel 9 XL. I am still learning its operational details, so I had it output both a processed jpeg and a raw. For this shot, I had to get a little bit lower so that my lens was looking pretty much straight on. Using the raw shot, I did a little bit of post-processing in Lightroom—adjusted the white balance, cropped, and increased the contrast, shadows, and saturation.”
The Photography Club of Quail Creek has a monthly photo contest in which members may submit up to three photos taken within the last 13 months, and with minimal post-processing. A panel of judges from across the country selects the winners. The club also has a quarterly challenge in which members may submit up to three photos taken within the quarter: Extensive post-processing is allowed, and winners are selected by club member voting.
The club meets on the second Wednesday of the month at 7 p.m., usually at the Kino Conference Center, Mesquite Room. The club also schedules episodic photo field trips and educational meetings. Consult the club’s website at www.pcqc.org as well as the weekday HOA What’s Happening for additional information. Membership is open to all Quail Creek residents.