Symmetry

"Tracks" - Cary

Is there anything more symmetric than railroad tracks?  Standing on the tracks long enough to set up and take the shot was surprisingly unnerving.  I kept "checking my six" to make sure I and my camera weren't going to become a permanent hood ornament on some locomotive.

E-3 w/ 70-300mm @ 179mm, 2 sec @ f/16, ISO 100, RAW processed in ALR2

"Glow" - Matt

Got this light for my birthday and thought it would make a fun picture.

190mm, f/4.8, 2sec, center-weighted, m-mode

"Purple Petals" - Mike
I had a hard time finding symmetry to photograph, however, I did find this flower yesterday that seemed to work well. I had to shade it to get more uniform lighting.
55 mm, f/5.6, 1/50 sec., ISO 400, No Flash, Matrix, A-priority

"the back 9" - ryan

I saw this symmetrical reflection on a small pond on a golf course on the side of the highway and I had to bust a uie and go back for the shot. The golfers were giving me strange looks. No sign of Tiger though.

E500 - 200mm eq., 1/1000s, f4.1, iso400, matrix

Reflections without Mirrors

"Trumpet Voluntary" - Cary

Angie's actually not a trumpet player (that would be me and Matthew so far) but she did an excellent job of modeling one for me so I could get this shot.  I had some other ideas including one I really liked that used a water drop but, alas, it turned out the water drop was acting as a lens, not a reflection (see it here).  Plus I had no idea what it's f-stop and focal length were...

E-3 w/ 70-300mm @ 300mm, 1/200 sec @ f/11, ISO 100, RAW processed in ALR2

"Alabaster Pyramid" - Mike
I took this shot in my office. I was surprised to note how reflective my black filing cabinet was.
31mm, f/5, 1/13 sec., ISO 400, Matrix, No Flash, A-priority

"piano" - ryan

I tried several things but ended up using this one. I learned that reflections don't act the way I thought and that it's all about the angle. This angle gave the best reflection for the keys, but I sure would have liked to have got a reflection of the entire key.

D50 - 80mm (35mm equiv.), f/1.8, 1/45s, iso 800, center-weighted, manual focus

"Eyes Only for Me" - Matt
I had a fun idea for a photo, tried it, and it worked (hard to believe, I know). I still need to perfect the technique, but the results are fun.
32mm, 1/20s, center-weighted, p-mode

"painted windows" - kirk
I went looking for a reflection on water and ended up in downtown Vicksburg. I don't think I would believe this was from Vicksburg if I didn't take the picture myself.
18 mm, 1/100 sec, f/5.0, ISO 200, center weight, -1/3 exp, p-mode

Evening

Slow shutters and the mix between natural and artificial lights can make evening pictures a lot of fun.

"Court at Midnight" - Tim
Using the artificial light around the courthouse I was able to get this photograph with the silhouette of the trees around.
66mm (35mm eq.), f/3.7, 1 sec., center-weighted, night mode

"Chateau Talbot" - Cary
My first post got overwritten by Matt's excellent "Belle" post, evidently. During his time as a commercial photographer, my brother shot many a house and building at dusk with all the lights on. The warm-cool contrast between the lights and sky can make for very appealing scenes. I've learned, however, that the time window for just the right amount of "dusk" in the sky is very narrow. Evening shots have turned out to be some of my favorites this past year. A few can be seen here if you're interested.
E-3 w/ 12-60mm @ 12 mm, 5 sec @ f/8, 100 ISO, RAW processed in ALR2

"Belle of the Bends" - Matt
At a break in the rain, Tim and I braved the hyperactive mosquitoes to get a couple pictures of The Belle. It took a lot of little tweaks to get it to this point, but no HDR.
22mm, f/3.8, 6sec., center-weighted, m-mode

"Goodnight Moon" - Mike
I've enjoyed being able to get reasonably decent shots of the moon with my 300 mm lens. It's surprising how bright the moon is. I was hand-holding the camera when I shot the moon. I had hoped to try something with star trails for this challenge, but at 20+ minutes per shot I didn't have time to experiment. Unfortunately, the weather and scenery from my trip have not been conducive to this challenge topic.
300 mm, f/5.6, 1/320 sec., ISO 200, No Flash, Manual.

"murals at dusk" - Kirk
I tried a couple different setup with more or less images from the murals and I just really liked the contrast between the green grass and the dusky blue sky.
24mm, 6.0 sec, f/25, ISO 200, center weight, p-mode

Shadows

Photographers often try to eliminate or minimize shadows. However, shadows can also add interest or provide the main subject of the composition with a little planning and creativity.

"coming home" - Kirk
I couldn't figure out how to make this picture work with water, thus I defaulted to a blue blanket.
55mm, ISO 200, f/10.0, 5 sec, matrix, manual exposure

"Swimming in Dry Water" - Matt
Tracting in Hong Kong around noon puts you face-to-face with all the Mah Jeuhk (Mah Johng) players. They sit around talking, gambling, and drinking tea, all the while making a huge racket as they mix the pieces and swim the dry water.
35mm, f/4.8, 1/8sec, center-weighted, manual exposure

"Zoom Zoom" - Cary
Like Mike, I had notions of a playground picture with a jungle-gym or swing set but for a variety of reasons, that shot didn't work out. But I had two other ideas that worked well. I'm still negotiating with Matthew for his "model fee" but he did a good job "zooming" past me as I ran along firing away. Thank goodness for 5 fps. Besides the one above, there are two others here if you're interested. I enjoyed this assignment.
E-3 w/ 12-60mm @ 12mm, 1/50 sec @ f/16, ISO 100, RAW processed in ALR2

"Climbing at Noon" - Mike
I had several different ideas for taking shadow pictures this week, but they were all thwarted for a variety of circumstances. I did get this shot at the park on Saturday that I was somewhat pleased with. Getting an interesting shadow picture was a little harder than I had anticipated.
30 mm, f/14, 1/125 sec., ISO 800, Apeture, Matrix