Congratulations to MagnumV8, the December 2021 Ride of the Month (ROTM)

Some people need to try a little harder when taking a photo. Pictures are entered that show a jeep in a garage, a driveway, or the jeep is just so close to the camera that you cannot see any background. Get creative; chase light, try a different angle (high/low), walk 50 feet away, clean your lens, fill the frame with something that is near.
 
I think everyone knew it was altered. I didn’t even enter bc I knew it would win. The contest is more about how you can manipulate photos than the photo itself. I had a photo kicked out about a year and a half ago because the claim was I modified it. Actually I hadn’t. I didn’t even take the photo. The guy used some kind of filter that fades out the background when he took the pic. 🤷‍♂️, but there’s not much use in me entering this contest anymore.
That’s not necessarily a filter or post processing, it’s aperture. Aperture is how wide the lens opens when you take a photo. Among other things, aperture controls the depth of field, which is basically the thickness of the area a certain distance from the camera which is in focus. A smaller aperture gives wider depth of field, and a larger aperture gives a narrow depth of field. Your picture was likely taken with a small aperture, which allows the subject (your Jeep) to be in focus, but the background to be blurred.

I have lenses with enough aperture control to take a picture of your face where your nose is in focus, but your ears are blurred.
 
That’s not necessarily a filter or post processing, it’s aperture. Aperture is how wide the lens opens when you take a photo. Among other things, aperture controls the depth of field, which is basically the thickness of the area a certain distance from the camera which is in focus. A smaller aperture gives wider depth of field, and a larger aperture gives a narrow depth of field. Your picture was likely taken with a small aperture, which allows the subject (your Jeep) to be in focus, but the background to be blurred.

I have lenses with enough aperture control to take a picture of your face where your nose is in focus, but your ears are blurred.
Thanks for the photography lesson.

Once again I don't really know something about an area, but there's someone who does!

That's a crazy precise amount of control to make that kind of distinction in depth. Wish I had time for some of these other hobbies. Maybe some day
 
Thanks for the photography lesson.

Once again I don't really know something about an area, but there's someone who does!

That's a crazy precise amount of control to make that kind of distinction in depth. Wish I had time for some of these other hobbies. Maybe some day
Yeah, I think that particular lens costs more than a Savvy Mid Arm…
 
That’s not necessarily a filter or post processing, it’s aperture. Aperture is how wide the lens opens when you take a photo. Among other things, aperture controls the depth of field, which is basically the thickness of the area a certain distance from the camera which is in focus. A smaller aperture gives wider depth of field, and a larger aperture gives a narrow depth of field. Your picture was likely taken with a small aperture, which allows the subject (your Jeep) to be in focus, but the background to be blurred.

I have lenses with enough aperture control to take a picture of your face where your nose is in focus, but your ears are blurred.
Depth of field is just like squinting to see better when you lost your glasses.
 
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Some people need to try a little harder when taking a photo. Pictures are entered that show a jeep in a garage, a driveway, or the jeep is just so close to the camera that you cannot see any background. Get creative; chase light, try a different angle (high/low), walk 50 feet away, clean your lens, fill the frame with something that is near.
This is good stuff. Perhaps your advice will inspire others to participate in future ROTM contests. Maybe we'll see a shift away from what's been popular in the past? After all, the winner is only crowned because they get the votes. It's the voters that get to decide what's popular.
 
This is good stuff. Perhaps your advice will inspire others to participate in future ROTM contests. Maybe we'll see a shift away from what's been popular in the past? After all, the winner is only crowned because they get the votes. It's the voters that get to decide what's popular.
There was a photo submitted earlier this year that was on a beach. A simple piece of drift wood made the photo damn nice.
 
Thanks for the photography lesson.

Once again I don't really know something about an area, but there's someone who does!

That's a crazy precise amount of control to make that kind of distinction in depth. Wish I had time for some of these other hobbies. Maybe some day
Actually, its not. If you have a decent lens, you have to figure out how to NOT have that shallow depth of field unless that's what you're going for. Even many smartphone cameras are at least partially capable.

If I were to make a suggestion, it would be that voting would only start when submissions are closed. As it is, the first guy with a picture submitted on the 10th has a far better chance of winning than the guy who submits on the 15th. Hell, last month some wag parked his Jeep on a pile of gravel and got more votes than he should have simply because he was in fairly early! ;)
 
Some people need to try a little harder when taking a photo. Pictures are entered that show a jeep in a garage, a driveway, or the jeep is just so close to the camera that you cannot see any background. Get creative; chase light, try a different angle (high/low), walk 50 feet away, clean your lens, fill the frame with something that is near.
Agree. I tried even harder last time...I brought my DSLR, did different "artsy" things (like taking a picture of the lake through the open doors of my jeep). Best picture I got? A friend randomly snapped a pic when we stopped for a snack break. It just worked. Sometimes its better to be lucky than good, lol.

Photography is one of those things I could fall into, head first, spend a TON of money and time on it, and still not be any good, I think.
 
Actually, its not. If you have a decent lens, you have to figure out how to NOT have that shallow depth of field unless that's what you're going for. Even many smartphone cameras are at least partially capable.

If I were to make a suggestion, it would be that voting would only start when submissions are closed. As it is, the first guy with a picture submitted on the 10th has a far better chance of winning than the guy who submits on the 15th. Hell, last month some wag parked his Jeep on a pile of gravel and got more votes than he should have simply because he was in fairly early! ;)
That is a VERY good point.
 
Kinda how I feel. If you don't have mountains and a sunset, you're out. Apparently, now you need to be a pro editor. I will still throw a decent picture in once in a while, fall colors or a big blue lake, but my hopes of ever winning have long set sail.
If by "pro editor" you mean setting up HDR in the in-camera menu and then making minor curve adjustments (also in-camera), then my 10 year old is way, way underpaid... :ROFLMAO:
 
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That’s not necessarily a filter or post processing, it’s aperture. Aperture is how wide the lens opens when you take a photo. Among other things, aperture controls the depth of field, which is basically the thickness of the area a certain distance from the camera which is in focus. A smaller aperture gives wider depth of field, and a larger aperture gives a narrow depth of field. Your picture was likely taken with a small aperture, which allows the subject (your Jeep) to be in focus, but the background to be blurred.

I have lenses with enough aperture control to take a picture of your face where your nose is in focus, but your ears are blurred.
For those interested (or potentially), the term is referred to as "bokeh". Nikon has a good write-up here: https://www.nikonusa.com/en/learn-and-explore/a/tips-and-techniques/bokeh-for-beginners.html

Once you understand the basics, Ken Rockwell is probably the best writer around for stuff like this (and a stand up guy!): https://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/bokeh.htm

And just to clarify @NashvilleTJ's comment above in case some of you want to experiment and since it can be confusing with the lingo (kinda like how people say "lower gears" even though they have a higher numerical value), a smaller aperture number (f-number) results in a larger aperture opening (the physical opening in the lens), which gives a shallower depth-of-field, resulting in a nicely blurred background.
 
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If I were to make a suggestion, it would be that voting would only start when submissions are closed. As it is, the first guy with a picture submitted on the 10th has a far better chance of winning than the guy who submits on the 15th. Hell, last month some wag parked his Jeep on a pile of gravel and got more votes than he should have simply because he was in fairly early!
I've suggested this a few times, I think we need to bang louder on @Chris 's door to reset the voting and randomize the order (if possible) when voting "opens".
 
I've suggested this a few times, I think we need to bang louder on @Chris 's door to reset the voting and randomize the order (if possible) when voting "opens".
Unfortunately that’s up to the developer of the photo contest admin, @AndyB. I agree that it would be a nice feature to have.

I also am 99.9% certain that that wouldn’t have changed the outcome of this contest. That photo was above and beyond a pretty damn epic photo.
 
Unfortunately that’s up to the developer of the photo contest admin, @AndyB. I agree that it would be a nice feature to have.

I also am 99.9% certain that that wouldn’t have changed the outcome of this contest. That photo was above and beyond a pretty damn epic photo.
For sure on this one, but there have been others you see a skew toward the early entrants
 
For those interested (or potentially), the term is referred to as "bokeh". Nikon has a good write-up here: https://www.nikonusa.com/en/learn-and-explore/a/tips-and-techniques/bokeh-for-beginners.html

Once you understand the basics, Ken Rockwell is probably the best writer around for stuff like this (and a stand up guy!): https://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/bokeh.htm

And just to clarify @NashvilleTJ's comment above in case some of you want to experiment and since it can be confusing with the lingo (kinda like how people say "lower gears" even though they have a higher numerical value), a smaller aperture number (f-number) results in a larger aperture opening (the physical opening in the lens), which gives a shallower depth-of-field, resulting in a nicely blurred background.
Well, I'm not an expert, but this is my understanding. The f-stop (or f-number) is not directly aperture. F-Stop is a value calculated based on aperture at a given focal length (f-stop = focal length / aperture diameter). On most lenses, if your f-stop is 3.5 for example, and then you zoom in from 35mm (no zoom) to 100mm (zoomed in), your f-stop will increase to something like 5.6 even though the aperture stays the same. The f-stop also changes if you change the aperture without changing the focal length. There are lenses which can maintain a consistent f-stop regardless of focal length - and those are the expensive ones usually with gigantic objective lenses (the front lens).

This stuff is fun if you get into it.
 
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