3 Images Earn a Perfect Score From our February and March Competitions

Playing catch-up as we manage Club activities in the middle of a pandemic, I was remiss in highlighting these three perfect scores from our competitions in February and March. Below are the images that were awarded a perfect score of 27 and a remark about the image from the maker:

Turns out I almost forgot that I took this with my Samsung Note 9 phone. I am fascinated with raindrops and continue to look at windows and puddles after it has rained. I find that with constantly improving post programs that I have more latitude in working with less than stellar “negatives”. And obviously, I chose to go black and white with this because I saw an advantage to some simplification in order to let the design qualities become more apparent. ~Samantha

This portrait of a Barn Owl was taken at the Greenwich Audubon Society in September 2019. This guy just sat very still for his 15 minutes of fame, allowing for maximum detail. Lighting was natural light from an afternoon sun. The shot was originally called “Barred for Life”, but a colleague mentioned that it was a Barn Owl, not a Barred Owl – though they look very much the same. The image was shot on an Olympus OM-D EM1x 1/1000 at f2.8 ISO 800, on a 60mm macro lens. This camera and lens combination allows for in-camera focus stacking to achieve fine detail from front to back of this subject. The original color image was made into a black & white using Photoshop’s BW Adjustment Filter. ~Steven

This was taken at Mesquite Dunes in Death Valley CA. It is a surreal place with little life. Wind blown, the ripples in the sand form mesmerizing patterns highlighted by the rising or setting sun. This photo was taken late in the day about a mile in from the road. Each turn you take brings you to another captivating spot. I was like a kid in the candy shop. ~David