This months theme revolves around what we revolve around....The Sun.

RULES
You may enter a maximum of two entires. You may however change them at any time as many times as you like up until the deadline. You must edit your orignal post to do this do not start a new post with the updated images.

OBJECTIVE
Capture its magnificence in all its many different forms, reflections, sunsets, sunrises, cloudplay...you name it. Just remember do not look directly into the sun while shooting a camera it can seriously damage your eyes....

So be creative, and adventurous and most of all have fun!

Now you tell me that I can't look into the sun while shooting :cheeky:
Last time I shot sunset I was seeing "dots" for the rest of the night.

Good theme BTW :grin2:

QUESTION:
as far as submitions go, are we allowed to submit more then one?
For the May theme I only submitted one but I've noticed that others had more than one. Just curiuos.

how many nd filters would it take to not completely destroy the optic sensors on a digicamera for a direct shot of the sun?

not saying i'm planning on doing that, just wondering.

Ohhh!!! Nice one SD, my favourite kind of photos! I take a lot of those kind. At least have past week or so. Looking forward to see some entires and I will have to come up with something new and interesting hehe

how many nd filters would it take to not completely destroy the optic sensors on a digicamera for a direct shot of the sun?

not saying i'm planning on doing that, just wondering.

I've been taking some straight sun shots with my 10D with only UV filter on and have not managed to kill it yet :)

setting/rising sun pics or 'high noon' pics? i was more wondering about highnoon pics...and my camera's fastest settings are f/8 or 9 depending on the zoom and a shutter of 2000. i tried to take a picture of a glass building once, but the reflecting sun on it was too bright for me to take the picture.

I would limit the entries at two per person, or the first two if they don't read the rules.

As far as shooting the sun I would be careful if you have a digicam as they don't have a shutter, so the sun is alway beating down on the sensor from what I understand.

The warnings about taking pictures of the sun are mainly in regard to the sun coming through the viewfinder and into you eye vs damaging film or a sensor (as Nemesis has aptly proven).

What are you trying to achieve by taking a picture of the sun? You would need probaly 2pcs 8x ND filters or 4pcs 4x I would say depending on your camera, the sun and what you're trying to achieve.

Okay I think we should maybe limit the entires (I like freaky's idea)....there wasnt a cap on the last one but maybe for this one lets limit it to two per person...you can change your entries as you go along but only so long as you have only two (your best two) by the final deadline...how does this sound?

Sounds great SD. If one wheren't able to change the two entries allowed we wouldn't see any photos until near the end of the challenge.

Oh man this is prefect considering I just came from VA Beach and I got tons of Sun pictures... although the best ones are on a role that I think I lost. :(

Yeah!...this will be very interesting indeed.....and I am sure we will see some wonderful shots from our wee experts that we have over at this forum........Summer is here in Sweden.....so my camera will be ready day and night....

Oh yes, this theme is perfect for me. I just hope I can get a set of good photos in the next week or so.

If only the sun would shine... :thbsdown:

If only the sun would shine... :thbsdown:
At least you are making your own sun shine with your presence over at this board....

1.
http://www.jcolsen.com/d100/water_reflections01.jpg

2.
http://www.jcolsen.com/d100/water_reflections02.jpg

Don't know if these are the ones I'll keep in the end though.

Damn you JC!
How am I supposed to compete with that?

On the serious note, those are awesome!
I think the first one is a bit better. No reason really, just seems it's composed better :)

Oooops !! he's done it again......excellent entries JC...

My first try

http://wendy.marinusnet.nl/sunshine_junetheme.jpg

That's really nice Wendy! :eek: :grin2:

Only wish the tree didnt completely hide in the clouds thats all.

Yeah! DAMN I'll try to fix something...Maybe the contrast it too high... :thbsdown:

Thanks btw :)

Where are the leaves?

Where are the leaves? like Wendy said if only the sun would shine :cheeky:
Great shots. Don't really know what to do now.

Where are the leaves?

Perhaps it is a dead tree? :P

wow JC and Wendy, great photos! I shouldnt even bother this month ;) haha

Thanks!

The leaves. The White rabbit took them into his rabbit hole.
Think I;ll visit him again for tea :cool:

Well, this time I've decided to bring in a bit of abstaract :)
This is toatally unedited a part from resize in ImageReady.

http://www.fotografika5000.com/links/IMG_2750_small.jpg

and here's the bigger version (http://www.fotografika5000.com/links/IMG_2750.jpg)

Since I am a judge and must remain impartial..I will say only this...this forum has some very talented and creative photographers...excellent work people.

I forgot, as always you can save the image to your drive and check the properties to see the setings I've used :)

DAMN NEMESIS. Now I REALLY doubt ill be able to top anything. Thats wicked, love the sun on the lower end of the photography, wicked job!

Brilliant, Nemesis, just brilliant.
The colours are wicked and remind me of a poster from the 70's. Very nice work.

nowhere near the others, but it's all about taking part

http://www.haumovie.dk/Steeldolphin/rays.jpg

still, might change it later.

Sometimes I see people making the same pictures as I do. That's funny. Lion King Sky!!!!!

:grin2:

Thanks y'all!
C'mon kriegs, enter something. You is got that big ol' lake up 'ere there otta be a nice sunset.

haumovie - It does have that retro '70s look to it :)

hahah, yea yea yea, I just gotta drive my happy ass to the lake ;)

Very interesting indeed......It's so bloody original eh!

Nemesis :bowdown: that is absolutely stunning! I would have moved the sun up about an inch though. Amazing. May I ask if you've used any filters here?

I'm not 100% sure if I've used a Polarizer or not.
I shot quite a few of these some with the filter some without and since the light
was so low it didn't make any difference so they all ended up looking the same.

As far as having the sun in any other position goes, I've tried both portait and landscape, center and whatnot but this is the best looking one. Besides, there were these not so pretty trees on the bottom of the frame that I didn't want to include :)

Thanks for all the nice comments :)

A quick one tonight, while my stupid internet was down and up for the last 2 hours...

EDIT: took this image off, to use a different.....

See ... that's wasn't so hard :cheeky:
That's nice kriegs.
I also like that you've decided to use portrait mode :)

One more. Took this while driving home from visiting my late fiance. Was driving in Indiana, about 75mph, and saw this. Quickly grabbed and shot while driving :) Luckily I didnt hit any bumps...

http://www.kriegsnet.com/images/board/sdc_forum/moving-sunset.jpg

This is so beautiful kriegs....and snapping the shot while driving eh!....very impressive indeed..

yea, you can see the mirror in the lower right corner ;) haha

Ah, crap, we can only have 2 photos? I just took a good set of sunset photos, I may have to remove my first.

Thanks to my whining about it to Chris :cheeky:

I like it like that, it's more challenging ;)

Thanks to my whining about it to Chris :cheeky:

I like it like that, it's more challenging ;)

It also means less collating for me when I go to judge as well ;)

fiiiiiiiiiine, I think i'll take my first submission off, have to go through these new shots

Here is a start for me.
http://www.georgeforge.com/Site%20Images/Posted%20pages/Weather/Radiant%20Sun%20Burst.jpg

Here's my second submittion and probably the final one:

http://fotografika5000.com/links/IMG_2845.jpg

Magnificent shots woodbutcher100 and Nemesis.......I am still waiting for the right moment.........

Great submittions boys! :D

damn, more great photos! what a great month :)

you guys are not making this easy for me at all ;)

Nemesis - I really like this 2nd shot. Great composition and tone.

Ok, had to take off my first photo, so I could use this :) Taken 2 days ago, before a wicked storm :)

http://www.kriegsnet.com/images/board/sdc_forum/sunset-before-the-storm.jpg

Here comes another beauty from kriegs....it's like some thing from a cowboy movie...

Nice indeed. I wish I could have seen that from an airplane :D

Can you guys start putting the camera you're taking these shots with?

Oh, Im running a Nikon Coolpix 995

Canon 10D here :)
With all of my shots, you can save them to your computer then right-click and check the properties. That will tell you all of the settings I've used. If you have XP that is.

Cannon EOS Rebel TI with Elite Chrome 100

Nikon D100

Sweet, thx, I'm on the lookout for a digital replacement for my eos (Tired of developing =)

Get 10 D ;)

Its a Blue Swedish sky, by a Scotsman...

http://www.addictivehobby.com/pic/simplyblue.gif

Love the colors in that one scotty :)

Considering that I lost the role with the good shots I'll have to settle for these.. I really should invest in a digital camera.

http://www.8-media.com/photography/goodbyesun.jpg
http://www.8-media.com/photography/journeyhome.jpg

Nice entries both of you. :)

woah... whens the deadline for this thing? mmm photography! i'm gonna go shoot some pics!

heres two i snapped today... wanted to get something up at least in case i don't find anything else around... i'm gonna go sun hunting... wish me luck. And let me know what you think!

I wasn't going to participate this month b/c 1) Had a lot of stuff going and 2) I'm lazy haha. But since it's all fun in games...here's the shot I posted under Photography Showroom.

http://ryan-brown.net/random/June.jpg

Very nice entries. I like your second one, Moojangles.
Ooh, getting close now, so I better get my act together.

I like your pics moojangles.

Finally got my act together:

http://www.haumovie.dk/Steeldolphin/sunpic.jpg

or big here (http://www.haumovie.dk/Steeldolphin/sunpicbig.jpg)

beautful capture haumovie, the reflections in the water and the color is great :)

This is so beautiful....you have captured this lake and moment with this shot.....nice one !!!

Thanks kriegs...and Scotty. You are too kind :cheeky:

Thanks kriegs.
What about me then ?????

Here are my two entries, taken with the Canon Digital Rebel 300.

http://www.aldabdesigning.com/graphics/canon/sun03.jpg


Click image for larger view...
http://www.aldabdesigning.com/graphics/canon/sun05.jpg (http://www.aldabdesigning.com/graphics/canon/sun05lg.jpg)

Nice last entries evereybody. :)
I have a hard time figuring out if I should replace any of mine. I've taken so many photos lately I can't decide. :P

alda, love that panaramic shot, love the sillhoutte there, just beautiful!

http://www.boomspeed.com/hanazakari3/sun.jpg

http://www.boomspeed.com/hanazakari3/fence.jpg

I have my favorites to win this month but I figured I would participate since the opportunity presented itself...taken with my Sony F707 from our balcony.

http://www.anitrone.com/misc/sun_two.jpg

Beautiful view ani! Im coming for a visit! haha

You can stop by and visit me on the way back haha. Great shot ani.

You got it ryan :)

don't forget to bring plenty of sunscreen...it's time for salmon fishing :)

That's a lovely shot ani. And a lovely view.

It was hard to decide which to submit; I went with traditional silhouettes. These are the other two I almost picked:

http://www.georgeforge.com/Site%20Images/Posted%20pages/Weather/Shelley%27s%20Hair.jpg

http://www.georgeforge.com/Site%20Images/Posted%20pages/Weather/Sun%20Tree.JPG

Submission 1
http://www.georgeforge.com/Site%20Images/Posted%20pages/Weather/Sun%20Tree%20Tall.JPG

Submission 2
http://www.georgeforge.com/Site%20Images/Posted%20pages/Weather/Radiant%20Sun%20Burst.jpg

Those are great shots, George. I particularly like the first one. Nice flare.

Nice shots.

On a side note - your sig draws too much attention. Either go without it or try something a little more subtle.

Your right, I meant to change that. Thanks.....

i love the hair picture there are some things that need a little fixing here and there...but the whole idea was brilliant!

Here are a couple...

No post processing done other than adding the small black border.

http://www.artisticmediadesign.com/photos/sun1_3963.jpg

http://www.artisticmediadesign.com/photos/sun2_3954.jpg

:)

freakyclean,
As simple as these are they carry a lot of feeling. There are so many reasons people get stuck behind blinds. I suppose we all do at some point in our lives. I like the orange one much better. The warmth of the sun seems to be trying to melt through the blinds.

Freaky, that's classy. Just classy.

Thread is now closed until Judging is complete.

Well okay after some long and hard deliberation I have the winner....

But first let me just say this was the hardest yet to judge. There were so many beautiful sunset pics in here that were absolutely breathtaking and there were some creative angles on teh subject as well....in the end I based my final judgement on the combination of design, concept and aesthetic....

Congratulations to Jay Furtula for his entry: http://www.fotografika5000.com/links/IMG_2750_small.jpg