We used to call them "self-portraits," and they were one of the best known tropes of fine art. Now we call 'em "selfies" and people get super judgmental. Either way, here are your selfies portraits.

RB67

Shooting summary: Camera - Mamiya RB67 Lens - 127mm f/3.5 (62mm equivalent in 35mm terms) Film - Portra 400 Aperture - f.3.5 Shutter Speed - 1/500th Story behind the shot: While a classic "looking through the camera" selfie, this image is one of my favorite random self-portraits I've ever taken. I was just walking around my parent's back yard at the time and noticed my reflection in the garage door window. Once I looked through the waist-level viewfinder, I noticed how it captured my reflection, the junk in the garage (they had just moved), as well as what was behind me. I composed the shot carefully, as I've come accustomed to doing as a film photographer, I metered for my skin (with a handheld meter), and snapped the photo. The roll sat in my desk drawer for quite some time before I had it developed, but once I received the scans back from Richard Photo Lab, I was amazed at how incredible this shot turned out. When you combine the reflections, the junk in the garage, and the subtle light leak (from myself accidentally dropping it taking it out of the RB67), it looks as though it was a multiple exposure shot, when it was just one shot as a reflection.

- Gannon Burgett

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Anniversary

This is from the anniversary of my mom kicking cancer's ass. I love this picture because it reminds me that our family will always have hope, just on the horizon.

- Jack Staples

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Best Guess Focusing

I shot this more as a test to see if the automatic setting on my Pentax Spotmatic ES-II (from 1975) was metering properly and selecting the correct shutter speed. I set it up on a tripod and did my best guessing on the focusing. The lighting was provided by an old LCD monitor with the LCD part removed. (Asahi) Honeywell Pentax Spotmatic ES-II SMC Takumar 1:1.4/50mm lens Automatic Setting (Shutter Priority) Ilford HP5+ iso400 film Developed with Ilfosol3

- Rob Lennox

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Unemployment

I was sitting in my living room watching TV and browsing Gizmodo (Another day unemployed as a Performer in New York City) when I noticed the sun setting over the city and I decided to run up on the roof and try my luck at a self portrait. I set up my Nikon D5100 with a Nikon DX AF-S NIKKOR 18-70mm lens on a tripod with the interval timer set to take a picture every second. This equaled dozens of pictures of me running to and from the camera and mistimed dance moves. I finally got the hang of the timing and got this picture. Dance is a huge part of who I am and a huge part of my career so it only seemed natural to include it in my self portrait. Exposure 1/250, f/8.

- Alex Pepper

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Disneyland, Paris

Equipment- Canon Rebel t3i with Stock 18-55 Lens f/4 - 1/8th Sec - 25mm - ISO3200. Self Shot accomplished via placing the camera on the curb and angling it via some scarves under the barrel. Myself and my Fiancee wanted one last awesome shot of our trip to Disneyland Paris. Waiting until we were the last people in the park I had a Cast Member (Disney Employee) take a photo and I just wasn't happy with it. Her photo was great, just not what I was looking for. I tried placing the camera on a banister but it just wasn't working for me balance-wise. I thought to myself "The curb is way too low, but then an idea struck, a couple of scarves later and we had a nice angled shot lined up. Took about 3 tries to get what I wanted but here is the end result, no post processing done so its got some rough patches, but i feel that a selfie should be rough.

- Ben Adler

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Gaze

I bought myself a new camera (and, at a friend's suggestion, a copy of Lightroom) for my birthday and I've decided to attempt a 52-week project to improve my photography. I image there will be more than a few self-portraits involved, and when I saw the Giz challenge this week, I figured why not start with myself. I've fairly familiar with Photoshop, but I know next to nothing of Lightroom. I hope to learn quite a bit from this. The picture was taken on a Nikon D7100, 24mm, f/3.8, ISO 100. I shot in RAW and applied a slight exposure adjustment, a couple of skin touch-ups, and cropped the image in Lightroom. I used Photoshop only to resize the image for submission.

- Robert Lee

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Wood Grain

I kinda liked how it turned out. What with all the low light noise and the accidental sepia. I felt like one of those wooden face things on the Game of Thrones opening sequence. Camera: HTC Incredible S front camera (1.3MP) Focal length: 2mm? Photoshop: Only for size. Next challenge I wanna sign up for: Duck Face.

- Theresa Teng

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Vertigo

Nikon D3200 Nikon AF-S DX 35mm F/1.8 ISO1600 F/1.8 1/30 Sec. On a night-time open tour of the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, while others used dowsing rods and EMF scanners in search of ghosts, we hunted photos with flashlights, a flash and a camera. I met no apparitions, but seized the opportunity to capture this ghastly reflection of myself in a guards office mirror.

- Matthew Hamilton

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"Smile!"

Camera: Canon T3i, Lens: Canon EF-S 18-55mm (55mm), ISO: 100, Aperture: f/7.1, Shutter Speed: 1/200. I had finally purchased a second flash and thought it would be cool to hold them for the selfie challenge. I used a Canon Speedlite and a Yongnuo for my two flashes in conjunction with my cowboy studio triggers. I set the camera and flashes to manual and adjusted the settings until I was happy with the exposure. Post-processing was done in Lightroom.

- Chris Medlar

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From Above

Sony NEX-5N with a Sigma 19mm prime. 1/400th at f/8.0 with ISO at 400. This is a pic of my wife and I while we were on a shoot. We fly a radio controlled hexacopter with a camera and gimbal hanging underneath. Just as we were coming in to land I thought it might be fun to hit up a quick selfie for the contest. She is looking at a video downlink to frame the shots and I'm flying the hex. Here's a link to the video we shot while we were out:

- Thomas Brown

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True Selfie

Selfie taken in the outer island of Burano in Venice. Used my trusty G12.

- Nathan Corn

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Chupaca-bro

I went to Houston this weekend to run a 5k called El Chupacabra de Houston. The chupacabra is a folklore creature that is found primarily in the Americas. It's rumored to be a small beast that drinks the blood of livestock. (Chupacabra translates roughly to "goat sucker" in Spanish.) As with most legendary creatures, chupacabra are difficult to spot. Before we started getting ready for the race, I decided to channel my inner chupacabra and took this selfie in the woods. This picture was taken using a 5D Mark iii and the Canon 50 f/1.8 II. The shot itself was taken at f/1.8 with a shutter speed of 1/800 second. ISO 2500 was used. I took the shot using the ten-second timer and a tripod.

- Josh Weiss

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Little Alice in Wonderland

That title was given to me by a lovely friend whom, by the way, was the one who pursue me to participate in this challenge, so, this is my first time, How exciting!!! I love the way the natural light changes pictures in a magical way. I have a huge window in my bedroom and I have the fortune to see the sunlight everyday. That morning the light was lovely so, in my pijamas and no makeup I started to take self portraits just for fun and ended up having my favorites selfies with no "duckfaces". I hope you like it too. It was so simple, I used my ipod and a filter from the instragram app.

- Holda Medina Ledo

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Spiffy

This self-portrait was shot with my Canon T2i and 50mm f/1.8 lens with these settings: f/5.6; ¼ sec; ISO 800. The setup was the camera on a tripod, window light for lighting, and a plain white wall as a back drop. On the editing side, I just did a little touch up in Photoshop. I call this one “Bow Tie and Pencil Mustache.” I had been growing my mustache for the last couple weeks and my wife hates it! I love it of course, and I wanted to document it while I still had it. I came across this contest and I was inspired by the awesome mustache of the guy in the example. So I trimmed mine down to a neat pencil mustache and took this picture. I enjoyed how it turned out and thought I would share.

- Dewey JT

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Melons...Wait...Yeah, Melons

Had you announced the challenge one week ago, you would see a "winter me": sketchy, untrimmed beard and longish, not absolutely clean hair. But that is past, the summer is near, time for spring cleaning. So once I took out the t-shirt you see on the picture from the closet I already knew what it's gonna be about. I got onto my motorbike, packed Nikon 5100, 35mm lens, bought some lemons and melons (yes, I did juggle melons too!) and went sight-seeing around Montreal. On this cloudy day there was no problem with high-sun shadows. Still DOF is not too great because I wanted to capture the motion, while keeping the face sharp - f1/9 @ 1/50s proved the best setting. Last but not least, I had enough of sad B&W portraits, so I decided this one will be a happy one, even if a bit autoironic. So, I guess, the motto for this summer is: 'if life gives you lemons, learn to juggle them!' :)

- Kamil Politowicz

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Burschenschaft

I used the front came of my htc One. The pic was shot with an exposure of 1/17 and ISO 160. It does fairly nice in dark settings and I must say I really like the distortion by the noise - as long as you can still clearly see the subject. The setting I chose is the place I spend most time - my workdesk. It is surrounded by the things a care for: my bass guitar, games, movies, music and mostly books. On the bass is the traditional cap of a German "Burschenschaft" or fraternity I am part of. The other important things you can't see still play a role in the picture, though: my screens provide the illumination and my PC's power LED the blue drop shadow. You even can get a climpse of the mess of papers I work with while studying. What this picture shows and what I liked in it is the reason I decided to use it in the contest: You can really tell al lot about someone just from one "selfie".

- Ramon Pallaske

Wonderful entries all around. I'd say that you were all brave to show your faces, but you're a good-looking bunch, so it sort of doesn't count! And in case you're a loyal Shooting Challenge fan who imagines putting a stranger's selfie as your desktop wallpaper, find the big shots on flickr.

In the US, Memorial Day means a three-day weekend. It's also a time when veterans don dusty uniforms in rituals to remind us all of the human costs behind the world we live in today. For this week's Shooting Challenge, I want you to capture a snapshot of this phenomenon—whether you're a patriot or not.

The Challenge

Capture a Memorial Day celebration in your town, whatever that may be.

The Technique

It's easy to write off the traditions going on around us. So last year, I asked you all to photograph one day in your life—Memorial Day. Why this one day? For one, most of us are already actually doing something, which beats taking photos from your couch.

But I'll admit there's a more clandestine motive at work. Every year, we lose more of the survivors of WWII. Hopefully this task gives you a bit of impetus (and an opportunity) to meet them and hear the first hand stories from what may seem like another place and time.

The Example

Our lead image is from Stacy Repin, submitted during last year's Memorial Day challenge. It's from San Francisco's National Cemetery, but I love the crop that seems to erase the modern world.

The Rules

0. No watermarks. They're so ugly.
1. Submissions need to be your own.
2. Photos must be taken since this contest was announced.
3. Explain, briefly, the equipment, settings, technique and story behind shot.
4. Email submissions to contests@gizmodo.com, not me.
5. Include 970px wide image (200KB or less) AND a native resolution sized shot in email.
6. One submission per person.
7. Use the proper SUBJECT line in your email (more info on that below)
8. You agree to the Standard Contest Rules - though we DO accept non-US resident submissions.
9. If the image contains any material or elements that are not owned by you and/or which are subject to the rights of third parties, and/or if any persons appear in the image, you are responsible for obtaining, prior to submission of the photograph, any and all releases and consents necessary to permit the exhibition and use of the image in the manner set forth in these rules without additional compensation. If any person appearing in any image is under the age of majority in their state/province/territory of residence the signature of a parent or legal guardian is required on each release.

Send your best photo by Tuesday, May 28th at 10AM Eastern to contests@gizmodo.com with "Memorial" in the subject line. Save your files as JPGs, and use a FirstnameLastnameMemorial.jpg (970px wide) and FirstnameLastnameMemorialWallpaper.jpg (2560px wide) naming conventions. Include your shooting summary (camera, lens, ISO, etc) in the body of the email along with a story of the shot in a few sentences. And don't skip this story part because it's often the most enjoyable part for us all beyond the shot itself!

The selfie. You could call it a self portrait, but somehow, millennials have made it something more. And for this week's Shooting Challenge, you'll rock the selfie—as ironically or authentically as you choose

The Challenge

Photograph a selfie.

The Technique

"Ugh, why did he choose selfies??!?!" That's you right now. And you're being judgmental. So before writing this challenge off, consider a few things:

1. Selfies have resonated with a large portion of our culture. You know, like Harry Potter. And Harry Potter was pretty great.

2. Selfies are an amalgamation of the self-portrait, which is as old as art itself.

3. You're a beautiful person, really. (Well, to someone, even if it's just your mom because your mom is someone.)

Now, soak yourself in self-confidence, and set up a tripod, or just hold your camera at arm's length. And take a photo of yourself (preferably without the camera in the frame, because those shots are even worse than selfies). Consider the scene in which you're photographing yourself. Consider lighting. Consider your expression. And then photograph away. Bonus points for finding a clever twist.

The Example

You know I actually really love this lead portrait by puuikibeach? Maybe it's just that I'm a sucker for wide angle lenses and cruisewear. Maybe it's because the photo feels earnest and vulnerable. Either way, it's a great selfie. So follow suit.

The Rules

0. No watermarks. They're so ugly.
1. Submissions need to be your own.
2. Photos must be taken since this contest was announced.
3. Explain, briefly, the equipment, settings, technique and story behind shot.
4. Email submissions to contests@gizmodo.com, not me.
5. Include 970px wide image (200KB or less) AND a native resolution sized shot in email.
6. One submission per person.
7. Use the proper SUBJECT line in your email (more info on that below)
8. You agree to the Standard Contest Rules - though we DO accept non-US resident submissions.
9. If the image contains any material or elements that are not owned by you and/or which are subject to the rights of third parties, and/or if any persons appear in the image, you are responsible for obtaining, prior to submission of the photograph, any and all releases and consents necessary to permit the exhibition and use of the image in the manner set forth in these rules without additional compensation. If any person appearing in any image is under the age of majority in their state/province/territory of residence the signature of a parent or legal guardian is required on each release.

Send your best photo by Monday, May 20th at 10AM Eastern to contests@gizmodo.com with "Eye" in the subject line. Save your files as JPGs, and use a FirstnameLastnameSelfie.jpg (970px wide) and FirstnameLastnameSelfieWallpaper.jpg (2560px wide) naming conventions. Include your shooting summary (camera, lens, ISO, etc) in the body of the email along with a story of the shot in a few sentences. And don't skip this story part because it's often the most enjoyable part for us all beyond the shot itself!

Everything we see has made its way through our eyes, which also means, there's a good chance that most of our lives is reflected in our eyes. Here are 12 fantastic images that celebrate that idea.

WINNER: Vertigo

- Michai Morin

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Sky In The Eye

It's been a while since I've tried to take an eyeball/iris shot on my own. In fact, I had a similar image in a previous contest here which was probably the last time I attempted it! Well, I was reminded over the course of an hour and probably ~100 deleted photos how hard it can be to line this up! I achieved this effect by tilting my head while hanging out my window with my camera on a tripod on the roof. I would line up my eye with my reflection in the front lens element. I didn't want the camera to be visible in the shot, however, the top can actually be seen in the center of my pupil, but it looks like the tree-line! Would you have noticed? Canon T2i - 18-55mm lens @ 55mm - f7.1 - 1/80th - ISO 200pop.

- Chris Potako

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We Have Contact

I wish I had a better macro lens for this challenge... the minimum focus distance was several feet, so I knew I'd be cropping the image later. The streaks in the reflection were from a gobo pattern in an ETC ellipsoidal. The hand belongs to my very patient model. I don't own a strobe kit (hence the high ISO and low shutter speed - couldn't go much brighter with continuous light sources without blinding the subject), but I do have access to LED film/video lights and a cyc wall. I used two DeSisti LED floor lamps (40W Magis and 90W Leonardo) to light the model and Altman LED Spectra Cyc 100's made it a breeze to find the same blue to match the model's eyes. Tech Info: Canon 5D Mark III, Sigma 70-300mm w/macro lens, 300mm focal length, f/5.6 aperture, 1/20s shutter, ISO 3200, cropped and tweaked in Adobe Camera RAW & Photoshop.

- Jon Wolding

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Wingless

I was excited about this contest because I think macro shots of eyes are some of the coolest images. After some persuasion, my friend volunteered to let me use her eyes and I let her pick the object to be reflected. As an artist herself, she chose a favorite personal drawing of a crying angel with the caption "I can fly no matter how wingless I feel". The image was shot with a a Canon 7D and a 60mm macro, a constant light to keep her pupil small, and then a external flash to bounce off the drawing for the reflection. Credit for the eye and drawing goes to Sonya Bolton.

- Tim Nummy

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Big Screen

Wanted to try out my new tele so figured I would give this a shot. This is a photo of my eye, taken with a Canon T4i on a tripod with the Canon 70-200 at 120mm. I used a Kenko 36mm extension tube as a macro. Camera specs are ISO 800, f2.8, 1/30. The only processing done to the image was a simple crop. I used Photoshop to create and reverse the reflected image. The image is displayed on my Macbook held extremely close to my face. There was a fill light above but the majority of the light came from the computer screen at max brightness. The rough quote comes from the Underpants Gnomes South Park Episode and subsequent memes.

- Timothy Schubert

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Middle Falls

This photo was taken at Letchworth State Park overlooking the middle falls. I used an Olympus EPL-2 set at "autofocus" which ended up being iso 200, f9, at 1/250 of a second. I looked into the sun, aimed the camera as best I could at my eye, and started snapping away. After the shot was taken I upped the structure, contrast, and saturation a bit in they eye using the Photoshop plugin Viveza 2 to make the reflection pop a little more.

- William Brown

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Cross My...Heart

So I called my friend Cath for the shot. The original idea was to have a queen of harts playing card in her eye. I couldnt get the shot to work like I wanted to. So then we moved inside and were just talking about ideas on the shot and she got the cross. It worked perfectly. Nikon D5100, 18mm-55mm Lens, f/5.6, 1/6 sec, ISO 100.

- Jack Gebhardt

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Video Vision

My wife has recently completed her dissertation and will be receiving her PhD. She has been working almost 24/7 for over a year and a half. When she was winding down, she decided she wanted to hook-up her Super Nintendo and play "Secret of Mana" and "Final Fantasy III" for relaxation (I knew there was a good reason we were together). This is her eye and her Super Nintendo controller. 35 mm, 1/40 sec, 400 ISO, f/7.0. I also used macro extension tubes.

- Rob Huber

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Hawkeye

This was tough. Frustratingly tough without daylight/sunlight. The girlfriend and I don't get much time together these days, so I like to use these challenges as an excuse to do something together and practice photography at the same time. The concept was basically a themed photo on my favorite comic book series right now, Hawkeye. So I proposed she do her makeup in a way that was inspired by the series, and that part came out fantastic in my opinion. The reflection was supposed to be a simple cover from one of the issues of the series. One problem, with just indoor lighting (only time we had to get this done was late at night) it was next to impossible to get the book to reflect into the eye properly. So the shot didn't come out how I wanted it to come out...but I still think it's a really cool concept and the makeup at least looks great! Would love to do a series of these based on my favorite books and her amazing makeup skills. Canon t2i, 18-55mm kit lens (at 55mm), f/9, no flash.

- Mick Anders

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Dentist Chair Simulation

This was shot with a Canon 60D, and an old Canon 80-200. I used a macro adapter and a ring flash adapter. The ring flash adapter is what you see in the reflection. Settings are f/16, 1/200, ISO 400.

- Michael Chiri

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Rubber Ducky

I was pretty excited to try this out, and then a little disappointed in the results of my actual efforts. This is of my 1 year old daughter outside playing with her rubber duck. She loves that duck! In looking at the pictures I took of her, I found that there was a reflection of her duck in her eye. This photo wasn't actually meant to be for this challenge, but I saw there was a reflection, so I cropped and brightened up the colors. Canon Rebel XS, f/1.8, 1/1000sec, ISO-100, +2 step, 50mm.

- Amanda Jaeger

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Ready For My Close-Up

I took these with my Nikon D3100, f/5.6 1/50 sec exposure, ISO 800, 55mm focal, no flash. Long story short, I do not have a macro lens or any real macro experience. I have been meaning to participate in these challenges for a long time but never got around to it, so when this was announced, and I actually had a solid idea, I got my crap together and did what I could! Unfortunately, my pics did not come out like I wanted...I had the grand idea of having the eye reflection show me looking at myself in the mirror and crying (so much angst, I know, but it was supposed to tell a story.) I wanted to capture how people judge themselves in the mirror and deal with body image issues. You can see the studio lights of my bathroom mirror so I guess that's kind of cool.

- Mike Gill

Wonderful entries as always! From your comments, it seems like this week was exceptionally challenging, but for what it's worth, you made the images look effortless. To take a look at the even bigger shots, head over to flickr.

Our eyes capture everything we see. So for this week's Shooting Challenge, we're going straight for the source.

The Challenge

Photograph something reflecting in an eye.

The Technique

I know what you're thinking: "That sounds neat. I've seen shots like that before. But how were they taken?"

This is how. <— Use that tutorial, with clearly laid out diagrams, and you'll be fine. Basically, the trick is to have a strong light source on one side of the eye, your subject on the other side of the eye and a camera set taking the shot in between.

The Example

Our example is the music video for K-Conjog's QWERTY, directed by Francesco Lettieri (via PetaPixel). The content can be a bit explicit, but it does show how far you can push the technique narratively/creatively.

The Rules

0. No watermarks. They're so ugly.
1. Submissions need to be your own.
2. Photos must be taken since this contest was announced.
3. Explain, briefly, the equipment, settings, technique and story behind shot.
4. Email submissions to contests@gizmodo.com, not me.
5. Include 970px wide image (200KB or less) AND a native resolution sized shot in email.
6. One submission per person.
7. Use the proper SUBJECT line in your email (more info on that below)
8. You agree to the Standard Contest Rules - though we DO accept non-US resident submissions.
9. If the image contains any material or elements that are not owned by you and/or which are subject to the rights of third parties, and/or if any persons appear in the image, you are responsible for obtaining, prior to submission of the photograph, any and all releases and consents necessary to permit the exhibition and use of the image in the manner set forth in these rules without additional compensation. If any person appearing in any image is under the age of majority in their state/province/territory of residence the signature of a parent or legal guardian is required on each release.

Send your best photo by Monday, May 14th at 10AM Eastern to contests@gizmodo.com with "Eye" in the subject line. Save your files as JPGs, and use a FirstnameLastnameEye.jpg (970px wide) and FirstnameLastnameEyeWallpaper.jpg (2560px wide) naming conventions. Include your shooting summary (camera, lens, ISO, etc) in the body of the email along with a story of the shot in a few sentences. And don't skip this story part because it's often the most enjoyable part for us all beyond the shot itself!

Perfect symmetry. It's how we define beauty, but photography tends to shy away from it. Here are 19 pieces of proof that symmetry really is beautiful.

Winner: The Beer Can Building
When this challenge was announced, I knew exactly what I wanted to shoot. I've taken a lot pictures of this building, and even submitted one to a previous Shooting Challenge. This is Tampa's Rivergate Tower, known locally as "The Beer Can Building". To get the inverted perspective, I took the shot laying down, looking straight up at the building. While the building is an exercise in symmetry, the individual pieces of the limestone facade have all become faded and stained to differing degrees. This adds a nice random effect to counter the symmetrical construction. I shot the picture in black and white on my Nikon D3100 set at 1/60 sec, f/29, ISO 100, with a 18 -55mm lens @ 50mm. In Photoshop CS5, I rotated the image 0.5 degrees, cropped the edges after rotating, and adjusted the exposure and contrast just a bit to make everything pop.

Located at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the "Levitated Mass" is a 340-ton hunk of granite. This sculpture is simple and powerful. One thing I loved most about walking under the rock was the lighting in the hall. Half of the hallway was illuminated, and the other in shadow. My favorite part is the line created from the bottom-left of the frame to the top-right. The shadows edge meets with the edge of the wall creating a line of symmetry. Held up to a ruler, it's a near perfect straight line. Shot with a Nikon D5100, 18mm, 1/1600sec, f/4, ISO 320.

- Matthew Zarzeka

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Lights Are Symmetrical!

Lights are Symmetrical! I found this out the hard way. After looking everywhere in nature for the past few days I found that it is indeed pretty hard to get what I was looking for in terms of "Symmetry". This doesn't really seem to be eye candy to me but it was really the best I could come up with since I haven't actually had much time lately. Shot with a Canon powershot sx260hs f/3.5 iso 200. Not much of a story behind it but I think it at least grasps symmetry very well.

- Josh Matthews

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Imperfect, But Pretty Cool

This is Saint Josephs cathedral in San Jose, CA. The symmetry is not perfect, but the detail is pretty cool. Canon T2i, f/3.5, 10mm, 1/30.

- Diego Jiménez

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Kiting

I was shooting at Gay Parade Minneapolis, on a sunny clear day, when this kite caught my attention. It was flying randomly, held by someone dancing on the parade. I shot twice until ...one of those moments, the kite and the wind seemed just stand still a fraction of second lined up with the line of the building... one still can see the black wire... Camera: CANON G10, Lenses: 80mm, ISO: 100.

- Rodolfo Tucci

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Ological Scien

Nikon D5100 with 18-55 zoom lens.shot at 18mm,post processing into B and W with silver effects pro and Adobe CS6. biological science building on the university of Arizona campus.

- Steve Wolfhope

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Waiting for Pizza

When a friend calls at noon on a Friday to see if you want to go on a spur of the moment weekend trip to San Francisco, you just have to say yes. While walking with friends and waiting for our Tony's pizza to be ready, I saw this really cool church and instantly thought of the symmetry shooting challenge. The twin spires of the Saint's Peter and Paul Church jumped out of the cityscape and I knew there was a cool picture to be made. I originally thought that it would look cool as a silhouette, but it felt just wrong to cover up all that intricate detail, so I left in in there. I couldn't get the church exactly centered without there being a tree branch in the way, but I got pretty close. I used my Fuji X100 at f/4, 1/10, ISO-3200 to get the shot.

- Ray Bazz

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Sugarloaf Mountain

I went hiking on Sugarloaf Mountain in Frederick, Maryland this weekend, and I figured I would look for some natural symmetry — pretty sure there will be many other webs in this gallery. I was hoping to find a basalt formation (they are here and there in my area), but no luck. It's a little washed out (late afternoon sun) but I really like the way 'ole "spidey" kept his kills in a nice straight line to ensure the maximum amount of web remained to take out more unsuspecting bugs flying by. Canon T5i Canon EF S18-135 STM lens. ISO 160/Auto.

- Rodrigo Moscoso

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The Blues

I took this shot while testing out my new ND filter. I used my Canon T1i, a kit lens, and my tripod. I set my aperture to f/4.5 with 1/40th sec exposure at ISO-200. I try to find subjects off the beaten path, but at times I felt like I was somewhere I wasn't supposed to be. I never saw any "No Trespassing" signs, so I took my shots and left. I wasn't very excited about this shot until I after I got it on my computer. Tweeked it a bit in Lightroom, and this is what I ended up with.

- Andrew VandenHeuvel

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Bridge Commute

I pass this bridge everyday on my drive to work and wondered what kind of photo it would make. I decided to go out and take a photo and ended up with a rather symmetrical shot shot when viewing down the bike path. Camera: Sony a77, Lens: Sony SAL1650, Aperture: f/8.0, ISO: 100. Bracketed Shots: -2/-1/0/+1/+2, Tripod: Three Legged Thing. Manually bracketed, wireless trigger and tripod mounted. Merged and tone mapped via Photomatix. Edited via Lightroom 4. Clarity, Contrast and Shadow settings increased. Highlights and a few luminosity settings reduced.

- Ian Dickmann

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Empire Welcome Mat

I was in downtown NYC at the Empire State Building looking for symmetrical things to shoot. The building itself is perfect symmetry but as I was walking around in the lobby I came upon this behind the main desk in the lobby. The way the building is pictured with reflected rays around it made a better symmetrical picture. This was shot with my Canon 550D camera using a 50mm f1.4 lens. The aperture was 1/125 sec at f1.4 in aperture priority mode, evaluative metering and center weighted focus. I used a slow 100 ISO speed and shot the picture in RAW format. Converted to JPG with a little work in Canon’s DPP program.

- John McNamara

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Double Trouble

This is a simple smartphone shot (iPhone 5). I didn't have my SLR with me at the time and looking back, it doesn't look like I needed it. In case it's not obvious, the subject is an Alligator. The reflection comes from the underside of the water surface. Photoshop was used for cropping, sharpening and desaturation.

- Steven Giblin

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Chihuly Garden

I shot the photo at the Chihuly Garden and Glass in Seattle, an amazing place showing sculptures by the American artist Dale Chihuly. I felt like I was walking in a dream with some amazing setup for the sculptures. I was just having a good time walking around when I saw an opportunity for a symmetry photo, I could only take one shot because the security asked me politely to not place the camera in the glass holding the sculptures. After he said that, I wanted to take more photos so bad, but I had nothing else to do but just let it go and enjoy the rest of the exhibit. I used my Canon T4i at f8, 1/40sec ISO400 with a 18-200mm lens.

- Alecio De Paula

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Green Beauty Mark

I've always wanted to shoot the bridges from this vantage point but your symmetry challenge/assignment provided the perfect excuse! Long exposure with a solid tripod and shutter release trigger. Edited in Lightroom/Photoshop.Canon 6D with Tamron 10-24 wide angle at ISO 100 16mm f/10 32 secs.

- Michael B. Stuart

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It's A Chair!

OK—I don't have a tripod. Or a level. Or a dedicated camera. I do have a camera on my phone, a chair, and a brick wall. Seemed like a good idea at the time. This picture was taken with the front camera on my HTC Droid DNA with standard automatic exposure settings (1/40 sec shutter, ISO-224, 4mm focal length, no flash). Owing to time and circumstance (and lack of tripod), I did end up using Paint.NET to lop off a small piece of the left side of the image. No other adjustments were made.

- Adrian Stovall

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Jefferson's Ceiling

This photo was taken while laying on the floor of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington DC looking up at the inside of the rotunda. I thought it was a cool shot the way that all the squares align perfectly and you really cannot tell if the squares get smaller or if it is an optical illusion as they get farther away from the camera. This was shot with my Nikon D5000 at f/4, 1/60sec. @ ISO 400.

- James Bowman

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It Would Make A Beautiful Bug Zapper

After spending most of the day walking around the city looking for pictures, I remembered I had some decorative filament bulbs laying around my apartment. I taped the socket cord to my kitchen wall, turned out the lights, and shot away! It was kinda tough getting it to stay at the right angle.Canon Rebel xsi, Canon 100mm f2.8 macro USM, ISO 200, F8, 1/100.

- Isaac Richardson

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Cell Towering

This is a picture of a cell tower i took today at work using my point and shoot canon power shot A3100 IS. Ironically, I didn't know about the contest and i just took this pic thinking it would look cool, and that's the only camera I happened to have on me. The pic is unedited, just used the b/w setting on the camera. All other settings were auto.

- Shawn Miller

When you stare at symmetrical photos for too long, going back to the real world feels completely out of whack. Thanks for the strange sensation followed by an inevitable bout of depression. While I'm self-medicating, you can find the big shots on flickr.

They say symmetry is beauty, which makes a lot of sense. It's the balance of equal proportions. It's a sort of geometric perfection. And for this week's Shooting Challenge, you're going to capture it.

The Challenge

Photograph symmetry. Real, not photoshopped.

The Technique

It's going to be a bit of a hunt. You need to find something symmetrical in the world (because, please, don't just photograph your laptop). You'll notice that nature is rarely symmetrical, but buildings often are.

Use a tripod. If your tripod has a level, even better. Keep in mind that the wider you go with your scope, the more incredible the effect will be. And while two squares, side by side, are obviously symmetrical, you'll probably get more visual bang for your buck by considering curves and diagonals, like our lead shot.

The Example

Our lead image is by flickr's jakubkadlec (outside the Louvre, I believe). Notice how intricate the lines are, which exacerbates the visual balance.

The Rules

0. No watermarks. They're so ugly.
1. Submissions need to be your own.
2. Photos must be taken since this contest was announced.
3. Explain, briefly, the equipment, settings, technique and story behind shot.
4. Email submissions to contests@gizmodo.com, not me.
5. Include 970px wide image (200KB or less) AND a native resolution sized shot in email.
6. One submission per person.
7. Use the proper SUBJECT line in your email (more info on that below)
8. You agree to the Standard Contest Rules - though we DO accept non-US resident submissions.
9. If the image contains any material or elements that are not owned by you and/or which are subject to the rights of third parties, and/or if any persons appear in the image, you are responsible for obtaining, prior to submission of the photograph, any and all releases and consents necessary to permit the exhibition and use of the image in the manner set forth in these rules without additional compensation. If any person appearing in any image is under the age of majority in their state/province/territory of residence the signature of a parent or legal guardian is required on each release.

Send your best photo by Monday, May 6th at 10AM Eastern to contests@gizmodo.com with "Symmetry" in the subject line. Save your files as JPGs, and use a FirstnameLastnameSymmetry.jpg (970px wide) and FirstnameLastnameSymmetryWallpaper.jpg (2560px wide) naming conventions. Include your shooting summary (camera, lens, ISO, etc) in the body of the email along with a story of the shot in a few sentences. And don't skip this story part because it's often the most enjoyable part for us all beyond the shot itself!

Paint in the face? Powder up the nose? We're not playing around. This is fine freaking art.

A Single Tablespoon??

This is a tablespoon of powdered paint placed on top of a balloon...seven milliseconds after it the balloon was popped. The popping of the balloon was captured by the StopShot, which triggered the flash units (placed at 2, 5, and 11 o'clock).
Equipment: Canon 5DIII, Canon 70-200mm f2.8 IS II, StopShot, 3x Yongnuo YN560II, EXIF: F16, ISO400, 1"

- Ryan Taylor

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Drop

The first thing I thought of when I saw this Splash shooting challenge were images I had seen of drops of color into liquids, and I had always wanted to try it. This shooting challenge gave me the opportunity to. I learned a lot about my new prime lens in the process and hope to try this experiment again for different results and with different colors. Nikon D5100, 35mm, 1/40000sec, f/1.8, ISO 100

- Matthew Zarzeka

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Pain(t)ball Portraits

This is from a series of "paintball portraits" that I'm currently working on. Based on classic Victorian portraiture, I start by firing paintballs to create the base and then finish the faces by hand. Then I photograph the finished piece while it's still wet to capture the texture. Shot with a Canon 5Dmk3 w/ 24-70mm @ f14, 1/100 sec.

- Shana Siegel

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Thunk Clump

I was happy that at the end of the description for the color splash challenge it said "really try this," it made me want to go out of my way to do this. Chalk powder is apparently not too easy to find around here so I bought a package of chalk, blended it in a blender, and then baked it to remove the moisture (so it wouldn't clump). It still clumped up pretty badly. As this was my first time doing a powder shoot, and I don't have a studio, I went to a very helpful friend's apartment with a black poster board for a background and we used a sheet to catch the excess powder. By the end of the night the camera, apartment, and ourselves were covered in chalk but we had made some pretty cool images. Lit with two desklamps on chairs and the bright white bulbs from the Soft Box challenge, black tri-fold posterboard taped to a door for the background and shot on a Canon 400D with a kit 18-55mm on Aperture Priority mode, ISO 1600 @ f/22, 1/200sec and a Canon 430EX II speedlight on top. Edited in Photoshop with a NIK tone mapping plug in. I can't explain how chalky this was, but totally worth it.

- Jack Kelly

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Chess Mani-Pedi

A glass chess piece with colored nail polish (both sparkled and non-sparkled). We thought it would be a decent idea since we didn't have any colored chalk to use (or a good place to throw it - it's been raining!). Taken with a Canon Rebel T3i with the kit lens (18-55mm) and a macro attachment. ISO 800, 1/30 shutter speed, f/5.6 and on manual mode. Just used white paper for the background (again, lacking materials and space).

- Clint Smith

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Playing In The Dirt

I used my nephews and niece to attempt the challenge. I used a green screen. built earlier this year to have fun playing around with for silly composites. Originally, we tried to use water for the image. I ended up choosing an image of one of my nephew's with loose red soil from the surrounding desert being chucked at him by his sister (much to her satisfaction) . During the process of reviewing some of the images one nephew shouted, "We look like the Croods." So, here is the image of my litte caveboy nephew. Camera: Nikon D200, Lens: Nikkor; 55 - 200 mm f/4.0-5.6, Focal length 105mm, ISO 400, f/ 5.6 @ 1/250, Crop: aspect ratio 4:5, , Lighting: Ambient: open shade f/5.6 @ 1/250, Strobe: 2 Alienbees 1600, Key: above model (equal to ambient), Fill: directly in front; f/4

- James Carrillo

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Orange and Blue

Christian (the model) is a very good friend of mine. We tried some pictures with powder in orange as you can see but I didn't get the shot I want. We didn't had so much orange powder so we started to try some photographs with blue powder. Meanwhile the sun goes down I must go for ISO 3200 because I still want to shoot with 1/320, to get the nice effect of the powder. In the end it work very well and we tried different backgrounds…We ended up with some nice brown wood. I use my Canon 6D with 24-105mm f/4, ISO 3200 and no flash or something else…

- A. Gottlob-Schoenenberg

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Bacteria Swarm

For this week's photo challenge, I did a 'splash of color' with bacteria from a salmon's gill onto a SWC agar plate. They are fluorescent bacteria that produce light with luciferase. I took the picture with my Olympus E-PL1. f/5.5. 13 secs. ISO100.

- Lucas Lin

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Sprinkle Rain

I had some really fun trial and error photos that came out of this. Originally, I really wanted to do something with water droplets or food coloring in water. Well, for some reason nothing turned out the way I wanted. So I looked around the house for something colorful that I might be able to use. I turned to a sensory box I made my 1yr old daughter. It's full of rice I colored with food dye. I didn't think it would give me anything better than my water ideas, but when I started pouring it in front of the camera, I realized I was wrong. I loved the way it looked! I admit, I enhanced the color and contrast a little bit, and I did crop my hand out of the picture, but I'm still pretty happy with the way this turned out! Canon Rebel XL, f/1.8, 1/200 sec, ISO-100, +2 step, 50mm, compulsory flash.

- Amanda Jaeger

You put some serious time into these—for both the photos and the cleanup. Thanks to everyone for doing something I'm sure they've never done before. This collection is superb. And if you'd like the big versions, they're over on flickr.

WINNER: Eureka!

Around last week the idea sort of popped in my mind to take clean, stylized pictures of lighbulbs and filaments. I'm probably not the first one to come up with this but what the heck, I thought it'd be fund. Since incandescent bulbs are now banned in France I had to order a few with interesting filaments from a specialized shop. I actually have 7 different bulbs in this series but this one's my favourite - I just like the overall balance.

I shot it with my Fuji X-E1 and kit 18-55 zoom at 55 mm, f/22, ISO 200. The image is a combination of two shots: one with the bulb on, a 9-stop ND filter, and 4-second exposure (the filament), and another with the bulb off, no filter and also 4-second exposure (the glass). I probably could have done it in one shot if I had a variator to have the bulb running at low power. The main challenge was to find two appropriately-placed vertical light sources for the side highlights; in the end I took the shot in my parents' kitchen - I was visiting - at night, with the garage and living room doors ajar. Whatever works! Anyway. I think it turned out OK.
- Wealon Bouillet

Decay

This photo was taken with a Fujifilm x100, ISO 1000, F 10, 1/250 in Huntington WV, and I think that it captures the slow decay and religious fatalism that is rampant in this town. As far as editing it was converted to black and white in Lightroom 4 with adjustments made to exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, lights, dark, and clarity.
- Ken Maynard

Flare Up

I have always wanted to participate in the photo shooting challenge, brush some of the dust off of my rapidly aging DSLR. Yet the opportunity never presented itself. It was always "wait till this is finished," or "I'll do it tomorrow." As I'm sure you guessed, work was never done and tomorrow never came. More on the photo; I was taking photographs through a compound light microscope and I couldn't get them quite as focused on the light source as I liked. After getting some satisfactory pictures from cat genitals (yes, for real), I really liked the accidental photos I took. It reminded me of the first photo challenge I read about, back in 2010, it was of lens flares. So I'm taking you guys up on your suggestion, and this is my first photo challenge submission of the first photo challenge I ever read! This photo was taken with an iPhone 4S, using the stock camera application and later edited using iPhoto for some minor saturation and levels adjustments.
- Rhys Mucik

Tulips

We went to the tulip Garden near there was lots of colors, colors in the garden was overwhelming, I was confused to choose which tulip color to shoot, finally I settled with yellow. Result is what you are seeing. I shot this with my Nikon D5000 and with 18-200 lens, ISO set to 250 and f/6.3
- Sathish Kumar

Color Me Rad

I wanted to do the anything challenge, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. My niece suggested that I take a picture of something new.. something I've never tried or done before. With that in mind, I decided to bring my Sony Cybershot with me on my first ever 5k. This was the Color Me Rad 5k, so I knew if nothing else, I would get some colorful shots. I couldn't even see through the viewfinder through all the color dust in the air, but I blindly shot photos anyway. This was a group of runners who found themselves back in a color zone after the race. The lined up and had a friend of theirs unload a bag of dust over them. It's not the best framed photo in the world, but I think it captures how much fun and color this event actually is!
- Amanda Jaeger

Open Wide

Using the "no excuses" line as my motivation, I set myself out to take an image for which there was no excuse. Originally, I was planning on making a composite image by taking the face shot and the roach shot separately but my subject seemed less than intimidated by the arthropod and I had to oblige. If I could conjure a single justification for this image it is that we should all be more conscious of what we choose to eat. Many foods today contain ingredients that we would not otherwise consume and increased awareness could empower people to make healthier choices with their diet. This image was captured using a Nikon D5000 sporting a 50mm f/1.8g at ISO 200, f/8.0 and 1/100's of a second shutter speed. Two studio strobes were used. One as a main light and the other on the background and to soften the shadows a bit. The cockroach was already dead and didn't have any other plans that night.
- Diego Barrera

More and More Cats

Not that we need any more cat photos online, I wanted to do something neat for the anything challenge but Florida weather prevailed and damped out basically everything. The cat here likes to go on these crazy running sprees and hide above one of the towel cupboards. Grabbed a few shots as she stared down at the camera and loved the way the light lit half of her face. Shot on a Canon 400D, f/4.5 @ 1/125, ISO 400
- Jack Kelly

We Did Said Anything

I've had this idea for sometime now, but finally had some time after work to shoot it. It was originally a 124 image Brenizer cropped down to what you see here. I shot it by myself as you can imagine it was quite difficult to manage. 5D Markii, 85L, and natural light. Processed in Lightroom and Photoshop CS6.
- Kyle Ford

Tree Frog

I saw this tree frog the day the contest was announced. About an inch long and very lively. Took me a while to get a decent shot. Canon 50D, 100mm macro lens, Canon MT-24EX Flash, 1/250th, f/11
- Chris Andrews

Beat The Heat

A friend of mine was getting a bigger aquarium for the fishes. So i could get the old aquarium to play around. Nils and me we built a couple of weeks ago a custom made laser trigger. So I set up my little studio with the laser trigger, a SB900, another snooted SB900, Macro Lens and my D700. I had to darken the room and started to throw things into the aquarium. That is what came out :-)
F8, Iso 800, Exposure 1Sec, 105mm.
- Markus Enderlin

Blue Bird

My wife and I went on a walk to just relax and enjoy the early spring weather. As we were walking back and the sun was setting, this bird landed on a branch and sat there with an open mouth. I shot it with my Rebel xsi at 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/1000, ISO 400. I edited the file in Lightroom.
- Rob Huber

What variety! Nature, pets, urban decay, abstraction and studio work that would put any stock photo house to shame. Kudos to all of you for putting yourselves on the line this week and photographing what you wanted to. The full galleries are below. The big shots are on flickr.

View gallery »

View gallery »

A black backdrop. A splash of color. It's a visual that just pops. And you know what? It's super easy to pull off on your own. (Seriously! Push yourself! Try this!)

The Challenge

Capture a splash of color. It can be liquid. It can be powder. It can hit a subject or just fly through the air.

The Technique

I was inspired by the work of Andrew McGibbon—specifically his collection Super Colour. I was curious how he created the shots. And what he said was that the powders/paint shots weren't that hard to create.

"We had one light source (a profoto beauty dish) a black background and then my assistant simply chucked paint at the side of the girls head - presto!"

(Note: to avoid trial and error, know that his shots were taken at f8, 1/200. That f-stop will vary by your light and lens, but you'll want to set your shutter speed to around 1/200 if you want to duplicate the exact mix of blur and definition.)

Now, you may not own that expensive piece of lighting equipment, but any bright, soft, evenly dispersed light will do. (Light kits are pretty cheap to build, especially as you only need a single light rather than a bunch.) And as for the paints/colored powders, no extra color gels are required. Also, if you don't own a black backdrop, you can always try a white sheet/wall instead...just be clean about it.

The Example

Our lead image is from Andrew McGibbon's collection. Again, don't be afraid to try other approaches—miniatures, still life, anything. If you have enough color in motion, whatever you do will be interesting.

The Rules

0. No watermarks. They're so ugly.
1. Submissions need to be your own.
2. Photos must be taken since this contest was announced.
3. Explain, briefly, the equipment, settings, technique and story behind shot.
4. Email submissions to contests@gizmodo.com, not me.
5. Include 970px wide image (200KB or less) AND a native resolution sized shot in email.
6. One submission per person.
7. Use the proper SUBJECT line in your email (more info on that below)
8. You agree to the Standard Contest Rules - though we DO accept non-US resident submissions.
9. If the image contains any material or elements that are not owned by you and/or which are subject to the rights of third parties, and/or if any persons appear in the image, you are responsible for obtaining, prior to submission of the photograph, any and all releases and consents necessary to permit the exhibition and use of the image in the manner set forth in these rules without additional compensation. If any person appearing in any image is under the age of majority in their state/province/territory of residence the signature of a parent or legal guardian is required on each release.

Send your best photo by Monday, April 29th at 10AM Eastern to contests@gizmodo.com with "Splash" in the subject line. Save your files as JPGs, and use a FirstnameLastnameSplash.jpg (970px wide) and FirstnameLastnameSplashWallpaper.jpg (2560px wide) naming conventions. Include your shooting summary (camera, lens, ISO, etc) in the body of the email along with a story of the shot in a few sentences. And don't skip this story part because it's often the most enjoyable part for us all beyond the shot itself!

Every week, I tell you what to do. And you obey because I type so powerfully. But just this once (OK, it's kind of an annual thing), we're going to change the rules. For this week's challenge, photograph anything.

The Challenge

Photograph anything you'd like. You know what? Even use Photoshop so long as there's an original image involved. Just create something amazing.

The Technique

So, the problem is, when you can do anything, it's hard to decide on doing something. First, promise yourself that you'll submit something. That way, you'll have your own deadline to answer to. Then, if you find yourself stuck in indecision, go somewhere new with your camera. A new building, museum, or part of the city you've never seen. I can almost guarantee that you'll be inspired. But if all that doesn't work, just look through the Shooting Challenge archive to find an old challenge you'd wished you'd entered and do that.

The Example

Our lead image was taken by Gilliam Dela Torre, the winner of our Food As Art challenge. It's fantastically weird. Don't be afraid to be a little weird.

The Rules

0. No watermarks. They're so ugly.
1. Submissions need to be your own.
2. Photos must be taken since this contest was announced.
3. Explain, briefly, the equipment, settings, technique and story behind shot.
4. Email submissions to contests@gizmodo.com, not me.
5. Include 970px wide image (200KB or less) AND a native resolution sized shot in email.
6. One submission per person.
7. Use the proper SUBJECT line in your email (more info on that below)
8. You agree to the Standard Contest Rules - though we DO accept non-US resident submissions.
9. If the image contains any material or elements that are not owned by you and/or which are subject to the rights of third parties, and/or if any persons appear in the image, you are responsible for obtaining, prior to submission of the photograph, any and all releases and consents necessary to permit the exhibition and use of the image in the manner set forth in these rules without additional compensation. If any person appearing in any image is under the age of majority in their state/province/territory of residence the signature of a parent or legal guardian is required on each release.

Send your best photo by Monday, April 22nd at 10AM Eastern to contests@gizmodo.com with "Anything" in the subject line. Save your files as JPGs, and use a FirstnameLastnameAnything.jpg (970px wide) and FirstnameLastnameAnythingWallpaper.jpg (2560px wide) naming conventions. Include your shooting summary (camera, lens, ISO, etc) in the body of the email along with a story of the shot in a few sentences. And don't skip this story part because it's often the most enjoyable part for us all beyond the shot itself!

Winner: Orb

The challenge for me was that I am in Autumn as I live in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore while technically I cannot submit Spring, I took the view that I can submit something that has the theme of Spring. A very traditional picture of insects collecting the nectar out of blossom. This plant is actually considered a weed and my neighbour chopped it down shortly after the pictures were taken. I have no idea what type of insects they are, they seem quite harmless and didn't mind me pushing the camera lens up close. I took these with a mirror less Sony NEX-F3 camera. This is a new purchase and I am still getting to grips with it. The lens I used was the standard Sony 18-55mm zoom. I set the Camera in manual focussing mode and then simply set the focus and moved the camera back and forth to get the sweet spot. I had two issues it as not as easy to focus as my Pentax DSLR and the sun washed out the LCD so at times it was point shoot and hope.
Camera: Sony NEX-F3, f/5.6, 1/160 sec, 55mm (82mm equiv 35mm)
- Nick Smith

Rosy Painting

The first bud on a miniature rose plant, a sure sign of Spring! Taken with my Canon 7D, macro 60mm lens, f/2.8, 1/80s, ISO 200.
- Rachael Pawlak

Blue Flamingoes

It was a great overcasty day in my neighborhood of Venice, CA, so the lighting was easy to work with. The day prior to taking this shot, my wife and I were walking our baby and dog by this setup in someones yard and every flower was in full bloom. It looked like a sea of these flowers that the flamingos where wading in. I snapped a shot with Instagram and my friends loved it, so I went back to get a shot with my Canon 40D. Unfortunately, half the flowers weren't in full bloom this time, so the effect was not as dramatic - but still a good shot. I used my 50mm prime lens to get a nice DoF and shot from a few different angles.
- Randy Osborn

Anther, Stigma, and Style

Just starting to see signs of Spring in Massachusetts; a few overachievers; the early finishers from the Winter Marathon. But we know Spring is coming. Canon T3i, EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, f2.8, ISO 100.
- Costas Kitsos

Giant Butterbur

It was taken on one of the first warm days this year in the mountains near my home in Akita City, Japan. It is a picture of the popular mountain vegetable Giant Butterbur also known as Fuki. It is common in the cedar forests of Northern Japan, and it very popular in cooking in this area. This shot was taken with a Sony DSC-H9 at 1/20s, f2.8, ISO 80.
- Christian O'Brien

Feed Me, Seymour

I decided to dedicate this challenge to a beautiful orchid that has accompanied me stubbornly while moving to another town. This winter has been too long... and finally with the arrival of the sun I captured the blossom of the first 2013 flower! Canon 550D, Canon EF-S 18-55mm IS, f/5.6, 1/125 sec., ISO 800
- Filipe Soares

Iced

Spring came, then went back to winter. The crocus' came up on a beautiful 60 degree spring day, the next day it snowed 12". Canon 50D, Canon 100mm Macro lens, ISO 100
- Chris Andrews

Poppy

I was walking around the Stanford Shopping Center Mall while a good friend of mine was getting an MRI at the Stanford Hospital. I was enjoying all the lovely flowers budding, and noticed this poppy getting ready to flower. I instantly knew I needed a photo of this flower. Iphone 4, F 2.8, 1/120sec, ISO-125
- Mike Valenzu

Cul-de-sac Rose

I've lived at the foot of these sweet, rolling hills in Fremont, CA for the past 15 years. In all this time, I have never attempted to climb it. Until this morning, when I woke a friend up and we headed out to take a picture of the sunrise. Now, it took us a good twenty minutes to reach the top, just in time for us to get shots of the sun and surrounding landscape, including many cities in the bay area. To be honest, I felt a little disappointed, because most of the plants are dead at this time of year, scorched and parched by the sun. It took us half an hour to navigate a route down the hill and jump a barbed-wire fence into the neighbor's yard, as well as their fence into my cul-de-sac. As we were walking, I noticed this beauty, and took a photo. Worth it. Canon 7D, Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM, ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/125 sec
- Anthony Lau

The Climb

After reading an article on photo walks I decided to grab a friend, a six-pack of tall boys, and head to a nearby river. We saw a large spider hanging from a tree, dancing in the wind, which drew me over to this interesting looking tree. When I got to the tree I saw the large carpenter ant, and saw this as an opportunity to test my new lens out. I took this picture with a Canon 6D, and a Canon 24-105L lens. Camera settings : focal length - 105mm, shutter - 1/320 sec, aperture - f/4.0, ISO - 800.
- L. Alex Frank

Flowers may be a bit of a lob when it comes to photography, but you still hit these out of the park. Amazing entries all around. Here are the wallpapers. Find the full galleries below.

View gallery »

View gallery »

It finally—finally—feels like spring. Time to get out there and enjoy it. For this week's Shooting Challenge, shoot a photo of the best season of the year.

The Challenge

Take a photo that shows the first bits of spring coming to life. You have until April 15th to do so.

The Technique

I don't know how you do it, but the spring Shooting Challenge has become a bit of a tradition, and the results are unreal. The first buds and blooms. Those early morning when frost finally gives way to dew. Get out there and get your hands dirty. Plant yourself in the grass, mud and gunk and get a great shot. Don't be afraid to bust out the macro lens.

The Example

Our lead shot is by Chris Andrews, from our 2010 challenge. In other words, you'd better bring it because it's already been broughten.

The Rules

0. No watermarks. They're so ugly.
1. Submissions need to be your own.
2. Photos must be taken since this contest was announced.
3. Explain, briefly, the equipment, settings, technique and story behind shot.
4. Email submissions to contests@gizmodo.com, not me.
5. Include 970px wide image (200KB or less) AND a native resolution sized shot in email.
6. One submission per person.
7. Use the proper SUBJECT line in your email (more info on that below)
8. You agree to the Standard Contest Rules - though we DO accept non-US resident submissions.
9. If the image contains any material or elements that are not owned by you and/or which are subject to the rights of third parties, and/or if any persons appear in the image, you are responsible for obtaining, prior to submission of the photograph, any and all releases and consents necessary to permit the exhibition and use of the image in the manner set forth in these rules without additional compensation. If any person appearing in any image is under the age of majority in their state/province/territory of residence the signature of a parent or legal guardian is required on each release.

Send your best photo by Monday, April 15th at 10AM Eastern to contests@gizmodo.com with "Spring" in the subject line. Save your files as JPGs, and use a FirstnameLastnameSpring3.jpg (970px wide) and FirstnameLastnameSpring3Wallpaper.jpg (2560px wide) naming conventions. Include your shooting summary (camera, lens, ISO, etc) in the body of the email along with a story of the shot in a few sentences. And don't skip this story part because it's often the most enjoyable part for us all beyond the shot itself!

Hunting Bugs

This challenge gave me a chance to be a better dad by taking my daughter out to "hunt bugs" and bring along her magnifying glass. She's not nearly as afraid of them as I am. So here's one of her holding a milkweed bug. She treated it like it was her pet. She was very gentle with it. She dropped by accident it a few times and was adamant about recovering it, and then eventually let it go. It was a lot of fun for both of us (as long as she was picking up the bugs.) It isn't the best composition in the world so I lowered myself to cheap parlor tricks like pushing the color, saturation, vibrancy, sharpening, definition, and mid-contrast. Shot on a Nikon D70S, 18-70 lens at 18mm, f11, 1/200, ISO 200, Aperture Priority, post processing in Aperture.
- Brian McCabe

A New Car!

This photo was taken with my newly acquired Samsung galaxy S3! Since my wife and I were out in the park having lunch, I decided to test it after reading the photo challenge of the week; working on lens or any magnifying glass! The lens used to magnify the toy car is my Canon 500d close-up. The only setting I changed in-camera is the scene mode which is Landscape mode.
- Ave Guisala

Thanks to our two intrepid photographs this week. It seems that magnifying glasses didn't inspire a lot of entries. And on a totally unrelated note, your dSLR wrote and said she misses you intensely.

We're all grown up, but magnifying glasses are still pretty cool. It's not just that they can create miniature fires; it's that seeing things really big or really small is always amusing. And for this week's Shooting Challenge...

The Challenge

Use a magnifying glass (or other lens) in your frame to shrink or enlarge an element of the shot.

The Technique

The secret here is only to be a creative genius. We've all seen the big eye shots—and not that there's anything wrong with them—but there's so much more you can do with this idea. Consider zooming in on a texture or playing with forced perspective. If you have a magnifying glass that fits in your pocket, carry it around for a week and learn how it works within the context of your environment.

The Example

Our lead shot is from flickr's Orofacial. It's a great example of the caricature effects that you can create—and while I don't want to stop you from doing the same thing—again, think beyond the face. Consider the magnifying glass as a tool in composition.

The Rules

0. No watermarks. They're so ugly.
1. Submissions need to be your own.
2. Photos must be taken since this contest was announced.
3. Explain, briefly, the equipment, settings, technique and story behind shot.
4. Email submissions to contests@gizmodo.com, not me.
5. Include 970px wide image (200KB or less) AND a native resolution sized shot in email.
6. One submission per person.
7. Use the proper SUBJECT line in your email (more info on that below)
8. You agree to the Standard Contest Rules - though we DO accept non-US resident submissions.
9. If the image contains any material or elements that are not owned by you and/or which are subject to the rights of third parties, and/or if any persons appear in the image, you are responsible for obtaining, prior to submission of the photograph, any and all releases and consents necessary to permit the exhibition and use of the image in the manner set forth in these rules without additional compensation. If any person appearing in any image is under the age of majority in their state/province/territory of residence the signature of a parent or legal guardian is required on each release.

Send your best photo by Monday, April 8th at 10AM Eastern to contests@gizmodo.com with "Magnify" in the subject line. Save your files as JPGs, and use a FirstnameLastnameMagnify.jpg (970px wide) and FirstnameLastnameMagnifyWallpaper.jpg (2560px wide) naming conventions. Include your shooting summary (camera, lens, ISO, etc) in the body of the email along with a story of the shot in a few sentences. And don't skip this story part because it's often the most enjoyable part for us all beyond the shot itself!

Winner: Rainbow Cat

First test shot was all I needed apparently. This dumb cat already acts like he's famous, so I'm not going to show him this if it's featured on Giz. Nikon D90, 35mm fixed lens on manual with a green and red Sharpie colored sandwich bag. No photoshopping needed!
- Neal Rosenblat

1940s Hat

This was taken partially through a sandwich baggie scribbled with red and blue marker. The photo is of my sister in front of a rock fireplace wearing a 1940's style hat. She needed a new profile picture so this is going to be it. I processed the photo in Adobe Lightroom and fished it up with the OnOne Perfect Portrait and Perfect Effects plugins for Photoshop. Canon 60D, EF 24-105mm f4L USM, 1/800, f/4.0, ISO 100
- Roy Hurford

Sweet Plant

I am a giant fan of using photography but without it feeling like photography. For me, that is what this challenge was and I couldn't have been more excited! This image was taken out by my patio in the morning sun. I knew I wanted to see this technique in action outside because there isn't much color yet in the area I live. This plant will eventually have some sweet red berries, but for now it needs a little help! I went outside to find some spring flowers, but this was my favorite image! It makes me think of summer, and BOY do I hope summer gets here soon! When it does come, I'll let you know how the strawberries taste! Nikon D80, 35-70mm 2.8 Nikkor Lens (plastic bag & sharpies!) ISO 100, "70mm" (full frame lens on a cropped sensor), f/2.8, 1/160th
- Loretta Surma

Peekaboo

The story is pretty self-explanitory but I got a bag and tore a hole in the middle, I wrote with red and green markers around the edges, and I went to my room where my cat was sitting by the window and started snapping pictures. When I thought I had enough, I put them into iPhoto and found the best one and this is the only one that I liked. I cropped it, turned the saturation up a little bit, and turned up the exposure just slightly. I used my Sony NEX 5N with the kit lens with ISO 800, 1/1600 shutter speed, and f/3.5
- Spencer Graffunder

Realistically...

Due to the recent shortage in cat photos on the internet I decided to submit a photo of my cat. Realistically though, I went mountain biking and took many photos there, however the day was a bit overcast and sadly I didn't get anything I was overly fond of, which is a shame. The photos of my cat were taken the day prior to test out the effect and were never meant to be for contest submission... but here I am. I used a canon T2i and a 50 mil 1.8 Canon lens (keeping it cheap!). Put the shutter speed at about 400 and fired away trying to catch the sun in my fancy zip lock bag next to the window.
- Remington Markham

Witch Hazel

I tried the bag filter yesterday on some shots and did OK, but figured I'd try more today. Since it was our first warm-ish day in a long time (just 5 days ago we had snow!) I was out with family taking a walk around a local lake. Not many flowers or buds out yet, but we saw this bunch of witch hazel and I decided I'd try the bag filter on it. This photo was the best of the bunch. It's a fun exercise - one that I'll continue to try, despite looking a bit odd with a plastic bag on your camera!
Canon 60D, Tamron 18-270 mm, f/5.6, ISO 500
- Cheryl MacLean

Trail Closed

I was at home in Santa Cruz for Spring break and I decided to drink some coffee from the local coffee shop. After drinking some coffee that was way too strong, I started to draw on a plastic bag with sharpies. After I tested the bag filter in my backyard for a while, I went for a walk to the beach. I came upon a trail to the beach that used to be a common path down the cliffside, but at the top of the trail I was greeted with a "Trail Closed" sign. I decided to go check it out. The staircase that used to lead from the top was no longer there, so I climbed down the cliffside. 40 feet down I found what was left of the staircase. I took this photo of the graffitied hand rails underneath the trees and bushes. Canon t4i, Canon 18-135mm STM, 1/125, f/5.6, ISO 100
- Brian Kirby

Chelsea Pier

When I saw the contest I had grand visions of using sunlight and a well placed plastic bag to create a couple of pillars of light around the Freedom Tower. It's only a short walk to Chelsea Pier from where I live, so I headed out there with my camera, some markers, and a few plastic bags. The first thing I realized was that the freezer-style bags I had were too thick and totally blocked out almost everything when over the camera. So I tore a larger hole in the bottom and sort of held it out the best I could. In the end, I managed to frame the WTC in purple, but couldn't get everything lined up as well as I had hoped. I still think it's pretty neat, and may try again (with a cheaper bag!) at some point. Canon 5D Mark III with EF24-70mm F/2.8L at 70mm and f/2.8. 1/4000second exposure.
- Charlie Szymanski

Nutella

My dog Howie. Couldn't find a plastic bag and a model after church and decided that the plastic wrapping on a jar of Nutella and my dog would have to do. Wish I planned this better. Added some contrast and vibrance in post only because I lost a lot of that with this setup. Nikon D800, Nikon 28-70mm f/2.8 @ 2.8 , ISO 1250, 1/100sec
- Aaron Hwang

Rose Heritage Garden

For this challenge I headed to the Rose Heritage Garden here in San Jose. I was pretty skeptical of the plastic bag effect, so I brought many types of lenses to try it out with. I thought the effect worked best with the Macro lens: It blurred the background and made the subject stand out. Who would have known you can replicate a "Instagram" filter with a glad sandwich bag! Canon T2i, f/5.6, 100mm, ISO 100
- Diego Jiménez

Heron

I didn't have a clear plan of action for this week's challenge. Instead, I went for a bike ride and, bag in hand, shot targets of opportunity. Fortunately, I came across an agreeable great blue heron who patiently waited for me to figure out how to the sandwich bag positioned over my camera. Fujifilm s100fs, F4.9, 1/500, ISO100
- Mike Case

I think the shots came out fantastically. Who would have thought that such a cheap hack could reproduce what the industry has spent so much effort creating in crappy analog cameras and smart digital image filters. See the full-size shots on flickr.

Light leaks create some of the most serendipitous moments in photography. But in digital, they're usually created by faking it in post production. For this week's Shooting Challenge, you'll use a 2-cent sandwich bag to recreate the effect.

The Challenge

Simulate a light leak by wrapping your lens in a plastic bag. See how below.

The Technique

The idea comes courtesy of Jesse McGrady (and PetaPixel, where you'll find the full tutorial). It's this simple: You take a sandwich bag. Tear/cut a hole in the middle of the bottom. Then wrap this bag around your lens so the edges infringe upon the frame a bit (leave the center open for clarity). As an added bonus, you can actually color this bag with marker to augment of the light effect.

To get the most bang for your buck, McGrady advises that you "try and catch some direct sunlight in the plastic to get the light-leak effect. Also you kinda need light hitting the bag so shooting with all your light behind you will not really work."

And as always, experiment, experiment, experiment.

The Example

Our lead shot is by Jesse McGrady. Note that it uses purple marker in this photo to get that especially cool flare.

The Rules

0. No watermarks. They're so ugly.
1. Submissions need to be your own.
2. Photos must be taken since this contest was announced.
3. Explain, briefly, the equipment, settings, technique and story behind shot.
4. Email submissions to contests@gizmodo.com, not me.
5. Include 970px wide image (200KB or less) AND a native resolution sized shot in email.
6. One submission per person.
7. Use the proper SUBJECT line in your email (more info on that below)
8. You agree to the Standard Contest Rules - though we DO accept non-US resident submissions.
9. If the image contains any material or elements that are not owned by you and/or which are subject to the rights of third parties, and/or if any persons appear in the image, you are responsible for obtaining, prior to submission of the photograph, any and all releases and consents necessary to permit the exhibition and use of the image in the manner set forth in these rules without additional compensation. If any person appearing in any image is under the age of majority in their state/province/territory of residence the signature of a parent or legal guardian is required on each release.

Send your best photo by Monday, April 1st at 10AM Eastern to contests@gizmodo.com with "Bag" in the subject line. Save your files as JPGs, and use a FirstnameLastnameBag.jpg (970px wide) and FirstnameLastnameBagWallpaper.jpg (2560px wide) naming conventions. Include your shooting summary (camera, lens, ISO, etc) in the body of the email along with a story of the shot in a few sentences. And don't skip this story part because it's often the most enjoyable part for us all beyond the shot itself!

Call it noir, or just call it what it is: Black and white at night. For this week's Shooting Challenge, ditch the cheesy detective hats, but keep the beautiful juxtaposition of whites, blacks, and the gradient grey in between.

The Challenge

Take a black and white photo at night.

The Technique

Night is an amazing time to take photographs. A dark space with a few light sources creates a naturally high contrast image—which tingles the eyes like a coat of salt on the tongue. And even though our cameras can all shoot color, black and white forces the viewer to focus solely on light and shadow.

For the shoot itself, check out this tutorial that will remind you of some of the basics. For the post-production, here's a list of methodologies to convert color to black and white—good for those of you looking to milk the most out of each pixel.

The Example

Our lead shot is by flickr's eioua. Would this image work in color? Maybe. But the black and white elevates the figures and the bokeh into something more mysterious or fleeting, and the dark subjects juxtapose the bright light in an intriguing, binary way.

The Rules

0. No watermarks. They're so ugly.
1. Submissions need to be your own.
2. Photos must be taken since this contest was announced.
3. Explain, briefly, the equipment, settings, technique and story behind shot.
4. Email submissions to contests@gizmodo.com, not me.
5. Include 970px wide image (200KB or less) AND a native resolution sized shot in email.
6. One submission per person.
7. Use the proper SUBJECT line in your email (more info on that below)
8. You agree to the Standard Contest Rules - though we DO accept non-US resident submissions.
9. If the image contains any material or elements that are not owned by you and/or which are subject to the rights of third parties, and/or if any persons appear in the image, you are responsible for obtaining, prior to submission of the photograph, any and all releases and consents necessary to permit the exhibition and use of the image in the manner set forth in these rules without additional compensation. If any person appearing in any image is under the age of majority in their state/province/territory of residence the signature of a parent or legal guardian is required on each release.

Send your best photo by Monday, March 18th at 10AM Eastern to contests@gizmodo.com with "Night" in the subject line. Save your files as JPGs, and use a FirstnameLastnameNight.jpg (970px wide) and FirstnameLastnameNightWallpaper.jpg (2560px wide) naming conventions. Include your shooting summary (camera, lens, ISO, etc) in the body of the email along with a story of the shot in a few sentences. And don't skip this story part because it's often the most enjoyable part for us all beyond the shot itself!

Winner: Steel Tower

I love to cook, and combining food and photography is a real joy for me. This shoot ended up being more than just fun, however. It was a learning experience, as well. I had really wanted to work with dry ice for this shoot, filling the pots and pans in the stack with ice and water to create a dry ice fog that would spill down my "Towering Cocina." Little did I know that dry ice just disappears after several hours, turning from solid directly into carbon dioxide gas. When I opened the bag in my freezer two days after buying it, imagine my surprise to find it empty. Had fun with this shoot, anyway. Olympus E3, ISO 500, 16mm, f3.5, with a little HDR processing on the backend.
- Constance Parten

Studenting

Here are my first ever submissions for this week's Shooting Challenge!
I used a Canon Rebel XS (1000D) with the kit 18-55 lens. Post processing was done in photoshop just to change the lighting a little bit (dorm room lights are never good).
In the picture is my iPhone 5 (useful for texting friends and females), my student ID and wallet, macbook pro 15", headphones (Sennheiser HD203), keys to my Honda Civic, dorm room, and parent's house, all of the change I had in my room, a quantum physics textbook, an iPad Mini (on Facebook of course), pens (Pilot G2 .5MM), a 750MM bottle of Jameson, a dart gun (for the occasional nerd fight with the roommate), my beautiful guitar (Oscar and Schmidt OG-2M with dual action capo) and of course, the staple to any college diet, Ramen noodles. Hope you like it!
- Moez Janmohammad

Sriracha Shrine

For this shot, I raided my pantry/fridge for the things I use in cooking most often: knives/sharpener, green pepper, red pepper, tomato, carrots, onion, cucumber, mushrooms, sriracha. Using my Canon Rebel XS (18-55mm lens – 1/10" – f5.0 – ISO 400), I carefully assembled my ingredients and tools. Now, I know its hard to argue that food is a tool, however, I use it to better my meals, which is exactly how any tool contributes to a meal. You don't need fancy kitchen gadgets to make delectable cuisine; you just need a dash of confidence and a little creativity. For instance, I love burgers. I also love peanut butter and bananas. Why not combine them to make an amazingly gourmet burger? BAM!–a delicious meal is born. Being scared to experiment with foods limits your inner-being and stunts your growth as an individual. Be courageous and make the meals you were born to enjoy.
- Matt Gardiner

Wingsuit

his is everything you need to make a wingsuit skydive: a wingsuit (blue, on the ground), a parachute (the black backpack-looking thing), a helmet (complete with GoPro to fuel your narcissism), gloves, an altimeter, rubber bands to hold the deployment bag closed and organize the lines, an orange pull-up cord to close the parachute container, a log book to keep track of it all, and a United States Parachute Association license. I suppose a plane is helpful, too, but I couldn't fit a Twin Otter in my living room. Canon Rebel T4i, f/3.5, Exposure: 1/80, ISO-6400
- Alex Swindle

Roller Derby

I shot the pic with my iPhone. Though I did use a couple lamps to help with the lighting. This is a collection of my roller derby clothes, gear, pads and tools. I'm on the Wreckers, Rose City Rollers' (Portland, Oregon) recreational derby league.
- Megan Lehar

Mountain Climbing

I really like mountains and I also liked climbing since my friends let my try it with them. Now I'm attending course to get more skills and to become member of climbing club. It's my hobby and this is some of the stuff I own. I pick each piece very carefully, because there is one very accurace saying that: "Cheap climbing stuff lasts till your death". Canon 60D - 100mm f/2.8 L IS, ISO 100 , f/7.1, 6s
- Matej Sokol

Brass Ensemble

Myself and my friend and colleague Kevin are the two brass players for a National Broadway tour. We have to travel all of our stuff from city to city (mutes, valve oils, mouthpieces, tuners, instruments, etc) and use any and all of it during our shows which we perform 8 times a week. When we both began learning to play as kids we started with a single instrument and a beginning band book. Now we have all this! Nikon D7000 with a Tokina 11-16 lens. F 2.8 and Exposure 1/30
- Jeremy Brewer

Missing Supplies

I chose to photograph my art supplies. I only started really doing drawing and painting type art as a hobby within the last month or so, after moving to Belgium with my husband. I found myself with a lot of free time while waiting for my paperwork to get cleared. Originally, I laid the actual supplies on the paper but the image looked like a little boring so I thought, I have nothing to do today, I'll draw the supplies onto the paper. The whole thing took a little under five hours, all the objects are to size. The pencil I used for the entire drawing is the only real object in the picture. I photographed the paper on the floor next to a glass door, which is the best I can do right now, and then cropped and adjusted in photoshop so the drawing was readable. Equipment: Nikon D60, AF-S Nikkor 18-55 lens, ISO 400 1/60 F9, Window
- Samantha Rosa

E-Bench

Although it's a part-time job and not a hobby I've had to buy all my tools for work myself and have quite a collection. Everything in this shot is relevant and necessary to working on Macs. It seems I have every kind of small precision screwdriver tool invented - torkx, phillips, standard, trilobe, pentalobe - my favorite driver is the Kobalt DoubleDrive from Lowe's and the list goes on from what you may expect to what may surprise you. Everything has a purpose from the hand sanitizer I use to prevent getting sick from the germs hiding in the machines I work on — to the air compressor to remove dust I use when re-assembling the display and glass on aluminum iMacs. Suction cups to remove glass panels. Putty knifes to open casings on older Mac minis. Even the post-it notes are used to shim spacing around trackpads in MacBooks during the re-assembly process -or- the ice trays I use to hold and track screws as I disassemble and reassemble machines when making repairs.

Sometimes you come across a part in a machine that makes a better tool. For instance I have re-purposed hard drive bays from the old PowerMac G5s to hold bags. One holds plastic bags for screws, another holds anti-static bags for 2.5-inch hard drives. The metal PCI expansion bay covers from the PowerMacs and Mac Pros, strangely called spoons are used to open catches on other machines.

I have four different kinds of tape I regularly use - packing tape for shipping, masking/scotch to temporarily tape parts during instillation, special kapton tape for securing circuit boards, connectors and wires, a metallic foil tape for taping to facilitate heat exchange near fans and heat syncs or for use to ensure continuity across various faraday cages inside machines.

It seems as if every year Apple comes out with newer designs that require newer tools to collect and new skills to learn. When I'm not working on machine I'm always researching and learning to catch up with the newest techniques and trends. FujiFilm FinePix S4500, Super EBC Fujinon Lens (Built-in), ISO 100 F/3.1 1/34 4mm
- James Hamilton

TOOL

For this weeks challenge I thought about a lot of my hobbies and I came up with the top 4 that I liked the best. I created the word TOOL with each hobby.
T= Cooking
O=Games
O=Movies/Shows
L=Work out tools
The camera I used was a EOS t4i rebel. ISO 800, 20MM, F/3.5, 1/30 sec.
- Hiral Patel

Magic: The Gathering

My Son and I enjoy the Game of Magic The Gathering. Tools are a deck of the trading cards but we also use Playmats, Dice, and in this case a set of PlaneChase cards seen to the left. He was beating me on this particular outing with his Simic Blue/Green deck beating my BOROS Red/White deck. The PlaneChase Cards allowed him to gain the upper hand through our match. This Took Place at the Kitchen Table although we do play at local tournaments as well. Thanks for the Challenge! Panasonic DMC-LZ3, Settings ISO-80, Fixed lens.
- Jonathan Sterling

The Joy of Scrapbooking

I shoot with a Nikon D7000 using a Sigma 18-50mm F/2.8 lens. The picture was taken at a shutter speed of 1/50s, an aperture of F/3.2, and an ISO of 200. I also used a speedlight flash and 42" reflector.
- Marcel Shivers

Microscopy

I worked for a year when I was going to college as an assistant in a microscopy lab. My subsequent career was in computer programming and accounting but I still love to putter with microscopes and optics. I got the ones in the picture by searching the web for surplus/used equipment. The picture is of my microscopes arranged with some of the tools and supplies I use to prepare microscope slides. I tried to use lighting and shadows to make the picture as dramatic as I could using a small flash light and a 2 second exposure. The camera was a Nikon D90 with 17-35mm Nikkor f/2.8 lens as ISO 400. Aperature was f/8 with a 2 sec exposure.
- Duane Sager

Coffee

What could be better than grinding fresh coffee from local roaster and pulling it through one of the oldest and possibly finickiest espresso machines? Enjoying it... perhaps. The 15 minute morning ritual started this Sunday and I knew I had to try and take a picture... But it was not easy with the Pulling of the lever with one hand and the other hand operating the camera. After a few shots of coffee and jittery fingers, this is what I got. Shot with a 550D and 17-55 lens. Adjusted in canon DPP, with monochrome and red-filter.
- Rahul Nair

Skiing

When I heard about this week's contest I immediately thought of skiing — everyone in my family skis and we've amassed quite a collection of new and old gear over the years. In a separate conversation, my friend who I ski with (and the photographer of this photo) and I were talking about the Game of Thrones books and TV show when I came up with the idea to emulate Ned Stark sitting upon the Iron Throne. It took us about 45 minutes to set up the ski throne and another 45 minutes to get all the photo elements dialed in. It may be March, but Winter is Coming.
Canon 5d Mark II
Lens 35mm, iso 400, 1/200th at f stop 5.6
- Aaron Bernstein

書道道具

This shot is of the ‘tools' for shodou, or Japanese calligraphy. The kanji written means ‘calligraphy tools' (書道道具shodou dougu). Instead of referring to brushes, paint, etc. as ‘art supplies' they are referred to as ‘art tools' in Japanese. Traditional shodou is done on the floor, and in this picture you can see the traditional Japanese tatami (straw) floor (which is actually my daughter's bedroom). I must give credit to my wife for doing the calligraphy, who has pre-instructor calligraphy certification. I have taken training and can do it myself, but most people don't realize how complex this art is. True masters must study for over 30 years. Panasonic GH1, late 1970s Nikon 55mm 1.2 A.I., @ f/1.2, ISO 100, 1/30s, softbox and wireless flash.
- James Rogers

Winner (full sized): Steel Tower

I love to cook, and combining food and photography is a real joy for me. This shoot ended up being more than just fun, however. It was a learning experience, as well. I had really wanted to work with dry ice for this shoot, filling the pots and pans in the stack with ice and water to create a dry ice fog that would spill down my "Towering Cocina." Little did I know that dry ice just disappears after several hours, turning from solid directly into carbon dioxide gas. When I opened the bag in my freezer two days after buying it, imagine my surprise to find it empty. Had fun with this shoot, anyway. Olympus E3, ISO 500, 16mm, f3.5, with a little HDR processing on the backend.
- Constance Parten

It can be easy to forget how diverse Gizmodo's are—thanks for reminding me with all of your photos, and for taking the time to dig through a mess of tools to organize these images. Find all the full-sized shots on flickr.

Chances are, you have a hobby (other than photography). You spend a lot of money on this hobby collecting all sorts of specialized tools. Well for this week's Shooting Challenge, assemble these tools into one, beautiful collection.

The Challenge

Take a photo of all the tools you have for a certain hobby. And go ahead and make it as artful as possible.

The Technique

Imagine creating a visual catalog—a hobby or interest in a snapshot. The obvious approach is to lay everything out on a bed. That can be staggering, but consider other ways to present it. Arrange wood carving tools around a finished project. Show coffee making gear through the steam of a piping hot cup. By all means, overload us with stuff, but if possible, leave the wrinkled bed sheets out of it. Consider composition as much as the subject.

Oh, and so we don't get 50 shots of photography equipment, try to choose another hobby. The personality of the subject you choose will dictate much of the shot's overall interest.

The Example

Our lead image is from flickr's CGP Grey. It's fun, but try to think outside the "stuff on bed" metaphor.

The Rules

0. No watermarks. They're so ugly.
1. Submissions need to be your own.
2. Photos must be taken since this contest was announced.
3. Explain, briefly, the equipment, settings, technique and story behind shot.
4. Email submissions to contests@gizmodo.com, not me.
5. Include 970px wide image (200KB or less) AND a native resolution sized shot in email.
6. One submission per person.
7. Use the proper SUBJECT line in your email (more info on that below)
8. You agree to the Standard Contest Rules - though we DO accept non-US resident submissions.
9. If the image contains any material or elements that are not owned by you and/or which are subject to the rights of third parties, and/or if any persons appear in the image, you are responsible for obtaining, prior to submission of the photograph, any and all releases and consents necessary to permit the exhibition and use of the image in the manner set forth in these rules without additional compensation. If any person appearing in any image is under the age of majority in their state/province/territory of residence the signature of a parent or legal guardian is required on each release.

Send your best photo by Monday, March 11th at 10AM Eastern to contests@gizmodo.com with "Tools" in the subject line. Save your files as JPGs, and use a FirstnameLastnameTools.jpg (970px wide) and FirstnameLastnameToolsWallpaper.jpg (2560px wide) naming conventions. Include your shooting summary (camera, lens, ISO, etc) in the body of the email along with a story of the shot in a few sentences. And don't skip this story part because it's often the most enjoyable part for us all beyond the shot itself!

Still photography will always be, but we can't ignore the rise of motion, from the omnipresent gif to the latest in embeddable video, Vine. So for this week's Shooting Challenge, you tried your hand at motion. Some results were amazing.

WINNER: Pencil, Paper, Sponge

An example of 3D rendering with pencil & paper. Technique: drawing stop-motion combined with live-motion and real objects.
- Pinot Ichwandardi

Chaos Tower

This is my son's Chaos Tower building set. It is for building kinetic sculptures. I did at least a dozen takes to get the timing correct. The hardest transition was right before the bounce. This was shot with my iPad 2.
- Christopher Sears

Photo Bomb

Here's my submission. It's supposed to be a Photo-bomb :-)
- Diego Jiménez

Simmer

Well, I have a thing with circles, and who doesn't like fire, right? So I had to be quick since the iPhone was right on top of the heat, and had to be careful not to move it from my improvised tripod while holding the screen, so it wouldn't break the loop. This was my first Vine and I liked it :)
- Diego Ramírez

Snakeboard

I used my iPhone 5 to shoot this. This was the result of my second attempt. The first one wasn't too bad, but it had even worse lighting. Overall, I think it turned out pretty well for only taking about 15 minutes. I really liked this challenge cause I got to use my phone for it and it got me using Vine, which is actually a pretty cool app. I found a lot of other great videos that people posted.
- Jeff Ring

Ready For This Jelly (Bean)

Shot on 1st march, I bought jelly beans and then realised I could use them, I had to make a vine account to enter (as I couldn't use vine otherwise).
- Sam Barron

Come Play With Us

I'm Mike Schneider, and I have a series of Vines, taken with my iPhone 4s, that are a riff on the Grady twins from The Shining. The twins started out creepy, but are now getting increasingly annoying, as they're finding a grown-up Danny in the grocery store, in the backseat of his car. In this one, they're in his bathroom as he gets out of the shower: The twins in the series are Megan and Alexis Steir, real-life twins who have appeared on Mad Men (the "twins" episode? I haven't seen it, but whenever I say that people are all like "OOOOHHHHH", and nod enthusiastically). I hope you check out the rest of the "story" on my Vine channel (@BLCKSMTH), I'm new to Vine but obsessed with it as a storytelling medium! And since social media fills the huge gap in my soul that recent heartbreak has provided, it would be swell if I got at least an "honorable mention"! What's next? Well, the twins are going to keep bugging grown-up Danny, finding him in the barbershop, in the laundromat. They'll get increasingly creative vying for his attention, too! Hope y'all enjoy it.
- Mike Schneider

Pew Pew

My roommates; Jimmy Britven and John Handley helped me film this. We used two nerf guns; the pistol seen, and a sniper rifle off screen. The original idea was to be shot, and fall back while shooting, in an attempt to create an endless loop of shooting each other, but it didn't come out exactly as planned. Jimmy (accidently) shot John point blank in the crotch with the sniper rifle. (Listen to the audio, its pretty funny). I used my iPad 3 to film this, and had it propped up against a chair to help keep it steady. The idea came to me when I saw Jimmy come back from dinner, and I said I needed their help right away... to shoot each other. They were more than willing to help end the life of the other with the deadly foam bullets.
- Nick Shirley

Pedal Pendulum

I stumbled upon the use of shadow as an additional creative element when I shot a different vine a few days ago and I fell in love with how shadows add another complex component to the video as a whole. When my wife saw it at first she didn't even notice that my hands were not being utilized to create the illusion. Vine is a creative outlet for me, and I'm finding that the more complex and difficult, the funner it is to make! I hope you enjoy it.
- Frank Danna

Hats off to those of you bold enough to break out of the photo and venture into video. The stop motion projects are so impressive, especially as most of us have had Vine crash from time to time. I can't imagine the cursing that would ensue if, halfway through a hand drawn animation, my screen went blank. Like, seriously, I can't imagine it. Such passionately vulgar variations on phonemes haven't been invented yet.

Usually, we only celebrate still images in our Shooting Challenges. But what can I say, Vine is addictive, even if Jesus hates it/loves it. So for this week's challenge, I want you to make us a Vine. Any Vine.

The Challenge

Take a Vine. Make it creative.

The Technique

Now, just because you're shooting a 6-second video on a cellphone, that doesn't mean you need to throw all technique out the window. For one, grab a freaking tripod and you'll instantly be creating better work than 90% of the viners out there.

Edit together an elaborate series of scenes (here are tips for that), or just show us one remarkably composed loop (like a cinemagraph). I'm not telling you what to do. Just make it good.

And to those of you who don't have iPhones to do this—I have an idea: Just borrow someone else's for the day.

The Example

The Vine above is one that I made. It's a single shot. It's dreary. And I know you can do better. Consider the lead image, which was generated from Mark Weaver's Lego collection. His work is much better.

The Rules

0. No watermarks. They're so ugly.
1. Submissions need to be your own.
2. Photos must be taken since this contest was announced.
3. Explain, briefly, the equipment, settings, technique and story behind shot.
4. Email submissions to contests@gizmodo.com, not me.
5. Include the direct URL of the Vine for us.
6. One submission per person.
7. Use the proper SUBJECT line in your email (more info on that below)
8. You agree to the Standard Contest Rules - though we DO accept non-US resident submissions.
9. If the image contains any material or elements that are not owned by you and/or which are subject to the rights of third parties, and/or if any persons appear in the image, you are responsible for obtaining, prior to submission of the photograph, any and all releases and consents necessary to permit the exhibition and use of the image in the manner set forth in these rules without additional compensation. If any person appearing in any image is under the age of majority in their state/province/territory of residence the signature of a parent or legal guardian is required on each release.

Send your best photo Vine by Monday, March 4th at 10AM Eastern to contests@gizmodo.com with "Vine" in the subject line. Include the direct URL to your clip's Vine page. Also include your shooting summary in the body of the email along with a story of the shot in a few sentences. And don't skip this story part because it's often the most enjoyable part for us all beyond the shot itself!