Everyone deserves a break from the sun. Here's a photograph of my vizsla mix, Chase and his homemade ice treat to break the heat. Chase runs for hours on end and often forgets to rest. With so much energy, it took me more than 25 frames before I got the photograph that represents his innocence, spirit and life. This picture is dedicated to all the pet owners and lovers alike!
Canon 5D with 50mm, 6.3 @ 1/160sec ISO 500
-Marjorie Albay
The Hollywood Sign is one of the most well-known symbol in the world.
If you're lucky enough to live in L.A. and see the sign often, look
towards to the left, you'll see a lone tree. I started hiking the
beginning of the year and told myself that before summer is over I
will go to that tree. It's known as the Wisdom Tree on Cahuenga Peak.
Not a lot of people go here cause the path is narrow, steep, and
hidden. At the end there's a case with notebooks where you can write
about anything. It's very satisfying to be there, it's not often you
get to live in the entertainment capital of the world and see it from
the top.
Camera: Canon S95
F-Stop: f/4
Shutter: 1/60
ISO: 800
-Mark Garcia
Sont SLT-A55
50mm prime @ 1.4 1/4000 second shutter.. We're coming up on the end of our summer season, the trees are starting to shed which means leaves in the pool so it's about time to shut it down for the year. Accordingly my theme for this shot was "Last Splash of the Summer". The camera was pre-focused, on a tripod and i shot in burst-mode. I had several good shots to pick from including several highlighting the very second before impacting the water, but I ended up enjoying the feeling of the water peeling up and out, it best reminds me of the feel of jumping in the pool.
-Marvin Francois
I was fortunate enough to vacation on the Big Island of Hawaii last week when this shooting challenge was announced. I was just about to submit a shot I took of a beautiful sunset during our last night while at the luau but decided with on this shot. To me, it simply exudes summer: a nice, relaxing chair, under a palm tree on a secluded tropical beach. What could be nicer to just take a nap or read a book or stare out at the beautiful blue Pacific? When its the middle of winter, I will pull up this photo and remember that warm Hawaiian beach and forget about the cold fog outside.
Canon EOS REBEL T1i, Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II, 1/320, f/8, 50mm, ISO 100
-Matthew Johnson
I associate summer with the Jersey shore (note: lowercase refers to a geographic destination, not a TV show) specifically Atlantic City, where we spend many weekends. To stand out from the other entries I knew I'd have to go where most people wouldn't bring their camera — into the water.
My plan was to try to capture a wave as it crested or even inside the barrel if I was lucky, though East Coast waves are typically puny. The surf was actually pretty rough because of a storm to the south, and after getting knocked around for awhile with the waves crashing overhead, I finally got a couple decent shots. I used my waterproof Playsport to snag this "Kodak moment" and it's meant not just as a tribute to the waning days of summer, but also to Kodak, which sadly seems in its own final days.
Stats: Kodak Zx3, f/2.8, ISO 50, 1/2000th sec, 36mm focal length
-Matt Simansky
I originally intended to capture a few surfers at a local spot near my house, but got lucky and came across this scene while on my way to the beach. I think it fits the theme even better than my original idea. You can see the heat coming off the pavement, and I like how there's a kid carrying a surfboard with a herd of loose cattle in the background. In Dakar it's not uncommon to see both surfers and herds of cattle or sheep wandering the roads. Coincidentally this shot was captured about a 5 minute drive from the beach where Bruce Brown filmed part of "The Endless Summer" back in the 1960s, starting a pretty strong surfing tradition here in Dakar that has lasted to this day.
Taken in Dakar, Senegal. Olympus E-PL1 with 40-150mm lens and a bit of processing in Aperture.
Matt Sweeney
I've recently "upgraded" to a Finepix s4080 and I must say I love this camera, but I haven't actually had the chance to give the camera a spin around where I'm from. As soon as a read "summer" the photo of a fishing pole casted out in the water hit me almost instantly and I got to work. Or should I say relaxing, because I proceeded to fish well after picture time was over. I exposed for the sky using a shutter speed of 1/1000 of a second, a low ISO of 64 and a f/3.1 aperture.
- Michael Eicholtz
Shot this photo on my brothers sailboat on the Columbia River in Portland Oregon/Vancouver, Washington. My friend Kelly came to town and we took her sailing along with many, many other fun things like wine tasting at local vineyards. Horizon is slightly tilted from the boat keeling in the wind.
Used a Canon 7D with my newest everyday lens, a 15-85mm f/3.5 Canon Lens. Photo was shot at 1/1600, f/4.5, ISO 250, edited in Aperture.
-Michael Orrantia
I found this (fairly huge) mushroom this morning as I was about to mow my lawn. The weather had been comparatively cool this week, which apparently allowed a few mushrooms to grow. Before mulching them, I took a few minutes to take a few low-angle pictures, remembering that this week's shooting challenge was "summer". Perfectly smurfy.
Photo was taken with an HTC Evo LTE with the Vignette photo app in a slightly modified "Holga" mode, to add some dreaminess to the scene. Phone was pushed down into the grass pointing upward with the sun behind the cap of the mushroom to make it look both big and glowy.
After, I cut the mushroom to bits, along with the rest of my lawn. It had a good run.
-Phil Gullett
Took this photo while on vacation in Venice with my family. Oddly everything in the scene was a little red. She looks a little sunburnt doesn't she?
Nikon D70.
ISO 200
Kit Lens
-Ricky Sahu
Some friends and I were camping and I noticed the Summer contest. We were at Doheney State Beach in California. This was a shot of some people next to us at the campsite. It was a long exposure and that's why somethings are blurry and the streak in the background is a flashlight. I took the shot with a Canon T2i with a 100-300mm Quantaray lens I've had for years. The settings were 30sec shutter, f/5.6, ISO 100 with a polarized filter.
-Ryan Floyd
We spent almost every other weekend this summer at Cape Henlopen State Park (Delaware). They have two lighthouses, one of which is on the bay and every time we've gone I've tried taking photos from the shoreline, but they always turned out like crap because I don't have a decent telephoto lens. So once I heard about the "summer challenge" I decided to take the morning off from work, packed up my kayak and paddled out to the lighthouse. I was really nervous because it was the first time I had ever tried brining the camera with me in the kayak. Lucky for me I didn't tip and I got some really cool pictures out of it.
Camera: canon rebel t3i
ISO: 100
F-Stop: 5.6
-Scott King
I know when most people think of fires it's a fall thing, but every summer it seems we always gather around the fire often. This is my perfect summer, and some of my best summer memories come from being around a fire. Before the festivities began I set everything up, my fast 50 on a Nikon D800, this is also my first shots with the 800. I decided not to use my flash and just use the fire, ambient light from the porch on the other side of the yard and the awesome moon we had that night. I know fill flash would have made everything pop more but I wanted the all natural look. I shot at f 1/8 and a 0.62 sec shutter speed. I used the timer to make sure I didn't get any camera shake, more so since I had a few adult beverages that night. This is my perfect summer, and I wish it would last just a bit longer.
-Steven Eaton
Summer for me brings to mind open fire hydrants, super soakers, and water balloons decorating the air like the fireworks on the 4th. Here's a photo capturing the moment in between the action. The time when the reload is as important as know where and when to launch the water attack on your friends.
Shoot with 1D and a 50mm lens.
Aperture @ 5.0
Shutter Speed @ 1/320 sec
ISO @ 250
-Sunny Kam
Summer is coming to an end in the DC area. The clouds are starting to form and the rain is cooling off the area. As I was walking around I saw this flower with the petals is drooping, telling me it was just one more sign that summer is coming to an end. I shot this with my Canon T3i using a 50mm lens.
ISO200
F-1.8
1/250
-Tracy Miller
Camera: Sony SLT-A33
ISO 100
F1.8
35mm/F1.8 Fixed Focal Length lens
Exposure time of 1/3200 sec
The picture was shot in RAW format (ARW in Sony's case) and was then converted to JPG using FastStone Image Viewer.
I'm just an amateur photographer who snaps for anything rather then any specific scene/scenario. I was invited on a 32-ft boat that one of the software engineers at my workplace bought recently, and it was going to be his first time out of the marina where he's had it parked. In fact, it was only his second time captaining this boat, so pictures had to be necessary. This click was taken while on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, and the bridge in the background is the humongous Bay Bridge.
-Trishal Khetia
The sun was perfect and she was enjoying her strawberry ice cream and
watching the sunset. We love the beach, she has been coming here
since she was born and it is one of her favorite spots. She is always
the one that gets me out to watch sunsets.... She's 5, and awesome.
This was shot on my 1DS MKii - ISO 100 F22 1/100 sec at 70MM (Canon
24/70 F2.8L) on a tripod. I really like shooting silhouettes and if
we could submit two I would. Something about the colors in the sky
with the big shadow contrast that I really love.
-Bill Nichols
Shot summary: 1/25 sec @ f3.5, 18mm with the 18-55 kit lens and ISO at 800.
Here in Edmonton, Alberta, summer usually means one of two things; either a hot and dry day or massive thunderstorms. One such thunderstorm passed by my neighborhood one night. This one was particularly vicious, with at least 20 strikes a minute. Since I am a new DSLR owner, I just had my camera and my steady hands. So, I stood there in front of my room window, stock still, with my camera at the ready and basically took continuous shots for a good hour or so. This is the best one out of the lot (300+ photos). It's been prettied up slightly with a white balance adjustment and crop.
-Zakee
Summer Thirst
Well, this was challenging for me since I work all weekend and wouldn't have a single day off to go out searching for the perfect "Summer" photo. So I decided I would try to piece together something one might see in a magazine that's printed in the summer season, and I created this little view. Summer always reminds me of things like ice cold drinks and hanging out in your back yard, basically my childhood. This was shot with a Canon 60D with a Sigma 18-50 HSM OS lens at 37mm, 100 ISO, f/4.0, and 1/30.
-Patrick Russo
I took this at a farmer's market in Kansas City. Living in Nebraska, farmer's markets make me think of summer, and when they come around, I know summer is back. At this point they are all closing up, indicating that summer is on its way out.
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3
ISO: 200
f/4.5, 1/50
-Nicole Lozano
Summer for me is the bounty that comes from the vegetable garden. As the heat of the this summer continues, the peppers keep getting hotter! I loved the colors of the peppers that we picked this weekend, large dark green poblano (great for grilling), long cayenne (green when young, red when mature), and the bright orange habanero (HOT!). Taken with my Olympus E-P1 with a 14-150mm telephoto lens.
-Peter Welch