I’m a few days behind in posting submissions, because I’m obsessed with the Olympics this year!  At this time, the Canadian Men’s ice hockey team has just beaten Slovakia and will play USA for the gold medal on Sunday afternoon – will you be watching? 

Lee-Anne Thorton, of AB, sent me this lovely shot of “The Big Rock”, which is just west of Okotoks:

Taken with Canon EOS 30 D at f/16, 1/100 sec., ISO 100

Lee-Anne used a 10-22mm lens and set her camera on the aperture priority setting with a polarizing filter and WB sunny.  Thanks for sharing, Lee-Anne!

Next, I received a few photos from Bethany Hoskins, of AB.  She first tried out the Sunny f/16 rule with a child’s toy on a bench:

Taken using Canon Rebel EOX T1i at f/16, 1/100 sec., ISO 100

She then moved the truck to a snowy background and took a few shots – first at f/22:

Taken with Canon Rebel EOS T1i at f/22, 1/100 sec., ISO 100

Even though the guidelines suggest using f/22 in snow conditions, you can see that the above photo is underexposed.  This could be because although she’s photographing her subject in snow, the surrounding trees provide enough shade to reduce the glare.  Bethany photographed the truck again – this time at f/16:

Taken with Canon Rebel EOS T1i at f/16, 1/100 sec., ISO 100

Bethany writes, “I struggled with this one - finding the correct exposure, even with these guidelines, seemed difficult.  I often find it difficult to find the right exposure to get good photos against the white snow.  It allowed me to practice the bracketing settings on my camera which is actually a really useful feature.  So thanks!” 

Bethany submitted one more, taken at the Dinosaurs Alive exhibit at the Calgary Zoo.   Because she was in the shade, she opened up her aperture two f/stops to achieve this exposure:

Taken with Canon Rebel EOS T1i at f/8, 1/125 sec., ISO 100

Thanks for your submissions, Bethany!

Melanie Smith, of NL, sent me this photo, complaining that the weather there is “for the birds”!  It’s not much better here, either, Melanie, if that makes you feel better!  

Taken with Canon Rebel EOS XT at f/7.1, 1/125 sec., ISO 100

Because of the overcast weather, Melanie opened up her aperture to f/7.1 to achieve this exposure – Perfect!  Thanks, Melanie!

Another submission came from Maxine Lozinski, of AB – a photo of her pup, Maggie:

Taken with Canon Rebel SXi at f/11, 1/250, ISO 100

Notice how Maxine increased her aperture one stop to f/11, and in doing so, she increased her shutter speed a corresponding amount from 1/125 to 1/250 to compensate.  This is a perfect example of how the relationship of aperture and shutter speed works.  Thanks for sharing, Maxine!

One last submission tonight and it comes from Mindy Smith-Bernard, of ON:

Taken using a Canon Rebel XTi at f/16, 1/200 sec., ISO 200

I love the composition of this!  Thanks for your submission, Mindy!

Tomorrow’s the last day for submissions, so if you haven’t already, get outdoors and try our February tutorial – then send me your submission to be entered into a random draw for the February Prize Pack from Fancy Pants!

Cheers – and GO CANADA!!