Challenge 171 >>> STF CHALLENGE 171 Eligible theme: NOISE <<<

Welcome to Challenge 171. When life gives you lemons - make lemonade. When your camera creates speckles and blotches - use them creatively.

Many photographers when they see noise in their images convert their shot to black and white, trying to go for the look that old black and white film used to give. Some photographers are experimenting with colour noise. Look at the large version of the last photo in this review: http://www.photoclubalpha.com/2008/06/12/sony-alpha-350-a-creative-review/

To get more noise, crank up the ISO. Your image can be even noisier if you underexpose it in the camera, then brighten it up in the computer. For maximum noise you can add it in with your post processing software. Getting the noise in your image is part of the Challenge, using it well is the rest.

>>> STF CHALLENGE 171 Exhibition theme: SUMMER <<<

School's out. Winter clothes have been put away for storage. People and animals have come blinking out into the light after their long hibernation. What a great time to get out on the street and catch the summer fashions, freaks and photographable moments. Trees, fields and flowers are decked out in new clothes too, and summer getaway places are looking idyllic.

The summer solstice will come during this Challenge, so you will have the longest day of the year, light, light and more light to capture the essence of summer. Summer, as a Challenge theme will, I hope, be easy to respond to but hard to master.

Challenge information and guidelines can be viewed in the Sony Talk Forum >> HERE <<

Illustrated upload instructions can be viewed directly in the How to Upload to STF Challenges gallery.

Challenge 171 is open from 1:00 am on Saturday, June 14th in your own time zone, and will run until 9:00 pm Tuesday, June 25th (China time)
To find the closing time for your own time zone, check the time chart below.

Hit counts for your entries can be viewed in the two special galleries below. These are updated periodically during each Challenge, and will become final when it is over.

*** PLEASE REMEMBER: the winner of the ELIGIBLE category becomes the host for the next Challenge,
a job that demands frequent attention, throughout the entire Challenge, both to the information thread
in the Sony Talk Forum and to the galleries and entries as they grow.

If you feel you would be unable to commit sufficient time to hosting the next Challenge, please enter
your images in the EXHIBITION gallery only.