Despite what percentage times I see it in whatever the context, a ray of light shining through a scene is a striking motif. For this week’s Shooting Challenge , I would like you to deploy proper method to capture the effect.

The Challenge

Take a photo that comes with a ray (or rays) of light able of prominence. Note: it is scattered, as in nature, or finely chiseled as, as through windows. In truth, you’re free to take advantage of natural or artificial light. Be happy to stage a photo when you have the resources-but no creating rays of light in Photoshop! Oh, and no lens flare , either.

The Method

No matter whether you might be shooting within the day or night, natural or artificial light, you’ll want said light to pass through a medium-fog or dust-to exacerbate the effect, and it is going to help in case your backdrop is dark enough to contrast with what’s essentially your subject: The light.

Cambridge in Color has a must-read tutorial on photographing light in fog, mist and haze. Both scientific and practical, you’ll learn that haze tricks your camera into underexposing (so compensate), and that the closer you will be to the ray of light, the more likely you’ll capture it.

Cryosphere recommends closing down your aperture (using a high f-stop) coupled with a slow shutter speed and a tripod. And an editorial on eHow concurs.

The Rules – READ THESE

1. Submissions should be your individual.
2. Photos have to be taken the week of the contest.
3. Explain, briefly, the equipment, settings, technique and story behind shot.
4. Email submissions to contests@gizmodo.com, not me.
5. Include 800px wide image (200KB or less) AND a 2560×1600 sized in email. (The 800px image is the only judged, so be happy to crop/alter the larger image for wallpaper-sized dimensions.)
6. One submission per person.
7. Use the suitable SUBJECT line to your email (more info on that below)

Send your best photo by Monday, September 13th at 8AM Eastern to contests@gizmodo.com with ” Ray” inside the subject line. Save your files as JPGs, and use a FirstnameLastnameRay.jpg (800px wide) and FirstnameLastnameRayWallpaper.jpg (2560px wide) naming conventions. Include your shooting summary (camera, lens, ISO, etc) inside the body of the email in conjunction with a story of the shot in a couple of sentences. And don’t skip this story part because it’s often one of the most enjoyable part for us all beyond the shot itself!

[Lead photo by David Gallard .]

If you’re wanting even more stuff to photograph, my site Life, Panoramic would like to publish your portrait of your hometown. In case your photography sucks, don’t sweat it. Put your complete photos in black and white and 90% of the public will assume you’re an artist.

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This post is tagged: prominence, ray of light, slow shutter speed, subject line, submission, submissions