For this week’s Shooting Challenge, we asked you to abuse the principles of perspective to confound our sense of scale. The results are as charming as they are clever…or someone took out a second mortgage on that giant Aibo.

Second Runner Up

Taken with my Sony a350 Sony DT18-70 lens @ 20mm; f/9; 1/160sec; ISO100. Picture of Randy’s Donuts in Inglewood, California. Took the picture w/ my friend Rafael Ortega he held the cup as I pretended to dunk the donut. Rafael bought coffee from Randy’s ,but the cup was too blank so after a couple of takes he decided to draw “Coffee” on it.
- Luis Marroquin

First Runner Up

I was aware of this optical phenomenon, but never really thought of it in relation to photography. Without an assistant to call for, I had to trust my remote once more. So here’s me (duck) peeking out of a cup, and a towering 70-200mmL (f/4 non-IS) lens with another duck on top.
Gear used: Canon EOS 450D, Canon EF 28mm f/1.8 USM, Manfrotto 190XproB tripod RC-1 IR remote. f/22 (max), 1/10s, ISO 200.
- Staff Anthomen

Winner

Meet my dog Arti(ficial). He likes humans (bones), pissing on big trees and having sex with trucks. He reads Gizmodo all day and tried to escape from me two times to become Rosa´s new pet. Too bad his battery drains and needs his own nuclear plant…
Canon Eos 500D / Canon 18-55mm lens @ 28. 1/50 sec. / F 25 / Iso 1600 / Monochrome.
Lightroom for brightness adjustment / Photoshop for crop.
- Bobo the Teddy

Thanks for all of the entries. And as usual, here’s the full gallery of participants:

Please, take this advice lightly. It came from the bowels of 4Chan, after all. But it seems that a user froze his Sony A350 DSLR and actually got better results when shooting at ISO 3200. The results he posted seem to validate his results, but once again, this is from 4Chan home of everything that is vile, rotten and antisocial on the Internet.

I’m not advising anyone to try this. (unless you wanna) I mean, I certainly don’t have the cash to buy another camera if this trick really doesn’t work. (but maybe you do) And it’s not like it’s all that pleasant to hold a frozen camera. (you could wear gloves) So please, just because some dbag at CrunchGear posted an Internet rumor that *might* improve your pictures, don’t stick your camera in the freezer. (use you wife’s)

4Chan (NSFW of course) via The Phoblographer via Photo Rumors

Earlier this week, we issued our first shooting challenge “fall leaves” to the photographers among you. And holy crap are there some impressive photographers among you.

First Place
Wade Saathoff: Nikon D300, Nikkor AF 50mm f/1.4, 1/100th, f/3.2, ISO 320, 14 bit RAW, .nef converted using Raw Therapee and edited in Photoshop 7

Second Place
Tess Davis: Sony A350, 18-70mm kit lens, f/4.5, 1/200s, ISO 100

Third Place
Neal Rosenblat: Nikon D90, 50mm lens, f1.8, 1/2000

Thanks to everyone for making the first Shooting Challenge so much fun. And since these results are completely subjective, enjoy the full gallery below before mocking my taste in the comments. Still, I don’t think there’s a lousy shot in the bunch.

Toshiba is remaining pretty tight lipped as to the exact technical specifications of their new laptop range but we do know that all models will feature an eco utility management system that allows users to reduce the amount of energy being used. And remember, green is good kids. Here’s a quick look at what we do know about the four models that have been announced: A500

This looks like being the more multimedia based one of the litter. A 16-inch TruBrite HD screen, 16:9 aspect ratio and a 1366×768 resolution will be perfect for movies and games, particularly on the premium version which will have a flush screen – i.e. an edge to edge picture. The impressive picture will be assisted by equally impressive sound – all versions will ship with Harman Kardon stereo speakers. A HD webcam that records in widescreen will also be a welcome addition to web-video creators. The premium version is the only one which will contain a DVD drive, sadly, though. Available on all versions, however, is the Multi-Touch control pad that provides the ability to use fingers to pinch, swipe or rotate using just the trackpad – a bit like you use the iPhone screen I imagine. Looks wise, it doesn’t look too dissimilar to the A350, which we previewed back in January although there will also be a silver version available. Also, looks like there is a little remote control in there which would be a nice touch for a multimedia machine. U500

This looks like a scaled down version of the A500 to be honest, this time with a 13.3-inch screen which isn’t quite HD but 1280×800 WXGA instead. Again, they’ll be a premium and a standard model with, again, only the premium containing a built in DVD drive, to go with its edge-to-edge (or “chrome-trimmed” as they’re calling it) screen. Interestingly it will be available in “Luxe Brown” in order to “give a big impression” whilst “on the move”. Can brown ever give a big impression on the move? Err, well I suppose…… L500 and L550

I’ve lumped these two together because Toshiba has done the same in their press-release. And if they’re going to be lazy then so am I. These are the wide screen versions, both HD, the L500 is 15.6-inch and has a resolution of 1366×768 and the L550 is a mammoth 17.3-inch and has a resolution of 1600×900. That’s about all I know on these ones, apart from the fact that the keyboard is available in silver as well as the black as shown in the picture. Keep your eyes peeled for further details of this range on Tech Digest, as always we’ll do our upmost to keep you all in the loop.