Infrared magic, hot air balloons and enchanting landscapes: Our August POTD monthly winners!

A few weeks ago we posted a news piece about an interesting statistic regarding our Photo of the Day contest - namely that 57 out of the past 60 winners and placers were shot with either Canon or Nikon DSLRs. That trend continues this month with two Canon and two Nikon DSLRs taking home placements, but there's one notable exception:

Bob Jensen's first place image was taken with a Fujifilm X100S. This is the first time that a mirrorless model was used to capture our top honor over the past few years, and therefore marks an interesting breakthrough. Adding to the flair is that the model has been specially modified for infrared shooting, and I'll let Bob himself explain more about that below his award-winning image.

As always we're proud to crown our contest prize winners and worthy runners-up for the month of August. Thanks so much to everyone who enters our Photo of the Day contest, and congratulations to the winners this month! The top three all receive gift certificates from Adorama of $300, $200 and $100, respectively. Please keep the wonderful submissions coming our way!

 

First Place • Duck Rock by Bob Jensen • Fujifilm X100S (infrared)

Commentary for this prize winning image by photograoher Bob Jensen:

"After reading reviews on the Fuji X100S I purchased one and immediately fell in love with the quality of the X-Trans images. After using the X100S for a few months, I decided to have it converted to deep black infrared (850nm) by Kolari Vision of New Jersey. I have since had them also convert an X-T1 to 720nm.  The image of Duck Rock was taken in Canyon de Chelly National Monument in Arizona back in early July. My son and I were on a jeep tour of the Monument with Canyon de Chelly 4x4 Tours, also known as Beauty Way Jeep Tours. We were getting the typical summer monsoonal storm clouds throughout our northern Arizona trip. When we came to Duck Rock I couldn't resist taking some pics of it. The white leaves against that darker background of Duck Rock, combined with the monsoonal clouds was simply spectacular to see. There was rain falling around the top of it as well."

 

 

Second Place • Readington Balloon Fest by Pat Abbott • Canon 5D Mark II
 

 

Third Place • Enchanted Forest by Glenn Nagel • Nikon D800
 

 

First runner-up • Remember to Breathe by Sean Rooney • Nikon D4
 

 

Second runner-up • Inner Earth by Mike DiRenzo • Canon 5D Mark II

[Editor's note: Our publisher Dave Etchells customarily provides commentary about our monthly winning images, but is currently in transit to next week's Photokina trade show in Cologne, Germany and regrets having to miss this month. He'll be back with his insights and analysis for our September winners.]

For anyone wanting to know more about our competition please visit this news story which describes our contest and also offers some useful tips to help you succeed (like making sure to avoid overly obnoxious watermarks!). To see camera and exposure information on this month's winners or to visit previous months please visit our POTD winner's gallery.

Ready to submit a photo of your own? Just click here! And to compliment these photographers on their submissions or offer your own analysis, please use the comments section below.

[Editor's note 2: Dating back to the beginning of 2012, a photographer with a mirrorless model has only taken top honors twice until now - in both instances shooting with a Panasonic GH2.]