You need to look at these photos. The 167 entries in this week’s “Monotone” Shooting Challenge are of a completely humbling, professional quality.

Lead Shot

“My Bokeh and Blue painting… This is actually just a macro shot of some left over paint from this weekend’s home improvement episode. I used 1 SB800 and 1 SB600 at +1 EV in TTL bouncing off ceiling which helped create the bokeh and shadows.”
Camera: Nikon D300
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/8.0
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
– Patrick Tully

Most Resourceful

“The subject here is some hand soap shot with a Canon Rebel XTI with a 60mm macro lens at f/5 , 1/125s and 100 ISO.”
– Sebastien Grobelny

Most Inventive

“A cardboard box with the head of the lamp facing up.
A red piece of paper was then used to cover the lamp to make the light red.
A clear folder with white paper inserted was placed on top of the box to diffuse the light as much as possible.
A glass plate was then placed on top of the folder, the plate was then filled with Schweppes Raspberry Flavour soda and two tablespoons of liquid detergent.
A small straw was then used to blow bubbles.”
Camera Used: Canon 450D
Lens: Canon 16-35mm f2.8 L I USM
ISO: 100
Exposure time : 1/125 sec
– David Juhn

This Was Taken on a CELLPHONE

“This photo was shot around 4:30 PM just before my plane dropped below the clouds into SeaTac Int’l airport. It was shot with my iPhone 3GS at f/2.8 at 1/2500 of a second with an ISO of 70 and a focal length of 3.9mm. In Photoshop CS2 I did a color balance adjustment layer to get the bronze appearance. Although shot in color, the original had an appearance of mostly grayscale. I did have a Canon G9 with me, but was in the process of shutting things down when I saw this view and decided to capture it with what was in my hand.”
– Steve Everist

I Just Liked It

“Used a canon powershot digital camera with 8 megapixels.ISO 800. no flash.”
– Chrissy McAlpin

I Just Liked It, Part II

“Setup: These are Chinese porcelain figurines about six inches high, sitting in a white Ikea Billy bookcase. The “sun” behind them is a spherical globe lamp with an orange CFL bulb in it. “
Camera: Nothing special. It’s a 10mp Fuji Finepix s5700 set to “super macro” mode. ISO 64 2.3″ F 4.5.
– Phillip Gullett

Winner

“Taken with my D40 and the kit 18-55mm lens. The blue sky, and blue water was beautiful, and the clouds and water on the rocks just made me take this shot.”
[Ed note: It’s not one color, but the limited, specific palette is striking. It’s also one of a relative handful of entries that ventured into a wide shot rather than macro.]
– Leigh McCulloch

Note: There are three galleries this week since we had so many entries. Wonderful!

Thanks again for all the participants of this week’s Shooting Challenge. Stay tuned for the next challenge, which will be announced Wednesday.

And for those of you looking for your next wallpaper, we’ll attempt to get these uploaded in full rez by tomorrow. Intern Kevin Lee assembled these galleries, and as you might expect, it’s a lot of work.

For this week’s Shooting Challenge, I asked you to capture a photography by the light of just one candle. Your response, as always, was remarkable.

Most Meme

“Taken with a tripod mounted Canon XSi with a Canon 50mm f1.8 and an extension tube. Exposure was f/2 @ 1/50s, ISO 320.”
[Ed note: Close call, given the Portal shot in the galleries.]
-Adam Carlson

Most Clever

“This was “shot” using my Canon 7D with the 50mm f1.8 prime. Tripod, ISO 800, 1/6 shutter, f2.8. The only light in the image is from a taper candle inserted into a disassembled MAG-Lite. To keep the flame from melting the reflective lens of the flashlight, the setup was aimed up and the final image rotated.”
-Christian Shaffer

Most Fiery

“The shot was taken with my Canon S90 @ F8, ISO 400 and with a 15sec exposure on a tripod. To achieve the blur, I adjusted the head of the tripod downward and back to it’s starting position quickly at the start of the exposure.”
-Jesse Oliveri

Favorite on Film

Camera: Mamiya RZ67
Lens: Mamiya-Sekor 110mm
Film: Kodak 160VC
Shot at: f2.8 at 1 sec
Reflective metered with a Sekonik L-508
Scanned at a low resolution
-Gabriel Padilla

Winner

Canon 5dMark II
Sigma 70-200mm EX
ISO 100
F 2.8
Shutter speed 2.5
“I hung the statue upside down to make it appear that the light was coming from up above. Using long term exposure I quickly moved the candle to light the side of his face.”
[Ed note: This image subverted my expectations completely, re-imagining soft candle light as a crisp backlight. Also, I have a soft spot for The Incredibles, silhouettes and the color red.]
-Felix Mendoza

Note: there are two galleries this week for the sake of our back end:

If participants proved one thing this week, it’s that a single candle is more than apt for photography by modern dSLRS. Well, that, and they’re all gluttons for punishment. Nice job, everyone.

Now cheer* on your favorites in the comments!

(*Just be sure to do so without, you know, being a dick to other participants. Also, for anyone wondering why the lead shot didn’t win, it was taken last summer making it ineligible for competition.)

What happens when Gizmodo readers capture action at 3-5fps? Why, the results of this week’s Shooting Challenge: Action Sequence Photography. Read on for the winners.

Second Runner Up

“Shot in my New England backyard during the lull in a snowstorm on February 26, 2010.”
Camera: Canon EOS 7D
Lens: Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS USM
ISO: 3200
Focal Point: 73mm
Aperture: f/7.1
Shutter: 1/4000
[Ed note: Loved the juxtaposition of the soft yet miserable environment and a young, undeterred athlete.]
– Ron Miles

First Runner Up

“I have shot this series in Engelberg Switzerland on Jochpass on an awesome day. I have used a Canon EOS 50D with a 17-85mm lens.”
Exposure Time 1/4000
ISO 100
Exposure bias +2 steps
Focal Length 17mm
[Ed note: The epic jump, mixed with the sun that blinds us to the full scope of the scene—my eye kept coming back.]
– Simon Sharp

Winner

“I was directly below the snowboarder, standing behind the jump ramp. All photos taken with Nikon D2x with Nikkor 10.5mm fisheye lens. I didn’t use any tripod, it was all hand held. Aperture was around f/6.3 and shutter speed around 1/1000sec. No flash Photos are then merged together in Photoshop cs4.”
[Ed note: It’s just an awesome shot that required an element of risk, capturing a classic sports action sequence from an immersive perspective.]
– Vedran Frka

Truly fantastic entries this week. Thanks to everyone who entered.

Just a note to commenters: Please, please, sing praises for your favorites. There are so many great shots here, and it’s flat-out unfair for them not to be recognized. But there’s absolutely no reason to put down anyone’s work from the cheap seats. We will ban accordingly.

Cellphones are slowly killing inexpensive digital cameras. The latest crop of smartphones such as the Google HTC Nexus One and the Motorola Droid sport 5-megapixel cameras while some Sony Ericsson phones have cameras in the range of 8-megapixel to 12-megapixel.

As a result, low-end digital still cameras are feeling the pain, says research firm iSuppli.

“Handsets soon may begin to cannibalize the low end of the digital still camera market as they incorporate higher megapixels and flash capabilities,” says Pam Tufegdzic, consumer electronics analyst at iSuppli in a statement. “This is likely to occur first in Asia and Europe as consumers in these regions seem to be more comfortable with taking pictures using camera phones.”

The megapixel race may be petering out among compact camera makers but it is just picking up steam in the smartphones category.

The average resolution for the CMOS sensors in mobile handset cameras is expected to rise to 5.7 megapixels in 2013, up from 2.1 megapixels in 2009. In comparison, the megapixels in digital still cameras are expected to go to 13.9 in 2013, from 9.5 megapixels in 2009.

Handset makers are likely to add tricks such as optical zoom, auto focus, improved flash and more sophisticated image processing electronics to smartphones, believes iSuppli. The firm says features such as image stabilization, automatic judgment and multiple image capture will migrate from digital still cameras to camera phone modules in the next few years.

But as any camera enthusiast will point out, a good picture is not just about having more megapixels. Increasing the megapixels in a phone’s camera can make photos smoother, but overall image quality depends on factors such as level of noise and low-light performance.

Still for low-end compact digital camera manufacturers it will be a tough fight, says iSuppli.

“Manufacturers of camera modules are firing back with increasing resolutions in smaller form factors to counter the mobile handset’s encroachment on the camera’s territory,” says Tufegdzic. “One thing’s certain: camera OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) won’t go down without a fight.”

See Also:

• Nikon Crams Projector Into Compact Camera
• 5 Reasons to Ditch Your Digital SLR
• Is a Touch Screen DSLR Inevitable?
• Review: Motorola’s New Cameraphone Not Quite Picture-Perfect
• New Chip Promises Better Cameraphone Pix

Photo: (Stitch/Flickr)

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: