Students from across the Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU) spent the summer semester completing a series of practical assignments as part of the Digital Photography Processing course. These ranged from working with professional studio equipment and outdoor photography to the sensitive and artistic depiction of the nude form. Traditionally, the course attracts both students with previous photographic experience and their own high-quality equipment, as well as complete beginners working with Nikon DSLR cameras provided by the department.
A total of 33 participants successfully completed the course and submitted their final projects. The jury responsible for evaluating the work consisted of the course instructors from the Department of Cybernetics at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, CTU. The panel included Mgr. Roman Sejkot, Prof. Václav Hlaváč, RNDr. Aleš Němeček and BcA. Petr Neugebauer.
The exhibition opening, held on 4 June 2026 at the CTU CIIRC, brought together not only course participants but also their fellow students, friends, lecturers from across CTU and other enthusiasts of what photographers like to call “good light”. In addition to the eight highest-rated projects, which are on display and will remain accessible to the public throughout the summer, visitors were able to view a slideshow featuring all submitted works.
A new feature introduced this year was the publication of the complete ranking of all submitted projects together with their scores, which students and guests were invited to reveal themselves. The printed photographic series had been laid out on desks face down, allowing each participant to guess where they had placed in the competition before turning them over.
The course instructors praised the students for the dedication and creativity they invested in their final projects. “We do not prohibit the use of artificial intelligence, whether for photographs or final essays. Interestingly, however, none of the students wanted to use it. If you look at the final photographs, not one of the authors relied on AI. They create their work themselves and do not want crutches,” said Mgr. Roman Sejkot.
Astrophotography Takes First Place
According to the jury, the best photographic series accompanied by an essay was submitted by Bc. Jakub Pelc, a first-year Master's student in the Open Informatics programme at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, CTU. The jury was impressed by his astrophotography work, a field he has been pursuing for several years. Producing a single image of this kind requires approximately two days of work.
“Astrophotographs are captured using telescopes and specialised cameras. First, hundreds of long-exposure images are taken over several nights, with each exposure lasting up to five minutes. The telescope must be mounted on a tracking system that follows the movement of the night sky. The images are then stacked using specialised software, followed by several more hours of post-processing,” explained the award-winning student.
Jakub borrowed the specialised equipment from the Astronomy Expedition summer camp, where he serves as a group leader each year. Although he has been practising astrophotography for several years, he had no prior experience with studio photography and greatly appreciated the opportunity to try it as part of the course — and to earn academic credits for doing so.
He also found the required submission format particularly interesting. Students were required to submit both their photographs and their semester essay on a CD. “I discovered an old stack of blank CDs at home and ended up burning copies for both myself and a classmate,” Jakub recalled. “It is interesting to have photographs archived in this way and to keep a physical copy of them as well.”
A Shadow Dimension All Around Us
Second place was awarded to Daniel Bizub, a student at CTU’s Faculty of Information Technology. In his spare time, he works with 3D graphics and has recently taken up painting.
“Photography was a natural complement because the skills involved overlap,” Daniel explained.
He incorporated digital illustration into his photographic series entitled Shadow Dimension, in which mysterious beings and silhouettes existing beyond our world appear alongside ordinary everyday objects.
His inspiration came from the popular role-playing game Shadow Fight. “As soon as I heard the theme OUT OF THE SHADOWS, I immediately thought of Shadow Fight, a game I used to play in which all the characters were depicted only as silhouettes,” he revealed.
Daniel admitted that the photographic side of the project came more naturally to him, while the paintings required considerably more effort before he was satisfied with the final result.
Photographs of Homeless People
Third place went to Karel Polák, a first-year Bachelor's student in the Electrical Engineering, Power Engineering and Management programme at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, CTU.
“The most difficult part for me was interpreting the theme. For a long time, I thought I would simply go out and photograph objects that happened to be physically in the shade. But when I started walking through Prague looking for interesting locations and subjects, I encountered many homeless people, and that gave me the idea. Homeless people are, in a sense, in the shadows of society. So I realised I could approach the theme metaphorically,” Karel explained.
Like the other award-winning students, he already had some experience with photography. However, he particularly appreciated the opportunity to try studio photography.
“It was a valuable experience. I learned how to work with lighting in a studio environment. We had access to professional equipment, including softboxes, and it was my first time using them,” he added.
The Digital Photography Processing course has been taught at the Department of Cybernetics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, CTU, for the past 18 years. An exhibition of photographs from last year’s edition of the course, held under the theme CONTRAST | THE WORLD IN REFLECTIONS, can be revisited in an article on the Faculty’s website.
