CPG Newsletter 10 - November 8, 2009

THE CAMBRIDGE PHOTOGRAPHY GROUP
If you stopped by this blog by accident and live within driving distance of Cambridge in Southern Ontario, please consider joining us. We're a friendly little group of photographers at different levels of skills and interest. We all enjoy photography and the only thing we're serious about is having fun with our cameras and learning from each other. Check out the Flickr group page for some more of our images. (And those of you who took images and are part of the group - don't forget to share them on Flickr!)

My appologies to those in the group for the delay in posting the blog this month... it's been a busy month, what with the new house and all. But we're back - and there's still a little time before the next meeting!

4 Week Challenge
Our four week challenge is about encouraging us to reach further and expand our skills and creativity. Each four weeks, we have a new challenge and an opportunity to share our pictures with each other. The photos have to be new and shot within those four weeks. We encourage you to take as many as you like (it's a digital world) and pick a few of your best, then bring them to our group on a media stick. We will display them and give a quick review for the benefit of all.

The Last Challenge: Over Exposure
Our October challenge was to produce an image that was "over exposed". This gave a lot of space for interpretation and some of the images are quite nice.

Tammy created a wonderfully stricking image by exposing for the foreground rather than for the sky, making the sky nicely over exposed and silhouetting her subject very nicely. This was taken at the Elora Gorge.

Brett used over exposure to capture this landscape shooting into the sun, he got an ethereal effect by using over exposure.

Bob braved the early morning fog to capture this image. By using just the right amount of over exposure, he was able to correctly expose the foreground and leave the trees in gradations of silhouette.

Gary took a different path and used the bright light of a window to create a "high key" type effect and blow out his subject to a large extent producing this angelic image... although some might say it was a little more extra terrestreal than angelic - either way, it's out of this world...

Our Next Challenge: A Shot in the Dark
Now that we've mastered over exposure, what do you do when there is little to no light?

Under exposure is probably not a good idea in general. Blacks in a digital image tend to bring out the noise, and trying to manipulate them bring the noise out even more (yes, Bob, shooting in RAW does help a bit ;). But darkness can create a mood that is very ominous and foreboding and can enhance an image and help the viewer to focus on the subject of the image.

This month, we are challenged to create an image using large amounts of darkness. Use the darkness to create a mood. Look at some of the posters of vampires, or study how darkness is used in the Batman series of movies (the "Dark" knight) to see what I mean. The darkness might be used as a background with a lighter subject, or it may be used with a bright light behind a silhouette.

As always, be creative!

Mid-Way Shoot-Out:
Bring your lighting kit to Tammy's Video 99 store in Hespeler on November 29th at 2:00pm, and if you don't have one, don't worry, we'll share. We're going to take some time to shoot each other (with our cameras of course) in studio setups.

Next Regular Meeting: December 6th, 2009 - 6:30-8:30
We will meet as usual between 6:30-8:30pm at the Video 99 store in Hespeler - come in the front door and meet us out back in Tammy's Studio. See you there! Bring a friend and bring your photos on a memory stick or in print so we can all share.

CPG Newsletter 9 - October 18, 2009

THE CAMBRIDGE PHOTOGRAPHY GROUP
This month, we welcomed Bob to our group. The discussion was lively as usual, and we all enjoyed the tips that were shared amongst ourselves as we reviewed the images from the previous month. Even as things get much busier in the fall months, we all still find opportunities to pull out our cameras and we love to share the images with each other.

If you stopped by this blog by accident and live within driving distance of Cambridge in Southern Ontario, please consider joining us. Check out the Flickr group page for more images. (And those of you who took images and are part of the group - don't forget to share them on Flickr!)

4 Week Challenge
Our four week challenge is about encouraging us to reach further and expand our skills and creativity. Each four weeks, we have a new challenge and an opportunity to share our pictures with each other. The photos have to be new and shot within those four weeks. We encourage you to take as many as you like (it's a digital world) and pick a few of your best, then bring them to our group on a media stick. We will display them and give a quick review for the benefit of all.

The Last Challenge: Stop Action
Inspired by one of Tammy's pictures (See the September Blog), we were challenged to freeze the action. The challenge was to freeze the action so that you could see what was about to happen and anticipate it.

Brett has been hanging out at Calvary Pentecostal Church a lot lately and snapped this shot of one of the kids jumping off the climbing wall. A great example of the "Stop action" shot, it's a little hard to tell if she is suspended there, falling down or going up... but that's the fun of the image. Brett used flash to freeze this action as the exposure was a full 1/60 of a second.

Brett also showed us some images from the grand opening of the church and some shots he had from a model shoot. It was great to hear him share the challenges and highlights of his experience.

Rachel took some time to think about her shot and staged it (honest). This resulting shot is a nightmare for any photographer - that's me tripping on a curb about to smash my 50D on the concrete because I didn't put the strap around my neck! Actually, if I had really fallen, the strap probably wouldn't have saved the camera. On a nice sunny day, Rachel was able to shoot at 1/400th of a second at F/10 using ISO 400. You'll all be happy to know that no cameras were harmed in the making of this image.

Gary took a different tactic and probably strayed from the original challenge a little but had fun exploring a different setup. Using a fishbowl, black cardboard background, good sunlight and a reflector, he was able to take several good images of water splashes and bubbles, freezing the pouring water. This one had a sort of other worldly look to it. Bob made some interesting suggestions about using flash in a studio to accomplish this and I can't wait to give that a try... once I have some space to do it in. (1/512s, F/16, ISO 2500, photoshop enhanced).

Unfortunately Tammy had some technical difficulties with her images and we were unable to view them, but perhaps we will see some of them next month. If you are by the store near Hallowe'en, be sure to ask her about her hallowe'en costume pics. She'll be taking pictures of the kids in costume.

And if you are by Calvary Pentecostal Church for the Harvest Party on October 31st, Gary will be there taking pictures of the kids in costumes as well.

Our Next Challenge: Over Exposure
Also inspired by an image taken by Tammy and shown in the September blog, this month's challenge is to over expose an image. That doesn't sound hard, considering there have been millions of over exposed images over the years, but these days cameras are so smart, to over expose an image, you're going to have to go at least semi-manual and maybe even full manual. So turn off the auto and let's see what you can create.

Now that you're manual, it's relatively easy to over expose an image, but not so easy to make that over exposed image actually work - so challenge yourself to use overexposure to enhance the subject of your image, not just blow it out.

There are many ways to do this. You can explore Solarisation (Sabattier effect), or utilize clipping.

Here is an example of a portrait using overexposure, and here is another of more of a landscape style. Both demonstrate how overexposure can be used to enhance and highlight the subject while washing out detail in the background.

One final note - be careful when you google overexposure - there are some non-family friendly images that may pop up.

Mid-Way Shoot-Out
It was very difficult to come up with a good date this month - things are getting very busy - so the Mid-Way Shoot-Out this month will be done individually. The weather has been very good for shocking the trees this year and making them blush. The colours have come out brilliantly in Southern Ontario. There are plenty of opportunities to take everything from landsacpes full of amber trees, to individual leaves in all kinds of circumstances from floating on water to simply lying in the grass.

Be sure to bring your images with you to the group so that we can all enjoy your exploration of the fall colours.

Freebie of the Month!
Ever want to take your pictures and put them on DVD? Or maybe just a video that you can show on your computer, or in a powerpoint presentation? This month's freebie is a Microsoft tool to help you do just that, quickly and easily. Of course it's still flexible enough for you to express your own creativity.

The tool is Microsoft's PhotoStory (Click the link for the XP version). Just load your images into the tool. You can change the order, change the transitions, add your own music or auto generate music, change the play time for each slide, add text, and even do some basic fixing of the images.

Next Regular Meeting: November 8th, 2009 - 6:30-8:30
We will meet as usual between 6:30-8:30pm at the Video 99 store in Hespeler - come in the front door and meet us out back in Tammy's Studio. See you there! Bring a friend and bring your photos on a memory stick or in print so we can all share.

CPG Newsletter 8 - September 13, 2009

THE CAMBRIDGE PHOTOGRAPHY GROUP
Another great month, with lots of activities - not all "official" events, but our members were out with their cameras enjoying the great summer weather and the many events that were happening in the region. Officially, we visited the classic car rally at the A&W in Hespeler, but we were also at the Paris Fall Fair, the airport for the Waterloo Aviation Expo and Airshow. Check out the Flickr group page for more images. (And those of you who took images and are part of the group - don't forget to share them on Flickr!)

This was our second month meeting in Tammy Burden's new studio space at the back of the Video 99 store in Hespeler, we enjoyed the hospitality and space provided. There's lots more room for us there, and we invite you to invite your friends to come and learn and share their images!

4 Week Challenge
Our four week challenge is about encouraging us to reach further and expand our skills and creativity. Each four weeks, we have a new challenge, and an opportunity to share our pictures with each other. The photos have to be new and shot within those four weeks. We encourage you to take as many as you like (it's a digital world) and pick a few of your best, then bring them to our group on a media stick. We will display them and give a quick review for the benefit of all.

The Last Challenge
Our last challenge was "Flowers" - taking advantage of the beautiful weather and blooms abounding. Those who went out early enough got some great shots, and those who left it to the last minute (myself included), found the flowers a little wilted from the cold nights and hot days. Still, it's all about the fun and learning, and we all enjoyed each others pictures of the flowers, and of the other events we attended.

Starting off, we were all very amazed with this stunning picture by Rachel. Great composition, good balance of focal length, creativity and the interesting setting using the lock with the small flowers made this a very interesting picture. There were also comments on the fact that the photographer was not in any of the reflections! Great job Rachel.

Tammy chose to over expose her image of a sunflower, giving it added interest. An otherwise relatively "normal" shot of a sunflower became ablaze with light and interest.

Brett demonstrated how changing your perspective on the flower can totally change the image, and make it more appealing. His original shot was flat on the flower. The orange middle parts of the flower became almost invisible, and the petals appeared flat and unattractive. By moving a little lower and looking at the flower side on, the perspective became quite different and the flower "popped".

Gary had some rather ordinary shots of flowers, but shared a tip regarding focus. The idea being to set your focal length, use automatic focus to get a focal point, then gently rocking forward or backwards towards or away from the flower to find the perfect focal point. Often parts of the flower deep down inside are hard to get a focus on, but using this technique allows you to find that focal point more easily.

We were also joined by Chris this week, who brought her images as prints. Unfortunately, we don't have any of them to share on the blog, but we welcome Chris to the group, and look forward to some images in the future.

Our Next Challenge: Stopping the action
Inspired by an image taken by Tammy at the fall fair in Paris, we decided this month to challenge ourselves to take an image that freezes the action. The real challenge is that it must be obvious that there is action taking place, and be able to follow the action, anticipating what will happen, but the action must be frozen in place. That leaves a lot of room for interpretation, so it should be interesting to see what we all come up with.

Here are some other examples from a simple flickr search:

Mid-Way Shoot-Out
This month's (September/October) outing will again be very interesting - and newsworthy! Calvary Pentecostal Church is opening it's doors for a Grand Opening on September 26th from 12:30pm to 4:30pm at which time, the public will have a view of the newly constructed children's areas. Bruce Barry from Wacky World Studios is designing the kids' areas and if all goes well, we are working towards getting our photographers advance admittance to the area to be the first to see and take photos of his work, and the new construction. Stay tuned for more details, but right now, we are aiming at 10:00am at Calvary Pentecostal Church on September 26th.

Freebie of the Month
We mentioned this freebie at the last meeting, but here's the link for all of you. Some of the best photo books for the advanced amature (that's you!) are Scott Kelby's Digital Photography Book series - the third one should be coming out soon. Scott is a photoshop pro, and a fantastic photographer who likes to share his knowledge in a very easy to understand way. There are some chapters of his second book on-line as videos, and you can find them here: http://www.kelbytraining.com/books/digphotogv2/.

Check the videos out if you want some quick tips on photography!

Next Regular Meeting: October 11th, 2009 - 6:30-8:30
Same time, same "Blog" Channel! We will meet as usual between 6:30-8:30pm at the Video 99 store in Hespeler - come in the front door and meet us out back in Tammy's Studio. See you there! Bring a friend and bring your photos on a memory stick or in print.

CPG Newsletter 7 - August 9, 2009

THE CAMBRIDGE PHOTOGRAPHY GROUP
This month saw us out on a treck with the world's largest social photographic event in history. Over 900 cities and 32,000 people participated in Scott Kelby's World Wide Photo Walk. Our photo group organized and attended the Cambridge Ontario walk. This awesome event brought out about 15 people to our event, allowed us to meet with some great amature photographers, have a fun and interesting walk around a beautiful part of Cambridge, and take some great pictures. You can see these pictures posted on the World Wide Photo walk site for Cambridge.

This week, we moved out of Gary's basement and into a real "Studio", joining with the CLICK (Camera Lovers in Cambridge and Kitchener) group led by Tammy Burden. We met at her Video 99 store in Hespeler. Future meetings will be held there, and members should note the change in location and dates going forward.

4 Week Challenge
Our four week challenge is about encouraging us to reach further and expand our skills and creativity. Each four weeks, we have a new challenge, and an opportunity to share our pictures with each otehr. The photos have to be new and shot within those four weeks. We encourage you to take as many as you like (it's a digital world) and pick a few of your best, then bring them to our group on a media stick. We will display them and give a quick review for the benefit of all.

The Last Challenge
Our last challenge was "Signs" - funny, creative, and interesting signs. It seems there were not too many people that got photos of signs to show this month.

There was a lot of discussion, surrounding Brett's long exposure shot demonstrating speed as the cars flew by the 80km/hr sign on this road. Some thought the car looked a lot like a bullet train! It was very impressive that he was able to get such a long exposure in such bright daylight.

Gary also seemed to follow an unimplied transportation theme with this image. It would also seem that if you are a bicycle, you are authorized to park where cars are not permitted. This shot was taken in the Marineland parking lot in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

Unfortunately, Rachel did not get a sign picture, but she did, coincidentally, continue the transportation theme. She showed us several wonderful sunset photos she took at Sauble Beach, including this one of a bicycle silouhette. Great composition!

Tammy got a head start on next month's challenge (though she didn't know she was doing so) as she shared some interesting shots of flowers. She shared how difficult it can be to do this really effectively, as depth of field can be a challenge. Sunlight and lighting in general can also present their own challenges as you try to minimize shadows and highlight detail.

Our Next Challenge: Flowers
This one makes Rachel very happy - her favorite subject! (and Tammy, no cheating now - it has to be taken this month). Not as easy a challenge as you might think either: This month's challenge is to take a great picture of a flower, or flowers. Little ones, big ones, in between ones. Colourful ones, dull ones. Ones from your back yard, or ones from the professional horticulturists. There are so many choices, and now that Summer has finally reached Southern Ontario, we should finally see some blossoms.

Mid-Way Shoot-Out
Our outing for August will be the A&W classic car rally on Thursday night. There will be some gleaming chrome and very proud owners to shoot. We will meet together at the A&W on Hespeler Road to talk with the organizers before moving out to shoot the cars. Be prepared to get some info and make some prints for the drivers of the cars. (Date and Time to be added soon).

Freebie of the Month
Well, perhaps everyone knows about it already, but a Flickr account is a great way to share your images on line, and the basic account is free! So why not sign up for an account and start showing the world your photography? If you're part of the Cambridge Photo Group (or CLICK), you can join the Flickr group and post your images to the group pool - these images are then, in turn, displayed on this blog!

Next Regular Meeting: September 13th, 2009
We will meet as usual between 6:30-8:30pm at the Video 99 store in Hespeler - meet us down back. See you there! Bring a friend and bring your photos on a memory stick, or in print.

CPG Newsletter 6 - July 12, 2009

THE CAMBRIDGE PHOTOGRAPHY GROUP

Well, our fireworks outing was interesting, and informative, but not very exciting. We encountered rain until just before the show (luckily it stopped and we didn't have to worry about being soaked or rained out), but then the air became very still. When the fireworks began, the smoke did not blow away, so the fireworks were bursting in the midst of a rather large cloud of smoke. Not very photogenic. Ah well. In the end, there were some good photos - see below.

On the positive side, our numbers grew one more as we welcomed Mark to the group and drooled over his Canon 5D and some of the images he has taken with his prime lenses.

We have also been discussing the location of our group as we grow and may have some news in the near future regarding where we will be holding the group and the frequency. The next meeting is still on schedule and at the same time, however - so stay tuned for that.

The world wide photo walk is coming up - there are over 30,000 people signed up for it world wide, making it the largest social photography event in history! Our own little walk has 15 people signed up and looks to be a good outing.

4 Week Challenge
Our four week challenge is about encouraging us to reach further and expand our skills and creativity. Each four weeks, we have a new challenge, and an opportunity to share our pictures with each otehr. The photos have to be new and shot within those four weeks. We encourage you to take as many as you like (it's a digital world) and pick a few of your best, then bring them to our group on a media stick. We will display them and give a quick review for the benefit of all.

The Last Challenge
The last challenge was "fireworks" (as well as our outing). Because of the weather, and timing problems, we only had three shooters out to actually get photos of the fireworks, but we still had some interesting shots.

Brett's image shows a nice burst - captured over one second. You can also see what we meant by the amount of smoke that was present that night. It really obscured our view of the fireworks. Nonetheless, Brett managed to get a nice starburst shot.

As we were all sitting in approximately the same spot, we all had very similar pictures. Brett had a very similar image to this one taken by Gary. Once we figured the smoke was going to obscure the bursts of fireworks, we realized the silouhette of the tree and the reflection of the water gave the composition much more appeal, and started shooting for that instead of the bursts of fireworks, though the smoke did provide some interesting effects at times (See Gary's Flickr).

Rachel did a very respectable job considering the circumstances as well. She was working hard to get the long exposure tripod shots, and had some good ones. This image prompted some interesting discussion about cropping the composition.

Our Next Challenge: Signs
That's it... signs... doesn't seem like much, but when you get thinking about it, it leaves a lot of room for creativity. How do I capture a sign in an interesting way? Remember, although we allow some photo manipulation for colour, focus (blur) and exposure, we're looking for an image pretty much "as shot" - so you're not allowed to create your own sign in photoshop, or doctor one with a new slogan... though creating your own sign is not out of the question.

I don't have any technical links for this challenge, but here's a few tips:
- Remember the sign can be anything - a street sign, a store sign, or even a sign that you make yourself and take a picture, so perhaps it will be a sign that strikes you odd, or perhaps you will create a small sign and place it somewhere unusual.
- Part of a sign, or the whole sign? - Your image does not have to be of the whole sign, maybe just part of the sign in a particular situation will be enough.
- Odd sign, odd place - is the sign somehow incongruant to the place the sign is found? Perhaps you will find a sign that seems out of place.

Mid-Way Shoot-Out
The outing this month is the World Wide Photo Walk... which also might be a great place to take a photo of a sign (just don't let anyone see you taking it, or they may all want that photo of that sign :).

See the world wide photo walk site for details: www.worldwidephotowalk.com/cambridge-on-ca

Oh, and by the way, when you're on the walk, you have the opportunity to enter one or two of your pictures in the contests. There will be one winner from each walk (including ours) and their image will get submitted to the world-wide contest which has some awesome prizes!

Freebie of the Month:
Have you heard of HDR? This unusual mode of photography - High Dynamic Range imaging - is relatively new and directly related to the digital world of photography. For a definition of what HDR is, visit the wikipedia site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_dynamic_range_imaging

There is lots of buzz about it. It's not terribly complicated with the right software, and can produce some stunning results. And to help you get started, here is a totally free application you can download to try it out:
http://www.easyhdr.com/download.php#free

It's a little hard to wrap your mind around the software at first - I recommend you read the tutorials - but once you get the workflow, it works very nicely and smoothly.

Next Regular Meeting: August 9th, 2009
6:30-8:30pm - the location may be subject to change this month, so stay tuned, or contact the blogger for details.

PGC Newsletter 5 - June 6, 2009

THE PHOTOGRAPHY GROUP OF CAMBRIDGE
We have two great events we want you to know about this month.

The first is a contest in the Hespeler area that is an opportunity for you to practice and share your talents. There are separate contests for those 18 and over, and 18 and under. Check http://www.hespelervillage.org/ for more information and application forms, or drop into the Hespeler library.

The second is the Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk in Cambridge starting at the StoneWorks Outlet Mall in Galt. Whether you're part of the group or not, if you are a photography enthusiast, we would love to see you there. You can sign up here: http://worldwidephotowalk.com/cambridge-on-ca/

4 Week Challenge
Our four week challenge is about encouraging us to reach further and expand our skills and creativity. Each four weeks, we have a new challenge, and an opportunity to share our pictures with each other. The photos have to be new and shot within those four weeks. We encourage you to take as many as you like (It's a digital world) and pick a few of your best, then bring them to our group on a media stick. We will display them and give a quick review for the benefit of all.

The Last Challenge
Our last challenge was macro photography. Brett tried out his new Macro lenses, and Gary decided to use the small sensor size of a Sony Point-and-shoot camera to advantage in taking the macro shots, but the clearly best images came from Rachel who impressed us with some really clear images of flowers and a well conceived image of a soccar ball.

Rachel definitely used her creativity in setting up this shot of a soccar ball, getting down to earth and framing the shot with a dandilion and nicely blurred background. Not only did Rachel get a great Macro shot, she did a fantastic job producing a well composed image.

Brett used his macro lenses and discovered that it reduced his depth of field to a very narrow range, but he still managed to get a really clear close-up macro shot of a dandilion - and a very scary image of his eye!

Gary took some interesting images using his point-and-shoot Sony camera, including this one of his cornet. and some nature shots of fungus from a walk in St. Jacobs. He also managed to stump everyone with a macro photo of condensation on a coke glass.

Roy had some trouble with focus getting close up on his subjects, but we all enjoyed some of his shots from a vacation trip to Virginia Beech.

Our New Challenge: The Big Flash
No, not the kind you flip up from the top of your camera --- the kind that goes boom in the sky --- the kind that sparkles and rains fire back to earth --- the kind you see on a night of celebration. We have just such a night coming up on July 1st: A little thing we like to call "Canada Day". On that night, the sky will be lit up with Fireworks.

That's our challenge this month - taking images of the fireworks. See you there, bring a chair and don't forget your tripod.

There are some great tips for taking good fireworks photographs -- and some fantastic example photos -- on the dps website:
http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-photograph-fireworks
Here is another great set of tips:
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Photography-Tips/Fireworks.aspx
And finally a page with lots more links:
http://reviews.photographyreview.com/blog/fireworks-photography-tips/

Mid-way Shoot-Out
Not only are the fireworks our challenge this month - the outing will also be our Mid-way Shoot-out. And not only is it mid-way between our regular meetings, it will also be at a midway. Meet us at The Dairy Queen on King Street up the road from Riverside Park on July 1st at 8:30pm. From there we can discuss vantage points and find our way back to the park. As twilight comes, the lights of the midway will make some interesting photos, and we'll be there to capture them.

Bring a deck chair and a tripod for the fireworks, and if you like, some snacks - unless you're good with the popcorn and candy floss from the fair. See you there!

Our next regular meeting: July 12th, 2009
Join us July 12th, 6:30pm to 8:30pm at the usual location (contact the blogger for details).

PGC Newsletter 4 - May 17, 2009

THE PHOTOGRAPHY GROUP OF CAMBRIDGE
Summer is coming, the warm weather is here and the sun is shining. Great picture weather - well, minus the harsh shadows of mid-day sun at least. Still, evenings are warm and the "Golden Hour" stretches much longer for those of us in the northern half of the northern hemisphere. What is the "Golden Hour"? It is that hour, just after sunrise, or just before sunset when the sun's light is softer, redder and lower in the sky, making contrasts more appealing as shaddows strike the sides of objects and show their contours, and hues softer as the colour temperature dips ever closer to the warmer red hues.

In the northern hemisphere, the sun stays closer to the horizon for longer periods of time in the summer, so our "Golden Hour" gets stretched out to almost two hours - of course the opposite is true in the winter when days are short and the sun sets quickly, making the "hour" very short.

So get out and take advantage of the great lighting just before sunset, or get up early in the morning and take advantage of it then. Either way, enjoy the extended shooting time - because, in the end, who wants to go out in the harsh Canadian winters anyway...

4 Week Challenge
Our four week challenge is about encouraging us to reach further and expand our skills and creativity. Each four weeks, we have a new challenge, and an opportunity to share our pictures with each other. The photos have to be new and shot within those four weeks. We encourage you to take as many as you like (It's a digital world) and pick a few of your best, then bring them to our group on a media stick. We will display them and give a quick review for the benefit of all.

The Last Challenge
Our last challenge was about natural light portraits. No flash, only the light around you.

As always, there were some good images to share. Roy was impressed with the way the lighting seemed to remove the freckles from his model's face. The key though was about getting enough light to highlight the contours of the face without either washing out the image or throwing it into total darkness. The way that was accomplished was to use a large white card as a reflector to give some back lighting and lift the shaddows from the face.

Brett managed to change things up significantly as he cropped his image in an unusual and interesting way. He managed to make a very good self-portrait using only the natural light from a window. The image is intreaguing, making you want to look around the corner to see the rest of the image, and subtle as the slightly higher light on the arm tends to draw you back towards his face.

Rachel took a little more traditional approach, as she filled the frame to a larger degree than the rest of us. This tended to make the automatic exposure work better as the overall exposure was more neutral. The lighting from the window highlighted her subject, and a white board helped to fill in the lighting on the darker side of the face.

Finally, Gary's image was also more traditional, with a very technical approach. The image attempted to crop out the natural light source from
a nearby window. A white card was used to gave a subtle lift to the hair line, though admittedly, it could have been a little stronger, and an exposure drop of one stop helped to loose the background and prevent blowout of the subject's face.

Our New Challenge: Macro Photography
Making little things big. Macro photography is about taking pictures of very small objects and blowing them up in the image to make them appear larger than life. Macro photography gives a completely different perspective of our world and the things within it.

So the challenge this time, is to take a picture of something very small. There will be challenges with getting your focal length and depth of field set properly, within millimeters, so take your time and be patient. Here are some great sites to check out for tips and instructions:

http://photo.net/learn/macro/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macro_photography
http://photoclub.canadiangeographic.ca/blogs/tutorials/archive/2008/06/20/macro-photography.aspx

and some beautiful examples:










Mid-way Shoot-Out
The first of our Mid-Way Shoot-Out's has been planned. We're going to the Library! Besides the possibility of picking up some great books on photography, we'll be taking some pictures in and around the creative spaces in the Queen Square and Hespler libraries. At Queen's Square, there are lots of architectural features, and at Hespler, the unique glass exterior should make for some interesting images. Thanks to Brett for making the arrangements.

Meet at Queen's Square at 2:00pm. We'll be travelling to Hespler between 3:00 and 3:30pm and finishing up around 4:30. You are welcome to bring tripods.

Freebie of the week
We took some portraits last time... now it's time to clean them up. Use this simple, free utility to make skin look clearer. It doesn't remove all blemishes, but it definitely makes your portraits look cleaner while maintaining the detail of eyes and mouth - and it's relatively fast! Click the image to go to the website.

Enjoy!

Our next meeting: June 14th, 2009
Join us June 14th, 6:30pm to 8:30pm at the usual location (contact the blogger for details), and don't forget the mid-way shoot-out at the Library. Bring your friends and your cameras.

PGC Newsletter 3 - April 19, 2009

THE PHOTOGRAPHY GROUP OF CAMBRIDGE

Once again our little group had a great time sharing pictures. There was some lively discussion about the last challenge – some of us were a little disappointed at our results, but that is OK because it was still awesome to share what we have taken and get some feedback on the images. Here are some samples:

Roy stuck with the Easter theme, but had some difficulty with the idea of depth of field. His images sparked some great discussion about file size and image resizing, and the need to backup original images before beginning to edit them.

Gary tried to superimpose an in-focus cross over the bright colours of easter eggs to highlight the real reason for Easter. Unfortunately the eggs became too much of an out of focus blur, not distinct enough to communicate the message of the image.

Brett's image had a similar concept, but with an Easter Lilly in the background. The lilly was much more defined, even though it was clearly out of focus. These images (along with others) sparked a discussion about white balance settings and the use of flash or natural (incandescent) lighting.

Rachel was unable to get an Easter themed image, but participated with an interesting doll house image that showed depth of field. Everyone enjoyed this image as it was nicely composed with the subjects placed in good positions and good use of depth of field. It was felt that the image "told a story".

Although not all of the images met the criteria of the challenge, it was fun to see what others had come up with in the four weeks, and there were certainly some very enlightening tips shared.

Mid-way shoot-out
Several possible mid-way (half way between our four week meetings) shoot-outs (outings where we get to take some pictures together) were discussed. Brett and Roy were going to look into gaining permission for some of these ideas. Hopefully more to come...

This 4wk Challenge!
Some time between now and the next meeting, shoot a series of photos based on the 4 week challenge. The photo has to be new and shot in the date range. Take as many as you like (It's a digital world) and pick a few of your best ones. Bring them on a media stick and we will display them on the projector for all to review.

NATURAL LIGHT PORTRAITS
This month's challenge is to take a portrait using only natural light. It can be a self portrait, a portrait of someone you love, or even someone you dislike, the only catch is that you cannot use a flash. The real challenge is to situate your subject in such a way as to use the natural light to highlight facial features in an attractive, or interesting way.

One of the best ways to do this, is to use an open window and situate your subject in front of the window in a way that the natural light strikes only the portions of the face that you wish. If the other side of the subject is too dark, try using a white piece of paper, bristol board or some other form of reflector to reflect some more of that natural light on the other side – but remember: no flash!

And of course some links to check out:
Here are dozens of images from someone else's challenge:
http://www.dpchallenge.com/challenge_results.php?CHALLENGE_ID=712
Some more images using natural light and some photoshop tips:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/hdr_orton_dragan_imagery/discuss/72157612489899870/

Some tips and an example:

http://www.7photographyquestions.com/2008/09/p16-a-natural-light-portrait-with-great-contrasts.html

Freebie of the week:

This week we've got a free lighting kit for you! That's right! For free! And just in time the challenge! God has been kind enough to provide us with free sunshine! All the light you need to take those natural light photographs we've been talking about. The weather's getting nicer, so send our sponsor (God) a quick thank you and get out there and start shooting!!

Our next meeting: May 17^th, 2009

Join us on May 17^th – same time, same place, and bring a friend. The weather's getting nicer and we'd love to get some of these mid-way shoot-outs on the go. Bring your ideas for challenges and for field trips! Contact the blogger for more details.

PGC Newsletter 2 - Mar 24, 2009

THE PHOTOGRAPHY GROUP OF CAMBRIDGE

March’s meeting is now behind us and we grew 33% - yay! We had a look at our “light streaks” images – Rachel had an interesting, creative approach with some fireplace photos, while the rest of us went more traditional. Brett had some awesome images overlooking Hamilton and Gary had some that included ethereal ghost cars.

There was some lively discussion about the images and about some that Roy Scott brought as well, as he tried out his new Canon XSi.

Thanks to Brett for the donuts!

This 4wk Challenge!

Some time between now and the next meeting, shoot a series of photos based on the 4wk challenge. The photo has to be new and shot in that date range. Take as many as you like (it’s a digital world) and pick a few of your best ones. Bring them on a media stick and we will display them on the projector for us to review.

SHALLOW DEPTH OF FIELD – EASTER!

This 4 week challenge actually has three parts: technical, thematic and stylistic.

The challenge is to take an Easter still life that uses a shallow depth of field to emphasize the subject. Brett spoke up and said he is challenged by still life setups, so here’s his chance to work a little at it! (and yours). Your image might be of the Easter bunny variety, or it could be the more traditional Jesus and the Cross theme, or perhaps you want to go with elements from the crucifixion (whip, dice, nails, etc) or from the resurrection (stone, grave cloths, perfume).

Grab a few objects that relate Easter to you and set them up somewhere for your still life shot. Create some lighting using whatever you have and shoot away, remembering to use depth of field to emphasize the subject of your composition. As always, get creative.

Depth of field is an important concept in photography as it aids creativity, highlights your subject - and can ruin your composition if done incorrectly.

Here are a few good websites with tips and directions to help you with this subject.:

http://www.diyphotography.net/depth_of_field (lots of good examples)

http://www.emmettlollis.com/tutorials/digitalphotography/shallow-depth-of-field.asp (Simple and straight forward)

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/depth-of-field.htm (somewhat Technical)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depth_of_field (very Technical)

Here are some examples (thumbnails from google image search - click the images to see their origin):

(Note: the last one is not really a still life, but could have been set up as one)

Freebie of the week:

At our meeting, we were discussing “Muslin’s” (Backgrounds) and I mentioned that I had come across a site that showed you how to make your own. Here’s the link for all who are interested – the website also shows you how to make the backdrop stand.

http://www.diyphotography.net/homestudio/chaep-diy-muslin-photography-background

There are plenty of other great diy tips on the web site too!

Our next meeting is April 19th.

Our next regular meeting will be on April 19th. Roy Scott is going to see if we can gain permission to do an in-between shot at a local pub in town. Date is to be determined, but we should be able to announce it at the next meeting.

See you all then!!!

PGC Newsletter 1 - Feb 27, 2009

THE PHOTOGRAPHY GROUP OF CAMBRIDGE
(Name to be determined)

Well, our first meeting was all Scotts, but oh well. It has to start somewhere. We had a chance to sit down and talk photos. Rachel impressed her grandfather by knowing what f/5.6 represented! We looked at some camera gear and what pixel resolution actually meant on screen and in print. A good first start!

We’re still nameless – SWOF (Shutters without focus) SOS (Society of Shutters) CAPS (Cambridge Area Photographic Society) – who knows – so come out and give us your suggestions - help us come up with a name we all like!

Our next meeting is March 22nd.

At this point we don’t have an “in between” photo shoot date or location (which is the plan – meet every two weeks… meet and share, two weeks later a photo shoot and two weeks after that, another meet and share) – that’s ok, it’s in the planning and will happen some time.

But we do have a challenge for you…
here’s how that works…

Some time between now and the next meeting, go out and shoot a series of photos based on the 4wk challenge. The photo has to be new and shot in that date range. Take as many as you like (it’s a digital world) and pick one or two of your best photos to bring with you on a media stick, or e-mail them to me at this address. We will display them on the projector and review them all. We’ll have some discussion about them, and then perhaps vote on the photographer of the week. The photographer’s image will be featured somewhere (to be determined)… Facebook? CrossWorksMedia.com? who knows.

So here’s this 4wk challenge:
SLOW SHUTTER SPEED – TRAILING LIGHTS

Take a photo using a slow shutter speed where lights are passing by or in motion – cars, trains, amusement rides, or even a flashlight. You can use flash if you wish, but the lights have to be in motion and the shutter speed has to be longer than ½ second. Leave the meta data in your image so that we can look at your settings when we review the image. Get creative!

For some tips on slow shutter speed, check some of the following links:

http://www.digital-photography-tips.net/shutter-speed-creative.html
http://digital-photography-school.com/slow-shutter-shoot-out-3-slow-shutter-speed-techniques

Freebee:

And here’s a freebee for club members! Can’t afford Photoshop? Try this free on-line image editing application!

http://www.pixlr.com/

Pretty impressive little application that works much like photoshop!

See you on the 22nd, and don’t forget to pass this along to any would-be members!