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.
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.
