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. We're serious about having fun with our cameras and learning from each other.
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: Christmas Ornaments
All of us love to see the lights and the ornaments at Christmas time. And those of us with Cameras love to take pictures of them, right? Here are some of those shots taken by the group for this challenge:
Tammy had some awesome pictures this month, Including images of silver Christmas balls. Other people also tried taking images of reflective balls, and everyone discovered that it is not an easy task as the photographer usually ends up in the image – but that’s OK. It did spark some lively discussion and sharing of ideas how one could stay out of their own picture. Here, Tammy uses depth of field nicely to draw attention to her subject: the centre ball.
It’s a little difficult to see in a small image, but Shannon took advantage of a star filter to get a little magic in her Christmas postcard pictures, giving the Christmas lights that extra twinkle.
Gary took this shot of the West Montrose Covered Bridge adorned with it’s Christmas Wreath. Of course, such a unique old subject required an “old” treatment with the sepia tone.
Chris took her time to get the exposure just right on this image… she told us she spent the entire time the movie was playing to get it right. Personally I think she was waiting for that perfect moment on “White Christmas” to 
give the image that extra special quality.Unfortunately, Rachel’s “ornament” did not survive long after taking her shot. Her cousin devoured it on her as she was busy shooting! Thank goodness he stopped at the shortbread!
Awesome job everyone!
Our Next Challenge: Lights in the Darkness
The challenge this month is to take a picture in the dark... well, sort of. There are different ways to look at this challenge. If you were not with us last February, then you can shoot light streaks with a long shutter speed (Blog: Feb 2009). If you want a greater challenge, then use one of the techniques to capture movement and stop action at the same time.
This can be done a number of ways: using rear curtain flash, but one way we can probably all capture a cool shot in the darkness is to use "slow shutter sync" or shoot with your camera set to "night mode" or "night scene" (have a look in your manual for a description of an icon like this: 
) it will give you a long exposure with a quick flash to stop the action. Thanks to Shannon for the suggestion and this link of example images.
As always, be creative! We want to see what you come up with...
Mid-Way Shoot-Out: Chickopee Boarding Hills
Unconfirmed: Snapping the action in the ice and snow, we’re headed for the Chickopee Ski Hills to capture some of the boarders doing their tricks. Join us February 6th at 2:00pm - meet at teh Chalet main entrance. Don't forget to bring along your long lens or find the zoom on your camera, bring a tripod and warm clothes!
Freebie of the Month!
Trying to figure out why your colours come out different in print than your screen? Or when you use one program or another? Well, here's some help. http://www.digitalmastery.com/downloads/pdf/Color_Management.pdf. This 23 page book by Ben Willmore is free to download. Be sure to check out his website http://www.digitalmastery.com/ for lots more info and freebies.
Next Regular Meeting: February 21st, 2009 – 4:00-6:00
We will meet at our new time (4:00pm-6:00pm) 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.
