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!