Definitions For December And January Assogned Subjects

The Assigned Subjects for the next two competitions probably need some explanation.

December's  Asigned Subject is "Long Exposure". Is it 1/15th of a second or is it 15 minutes? Either one might do. A good "rule of thumb" is probably - if you can hand hold it, it most likely isn't long enough. From Wikipedia, the definition is:

Long exposure photography is a technique that requires a slow shutter speed to capture light and movement.

Technique

• When an image is taken including stationary and moving subjects (for example, a fixed street and moving cars or a camera within a car showing a fixed dash-board and moving scenery) using a slow shutter speed, interesting effects, such as light trails occur.

• Long exposures are easiest to accomplish in low-light conditions, but can be done in brighter light using neutral density filters or specially designed cameras.  Continue by clicking "read more".

Read more!

Do You Think It's Tough Coming Up With "Something" Once A Month?

Trying to come up with something once a month for our competition is not an easy task. What happens if you multiple that by about thirty? Reshma Beeranthbail, one of our new members this season, has done just that. You can follow her "365 Project" on Flickr by clicking on the project.  She can probably use a healthy dose of encouragement, so talk to her about how she's doing at the club meetings, or leave a note on her Flickr site.  Here's Reshma's story in her own words.

Why I am doing Project365:

I was inspired to do this Project after browsing through Project365 photos by other flickr.com members. There is a dedicated group for 'Project 365' on flickr. Some users have embarked on the project to document their life for a year, while others do this as a photographic endeavor with goals and challenges that they've set for themselves. I saw the completed portfolios of some of these photographers and was amazed by how much they had improved over the course of a year. There were some obvious reasons.

1. The project instills Photography discipline.
2. Practice, practice, practice. Do that 365 times multiplied by # of shots per day; that is a LOT of practice! Is there a better teacher than that?
3. The world is a photo-op when you ~have~ to find a good shot each day. You've got to carry your camera everywhere because you never know when a photo happens.
4. Shooting, editing and viewing photos everyday trains the eye to "see" better and be more critical too.
5. You are doing this for you. There is no medal, there is no credit. The journey is probably more important than the destination. You are doing this for the right reasons.  (Click the "read more" to find out more of Reshma's story.)

Read more!

Black & White Or Color, It Makes No Difference To Micheline Williams

One of Micheline Williams shots was used to announce this month's scores being posted. It's part of the November 10th post on this site. Micheline also took first place in the B&W Class A Assigned Subject category of "Numbers". Her shot (shown here) of a mug with raffle tickets spilling out captured the judges imagination. It demonstrates her stick-to-it-ness of not giving up on the Assigned Subject even as time closes in on the competition date. The competition was on the evening of the 10th. The EXIF data for the shot shows she took the shot in the afternoon of the 9th. To shows that every shot doesn't have to be something pulled out of your "stock" image files. The purpose of the Assigned Subject is to get you to think about a photographic problem presented to you. Several members who started as interested hobbyists have gone on to become professional photographers. As professionals they take on "assignments". The Assigned Subjects at the club are exercises in coming up with unique solutions to something a client may, one day, give you.

Nice job of coming up with a one of a kind answer to the question of "Numbers" Micheline.

Tech Data for "Numbers": Camera: Canon PowerShot S3 IS, Shutter Speed 1/6 sec, Aperture F 3.2, ISO 400, no flash, Lens set to 6mm , White Balance in Auto mode

Tech Data for "Fall Tapestry" (shown below with 11/10/09 post): Camera: Canon PowerShot S3 IS, Shutter Speed 1/30 sec, Aperture F 3.2, Exposure bias set to 0 stop, no flash, Lens set to 12mm , White Balance in Auto mode

Here is the beginning of my post. And here is the rest of it. Read more!

The Lorri Freedman Juggernaut Rolls On

Lorri Freedman came to the club to compete for the first time this season. She made the request that she be put into Class A without ever having put an image into one of our competitions. That's a pretty gutsy act for someone walking in off the street. Once the competition season started it was time to put up or shut up. So far Lorri's "put up" in spades, racking up seven first places in three months of competition. She's three for three in the Digital Freestyle category, two out of three in Open Color Prints and has one win in each of Assigned Color Prints and Digital Open. Lorri's winners from last night are shown here. You're setting the bar pretty high Lorri, keep up the outstanding work.

In Lorri's words:

Bryce Canyon Wall Street: It was a beautiful day when I hiked down a narrow trail called Navajo Loop to reach an area called "Wall Street" The red rocks soared into the sky. When I looked up I thought it would be an interesting shot for my fisheye lens. I didn't have my tripod with me so I lied on the floor for stability and took lots of shots. There were a lot of ravens flying around, I think they had nests on the cliffs of the rocks.

Tech Data for "Bryce Canyon Wall Street" : Nikon D2X, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 1/160 sec, Aperture F 6.3, Exposure bias set to -1/3 stop, no flash, Lens set to 10 (15mm 35 mm equivalent), White Balance in Auto mode

Smoke: To get this shot I burned an incense stick. I turned off all the lights in my office and waited for the evening. I took photos of the smoke using a black felt background and a flash. The result was white smoke on a black background. In Photoshop, I did an inverse to make the black background white and the smoke dark. I copied the image and flipped it over so that it looked like the smoke was talking to itself.

Tech Data for "Smoke": Camera: Nikon D2x, ISO 320, Shutter Speed 1/60 sec, Aperture F 16, Exposure Bias set to 0, Flash in manual mode, Lens set to 130 mm (195 mm 35 mm equivalent), White Balance in manual mode Read more!

The November Scores Are Posted

The November Competition is in the books.  November had the largest set of Photojournalism print entries ever.  It's good to see that PJ is taking off as a "hot topic" for the club's shooters.

The attached image is Micheline Wiliams winning Digital Open entry.  A very sensitive view of a fall woodland scene.  Nicely done Micheline. 

Anyone wishing to find out how they're doing in the standing can click on the "Current Competition Scores" link under the heading "Quick Tips For Competitions" found in the righthand column.  Anyone finding any errors in the scoring should post a comment to this post.  Every effort is made to accurately record the scores.  Occasionally mistakes are made.  Please check your scores and report any issues.

If you would like to keep on top of how the club is doing in the NECCC Competitions, check "sheet two" of the competition scores for the last information of who's prints and images have been sent to NECCC and (as soon as the scores are returned) how we're doing.  The Fall Print scores are posted and the Digital Competition is coming up on the 18th.

Everyone who had a winner this month is encouraged to send a JPG copy of their print, along with a writeup about how, where and why the image was made.  Any technical details, thoughts and cute stories about the shot will be posted on the blog.  Digital winners should also send along the story behind the image. Read more!

Getting More Out Of The Site

There's a piece of the site that you may not be "into" that has more choice than meets the eye when you first look at it. It's the "Photography Related Blogs & Sites" section found down along the right hand column. It's constantly changing, so it gives you a reason to check it out every time you visit the site. It gives you information on what's been updated, what's the new content is and how long ago it was posted. Where's also two ways to use the site. If you click on the name of the new post you'll get the entire new post. If you click on the name of the blog or site you be presented with a snippet of the newest post and pieces of each of the most recent posts. So, if you know you want to read the topic that's shown, click on it. If you just like the authors style in general, click on the name of the post and get everything he/she has posted lately. Just another way to get more out of the blog. Read more!

Thanks To Lisa Cuchara For An Inspiring Program

If you missed last night's program and had a question about basic masking techniques you missed the program you should have seen. Lisa Cuchara gave an interesting program to get anyone new to layers and masks started using one of Photoshop or Photoshop Elements key features.

Lisa's suggestion of starting by experimenting with color in a black and white photo was spot on. You can get instant feedback on how masks work. It's very visual, so it's easy to see what you're getting. She worked her way to more complicated (and harder to see) ways to use masks to enhance your work.

One of the key points Lisa brought out was the nondestructive nature of using layers and masks. Just remember to leave the Eraser tool "in the drawer" and flip back and forth using a black brush or a white brush. Use the shortcut X to flip between the two.  Here's a link to Lisa's "White Reveals, Black Conceals" program notes.

A big thank you to Lisa for sharing her knowledge with our club. Read more!

Here's A Super Photo Opportunity

The shot you see here is by Peter Lerro. Lisa Cuchara's "Lisa's Photography INFO Blog" posted Peter's email (?) about his upcoming workshops. These appear to be one of the great photography bargains around. Peter is having one of his lighthouse workshops in Maine next February. Brrrr, but very interesting. Peter says he has access to the lighthouses before sunrise, after sunset and for night photography. Brrr, brrr and brrr. His Maine workshop goes for $550.00. Not a bad price for a workshop, but when you consider that the price includes hotels for three nights it becomes a great bargain. If you have a pair of electric socks and a couple of bucks to spare this is a no brainer. Check it out. Here's a link to Peter's site.

Thanks for the "heads up" Lisa. Read more!

How About $1500.00 To Do Something Good?

There may be club members who don't know who Lisa Cuchara is, other than one of our guest speakers at next Tuesday's program meeting, but she runs an interesting blog named "Lisa's Photography Info Blog".  Check it out.  She searches the web to find things of interest to the photographic community and puts multiple entries up every day. 

She recently posted a link to the NANPA site (North American Nature Photography Association).  NANPA is offering to fund the expense of a photo blind.  They're working in conjunction with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to fund groups who would want to build or make modifications to a photo blind at any refuge, wildlife reserve, state/city park or other natural area.  How far up our alley is that?  There are numerous areas in the greater Danbury area that would qualify.

Take a look at the links in this post and bring it up at Tuesday's meeting.  It's a way to get everyone a chance to shoot some wildlife.  Not just Frank sitting in his backyard.  ;-) Read more!

Don't Miss This Month's Program Meeting

A couple of years ago we greatly benefited from Lisa and Tom Cuchara's program on digital photography in the field. And on a daily basis they provide us with a wealth of information on all things photography from their blog.

They will be with us on Tuesday night, October 27 to present their program “White Reveals, Black Conceals: Masking Your Way to a Better Photograph."

Masking is extremely simple; this one mantra “white reveals, black exposure to contrast, dodging and burning, blurring the background, selective coloring, selective focus, etc. Lisa and Tom will show you how to use layers and masks in Photoshop to enhance your images. Don't miss this great opportunity.

Here's a link to checkout their blog http://lifethrulisaslens.blogspot.com/ .  It's also one of the permanent links on our righthand column listed under "Photography Related Blogs and Sites". Read more!