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!

Class B Is No Place To Hide, The Competition Is Hot

If you're in Class A you can expect the judges to be very critical and harsh in their scoring.  Well, you're not able to hide if you're in Class B either.  Vincent Pia is off to a pretty hot start, taking first place in two categories with his images "Stagecoach Wheel" (shown) and "Freedom".  Vin cranked up his Canon 40D with a 1/100 second shutter speed at F5, racked out to 80mm to get this shot that's rich with color.  An interesting angle on the shot gave an excellent placement of the center of interest (the hub) with radial lines pointing the way.  Nice shot Vin. Way to go.
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Class B, by no means, means being a less accomplished photographer.  It, most likely, means you may be new to the club.  Each year we tend to see someone come in and dominate the Class B competitions.  This should not deter anyone from competing.  Anyone entering competition should put in an image they feel is worth a perfect 30 point score.  (The judges may not agree, but...)  Putting your very best effort into each competition entry is the way to accomplish a couple of things.  One would be to win the year long, overall competition and another would be to constantly improve your technique.  Every photographer in the club is constantly trying to take their technique to the next level. 
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This year's Class B competition is shaping up to be one of the best we've had in years.  Everyone competing in Class B is making the competitions interesting. Read more!

Maybe We Could Rename The Club Lorri And Friends?

The results of the October competition are posted.  They can be accessed through the link in the righthand column.  In a night of outstanding prints and digital images Lorri Freedman dominated, winning both digital categories and the Class A Open and Assigned Subject print contests.  The only reason she didn't win in more categories is probably because she didn't enter any others.  Nice job Lorri, keep up the good work.
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Lorri's winning image in the Digital Freestyle category, "Land of the Zebra Wing" is pictured with this post.  Anyone who won in their category can send an electronic version of their print to mailto:tjtomik@hotmail.com for inclusion on the site.  Please include a brief summary of why, where, and any technical details that might help explain how the image was made.  All images will be marked with the wording "Candlewood Camera Club" diagonally across the image to protect the owners rights.  This being done only to safeguard the maker's IP (Intellectual Property).
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Frank Gardner is one of the top image makers in the club and he hasn't been as enthusiastic about the club's prospects for winning NECCC in years.  The other eighty clubs in NECCC better watch out.  We're coming with guns blazing. Read more!

O-YOUR-NAME-IMAGE-TITLE

Let's say you have a great print of a lighthouse.  You put the label on in the opposite corner from where it should be (it should be in the upper left) and you inadvertently enter it in next months assigned subject competition (numbers is the assigned subject for November).  Would you feel you'd have a legitimate complaint when the print is put in the lightbox upsidedown and in the wrong category of print?  Off hand, the answer is no.
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Yet, images in the digital projected competition are sent in to the coordinator without titles, without names and without any designation as to if they are being entered in the Open or Freestyle categories.  The title of the person getting the images ready for competition night is not "mind reader".  Once you have your image just the way you want it, you need to rename it (or a copy) using the convention that has been setup by NECCC (New England Camera Club Council). 
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At this time we have two categories for digital projected images.  Open and Freestyle.  The title of this post shows the proper method of identifying an image for the Open competition.  Substitute an "F" for the "O" and you'd have an entry for the Freestyle competition.  There is the possibility that your image might be sent to NECCC as part of the club's interclub competition entry package. Today, NECCC has only Open and Nature categories, so there is the possibility an image will be renamed to "N" plus the rest of the designation or changed from "F" to "O".
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Going forward, any digital projected images that do not follow these conventions will not be put into competition.  Preparing images for the competition should not require any "heavy lifting" on the part of the person setting up the competition.  The person should be able to "drag and drop" images into the folder to be used during competition.
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If you do not know how to rename an image file, ask for help at the club meetings.  "Help" has always been one of the cornerstones of the club. Read more!