CURRENT NEWSLETTER
January
Program MEMBER IMAGE PROGRAM For our January Program we want to start off 2007 with a special event. We are asking each member to show 3-5 of their BEST images of 2006. Please be prepared to describe the scene, inspiration you had when composing the shot and any other things that make the image special. To facilitate loading digital images into my PC for projection please email them before Dec 31 to uwpc@comcast.net. Put "Member Slides" in the subject field. Files should be .jpg (jpeg) and less than 350 Kbytes each. If you have 35mm slides, we will have a slide tray available.
Please remember that we have a very special program on February 6, 2007. George Lepp will be our guest speaker and we expect a very large turnout. We will be meeting in Ricketson Auditorium. Everyone coming must reserve a seat (free of charge) so we don't exceed the allowed seating capacity. If you don't already have your ticket, please go to the website or see Bob or Andy at the next meeting and sign up!
Check
out the website for lots of new and exciting stuff, including the photos selected
at the last meeting for display. http://www.couwpc.com March Program DUES are due! Our annual dues come due in March of each year. Except for those who have joined and paid dues since November of last year, we ask each member to pay so we can continue to meet our obligations. Dues will remain the same for 2007 as they were in 2006. $15 per year for each person or family that receives their newsletter by email. $20.00 per year for each individual that receives a newsletter by U S mail. When you send in a check (to the address above) or bring dues to the meeting, please bring a written copy of your email address so we can verify that our records are correct. Help Wanted: No we aren't begging for volunteer help, Andy Long is looking to hire a part time assistant. The job would entail doing emails while he's on the road, responding to phone messages needing attention, Photoshop™ work, and stock agency submissions. Pay
and hours as well as work location are open. If you, or someone you know is interested,
email Andy at firstlightfoto@aol.com Digital Corner: Histograms are those strange looking displays that we can see on our digital camera’s LCD display. These things are great tools for determining if the exposure was correct. It is one of the best parts of digital photography in that you no longer need to wait to receive images form the lab to see if your exposure was correct.
What is really displayed on a histogram? Essentially the histogram displays graphically the number of pixels that recorded various levels of brightness. The left most edge represents black and the right edge represents white. In between are 254 other brightness indicators (256 in all). The height of the display for each brightness indicates the number of pixels that recorded that level of brightness.
This histogram shows an image that has a lot of very dark parts, probably an underexposed image.
This histogram is just the opposite, showing a large number of pixels recording very bright levels -overexposed.
A “properly” exposed image shows most of the pixels are not full black or full white.
This little bit of knowledge and some practice will allow you to shoot an image, check the LCD for composure, then check the histogram for proper exposure. With some practice, you’ll be able to quickly check your images and have many more properly exposed ones.
As you experiment with histograms, you’ll discover that as with just about every aspect of photography there are tradeoffs and times when the “rules” don’t necessarily apply. Take notes and see how your histogram checks can improve your exposure. The adage “fix it in Photoshop™” has limitations. Properly exposed images require much less computer work and will allow more time in the field.
Check out this website and navigate to Colorado. You'll see a list of camera clubs including ours! Thanks to Nancy Stocker for finding this. http://www.photo-ne.com/biglist/
Check out the website for lots of new and exciting stuff, including the photos selected at the last meeting for display. http://www.couwpc.com One of the things
we are adding to the website is a compilation of notes taken during George Lepp's
presentation last month. If you have notes you'd like included, please email them
to us.
April Program March of the Hollings! DUES are past due! Our annual dues come due in March of each year. Except for those who have joined and paid dues since November of last year, we ask each member to pay so we can continue to meet our obligations. Dues will remain the same for 2007 as they were in 2006. $15 per year for each person or family that receives their newsletter by email. $20.00 per year for each individual that receives a newsletter by US mail. When you send in a check (to the address above) or bring dues to the meeting, please bring a written copy of your email address so we can verify that our records are correct. Help Still Wanted: Andy Long is looking to hire a part time assistant. The job would entail doing emails while he's on the road, responding to phone messages needing attention, Photoshop™ work, and stock agency submissions. Pay
and hours as well as work location are open. If you, or someone you know is interested,
email Andy at firstlightfoto@aol.com As you may have noticed, we have a section on the website for member bios. Any of our members are welcome and encouraged to submit biographical information. The form is available at: http://www.couwpc.com/member_bio.html We also would ask for a few images. The size can be 72 dpi at 5" or 6" maximum length George Lepp Follow up: One of the things we are adding to the website is a compilation of notes taken during George Lepp's presentation last month. If you have notes you'd like included, please email them to us.
Check out the website for lots of new and exciting stuff, including the photos selected at the last meeting for display. http://www.couwpc.com Digital Corner has taken the month off to recover from a nasty bug and nurse a spouse with an even nastier one. Back for May!
May
Program
DUES: A few folks have still not renewed, please send your check today or bring it to the May meeting. The dues are: $15.00/year if you receive your newsletter by email only. This is for an individual or a family. $20.00/year for an individual or a family who receives a single newsletter by U S mail. Check with Bob Dean if you aren't sure of your status. Things to do this summer! Check out the Rocky Mountain Nature Association website http://www.rmna.org for some upcoming, and very interesting, field seminars.
Check out the website for lots of new and exciting stuff, including the photos selected at the last meeting for display. http://www.couwpc.com
A number of members asked about sensor cleaning, so
the Digital Corner did some research. The other school of thought was summarized in about 35 pages of text and images on the website http://www.cleaningdigitalcameras.com/ . This site is number one on the Google™ search. It is a very good reference on all of the methods, with pros and cons spelled out clearly. Our conclusion is that if you can't clean all of those annoying blotches and dust spots using an air bulb, you can be very brave (or maybe cavalier) and use one of the methods mentioned on the website, OR you can take your camera to a professional and let someone else assume the liability. Once you have it clean, there are a few good rules of thumb for keeping it clean. Don't change lenses in a dusty environment, minimize the amount of time the camera is exposed to the open air w/o a lens installed, etc. Sorry there are no magic formulas, but like everything else in photography, there are always tradeoffs!
June
Program For our June meeting Andy Long will present a programs on Penguins of the Falkland Islands plus some interesting material on Santiago and Punta Arenas, Chile. Field Report by Pat Gautier You have to check out Eastlake. They have a stone wall there that acts as a blind. There must have been a dozen Avocets, 4 Stilts, a Cinnamon Teal pair, a couple of pairs of Redheads, tons of geese and Killdeer. It's on 128th between Colorado and Washington. Macro Class Bob Dean is teaching a class in Macro Photography at the Museum staring June 14. Check the museum website (dmns.org) or monthly publication for details, or check with Bob! Digital Corner -A new piece of Software: We very rarely plug a commercial product in
the newsletter, or at club meetings for that manner. This month we're breaking
from tradition and will give a quick overview of a new Adobe™ product. Recently
the folks who brought us Photoshop™ and Photoshop Elements™ introduced
Lightroom™. They did this intro in an interesting manner as they made it
available at a low price in an early version. They then offered it at the normal
price of $299.00. What caught our eye about a month back was a special promotion
for NANPA members. Adobe™ offered Lightroom™ (as well as CS3) for a
reduced price to NANPA members. In the case of Lightroom™, the special price
was $199.00 and you could download it directly. Once downloaded it was quite easy
to install and start using. Before doing anything, we looked up a few websites
that offered short tutorials. The best one we found was: This website has a link to some really good video tutorials. What we liked about this product was the ease of the workflow process. It can "import" images form existing files or directly from CF cards. It gives you a choice of importing only or importing and copying to whatever location you choose (nice for importing from CF cards). During the import process, you can select the images you wish to import, add keywords and "metadata" such as location, copyright, subject descriptions, etc. all in a batch mode. Batch means you can specify a number of images, say wildflowers from the Northern California coast taken in May 2007, and apply the keywords, copyrights, etc. to all of the images with a single keystroke. In addition you can apply certain image enhancements to the images in a batch mode as well. Lightroom™ has the unique attribute of creating a database for the images you work on while leaving the files in the directory you use for storage. This prevents file corruption and reduces the amount of memory required. Import is only the first of the features of the really cool program. You can download a 30 day free trial but be careful!! Once you
start to use the very intuitive, photographer friendly tool, you'll be hooked.
Then you can check with NANPA and get the special code for the discount. The NANPA
discount is good only through August, so check it out soon.
August
Program Michael Childress will present a program on the Utah Canyon Country. Check out http://www.wanderingseeing.net for information on Mike and his travels. Upcoming Digital and Outdoor Seminar The weekend of October 20th and 21st will see Outdoor Photographer's, Canon sponsored seminar on Outdoor and digital photography. The instructors will be David Muench and George Lepp! The cost is very reasonable at $69.00 per day or $99.00 for both days. Check out http://www.opseminar.com for information and to register. Digital Corner - Digital Image Organization Life is good. No more film costs, processing fees, postage or trips to the lab, because digital photography enables us to shoot a lot of images essentially for free. With this great improvement in "image acquisition" comes added work after we come in from the field. In June the digital corner highlighted a new software tool for workflow. This month we take a look at some ideas on improving organization of all of those images we made for free. Organization and workflow are pretty closely tied together. If you know how your images will be organized, you can adapt the workflow process to make your computer time more efficient. Let's consider some basic workflow and organization ideas. The very first thing you need to do is an initial edit of your images to weed out the obvious bad ones. This first edit could be done with the LCD on the camera or a software package looking at the CF card before download. It should be really quick and weed out grossly out of focus, poor composition and bad exposure. This will then allow you to concentrate on the images that have a chance of making it to your permanent files. After this initial edit, you are ready to download your "shoot". But wait a minute! Have you decided how you want to file your images? The concept of file organization is boring but with a little planning you'll be able to locate images in the future. One good way to set up (or convert your existing file structure) is to look back to how you stored images when they were on 35mm film. If what you did back then was good enough for your needs, you could create a file structure quite similar to that for your digital images. I used 3 ring binders and archival sleeves for my images and labeled the binders according to the content. Some examples are large mammals, small mammals, insects, wildflowers, etc. This worked pretty well as I had a list on my computer that had highlights of what was in each book. When I went digital photography in a big way, I kept that same basic concept but decided to use Windows™ ability to build multi level file structures to provide what amounts to binders with tabs and then sections with in each tab. Windows™ allows file names up to 256 characters so you can get a lot of descriptive information in the file name.
Once you have you files organized, you can add additional folders at any level. Say you have never photographed wild horses before, but on a trip to western Colorado you got some great shoots. Simply add a new folder under the large mammal folder for wild horses. Note that Windows™ will arrange your files in alphabetical order so that into account when you set up your files. I've found it best to create new file folders before downloading from a CF card. I can then specify the location to store the files when I do my download. Since I use Lightroom™, I can specify the import location, then bring my images in from the memory card and do a second edit on a larger screen, add location information, key words and metadata, and group images by quality. Before your next big shoot, take some time to organize your files. The longer you wait, the more you'll need to move around. In a future "Digital Corner" we'll discuss backing up images and how that fits into file management.
Bob Dean will present a "survival guide for photographers" at one of his favorite venues - air shows. Come and learn techniques for photographing really fast birds in flight. Vaughn's Art Show: Long time member Vaughn Cottman will be having an art show at The Photographer's Gallery - 2426 E. 3d Avenue (3d and Columbine in Cherry Creek) www.photogallerydenver.com The date is September 7, 2007 (First Friday) 6:00 -9:00P Title of Show is "The Nature of Things". Following the show, there will be a get-together at his house from 9:00-12:00. The address is 1157 Harrison Street, Denver, 80206 Upcoming Digital and Outdoor Seminar The weekend of October 20th and 21st will see Outdoor Photographer's, Canon sponsored seminar on Outdoor and digital photography. The instructors will be David Muench and George Lepp! The cost is very reasonable at $69.00 per day or $99.00 for both days. Check out http://www.opseminar.com for information and to register. Digital Corner - Digital Image Organization - Second installment, data management! Data management is the industry buzz word for how you handle the images you have in digital format. Data management starts with selection of memory card size and goes all the way through the file structure and the back up process you develop. These decisions are really driven by the type of shooting you do. Consider the following notes and decide what fits your needs. 1) Select a memory card
size that meets your needs. I personally feel that either 1 or 4 GB is a good
size. These hold up to a few hundred images in RAW format. Anything bigger could
mean that your entire two week trip is on one card and could be lost or damaged.
Anything smaller means you have a lot of cards that may get lost. I hope these notes are helpful!
Roger Branch will be our featured speaker and will present the ins and outs of Microstock agencies.
The weekend of October 20th and 21st will see Outdoor Photographer's, Canon sponsored seminar on Outdoor and digital photography. The instructors will be David Muench and George Lepp! The cost is very reasonable at $69.00 per day or $99.00 for both days. Check out http://www.opseminar.com for information and to register. Rocky Mountain School of Photography (RMSP) RMSP will sponsor a Weekend Event in Denver on March 29-30,
2008. The RMSP will be sending brochures and group savings codes to camera clubs
so that members can receive the maximum savings available when attending RMSP
Weekends. We have asked to be included.
The Colorado Municipal League is looking for photographs that show how municipal government enhances people's lives. They are launching the "Picture Colorado Municipalities" photo contest, where winning entries will be featured in a 2008 calendar. Examples of municipal government in action include a picture of a police officer helping a citizen, a water treatment plant, a museum filled with visitors or a beautiful photo of a city park. (These are just examples...we're hoping entrants will be even more creative with their photo submissions!) Photographs can be submitted from anyone who lives in Colorado and winners will receive a $50 Visa gift card. Entries are due on Friday, October 19. Photographs and digital images are not returnable and will become the property of the Colorado Municipal League, which reserves the right, without further consideration, to use all photographs selected for inclusion in the 2008 Calendar and in any other calendars, publications, media, and other CML promotions. Each entrant is limited to a maximum of five (5) submissions. For details, please
contact Lisa C. White or check the website Colorado Agriculture ColoradoAgriculture.com. Photo contest for photos taken this year of agricultural nature and also a historical category. Deadline Dec31,2007 by mail only. Studio 333 in Sausalito will be hosting an international digital photography exhibition October 25th through December 5th. The title of the show is "City Streets". The juror of the show is Ken Milburn. Ken is a digital photographer and Photoshop expert who has written many books on the topic of digital photography. Entrants may submit up to 5 photographs. Entry fee is $10 per photograph. Photographs must be mailed in on a CD in jpeg or tiff files in high resolution (min. 300 dpi resolution). Cash prizes will be awarded. For more information please visit the Studio 333 website at www.studio333.info and go to the call to artist link.
Jim Durkee and Helena Auyang will present a summary of their trip to Brazil. Check for Dust on Your Sensor Andy Long will bring his Sensor Scope to the November meeting and will assist members in checking for dust on their DSLR sensors. Andy can also provide ideas on sensor cleaning. Bring your DSLR! Critique Slides Our monthly critique has become very popular and the number of images is growing! That's good. We want to be able to provide good feedback and still end by 9:00 PM so we ask each member to limit their submissions to 4 images. Also please try to make the file size as small as is reasonable. If you can store each one as a jpeg file no larger than 500kB- 600kB it would be most appreciated. You should be able to find out the size of the file BEFORE you save it. An example of the procedure in Photoshop™ Elements 5 is as follows: 1) When you are finished editing your image, select
"Save As" Please note that the LCD projector at the museum is set to display at a resolution that cannot come close to printing so even a fairly highly compressed file will project as well as one that's minimally compressed. That means a setting of 5 or 6 will be just fine. Website photos We'd like to change the photos on the home page of our website. Please take a look at the monthly photo page and pick your favorites! We'll need a few good shots to update the home page. Email your suggestions to the club website or jot them down on a slip a paper and give them to Bob or Andy. Rocky Mountain School of Photography (RMSP) RMSP will sponsor a Weekend Event in Denver on
March 29-30, 2008. The RMSP will be sending brochures and group savings codes
to camera clubs so that members can receive the maximum savings available when
attending RMSP Weekends. We have asked to be included.
We are looking for members willing
to submit a profile on themselves. We'd like to be able to have a large section
on our website featuring our members. Please go to the Member Profiles section
of the web page and see what we need. Check with Bob or Andy on getting your information
"on line".
December Program LOCATION CHANGE Our December meeting will be in Ricketson Auditorium! Entry between 6:30 and 7:00 will be via the west doors. Before or after will be through the sub-post (normal way we enter for meetings) and through the museum. Our program will feature club founders Wendy Shattil and Bob Rozinski doing their always popular year in the life of professional nature photographers. Here is Wendy's summary of the program. Our primary focus for 2007 has been to photograph an area of southeast Colorado we've wanted to explore for decades. What we found was as spectacular as we'd anticipated, and we'll share it with you in December. We are building a body of work to document the history and rich biological resources east of Trinidad. The proposed expansion of the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site could trigger tremendous changes to a long established ranching and farming community. Also at potential risk is incredible archaeology, paleontology, biodiversity and cultural history. As this region is virtually undocumented, our work will put a face and identity on the southeast corner of Colorado. In addition to the red rock canyons of the Purgatoire River, aerials of 1200 dinosaur tracks and intriguing petroglyphs, we found the residents of southeast Colorado to be as unique as their surroundings. Ranching families who have homesteaded in Colorado for seven generations add a special connection to the land, culture and history. An even older resident of southeast Colorado has drawn the attention of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Along with the U.S. Forest Service, they are excavating an Apatosaurus dinosaur which will eventually reside at the Museum. In addition to the dinosaur, we have photographed a number of species of concern, including nesting long-billed curlew and mountain plover, as well as pronghorn, bighorn, and deer. One of the ranchers generously allowed us to lead a photo workshop on his ranch this fall. It was the first time he opened his ranch to an outside group and its difficult to say whether he or the participants enjoyed it more. We look forward to seeing all of you next month. Critique Slides Please remember to limit your critique slides to 4 images and have them in jpeg format around 500 kB in size. Refer to the November newsletter on the website to refresh your memory on how to resize your files. Website photos We'd like to change the photos on the home page of our website. Please take a look at the monthly photo page and pick your favorites! We'll need a few good shots to update the home page. Email your suggestions to the club website or jot them down on a slip a paper and give them to Bob or Andy. Rocky Mountain School of Photography (RMSP) RMSP will sponsor a Weekend Event
in Denver on March 29-30, 2008. Member Profiles We are looking for members willing to submit a profile on themselves. We'd like to be able to have a large section on our website featuring our members. Please go to the Member Profiles section of the web page and see what we need. Check with Bob or Andy on getting your information "on line".
Urban
Wildlife Photo Club
|
