2007
NEWSLETTERS 2010 NEWSLETTERS
January 2010 Next Meeting: Jan. 5, 2009 7:00 PM, VIP Room Denver Museum of Nature and Science January Program Laura Fellows from www.exoticbirding.com will present a program on photographing tropical birds. Laura runs exotic birding trips out of the Denver area.
Monthly Critique Images Please submit up to 4 images, for normal critique. Please remember to size the images to less than 500kB and send them before the meeting (a week is good, not later than the Sunday before) to uwpcimages@comcast.net so we can include them in the monthly program. If you need help on the sizing process, go to the page on our website on “digital submission specs”. I have not yet come up with the 2010 monthly theme's so feel free to submit up to 4 images for this month's critique. PLEASE include your name (not just initials) in the image file name so we can give credit!!!
Field Trips We are working on the 2010 field trip schedule as well!! (It's been a busy holiday season). We are still looking for a volunteer to help with field trips. I know "volunteer" can be a daunting word but without some help we can't offer a lot of fun things.
Glennie Exhibition On the subject of volunteers, many thanks to Curtis Johnson for taking on our club's possible submission to the 2010 Glennie Nature Interclub Exhibition. Curtis will be contacting members with information on how and what to submit. Curtis will also compile the entries into a short program for February or March so we can, as a group, decide on our final submission. This exhibition is, as is mentioned in the name, and interclub event. We have never done one of these so it could be interesting and a lot of fun!
Digital
Corner
Digital image capture has opened up the opportunities for photographers to capitalize on the tremendous advances the computer has brought to the world. The main things we benefit from are the rapid advances in technology and the software tools that follow. In the old film days, our ability to capture and present images was really under the control of the engineers at the camera companies and at the film producers. Very few individuals could develop and market things other than gadgets. The world of "high tech" has known for many years that with a computer and a good knowledge of software engineering, just about anyone with a good idea can successfully develop and market great tools.
Today, with the extensive use of image processing software, a relatively open architecture in operating systems (even Apple™ has opened theirs somewhat!) and ever more powerful computers, many very talented software entrepreneurs have flooded the market with really cool image processing capabilities. This month I wanted to give a brief overview of some software that allow photographers to go way beyond what was "doable" with film.
To record high contrast images you can turn to several HDR software applications. HDR, or high dynamic range is a tool that in the "old days" we could approximate with graduated ND filters and sandwiched slides in the dark room/projector. Even then the outcome was not all that great or was limited to the ability to expose for the foreground and prevent the sky above from burning out. Today there are several very nice programs that allow the photographer to take a series of image of the same scene but at different exposures. On one hand, the exposure for the shadows is optimized, letting the highlights burn out. On the other hand, the exposure for the highlights is optimized, letting the shadows block up. Add a mid tone optimized exposure and one each slightly over exposed and underexposed and we have a sequence of 5 (for example) exposure of the same scene. Let an HDR program have these and the result is a pretty decent product that shows a properly exposed image with shadows, highlights and midtones. There are a couple of things that will make this process much more manageable. First, lock your camera to a tripod and then compose your image. Although the software can adapt somewhat to slight variations in the image, that takes a lit of computer time and may not always give optimum results. Start with a proper exposure for midtone and then move up and down in 1 stop increments to start. Shoot in RAW and check the histogram for each image to make sure you are getting the entire range captured. If your camera has an auto bracket feature, now is the time to use it! You will need to experiment a bit to get a feel of how your software handles HDR images. Experience will help decide the number of exposures either side of midtone and number of stops between each image. You may now ask, which HDR software package is best. Photoshop™ can be made to do HDR with many of the normal image tools but there are specific products that are designed just for HDR applications. The most widely used is Photomatix, see http://www.hdrsoft.com. They now offer a "lite" version for under $40.00 as a download. When you use most HDR programs, something like a "tone mapping" and detail enhancement features are usually available. Like most features they good points and challenges. Be careful using it as it can lead to "comic book" appearance if you go to the extreme. Additionally the final output from the HDR program after tone mapping can be a little flat, so plan on some time in Photoshop™ or another post processing program to spark it up. As with any other powerful application, time and experience will make it one of your "go to" tools.
In the coming months, we'll look at the "unlimited" depth of field tools now offered.
February Program Mary Taylor Young will present a program called Birds across Colorado. A best-selling author of 9 books, Mary has written full time since 1987. Her titles include The Guide to Colorado Birds and the Colorado Wildlife Viewing Guide. For 16 years she wrote the Words on Birds column for the Rocky Mountain News. Monthly Critique Images Please submit up to 3 images, for normal critique and 1 image for theme. Please remember to size the images to less than 500kB and send them before the meeting (a week is good, not later than the Sunday before) to uwpcimages@comcast.net so we can include them in the monthly program. If you need help on the sizing process, go to the page on our website on “digital submission specs”. The theme for February is snow and ice! PLEASE include your name (not just initials) in the image file name so we can give credit!!!
Field Trips We are working on the 2010 field trip schedule as well!! We have volunteers to help organize trips. Jim Esten is the primary contact. Stay tuned for news! Glennie Exhibition On the subject of volunteers, many thanks to Curtis Johnson for taking on our club's possible submission to the 2010 Glennie Nature Interclub Exhibition. Curtis has been contacting members with information on how and what to submit. Curtis will compile the entries into a short program for February or March so we can, as a group, decide on our final submission. This exhibition is, as is mentioned in the name, and interclub event. We have never done one of these so it could be interesting and a lot of fun!
March Program Our speaker for March is John Kieffer. John started his photo career in 1987 as a professional photo assistant, working with top commercial photographers. He has expanded his horizons and now represents their imagery through his stock agency, OutsideImagery.com. John will show nature photos along with some tips and anecdotes, hopefully showing us how to not only increase enjoyment, but have the chance of making money. Dues Once again dues are due! Our "fiscal year" runs from March to February. Dues are still $15.00 per family unit (single, couple, family, or whatever). Please renew this month. If you aren't sure, I'll have a list at teh March Meeting! Anyone who joined since last November is covered through the 2010 year. Monthly Critique Images Please submit up to 3 images, for normal critique and 1 image for theme. Please remember to size the images to less than 500kB and send them before the meeting (a week is good, not later than the Sunday before) to uwpcimages@comcast.net so we can include them in the monthly program. If you need help on the sizing process, go to the page on our website on “digital submission specs”. The theme for March is animals in winter! PLEASE include your name (not just initials) in the image file name so we can give credit!!! Field Trips We are working on the 2010 field trip schedule as well!! We have volunteers to help organize trips. Jim Esten is the primary contact. We'd like to do a March trip to Monte Vista to see and photograph the sandhill cranes. Stay tuned for news! Glennie Exhibition On
the subject of volunteers, many thanks to Curtis Johnson for taking on our club's
possible Digital Corner This
month I sat down to write the Digital Corner column and had a serious case of
writers block. Those of you who know me will be a bit surprised as I'm usually
never at a loss for words. I did the usual stuff when I'm searching for a topic,
surf the web, peruse my photo library, look through recent copies of photo magazines
and so forth. I didn't really get excited about any specific topic so I consulted
with my wife! She had a great idea. She suggested that I look into how to do something
different with photography besides shoot with the hope of selling images (that
does sort of fit with That got us to thinking, why not see if we can re-kindle that spirit of community we have so long ago? We all shoot a lot (or hope to), so why not see if we can do something with our images that's unique and is an asset to Colorado? I'm open to just about anything. If you have ideas, pass them on. Nothing is too crazy (well almost nothing - it would have to be legal and match our incorporation rules!). Think about the things you'd like to do, see if a group could do it and more. get back to me either by email or at the March meeting with ideas. the only thing I ask is please write them down on a piece of paper or an index card. I am notorious for writing stuff in my note book and not getting back to it!
May Program Our speaker for May is Glenn Randall making a return visit to
do a landscape program on Dues Once
again dues are due! Our "fiscal year" runs from March to February. Dues
are still $15.00 per family unit (single, couple, family, or whatever). Please
renew this month. If you aren't sure, I'll have a list at the May Meeting! Anyone
who joined since last November is covered through the 2010 year. PLEASE SEND IN
YOUR DUES IF YOU HAVE NOT YET DONE SO. Monthly Critique Images Please submit up to 3 images, for normal critique and 1 image for theme. Please remember to size the images to less than 500kB and send them before the meeting (a week is good, not later than the Sunday before) to uwpcimages@comcast.net so we can include them in the monthly program. If you need help on the sizing process, go to the page on our website on “digital submission specs”. The theme for May is Patterns in Nature. PLEASE include your name (not just initials) in the image file name so we can give credit!!! Field Trips Jim Esten has published some plans for field trips. He's looking
for additional ideas so don't be shy! Upcoming Photo Events Telluride Photo Festival: Don’t miss the sensational first year of the upcoming Telluride Photo Festival September 20-26, 2010. Come for all or part of the activities geared toward intermediate nature photographers and up. September 20-23 feature an impressive lineup of workshops taught by Robert Glen Ketchum, Jack Dykinga, Wendy Shattil & Bob Rozinski and other well-known instructors. September 24-26 events feature symposiums, panels, portfolio reviews, gallery exhibits and networking. The Telluride Photo Festival is timed to coincide with the spectacular peak fall color this corner of Colorado is known for. Come for the beautiful photos and stay for the inspiration and knowledge you’ll gain. Plus, it will be great fun. Standard Passes start at $170 and include entrance to all of the seminars, symposiums, presentations, and social events September 24-26. There’s a 20% discount on festival passes for early bird registration before May 1, 2010. Classes begin at $49 and Workshops range from $300 - $1000. For further details and registration, go to http://www.telluridephotofestival.com Digital Corner The newest digital cameras are touting
ISO numbers that stretch the imagination. Back in film days the very idea of shooting
a film with an ISO (or ASA for the seasoned photographers in the club) exceeding
10,000 was unheard of. Now a good many digital SLRS exceed that by staggering
amounts. How can we properly utilize this new tool? Recent magazine articles have
addressed the use of ISO as a creative tool in ways we've not seen before. The
ability to get decent saturation in very low light is the first thing that comes
to mind, secondly we can crank up shutter speed and freeze action with reasonable
depth of field in ways we only dreamed of in years past. OK, what are the drawbacks
to this great tool? As with everything in this field, there are tradeoffs. As
I have mentioned before in articles and in the classes I teach, ISO does not change
the sensitivity of the sensor, it changes the overall "system gain". Let's
get into the details! The digital sensor, by its very design, has a system gain
which simply put defines the amount of electrical current generated by a given
amount of light striking each pixel (photons to electrons). The engineers designing
these sensors call this parameter "native sensitivity". The electrical
circuits that takes these extremely tiny signals and boosts them to a usable level
are called amplifiers. The signal coming from the amplifier (at this point it's
an analog signal, related more or less linearly to the amount of light striking
the sensor) is routed to another circuit called an analog to digital converter.
This circuit takes the signal and converts it into a digital form. The number
of bits So how can we translate this
into something usable? Well first you need to find the ISO for your camera that
corresponds to the native sensitivity. You can use that as a starting point for
your shooting and increase or decrease as the situation dictates, but at least
you'll know that starting point. How to find out? Good question. It took a while
but the "conventional wisdom is that Canon native sensitivity is at ISO 100
while Nikon tends to be 200. I'll bet some internet searching can produce better
as well as conflicting numbers but such is life in the digital age. I searched
on "native sensitivity + Canon + 7D and got 342 hits on Google. Many had
additional links and a good many had wrong information! Set your camera to its native value, move the ISO up and down, and see for yourself the variability in images. Hint- You probably won't see a lot until you get to the extremes. Once you know, you can then use ISO as a creative control with more understanding.
June Program Our speaker for June is Lee Kline. Lee’s presentation will include the 23-minute DVD movie, and a presentation called "Shooting Your Way Out of a Photographic Rut." Check out information about Lee on his website http://www.leekline.com/
Some
folks are past due!! Our "fiscal year" runs from March to February.
Dues are still $15.00 per family unit (single, couple, family, or whatever). Please
renew this month. If you aren't sure, I'll have a list at the June Meeting! Anyone
who joined since last November is covered through the 2010 year. PLEASE SEND IN
YOUR DUES IF YOU HAVE NOT YET DONE SO. Monthly Critique Images Please submit up to 3 images, for normal critique
and 1 image for theme. Please remember to size the images to less than 500kB and
send them before the meeting (a week is good, not later than the Sunday before)
to uwpcimages@comcast.net so we can include them in the monthly program. If you
need help on the sizing process, go to the page on our website on “digital
submission specs”. The theme for June is Birds in Flight. For July the theme
will be - Pseudo Animals - inanimate things that look like animals. PLEASE include
your name (not just initials) in the image file name so we can give credit!!!
Example would be: bob-dean-turkey.jpg Field Trips Jim
Esten has published some plans for field trips. He's looking for additional ideas
so don't be shy! Upcoming Events Telluride
Photo Festival - Don’t miss the sensational first year of the upcoming
Telluride Photo Festival September 20-26, 2010. Come for all or part of the activities
geared toward intermediate nature photographers and up. September 20-23 feature
an impressive lineup of workshops taught by Robert Glen Ketchum, Jack Dykinga,
Wendy Shattil & Bob Rozinski and other well-known instructors. September 24-26
events feature symposiums, panels, portfolio reviews, gallery exhibits and networking.
The Telluride Photo Festival is timed to coincide with the spectacular peak fall
color this corner of Colorado is known for. Come for the beautiful photos and
stay for the inspiration and knowledge you’ll gain. Plus, it will be great
fun. Standard Passes start at $170 and include entrance to all of the seminars,
symposiums, presentations, and social events September 24-26. There’s a 20%
discount on festival passes for early bird registration before May 1, 2010. Black
Hills Photo Shootout - Great faces like Wild Bill Hickok, Mount Rushmore and
Chief Crazy Horse. Great places like Custer State Park, Spearfish Canyon, Badlands
National Park and Deadwood. These are just a few of the great photo opportunities
for you in South Dakota. Bring your camera, loaded and ready to fire, and join
us in the first Black Hills Photo Shootout on September Blue Ridge Mountain Photographers
- The Blue Ridge Mountain Photographers, along with Blue Ridge Mountains Arts
Association, is sponsoring a National Juried Wildlife and Nature Photography Exhibit
in The Art Center in Blue Ridge, Georgia from September 4 through October 8. The
show, which will be judged by nationally known nature photographer Milton Heiberg,
is open to all hotographers, both amateur and professional. Monetary prizes totaling
$2,500 will be awarded. The entry deadline is June 30, 2010. We are now accepting
entries. The official entry form and rules can be downloaded from this site: http://brmphotographers.net/2010/04/05/calling-for-entries-for-brmp-national-juried-wildlife-nature-photo-exhibit/
What
is a photographer? Tourist Hobbyist Professional Lather, Rinse, Repeat... Set a Goal Was
there anything good? Yes. I had just discovered three things that would have improved
my picture. I could pay more attention to the color of a scene, learn about composition,
and learn more about my camera. As an aside, I am happy with many of the pictures
from the trip. They are a good record of the fun I had taking them. Plan
it Practice Evaluate it This was the exact opposite of what I wanted to hear.
He didn’t tell me what I wanted to hear. He succinctly told me what I needed
to know. I re-read his reply. Great record shot = Fond memory Lather,
Rinse, Repeat... Share
it
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