Category: Tips

Recommended Critique and Editing Video

I generally don’t recommend a lot of websites and videos I see on the Internet, but I ran into this one last night and it is particularly good for a couple of reasons; he takes images that were submitted to a well known American photo competition and then discusses what could be improved and then demonstrates how to implement those improvements.  He happens to use Capture One, but that is really more of a detail as these edits can be done with any editing tool.

The person doing the talking is Kevin Raber.  Kevin used to run the highly regarded photography website, Luminous Landscape (LuLa), after its founder, Michael Reichmann died a few years ago.  He seems to have founded photopxl.com and took a number of LuLa contributors with him.  Unlike LuLa, the new website is not a pay site and is free.

I’ve watched his first four edits and he nailed the issues I had with the image (and missed a few, in my view), but regardless, he made significant improvements to each one.  The important lesson is how he identifies the flaws; that in my experience is where most people struggle a bit.

The link to the article and video are here.

It is a long (over 1hr 15min) video, but is easy to watch in small pieces.

Manfred Mueller

Composition Tips

We are lucky to have photography as our hobby.  During this difficult time we still can use our cameras to express ourselves by capturing images we see in our minds.  Composition plays a big role in making our photos most appealing.  This video gives a great summary of some major composition forms. May you enjoy it as I do.  Be safe.

Frank Knor

Free Photo Course From Mike Browne

Mike Browne, whose YouTube videos have been featured often at past club meetings, has announced this:

This free twelve week programme of teaching, exercises and competitions will help you appreciate your home environment in a way you would never have believed possible, finding beauty in every angle and shadow.

No one wants Lockdown, but it’s a great opportunity to practise new ways of seeing and photo techniques, whilst keeping yourself and others safe whilst growing your skills and having the opportunity to win free access to my online courses.

I’ll post a free video tutorial every Sunday at 19.00 pm (UK Time) that also sets a challenge for you to enter an image in our weekly Photography Locked Down competition on Facebook.

Winners and runners will be announced ‘Live’ on Youtube the following Sunday by myself – and some superstar guests I promise you won’t want to miss. You’ll get the next free tutorial and photo challenge immediately afterwards.  

This is an amazing opportunity to grow your skills, win free access to online training and keep your mind out of mischief – you literally give it your best shot.

Thanks to Phil Tughan for sharing this tip.

Learn Photoshop Elements

During this period of social isolation due to the COVID-19 virus, why not learn to use Photoshop Elements? You can download a fully functional 30 day trial copy of the latest version of Photoshop Elements here using your Google, Facebook or Apple sign-in or by creating a free Adobe account.

Once you have Photoshop Elements downloaded and installed, take advantage of the free tutorials from Adobe, the many useful YouTube tutorials, and the free instruction on Lynda.com available through the Ottawa Public Library (as described in this earlier blog post).

Until the Centre re-opens, if you need help with any of this and if you are running Windows 10, I’ll be glad to schedule one-on-one remote tutorial sessions. Send an email to contact@ksccc.ca to arrange a time.

As always, if you have questions about photography, send them to contact@ksccc.ca and we’ll try and find you an answer.

Bill Robertson

Members Tip Of The Day — Instructions

You can make any sort of presentation, on any photography subject that you like which might be educational for our membership. You should plan for a presentation of no longer than 20 minutes, as we are time limited on the availability of the hall.

If you decide to put together a presentation supported by your selection of YouTube videos, as I have done over the last 2 years, here is how to put together the document to attach to our website once your meeting presentation is finished:

  • Create a blank word document to which you can attach your chosen videos links
  • Type your subject into the search window in YouTube
  • Look at a lot of the videos on that subject
  • As you watch a video that you think does a good job of providing instruction on your topic, copy the video address link over to your word document. Repeat this process until you have a list of list of 3 to 5 good videos.
  • With each video address, you should show the name that the video was given by the video presenter and make sure to name the presenter for credit.

Your document should look something like this:

Motion Photography.

Videos to watch as suggested by <insert your name here>

Digital Photography 1 on 1:Episode 15: Panning by Mark Wallace from Adorama TV https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXzNtp1shXU

Shutterspeed – Easy Explained. Photography Tutorial for Beginner by Benjamin Jaworskyj https://youtu.be/1wHtRelnbRk

Canon: Tips for Shooting Vehicles in Motion with Kevin Wing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2YEj7WfOWM

Have one of your chosen videos be fairly short (3-7 minutes), if you plan to have it shown as an introduction to your presentation. Place this video at the top of your list. Bill or Amy usually download that video to a USB storage device so that it can be played on the club projector.

Forward the document to the club email account contact@ksccc.ca one week prior to the meeting.

If have any questions or you would like to put your name forward to do the presentation for a particular month, please get in touch with me as I will be coordinating the program. Remember, it’s all about having fun and learning with photography. My email address is philiprt@magma.ca

Phil Tughan