March 3rd Meeting

The next Camera Club meeting with be held on Friday, March 3rd at 9:15 AM.

The  meeting will include:

  • Slide show of member images from February “Light” assignment.  See below for additional information on submitting images
  • Feature speaker will be Ted Simard discussing “Lightroom Editing”
  • Marg’s photography hint and joke
  • Review of Chosen Photos
  • Discussion of March “Fixed in Post” assignment
  • Tip of the Day “Metering Mode”
  • Announcements

Your images from the February “Light” assignment must be emailed by noon on Friday, February  24th to be included in the slide show. Images submitted after the deadline will only appear in the online gallery. For details on how to submit photos including formats and titles go to our Galleries page.

The Mentors will be available before the meeting to help you with any technical or creative questions you have about photography.

See you on March 3rd.

Hyperfocal Distance?

Hyperfocal distance is one of those nerdy terms that provokes tiresome forum discussions, but a basic grasp is useful if you’re going to push the limits of depth of field. A sensible working definition is that’s the distance at which you need to focus for things at infinity to be acceptably sharp – for a particular focal length and aperture. There are lots of variables here, not least what your eye considers acceptably sharp. In practice, because no one has time to fiddle with tables and calculators, the working method is to focus roughly a third of the way into the scene and stop right down. This gives you a starting point, but the devil is in the fine detail so that taking a shot and then examining it at high magnification on the camera’s screen is the only way to be sure that you have the front to back sharpness you want.

Marg Jackman

Photography at the National Gallery

The  Cana­dian Pho­tog­ra­phy In­sti­tute at the National Gallery of Canada has several photo exhibitions this year. From the CPI website:

Joseph Sudek

Continuing until February 26

Known as the “poet of Prague,” Josef Sudek created some of the 20th century’s most evocative images of nature, monuments, objects and streets.

A true “flâneur,” he enjoyed meandering through the streets of the Czech capital, recording intimate and beautiful details of the city he loved. Over many decades, he took thousands of photographs of its architecture and inhabitants.

Organized by the Canadian Photography Institute of the National Gallery of Canada, The Intimate World of Josef Sudek features a thoughtful selection of 163 works by the photographer and his artistic circle.

Spanning his career, the exhibition explores how Sudek’s photography reflected his deeply personal relationship with the city of Prague during its artistic heyday and reveals his sensitive understanding of light — and its absence.

On display are works of Sudek’s photographic experiments carried out within the privacy of his studio, images of the garden seen from his window and pictures taken during his walks through the city.

PhotoLab 1

Continuing until 02 APRIL

Windows have fascinated artists for centuries. In photography, the transparency and reflectivity of glass as both a subject and symbol have made windows a particularly popular theme. Since the invention of the medium, photographers have been attracted to the subject, whether as an exploration of still life, portraiture, popular culture or even abstraction. With their ability to both reveal and obscure, to challenge ideas about the viewer and the viewed, or to dissolve the boundaries of inside and outside space, windows have been used as a metaphor for the act of looking itself.

 

Photography in Canada: 1960–2000

  07 April – 17 September

Experience the diversity of Canadian photographic practice and production from 1960 to 2000. Bringing together more than 100 works by 71 artists — including Raymonde April, Edward Burtynsky, Lynne Cohen, Angela Grauerholz, Michael Snow, Jeff Wall and Jin-me Yoon — it explores how the medium articulated the role of art and the artist in an ever-changing world, along with differing ideas of identity, sexuality and community. Formulated around themes such as conceptual, documentary, urban landscape and portrait, this exhibition celebrates the enormous growth of the practice, collection and display of photography over more than four decades.

Pho­toLab 2: Women Speak­ing Art

07 April – ?

Cel­e­brates con­tem­po­rary art pho­tog­ra­phy by women that features text, in­clud­ing posters, prints and videos.

Catching a Wave

The best time to capture a wave is when it’s drawing back.  As the wave comes in it envelops any rocks and sometimes it completely washes over them.  Taking a shot at this point makes it look overwhelmed with that white froth you get from the crest of the wave.
By waiting until the water is starting to draw back out you have clearly defined movement from the water and the rocks become visible.
Marg Jackman

Expanded Executive

At the January meeting we asked members to join the executive and several did. After the February meeting,  where we met to discuss plans for the rest of the season, we took this snapshot:

exec-20170203

We are:

  • Standing left to right: Phil Tughan, Ed Lascelle, Frank Knor, Louise Robert, Ron Pierce & Carol Brown
  • Seated (L to R): Amy Lo, Anne Jones, Catherine Easton
  • Missing: Sue Carey, Marilyn Martin, Val Colins, Stu Moxley

If you have any questions about the club or suggestions about what we can do better, please talk to any of us at the monthly meetings or email us here.

January Galleries Online

The new member galleries for the February 3rd meeting are now online.

Click here or on the image below to see the “Contemplative” gallery:

 

Let me Sleep by Shirley LeClair.jpg
Let Me Sleep by Shirley LeClair

 

and here or on the image below to see the photos from last month’s “Shoot In”:

 

wine-glass-by-louise-robert_
Wine Glasses by Louise Robert

 

 

Marg’s Tip for February

Five Tried and True Landscape Photography Tips Used by the Pros.

february-2017-hints-5-tried-and-true-tips-used-by-pros-for-landscape

Have you ever found yourself wondering how do the professionals (Pros) consistently turn out amazing photographs day after day, year after year and what are their secrets.

1.  Experimentation

Experimenting is one of the best ways to shake yourself up out of the doldrums and even pros use it to get their creative juices flowing.  Try something totally out of your comfort zone,  If you are already a master of the golden hours, try shooting a nightscape or even a long exposure in the middle of the day.  Experimenting keeps you on the learning path and when you learn, you grow as a photographer.

2.  Making it on your own

Many places on your photography list have already been captured hundreds of times.  What else can you do?  Is there another foreground element you can add or take away?  One of the things that make pros work stand out from the rest, is their perspective and ability to make a place seem like you are seeing it for the first time.  Can you get a different angle, add or detract an element or shoot it differently. (eg. with light trails or multiple exposures?)

3.  Tell a Story

Being able to evoke the emotions of your audience should always be a goal.  Keep in mind that the purpose of your photographic story is to interest, instruct or amuse your audience.  Decide how you want the image to affect them, and then how to achieve that goal.  Is it going to be realistic or abstract, black or white or infrared?

4.  Less Can Be More

In landscape photograph, being more selective with the views you present, tells a more effective story, so pros understand the power of good composition.  One of the rules of good composition is that your image should contain just enough details.  You do not have the luxury of physically moving things around, so you must arrange the elements of an image by changing your position. You can then find the most flattering views and one that tells a different story.
Choosing the important elements to highlight, helps you to decide what to include and what to leave out.  Make your subject dominate by accentuating it with one or few related elements, remembering to declutter as much as you can.  As a general rule, if the element  doesn’t  enhance the subject, it may be detracting from it.

5.  Know Your Post-Processing

Ideally you want to get the shot right in camera.  Pros know the importance of post-processing. That is the main reason they shoot in RAW, to capture all the uncompressed image data, which leads to higher quality images in the end.  Digital photography has made it easier to post-process, but it also makes it easier to go overboard easily.  So determine your vision for the final image, and learn to execute it properly, so you produce an image that represents you.

Conclusion

Staying consistent means staying creative or constantly challenging yourself to try something different or learn something new.  There is nothing more amazing than producing a piece that someone can identify as yours, even before they confirm you did.

February 3rd Meeting

Remember that our next Camera Club meeting with be held on Friday February 3rd at 9:15 AM.

Our meeting will include:

  • slide show of member images from January “Contemplative” assignment
  • slide show of members images from January “Shoot In”
  • discussion of selected images from the above submissions
  • Marg’s photography hint and joke
  • announcements

Our feature speaker will be Vanessa Dewson speaking about Travel Photography. You can preview her work here.

We will also present a video on metering modes and follow it with a discussion.

The Mentors will be available before the meeting to help you with any technical or creative questions you have about photography.

Your images for the assignment and from the “Shoot In” must be emailed by noon on Friday January 27th to be included in the slide show. Images submitted after the deadline will only appear in the online gallery. For details on how to submit photos including formats and titles go to our Galleries page.

The assignment for February is “Light” and will be displayed at the March 3rd meeting.

See you on the 3rd,