September/October Vol. 13, No. 5. Official Newsletter of the LINN AREA PHOTO CLUB. Tim McAdam, 1st Place, USA Places, 2016 Iowa State Fair

Transcription

1 Tim McAdam, 1st Place, USA Places, 2016 Iowa State Fair

2 YWe don t make mistakes, just happy little accidents. Bob Ross HAPPY ACCIDENTS: A COMPOSITION STUDY On the next page is one of my favorite photographs that I have taken this summer and recently I found myself sitting and looking at it and found myself realizing for the first time, consciously, why it worked so well. Let s start with the basics: The composition is asymmetrical, which is more pleasing to the eye, and more interesting and dynamic, while being well balanced. The color adds punch and interest, without distracting or overwhelming, with good contrast. What I was noticing, though, was the way the eye was led through the composition. A good composition is going to lead the viewer throughout it, while keeping them within the frame. You never want your viewer to be static or to lead them right out of your frame and on to the next photograph. There are no obvious leading lines in this photograph. such as a road, fenceline, staircase, etc. The water lilies, their placement, size, color, and contrast are what leads you through the photograph. When looking at this photograph, your eye immediately goes to the brightest spot, the water lily in the lower left corner. Your eye will always go to the brightest spot first, and in this case, it is bright and a lighter color, which adds to the effect. From there your eye travels across a grouping of smaller and more tightly grouped water lilies to the lighter colored, larger lily, higher, and on the right. Dark spaces, in between groupings then lead your eye up, over and back down to where you started. All comfortably within the frame, while filling it and creating enough tension to add interest, without leading your eye out of it. This is why you always want your subject looking into, or just entering the frame. If your subject is looking out of the frame or leaving the frame, your viewer will follow and you ve lost them. Once they leave your frame they are on to the next photograph, or whatever else captures their attention. -Rae Lowenberg In This Issue Article... pg. 2-3 Upcoming Club Meetings & Shoots... pg. 4-5 Help -Portrait... pg. 6-7 Club Meeting Notes... pg Annual Contest Rules... pg Monthly Rules...pg. 18 Iowa State Fair...Pg Officers & Committees...pg. 23

3 You don t make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved. Ansel Adams

4 UPCOMING MEETINGS AND PHOTOSHOOTS September 11 Monthly Meeting: Annual Club Cookout/Potluck September 12:30 pm - 4:00 pm Educational Theme: Nature Photography In addition, our very own Mike Stark will do a short but informative presentation on Nature Photography. Mike will show us several of his outstanding photos and give us some helpful hints on how we too can take some great nature images. You and your family will enjoy Mikes presentation!together we will learn: Photo Contest Theme: Work/Labor October 9th Monthly Club Meeting October 1:30 pm - 4:00 pm Educational Theme: Photo Composition Photo composition is a little like a visual language you can use it to make your pictures pass on a specific message. However, just as we sometimes use the written word to create a deliberately jarring effect, we can do the same with photos by breaking with standard composition conventions. Many of you have asked us to help you understand how composition impacts your photos and a few rules that will help you get better. So Rollin Banderob (LAPC Member,) will giving us a presentation on Photo Composition. Rollin spent years working for The Gazette so he knows how composition impacted the visual message his photographs were telling. Bring your questions. Bring your notepad. You will get a lot of information out of this meeting. Photo Contest Theme: Scary! Monthly Photo Feedback: Digital Images (Submit your jpg/psd photos to: MonthlyContest@LinnAreaPhotoClub.org ) You can submit up to two photos of any image that meets the rules. If your photo interests are old cars, night sky, food, etc. submit your photos. 4-5 Club Members will give you some great feedback on your image to help you make it even better..

5 What: Fall Color When: Sunday October 23. 3:30pm to 5:30pm Where: Wapsipinicon State Park near Anamosa. Lets meet at the parking lot next to the Dutch Creek Shelter (on Upper Creek Road just before crossing Dutch Creek) See map link below. GPS , Bring your hiking shoes and your gear and lets go for a walk in the woods. We ll find caves, bridges, streams, a river and hopefully some fall color. Sunset will be at 6:12, so lets meet at 3:30pm and hope for good skies & some pretty colors. Map: Park details: Dave Claiborne Dave Claiborne What: Clean motorcycles When: Sunday November 20th, 2:30 to 4:30 Where: National Motorcycle Museum, 102 Chamber Dr, Anamosa, IA The National Motorcycle Museum has been on our wish list for the last 2 year! Note: We do have to pay the group rate of $8 per person. You can pay your admission at the door when you arrive. Tripods are allowed, just be aware of your legs & your surroundings. I do need a head count on this one, so please RSVP by Monday 11/14. Website for more information:

6 2016 GREATER CEDAR RAPIDS HELP-PORTRAIT September update Last year I had a wonderful volunteer (and LAPC member) come in who is a Lean Six Sigma & Analytics professional - to help me with the flow, organization, wasted processes, etc. So we could put on a much better event for the volunteers and for the families. If you've volunteered in the past, I apologize for any confusion and any apparent disorganization. With Matthew's help, we've completely changed up the organization, event management and flow! Thanks Matthew! Only 2 locations this year 1. First Presbyterian Church across from Greene Square Park in downtown Cedar Rapids. 10 studios 2. First Presbyterian Church of Mount Vernon. 4-6 studios. Hours for both locations: Set up 0700 * Start 0900 * Finish 1500 * Tear down and out by 1600 Here are just a few of the changes. * Each site will be "managed" by a type A personality - and that is their only responsibility! * We'll have a big white board organization system - kinda like hospitals do on TV so everyone knows who is where in the process and there will be a white board manager with the white board being their only job. *There will be laminated studio cards at the white board manager table to also aid in knowing which studio is open / which studio the family guide is taking the family to. * There will be only one registration table. * There will be a bulletin board with a large map of layout/flow.

7 * All printing will be done courtesy of Photo Pro Cedar Rapids (Tell Dave thank you next time you are in), *I'll just need runners to volunteer their time and cars as they'll be constantly driving back and forth. * Editors, yeah, we've reorganized and stream lined that as well, we ll get with you separately. But we still will need lots of editors! We will still need the same quality & quantity of volunteer force as previous year. That said, what I need from you now, is please sign up to volunteer, even if you signed up to volunteer in the past. I don't want to assume - that you are coming back, I want you to tell me. In the form, you'll click which location you'd prefer as well as please click all the volunteer jobs you'd be willing to do. Here is the link to sign up. Thank you. Amy Mueggenberg Greater Cedar Rapids Area Help-Portrait Coordinator info@gcrahelpportrait.com

8 JULY MEETING: PHOTOS Esther Bartels Taking pictures is savoring life intensely, every hundredth of a second. Marc Riboud Connect with other members online! Facebook: Flickr: Google+: If there are other communities online, please send the address to newsletter@linnareaphotoclub.org

9 Joyce Schoon Rick Boots

10 Rick Boots Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst. Henri Cartier-Bresson Rick Boots

11 Bernadette Mrazek Bernadette Mrazek

12 Ann Jorgenson Ann Jorgenson Ann Jorgenson

13 PHOTO CONTEST AWARD WINNERS JULY Joyce Schoon Lunch, 1st Place

14 PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS RECAP Photoshop Elements is a cost effective way of organizing and editing your photos. It is a streamlined version of Photoshop, but there is little I have not been able to do with Elements compared to presentations of Photoshop I have seen. There is an Organizer, which allows you to tag photos, sort them into folders and categories, and stack versions of photos. The Editor provides the common tools to adjust color, levels, brightness and contrast, sharpening, and exposure. In addition, it allows you to use layers to edit, so you can make adjustments to one layer without changing the entire photo. Photo masks allow you to paint out portions of a photo to expose a layer below, which gives you greater control over lighting, depth of field, and the like. Tools such as Content Aware, Content Aware Move, and Clone lets you fill in areas of a photo to remove content, or correct blemishes. There are three levels of Editing provided, depending on your skill level--quick, Guided, and Expert--which range from giving the computer control over all but the basic editing to taking total control over your photo. For RAW shooters, Adobe Camera Raw opens automatically so you can develop your RAW files before moving them into the Editor. While this is a more stripped down version than is found in Photoshop, it still provides a wide range of options, including adjusting white balance, vibrance, clarity, white and blacks, etc. Camera Profile presets can be chosen to match those selected in camera if desired. By clicking on several files at once, and then selecting all in ACR, the same edits can be applied to all those files. With Elements, it is easy to replace backgrounds such as skies, add borders to a photo, add text to a shape or a line, or create panoramas. Compared to Lightroom, Photoshop Elements provides more editing tools. Lightroom is designed to organize and edit large quantities of photos quickly, while additional editing can be done in Elements or Photoshop. Lightroom does not provide the option of using layers. Lightroom is known as nondestructive, which means the edits are not done directly to the photo; instead the directions are stored in a file but the original file is not lost. In Elements, if layers are used and files are saved as PSD or TIFF, the original file may be saved. Otherwise, the program is destructive so it is important to save an edited file under a new name to preserve the original file. If you like the idea of paying a small monthly fee to use Lightroom and Photoshop together, and you would otherwise update your software yearly, or when a new edition is released, that may be more cost effective. But I have been using Photoshop Elements 11 for at least three years, and I purchased it on a Black Friday sale for $50. I have looked at updating to newer versions, but so far I have not seen enough in the upgrades to make it worth the change. I organize my photos in one of two ways, which works well for me. Being a Mac person, I have used iphoto as an organizer because I like their Events format. But I also use a simple file folder system where the folder is named for the location and date of the photos and stored within a Pictures folder; I can do an easy search to find a folder if needed. Photos can be automatically added to the PSE Organizer, but since my system was set up before PSE added the Organizer, I have not used it extensively. There is a great deal of information on the web to help learn editing software. Here are a couple links that provide tutorials on specific skills within Photoshop Elements. Often, just searching for a specific technique you want to use will bring up a number of options to help you learn. adobe.com/archive/en/photoshop-elements/11/photoshop-elements_reference.pdf (There is a charge for these courses)

15 Directions for Skills referenced above: Using a Layer Mask Make Duplicate Layer Choose adjustment layer or Fill layer Name layer Choose Brush tool Choose size and shape of tool Click on layer mask (white box) Use brush tool (black) to paint out unwanted changes; white to erase How to Resize a Border Image Resize Resize Canvas Choose Canvas Color Click on Anchor arrows to choose where to extend canvas Click Relative box Enter values in New Size box for canvas size (enter the size of the edge, not the photo) Replacing a Sky with a solid color Use the Background Eraser to delete the sky; Or use the Selection Brush or Magic Wand to outline the sky then click Delete. Click on the Foreground Color box, which will bring up the Color Picker (or you can click on Color Picker itself) and choose the solid sky color you would like. Use the Paint Bucket to fill in the sky area. Replacing a Sky with a Different Sky Choose the photo where you want to replace the sky and also the photo with the sky you want. Open them both in the Editor. Use the Window menu to Images to Tile so the photos are both visible on the screen. Create duplicate layers for both photos. Turn off the locked Background layers. Using either the Selection Tool or the Background Eraser, select the sky you wish to replace. With the Eraser, the background should be transparent (checked). If it is white, you forgot to create a duplicate layer. With the Selection Tool, click on Delete (under Edit) to delete the sky and see a transparent layer. Using the Move tool, drag the first photo on top of the sky photo. This will create a new layer in the Layers palette/ Arrange the sky however you would like by moving the original photo. You can resize the original photo as needed. Adding Text Click on Text tool Select mode (vertical, horizontal, etc.) Choose size and font Click on photo where you want the text Type in the text Click on green checkmark to save Can rotate text, resize using boundary boxes Text on a Path Click on correct icon Draw the path you desire Save the path by clicking the green checkmark, or modify by clicking on modify, then save Click on line until a line appears

16 ANNUAL CONTEST RULES 1. People and Portraits - Defined as individuals or groups of people as the primary focus of the photo. 2. Animals - Domestic, captive, or wild. - Includes mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, etc. - Does not include insects (see Macro/Close-Up). 3. Landscape / Scenery - Photos that focus on natural settings. 4. Macro / Close-Up - Macro/Close-up of any permissible subject. - Includes insects. 10. Annual Club Selected Theme - Theme to be decided by LAPC membership by an annual vote during a regularly scheduled club meeting from amongst a suggested list to be offered by LAPC membership and Contest Committee. - One (1) entry per person. - To be judged as a Member s Choice. - One (1) vote per eligible member. - 1st Place only shall be awarded. - Not eligible for Best of Show. - Winner of Annual Club Theme Category will receive one (1) year paid membership to the LAPC for the following year starting January 1st. 5. Computer Enhanced / Manipulated - Anything obviously and overtly unnatural and manipulated in the computer or darkroom (i.e.: selective coloring, unnatural-looking HDR, etc.). - Any permissible subject is allowed. 6. Action/Motion - Any photo depicting action and or motion, ie. Sports, running, movement, blur etc. - Any permissible subject is allowed 7. Low-light - Any photo taken in a low light, darkness etc. - Use of natural/ambient light (painting with a flashlight or flash etc. is permissible. - Any permissible subject is allowed 8. My Favorite Photo - Your favorite photo - One (1) entry per person - Must be 11X14 except for the following - Panoramas can be any size with a 2:1 ratio - Any permissible subject is allowed

17 Eligibility: a) Competitors must be members in good standing with Linn Area Photo Club (LAPC), and have paid their dues (at time of judging). b) Photos must be submitted to the entry table by 1:30 (Not just in the building). LATE ENTRIES WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED!!! Entry format: a) Entries must be in print form only. b) No restriction regarding print media. Glossy, matte, metallic, canvas, etc., are all acceptable. c) Entries may be either color or black & white in any category, unless specifically restricted. d) Entries must be the original work of the competitor, and must have been taken within the previous five (5) years. e) Entries cannot have been a previous LAPC Annual Contest winner (1st, 2nd, or 3rd Place or Best of Show). Honorable mention photos maybe resubmited if changes have been made to it for reconsideration. f) Photos must be mounted on 11 X14 foam core board or rigid backing board. Panoramic prints shall be mounted to print size. g) Matting is optional but cannot exceed the 11 x 14 overall size limit. h) Entries cannot be framed or include any type of covering. j) All entries must have the competitor s name, image title, name (category) to be entered into and an arrow indicating up orientation on the back, lower right-hand corner. Information must be legible to the committee. k) No collages. l) No writing, logos or names allowed on front of photos. m) Any photo may be disqualified by the Contest Rules Committee if deemed inappropriate and/or not meeting any rule or requirement. n) Nude photos are not eligible. o) Photos placed in a category by entrant but deemed to be better in a different category by Contest Committee may be moved as long as entrant has no more than allowed photos in that category. Entrant will be advised of possible move prior to doing so if possible. We are looking for your contributions to the LAPC newsletter! Your contributions are important to continuing to put out a successful newsletter! Deadline for submissions to The Focal Point is the 26th of each month for the next month s newsletter. The Focal Point will be published by approximately the 5th day of each month. Questions or submissions should be sent to: newsletter@linnareaphotoclub.org 2015, Linn Area Photo Club Please send any contributions, including text files, as jpegs or pdfs. Small files, including images, are preferred.

18 MONTHLY CONTEST RULES Entries, Prizes, & Judging: a) Each competitor may submit up to two (2) photos in each category, unless otherwise noted in category criteria. b) Three (3) winning entries (1st, 2nd & 3rd Place), along with up to three (3) Honorable Mention entries, shal be selected, per category excluding Club Chosen category. c) Only the three winning entries (1st, 2nd, & 3rd Place) in each category, as well as Best of Show will receive a prize. Competitors may win up to two (2) awards/prizes in each category. d) The same photo may not be entered into more than one (1) category. e) Best of Show Award will be selected from amongst the1st Place winners in all categories except Club Chosen, and be awarded in addition to the 1st Place Award for that category. f) The Annual Contest will be judged by a pre-selected judge or judges. g) Judge(s) and/or Contest Committee members reserve the right to move photos to other categories if category choice is deemed inappropriate. Photo will be disqualified if appropriate category already has maximum number of competitor entries. Eligibility: a) Competitors must be members in good standing with Linn Area Photo Club (LAPC), and have paid their dues (at time of judging). b) Must be present during contest to participate Entry format: a) Entries must be in print form only. Digital images may be submitted for evaluation but will not be a part of monthly contest. b) No restriction regarding print paper. Glossy, matte, metallic, canvas, etc., are all acceptable. c) Entries may be either color or black & white. d) Entries must be the original work of the competitor, and must have been taken within two (2) years. e) Photos may be any size up to 11 X14 to include backing board. This does not include panoramic prints. f) No backing required g) Matting is optional. h) Entries cannot be framed or include any type of covering. i) All entries must have the competitor s name, image title, name (category) to be entered into and an arrow indicating up orientation on the back lower right-hand corner. Information must be legible to the committee. Entries, Prizes and Judging: a) Each competitor may submit up to two (2) photos in each monthly contest. b) Three (3) winning (1st, 2nd, 3rd place) c) Only the First Place winner will receive a prize. d) Contest will be judged by a vote of LAPC members.

19 IOWA STATE FAIR Patti Sampson Patti Sampson

20 Tim McAdam Our state fair is a great state fair, Don't miss it, don't even be late. O. Hammerstein II, State Fair

21 Bill Schoon Bill Schoon

22 Dave Maley Outdoor concert at Lowe Park, Marion, Iowa featuring music by Carol Montag and Carlis Faurot. Percussion is done by Carol s son. Able to sneak up on stage and hide behind the speaker columns. So close, I just shot with a standard 50mm f1.8 lens and cropped a little. Images were camera RAW from a Conon EOS 1D Mark ii. Carol covers much of the female artists of the 60 s and 70 s. My personal favorite is her Grace Slick. Dave Maley ABOUT THE LINN AREA PHOTO CLUB The Linn Area Photo Club (LAPC) was established in November 2003 in order to bring together individuals in the greater Linn County, Iowa, area who are interested in acquiring and developing an appreciation of the art and techniques of photography. Monthly meetings are normally held at 1:30pm the second Sunday of the month at Wickiup Hill Outdoor Learning Center in Toddville. (See Calendar of Events for details) Club Membership is open to photographers of all skill levels and photographic interests. Club Membership dues are $25 annually and includes a variety of educational programs, seminars and photo shoots. There is an informal monthly theme contest and an annual club contest that drew over 90 entries in its first year. Dave Maley Members range from beginners to professionals and use both digital and traditional photographic technology. LAPC is a great place to meet and learn from other photo enthusiasts.

23 2015 LAPC Elected Officers President: Rick Young (319) Vice-President: Bob Lancaster (319) Secretary: Justin Tedford (319) Treasurer: David Byrnes (319) CONTACT INFORMATION: Linn Area Photo Club PO Box 676, Marion, IA Website: LAPC Appointed Officers & Committees Activities: Amy Mueggenberg (319) Membership: David Byrnes, Kris Hoeger (319) , (319) Newsletter: Rae Lowenberg (319) Public Relations: Ken Boardrow (319) PSA/N4C Rep.: Bob Lancaster (319) Webmaster: Bob Randklev (319) LAPC Contests & Contest Rules: Ken Boardrow, Doug Hoeger, Doug Shaffer SPONSORS