Hi All,
Our summer theme is: Summer ActivitiesFamily Reunions, Fairs, Fireworks, Parades and RodeosThis theme offers something for everyone! While you’re out capturing the best our summer has to offer, why not consider thinking about a particular point of view, such as ‘bird’s eye’ or ‘worm’s eye’. These shooting experiences are also likely perfect for upcoming CAPA competitions: Fine Art and/or Photo Journalism. I’ve included the definitions for each.CAPA Fine ArtThe goal of fine art photography is in creating a fine art image is to use subjectsand techniques as vehicles in the process of conveying a strong message, idea,vision and/or emotion.The artist may need to make the viewer think about what they are looking at andconsider a different viewpoint than their own perhaps.CAPA Photo JournalismPhotojournalism relies on an image that tells a story or documents people affectedby an event or a situation.The image should clearly make one point or convey a message.Good composition would greatly enhance the conveying of the story.Please don’t worry about the details of how to name, size and submit your images at this point; I’ll be in touch later on in the summer with those details, just go out and have fun!Here are a few images to whet your appetite for this theme.Have a great summer!Scott StoneCBPC Theme Chair
Category Archives: Crescent Beach Photography
June 2016 – Photography Tips
For our June 2016 Photography Tips, I have included below some recent articles on various photography topics.
GENERAL
Why Is Black And White An Excellent Way To Start Photography – Black-and-white photography is the place to start if you’re serious about becoming a better photographer.
Go back to the dark ages before digital. Dinosaurs ruled the Earth, and the equivalent of Adobe Lightroom was a small piece of card on the end of a wire.
The first thing beginner photographers would learn is to shoot, develop, and print a roll of black-and-white film. We can go back to those roots today to solidify our skills. – READ MORE
How To Find Your Personal Photographic Style – Finding your personal photographic style is something of a holy grail to photographers, yet seldom an overnight occurrence. Nor would you want it to be, as developing a style that is uniquely yours is one of the most exciting and rewarding aspects of photography. For a lot of photographers, it is an ongoing, ever-evolving process, influenced by many factors. Some photographers find a single style that works for them, which they stick to and hone, while others might develop two or more dominant styles. – READ MORE
Why You May Be Failing To Reach Your Potential As A Photographer – There are a number of reasons why someone might not succeed at reaching their full potential, more than I can cover in this article, so please feel free to add to this list by telling us what obstacles get in your way. If you have solutions to someone else’s problem, feel free to offer up some advice, and help out a fellow photographer. – READ MORE
Seeing The World Through Clothslines – Padding through the tight cobblestone alleyways of Venice, it’s common to see clotheslines connecting one house to its neighbor. Drying machines are rarities in Italy, and women of these historic homes take great pride in the meticulous hanging of their families’ garments. There is a proper way to air-dry everything from linens and undergarments, and much can be learned about one’s neighbors simply by the skill and etiquette displayed during laundry day, when the fragrance of detergent commingles with that of the salty canal.
Having grown accustomed to the (often wasteful) use of machine driers, American tourists to foreign countries are astonished by the colorful arrays of drying clothing. Indeed, there is a genuine artistry to the ways in which faraway residents care for their clothing. In Italy, laundry, called bucato, is particularly meaningful in the older cities, where wisdom is passed down from one generation to the next, usually by women. – READ MORE
How To Create Gorgeous Flower Images Using A Flashlight And A Reflector – In this tutorial, I’m going to share with you some simple and inexpensive ways to create beautiful flower images. You will learn to add light by using a flashlight and a reflector. If you add in some imagination and patience, you will soon be creating gorgeous flower images of your own.
In addition, you will gain insight about seeing light, and how and recreate it on your own. – READ MORE
100 Best Photographs Without Photoshop – Nature and humankind are both great artists, and when they join forces, amazing masterpieces can be produced.Today Bright Side has collected for you works in which the combined efforts of mother nature and photographic artists have captured magic moments showing the wondrous diversity of modern life and the natural world. – CHECK OUT THESE AMAZING PHOTOS HERE
COMPOSITION
5 Tips To Improve Your Background And Make The Subject Stand Out More – If you are looking for a quick, simple, hassle-free way to make your images pop more and stand out, this is the article for you!
You don’t have to be a Photoshop genius – in fact, this may help you spend less time in Photoshop. These simple tips can elevate the photos you take. If there was one element in many images I see that could greatly improve it, it would have to be this: backgrounds. An ugly or distracting background can easily reduce the impact of even the best subjects. A clean, un-distracting background will help improve your images and make your subjects stand out even more. The best past is, you wont even have to spend a cent to do this. – READ MORE
How To Improve The Impact Of Your Urban Images Using Lines – If you are struggling with getting your photos of cities and architecture to pop out, chances are that you are underestimating the power of lines in your images. Lines help you structure your images in ways that lead your viewers to look at different parts of the picture, and create interest in both your main objects and the surroundings. – READ MORE
5 Creative Compositions Tips From Huntington Witherill – Our new video is about mastering the art of visualization, and no one does it quite as uniquely as photographer Huntington Witherill. Witherill’s approach to composition is one he models after some of the greatest photographers of all time. He quotes Edward Weston when he describes visualization as “the strongest way of seeing.” As you’ll see in this video, his imaginative composition is inspired by photographer Minor White, who said “photograph things for what they are, and for what else they are.” This video is sure to get you creative composition juices flowing. – READ MORE
How To Photograph Modes Of Transportation – As a landscape photographer, shooting planes, trains, automobiles and other modes of transportation is not something I do very often! But I find that tackling new subjects and breaking out of my comfort zone is always beneficial and I think you will too. You’re bound to learn something!
For this theme, you are not limited to just planes, trains and automobiles; use your imagination to discover all kinds of vehicles, as long as they are (or at one time were) capable of taking you from point A to point B. This can be on the road or off of it, in the sky or on the water. They can be still or in motion, near or far. As long as it can carry people, it counts! – READ MORE
PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY
Tips For Taking Family Photographs – Family portraits fall into three main categories: traditional family portraits, candid family portraits, and lifestyle family portraits. Most families have had their picture taken, but few have had a chance to have their portrait shot, because of the difference between the two. One is a quick snap, with little attention given to the technical aspects of the image; the other has more consideration given to how the final result should look.
It’s often said that a good portrait captures the personality of the subject(s), and that’s true, but what it also does is record the subject(s) in a way that’s different from other pictures they’ve had taken of themselves. By using a couple of simple techniques – anyone can move from the realm of ‘snapshots’ to discovering how to deliver distinctive family portraits. – READ MORE
5 Travel Street Portraying Photography Tips – Capturing an authentic image of someone on the street is not a very easy thing to do. To really capture their soul—an honest moment of someone looking straight into the camera and revealing themselves—that’s magic. Photographer Kenna Klosterman uses travel street portraiture to really connect with a culture and its people while she’s traveling. Here are her top five tips to connect with strangers and take better street portraits: – READ MORE
LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY
10 Expert Tips For Taking Photographs – Surrounded by the beauty of nature, many photographers experience a longing to capture those stunning vistas, towering mountains and waterfalls, decorated valleys, and quiet pools, alive with light and color. Unfortunately, after photographing landscapes, many photographers often experience a startling sense of defeat when the images turn out to be shapeless, emotionless and otherwise amateur in post-processing.
In this video, award-winning landscape photographer Antony Spencer shares 10 tips for landscape photographers looking to hone their craft and produce high quality work—including some composition advice to help infuse photographs with shape and feeling: – READ MORE
Using Sun In Your Images – Including the sun in your photos can be a creative way to capture different lighting in your images. But, the sun can also be a bit overpowering. Like any good composition, think about how and when to add the sun for the most effective impact.
Early morning or late afternoon, when fog rolls in, is a great time to add the sun. It will create a moody, silhouetted feeling much like what was captured in the image of the Atchafalaya Basin swamp below. The fog filters the sun reducing its bright hot spot to a manageable exposure. – READ MORE
December 2015 – Tutorial Tips
For this month’s Tutorial Tips webpage, we have included the following articles and videos on various photo editing applications our club members are using:
NEW – SOFTWARE
Macphun Aurora HDR Pro Software – First Impressions – HDR originally started as an attempt to correct the limited dynamic range for standard camera sensors, compared to what the human eye can see or perceive. This is not a new concept, but in case you’ve never heard of it, allow me to explain.
Back in the day, camera sensors had an average dynamic range of about 5–7 stops, where our eyes can easily adapt and recognize ranges from 11 to 14 stops. Nowadays, sensors of modern cameras are much more capable in terms of dynamic range, but they still, depending on the situation, can’t capture the whole range. – READ MORE
Aurora HDR Professional Review – High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography is like Taylor Swift’s music; a lot of people claim to hate it, but truth be told everyone likes it. Some people, like Trey Ratcliff, fully embrace the dreamy glow and punched-up shadows of HDR while others openly bash the technique but dabble in it secretly.
There’s no question that the process of creating HDR images has been abused, we’ve all seen the Velvet Elvis images. Hyper-saturated colors, noisy shadows and smudgy haloes have festooned many shots, but beyond the horrors of over-cooked HDR lie masterful works with rich details and compelling tones. Ratcliff and the engineers at Macphun Software have been working to bring photographers a new HDR processing tool that promises to make high-quality HDR processing easy. – READ MORE
Photoshop Elements (Just over $100 at London Drugs)
Photoshop Lightroom ($199 at London Drugs or can be obtained on the Adobe Cloud for $9.99 (US Funds) per month.
Using The Develop Module In your Lightroom 5 Photography Workflow – More and more photographers are turning to Adobe Lightroom 5 as their choice post-processing software. While Adobe Photoshop CS6 equips all manner of visual artists with tools for their various crafts, Lightroom is a streamlined processing software tailored to photographers who need advanced image editing and management capabilities without unnecessary clutter. – READ MORE
How To Save Images Using Export In Lightroom – Reader feedback tells me that some people are confused by Lightroom’s Export process. I think the confusion is caused by not completely understanding how Lightroom works, especially when processing Raw files. So let’s start by recapping the process that a single Raw file goes through when you import it into Lightroom. – READ MORE
How To Use The Graduated Filters In Lightroom – Lightroom’s graduated filter is an extremely powerful tool when used with purpose. For landscape photographers there are several different things that you can accomplish with the graduated filter, and in this article we’ll look at four specific uses. – READ MORE
Topaz Labs (14 modules & over $499 (US Funds)
Macphun ($109 to $199 (Canadian Funds) Only available on Apple computers)
On1 Photo ($109 US Funds)
On1 Photo 10 review: From suite to sweet: photo editing app does it all – For about a decade, On1’s photo editing tools have been marketed and used primarily as plug-ins for Adobe Lightroom, Apple Aperture, or Adobe Photoshop. Each tool was an independent, one-trick pony and appropriately named: Perfect Black and White, for example, or Perfect Portrait. A couple of versions back, On1 began rolling these mini-apps into a Perfect Photo Suite that allowed users to access all the tools from a central dashboard independent of Lightroom or Aperture. The latest version—renamed On1 Photo 10—takes this plan to the next level. Photo 10 is no longer a suite in name or design: It’s now a pretty well integrated app. – READ MORE
Affinity Photo ($45.00 US Funds)
Affinity Photo Receives Its First Major Update – Serif released a new update today to its photo editing software Affinity Photo. It is the first major update, and it includes quite a few exciting features. To celebrate these welcome changes, Serif also announce a discount on the Mac App Store.
A couple of months ago we shared with you the release of Affinity Photo, a competitor to Adobe Photoshop for Mac OS. Since then, the software has convinced some photographers to make the switch, or at least, the number of 5-star ratings they received from the Mac App Store let me believe so. As if it wasn’t enough, Apple even made Affinity Photo app of the year 2015. – READ MORE
November 2015 – Tutorials
For this month’s photography tutorials webpage, we have focused on providing tutorials on the Photoshop Elements application which many club members are using.
These tutorials are only an introducing. You can easily search on internet for Photoshop Element to discover both step-by-step tutorials and videos. I have included some of the material below for your reading pleasure.
Photoshop Elements 11/12/13/14
What Is The Difference Between Adobe PSE 13 vs Versions 12 & 11? – It’s that time of year. Early each fall, Adobe launches a new version of Photoshop Elements, and this year is no exception… Last week the company introduced Photoshop Elements 13 (with brand new free trials to download), and one of the common upgrade questions we see is what’s new, what’s different, and what’s improved in version 13 compared to the previous Elements 12? Or more essentially, what are the key new features in PSE 13, versus PSE 12 or 11?
The bottom line is you probably want to know what’s changed since the last release (or two) – but how about a version-by-version, feature-by-feature table? You’ll find this down below (or take a shortcut here), but first let’s take a quick look at some of the major additions. – READ MORE
Photomerge (HDR) With Photoshop Elements – Taking multiple images at different exposures gives us the oportunity to merge them together to make a single image where we can see in the shadows as well as the highlights. You may think this is just for third party software of Photoshop, but its available in Photoshop Elements too!
In this tutorial I’ve used three exposures at +1, 0 and -1 stop. – READ MORE
How To Use RAW Photos With Adobe Photoshop Elements – Once you go with RAW files, it seems like you never go back. I’ve said before that RAW photography isn’t for everyone. Even so, I feel that there comes a time in every photographer’s life when making the switch to RAW just makes sense. For me, it came just after my purchase of a high powered computer with a nice 500GB hard drive. Now that I can store all those digital negatives, I want nothing more than to take all of my pictures in RAW. Here’s how you can get on the RAW bandwagon with Adobe Photoshop Elements. – READ MORE
Adding Contrast And Drama To Cloudy Skies In Photoshop Elements -Sometimes we don’t get to shoot in perfect weather. Especially when you’re traveling—you don’t get to pick the day, time, or weather forecast. It has happened to me a hundred times. I get somewhere cool and I’ve got gray skies. Well, there’s a sweet little adjustment in Elements that can take those gray skies and make them look pretty darn cool and dramatic. And more often than not, when you apply this and show it to people, they’ll comment on how good the sky looks. – READ MORE
November 2015 – Photography Tips
For this month, we have selected a series of articles and videos to assist you in your journey in becoming proficient in the many fields of photograph.
GENERAL
The Importance Of The Subject In Your Photography – I cannot emphasize how important it is to give your subject the place of importance in an image. Its correct placement and the removal of any competition only makes the photo more effective. Besides creating photographs that are truly memorable it gives an overall quality to your photos. – READ MORE
Understanding Natural Light: Color Of Light – What we perceive as color is actually our brain’s interpretation of light reflected off objects and transmitted to the brain via our optic nerves. Under the field of color psychology, a range of studies have shown that colors can deeply affect how we experience the world around us, from the taste of the food we eat, to how we respond to new brand packaging on supermarket shelves. Colors affect how we feel, and this is precisely why understanding color is so important to you as a photographer. – READ MORE
Shadows And Highlights: The Mark Of Excellence – Back in the days of black and white photography, I worked in a darkroom as a lab assistant, and sometimes students would make the mistake of asking me what I thought. If they wanted to learn this was not a mistake, but if they just wanted me say how great their work was, that was when it became a mistake. Sometimes I would advise them to crop tighter or change their center of balance, but by far the most common problem they had was with shadows and highlights. – READ MORE
How To Understand Depth Of Field To Avoid Blurry Photos – Last week we released our brand new course, Photo Nuts and Shots, which is all about teaching the tools, techniques and thought processes for creative photography. It’s by one of our most popular ebook authors, Neil Creek, and features over two hours of video teaching.
We asked Neil to create this course as he has a natural knack for explaining technical concepts in a way that makes the intricacies of photography easy to understand. – READ MORE & VIEW THE VIDEO
Sharp Photography Tips & Techniques – There are lots of ingredients that go into making a spectacular photograph, but the most important is for the picture to be in sharp focus. Even the slightest blur takes away from the picture, no matter how good the subject, lighting, and color.
Photographers have somewhat varying opinions on what constitutes a tack sharp picture, but generally, a tack sharp photograph has good, clean lines. The picture has clear definition instead of a soft blending of lines—or even downright blurriness. – READ MORE
COMPOSITION
Photography Composition Tricks You Should Know – One of the key elements to a shooting a great photo is photography composition. By using certain established composition tricks you can really make a huge impact on your photograph.
Composition in photography is really just that: composing your photos in a way that makes the best visual sense. – READ MORE
5 Effective Methods Of Creative Composition – It seems everyone has a camera these days, so you may be wondering, “How can I separate myself from the pack?” The answer does not involve a better camera, or a more expensive lens. In fact, the most important part of your equipment actually can’t be purchased in a store. It’s your own unique vision, and perspective on the world, that makes all the difference. The following five elements of creative composition are starting points to help you better express your point of view. – READ MORE
5 Ways To Use Shadows In Your Composition For Better Images – Whilst we may be “painting with light” an equally important part of the photographic equation is light’s opposite, shadows. We often talk about good light, but in reality there is no good light without good shade. Today we are going to take a look at how to use shadows to improve your composition. – READ MORE
LANDSCAPING
14 Autumn Photography Tips – Need some tips for getting the most out of your Autumn photography. We asked a range of experts for their best advice. – READ MORE
7 Tips To Improve Your Skyline Photos – Is there a more iconic photograph to depict a big city, than a beautiful photograph of its skyline? Skylines can provide stunning photographs that have a big sale potential, but to capture those wow shots, you have to be prepared to plan for them in advance, and to allow time and patience, as well as determination, to capture them. Here are some tips to help you capture striking skyline photos.3 Tips For Waterfall Photography Beyond Just Using A Long Exposure – Of course, shutter speed plays an essential role in creating silky smooth waterfall photographs, but does it get a little too much attention in tutorial articles? I think so.
In this article you’ll learn about three other key elements to creating a successful silky smooth waterfall photograph, and when you put it all together, all you’ll need to do next is find a waterfall to photograph. – READ MORE
In Search Of Creativity – I am certain that a detailed survey of every reader of this article would demonstrate very clearly one main thing: we are all unique. We may share many things in common with each other—race, nationality, ethnicity, profession, interests or temperament, to name a few—but the special mix of your personality and everything that has ever happened in your life combines to make you absolutely unique on this planet. Nobody does being you better than you! – READ MORE
Free Photography E-Books
New photographers seeks out different methods of acquiring skills and abilities to realize your true creative abilities. These skills and abilities include:
camera usage;
composition & exposure;
post processing; and
profiling your best images.
The quickest method of developing these skills is by learning from more experience photographers. This method includes:
taking classes;
joining a photography club;
learning from articles and video on internet; and
via e-books.
Many photography e-book provide an excellent resource. Cost of e-books can range from free up to $25.00.
I have included below a listing of free photography ebooks which are available on internet as well as few e-books that I recommend.
The majority of these e-books are in a PDF format and can be viewed on my Windows, Android and Apple devices. Check out your specific internet browser on how to save a PDF document to your computer.
GENERAL PHOTOGRAPHY
Ultimate Field Guide To Photography by National Geographic -This guide by National Geographic can be a serious resource for a beginner in photography as it covers almost every aspect of the basics of photography. Excellent book for the beginners and intermediate photographers – check out this e-book here;
Essays On Inspiration, Vision And Creativity in Photograph by Scott Bourne –inspires the reader to demonstrate a different perspective to capture images. – check out this e-book here;
Good Photos In Bad Light by Darwin Wiggett – Good book to provide examples on how to take amazing photographs in poor or limited lighting conditions. A good book for a wide range of photographers. – check out this e-book here;
Street Photography by Alex Coghe – provides his many years of experience and expertise to take some interesting photographs. – check out this e-book here;
Explore Flickr – The Flickr website is one of several photo sharing contact points on internet. Several of our club members use Flickr to upload their best photographs. This e-book is well worthy reading if you are considering on creating a Flickr account and uploading your images. – check out this e-book here;
Pro Photographer Shares Secrets To Taking Great Photos by Ian Plant – This e-book is an interesting perspective to creative photographing images – check out this webpage and look for the download butt;
Craft & Vision 1: 11 Ways To Improve Your Photography by David du Chemin – this e-book provides inspiration on taking your photography to the next level. – check out this e-book here; and
8 Types Of Natural Light: That Will Add Drama To Your Photographs by Anne McKinnell – From backlight to reflected light, this e-book will outline how to take advantage of each lighting situation to maximize the image being captured. – To receive this free book, you must first register with the author to receive the e-book. Check out this webpage here.
MY RECOMMENDED E-BOOKS TO PURCHASE
The more specialized photo editing books are not free and they must be purchased. I have included below e-books that I have read and recommend:
Mastering Photography by Andrew Gibson – is a good introductory book to photography and covers the basic areas. Price: 7.00 GBP (British Pound) – check out more details about the book and purchase the e-book here;
NOTE: Lightroom is the defacto standard for photo editing images by photographers. However, the application can be intimidating for new and intermediate photographers. Andrew Gibson has developed five excellent Lightroom e-books which provides the most comprehensive and easy to follow e-books:
Mastering Lightroom: Book One – The Library Module (second edition) – This e-book routines how to use the Library Module and streamline the evaluating and processing of images to be refined int he Develop Module. – Price: 8 (GBP) British Pound – Learn more about this book and purchase it here;
Mastering Lightroom: Book Two – The Develop Module – For most new photographers, this book in probably the one book which is referenced the most often. Price:
Mastering Lightroom: Book Three – Black & White – This e-book provides the key essentials to maximize the conversion and optimization of your black & white images. – Price: 8 (GBP) British Pound – Learn more about this book and purchase it here;
Mastering Lightroom: Book Four – The Photos – Builds on the details provided in the first three books Price: 8 (GBP) British Pound – Learn more about this book and purchase it here;
Mastering Lightroom: Book Five – The Other Modules – provides explanation and details about the Map, Book Slide Show, Prince and Web Modules of Lightroom. Price: 8 (GBP) British Pounds. – Learn more about this book and purchase it here; and
Visual Flow: Mastering The Art Of Composition by Ian Plant – this books is probably one of the most comprehensive e-books on composition. The author provides a brief history of composition and reviews the details of many composition principles. Ian Plant outlines that the rules of composition should be viewed as principles which are only guides. He also provides examples when these guidelines should/could be deviated from.
Ian’s books is one of the most recent e-books and as such is more expensive that other e-books. Cost: $29.95 (US). You can view Ian’s presentation for B&H Photo here and he outlines some of the details covered in his book here. You can purchase his e-book here.