`N FOCUS - Cleburne Camera Club

C LEBURNE C AERA C LUB
‘N F OCUS
V OLUME 5, I SSUE 2
I NDUSTRIAL C RITIQUE
BY
First Place Winners
N ORMA S TEPHENS
The February photo theme
Dragonfly Photography grawas “Industrial”. How did
ciously agreed to critique our
we come up with that?? And photos and did a terrific job.
how do you go about making Teresa offered each photogthis subject interesting and
rapher ideas regarding what
creative? Well eleven of our
didn’t work so well and made
members did just that with
constructive suggestions for
26 very interesting and creamaking each photo a little
tive shots. Our first place
better. As a result, all of us
winners this month are:
came away with a little more
Class A Color-Dan
Cathey “Conveyors”,
Class B Color-Roger
Armstrong “Old
Smokey”, Black &
White-Alden Nellis
“Power Plumbing”
and Creative-Micki
Nellis “Monster
Power”. CongratuDan Cathey, “Conveyors”; Judge, Teresa Steed
lations to all.
holding Roger Armstrong’s winning photo “Old
Teresa Steed of
F EBRUARY , 2009
Smokey”; Micki Nellis, “Monster Power” and
Alden Nellis, “Monster Plumbing”.
knowledge.
Teresa is a local portrait photographer who spent the first
part of her career working in
the county attorney’s office
and doing photography on
the side. She recently retired
from the county and has
opened Dragonfly Portrait
Studio on South Main St. in
Cleburne. All of us in the
Camera Club want to thank
Teresa for generously giving
her time and expertise.
Our March photo theme will
be Macro/Close-up photography. Get close and see the
little things you have been
missing. Turn in will be
March 2.
“Conveyors” by Dan Cathey, Class A Color
“”Old Smokey” by Roger Armstrong,
Class B Color
L ANDSCAPE P HOTOGRAPHY
We are excited to have Darren Huski as our March
speaker.
Darren Huski is a landscape photographer from
Fort Worth, Texas. He
photographs the far
reaches of the Lone Star
State and throughout the
American West and Midwest. He works with a
4x5 view camera and a
modern digital SLR. His
work and travels can be
seen at
www.WildernessPhotogra
pher.net . Darren also
blogs on his travels with a
large format camera and
those adventures can be
followed at http://
thetravelingcamera.blogspot.com/
“Power Plumbing” by Alden Nellis,
Black & White
“Monster Power” by Micki Nellis, Creative
‘N F OCUS
P AGE 2
F EBRUARY C RITIQUE S CORES
C LASS A C OLOR
C LASS B C OLOR
ME
M.
T ITLE
P TS .
M EM .
T ITLE
P TS .
106
Reflected Power Plant
11
116
Tower of Power
9
114
Stacked and Ready
8
146
Dam Progress
8
131
Conveyors
15 (1st)
151
Old Smokey
17 (1st)
138
Steam
13 (2nd)
161
Power Plant Ghosts
13
162
Blue Steel
16 (2nd)
164
Local Industry
9
Black & White
Creative
106
TXI
13
106
A World of Power
13
114
Tanker Territory
12
114
Hell of a Place to Work
7
116
Magnetic Draw
8
131
Twin Stacks
14 (2nd)
131
Plumbing
14
138
Monster Power
15( 1st)
138
Transformer
13
161
Industrial Photography
7
146
Power Plumbing
17 (1st)(JP)
162
Rear View Mirror
11
151
Two of a Kind
14
152
Methane Plant
6
161
Freight Train
15 (2nd)
164
Load ‘em Up
8
J OHNSON C OUNTY Y OUTH F AIR
Six members of the Cleburne
Camera Club will serve as
judges in the Photography
Division of this year’s Johnson County Youth Fair and
Livestock Show. We have
seen some of these student’s
work and there are some
very talented young photographers in the county.
posure compliment the
composition and give the
picture a smooth feeling
or a particular effect
•
•
Subject: does the photo
clearly communicate the
subject
•
Impact: does the
photo’s composition
convey a strong message
•
Uniqueness: does the
photographer exhibit
What the judges will be looking for is:
•
Focus: is the focus appropriate to the theme/
mood
•
Exposure: does the ex-
Print Quality: are there
blemishes, scratches,
overly enlarged or
graininess
creativity through the
photo
These are all things all of us
should think about when submitting photos for our
monthly photo critiques.
The judging will take place
at the Rodeo/Fair grounds
on Thursday, February 25.
Photos will then be on exhibit through out the remainder of the Fair which goes on
through Saturday. Please
make an effort to attend the
fair and take a look at our
future photographers’ work.
‘N F OCUS
P AGE 3
March Theme:
Macro/Close-up
(examples)
M ACRO P HOTOGRAPHY T IPS
My interest in photography
began in 1995 when I got my
first point & shoot camera
with a “macro” setting. My
interest was photographing
flowers in my garden, and the
macro setting let me see
more of the flower, and less
of the background. I was
instantly hooked and took roll
after roll of film with nothing
but flower pictures.
Macro photography is another
name for “close-up photography”. Technically speaking,
true macro is achieving a lifesized or 1:1 image on film or
digital media, i.e. a 1” subject
appears as a 1” or greater image in print. The closer you
can focus, the larger your
subject will appear in the
frame and the more magnification of the fine details of the
subject.
T HE CLOSER
YOU CAN FOCUS ,
THE LARGER
YOUR SUBJECT
WILL
APPEAR ... MORE
MAGNIFICATION
OF THE FINE
DETAILS
Most digital cameras have a
macro setting.
Read your
camera manual
to determine
the minimum
distance from
your subject you have to be to
get a sharp focus. Get as
close as you can to fill the
frame with your subject. As
has always been preached by
almost every speaker the club
has had, use a tripod. Keeping your camera still not only
improves your shots by eliminating camera shake, but it
allows you to try different
settings without losing your
composition.
If your camera allows it in
macro mode, use manual
focus. That way you have the
ability to focus on exactly
B Y P EGGY C ATHEY
what you want to be your
main subject or point of interest.
have a remote or cable, use
your camera’s build in self
timer.
Some cameras will let you
also choose your aperture
setting while in macro mode.
If you choose a small aperture
(big number) for a large
depth of field, you will have
everything in focus. A large
aperture (small number),
gives you a shallow depth of
field where everything is out
of focus except your point of
interest. In most macro photography you will probably
want a shallow depth of field.
There are many tools and
attachments for doing macro
photography. The best, of
course, would be a dedicated
Macro Lens. These can be
quite expensive, but if you
really enjoy taking macro
photos, it would be worth the
investment.
When composing your macro
shot, remember some of the
basic rules, like the Rule of
Thirds. Be sure your image
has a main point of interest
and position it to draw the
viewer’s eye into your image
and to your main subject. Fill
your frame and eliminate a
background filled with clutter. Try to pick simple backgrounds when possible.
You will need more light
when taking close-up photographs, but you will want to
avoid light that casts harsh
shadows around your subject.
When getting in close, your
built in flash will not usually
help. You may need to add
light from other sources to fill
in the shadows. You may
need to use diffusers to soften
the light and shadows or reflectors to put the light where
it is needed.
Another useful tool to use
would be a remote or cable
release to prevent camera
shake when the shutter button
is depressed. If you do not
Other tools include extension
tubes, close-up filters, teleconverters, reversing a lens,
and stacking lenses. To learn
more about these tools and
how they work, check out
this website: http://
www.edbergphoto.com/
pages/Tip-macro-tools.html
Here are a few simple tips to
remember:
•
Simplify
•
Fill your frame
•
Sharp focus is a must
•
Shoot different angles
•
Use front lighting for
deeper saturation of colors
•
Use side lighting to bring
out textures
•
Avoid a cluttered background.
The main thing, when doing
any type of photography, is to
have fun with it. With digital
images, it doesn’t cost anything to practice, so take all
the shots you want. The
more you practice your skills,
the better those skills will
become.
‘N F OCUS
P AGE 4
New Members
Jill Larson
CCC W ELCOME ’ S N EW M EMBERS
The Cleburne Camera Club
membership was increased by
three in the month of February. Jill Larson of Cleburne
was a member in 2005 when
the club first began. We are
glad to welcome Jill back as a
member once again.
Two ladies who attended our
Macro Workshop on February 2, were back on the 16th
with dues in hand. A big welcome to Cynthia Davison of
Crowley and Kimberly Wies
of Joshua. We are very glad
to have you as members and
look forward to seeing your
photographs in up-coming
monthly critiques.
C LEBURNE S PRINGFEST
Cynthia Davison
Kimberly Weis
Monthly Critique
Themes
March-Macro/Close-up
April-Bridges
May-Sports
The Downtown Cleburne
Association will once again
host Cleburne Springfest with
all festivities centered around
the courthouse square. The
event will be held Friday and
Saturday, May 1-2.
The Camera Club will have a
booth set up on Saturday
only, and you are welcome to
put as many of your photographs as you would like on
display and/or for sale. The
photographs should be matted
and may be either framed, or
the matted photos may be put
in protective plastic sleeves.
The club has the sleeves
available for members.
Members who volunteered to work the
booth are Norma
Stephens, LaVerne
Pyle, Roger Armstrong, Jill Larson and
Jim and Pat McHale.
Everyone is invited to
take a turn in the
booth. If you want to
Norma and Ernest Stephens visit with Springfest
enter photos in the
visitor at the Cleburne Camera Club booth at the
display, please have
2008 Springfest
them ready for turn-in
by the April 20th meeting.
want to sell your prints.
Please include a price if you
June-Doors/Windows
July-Garden
August-Open
September-Panorama
October-Sunsets
November-Silhouettes
December-Your Best
Photo
You may enter three
photos per month. One
photo is allowed in each
of three categories or
divisions: Color (A or B
Class), Black and White,
and Creative.
C AMERA C LUB E XHIBITS
A reminder of who is scheduled to display photos at the
Cleburne Chamber of Commerce:
LaVerne Pyle
March—Barbara & Dick
Sweet
September-Micki & Alden
Nellis
April-Roger Armstrong &
Tamara French
October-Frank Bonk & Jill
Larson
May-Dan & Peggy Cathey
November-Jim & Terri
Culver
June-Carol Pevsner &
July-Jim & Pat McHale
August-Dick & Pat Ambrose
December-Cynthia Davison
& Kimberly Weis
Also, there are still openings
at some of the area libraries
for member photographs.
Contact LaVerne (817-6488225) to arrange a time to
meet. LaVerne and Norma
will take member’s photos for
display where needed.
C LEBURNE C AMERA C LUB
1st & 3rd Mondays, 7:00 p.m.
Cleburne Senior Center
1212 Glenwood, Dr.
Cleburne, TX 76636
Jim McHale, President
817-645-7638
CCC B RAG
Peggy Cathey has been busy the past year putting together slide presentations for area garden clubs. Peggy, and husband Dan, are members and officers of the Johnson County Iris and Daylily Society and
have attended several national and regional conventions for both the
American Iris Society and the American Hemerocallis (Daylily) Society. They take
many photographs of the flowers, people and gardens visited on the convention
tours, and last year made a slide show cd of the eight gardens visited during the
Houston National Daylily Convention and presented each of the garden hosts with a
copy of the cd set to music. Since the hosts are unable to see the other gardens on
the tour, they were thrilled with the slideshows. This month, Peggy was asked to
present the Houston Convention slide presentation to both the Johnson County Iris
and Daylily Society and the North Texas Daylily Society in
Fort Worth.
Peggy’s presentation entitled “A Gardener’s Guide to Photographing Flowers” was done many times last year for area
garden clubs, the Layland Museum and Hillsboro Extension
Service “lunch & learn” program.
We’re on the Web!
CCC Group Site: http://
tech.groups.yahoo.com/
group/cleburnecameracclub/
I NVITATION
FROM THE
The Star Group newspapers,
in particular, Christopher
Amos of the Alvarado Star,
has sent the following ideas
to the club to help get our
photos published and more
recognition for the club.
One idea is to send all the
winners of the month and he
will print them together on
the camera club's own page.
Or we could just send one or
two random pictures to use
in places where there is a
hole.
Either way, he would like a
little info from the photographer to put with the picture.
Just a paragraph. Maybe
some thoughts from the
shooter about capturing the
moment, the subject and a
little about the person. If the
The American Iris Society January 2009 Bulletin had a full
page photo of Peggy’s First Place winning photo in the 2008
AIS Photo Contest.
A LVARADO S TAR
picture features a person or
two, he would like to have
the subjects name. Examples:
"Jim McHale captured this
photograph of a sheep while
visiting the Fort Worth Stock
Show with his wife, Pat.
The resourceful lamb was
standing on a bucket to reach
a tasty leaf. McHale uses
both film and digital cameras, but said he prefers the
speed of his Canon Rebel
for spontaneous moments
like this picture."
"Sally Snapshot is the first
place winner of the retrophoto contest. The angry
barber shop owner, Bill
McCutter, was actually stifling a sneeze while
cutting a customers hair.
Snapshot prefers using color,
but said turning the photo
black and white made
the mustached shop owner
look like he was from the
1930s.”
- JPG and pretty good DPI
(camera phones are out). If
you speak pixels, 1200x1600
is good. If you habla inches,
like I do, 8 inches at 200 dpi
is good.
The subjects are up to the
club members, but keep in
mind the limitations of newspaper print — You are not
going to see minute detail
and subtle shades in the Alvarado Star that you see in
Texas Highways. That is
the difference between
newspaper 180 dots per inch
verses magazine 300 dpi.
Plus, they may sometimes
end up on a black and white
page — In every case Amos
says he will try to get them
on a color page if he can but
that won't always happen.
- E-mail is great, but they
can be dropped off at the
office on a disk.
Amos says “Let's roll with
this and tweak it as we go. I
think it will be fun.”
Be thinking about this and be
ready to discuss it at our next
meeting.