Something Fun

My engineer husband found this... he's a fan of mechanical creative thinking.  Do you think if we all pooled our gear we could top this?  I do.

Rube Goldberg Photoshoot machine.  (hit the play triangle)

-Jamie

Sports Photography

I didn't watch the World Cup finals on Sunday-- not surprising because for me the sport almost a boring as baseball (to watch on TV not to play, I presume), but because of the back story I was curious about the result. On Monday I saw this photo somewhere on the Internet and immediately knew who won and, most likely, how. This is a terrific example of a photograph that tells the story and I can't imagine how it could be improved upon. It is with considerable regret that I have to admit that I didn't note of the photographer's name and, therefore, can't give proper credit here.
Byron

Elements 9 and Epson Scanner

I had an interesting (?) and time consuming experience yesterday with one lesson perhaps of general interest. In my film photography workflow, I make great use of my Epson V700 scanner to scan negatives for record keeping, addition to my website (www.jtermanphoto.com), and to create notecards for sale as well as many other applications. I have just acquired and installed Photoshop Elements 9. I have used sequential versions of Elements as my main photo manipulation program and always import the scanner output to Elements. This uses the TWAIN driver software, although one can also use a WIA program similar to camera output. However, only the TWAIN method delivers the pro level dialog box where resolution, size, and many other important controls are located. The WIA is a very simple and inadequate interface. After many twists and turns I learned that Elements 9 does not support TWAIN driver programs in its issued form. Fortunately, I found my way to Adobe support, and learned that there is a plug-in to fix this problem. After I described my problem to the Adobe tech lady in central Philippines, who had to break off twice to study it, she did come back and coach me through a patch for the Elements program buried in the depths of the C: drive. This fix is posted in their on –line tech support, but I would have never been able to do it alone. Also note that the fix is different for 32-bit Windows and 64-bit Windows as I have. The reason for this gap in Elements 9 escapes me; perhaps others can comment”

Jim the filmguy

Floral Photo-Op

My garden has thrived this season probably owing to the abundant spring rains. Judging from the lush foliage and exceptional number of buds, it is likely that the daylily bloom season this year will be spectacular. I estimate that the peak bloom will start about 5 days from now but this will depend on the weather. The .75 inch rainfall on yesterday will certainly play a role. Warm night time temperatures contribute to early morning opening of the flowers. If the overnight low is greater than 70 degrees the situation is ideal.

Members of the WWIG are welcome to visit my garden to photograph the daylilies at any time, but you should understand that they look their best in the morning. If you come at mid-day, especially, if it isn't overcast you should bring an umbrella or something else to shade the subject.

A very large tree limb fell into our shade garden yesterday and at the moment I don't know how much damage has been done, but suspect that it is substantial. Other than the daylilies, I don't think that the garden is particularly photogenic right now-- unless, you would like to take photos of hosta that have been partially, or entirely, eaten by deer; we have quite a few of them.

Despite my waning interest in high intensity gardening, what keeps me mesmerized by daylilies is their remarkable variety of bloom color, pattern, size, and form as well as plant habit. Here are some examples that show the wide array of presentation:

  

Byron

Sue Retzlaff's Remarkable Dental Skills

Remember this one from the Digital Challenge of July 6th?  Although she wasn't able to be at the meeting, Sue Ratzlaff submitted 2 wonderfully restored images.  I'm not sure how I managed to lose one of her submissions and  for this unexcuseably sloppy image management I apologize to Sue and to everyone who attended the meeting and didn't get to see her wonderful example of the digital retoucher's art. Sue kindly re-sent the image. Here it is:

Sue, are you willing to share with us how you accomplished this very impressive feat of digital dental restoration?
Byron

Follow Up WWIG July Meeting

Thank you to everyone who attended the meeting of The WWIG yesterday evening, especially Janet Rosseter and Ben Stern who gave presentations, to those who submitted or brought images to share and to all who participated in the great give and take discussions we had.

I need to apologize to Sue Retzlaff. Even though she wasn't able to attend the meeting because she was scheduled to be in Chicago, she submitted some very good images for the Digital Challenge. Unfortunately, I lost one of them-- a particularly wonderful job of retouching of the gentleman with the missing teeth. I'll ask Sue to re-send and post the image on this blog.

Here is the information that Janet handed out:

Photo Workshop Recommendations

• Rocky Mountain School of Photography:  www.rmsp.com
• John & Barbara Gerlach:  www.gerlachnaturephoto.com

On-line resources

• www.timcoopershotocircle.com
• www.lynda.com 

There will be no meeting in August. The next meeting will be on September 7, 2011. The Topic of the Month for the September meeting will be a photograph having deep personal significance (for the photographer, obviously). It is realized that some members may not wish to reveal personal feelings or issues so there is an optional 2nd choice: Food, which can be either a still life of food or a more broad interpretation of anything having to do with food, such as people eating,a vegetable garden, scenes from a farmer's market, etc.

The final day to submit prints to John Zoerb for the La Crosse Public Library Gallery is July 31st.

Once again, there were so many wonderful pictures on display last evening that I can't limit the header of the WWIG Blog to just one image. There will be 2 or perhaps more.

                            July 4th Fireworks at Riverside Park,   La Crosse WI.  Maria Barry

Allbestwishes,

Byron

THE PROGRAM FOR THE JULY MEETING OF THE WWIG

SOCIAL HOUR AND PRINT VIEWING-

Susann Annis is currently visiting family in Colorado but before she left she accomplished 2 important things. She make a cheesecake-- one that you haven't seen before and it's one of her very best-- and she taught Byron how to make her kind of coffee. She has also put herself on call for coffee phone consultation if necessary. I expect a big group tomorrow evening and will try to have enough of everything for all. If you bring prints please be sure to take them to the basement and put them in a place that will illuminate well.

PRESENTATIONS-

• Janet Rosseter on PhotoTouring Along the Great Divide .
• Ben Stern on the Nikon D7000, which seems to be a major leap forward in affordable digital SLR cameras. 
• I attended a one day seminar in Minneapolis given by Joe McNally and David Hobby on lighting using small strobes. I will show a short video of McNally's work and a couple of brief segments of a 2 disc video tutorial. Members delve into this subject in more detail can borrow the video.

ANNOUNCEMENTS-

• Future meetings. The next meeting will be on September7, 2011. There will not be a meeting in August- usually genial host is getting wearing and has lots of other fish to fry in early August.
• The next Topic of the Month and Digital Challenge
• The FINAL REMINDER  about the La Crosse Public Library gallery display in August.
• Christmas Project.
• Communications. The e-mail quandary.
• B&W + COLOR MAGAZINE Contest-

ASK THE EXPERTS-

• Jackie Rand would like to learn more about "tonality" starting with what it is.
• Byron Annis wants to know exactly how a "macro" lens differs from a prime lens of the same focal length (or, for that matter, a zoom lens).

THE MEMBER'S IMAGES

• The Topic of the Month
• The Digital Challenge
• Show and Tell-  Members present anything related to photographic technique, gear, digital imaging, books, videos, etc. I am going to show you what you need to do good insect photography. A used camera and lenses are going to be put on offer as well.
• Open Mike- Digital images previously submitted by members via e-mail will be displayed and prints will be viewed by the group. Comments are encouraged.

From Trey Ratcliff. Stuckincustoms.com
Byron

  

More About Fireworks

Because I couldn't use decent Flickr images of fireworks I Googled the same topic. This resulted in over 12 million image possibilities. I picked a couple  to post to make a point. While it is very very difficult to do anything new when photographing fireworks, I don't entirely agree with TimGrey that showing context is essential. I am intrigued by images like these where the burst is more like a floral bloom than an explosion.

Enjoy Independence Day.

Byron

Photographing Fireworks

On today's Ask Tim Grey eNewsletter a subscriber asked this question: "OK, I know it is a bit of a cliche, and there are many articles on the subject, but since the Fourth of July is approaching I thought I would ask if you have any tips about photographing fireworks."
Here is Tim Grey's response:

A fair question! In my mind photographing fireworks is sort of like photographing a sunset. As photographers we tend to enjoy the show, and that often means we want to photograph the show, but it is easy to forget that you can't just photograph the main attraction.

So, my top tip for photographing fireworks is essentially the same as my tip for photographing a sunset: Try to incorporate something other than the fireworks (or sunset, or aurora borealis, or a variety of other subjects) in the frame. Generally speaking that will mean a silhouetted shape in the foreground of the frame, but it could be a variety of things. Fireworks are pretty cool, and fun to watch and photograph. But to me the photos are much more interesting if there is a scene that happens to include fireworks (in a manner of speaking) rather than just being a photograph of fireworks.

That foreground subject could be a city skyline, a person (perhaps holding a "sparkler" if those are allowed in your area), or just about anything else that can be interesting in a silhouette, and that perhaps might provide context for the fireworks themselves. It's also worth noting that the foreground subject I'm referring to doesn't necessarily mean just a single subject in silhouette. For example, if you have a body of water between you and the fireworks then the composition might be as easy as using a wider lens than you think is necessary.

Otherwise I think the basics are pretty straightforward. Use a tripod, ideally use a cable release, and then set the aperture to f/8 or perhaps a little more stopped down, and use a Bulb exposure to capture a few bursts. Then repeat as many times as you can and review later to find the best!

If you search for Fireworks on Flickr.com you will get access to more than 2.3 million images. On the first couple of pages I saw a dozens of wonderful photos. Unfortunately these could not be copied to this blog entry (at least not by me). I suggest that you go to the Flickr site and take a gander.

From Kurt Peterson

Byron

WWIG July Meeting

The next meeting of The Western Wisconsin Imaging Group is coming up in just 2 days-- on Wednesday July 6th. The meeting will be at our home (N2207 Pammel Pass W.) and will begin at 6:30pm. I will post the meeting program here tomorrow or Wednesday morning. I do have an number of items to bring up in advance of the meeting:

• If you haven't already done so, please submit your images for The Topic of the Month and The Digital Challange by e-mail. If you can't send them this way, please call me so that we can make an alternative arrangement, but please do not bring them on a thumb drive or DVD because the time spent loading  and the frequent confusion can be disruptive to the flow of the meeting. Prints, of course, are welcomed and, in fact, encouraged. Also, please rename your images. At a minimum you should label them with your name. Ideally, the label will include the name of the image, and, if you want multiple images shown in sequence,  a number.
• Please remember that our gallery display at the La Crosse Public Library will be in August and that if you would like to have your work included your prints must be submitted to John Zoerb before the end of this month. Once again, we will be able to hang 24 prints (framed or matted). You can submit as many as you like for consideration. John will be making the the selections. Be assured that this is not a contest and that our goal is to demonstrate the diversity of photographic talent within our group. If more convenient bring your prints to the meeting or to my home at any time and I will be sure that John gets them in a timely manner.
• At  one of our earlier meetings I passed out a questionnaire and asked that the members present fill it out and return it to me. So far I've only receive 2 of them. Really folks, I know that you can do better. I did try to make the questions relevant and informative (at least to me) and not nearly as stupid as most of the questionnaires we are bombarded with. I am going to print up another batch and hand them out at the upcoming meeting and I would really appreciate a response from you-- if you find this objectionable, jot a few words saying so and send it to me but don't ignore the request.
• I have tried to encourage discussion of photographic gear and digital hardware, software and technique at our meetings, but there seems to be almost no interest among the members in these topics. I am going to bring this up for discussion at the meeting and also do a poll on this blog and if my impression is correct these matters will be left behind.
• E-mails. I am very reluctant to send out unsolicited e-mail but have continued to do so because there is no way of knowing who does and doesn't use this blog to get information about meetings and other activities of The WWIG. I've considered using Facebook, but don't see how that would offer any advantage (let me know if you think otherwise). In order to lighten your e-mail burden, from now on I will no longer include any messages in the body of the e-mails sent other than the link to this blog-- click on it if you want to get the information that I think is worth your attention. Also, to let you know that the absence of text in the body isn't an error, the subject line will contain the abbreviation EOM (end of message). In my e-mails, I usually ask recipients who are uninterested to let me know so that their names can be removed from the list. So far no one has done so, but some people have indicated that they wish to be included in our group but never come to meetings. I am going to stop asking, but will start removing names of non-participants from the distribution list. If I do so in error, please call me. Finally, please know that my e-mail contact list (Windows Live) is wildly unstable; names do sometimes disappear and other weird things happen. Sincere apologies to anyone who has as a result be snubbed. Please do contact me if any mistakes in communication have been made.
• Finally, our last meeting was, in my opinion, our best ever. The WWIG is on a roll. Let's try to keep it going! It is hoped that you will be able to attend the meeting on Wednesday. In the meantime send digital images for the Challenge,Topic of the Month or the Open Mike and, even better, bring prints if you have them.

Best wishes to everyone,
Byron