March 2018 Meeting

Next meeting Thursday, March 8, 2018

Loyalist College, Pioneer Building, Room P13 

7:30

Special Guest Speaker 

Alasdair Gillespie

Powers of Observation

Alasdair is an extremely creative photographer. He is widely travelled and keenly observant. His images will take your breath away and leave you wondering why you can’t see the world the way he does.


Be sure to drop in to the Parrott Gallery at the Belleville Library to see an exhibition of photography put on by 10 members of the Prince Edward County Photo Club. The images are well worth the effort to go see. The gallery is open until 7:30 on Thursday evenings so it would be a good time to drop ion just our meeting. Parking is free at that time of day.


We will round out the meeting with a review of our monthly theme images.

This month’s theme: Seen Better Days

Don’t forget to upload your images to our theme gallery on this website. 

February 2018 Meeting

Next meeting Thursday, February 8, 2018

Loyalist College, Pioneer Building, Room P13 (please take note of the room change)

7:30

Special Invitation to Artists talks at the Parrot Gallery at the Belleville Library (before our club meeting)

If you missed the first Artist Talks on January 20, be sure to come to the Parrott Gallery for the second, February 8, 5:30 to 7:30 pm. Not only Lola on her world-wide travels and me on the Northwest Passage, but we are expecting David Newland from Adventure Canada. David is a writer, musician, Ocean Adventurer host, Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, frequent Arctic traveller and an all-round great guy. He will be delighted to answer questions. Check David out at http://www.davidnewland.com/. Look forward to seeing you there!


Camera Cleaning

Douglas Banks will be at our February meeting to clean your camera sensors and lenses. The cost is $20 for sensors and $15 for lenses. Make sure that your camera has a fully charged battery. Sensor cleaning is impossible if your battery is low.

 

Light Lessons

Mike Gaudaur will be presenting a series of short lessons on basic principles of light for photographers. This will be presented as a live demonstration using various light sources and a camera tethered to a projector.

 

After the break we will continue with the light theme by exploring how photographers can use editing software light Lightroom to further modify light.
 
We will round out the meeting with a review of our monthly theme images.

This month’s theme: Unbalanced

Don’t forget to upload your images to our theme gallery on this website. 


Join us for a field trip to Wildlife Photographer of the Year at the ROM

 

January 2018 Meeting

Next meeting Thursday, January 11, 2018

Loyalist College, Pioneer Building, Room P13 (please take note of the room change)

7:30

Special Invitation to the Parrot Gallery at the Belleville Library (before our club meeting)

I would encourage everyone to stop by the opening reception for the photography exhibit at the Parrott Art Gallery this Thursday, January 11, 6-7:30 to enjoy piano music by Duncan Cooper, cheeses and desserts and, of course, photography by Bert Jenkins and Lola Reid Allin.

Also mark your calendars for Art Talks with Bert & Lola: ~ Saturday, January 20 2-4 pm
~ Thursday, February 08 5:30 – 7:30pm.


Special speaker John Demers : Photographing the Night Sky

We have been enjoying John’s images and time-lapse slideshows of the night sky over the past couple years, now we get to hear how he creates them.

 

After the break we will have a discussion and a short video on creativity and the importance of sharing.
 
We will round out the meeting with a review of our monthly theme images.

This month’s theme: Lighting Up the Dark

Don’t forget to upload your images to our theme gallery on this website. 


Join us for a field trip to Wildlife Photographer of the Year at the ROM

 

 


Advanced Lightroom and Intermediate Photoshop classes starting next week.

Click here for registration and more information.


Camera Cleaning

Douglas Banks will be at our February meeting to clean your camera sensors and lenses. The cost is $20 for sensors and $15 for lenses.

 

November 2017 Meeting

Next meeting Thursday, November 9, 2017

Loyalist College, Pioneer Building, Room P13 (please take note of the room change)

7:30

Special guest speaker Mat Coker from Acorn & Oak Family Photography

One of the toughest things in photography is to walk into a chaotic scene (or even worse, a boring one) and know how to get a good photo. I’m excited to walk you through my approach to “lifestyle” or candid photography, showing you how to photograph just about anything without interrupting the scene. We’ll cover topics like making great photos with a crappy camera, understanding the “psychology” of the people you’re photographing, and how to grow creatively as a photographer.  

 

Visit the Acorn and Oak Photography Website!
Our specialty is birth photography, and families with kids!
 

After the break we will have a short discussion on the recent changes with Adobe Lightroom, onOne Photo Suite, Topaz Studio, and the Nik Software Collection. We will also try to squeeze in a short video on creativity before rounding out the meeting with a review of our monthly theme images.

This month’s theme: In Living Colour

Don’t forget to upload your images to our theme gallery on this website. 


Join us on November 8th for a field trip to ProFusion Expo 2017

ProFusion is the photo & video event that caters to the professional image-maker.
Showcasing the Industry Leading Brands

To see who is going and arrange rides go to the ProFusion Event on the Quinte Photo Club Facebook page.


Special Invitation to the Brighton Photo Group

The meeting on November 7th will be devoted entirely to a special presentation by Phillip Sun. For this presentation, guests will be charged $10.00. The meeting takes place at 9:30 am at the King Edward Arena in Brighton.
 
 
His  presentation “Work The Light” has four segments. The program is specially designed to help  camera club members to better understand the concepts of light, and train their visual senses toward seeing the light. Once they have mastered the technique on how and where to look for the light, they will begin to see a lot more interesting subjects that they normally would have passed up on.
 
Segment A: How and where to look for light
Segment B: Understanding the concepts of light
Segment C: How to make use of nature’s elements to help enhance the image quality
Segment D: Post processing on images that were taken in unfavorable lighting conditions
 
The duration of the show is about an hour and forty five minutes, with a fifteen minute break. He will have a small number of CDs made available to the club members to purchase at a cost of $5. This way, club members do not have to jot down notes in the dark. The contents on the CD will provide all instructions and image references of the evening program. 
 

October 2017 Meeting

Next meeting Thursday, October 12, 2017

Loyalist College, Pioneer Building, Room P24

7:30

Special Lighting Workshop with guest speaker Will Prentice

 

This month’s theme: In Living Colour

Don’t forget to upload your images to our theme gallery on this website. Because Will’s workshop will take up the entire 2 hour meeting we will extend this month’s theme for two months and view the images at our November meeting.



Lightroom Courses

Many of you have been asking for information about Mike Gaudaur’s Lightroom courses. So here it is:

Learn Lightroom

Do you want to get the very best photographs from your camera files? Adobe Lightroom has the power to do that effectively and efficiently – if you know how to use it. I have designed this series of three courses to teach you “how and when” to correctly use Lightroom’s many tools. Learn to figure out what needs fixing and strategies to get it done quickly. Along the way I will help you to develop your creative style. Start creatively analyzing your own images and using Lightroom to give your photos a professional finish. This course will teach you how to quickly extract and enhance some incredible image detail you didn’t even realize was there.

After this course you’ll look at your photography in a new light. You’ll see more potential in photos you may have previously neglected and be able to improve your favourite photos even more. You’ll be able to create your own shortcuts, make your own ‘presets’ and rapidly improve your workflow and increase your productivity.

The instructor, Mike Gaudaur, is an Adobe Certified Expert with 25 years teaching experience. He is a full time professional photographer. All courses are held at Quinte Studios, 359 Dundas St. West, Trenton. 


Lightroom Fundamentals

Monday evenings from 7:00 – 8:30

October 16 – November 13, 2017

Maximum 12 students

$135

Register

In this class we will get you up and running with Lightroom. I will walk you through getting your images organized and “imported” into Lightroom. I will teach you efficient systems for managing your image collection, evaluating and sorting your keepers, and backing up your images. Most importantly, I will help you to establish a personalized organizational strategy that will help you to stay organized.

Once your images are organized then we start fixing and enhancing them in the Develop module. You will learn what all the sliders do and – more importantly – when and how to use them. 

Finally, you will learn how to export your best images so that you can share them.

There are a lot of foundational concepts to learn along the way to mastering Lightroom and you will learn them in this course.

Course Outline

  • Catalog Fundamentals
  • How to get your existing images into Lightroom
  • Where are your images stored
  • Setting up a folder structure and working with catalogues.
  • Essential settings to ensure your images and organizational work are never lost
  • Explore the Lightroom interface
  • Methods of viewing your images in Lightroom.
  • The Library module.
    • How to import your images into Lightroom.
    • Adding keywords to tag and organize images.
    • Creating collections to organize and file your images.
    • How to decide which images to edit when you have a large number of similar images to choose from.
    • Quickly apply stars and flags to rate and shortlist your images.
    • Using filters to view images based on ratings, camera info, exposure info, flagged images, location info and star ratings.
  • The Develop Module
    • Learn the power of the editing sliders in the Basic Panel.
    • Control your black and white conversions using the HSL Panel.
    • Discover how Split Toning can be used as a creative tool.
    • See how to use the sharpening and noise reduction functions in the Detail Panel.
    • Use the Effects Panel to add some creative flair to your images
    • Learn how to analyze your image and decide which areas need work.
  • The Export Dialog Box
    • Learn how to export specific images so you can share your work online or get it printed.

Intermediate Lightroom

Monday evenings from 7:00 – 8:30

November 20 – December 18, 2017

Maximum 12 students

$135

Register

Once you have mastered the basics it is time to take things to the next level. In this course you will learn the incredibly powerful organizational features of Lightroom that are lurking beneath the surface. There are so many time saving techniques, keyboard shortcuts, and powerful presets to share with you. Keywording, rating, filtering and smart collections will ensure that you can always find any image you are looking for, and be able to see all your best work in one place. 

Next we will dive deeper into the Develop module to learn some of the less obvious tools that can allow you to make subtle improvements and dramatic enhancements that will take your images to a whole new level. Discover the power of local enhancements and learn how to use them to craft your images into something special.

We will explore the myriad of options Lightroom provides to export your images for various purposes, on screen, online, and in print.

Course Outline

  • The Library module.
    • Dig deep into the Metadata functions available in Lightroom.
    • Employ a myriad of filtering and sorting techniques
    • Creating smart collections to organize and file your images automatically.
    • Use loupe, compare and survey strategies to quickly evaluate and select your best images.
    • Figure out which type of Previews are best for your workflow.
    • Modify your workspace interface to suit your preferences
  • The Develop Module
    • Resetting your RAW image.
    • Getting started analyzing and editing your image.
    • Learn how to use all the localized editing tools to work on specific portions of your images
    • Using custom ‘Graduated filters’, ‘Custom brushes’ and ‘Radial Filters’
    • Clone or Healing Tool
    • The Adjustment Brushes
    • Red eye removal tool
    • Crop tool and crop tool overlay guides to assist you with your composition.
    • Manipulate tone curves to solve contrast and tonal problems
    • Use Hue, Saturation, and Lightness to manipulate the look of your images
    • Employ the Lens Corrections panel to fix distortion, vignetting, and chromatic aberrations
    • Unlock the power of the Transform panel to work all manner of amazing modifications
    • Decipher the mystery of the Camera Calibration panel and use it to deal with your camera’s idiosyncrasies. 
  • The Book Module
    • Learn how to design your own highly customized photo books.
    • Understand the various output options and how to determine which is best for your purposes
  • The Slideshow Module
    • Fast and efficient strategies to create simple yet elegant slideshows
    • Add text and graphics
    • Add music to enhance your presentation
    • Understand the various output options and how to determine which is best for your purposes
  • The Print Module
    • An introduction to basic printing directly from Lightroom

Advanced Lightroom

Monday evenings from 7:00 – 8:30

January 8 – February 5, 2018

Maximum 12 students

$135

Register

There are still so many powerful tips, tricks, and techniques to discover in Lightroom. This course will concentrate on helping you to develop an efficient and effective workflow so that you can get the most out of your images in the least amount of time.

Opportunities to save and use presets are tucked into every nook and cranny of the Lightroom interface. Learn how to avoid common mistakes in creating presets and instead establish worksaving gems that will revolutionize your workflow.

You will learn how to set up automated systems, custom workflows, and strategic plans to get the very most out of your images in the least amount of time. Wether you are a working professional photographer or someone who just likes to play with your images, this course will help you to minimize the administrative work and maximize your creativity.

Course Outline

  • Special techniques with Quick Develop
  • Synchronization techniques for metadata and develop settings
  • Merge to HDR
  • Photo merge panoramic images
  • Round-trip editing in external applications and plug-ins
  • Advanced keywording strategies
  • Import pre-set strategies to automate your import and backup process
  • Explore the potential of Publish Services
  • Using virtual copies to facilitate creative options
  • Access the History and Snapshots panels to travel back in time and make time stand still
  • Reading and manipulating a histogram
  • Working with multiple catalogs
  • Creating a watched folder for auto-importing images
  • Tips to speed up Lightroom’s performance
  • Tethered shooting demonstration
  • Finding, importing, and managing plug-ins
  • Keyboard shortcuts and interface automations
  • Advanced printing options, controls, and presets
  • Creating and using custom export functions
  • Lots more tips, tricks, and techniques to enhance your images and speed up your workflow.

September 2017 Meeting

Next meeting Thursday, September 14, 2017

Loyalist College, Pioneer Building, Room P24

7:30

Feature Presentation: Making Eye Statements – A Photographer’s Journey

Larry Tayler

Larry is relatively new to photography, but he has dived into it deeply, with passion and loads of natural talent. His images reveal a curiosity and sense of humour about the world around him. He is planning to reveal his journey into photography that started only three years ago. During that time he has attended many photography courses and workshops which have guided him along the way. He will share some of the themes and approaches he has been pursuing lately: abstract, street/urban, contemplative, architecture, and  people. He will also provides some insights into sharing on Facebook, Twitter, and his blog – Making Eye Statements.

Break

Mike will teach a short lesson exploring that mysterious third element of the exposure triangle – ISO. 

Theme Image Critique

We will finish the evening sharing and critiquing our monthly theme images.

This month’s theme: Fun in the Sun

You can upload your images to our theme gallery on this website, or bring them in on a USB memory stick. Please refine your image selection down to your best two images.

June 2017 Meeting Wrap-up

Thanks to all the dedicated club members who made it to our last meeting of the season. It was such a nice evening to be outside enjoying nature, but we had a good time anyways. The next meeting will be September 14, 2017.

The theme for the summer is “Fun in the Sun”

The products that were mentioned during the meeting were:

Black Rapid camera strap

Lens Pen

Pac Safe

Snapseed

Topaz Plugins

Here is a recap of the my presentation on travel photography. Thanks again to Gilles Bisson for his helpful article.

1.Memory cards

a) Always carry multiple memory cards. Beware of those large

memory cards….do you really want to have 4,000 or more

photos all on the same card? 

b) Start your trip with empty cards. 

It is better to format your cards rather than just erasing/deleting the photos. 

Formatting the card resets the file index, perhaps making it a little less

likely to become corrupted over time…better safe than sorry.

Format your cards with the camera you plan on using and not

using your computer or another camera.

c) Plan on how you are going to backup your photos on the road.

2. Batteries

Rechargeable batteries do not last forever. 

bring spares and don’t forget to pack your charger.

3. Prepare for the weather

a) Some cameras don’t do well in the rain. Get a

plastic sleeve to cover the camera and the lens.

b) Be mindful of humidity. Going from an airconditioned

vehicle into hot humid air can cause

condensation on your lenses and/or inside the

camera. Bring a plastic bag large enough to

accommodate your camera and lens (white

garbage bag works well)…your camera can be

safely acclimatized in the bag while you scout

your next shot.

4. Camera Gear

a) Minimize the gear….take what is necessary and

leave the rest at home. But, take your tripod if

you can …or a least a monopod.

b) Bring a few lens cleaning cloths with you and

carry one with you at all times. Check your lens

regularly. There is nothing more frustrating than

getting home and finding traces of fresh/dry rain

drops or smudges in the middle of your images.

Clean your lens with your hot breath…no need

for liquid cleaner.

c) pack safe

5. Exposure

a) Shoot in Raw format.

b) Consider bracketing. … 3 shots…spaced by 1

or more stops. I have used this method often

and it is a great way to ensure you get the full

dynamic range of the scene…..just combine the

three in post-processing.

6. Shooting through glass

a) press lens against glass

b) try to eliminate light hitting glass

7. Telling a Complete story

a) Don’t forget to take pictures of the

signs. If you want to work on a

book or album later, it’s always nice

to have photos of the signs from

various places you visited.

b) Setting

shoot overview of the location

panorama works well

c) Characters

include people to tell more complete story

add scale to landscapes

d) Action

capture images that show what is happening

look for action

e) Details

8. Final Thoughts

a) Minimize the annoying camera geek factor. Don’t look like a target

b) respect your surroundings, including your fellow travellers

c) don’t forget to savour the scenery. Experience where you are.

Very Good Price on the Topaz Plugins

The New Photo Editor from Topaz Labs is Here!

Topaz Studio is the all new and free photo editor from Topaz Labs! Packed with both amazing processing speeds and easily accessible creative tools, you’re sure to edit faster and find more inspiration.

While it’s completely free to use the program with 10 Adjustments, tools, effects, and more, the entire advanced Adjustment Pro Pack is available for $99.99 (normally $274.86) during the special introductory period. Gain complete access to all 24 Adjustments with coupon code STUDIO* but only until June 30th.

*Coupon applies automatically at checkout.

 
Edit, Layer, Add, Delete, Change Your Mind.
 
From tools to adjustments to image layers, experiment as much as you like without committing changes until you’re ready to save your photo.
 
Topaz Studio is…

An Advanced Nondestructive Photo Editor: Anyone who has worked with multiple layers knows the frustration of repetitive actions. Topaz Studio’s flexible approach enables you to rearrange, modify, add, and delete adjustments at any point without compromising the original image. Save your unique adjustment stacks as a 1-click effect that’s completely customizable at any time.

Exclusive Topaz Technology: Topaz Studio is packed with advanced Topaz Technology that you’ve come to know and love. With our state-of-the-art Noise Reduction, Precision Contrast, and new features like stackable Content Aware Masking and a powerful new image processing engine, you can achieve results faster than ever. 

A Great Value: It’s free to use Topaz Studio’s complete set of editing tools, versatile masking, 1-click effects, and 10 adjustments. No subscriptions, no fees!  Want to extend Topaz Studio? Buy only the Pro Adjustments that you want, when you want. And if that’s not enough, with the new automatic update tool built into Topaz Studio, you’ll get free and frequent updates for life even if you never spend a dime.

Artistic Inspiration: Fuel your creativity with 1-click effects curated by Topaz Labs and users just like you.  From technical edits to creative changes, get inspired with over 170 effects spanning 23 different categories.

Free Educational Resources: Don’t know how to use Topaz Studio? Still not sure where to begin? We offer a wide range of community resources and educational tools like live webinars, step by step tutorials, instructional videos, and more, all for free just like we always have! Get easy access to questions, content and discussions with other Topaz users on our Topaz Forum, get the technical support you need in our Help Center or visit any of our other social communities to join in the conversation.

 
Want to Learn More?

See what Topaz Studio can do in under 2 minutes with this short introductory video.

 

June 2017 Meeting

Next meeting Thursday, June 8, 2017

Loyalist College, Pioneer Building, Room P24

7:30

Feature Presentation

Tips for Travel Photography

Mike Gaudaur will lead a discussion on tips, techniques, and gear for better travel photography. Members (and guests!) are encouraged to bring in and share anything they have found that makes travel photography, easier or better. This will include using compact point and shoot cameras and cell phones.

Break

Mike will present a workshop on editing your images on the road using a tablet or smart phone. 

Theme Image Critique

We will finish the evening sharing and critiquing our monthly theme images.

This month’s theme: Fine Art Black and White

You can upload your images to our theme gallery on this website, or bring them in on a USB memory stick. Please refine your image selection down to your best two images.

May 2017 Meeting

Next meeting Thursday, May 11, 2017

Loyalist College, Pioneer Building, Room P24

7:30

Feature Presentation

Creating Fine Art Images

Margaret Liddon will bring us a presentation on how she creates fine art images of simplistic beauty. This presentation should help us all to see and create images that reveal beauty in the world around us.

Break

Mike will present an image editing workshop on various techniques for sharpening your images.

  • sharpening after capture
    • three types of sharpening
    • basic sharpening in Lightroom
    • Nik Sharpener
    • basic Photoshop sharpening
    • advanced Photoshop sharpening

 

Theme Image Critique

We will finish the evening sharing and critiquing our monthly theme images.

This month’s theme: Sharp

You can upload your images to our theme gallery on this website, or bring them in on a USB memory stick. Please refine your image selection down to your best two images.

Please note that Douglas Banks is coming to clean cameras and lenses at the May meeting. Bring your equipment in for professional, on-site cleaning. Please bring cash ($20 for cameras and $10 per lens). Equipment will be cleaned during the meeting and ready for you to take home at the end of the meeting. This a fantastic opportunity to get your equipment in top condition for a busy summer of shooting.