Port Colborne Camera Club

Floral Photography this month

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 20:56:50 +0000

May has been busy at the club. There were two shoots at the Mill Greenhouses, one in For Erie, one in Port Colborne. Members have also been out shooting the Arum Titanus bloom in Niagara Falls. Here are a few results from these shoots.

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Advice on shooting florals It’s common in floral photography to try to blur the background while keeping the subject of the photograph in focus. This is a difficult juggling act, if your aperture is too small, the background won’t be blurry enough, if it’s too large then not enough of the flower will be in focus. There are several things you can do to improve results.

Working with your standard DSLR kit lens
Set your camera on aperture priority at the smallest f-number perhaps f-2.8
Set your camera on manual focus so you can determine exactly where to focus on the subject.
Back up a bit and zoom in.
Use a tripod and timer or remote release. Lock your mirror up to reduce shake.
Use the Tony Sweet method and put a blurry print behind your subject.

Macro Lenses, Adapters and Extension Tubes. Your kit lens will usually not focus closely enough for macro photography. If you want to get in close to capture details, you will need another Solution:

Just grab your point and shoot, they can usually focus closer than most DSLRs. The macros setting is usually shown by a tulip or flower on your camera. Don’t be tempted to let the camera go into digital zoom.
Get a dedicated macro lens. These are great for many uses, including copy work and flower photography.
Buy a macro adapter for the front of the lens. These are relatively cheap, but the quality can suffer a bit.
Buy extension tubes that fit between the lens and camera body. These usually come in sets and can be quite pricey if you want connectivity between lens and camera. Tubes without connectivity can be quite cheap.
Use a ring light to get even illumination

Links to Macro lenses, adapters and extension tubes.
Nikon Adapters on Amazon
Canon Adapters on Amazon

Trick Solutions

Helicon Focus software will allow you to stack many images with different focus to get one image with massive DOF

Photoshop CS5 will do focus stacking. Unfortunately, we don’t think the current release of Elements has this function. See this Youtube video

Put a printed image behind the subject, here’s a YouTube video by Tony Sweet. You can download backgrounds from the Members Only page on this website.

Super Moon Shoot Saturday 7:45 pm. May 5

admin — Fri, 04 May 2012 21:38:01 +0000

Camera Club Super Moon Shoot, Saturday night 7:45 pm Lakeshore south of Surfside. These are the best conditions to try to catch the moon rising behind the lighthouse.

The moon rises at 8:13 but you want to be there earlier to set up.

Best place to shoot the moon this Saturday

Bokeh backgrounds

admin — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 21:23:42 +0000

We are going out to the Mill greenhouses in Fort Erie in May. We’ve provided some high res blurry backgrounds that can be printed up and used to place behind the flowers. This is the technique used in this YouTube video by Tony Sweet.

If you are a Port Colborne Camera Club member, go to the members’ page and provide your password. Click the link and download a Zip file of high res backgrounds.

Bokeh background download

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Recent Urban Exploration shoot.

admin — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 00:07:31 +0000

Several members of the club were out shooting abandoned homesteads recently. Here are a few pictures from the session. If you haven’t posted anything on the FB group please do so, or email Bill or Clay and we’ll include them.
There is always something unusual, and a lot of texture and drama to shoot. It was interesting to see how everyone took such different approaches to the subject. We will probably do another shoot soon if members are interested.
These shoots are always challenging and not without an element of danger. We have maps to the two locations on the members’ page, a password was given out at the last meeting. If you missed it, let us know.

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Abandoned House Living Room in Canada

HDR speaker April 11

admin — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:21:15 +0000

Karen Fulham is a talented photographer and HDR expert with the Niagara Falls Camera Club. She spoke at a recent meeting about her HDR workflow. There are many ways to approach HDR, Karen is one of those who doesn’t do the outlandish OT stuff which is so common these days.
Everyone got a lot out of the session, I think. Thanks so much, Karen.

HDR workshop – April 4

admin — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 17:46:00 +0000

Image by Alex Harris

Why HDR?

There’s endless debate about whether HDR is a good or bad thing. Can HDR improve a poor photograph? Should a photograph be manipulated to look like a painting? Does the best HDR not look like HDR?
We say HDR is simply a tool, which can produce great images when used properly.

Why HDR?
Dealing with a high contrast scene
To add colour or texture to a bland image
To create Weston-like B&W images
Where it suits the subject matter
For interior shots where windows would get blown out

HDR Fail
When the image is well exposed and the RAW has enough latitude
When it doesn’t add anything to the image, or has no purpose
When halos overwhelm the image
When there are rapidly moving objects such as clouds, leaves, people, cars

Examples of HDR
HDR for artistic effect
Subtle HDR
Good OT HDR… Kent Dirk

Questionable HDR and HDR haters
OT HDR… Captain Kimo
I Hate your HDR
Overdone HDR
Most are fail

Many of the links here have been kindly provided by members of the Niagara Falls Camera club
Remixing layers for portraits
Rafael Conception’s Blog
Rick Sammon
Dave Wilson
Before the coffee tutorials

Where to download HDR software
You can also use Photoshop and Elements for HDR if you have them
Photomatix Trial
Oloneo Photoengine Trial
Enfuse GUI freeware
Luminance HDR freeware

Greg from Niagara Falls

admin — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 01:24:42 +0000

Greg Robinson stopped by the club to show his light painting photographs. Greg uses camera motion to generate stunning abstract images from lights and natural objects.

Bill Mason gave a short introduction to HDR, and Carolyn was presented with a trophy

Bill presents Carolyn with a trophy for successfully completing a photography course

High Winds in Port

admin — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 14:32:56 +0000

High winds in Port Colborne cause the Assiniboine to break free of its moorings and drift across the canal blocking it. Many of our club members were out recording the event.

Photo by Clay

Not yer usual travel snaps

admin — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 13:56:48 +0000

At our meeting March 7, one of our members, Griz, showed photos taken around Brisbane in Australia. Griz specializes in portrait and street photography. You can see many of her pictures in the gallery page.

Great pictures, and fascinating stories, particularly her meeting with an aboriginal elder.

Welcome

admin — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 15:50:11 +0000

We’re a small friendly camera club, passionate about photography, and sharing information.
All ages and skill levels are welcome, from noobies to advanced shooters. We don’t compete amongst ourselves, award ribbons or have different levels of membership (not that there’s anything wrong with that)

If you’re looking for something different in the area, give us a try. We meet the first and third Wednesdays of the month at the community hall, 554 Fielden Avenue, Port Colborne. You can find more information on the Contact Page.

Even if you can’t attend meetings, follow us on Twitter or join our facebook group. You’ll find interesting and challenging discussions, tips and interchanges.

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Photo by Carolyn