Image of the Year

There has been a change of day for the Image of the Year. The new date is Saturday 29th November at the Church Hall, Drummond Street, Dennington.

Getting cheap prints through the internet

I've recently tried getting some large prints, 12 x 18 processed via the internet. I am sure ther are plenty of places but I have used http://www.photoenlargements.com.au/. Their support has been great. One batch slightly damaged in transit by the courior was immediately replaced. All my big prints at camera club have been done here. A big batch of 20 prints worked out to be only $2.80 each after postage and GST added, so you can afford to experiment with different versions.
Graham

Volunteers needed for Celebrage Festival

the following email was received by the Camera Club:


Good Afternoon,

I'm organizing the Celebrage Festival which runs from Sunday 5th to Sunday 12th October this year. The festival is designed to ensure that people aged 55 and over have opportunities to meet people, experience new things, develop new skills and above all, celebrate their age! The 2007 Celebrage Festival was a huge success attracting over 2,500 participants.
We are hoping to have two digital photgraphy workshops, being about 2 hours in length each. I am hoping a few people from your club may be interested in volunteering for such workshops.
The first being a very basic workshop looking at getting the most out of your camera and understanding the different functions (eg sport, macro, night settings). Last year we took 8 participants down to the breakwall and took photos of race horses along the beach, looked at where the sun and your subject are (shadows on faces etc), then went to the Botanic Gardens and took some macro shots of flowers. We then headed to David Owen photgraphy and had a walk thru behind the scenes. We would be looking to do somethng similiar again this year. It would be small group, with a maximum of 10 participants. I am open for any suggested changes (subject matter and venue etc).
The second workshop we are hoping to run was downloading photos of your camera and printing them. We have 5 computers at Archie Graham that particpants could hook their cameras upto and download photos. This may be a couple of 30 minute workshops.
At this stage we have pencilled the workshops for Monday 6th October, 9am-11am and again on Friday/Saturday.
If you have any members that may be interested in volunteering for these workshops, please do not hesitate to contact me using the details below.
I look forward to your reply.
Kind Regards,
Sally
____________________________________________
Sally-Anne Williamson
Community Project Development Officer
Archie Graham Community Centre
118 Timor Street, Warrnambool, VIC 3280
phone: 03 5559 4919
fax: 03 5559 4900
email: swilliamson@warrnambool.vic.gov.au
NOTE: I am only in the office Thursdays and Fridays, please contact me on
5563 2168 if your request is urgent


I have spoken to Sally today and she is still in need of volunteers, so if anyone else is available please give her a ring.

Introducing High Dynamic Range (HDR) digital photography

At the September club meeting, whenever I mentioned I was looking into HDR images, I got blank or curious looks in return. This brief intro encapsulates what I have learnt so far!

High dynamic range digital photography offers a solution to the limitations of working with available light.

Properly executed, a HDR image can display unparalleled ranges of light.
Dynamic range is the variation in luminance from the brightest to the darkest areas of a scene. HDR simply means a much wider range of brightness values than what we are accustomed to seeing.

To create HDR images, multiple exposures of the same scene are taken then merged together in HDR software. Tone mapping is applied through the HDR software. The resultant image is then exported in either 8 bit, 16 bit or 32 bit colour as a .tif or .jpg file.

The file is then opened in photo editing software (eg Photoshop) and tonal contrast, hue/saturation and sharpening actions added to suit the personal taste of the creator. The final result can then be exported in whatever file format (8bit, 16bit or 32bit colour) and dpi setting required to suit the final output size of the image.

The HDR process can control noise in shadows, capture detail in dark areas and retain detail in highlights. There are visual limitations to HDR as some subjects simply do not suit it. However, if you like scenic photos with lots of Wham, Zap and Pow in them, plus incredible detail, then HDR is a process you should investigate. Interior architecture images, full of detail and great tonal range can be achieved without having to use expensive lighting set ups.

I have just started experimenting with HDR digital photography. My first attempt is quite satisfying but there are still lots of learning to do.

The attached images were shot as three exposures (+1EV,0EV and -1EV) in Raw format on a very, very dull winter’s afternoon.

Image A was the best result I could achieve using Photoshop’s merge feature plus lots of levels and hue/saturation adjustments. The sky is still overexposed and general look is still a flat result.

Image B is the HDR result of merging the three exposures in Photomatix Pro*, tone mapping the merged result in Photomatix Pro, exporting it as a .tif file then slightly tweeking contrast and sharpening in Photoshop. The sky has more detail and definition is better in plants and rocks.

The HDR result will not be to everyone’s taste but it clearly demonstrates the added levels of detail, contrast and colour rendering that’s possible in HDR digital photography.
Remember this is only my first attempt. Who knows what’s possible with more experimenting and practice?

To find out more about HDR, simply enter - hdr images - in a Google search.

* I have used the free trial download of Photomatix Pro. When I pay for the real version the watermarks will not be applied to my images! http://www.hdrsoft.com/

Photographs by Roger Neal

Thank you Roger for sharing some of your photographs.

New Haven Pier Dawn

September Meeting - 1st place small print

St Andrews Beach Sunset

September meeting - 2nd place small print

Thunder Point

September meeting - 3rd place Open Print Colour

Autumn leaves

Blairgowrie Boatsheds

I’ve lost track of settings but wherever possible I shoot at smallest aperture possible (f11-f32) on tripod using cable release regardless of shutter speed.
Three were shot on Fuji Velvia ISO 50 slide film and scanned on Epson 3200 scanner (at work).
Blairgowrie BoatSheds was one of my first digital shots done about 3 years ago and ThunderPoint was shot digitally about 6 weeks ago - Fuji 9500 9megabyte camera, fixed 28-300mm lens.
Autumn Leaves: was shot on driveway of motel in Bright – leaves just as they had fallen.
Newhaven Pier Dawn: I remember this shot being 30 seconds at f22. The green cast is from fluorescent lights on building out of frame to left.
St Andrews Sunset: St Andrews Beach Mornington Peninsula – we used to live there. I wanted to capture the 5 lines of waves in the surf. Shape nearest sun is waves – it’s not a ship. Got wet feet getting this image but it was worth it.

Visit to Cudgee Wildlife Park

I have organised for the camera club members to visit Cudgee Wildlife Park, on Sunday 21st September 2008.The time advised to me was 10.30 this is when the animals are most active. If you want to go just turn up at 10.00am at the old site of the tourist information center (Opp Kentucky)We can car pool from there, or you can drive alone if you want.

Cost is $10.00 per person and you can take a thermos of caffeine and some morning tea if you like - they have tables and chairs in case we need a break. Helen will take us into some of the enclosures.

Hope to see you there. Keep in mind Octobers set subject is "A day at the ZOO"

If you want to know any more just contact me.

Regards Rhonda



Thank you Rhonda for organising this

Weather Information

I have added a link to a very informative weather site. It has the usual forecasted weather, but also sunrise/sunset/ first light times, moon phases and moon rise and set times.

If anyone is interested in taking photos of the full moon rising on the 15th (assuming it is at a reasonable time), let me know.

September Meeting Competition Results

Small Print Section

1. Roger Neal
2. Roger Neal
3. John Culver

Open Colour Print

1. Graham Dixon
2. Graham Dixon
3. Roger Neal

Monochrome Open Print

1. Kate Hope

Creative / Experimental

1. Craig Homberg

Slides

1. Craig Homberg
2. Craig Homberg
3. Craig Homberg

Congratulations and thank you to all those who entered

Postcards

Recently I have been turning my photos into postcards. I wanted them to look like real postcards, so I made up a template for the postcard backs. You can down load the template here

The template is a word document so you can change the font and add your details. I print it out on a piece of 8 x 12 inch cardstock (you can get 12 x 12 at scrapbook shops or spotlight), cut into 4 they fit perfectly on 6 x 4 photos.