Workshop - Photographing Water Droplets

18th Meeting

Workshop - Photographing Water Droplets

We had such a great time photographing water droplets tonight. It took us a while to get all set up with 5 cameras of different brands and 5 external flashes, all different brands. Keith did a great job coordinating the flash setup. We tried shooting with the PC sync cord, Nikon CLS, Canon flash and even shooting tethered to a laptop.

Check out a few shots I took. My settings were ISO 800/400 (I changed half way through) f/11 and 1/250s. In my shots, we had four flashes pointing towards the background powered down to about 1/16. I was using the D300 with a 105mm macro lens but you don't need macro to do these although you will probably have to crop the images. These are pretty much straight-out-of-camera (sooc) with just a slight contrast boost. The different colours were achieved by changing the white balance in camera.



Click on over to Strobist for a great lesson on how to photograph water droplets.

Next wednesday we'll be meeting to showcase "CAFE STYLE PHOTOS" for display in our fireside room. Bring up to 4 images for selection that you think will match well in cafe style room.

Challenge Showcase Results: Water

17th Meeting

News:
I forgot to blog about our meeting 2 weeks ago (16th mtg) where we met up for a workshop on post processing. I went over how to use Lightroom the whole time and I hope you learned a few things. I know I'm always learning and there is so much I still don't know. Good video tutorials at http://jkost.com/ and just do a search and you'll find a plethora of information out there.

Keith shared his plans for shooting at the upcoming Anime convention. We chatted about gear rentals. I showed off my new Shootsac.

I also shared my thoughts on building a community of photographers on social media sites such as twitter and facebook in light of recent events, which involved a hard drive failure and subsequent image recovery from formatted CF cards. You can read about it on dolcepics.com!

Showcase Challenge Results:

There is definitely something magical about water. I don't think these images need an introduction! They speak for themselves.

Rising and Falling Water by Justin


Swimming Merganser by Justin


Cubist Droplet by Keith


Reflection by Katherine (tied with above)


Portrait by Laura


Very Blue by Katherine


Filming by Keith


Serene Lake by Katherine


Power Wave by Katherine


Wild Goose Pagoda Water Show by Justin (tied with above)


Water Burst by Katherine


Beach by Katherine


Fountains by Barry



Our members really outdid themselves this time with all these amazing photos! We're thinking of creating some kind of printed product with all our fave photos at the end of the year. How does that sound?

On this coming Wednesday, we will be trying our hand at photographing water droplets as inspired by Keith! See you there!

Challenge Showcase Results: Flora & Fauna

15th Meeting

News:
We chatted about Yahoo's camera bike, film grain, digital grain, processing.

Showcase Challenge Results:

The last three weeks, our photo assignment was to create images of flora & fauna. Here are the results from last night's showcase. All the scores were very close and we have several ties this round. Enjoy!

Pink Tulip by Katherine


Sakura by Laura


Hearts by Laura (tied with above)


Under the Rose Canopy by Keith


Dying Tulip by Katherine (tied with above)


Wet Land by Barry


Yellow Tulip by Katherine (tied with above)


Blossoms by Laura


Leaf in Detail by Henry


Tree & Rainbow by Barry (tied with above)


Night Garden by Keith


Cherry Blossom by Henry


Bleeding Hearts by Katherine


Dining Table by Barry (3-way tie with above & below)


Maple by Barry (3-way tie with two above)


Our next photo challenge is WATER for the showcase on June 3rd. Next week, we'll be doing a workshop on post processing. So, bring your photos and your laptops if you have one.

Panning and Jump Shots

14th Meeting

News:
A couple of our members will be attending conferences and we'll look forward to seeing their shots.

Panning, Motion & Jump Shots
At our last meeting, we did some hands on experimentation with and without off-camera flash while trying our hand at panning. It was quite challenging but we had a lot of fun. Near the end of the session, we tried a few jump shots using two flashes (SB-800) off-camera. One to light the front of the subject and the other on a stand to try to get some rim light for separation from the background. Good times!

Here are a few shots I took last night.



Thanks to Keith for showing us the SU-4 feature on the SB-800's so that all our members were able to trigger the flashes using either Canon or Nikon bodies. Awesome!

Remember to submit your FLORA & FAUNA photos for the showcase next week!

CHALLENGE SHOWCASE RESULTS: Silhouettes

13th meeting

News:

We talked about the camera swap meet and some trends in photography we've noticed these days including the returning enthusiasm for film.

Last week, everyone (minus laura down with a bad headache) made it to the photo walk at QE park. From dusk to darkness, a great time was had by all.

Showcase Challenge Results:

Thanks again to those of you who submitted photos and also to Lloyd and Merry who although left already back for home, still submitted photos for us to enjoy. We'll miss you two!

Here are the results and beautiful silhouettes from the evening.

Crabbing by Lloyd


Burning Blue Heron by Justin


Toast by Laura


Early Birds by Justin


Aquarium by Laura


Petals by Lloyd


Limbs by Katherine


Totem Poles by Katherine


Experiment Gone Wrong by Keith


Duck by Barry


Too Busy by Keith


Aren't they all fantastic?

The next challenge is FLORA & FAUNA. Due Monday, May 11th. Next week, we'll be doing a hands on learning session for PANNING. Should be super fun! See you then!

CHALLENGE SHOWCASE RESULTS: PATTERNS

11th Meeting

News:
Nikon D5000 and 10-24 DX lens announcement.

Vancouver Camera Show and Swap Meet
Early birds - 9:00 AM- $15 (until 10:00 AM)
Regular Adult admission- 10:00 AM to 4 PM $5.00
Young adults and children (14 and under)- free with paid adult admission

Showcase challenge results:

Thanks to everyone for submitting their photos for this challenge. Patterns are everywhere and you all did such a great job focusing on them. Here are the results beginning with the images with the most points.

Curlers by Lloyd


Spin by Merry


Gears by Justin


Planting a Green Roof by Henry


Water Colours by Keith


What's Cookin'? by Laura


Lamp Reflection by Henry


Through the Fence by Laura


Umbrella by Merry


Auto Junk by Keith


The next photo challenge due on Monday, April 27th is SILHOUETTES. Email them to oac[at]dolcepics[dot]com.

Next wednesday we will be going on a photowalk around the oakridge area. If it rains, we'll shoot in the church building. Bring your favourite gear and lighting equipment. It should be fun! If you've never been to our club before, please join us. Your first visit is free!

Off Camera Flash Workshop

10th Meeting

Last night, we had a blast working with off camera flash: first with a light box and then with some dramatic lighting for portraits.

I made a very simple light box with materials I found around the home: cardboard box, white tissue paper, tape, & white poster board. Strobist has a good tutorial on how to make it. Check it out here: http://tr.im/lightbox/





Here are a few "product" shots we took:




Then we decided to liven it up a bit and took some portraits of ourselves. We used two flashes off camera. One speedlight was on a light stand shooting through an umbrella on the left. The other flash was bare and was sitting on a mantle. You can see the difference in quality of the light and harshness of the shadows between the bare flash and light from the umbrella. We had a ton of fun using 6 pocketwizards: 2 on the flashes and one on each of the 4 cameras we were using. We even forced OAC's community relations director to stand in for a headshot. We were going for low-key, dramatic lighting. What do you think?



Thanks again to Lloyd and Merry of Night and Day Photography for letting us play with your pocket wizards and for your impromptu tilt-shift lens tutorial. Oh, and for letting me post the silly photos of you Lloyd.

Our next meeting will be on April 15th. We will be showcasing our photos from our current challenge: PATTERNS. Be sure to submit your photos sometime before the meeting, preferably by Tuesday, April 14th.

See you there!