OAC Photo Club

OAC Photo Club Meeting Time and Place Changed

2011-11-04T21:13:00.001-07:00

As of Monday, November 7th, we will be meeting twice a month on Mondays rather than on Wednesdays in the Fellowship Hall at OAC unless stated otherwise. The meeting time has not changed and will remain from 7:30-9:00pm.

Please contact us if you'd like more information at oac@dolcepics.com or if you'd like to join us.

Hope to see you there!

OAC Photo Club

OAC Photo Club Calendar

2011-02-15T12:52:00.001-08:00

First Meeting of 2011

2011-01-19T14:15:00.000-08:00

Our first meeting of 2011 will be at OAC located at 5350 Baillie St. in Vancouver (just north of Oakridge mall) from 7:30-9:00pm tonight, January 19th. Please email us at oac@dolcepics.com for more details.

New members welcome!

Low Key Studio Lighting

2010-11-25T16:53:00.000-08:00

At last night's photo club, we had the studio lights set up against a black backdrop to try out some different low-key type lighting. We used two lights and a reflector and ended up with some nice contrast in the portraits.

And lastly, we removed the black backdrop to try a lighter background.

Here are a couple shots from Matthew's camera that he processed:

In this shot, we took away the back light for more shadows.

Lighting with Cookware

2010-11-25T16:24:00.000-08:00

Inspired by this blog post we decided to give it a try.

We only had a very tight confined space to work with but I think we still got a few interesting shots. These are almost straight out of camera with just a little boost in contrast.

You can see what cookware we used to get these shadows.

Rim Lighting

2010-08-09T23:47:00.001-07:00

focal length: 55 mm
shutter speed: 1/125
aperture: f/4.5
ISO: 200
flash: single flash fired - camera left

Last week, we worked on using off-camera flash to create a rim of light and separate our subject from a dark background for a dramatic effect.

What do you think?

(The red on the background was caused by a reflection off of a red piece of paper I attached to the flash as a flag to prevent the light from spilling onto the bookcase behind it.)

WORKSHOP - Food Photography Using One Light

2010-02-25T18:58:00.000-08:00

focal length: 50 mm
shutter speed: 1/100
aperture: f/4.0
ISO: 400
flash: not fired

Last night, at OAC Photo Club, inspired by Strobist's article about food photography, we decided to make a smaller version of the inside-out soft box (because we didn't have a big enough box) and try our hand at photographing food.

Here's our setup.

Instead of a strobe, we decided to try using a continuous light source, a lamp without the shade. One of us held it above the box so it would shine through the tissue paper acting as a diffuser. The tissue paper covered the opening at the top of the box.

The lamp wasn't bright enough to allow the white pieces of paper to reflect any light onto the red peppers and the pieces of paper may have been too far away to be effective, which I was ok with since I intended to keep one side in the shadows for more drama.

Here are a couple more photos using the same setup.

focal length: 50 mm
shutter speed: 1/100
aperture: f/3.2
ISO: 400
flash: not fired

focal length: 50 mm
shutter speed: 1/100
aperture: f/4.0
ISO: 400
flash: not fired

The box was super easy to make and the lighting is something everyone has at home already. It was so nice to be able to instantly see how the light would fall on the subject because we were using a continuous light source. Give it a try. I'd love to see your results.

Workshop - Product Photography & Creative Lighting

2010-02-03T22:00:00.000-08:00

February 3rd, 2010

It was our 3rd meeting this year and we thought we'd do some more shooting. We hadn't brought out the flashes and lighting accessories in a while so for this workshop we set up two stations: product photography and creative lighting for portraits.

Thanks to all those you attended and shared your knowledge and gear. Remember to upload your photos to flickr. The tag will be "0203creativelights"

Here are just a few from the day.

Those are just a few that I shot while our members did a lot more shooting.

For more information about the OAC Photo Club, click the info link or email us at oac[at]dolcepics[dot]com.

2009 OAC Photo Club Photo Exhibition

2009-12-01T17:25:00.000-08:00

The OAC Photo Club held our first ever photo exhibition this past Sunday evening. Thank you to all those you submitted your photos to share and also to those of you who attended. We had such a positive response to the exhibition and I'm sure we will be doing this again.

Here are a few photos I snapped during the night.

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

A quick pan around the room.

2009 Photo Exhibition

2009-11-24T15:34:00.000-08:00

This coming Sunday, the OAC Photo Club will proudly present our very first photo exhibition!

We hope to see you there!

Following the exhibition will be a concert you may want to attend. Tickets for the concert can be purchased at the door.

Challenge Showcase Results: AUTUMN

2009-10-28T22:41:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who came out tonight and welcome to Emy and Kenny to the group! Enjoy the photos our members submitted in response to our latest photo challenge, AUTUMN.

Showcase Results:

Rain/Fall by Barry

Blue Eyes by Laura (tied with above)

Snow Geese by Justin

Road by Ellen

Maple by Deb

Clothes Line by Paul (tied with above)

Pears by Laura

Lots of Leaves by Marcus & Chelsea

Path by Barry (tied with above)

Huge Leaf by Damien

River by Ellen

Leafy Sidewalk by Henry

Bridge by Damien (tied with above)

Clothes Lines by Paul

Reflection by Henry

Challenge Showcase Results: ORANGE

2009-10-28T17:42:00.000-07:00

Showcase challenge results:

Here are the photo submissions for our photo challenge "ORANGE". Thank you everyone for submitting these fabulous photos!

Headlamp by Ellen

Dixie Cup by Laura

Fireshow by Paul

Buddha by Paul

Orange Fish by Justin

Belly Bride by Deb

Orange Fruits & Vegetables by Justin

Max by Deb (tied with above)

Basketball by Laura

Carrots by Ellen

Sunset by Damien

Christmas in Australia by Damien

Wheel by Henry

Moccasin by Henry

Photobooth

2009-09-08T16:00:00.000-07:00

From Oakridge Block Party - Photo Booth

On Sunday, Sept 13th, the OAC Photo Club set up an exhibit at the 2009 Oakridge Block Party and offered a free photobooth for anyone who signs a model/web release.

If you had your photo taken at our Photo Booth, CLICK HERE to find your picture!

Thanks to everyone who came out! It was great meeting you and we had a lot of fun!

From Oakridge Block Party - Photo Booth

Here are just a few to get a taste of our photo booth. Be sure to look for YOUR PHOTO HERE!

From Oakridge Block Party - Photo Booth

Massive Blog Update

2009-09-04T19:30:00.000-07:00

I haven't been able to update the blog all summer, so today I wrote a few posts to keep track of all the shooting we've been doing! Instead of the usual showcase one week then shooting the next, we decided to do more shooting in the past few months.

Take a peek at what we've been up to this summer:
June 17 - Photographing Water Droplets
June 24 - Photo showcase for print
July 1 - We took a break for Canada Day
July 8 - Portraits with Outdoor Flash
July 22 - Portraits with Indoor Flash
July 30 - Photowalk at QE Park
August 5 - Product Shots (not blogged yet)
August 12 - Portraits
August 19 - Photographing Smoke
August 26 - Maternity Portraits
September 2 - Light Painting

Workshop - Light Painting

2009-09-02T18:26:00.000-07:00

One of our members, Justin, suggested we try light painting. He sent us a link to a video with instructions and ideas to start with. So, tonight that's what we did!

We suggest if you try this yourself, that you think of some ideas and images you'd like to create before setting everything up to get a basis for what you're like to achieve.

We started off with some simple light painting using our little LED flashlights. We outlined ourselves, drew some pictures, and then at the end of the workshop, we got a little more creative. We had one model, one person holding the external flash, one person with the flashlight for added drawing and one person manning all the cameras. With the exposure set to bulb (keep the shutter release button held down for as long as you want and release once the drawing is finished), we used the test flash button on the external flash to light the subject, then for the rest of the exposure in the dark, the one with the flashlight added drawings.

You can check out some of the images below:

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

We had a ton of fun!

Workshop - Maternity Portraits

2009-08-26T18:46:00.000-07:00

We're fortunate enough to have two lovely ladies who are expecting their first child this year! Maternity photos are challenging because we want to bring focus to the fact that they are pregnant but still create beautiful portraits.

Here's just a sample of some of the photos we took that day and into the night where we brought out the external flashes!

Workshop - Photographing Smoke

2009-08-19T17:50:00.000-07:00

This tutorial was originally published at Dolce Pics.

focal length: 50 mm
shutter speed: 1/160
aperture: f/9
ISO: 320
flash: fired off-camera to the right

Last night, our photo club set out to photograph smoke. You have probably seen beautiful images of the wispy subject before and perhaps even wondered how to do that yourself. Well, it's pretty simple actually.

Materials needed:

a few incense sticks

incense holder - eg. a jar of rice, playdough

black backdrop

external flash for use off-camera

trigger for flash - eg. pc sync cord, pocket wizards

black paper to flag your flash and prevent light spill

desk lamp

camera with manual controls

50mm lens or longer

a well ventilated room

We set up our station as depicted above. I had a small, black fleece blanket that I taped to the wall. The desk lamp on the left served to light the smoke so we were able to focus on it. It might be best to focus manually in this case. The external flash was set to the right of the smoke. We had two systems going - one (SB-800) rigged with pocket wizards and one using (SB-600) to be triggered by my Nikon D300's built-in flash (set at zero power - set only to act as a commander).

The SB-800 had two black pieces of paper attached by rubber band on both sides of the flash head to prevent any light splashing onto the background and onto our lenses. The SB-600 had a very ghetto snoot(a black tube around the flash head) to do basically the same thing but the cone of light was more restricted.

Here's a shot of the SB-600 going off. You can see the light was well contained and aiming at the smoke slightly from behind and to the right.

Suggested Settings:

low ISO (eg. ISO 200) - for clean images

small aperture (eg. f/8 or smaller) - greater depth of field

fast shutter speed (eg. 1/160 or faster but below your high speed sync speed) - to freeze smoke

high flash power (eg. 1/4 or more powerful)

You can use that as a starting point and adjust your settings and flash power as you shoot.

Sometimes the simple wisps of smoke can be most striking.

Capture the tip of the incense stick for another focal point and wait for the smoke to rise like mini cyclones.

Add a human subject while still bringing focus to the smoke.

The great thing about flash photography is that your images probably need very little processing. The only changes I've made in Lightroom on most of my smoke images is a little boost in exposure and spot healing some bright spots of dust and ash to clean up the background. You can adjust your white balance in-camera or by using your editing program to change the colour of the smoke.

To get a completely different photo, invert the image (In Photoshop, Image > Adjustments > Invert) and then adjust the hue/saturation to get the colour you want.

From this:

To this:

So, what do you think? Isn't it worth giving it a try?

You may also be interested in:
How to photograph water drops

Workshop - Portraits

2009-08-12T18:41:00.000-07:00

This week, we challenged ourselves with shooting portraits. Luckily, one of our newest members was willing to model for us. We shot from 7:30 while the sun was setting until 9:00pm when it was completely dark.

Here are a few shots I took that day.

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Workshop - Photowalk at QE Park

2009-07-30T19:17:00.000-07:00

This week, with the great summer weather upon us, we decided to go for a photowalk at nearby QE Park. I didn't get to shoot much that day but here are a couple shots for you to see.

Workshop - Portraits with Indoor Flash

2009-07-22T19:01:00.000-07:00

At our photo club, we like to experiment with lighting both natural and artificial. Even if you don't have an external flash, we can usually find a way for everyone to try a bit of off-camera flash.

We had a mini-lesson on lighting, grids, snoots, zoom/wide flash, ratios etc.

And eventually we had a three-light set up going. The key light was shooting into and umbrella. A gridded speedlight off the right of the subject to light the background and a speedlight on the floor shooting onto a make-shift reflector (plastic table) to add a bit of fill on the shadowed side of the subject's face.

Here's our set-up:

And here's the result:

Keith brought his laptop so he was shooting tethered so we could see the results right away. A great tool for teaching!

You can see some of Keith's photos and a few more of mine below:

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Workshop - Portraits with Outdoor Flash

2009-07-08T19:41:00.000-07:00

We had a lot of fun playing and experimenting with off-camera flash use outdoors. We found a cool metal garage door nearby and set up our lights. We started with one, gelled CTO and gridded. Then added some back lighting. Added side key lighting and a bit of fill flash from the bottom.

Check out our last set up below:

See some of our funny shots here:

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Workshop - Photographing Water Droplets

2009-06-17T23:24:00.000-07:00

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.

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

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.

Here's a tutorial I wrote and cross posted over at Dolce Pics.

focal length: 105 mm
shutter speed: 1/250
aperture: f/11
ISO: 400
flash: fired - 4 speedlights off-camera at 1/16 power each

I love our photo club because we actually get together to shoot and try new types of photography. Inspired by one of our member's water drop shot from the week before, we wanted to try our hand at it too. It turns out that the setup can be very simple but can also get more complicated if you want it to.

For simplicity's sake, I'll just share with you the basic recipe for photographing water drops.

Materials Needed:

camera with a macro lens (other lenses will work too)

tripod

at least one external flash (the more the better)

a system to fire the external flash off-camera

eye dropper

bowl of water

colourful or bright backdrop

towel

an assistant or two

Step-by-step:

Set up your working area. Put your camera on a tripod. Set it up in front of a bowl of water and have something colourful or bright behind the bowl. Your flashes should be placed to shoot at the background and not at the water.

Set your exposure manually. Try f/16, ISO 200, 1/250s to begin and make adjustments as you go. Since you will be relying on your flash to light your subject, you can use a small aperture (for great depth of field), low ISO (for sharpness and greater detail) and a high shutter speed (no faster than your flash sync speed though).

Set your focus manually. If you have live view, here is where you can use it. Use a pen or the dropper and place it in the water approximately where the drops will fall and use that to help you focus. Oh, and make sure your lens is switched to manual focus only.

Figure out how you're going to fire your flashes off-camera. You can use a PC sync cord, Nikon CLS, master on-cam and slave off-cam, pocket wizards (or equivalent) etc. Find out what works for your system.

Set your flash power as low as possible. The higher the flash power, the slower the flash will recycle, which means you can't take shot after shot after shot right away. By having more than one flash you can set them all to the lowest power so they will recycle faster and you can take more frames at a time.

Shoot away! Make adjustments as you go. Adjust the white balance in camera for different colour casts or change the backdrop. Try not to shoot too many frames at once so your flashes have time to rest.

I just changed the white balance to tungsten in-camera to get this blue image.

Simple enough right? That's all it takes to get shots like the ones above. I didn't even do much post processing either. I just boosted the contrast a touch.

For you over-achievers out there, there are many variations to photographing water droplets and can get as complicated as you want to make it. Check out Martin Waugh's Liquid Sculpture portfolio for inspiration.

If you give it a go, please leave a comment. I'd love to see your shots!

Challenge Showcase Results: Water

2009-06-12T23:32:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-21T11:30:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-07T15:33:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-01T00:27:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-16T23:31:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-09T16:54:00.001-07:00

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!

CHALLENGE SHOWCASE RESULTS: Household Tools & Decisive Moment

2009-04-02T10:41:00.000-07:00

9th Meeting - Challenge Showcase

News:

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

Occultation of Venus at about 5am on April 22nd. Exerpt from cloudynights.com:

April 22, 2009: Predawn Lunar Occultation of Venus: Both the Moon and Venus will be in their "waning" crescent phases, in Pisces, making this a most interesting event to view through a telescope. The event begins at 5:10am PDT, with the Moon and Venus only 3 degrees above the eastern horizon and ends at 6:09am PDT, with both celestial bodies 15 degrees above the eastern horizon, as seen in Northern California. Venus will be a very large 45.1 arc seconds in diameter, a slender 17.3% full, and will shine at magnitude -4.5. Appearing nearly 40 times larger than Venus, the moon will be only 8.4% full. Note: The Western United States is favored for this event since the occultation begins while the sky is still quite dark and is over a few minutes before the sun rises, which occurs about 6:22am PDT.

We were honoured to have Edmonton wedding photographers Lloyd and Merry of Night and Day Photography join us for the showcase. Welcome to OAC Photo Club!

Showcase challenge results:

We had two challenges this round due to our 2 week hiatus. The assignment was to photograph everyday things around the home and/or to capture a "decisive moment" as inspired by Henri Cartier-Bresson. We had such great submissions and a great learning experience when we shared our comments and critique at the meeting last night.

Here are the photos in order starting with the one with most points garnered. Great job everyone!

In Oven by Barry

The Party by Laura

Out of Strawberries by Justin

Clothesline by Laura

4 Lights by Henry

Brushed Metal by Laura

Japan Fest 2 by Henry

Shadow of Lights by Barry (tied with above)

Focus on Mike by Barry

Calligraphy by Barry

Japan Fest 1 by Henry

Our topic for next week is in discussion. If you have any suggestions or workshop requests, please email us. The next challenge topic will be announced soon. Hope to see you next week!

Mini Workshop - On and Off Camera Flash

2009-03-12T16:02:00.000-07:00

8th Meeting - Flash Workshop

News:

Abe, via Katherine, shared with us a nifty thing called the Gigapan process. It's a robotic camera mount that allows you to record gigpixel images. Check it out!

Barry talked a bit about the new Canon tilt shift lenses that came out recently. I found a video demo on it here. Very cool. And very expensive.

And some of the online stores I recommend are Vistek, Henry's, Camera Canada. Saneal and The Camera Store seems to have some of the best prices, but I haven't ever bought from them before myself.

Justin let us know that a local store Photo Expert has some really great prices.
Flash Workshop:

We went over the basics of flash photography and talked about some resources that are useful like studiolighting.net and Mark Wallace's video tutorials from Snap Factory (available also at studiolighting.net).

Then we spent an hour doing some experimenting and shooting with an external flash on the camera. Most members had not done a lot of flash photography before so we enjoyed the chance to try it out, tweak here and there and learn how the flash responds and what kind of results we can get with it.

I had two flashes with me (SB-800 and SB-600) and we quickly got a two flash off-camera setup going to try some shots in an otherwise dark space. We wish we had more time to experiment more but the workshop was really just to get us familiar with using the flash and seeing the results.

Speaking of which, here are a few shots I took that night.

View the set on our flickr stream if the photo browser below looks a little strange.

There is no meeting scheduled for next week. I'll keep you posted on the next mtg date by email.

Low Light Challenge Showcase Results

2009-03-05T15:49:00.000-08:00

7th meeting - Low Light Photography Challenge Showcase Results

News:
Some interesting and useful resources:
Tilt Shift Photography Tutorial

Free 10 week Photoshop Course

Alltop.com - a blog "magazine" rack: Photography

Low Light Challenge Results:

Shooting in low light conditions can very challenging, especially if you don't have a tripod or if you're shooting moving subjects with insufficient lighting. Thank you everyone for sending in your images to share and discuss. We can always learn something from analyzing our own photos and those of others.

Electric Fish by Laura

Crescent Moon and Venus by Justin

CIty View Reflection by Henry (tied with above)

Orchids by Katherine

XRay Vision by Laura (tied with above)

Boundary Bay Sunrise by Justin

House by Katherine

Ice Pineapple by Henry

Van Dusen by Henry

Candles by Katherine

Cupcakes by Barry

Thanks again for taking on the Low Light challenge. Our next challenge will have two themes: The Decisive Moment & Household Appliances. Very challenging assignments but I think we'll have fun completing it.

The club may be taking a break after next week's FLASH WORKSHOP but we will keep you up to date with that by email.

Photographer Focus: Henri Cartier-Bresson

2009-02-26T00:39:00.000-08:00

6th meeting - Photographer Focus

News:
Last night we shared some of our favourite forums, websites and resources on the web. Justin introduced Camera Labs, which has good reviews on the latest gear and interesting video tours.

I'm a frequent lurker at the Photography on the Net forums (POTN) for Canon digital enthusiasts. There are almost 200,000 members including many professional photographers who frequent the forums regularly. There is a ton of great information and resources there so check it out.

Photographer Focus: Henri Cartier-Bresson

We had the privilege of studying a bit about the photography and philosophy of Henry Cartier-Bresson, a master of candid "street" photography. We were amazed at his perfect timing and meticulous attention to composition which all make up for what Cartier-Bresson called "the decisive moment".

After analyzing a few of Henri Cartier-Bresson's photographs, we came to better appreciate photography as an art and admired him for his impeccable timing.

You can view his work here: Magnum Photos
Read an article about him here: New York Times article

We also discussed what street photography entails and the perils of it as well. Discussion about model releases, photographer's right and responsibilities surfaced as well. Since then I have found an interesting thread on POTN about this. It's always good to be aware of your boundaries.

Reminders:
Submit your LOW LIGHT photos for the showcase coming up next week. Send them in by Monday night.
The week after the showcase, we will be doing a hands on workshop/learning session with flash photography. Bring your cameras and flashes if you have any and come and join the fun!

Texture Challenge Showcase Results

2009-02-18T23:31:00.000-08:00

5th Meeting - Texture Challenge Showcase

News:
Nikon announced a new lens! The AF-S 35mm f/1.8 DX prime lens. Read about it here. This news is especially great for Nikon D40, D40x and D60 users.

Challenge no. 2 Showcase - Texture

Thanks to all those who submitted their photos for tonight's showcase and for coming out to talk photography with us. The photo challenge for the last two weeks focused on textures. We had a great time discussing each others' photos and learning along the way. Critiquing our own photos or having another set of eyes look at it can open up our own eyes and see things in different ways. Just another way to continually improve our vision.

Results are based on a scoring system ranging from 1 to 5 in each of the following categories: technical, creativity, inspiration.

Here are the results after tonight's scoring:

Stump by Laura

Blenz Hot Chocolate by Justin

Reflection by Barry

Veiny Detail by Laura

Leaves On Deck by Henry

Telephone Pole by Laura (tied with above)

Bee Downtown by Henry

Trunk by Barry (tied with above)

Flower by Barry

Grass Rocks by Katherine

Again, the results were very close. Looking forward to the next challenge showcase: LOW LIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY. Send in your submissions by March 2nd.

Diptych Challenge Showcase Results

2009-02-05T09:07:00.000-08:00

3rd meeting - Diptych Challenge Showcase

News:
Joey shared with us news of a Sony DSLR with gps feature built in. This led us to a discussion about pros and cons of purchasing a camera system other than Canon or Nikon.

A couple recommended resources:
- Photojojo: newsletter with all interesting articles for the P&S to the DSLR user
- Tilt Shift Maker: simulate the miniature or dreamy look of the tile shift lens without the pricey lens itself. Try this free, online tool.

If you hear of any photograph related news you'd like to share at our next meeting, please jot them down and let us know what you know.

Challenge no. 1 Showcase - Diptych

We spent most of our meeting sharing our diptychs, commenting on them and making suggestions for other possible ideas for each creation. We also gave each image a score from 1 to 5 in each of the following categories: technical, creativity, inspiration. The results were extremely close, often by only one point. Great work everyone!!

Following are our diptychs in order starting with the one with the most points:

Mirrored by Laura

Cacti by Laura

Paths by Katherine

Greens by Katherine

Rides by Barry

Spigot by Henry

Skills by Justin

Untitled by Barry

Free Run by Marleh

Roses by Marleh

Chocolate by Marleh

Thank you all for your participation and for sending in your submissions in time.

Our next challenge is TEXTURES, be it natural textures or textures added as layers. Please submit your entries by Monday, Feb 16th.

Registration for the club is now open, so bring your registration fee to the next meeting if you haven't already signed up.

Details on the next meeting will be emailed soon.

Low Light Photography

2009-01-29T10:16:00.000-08:00

Last night, 10 of us met up for Photo Club no. 2. We shared some news in the camera world and discussed a bit about DSLR's with video capabilities after stories I read here.

Photo club registration forms will be ready for our next meeting, Feb 4th. Bring your $25 if you would like to become a member.

Some benefits of having an OAC Photo Club membership means that you can:
- attend our meetings
- enter contests
- participate in photo challenges
- take part in workshops and mini-lessons
- join us for photo outings

The group was also introduced to our new weekly feature here on the website: Photo Of The Week. All members are invited to email any of your favourite photos by Wednesday of each week. One photo will be chosen to be featured on the blog every Friday. Simple right? Keep the EXIF information intact (aperture, ss, iso, focal length) so that can also be posted to help us learn and send in a photo that is at least 810 pixels wide. You know the email address to send it to.

We did a quick review on exposure and understanding how shutter speed, iso and aperture work together to get the right exposure for your purposes. Understanding exposure can help you in tricky situations such as low light shooting, which we discussed in more detail. Once you understand the triangle of exposure, there are so many different types of low light photography we can pursue. A few ideas include:

- the night sky
- sunsets
- low-key
- indoor architecture
- concerts
- light painting
- lit displays and many more.

Check out the Flickr group dedicated to low light photography for more inspiration and give it a try.

focal length: 70 mm
shutter speed: 1/10
aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 3200
flash: none

So, Instead of looking at fleeting light as a disadvantage, approach it as another style of photography. Embrace the shadows. Add a flash or two and make your own dramatic lighting. Take a nice sturdy tripod along with you and set a long exposure. There are so many possibilities once you get out there and try.

Reminder: Send in your DIPTYCH creations by this coming Monday, Feb. 2nd for showcasing at our next meeting.

Hope to see you then!

Challenge 1 - Diptych

2009-01-22T11:34:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all those you came out last night to our first ever photo club meeting.

We had fun getting to know each other with a little game. Then we went on to discuss the format and plans for our club. If you'd like to volunteer as a facilitator, please let me know. Appreciate it!

Had a nice brainstorming session with ideas for the club and discussion topics, which included:

Outings
Review on manual exposure
Focusing
Spotlight on other photographers' works
Album cover shots
Selective colouring
Night shots (slow shutter speeds)
Colour themes
Black & white theme
Post processing

If you have any other ideas and requests, please email them to me.

Lastly, we learned a bit about DIPTYCHS. A diptych is essentially two images put together (side by side or one on top of each other) to show a relationship between the two subjects. There are many fabulous examples found on flickr. Click the link to peruse through them and get some ideas. You can find examples that show relationships of colour, subject, before/after, texture, pattern and many more. It's a great way to show your creativity and artistic eye.

The challenge starts now and all you have to do it create a diptych of your own. You're welcome to do more than one. Just email me your image or send me the link to your image (sign up for a flickr account) by Monday, February 2nd so we can review/comment/critique and share our creations at our meeting on Feb 4th. You will be given two weeks for every photo challenge, which should be ample time to get your creative juices flowing.

You can create your diptych using most any photo editing software or an online program like Mosaic Maker for flickr users.

Here's a link for step-by-step instructions using Photoshop.

Looking forward to seeing all your diptychs!

OAC Photo Club - First Meeting

2009-01-15T23:45:00.000-08:00

To kick off the New Year, OAC will be hosting photo club meetings ~~every Wednesday~~ on Mondays, twice a month at the Oakridge Adventist Church starting at 7:30pm and ending at 9:00pm. Our first club meeting is scheduled for this coming Wednesday, January 21st, 2009.

The OAC Photo Club welcomes photographers of all ages and levels to meet for some friendly banter about everything photography. Meetings will include critique sessions, mini-workshops, discussions about camera news, latest trends and other related topics. Your first visit is free, so please join us!

Annual Membership Fee: $25

Location:
Oakridge Adventist Church
5350 Baillie St
Vancouver, BC V5Z 3M5
Phone: 604-266-6727

Anyone and everyone is welcome to join us for any part(s) of the program outlined above so feel free to pass this information along to your friends and family who might be interested in attending also.

The tentative plan for our first meeting will include:
- discussion about club agenda, goals and facilitators
- bi-weekly photo challenges
- brainstorm topics you would like to discuss or learn about
- photowalks, outings
- mini-workshop topic requests
- website, email and contact details

We are looking for other leaders to help facilitate the meetings. If you are interested, please let us know at the meeting.

Hope to see you all there!

Photographic Exhibition a Success!

2008-12-03T23:59:00.000-08:00

Our class' exhibition has come and gone and it was such fun! I was so proud of all our students who lovingly prepared their images for display at our show. Here are some more photos of the event:

Thank you everyone for making this event a success! Way to go students!!

Eye of the Beholder - photographic exhibition

2008-12-01T04:19:00.001-08:00

Our very first exhibition!

Lesson 9 - Flash Photography

2008-12-01T03:30:00.000-08:00

Our very last lesson has come and gone! We finished up with a look at flash photography. There is just so much to learn when it comes to flash and understanding ambient and flash exposure. We talked about:
- the quality of light (soft and harsh shadows, directional etc)
- tips for taking advantage of the best light indoors and outdoors
- white balance
- flash fall off
- balancing ambient and flash
- maximum flash sync speed
- high sync speed
- flash as fill light
- flash as key light
- built-in flash
- on-camera external flash
- off-camera external flash
- studio lighting (softbox, umbrellas, reflectors)

Whew!!! That was one intense class! I did a lot of talking, as there was just so much material to cover and I really wanted you all to have a great basis for understanding flash photography. Remember, this is only the beginning so if you don't get it all right away, don't worry. Take some time to think about the theory and best of all, go out and practice. Especially with off-camera flash, it's all about trial and error so go try.

Despite my droning on and on about this and that regarding flash, I did have some time to show you a bit of off-camera technique using a shoot-through umbrella and reflector.

Thanks Katherine, as always, for documenting the going-on's of our class!

Lesson 8 - Post Processing

2008-11-20T01:16:00.001-08:00

In our last class you were introduced to post processing. We went over iPhoto and Lightroom 2.0 by using the tools and techniques most useful for photo editing such as:
exposure
levels
highlight recovery
blacks
fill light
temperature
tint
contrast
saturation
vignetting
grad filter
adjustment brush
clone/heal

just to name a few. Next class, I will reserve some time to review some key techniques for use in Photoshop.

Don't you just love processing?

Oh right! We also talked about RAW vs. JPG. In the beginning of the class, most of you were down on RAW but I hope by the end of the class, you were able to appreciate some of the awesomeness of RAW!

Remember this example?

Here is SOOC:

Recovered from JPG:

Recovered from RAW:

Wow... what a difference. Remember, JPG's are compressed, so a lot of information and detail is thrown away. As a result, there is less room for extreme processing. If you nail the exposure and white balance, then shooting in JPG's might be for you as you deal with less processing and smaller files. However, if you want the flexibilty in processing and you have a fast computer and lost of hard drive space, then consider shooting in RAW.

Hope you had as much fun as I did discovering just some of the things you can do in post processing!

Lesson 7 - Lenses

2008-11-20T00:52:00.000-08:00

Oops! I forgot to write up a post about our lesson on lenses two weeks ago!

We talked about 35mm standard and cropped sensors versus full frame sensors. By understanding those differences, we can figure out what works best for us and which lenses we can buy for our cameras.

The first thing to think about before purchasing a lens, is to consider what you want to photograph. Should you get a prime or a zoom? Wide, normal or telephoto? What maximum aperture do you need?

We also discussed vignetting, lens distortion, magnification and the big one, perspective and changing angle of view between a wide or a telephoto lens.

If you have any questions about a lens purchase, I'd be more than happy to discuss the options with you and help you to find the one you need.

Lesson 6 - Exposure Review

2008-11-06T13:31:00.000-08:00

We had a ball in last night's class when the light's went on and we were able to shoot in manual mode! Now, shooting comfortably in manual takes a long time and a lot of practice. Reading your meter, compensating for the scene and dialing in your settings takes patience but once you get accustomed to setting your exposure this way, you'll get faster and faster at it.

Want to make your own heart or star-shaped bokeh? Check out these links:
Create Your Own Bokeh
Removing the Mystery From the Heart-Shaped Bokeh

We also had our first Pop Quiz! Everyone did very well tacking those questions and really taking the time to think about exposure.

Here's another sample question for you to try:

My current settings are aperture f/8, shutter speed 1/60, and ISO 800. But I find my shutter speed a bit slow by one stop. How will you fix that while maintaining the same exposure?

There are several possible answers. Post your version in the comments below! Anyone can answer!

I'll post another one in a couple days.

Lesson 5 - Aperture, Shutter Speed & ISO

2008-10-31T12:29:00.000-07:00

In our last class, we tackled the triangle of exposure head on!

We came to understand what the aperture, shutter speed and ISO are and what happens when we adjust them. It will take time to become completely familiar with how they work together to set an exposure so don't worry if you don't feel all that comfortable with the trio yet.

Check out the links on the left hand menu to more tutorials on these subjects. Read it over and over again until you get it. Then practice practice practice. Read your manual to figure out how to change those settings as it's different for every camera.

You were introduced to shutter priority mode and aperture priority mode. Next class we will go over all these concepts again and delve into setting your exposure manually. It's really not as difficult as it may sound!

We also brought up our plans for a gallery showing of our prints at the end of the session. Our last class is Nov. 26th so the gallery showing will be on Dec. 3rd. You have a month to shoot like crazy and choose your very best images for the show.

In the next couple of classes, we will start looking at post processing as well, which will give your images that extra kick.

See you all again soon!

Lesson 4 - Exposure Compensation & Metering

2008-10-23T15:28:00.000-07:00

In last night's class, we reviewed the basics of exposure and understanding how the camera thinks. We looked at why the camera underexposes or overexposes certain scenes and how to fix that by applying exposure compensation. Then, we went into detail on learning about the built in light meter and the different metering modes which can affect our exposure.

Next week, we'll be diving deep into the triangle of exposure: aperture, shutter speed and ISO. Be sure not to miss that one!

And here are some more student submitted photos for your viewing pleasure:
(note: I had to size the image browser so the edges were cut off in order to maintain good compression)

Lesson 3 - Exposure Intro

2008-10-16T10:29:00.000-07:00

Last night, we went over the compositional guidelines we learned last week and continued on with the last few:
- Direction of Movement
- Catchlights
- Framing
- Texture and Lighting

We did a short group exercise that involved analyzing the composition of select photos and presenting our views to the class. I was so pleased and impressed by your thoughtful analysis of each image. I hope you will continue to "train your eye" and composition before pressing the shutter release button.

After the break, we dove right into getting familiar with all the terms and concepts of exposure. We went over:
- The definition of exposure
- How your camera thinks
- Histograms
- Over and under exposure
- Dynamic range

So, your homework for this week is to use use use your Histogram. It is such a valuable tool!

And thanks to those of you who sent in your composition homework for last week. If you haven't sent yours in, it's not too late. Just email your compositionally best photo to oac@dolcepics.com ASAP.

I hope more of you will join in on our Critique Corner here on the blog. See you all next week!

*click the image to go to the next one

Critique Corner - no. 1

2008-10-09T13:33:00.001-07:00

Every few days, I'll post a photo, open for your critique. A great way to train your eye is to verbalize your thoughts on a photograph.

The photo for critique may be one of my own photos or one submitted by you. Remember, you can email your photos for critique to oac@dolcepics.com with subject line "critique". If you would like me to critique it for you privately, please let me know and I won't post it on the blog.

The format for critiquing is:

1. What do you like about the photo?

2. What would you do differently?

Leave your critique in the comments section for this entry.

Here's your first one!

*click to enlarge

focal length: 27 mm
shutter speed: 1/100
aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 200
flash: none

Originally published on Dolce Pics.

Lesson 2 - Composition

2008-10-09T01:03:00.000-07:00

In yesterday's class, we talked about the three elements of photography: the frame, positive space and negative space. By keeping this concept in mind, we more effectively apply compositional guidelines when framing our shots.

We went over the following guidelines:
1. Establishing a Point of Interest
2. Portrait vs. Landscape Orientation - initial framing
3. Rule of Thirds
4. Symmetry
5. Cropping
6. Simplify
- zoom in
- declutter
- use of negative space
- eye level
7. Lines and Patterns
- leading lines and entry point
- diagonals
- pattern
8. Avoiding Mergers (when the negative space melds with the positive space)
- growth merger
- border
- joint
- near
Remember, these are only guidelines to help you have a good basis in composition. You need to know the rules to break them.

Don't forget to email me your best shot from this coming week. Send the photo no later than Monday, Oct. 13th 11pm.

Lesson 1 - Overview & Introduction

2008-10-02T00:37:00.000-07:00

Our first class has already come and gone and I had a fabulous time with our 14 students. We talked about the different types of photography, equipment needed for digital photography and the benefits of using a DSLR vs. a Point & Shoot. Thanks everyone for such great participation and thoughtful responses.

Remember, your homework assignment for this week is to read your camera's manual and get familiar with all the buttons and menus. If you would like to submit one of your own photos for our weekly critiquing session, please email it to oac@dolcepics.com and use the subject line "critique".

Here are a few shots Katherine Lim took during the night. Thanks Katherine for sharing the photos!

*click on the photo to see the next image

Looking forward to seeing you all again next week for our lesson on Composition!

Digital Photography for Beginners - Course Info

2008-09-30T13:33:00.000-07:00

This course is designed for those of you who have a digital SLR or digital camera with manual functions. You must have your own camera, which you will be required to bring to each class. Classes will be held each Wednesday starting Oct. 1st and will run for 9 weeks at Oakridge Adventist Church (OAC). Please see course information below:

Course Dates:
Oct. 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, Nov. 5, 12, 19, 26

Class Time:
7:30-9:00 pm

Location:
Oakridge Seventh-day Adventist Church
5350 Baillie St
Vancouver, BC V5Z 3M5
Phone: 604-266-6727

Bring With You:
Your digital SLR, or digital camera with manual functions (ISO, aperture, shutter speed, white balance)

Course Fee:
$25

Course Outline:
Lesson 1: Overview & Introduction
Lesson 2: Composition
Lesson 3: Basics of Exposure
Lesson 4: Basics of Exposure cont’d
Lesson 5: White Balance and Metering
Lesson 6: Lenses & Depth of Field
Lesson 7: Flash
Lesson 8: Post Processing
Lesson 9: Rights and Responsibilities & Sharing Gallery

You can email the instructor at oac@dolcepics.com for more information.

Hope to see you there!

Welcome!

2008-09-30T13:22:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the OAC Digital Photography Course for Beginners blog!

Here you will find information pertaining to the course such as lesson recaps, homework assignment reminders, discussion as well as student submitted sample images.

We're looking forward to seeing you here!