Blog Posts

Wabi Sabi

11/23/2022

Our most recent speaker was Lisa Cuchara who presented "Wabi Sabi: Photographing the Old, the Imperfect, and the Everyday". It was another enjoyable and inspiring presentation from Lisa. I could identify with the 'style' so I went looking in my files for images that might fit the definition of Wabi Sabi style. Here are some that I found.
If you have some to share, post a link here or a few individual images directly in the comment box.
Maryann
https://photos.app.goo.gl/devh2BGTCBgqQoXeA

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Making a slide show, follow-up observation & opinion

2/17/2022

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The process of putting together an eye-catching slide show is, well..., an art. If you’re using one of the programs like Photo Stage that Mark demonstrated last night you have an overwhelming number of options. Here's a couple things that came to my mind.

Timing observation. Mark clearly talked about choosing the right timing for how long an image stays on screen—not an easy decision. You also have to consider the transition time and the type of transition you use. There were SO many options there. It appeared to me that some of the ‘fancier’ ones took longer to complete than the simple ones so that if you set the transition time too short for these they didn’t quite finish; it looked garbled and there wasn’t enough time for the image to be rendered clearly before it changed again. There’s a delicate balance of timing to consider.

Transitions opinion. There were comments about choosing transitions to fit the image subject matter as well as the target audience. I think this goes as well for sound effects and visual effects (yes the program has those!). You know what they say about 'too much of a good thing' and the adage 'less is more'. Varying transitions will keep the audience from nodding off but too many can be visually jarring and as Allison pointed out, unprofessional looking. My opinion; choose a transition style that has several options and cycle through them to give some consistency but also variety. Maybe throw in wild card once in a while to shake things up for fun. Or pick 4 or 5 ‘fun’ ones and cycle through them. Use things like pan and zoom to relieve repetition, but not for every slide. The ’stars’ of the show should be your images not a sampler of transitions.

What do you think?

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Member's Project for '20-'21

11/18/2020

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I’ve decided on a simple project for the club year 9/20-6/21. This is a combination of ‘scavenger hunt'-working the subject. I call it “5x5". Below is a list of 5 items. Your assignment is to make 5 images of each item. It MUST be the same item in each of the 5 images. For example: #2 Flower—all the exact same flower (on the plant or removed), not 5 different flowers nor 5 of the same kind of flower.

1. Kitchen tool/utensil
2. Flower
3. Bridge
4. Rock (any size--pebble, stone, boulder)
5. Book

Tips: The item should be noticeable in each image but does not have to be by itself in the images. Think about POV (point of view), lighting, macro v. non-macro, color v. B&W, depth of field, background, context… Be inspired by images you’ve seen of these items without outright replication of other’s work.
You are not required to do all 5.
Consider doing more than one item for each number and then choosing your best set to submit for that item number. For example: Item #1. 5 images of a spoon, 5 of a whisk; decide which of the two is your best work and submit either spoon shots or whisk shots.
Please try to be creative. I hope we will be able to do Viewer’s Choice balloting when we get to view them. Members’ Project images are usually viewed at the second meeting in May. Don’t wait until May 1st!

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My photographic summer

8/17/2020

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Three planned trips this year—all cancelled because of the pandemic. I do most of my photography when I travel so it’s been disheartening. Of course there is plenty to photograph near home but frankly it was too darn hot this summer to go anywhere. I was able to capture the comet NEOWISE one night. That was a highlight. And there are always bugs, birds and flowers just outside my door so I was not totally divorced from my cameras. Yes I could have done some indoor shooting—was not inspired. And I could have spent oodles of time on webinars and tutorials. Somehow I didn’t get to those either. I did find a few photo-related things to do.

1] I went back into my files of thousands of images. Wow, some are really bad! But there were some gems among the drivel. Besides having a better sense of good imagery thanks to our critique meetings, numerous upgrades have been made to Lightroom since I made the images. So it was interesting to re-edit some of them. Some that were halfway decent were improved. So if you need a project, I recommend looking at your old images and reworking them using fresh eyes and more powerful software if you have it. If you are using Lightroom, be sure to update the Process for the image so you are working with the newest version. Old images retain the process they were originally made with. You never know what gems you might turn up.

2] Another fun project was playing with manipulation—really drastic manipulation in Photoshop that changes a recognizable image to a colorful, totally abstract design. It began with a technique I blogged earlier—March 29th. (BTW, that began as an image of a butterfly). I expanded on the method by incorporating different steps and filters. Many of the resulting images are in the “Abstract Creations” gallery on my web site https://maryannflickphotography.weebly.com/abstract-creations.html and the original tutorial that I used is here http://awakethelight.blogspot.com/2020/03/

3] I keep a Lightroom collection of my favorite images. I go to this for making prints and for competitions. One day I decided to single out the un-manipulated abstracts and noticed some similarities among them. It sparked another little project that I called “Pairs”. https://maryannflickphotography.weebly.com/pairs.html
Some of my pairings are similar images and some are contrasting or complimentary images that I think have something in common.
Here’s a quote from the Adorama 42 West web site about Abstract photography.
“Compared to more popular photography niches like product, outdoor, and wedding photography, abstract photography goes against many photography rules, giving you the freedom to take a photo of anything that grabs your attention and allows you to express your artistic nature.
Formally speaking, abstract photography is a method of expressing ideas and emotions with photographed image elements without the intention of creating a traditional or realistic image. By avoiding and going beyond the usual representations of an object, scene, or any particular element, it reveals details that are normally ignored and triggers the viewer’s imagination.” https://www.adorama.com/alc/abstract-photography-for-beginners-9-tips-for-capturing-stunning-abstract-images
Look through your images for ‘likeness’ and create pairs, triptychs or quads of images that go together. Doesn't have to be abstracts--anything you especially like to shoot is best. If you use Lightroom you can do this is the print module and use “print to file”. It's fun and can give you a better sense of your personal style.

Be well, Maryann

If you have a summer story to share send it to me and I will post it here. You can include images if you like.

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POTW before and after

7/2/2020

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Jeannine Smith

It is a slightly different perspective, chosen primarily out of "guess-timate" as 1. I didn't have a copy of the original on hand as a guide 2. precise incentive wasn't there as I'd no knowledge we would be showing "re-dos". I simply considered other's comments as I returned to this site. The primary thought was to include the additional real estate in front of the gravestone as this was the most common critique spoken. In editing I did add to the highlights, opened the shadows a bit as well as lightened the exposure - a smidge ( I do prefer to nudge toward "the darkside").

For me, pros and cons to each. So, with curiosity, I welcome your thoughts.
PS Maryann and Dave, now knowing some story behind the stones atop I took several other close up photos with the intent of "telling a story" . Thank you both for the inspiration!

Maryann Flick

Regina Hausmann

Dave Rathbun

Mark Janke

Janet Rathbun

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Photo of the Week #11

6/12/2020

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Title: Iris Macro 2
Photographer: Rob Nardino

I was trying to take macro photos of the irises that just bloomed in our front yard. I wanted only some of it in focus, so it would have an abstract feel to it. I’ve cropped it different ways, and would love to have input about the two versions here. Offset in-focus elements would adhere to traditional compositional rules, but the background on right is a little less blurred than I would like (I guess I could play around in Photoshop) where as the more centrally placed one could be viewed as more static but I think it appeals to me a little more.

Title: Iris Macro 3
Photographer: Rob Nardino

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Photo of the Week #10

6/5/2020

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Title: Blue Jay
Photographer: Janet Rathbun

I took this photo of a Blue Jay at my peanut feeder in my backyard after 5 pm. My camera settings were 300 mm focal length, with crop factor 450 mm, f/9, 1/500, ISO 400. I was trying to capture the texture of the feathers and sharpness of the bird, particularly the eye. I was also attracted to the blue color of the bird.

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Photo of the Week #9

5/29/2020

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Title: Untitled #1
Photographer: David Dieli

Title: Untitled #2
Photographer: David Dieli

I am open to any constructive comments or opinions. I would say the one I took in Portugal and the one from Maine, are ones I worked a lot more (in Lightroom), than the one of the Egret. The photo from Portugal, I would appreciate any comments of the expression or effect it elicits, or any feelings at all, did I get it right? The black and white photo I would appreciate any thoughts on the composition or angle of this photo, as well as any feelings it might elicit. I might be way off on all of this since I am new at this whole thing. Thanks.

Title: Untitled #3
Photographer: David Dieli

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Things I learned during the Lock Down #3

5/28/2020

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This is a continuation of Things I learned during the Lock Down #3.

Make the selection of the plant per TILDLD#1.

Use a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to change colors. Use the sliders to change the hue, saturation and lightness until you are happy with the new color. Add H/S adjustment layers to create other colors.

You will end up with many layers, each with the plant having only one color.

In order to have leaves with different colors I use a brush on the masks of each of the H/S layers to hide what I don't want.

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Photo of the Week #8

5/22/2020

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Title: Untitled
Photographer: Anne Mele

"I love the color blue. I am fortunate to live on south cove in Old Saybrook which can provide beautiful blue sunrises in certain weather conditions. I have photographed this view hundreds and hundreds of times now, trying to capture the most vivid blue hues that I can. This is my latest. I wish is was more clear. I was using a tripod with a remote. I tried cropping the left but I found I liked the lights and bit of sun coming thru on that side so I sized this to be a more panoramic view."

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