Happy December

We will not be meeting for Photo Club again until January 15th. I hope your holidays are filled with wonderful photo opportunities.

The assignment for December/January is Bokeh.

Dinosaurs like Bokeh too.

Our photo exhibit theme for our next exhibit also happens to be Bokeh. We would love to hang your work in the exhibit. I will hang the new exhibit on December 18th around 4:00 pm. Please stop by with your ready to hang image by that time. If you are available and want to help me hang the new exhibit, that would be great too.

At our January 15th meeting, we will be playing with photographing colored water. so bring your camera and tripod for some hands-on learning fun.

This is one way to photograph colored water.

What Happened and What's Happening: Meetings, Exhibits, and Schedules

Last night was fun. We had a small group, but some great learning and conversation about HDR, photo editing software, and workflow with editing. We also talked a bit about backing up our photos and how we do it.

Thank you to Terry and Lucio for putting together a presentation on HDR. I am hoping to get a copy of that presentation to post here on the blog for people who what to refer back to the meeting and for those who were not able to attend.

We will be hanging a new exhibit in the middle of December. The theme is Bokeh. If you want to show your work, please bring a framed print (suggested 11x14) or larger to add to the exhibit. Also, bring or even better, email a little bio of you and description of your work. Submit work for inclusion in the exhibit by Dec. 18th to Sarah at the library. I could use a couple of helpers to hand the exhibit on the 18th.

A little example of Bokeh

We will be meeting on December 4th for our Show-and-Tell.  At this time, there is not a plan to meet on the 18th. We will keep you posted if that changes. The assignment this month is Huskies. We also learned about HDR. Are you trying it? What have you learned, what do you want to know? Need help? At the library, we have the book Practical HDR: A complete guide to creating High Dynamic Range images with your digital SLR by David Nightingale. Call number: 775 NIG. Stop by and check it out.

Another book you may find of interest is Creative Close-Ups: Digital Photography Tips & Techniques by Harold Davis. Call #: 778.324 DAV.  This book will give you ideas for using the Bokeh effect and for photographing colorful water drops.

In January, we will not be meeting on January 1st. At our January 15th meeting, we will be taking colorful water drops photos. A fun hands-on learning night so be sure to bring your camera and tripod.

November Assignment and . . .

This month's assignment: Huskies. Take that anyway you want to. There's a cool Huskie Rescue place in the area, The NIU Huskies are 9 and 0 this season, and don't forget about all those Huskie statues.

Next meeting Terry and Lucio will give a presentation on HDR photography. (November 20 at 7:00 pm in the Meeting Room)

Thanks to everyone who shared their images last night. We also have 6 photographs on display in our Autumn exhibit. There's room for more. Feel free to bring one in for us to add to the exhibit.

30 Day Photography Challenge

At Photo Club, we pick an assignment each month so that we have something to keep us focused in this busy world. As much as we all love photography, sometimes the world gets in the way and our cameras sits unused. So, with a monthly assignment, we have one small thing to strive for beyond the daily grind.

There are many 30 day photo challenges available to keep us occupied as well. On occasion, several of my photography friends and I have taken a list to jump start our motivation and keep our mind focused on photography. Five days ago, several members of the group embarked on a new 30 day challenge.

Photo Challenge List from Pinterest

I invite you to join the challenge. You can start with day one or start today with Day 5 and work your way back around. I put my photos up on my Facebook page where I have created a photo album for the challenge so that all the images will be in one place. You can create a set on Flickr, Facebook, or Pinterest. You can do it from home and share a few next month at our meeting. It's up to you.

If you are not into photo challenges, that is OK too. No requirements here. Just an invitation.

This is my Rule of Thirds image for Day 2. For me, I am not sure that I would have made it out to get the shot, if I had not been doing this challenge.

Side Note: I am only sharing my images at this time because I need permission from you to share your images. I would love to show off photo club members work on this blog. Please email me with images if you would like to share them.

November 6, 2013 Meeting Plans

It's time for our monthly show-and-tell. Bring your flash drive with 5 - 7 images to share and discuss. We will also be hanging our Autumn Exhibit. If you want to show, bring your photographic representation of Autumn ready to hang.

October Assignment: The Rule of Thirds and What Happens When You Break It
At the November 20th meeting Terry and Lucio will be giving a presentation on HDR.

Sycamore Public Library Photography Club meets on the first and third Wednesday from 7 - 9 p.m. of every month.

A Look at our Past Assignments

Past Assignments
September Assignment: Solar Flare (look into the sun, but becareful of your eyes).
July/August Assignments: From a Distance, Sports, and Wildcard (Anything you want.)June/July Assignment: Building Architecture or just buildings.
May/June Assignment: SOOC (Straight out of the Camera) and then edit to your heart's content. Strive for the perfect image out of the camera. Then go ahead and edit your work. Be sure to track your editing process so you can share the information with the group.
April/May Assignment: Railroad
March/April Assignment: Farm LifeFebruary/March Assignment: Black and White
January Assignment: Artifical Light. Use your flash, use your stobes, turn on the lamp or flashlight and light up that photograph.
December Assignment: Orange Bowl
November Assignment: Self Portrait
October Assignment: Use Your Flash. Yes, that's it, use your flash. Practice, test it out and learn how to make your flash work for you.
August/September Assignment: Sell It! Practice your marketing and/or advertising skills this month and photograph It like you want to sell it.
July/August Assignment: What is it? Where is it? Look at things in a whole new way. Can you tell what it is? Can you trick your friends and photo club cohorts?
June Assignment: Black and white and/or egg. Let you imagination go with the egg and take some time to look at the world through the beautiful tones, lights, darks and in between of black and white photography.
May Assignment: The Night Sky.
April Assignment: To process or not to process. Part One: Focus on creating the best in-camera image that you can possibly take. Is your horizon line straight? Can you print or show the image without cropping it? Did you get the color balance correct? How was that exposure? Part two: Check out what your editing software can do. What does that well shot image look like in black and white? What do I create if I play with special effects?
March Assignment: Get Your Science On: Fibbonacci, Pi, Gravity, Time Travel, E=MC2, put on your science geek hat, grab your camera and dabble in the world of theories and hypothesies.