Lockyer Valley Camera Club: September 2013

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Night Shoot.

What a day we had on Saturday. It all started with us manning a stall in the main street of Laidley for The Spring Festival. We had two boards full of member's photos and there was quite a bit of interest in them. Hopefully we will have attracted a few more members. Cheryl, Garry, Tom and Darrel took photos of the day for the festival committee. After the parade at 1pm we dismantled the stall and for hubby and I it was home for a rest before we went to the night shoot.

At 5pm we headed back over to Laidley for the night shoot at Tom and Kathie's place. To kick the night off we had a lovely BBQ tea and a good chat. Mainly about cameras etc but some footy did creep in there as well....LOL

The night shoot certainly was different. After we all had our cameras set up, Cheryl and Garry helped us take shots. I got a couple of shots of the lights. Now I will practice at home and hopefully get the money shot for the next club competition... Fingers crossed.

Here are what I managed to take on Saturday night. The first one was Kathie holding a sparkler and moving it around for us. The second one was stationary garden lights and me moving my camera around.

The next thing I was going to do was a star trail... but Darren showed me his moon shot so I was changing lens and trying to get a moon shot. What do you think...I got craters....Woo Hoo.... a little blurry... but I was hand holding the camera LOL. I am stoked.... Thanks Darren.... now I am waiting for a full moon......

It was a lovely night with good friends. We ended the night off with some yummy desserts, tea and coffee... Thank you to Tom and Kathie for opening their home to us for the night.

Our next meeting is on Monday 30th September. John and Ann are now back from their holiday to Scotland so it will be good to catch up with them again.

Bob Britcher will be coming and judging the Nature photos and talking with us.

See you there... new members welcome.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Photoshop

We are going to have a Photoshop lesson. More info on that later.

Once you have taken your photo it is important to do a little work on it. One of the main things is to crop your photo. I am no expert but I will just show you a couple of examples. I will use two photos from our club competitions. I hope I don't offend the people who have taken these photos.. I really like these two photos, but at the meeting night I had trouble finding the birds in the photos....

I think these are so cute... but in the big picture I couldn't really see them..........
have fun and keep snapping away......

What I have learnt since joining the club...

Why join a club I am asked, when I tell people we have joined.... I have always liked taking photos... but was so frustrated with the results as I didn't really know what I was doing...

Here is an example...
A cat photo I took pre club.... I had a good camera... just didn't know how to use it properly....

Admittedly I now have a better camera... but I am so pleased with this photo. Slightly blurred background. Very sharp eyes and whiskers. A better camera does not mean instantly better photos. You need guidance and help to learn how to use your camera and this is what I have found to be most valuable in the club.