New members.

If anyone knows anyone who would like to join our club, please have them take a look at our blog and read this from our president.

Laidley Camera Club Inc  2014

Welcome to our new members.

The Laidley Camera Club was formed some 10 years ago and has operated continuously since. It has recently undergone some major changes to its structure with the appointment of a committee and being registered as an Incorporated club.

The club is affiliated with the Queensland Photographic Society and pays an annual fee for our members. This provides a level of public liability while engaged in club activities.

The club provides for all levels of skill with an emphasis on learning though social interaction and participation in club activities.

However we are not a university with unlimited teaching resources just a small social club with members of mixed experience. 

You will learn new skills in our club but you do need to help by joining in all our activities. 

You will be surprised just how much you can learn while having fun and being in good company.  It's a matter of asking questions and doing some home work . 

We will run short teaching courses if we have sufficient numbers of like minded people and have the necessary skilled instructors.

We will certainly have very experienced people giving talks and sharing their experience at times throughout the year.

The club meets on the last Monday of the month in the Lutheran church hall Mac Gregor St Laidley    at 7pm

Annual club membership is $15.00

There is an attendance fee of $5.00 per couple per night.

 Executive committee

Garry Watson  Pres             ph 54651904

Cath Walker  Sec/treasurer  ph 54279177

Ann Bichel

Tom Byrne

Darryl Green

Club Email                          laidleycameraclub@gmail.com

Garry has also written this ...which I think is impressive.

The first steps to photography

With the Laidley camera Club

What  do I need?     By G R Watson

A camera!  . Borrow one if you don’t have one.  Come along with your camera and instruction book.  That and a willingness to learn is all you need to get started with the club.

Any camera will do and until you fully grasp the all the basics don’t even think about buying a new one.  A bigger/better camera will not improve your photographic prowess, just drain your pocket and earn some salesman a fat commission.  Worse than this you will probably end up with the wrong camera meaning another purchase down the line.

Anything else?  Yes there are a few things that will help your photographic journey. These you will only need to buy once, provided you choose quality over price.

Memory card   One for the camera plus a spare .   Don’t skimp on quality! These things have a high failure rate.  Try to get at least a class 10 from a reputable supplier as there are a lot of fakes about (E bay)

Battery   Carry a fully charged spare or at least a car charger,  at times you’re going to need it

Camera bag   Big enough to carry your gear a note book   (paper) and pen plus a water bottle and any other essentials.

That’s it!   Following on from here are things you may wish to add to your list later but they are not necessary right now.

Filters   The salesman’s favourite add on. ”You’ve got to protect the lens from scratches or dropping it”. 

No you don’t, it’s your choice!  (This is a contentious issue with very polarized views)

About ½ of the top pros do but they don’t use a $30 filter, theirs cost hundreds of dollars.  Do you want a bit of glass between you and the perfect picture? If you do consider investing in a good CPL filter. This is a polarizing filter that helps with blue sky and better contrast in bright sunny conditions.  Choose one to fit the largest size lens you have and use $5 step down adapters for your other lens. It still offers the same protection as any other glass filter.

Lens hood   Will not only prevent lens flare but will offer similar protection to a lens filter and much cheaper too.

Tripod      Essential if you want to do low light, landscape or portraiture but get a good one. It’s very unlikely you will find a stable one under $150 in fact you could pay $500, it would last you a life time.  Make sure its high enough to bring the camera up to your eye level.

Head    Ball or Pan try them both at one of the club outings or in store and get the type that suits you best. Again probably $100+for a good sturdy quality unit

Photo editing software   Please defer this purchase until you are far enough down the learning curve to make an informed choice.  Some software requires more time and effort to learn than the photographic skills you need to take the picture.

Bear in mind no program is going to make a bad photo look good.

There is an unending list of things I could add here but I’ve tried to keep it to the essentials.

As your skill level progresses you will be far better equipped to make informed choices as to not only the gear you need but the direction of your photographic journey.

Most people seem to develop a favourite  field be it landscape or macro, portraiture or birds and this will determine their choice of equipment.  Paying $20.000 for a specialist lens is not unheard of. 

There is an abundance of information and learning resources on line (good and bad) use it!, read everything you can.

 Look at sites like 500px for inspiration but above all ask questions and take lots of photos.

 Your first 10,000 photographs are the worst

Henri Cartier-Bresson

And that was in the days of film

Most importantly get familiar with your camera .

Know how to change all the cameras settings, get familiar with all the menu options.

In other words READ THE MANUAL, it’s your camera, know enough for us to help you because we cannot know how to operate every camera out there.