|
LENS LINES The Official Newsletter of the Arundel Camera Club May, 2005 |
|
Programs Planned May 4th: Business Meeting May 11th: Club Events Contest----reservation information attached. May 18th: Club Banquet May 25th: No meeting FIELD TRIPS FOR MAY, JUNE, JULY, AUGUST 2005 May 21, 7:30 AM: St Mary’s City, Flag Ponds - Dolphy Glendening June 11, 7:30 AM: Tangier Island - Dick Fairhurst July 17, 7:30 AM: Aquatic Gardens - Sunny Frank Aug: Indian Pow Wow, Howard County - TBA All field trips will originate at Severna Park Park ‘N Ride. THE CONTESTS AND THE CONTESTANTS Novice Slides April 13, 2005 1st Place Anne Benintende "After the Shower"2nd Place Betty Harris "Baby Baboon Nakuru" 3 rd Place Betty Harris "Golden Palm Weaver" 4th Place Anne Benintende "Hanging Out" HM Anne Benintende "Good Day for Flying" HM Charles Marah "Highrise" Unlimited Slides April 13, 2005 1st Place Chuck Gallegos "Three Soft Marsh Mallows"2nd Place Howard Penn "Sunset Dinner" 3rd Place Sara McNeely "The Old Mill" 4th Place Sara McNeely "Road into the Poppy Field" HM Chip Bulgin "You Looking at Me?" HM Howard Penn "Holding Hands" HM Chip Bulgin "Warped"
Judging
Contestants Rain left the light of an overcast sky for Anne Benintende to photograph a black winged damselfly on a yellow-green bush at Ladew Gardens on Monkton, MD. "I wish I could tell you that I really knew what I was doing when I took this photograph. But on this day I had the camera manual out in an effort to learn how use the camera’s manual options. As luck would have it, this beautiful creature landed in front of me." And landed Anne first place in the Novice Slides category. That softly back-lit flower photograph that won First Place in Unlimited Slides category by Chuck Gallegos is a Virginia Salt Marsh Mallow. It lives on a Rhode River salt marsh (Of course!) near Chuck’s office. Gallegos tried several viewpoints and varied the time of day until he made the winning exposure after doing early morning landscapes. The mallow was photographed at 7 a.m. through the surrounding marsh grass and Chuck managed to keep one portion of the back-lit exposure sharp by sighting through a break in the grass. He used a digital camera to determine exposure, made the final exposure on E100VS film with his Canon Elan camera equipped with a 75-300 mm zoom lens attached to a 25 mm extender. Chuck’s planning and persistence earned the prize.
Novice Monochrome Prints April 27, 2005
The Judge Tom Berault, Professor of Art at Prince Georges Community College judged the April 27th contest. It was a long night for Tom and no wonder: With subject matter ranging from Love Boats to Labradors there were forty four entrants for the Novice Color Prints alone. As the judging progressed Professor Berault remarked, "All good photos here, amazingly well done." He listed the reasons for taking a print out of the running, but the reasons proved strong enough to keep the picture in. He was very picky about how photographs are matted and how the color of the matt can affect the how the photograph is perceived. Berault was also critical of black and white photographs converted from color in Photoshop and produced on ink jet printers. Many of the b&w conversions had a slight blue or green tint that was distracting to him. Speaking to the subject matter of a photograph he asked, "Why do we want to look at the avocado?" Good question. If the subject matter is interesting, the viewer responds. The picture in question was well designed, but Berault felt the centerpiece of the picture, an avocado, needed to be taken a step further.
And the Winners Are……… Ernie Swanson went to college to study music and the clarinet was his instrument of choice. That explains why a clarinet occasionally appears in Ernie’s contest photographs. And it’s not just a clarinet; it’s the clarinet that he took to college. "Smokin,’" Ernie’s clarinet doing just that, was photographed on a digital camera, and it took first place in Unlimited Monochrome Prints. Maybe Ernie could make that clarinet smoke in his college days, but in this picture he created the smoke with Photoshop. "Orchids" also by Ernie Swanson won first place in Unlimited Color Prints. He attributes the picture to his wife, Mary, who spotted the floral arrangement and suggested that Ernie photograph it. Mary held a black card behind the scene while Ernie composed the image on his Canon digital camera with a 100 mm. macro lens using a ring light. The background came in gray rather than black. Isolating the background in Photoshop, Ernie brought the gray to black. "And When I blow Like this I lift Right Into the Air" is the title of Chip Blugin’s first place in Novice Monochrome Prints. (If the club had a Title of the Year contest, this would certainly be the winner.) The subject is a child of a friend. Chip said he placed a softbox, a diffusion panel and the child on the floor. It was one of those days when subject, camera and photographer were all in sync.
Photoshopping Digital Cameras continue to rise in quality and features and drop in price. Canon and Nikon long ago passed the ninth round in their fight for leadership. The new Canon Digital Rebel has an eight megapixel resolution, the new Nikon D70S still has a six megapixel resolution but a new battery that the manufacturer claims is good for twenty five hundred exposures per battery charge. Canon claims six hundred exposures per battery charge. Two hundred exposures had been the norm. Both cameras are single lens reflexes. The new canon now matches the Nikon D70 in powering up: two tenths of a second from "off" to ready instead of three or four seconds. Canon now has the same burst mode as the D70S, 3 per second. Street price of the Nikon is expected to be around $900 less lens, the Canon will come in at $850. Lenses from all Nikon reflex cameras dating back to 1959 will work on the D70S. Canon lenses from about 1989 forward can be used on the digital rebel. It was less than ten years ago that Eastman Kodak ‘s top of the line camera with an 18 megabite file and a price tag of $12,500.00. And Adobe has placed Photoshop Version CS2 on the market. Street price seems to be in the $160-$180.00 neighborhood for an update for those who already own Photoshop. Included are new tools that reduce noise with digital images as well as a filter that will correct lens distortion. An impressive new feature is called vanishing point. It allows the user to add and move objects within a picture while automatically maintaining perspective. If you want to add cars to a road that fades into the distance, the vanishing point automatically scales the cars in proportion to the road. Five club members joined in for the April Field Trip to Potomac Falls: Howard Penn, Dolphy Glendenning, Anne Benintende and Godfrey and Elizabeth Gauld. As luck would have it, a group of Civil War re-enactors were hard at work near the falls. Cameras clicked. The group found a restaurant but the $18.50 entrée price sent the group scurrying for home. |
NOTE from our WEB MASTER The Arundel Camera Club website URL is now http://arundelcameraclub.org/
Camera Club Member's image galleries are at Arundel Camera Club Galleries on PBase and are linked from the club website.
Arundel Camera Club
meets every Wednesday evening when school is in session. We meet at 7:30 and usually end around 9:00 p.m. at Severna Park High School, 60 Robinson Road, Severna Park in room G144. Meetings are open to the public, but only dues paying members may enter competitions. Annual dues are $15 per adult, $7.50 per full-time student. If a second family member joins the club, the second member's dues are discounted 50% or $7.50.For further information, check on the club website or feel free to call or e - mail any of the club's officers:
President
Howard Penn (410) 544-1742
e - mail howardpennphoto@comcast.net
VP(s) Programs: 1stVP
Programs
Heyward Preacher (410) 647-5463
e-mail - orangedog78@yahoo.com
Assoc. Jeff Peters (410)
544-2780
e-mail – jdpeters50@aol.com
VP(s) Contests:
Chip Bulgin(410) 518 6876-
e-mail chip.bulgin@comcast.net
Assoc. Dick Chomitz(410) 721-5573
e-mailrchomitz@ix.netcom.com
Secretary / Treasurer
Betty Harris (410)-729-0255
e- mail ef.harris@verizon.net
Delegate Jeff Peters (410)544-2780
Delegate Dick
Chomitz (410)721-5573
Do you have and Idea for an Article for your Newsletter?
Please e-mail your contributing article to the Newsletter Editor at sa.dine@att.net by the 4th Wednesday of Any Month or phone Scott Dine (410). 897 0590..
Be a PUBLISHED AUTHOR and
Make your Newsletter more interesting to our members!