About Us History Newsletters 2007 SCC Newletter - March 2007
| Sweetwater Camera Club Newsletter -- March 2007 |
| By Secretary | ||
Publisher's Corner AH CHOO!!! That seems to be the sound heard most from people everywhere I go this past couple of weeks. Those I work with are walking around in a "pollen head" type of zombie-ism (myself included). If they're not sneezing, they sound like they are speaking through a muffler. Whites of eyes have oftentimes taken on a glowing red hue as a result of the sticks that have seemingly landed in eyeballs. The pollen level is wreaking havoc on just about everybody I know. I certainly hope this newsletter finds you handling the side effects of the beauty of spring in Atlanta without too many problems. We as photographers in Atlanta can certainly pay a price for getting outside during the beginning of spring to get those beautiful shots of the gorgeousness that is beginning to surround us, but we still go out and catch those moments!
April Meeting Information Our April meeting will be held on Thursday, April 12, 2007 at St. Julian's Episcopal Church in Douglasville, Georgia. This meeting marks the beginning of our new meeting time of 7:00 p.m. rather than 7:30 p.m. We are very fortunate to have Kevin Ames as our guest speaker, who will do a presentation on post processing in Photoshop. Kevin's parents were both avid amateur photographers, and their love of the hobby transferred and found him making money with his Kodak camera early in life. He has had a commercial photography business since high school. He has become a recognized leader in the fast evolving world of digital photography and post production. Kevin's list of accomplishments is indeed long and impressive. In addition to his full-time commercial studio, he is very much in demand as a speaker on digital matters and is both a Photoshop World Dream Team instructor for the National Association of Photoshop Professionals and a presenter at Software Cinema events. Kevin is also an accomplished writer and writes the Digital Photographer's Notebook for Photoshop User magazine, to name just one of his writing accomplishments. Kevin's list of credentials is equally as long. To learn more about Kevin and to keep up with his activities, visit his website at www.amesphoto.com. We are very much looking forward to meeting Kevin, hearing his presentation, and learning from it. Kevin believes wholeheartedly that teaching is a way of giving back, and we are in for a real treat at our April meeting as a result of that, I am sure! Our contest topic for April is "Transportation." Bring those photos in to be judged by Kevin Ames.
Photo Contest Below is a photo contest opportunity, but the deadline for submissions is April 13 -- so if you are interested, you will need to get your submissions in very soon! The Georgia Department of Transportation is looking for the best pictures that showcase the beauty of our state. Georgia DOT invites you to enter the Highway and Transportation Map Photo Contest by sending them pictures that represent Georgia's transportation system, tourist attractions or culture. In July, State Transportation Board members will select a winning entry to represent their respective congressional district on the Official 2008 Highway and Transportation map. A total of 13 photos will be selected for placement on this year's map. Winners will be notified in writing by August 30, 2007 and receive full photo credit for their submission. You may also contact DOT representative Kim Spear at 404-463-6447 or Ron Battle at 404-463-6454 for more information about this contest. Photos should be taken at a minimum resolution of 1000 x 1000 pixels in JPEG or TIFF format. Image should be a scenic shot that represents Georgia's culture, local communities, state attractions or transportation system. All photos should be submitted on the Georgia DOT website at: http://tomcat2.dot.state.ga.us/photoContest/index.cfm by April 13, 2007. You should name any images submitted as follows: "FirstnameLastname_PhotoName_CountyName.jpg", for example: "JudyBruner_GaAquarium_WhaleShark_Fulton.jpg." There is not much time to enter this contest, but if you have shots that would fit what they're looking for, by all means, send em' in!
The members below will celebrate their birthdays in April. Happy birthday to both of you! Ed Krebs -- April 1 Jane Cupp -- April 29
Just a reminder that our field trip to Berry College will be upon us shortly. Saturday, April 28 is the big day, and those who are interested in participating can meet up at Landmark Family Restaurant in Rome, Georgia at 8:00 a.m. that morning. We will hear more trip details from Jim Enterkin at our April meeting.
This month's website is the official website of NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals). While membership in NAPP (and thus, access to the real goodies on the site) is $99 per year, it is the best $99 you will ever spend if you are interested at all in learning Photoshop. There is a wealth of information, articles, training videos, etc. on the site, as well as the magazines, Layers and Photoshop User (which is where our guest speaker's articles appear), that are snail mailed to you as part of your membership. As a NAPP member, you are eligible for discounts on many items, including, but not limited to, software, hardware, printers, cameras, and many other items as well. These are just a small list of the benefits of becoming a NAPP member. Visit the website and click on "Member Benefits" for more information.
In keeping with the Photoshop theme of our upcoming meeting, this month's tips and tricks section is going to be a little bit different, and is being taken from The Photoshop CS Book for Digital Photographers, written by Scott Kelby (a book I learned about as a result of my NAPP membership). I recently did a photo shoot with a female attorney with whom I work. We went to Piedmont Park after work (which is a wonderful setting for some outdoor shots). This lady is a little larger than she would like to be, and she is rarely pleased with photographs that are taken of her as a result. I was flipping through my book looking at post-processing tips for portraits when I found this trick for slimming people in their photographs. Here's my down and dirty version: What you do is pull up the photograph that you want to work on. You will hit "command" "A" and "command" "T" if you're on a Mac or "control" "A" and "control" "T" if you're on a PC, which will put a selection around the whole image and bring up the free transform function. You will then see little boxes at the tops, bottoms, sides, and corners of your image. Grab the left-center "box" and drag it horizontally toward the right to slim the subject. Look in the options bar at the top. You can generally drag inward to around 95 or even 94% without making it look too obvious. Then, press "return" or "enter" to lock in your change. The transformation will leave some canvas area on the left side of the photo, but all you have to do is crop that. Scott is much more thorough in explaining this technique in his book. You will find this and many other helpful tricks (with very good explanations of how to actually perform them) in his book. My copy of his book is well worn, I can tell you that much, and it is well worth its purchase price to me!
Our winning photos from the March contest, "Elderly People" are below as they will appear in the Chapel Hills News & Views. Great shots, everybody, and congratulations on your well-deserved wins.
The profile section will be returning to the newsletters next month. For the newer members who haven't seen an issue with a profile section, it's just a section where a particular member is profiled, and we get to learn a little more about that member. Everybody will get a turn, so be ready when the "profiler comes knocking on YOUR door." The members really enjoyed the profile section, and so, it will return by popular demand!
Well, this wraps up another monthly newsletter for the Sweetwater Camera Club. Until the next time, happy shooting! Judy Bruner, Secretary
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