Bay Area Photo Club

Our next field trip is back by popular demand and will be Saturday March 20, 2010 to the second annual “Babes on Boards” skating event at The Lee and Joe Jamail Skatepark (http://www.houstontx.gov/parks/lee-joepark.html).  This event allows young girls and ladies an opportunity to showcase their skateboarding to the public at a sponsored event.  The park is located at 103 Sabine Street in Houston.

A special thanks goes to our very own Larry Patrick.  His excellent photography at last year's event has earned BAPC a special invitation to this year's event from Lori Peltier, the event organizer.  Once again people wishing to car pool can meet at the Barnes & Noble parking lot on Bay Area Blvd at 7:00 AM and meet at the park around 8:00 AM.

Attached is a link to a copy of the flyer with Larry’s photograph.  Visitors and guests are welcome to join us.

Neal Kelsoe
BAPC Field Trip Coordinator

Trips@BayAreaPhotoClub.Org

We've all seen the elaborate setups portrait photographers use in their business.  Many of them have attained all this equipment over a period of time.  Much of it is fairly expensive too. 

The photographer in this You Tube video, Ralph Romaguera, will show you how it's possible to set up an inexpensive studio.  Over time you can add a piece here and there as you can afford it, until you have a more professional type setup.  

Thanks to CJ Barker for bringing this our attention and providing the link to this video.

Doug Haass

President

Bay Area Photo Club

This is purported to be the world's largest telephoto lens.  It is a Canon 5200mm EF FD lens.  One can only imagine what this would cost, not only in terms of purchase, but setting it up.   The video shows how much reach it has from the vantage point they have set up for the shoot. 

Why the title?  I don't know; it just seemed to fit the topic I'm writing about.  This story is about a photo I took during the summer of 2006 in Utah.  I may or may not have mentioned that I am just now getting around to processing those photos.  The biggest reason for waiting so long?  I did not have the skills nor the software to do them justice.

Well duh.  You're supposed to get it right in camera and not rely on software to bail you out, right?  Many of my photos were shot under what I considered extreme differences in dynamic range.  I didn't even understand that much about the dynamic range of digital cameras in 2006.  I certainly had no idea how to overcome those differences using Photoshop, even though I had the program.

I was using a Canon EOS 5D, full frame DSLR camera with 12.8 megapixels.  I was pretty confident I would get the shot.  From the back of the LCD the photos looked pretty good.  This was also before I knew much about the histogram.  At least I used a tripod and electronic shutter release.

Anyway, when I got back home and looked at the shots I was more than a little disappointed.  I worked on one image, presented it at our club's Honors Night and got a 'Gold" award for it.  I did not know how to do anything with the rest of the photos.  They just languished on my hard drive for almost 4 years, until now.

This shot was taken after a thunderstorm blew over the top of me and headed across the Canyonlands mesa.  It was taken a little northeast of the Green River Overlook.  The sun was poking holes through the clouds, a light rain was drifting across the landscape and the wind was creating these whirling dervish balls of white.  These whirling balls of white were popping up all across the landscape.

I did not blow the highlights and did not use the recovery slider in Lightroom 2.6 to bring this exposure down any.  I used the as shot WB and opened this file in Photoshop CS4.  I removed all the dust spots and used Nik Dfine 2.0 to remove noise.  I brought it back into LR2 and created 5 virtual copies from +2 to -2 in 1 stop increments.  I exported them as full size jpeg to a new folder.

I then opened them up in Photomatix Pro 3.0, created HDR, used Tone Mapping and processed the resulting photo with the base settings in Detail Enhancer.  I then opened this file in Topaz Adjust and chose the preset that added the least detail enhancement.  I opened it back up in LR2 and opened up 1/2 stop on exposure to bring out the foreground a little more.  I did not blow any highlights during this process either. 

I am including the as shot WB that I remember seeing at the time.  It is forever etched into my mind.  I cannot remember a time in the last four years that I forgot what that scene looked like. 

I also processed another version with alll the same settings in the other photo, but using a cloudy white balance.  If you were to set your WB before the shot, the cloudy setting is what you most likely would have used, based on the conditions present.  It does not match what I remember seeing, but it does look nice.

I guess the moral of the story is to keep improving your photographic and processing skills.  Those photos you took not so long ago may still have a chance to be what you envisioned them to be when you first clicked the shutter.  I did not give up totally, nor did I forget what that scene looked like.  Until I was good enough to do what had to be done, and software was created that allowed me to process it properly, I just had to keep shooting and learning more about my craft.

Yes, you should do everything you can to get it right in the camera without resorting to software solutions.  Until you know enough about your craft, like me in 2006, you just may not be able to do it at this point in time.  One other thing; a bad photo is still a bad photo.  Be honest with yourself when assessing your own photos.

Doug Haass

BAPC President