WOW Photo Club September 16 Meeting and August Club Wrap-up

Waldy teaches editing at the September 16 meeting

WOW dinners are back at 5:45 PM so come early and have a great meal for only a $4 donation.  After dinner we’ll meet at 6:30 PM in the Fellowship Hall, under the main sanctuary.  Remember, that due to construction parking is at City Call, across Memorial Street in the new Kennesaw/Highland University Dallas Campus, at Regions Bank or around the old courthouse.

Waldy will concentrate on showing editing techniques in Picasa, our club’s recommended editing/database software that is free for downloading from Google.  He will also introduce Adobe’s PhotoElements, a fantastic editing program that sells for about $80.  Please bring your questions, and a notepad and pen.

 

    Picasa in editing/cropping module         Picasa in library/database module

Adobe’s PhotoElement editor 

Also, remember to bring a couple of your photos for a “share’n tell” at the end of the meeting.

Simply Serve was a big success!

Simply Serve is the church’s ministry fair that provides the congregation with information and an opportunity to join the many ministries of our church.

WOW Photo Club sponsored a table, and I’m we ecstatic to report lots of interest and that nine folks joined our club.  Folks were excited to see what we’ve done in our first six month as a club.

 

Fun at the Beach Competition drew many entries.

We had a really good turn out for our Fun at the Beach competition with Lynn Cochran taking 1st Place, Eliza Nobles taking 2nd and Waldy coming in 3rd.  Lynn and Eliza are repeat winners.

                             Waldy 3rd,    Eliza 2nd   and Lynn, 1st 

 

Our next competition on October 21 will be Street Scenes:  “slice of life” photos of city or town scenes and the people that live there.  Please limit the photos to those taken in the last two years.  As always we are able to enter three photos in color, back and white or an artistic treatment.  They should be 8x10 or larger, matted or not matted.

   

In November the WOW Photo Club will hang an exhibit in the Family Life Center for the whole congregation to enjoy.

August Field Trip was a blast at Lake Allatoona on John Lindsay’s houseboat, “Five O’clock Somewhere.”

Again, thank you John for being such a gracious host and for cooking those delicious hamburgers and hotdogs.

 

Our next field trip will to Berry College in Rome, GA on Saturday, Nov. 7.  Berry College is Eliza’s alma mater, and it’s a beautiful school with two unique campuses.  I believe it is considered the largest “land-mass” college in the world.

 

 

What if I only have a Point’n Shoot Camera?

I hear that all the time . . . but, hey . . . Eliza has won three times with her “point’n and shoot camera.  Almost makes me want to throw away my expensive camera.  Just kidding, but point’n shoot can take really great pictures, and this club is about helping you do just that.  All the pictures below were done with various consumer, point’n shoot cameras I’ve owned over the years.

These photos where shot with a Nikon P60 that I got on close-out for only $100.  I had it in a Ziploc baggie to protect it from the water. I’d take it out from time to time to snap a few pictures . . . or until my partner told me to stop taking pictures and get pack to paddling!

Photos below were taken with my old Canon Elph, 4 megapixel camera that finally bit the dust.  These were taken on cycling rides.

Remember, shoot, shoot, shoot . . . practice makes perfect, but above all enjoy this wonderful hobby we call photography!

Waldy

Upcoming Events for the WOW Photo Club in August ‘09

Lake Allatoona Field Trip hosted by John and Debbi Lindsay on Saturday, August 15

We’ll be meeting at 10 AM at the City Hall parking lot across Church Street, along the side of the church.

John Lindsay is graciously hosting our club’s field trip on his house boat at Lake Allatoona

Here’s his preview of what we’ll be doing: 

“I suggest that I furnish hotdogs, buns and chips, some drinks and we grill out on the lake.

We can leave the church around 10am and head out for Holiday Marina, get on the boat and head out on the lake.  We can find a nice cove and cook out.”   - John

Please mark this on your August calendar as I know it’s going to be lots of fun, and bring your camera.  Thank you John!

Please RSVP to both waldyphoto@hotmail.com and jdlindsay@bellsouth.com

Fun at the Beach Photo Contest at the August 19 Club Meeting

The next WOW Photo Club will be on August 19 at 6:30 PM in the Fellowship Hall, under the main Sanctuary.  Due to the construction please enter the church through the lower, side entrance on the City Hall side.  Remember that you can park across Memorial Street from our church in the parking lot of the future Kennesaw University campus in Dallas.

Fun on the Beach: this can be a landscape or a photos of people or pets having fun on the beach. The shot must showcase the beach or being on the beach.  The photos are limited to those taken within the last three years.

The entries can be color, black and white or something in-between if you want to get artsy.  You can enter up to 3 photos and they should be 8x10 or larger, matted or not matted.  Please do not put your names on the entries, but do indicate the “top orientation” of the picture by drawing an arrow on the back or just writing “Top” to indicate the proper orientation.

We will still judge our own competition as we’ve done in the past.   It was lots of fun last time.  After the winners are chosen we will all get a chance to talk about our photos, and John Lindsay is working on getting an “outside of the club” photographer to critique the photos. This should be a valuable learning experience.

We will have a table at our church’s Simply Serve day on Saturday, August 23. 

I would appreciate winners of our photo contests bringing your winning photos so we can have them on display.  I’ll collect them at our Aug 19 meeting.  Other members are welcomed to contribute up to two photos.  Also, I’d love for one or two club members to sit at the table with me that day.  We will have three sessions after each service.

Simply Serve was the catalyst that got me involved in our church. Here’s a description from our church digital bulletin.

SIMPLY SERVE 2009
Our Simply Serve" ministry fair will take place August 23, after all three services, in the Family Life Center. Please come and see what Dallas First has to offer. You will be amazed at the magnitude of our Ministries. It is something to see!

Tips from our July 15 club meeting where Waldy spoke about Perspective, Effects of Shutter Speed, Depth of Field and Aperture Selection and Focus.

The key to perspective is subject to lens distance.

    

The first photo was taken at a long distance from the subjects (using telephoto), and the distance between them is compressed . . . they look close to each other.  The second photo was taken as the second runner passed close to the camera (using wide-angle) so the distance between the foreground runner and the other runner is exaggerated . . . that “explosive wide-angle” look where the subject closer to the subject is much bigger and the photo recedes behind it.

Another example of the same “telephoto – wide-angle” contrast in perspective is illustrated below.

  

Same photo, but a change in subject to lens (subject to camera) distance creates a different perspective.  Left picture was taken at a greater distance with a medium telephoto, while the right picture was taken with the camera much loser to the sign with a wide-angle lens.

 Explosive wide-angle perspective

Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot . . . have fun . . . photography is a wonderfully creative art form.

Waldy  (770-241-6383)