Blog for the Calgary Photographic Society

The Dec 2 meeting will be held same time, same place.
See you there!

The Calgary Photographic Society will be meeting this Wednesday, November 4th, at 7:30pm in the usual room at the UofC.

Scott Winter will be speaking about his photography.

The print competition theme is "Welcome".

Photographer George Barr (website / blog) spoke with us yesterday evening about his photography and shared a good collection of his landscape images.  This is just a quick dump of my notes for his presentation and not any sort of formal review.

George has published quite a number of articles in a number of prestigious fine art photography magazines (Black and White Magazine and LensWork Magazine, for example) and is the author “Take your Photography to the Next Level”.  He currently has another book in the works.  He’s also written essays on Luminous Landscape.

George recommended a number of shooting locations (and concluded that we, as a whole, need to get out more because there was not nearly the head nodding of recognition that he expected…):

1. Jura Canyon
2. Bad Lands (Restricted Area) near Drumheller
3. Independent Machinery in Inglewood
4. Pioneer Acres
5. Redrock Canyon in Waterton

George uses a number of software tools above and beyond the usual Adobe wares:

1. Helicon Focus – Focus blending software.  For landscapes where there are very close foreground elements George stitches the in-focus bits on multiple exposures to create a single image with almost infinite depth of field.
2. PTgui – Panoramic image stitching software.  Many of George’s landscapes are stitched from a large number of images (usually only one strip).

George strongly recommended subscribing to LensWork Magazine for any photographer who has an interest in black and white photography.  Their print quality is so good it gives a good benchmark for your own work.

Random Photoshop tip from George: Unsharp Mask (25,50,0) works great for increasing local contrast of an image.

– Jeff

Noah sent us a quick message, for those interested:

I’m the judge for western Canada for this little competition:

http://www.facebook.com/Orangina

If you want to pass it along to the other folks or post it on your site that’d be great as I’m always looking to get the talent in Alberta recognized (and beat the East)!

The Calgary Zoo is hosting a garden photography workshop in early August.

"A garden is a setting for what can be an intensely personal aesthetic and even spiritual experience, in fact this is the intended result of a well-designed garden.  Can this be faithfully represented in an image?  This is the goal of learning to see as a garden photographer."

Allan’s course last summer was a big hit, so this year’s program is expanded to allow for even more time for photo shoots and critique.  In this workshop you will learn step-by-step how to see a garden.  With an emphasis on composition and hands-on instruction in the field, you will put your new way of seeing into practice in the gardens of the Calgary Zoo, as well as a selection of public and private gardens.

This course assumes participants are comfortable with the operation of their camera.  Please bring your camera (digital is preferred) and tripod to each of the photo shoots.  Off-site visits will be discussed and details provided at the Friday evening lecture.  Car-pooling may be an option.

Allan Mandell is an award-winning professional garden photographer whose images are published internationally in magazines and books.  For a sample of his portfolio, visit www.gardenphotographer.com.

Dates
Friday August 7. Saturday August 8 and Sunday August 9, 2009

Time
Friday lecture 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Saturday Photo shoot 9:00 am – 1:00 pm AND evening shoot and critique 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm Sunday morning shoot 9:00 am -1:00 pm AND critique and wrap-up 6:00 pm-9:00 pm

Cost
$325.00 per person

To register or learn more visit the Zoo’s website here.