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1 Nov 2018
FOCUS
Newsletter of the Mayslake Nature Study and Photography Club
Hosted by the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County www.naturecameraclub.com
Up Coming Programs
Nov 5th
– My 40 Year Passion for the
Dancing Light by Will Clay
Nov 19th
– Competition
Dec 3rd
– Holiday Party
November 5th
Gail Chastain
2 Nov 2018
Upcoming Events FPDDC has requested MNSPC’s assistance in photographing the following events. If any club members can cover the event that needs volunteers please contact Noriko, Cheryl or Steve O. Forest Preserve Events at Mayslake Peabody Estates Volunteers Tuesday, Nov. 13, 1:30 – 3:30 p.m.: Fireside Chats – a senior storytelling program
Barbara Dunn, Lee Balgemann
Dec. 8 (11 a.m. – 6 p.m.) and Dec. 9 (10 a.m. – 4 p.m.): Holiday Market
Need volunteer(s)
Holiday Party December 3rd We will be displaying a slideshow of member-submitted images. This year the theme is "Abstract/Creative." Hand of man is definitely allowed. Please send 10 of your favorite abstract or creative images (resized as for competition) to Fran Piepenbrink at [email protected] by November 23rd so she can create the slideshow for us. Please bring a small dish of food or drink (non-alcoholic) to share with the group. In addition, we will have a swap meet where you can bring some lightly used equipment to sell or trade with others - a good time to clean out your closet of things you no longer need. We may also see an advance screening of the new Mayslake Peabody Estate video that includes photos that MNSPC did for FPDDC if the video is completed by December 3rd. Steve Ornberg
Bev Bartos Karin Grunow
Gail Chastain
3 Nov 2018
Recent Outings
Karin Grunow
October 2 Morton Arboretum A small group met up at the Arboretum to brave wind and at times rain droplets to enjoy fall. Among the famous large trolls and friendly scarecrows (made by local scout groups), this group meandered through the Arb to capture the quickly changing fall colors.
Janice Henry
October 13th Matthiessen State Park
This state park, named after Frederick William Mattiessen who was a prominent industrialist and
philanthropist, is located a few miles south of Starved Rock. It is beautiful at all the times of the
year with deep canyons, streams, prairies and forests. Rich sandstone rock formations are
dotted with waterfalls. The main canyon consists of Upper and Lower Falls where the canyon
drops 45ft. As ground water evaporates, the minerals contribute to the rich colors of the rocks.
Mosses, ferns, and mushrooms grow on the damp, sandy walls of the canyons. Cliff swallows
and rock doves perch along the canyon walls as frogs, toads, and salamanders call the moist,
cool canyon floors their homes. On this outing, photographers were able to capture the nature of
Matthiessen State Park with the rich colors of fall. After hiking and taking pictures, the group had
lunch at the Tangled Roots Brewery in Ottawa.
Fran Piepenbrink
Bev Bartos
Fran Piepenbrink
Steve Baginski
4 Nov 2018
Welcome new member,
Meiji Hou!
Tech Tidbit: PS Content-aware Fill tool
Adobe has released a video showing a version of Photoshop’s Content-Aware Fill tool that offers more control over how it removes objects from scenes, allowing it to work in with more difficult images. In the video (https://youtu.be/O9t5POPPNfg), Adobe shows a new workflow based around a new option under the Image menu called Content-Aware Fill – though you can continue to use the current version of the tool through the Fill menu item. This opens a new panel where you can see the results of the Fill, as well as the original image with a green mask overlay. Here you can select which areas you do or don’t want the fill to take texture, color and elements from using the new Sampling Brush tool – almost like an automated version of the Clone Stamp tool. You can also rotate and scale the results of the fill, for example if you were trying to replicate a radial pattern such as the stigma of a flower. You can also mirror results from an area, with Adobe using the example of a butterfly with part of its wing obscured as an example. Finally, you can output the results on a new layer so as to keep your original image intact. We are looking for contributions for tech tidbits. If you have an item you love in your software or came across a good tool, share it with us. Send tidbits to Sheila ([email protected])
Bev Bartos
Janice Henry
5 Nov 2018
Next Competition – Monday, November 19th
Our November 19th meeting will be a club competition. Even if you are not submitting images, please attend as this is a great opportunity to view images of your fellow members. Also, the critique portion of the evening includes discussion of photo techniques. The three judges will rotate giving comments oneach print and digital image entered into the competition, with only one judge commenting on an image. For those of you submitting images, digital entries must be submitted to the competition mailbox [email protected] by Sunday November 11th. Print entries can be submitted on the night of the competition or can be dropped off at the Mayslake business office any time before the competition date. Mounting boards for print images are on sale at the regular club meetings. The forms for each competition image, digital and prints, are submitted on the night of the competition. If you cannot attend the competition, please send them with a friend on that night.Normally, forms will not be able to be emailed ahead of time. For digital images, if you cannot make the meeting please email your forms to Ron Szymczak at [email protected] before the meeting. Please hand in prints and paperwork in by 6:45 pm so that committee members can get everything organized and ready to go at 7 pm. There are no changes to the any of the competition forms for the 2018 - 2019 competition year.The Competition Guidelines have been updated and the latest version is dated 8-22-17. The forms and Competition Guidelines are posted on the Club website at http://www.mlnpc.com/competition-rules/. If you have a question about whether an image meets the guidelines, it is best to ask before you submit. You can send a copy of the image to Ron Szymczak ([email protected]) for guidance. If you have not submitted images in competition before, submit your images in Class B, as Class B and C are currently combined. Class standings are the same as last year unless you have been already notified of a class change; if you have a question about your class standing, please email Ron. Submitting either prints or digital images in competition is a way to determine how your photography is viewed by others - in this case a panel of three judges composed of one Mayslake member and two outside judges. As images are critiqued, you will learn what the judges saw as strong points in an image and also hear their suggestions on techniques to enhance the image. Remember, the best ways to improve your photographic skills are:
- Take classes from experts
- Shoot - shoot - shoot
- Take advantage of opportunities to get feedback on your technique, such as participating in club competition. If you have any questions at all, please feel free to email Ron Szymczak at
6 Nov 2018
Nature Corner
Nature Corner aims to educate about animals,
flowers, plants and trees. Each month we will
include a plant or animal photo and a few
words about the subject so you may be able
to identify it when you see it.
Everyone is encouraged to submit a photo to
Sheila Newenham via the club e-mail for
inclusion in an upcoming newsletter. Include
the name, location and date if relevant, and a
little information about the subject.
Bristlecone Pine
The Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest is home to the oldest trees in the world. Some of these bristlecone pines exceed 4000 years of age and exhibit spectacular forms of twisted and beautifully colored wood. The USFS maintains the bristlecone pine forest and visitors may easily explore two groves of the legendary trees. Patriarch Grove is home to the Patriarch Tree which has a 39-foot diameter base. Their twisted, gnarled growth forms are testaments to the bristlecone's ability to thrive in the harsh, high alpine conditions above 10,000 feet in California's White Mountains.
Steve Ornberg
Eastern Amberwing
As the frost comes, the Dragonfly season comes to an end. The Eastern Amberwing, Perithemis tenera pictured here, is always one of my favorites to see each season, and this year there seemed to be more. The Amberwing is a small dragonfly reaching a total length of no more than 25mm, the males have beautiful orange or amber wings. Where, of course, their name comes from. However even though it is called the Eastern Amberwing, it can be found in Eastern and Central US, as well as southeastern Canada and Mexico. The Eastern Amberwing dragonfly is one of the only types of dragonfly that actively mimics a wasp. The yellow and brown stripes on its abdomen encourage predators to stay away. When perched, they will wiggle their abdomen and wings in a wasp-like fashion to deter other animals from eating it. If you want to learn more, be sure to read about their elaborate courtship behavior. Then get ready to find them next year.
Gail Chastain
7 Nov 2018
A Day at the Chicago Botanic Garden with Anne Belmont
Over the summer I attended an Out of Chicago Flower & Garden workshop. One of the instructors was Anne Belmont. I enjoyed her session of the workshop so much I asked her if she would do a workshop for us. If you are interested in creative fine art flower photography this is a workshop you will not want to miss. –Karin Grunow Anne’s bio: As a flower photographer, Anne’s greatest passion lies in seeing and capturing the beauty of flowers and other botanical subjects up-close. It is the small, often unnoticed details that draw her to her subjects – the patterns, textures, curves and unique personality of each subject. A lifelong involvement in the arts and a first career as an art therapist have shaped the way she views art and the creative process and have reinforced her belief in the power of both art and nature in our lives. Anne’s favorite place to photograph is the Chicago Botanic Garden, where she was commissioned to do a solo exhibition of her orchid photography in the 2015-2017 Orchid Shows.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Anne Belmont Photography
www.annebelmontphotography.com
A Day at the Chicago Botanic Garden with Anne Belmont
Date: Monday, June 17 (rain date June 18) My instruction will be customized to each participant’s needs and wishes. I will spend time with each of you. As a group I will be encouraging you to slow down and develop the art of seeing to find interesting subjects that will create images with impact and emotion. My goal is always to help others reignite their creative spirit and find joy in the process of shooting. I will encourage you to stay with your subject and explore different ways of shooting it - with different compositions, angles, apertures and lenses. We will explore the topics of composition, light, aperture, using selective focus, controlling backgrounds and using Lensbaby lenses to unleash creativity. I will provide instruction on how to use Lensbaby lenses. Lensbaby will send some loaner lenses for our use that day. I will ask each participant for their camera mount info, as well as what lenses they might be interested in trying. I will also provide some links to articles I have written to help prepare you for the workshop. Schedule (subject to change): 7:30 a.m. - Gather at the Visitor’s Center at Chicago Botanic Garden 7:30-11:30 a.m. - Shooting in the various gardens with in-field instruction 11:30 - 12:30 p.m. - Lunch at the Garden Cafe 12:30-1:30 p.m. - Let’s talk about some essential principles we practiced in the field/prepared presentation via laptop. 1:30 -3:30 p.m. Continued shooting and applying principles
3:30 - 5:00 p.m. Gather in the Cafe for sharing of images, group critique, post processing ideas. Workshop Size and Fee: Up to 10 participants (we need at least 6) Fee: $185.00 per person
8 Nov 2018
MNSPC Member
Adventures
This column highlights the
nature photo experiences of
our intrepid members. Seeing
where members have been
and what they have been
doing may pique your interest
in visiting some of these
areas. We encourage
everyone to contribute a
nature-related story for this
column. Please email Sheila
Newenham at
with a few of paragraphs and a
couple of images about your
experience.
Contact – Is Anyone Out There? by Steve Ornberg
During the day, clouds moved in and we kept checking the forecast and cleardarksky.com to see if the clouds would clear by 8:00 pm. It looked like the clouds would clear, so we headed back at sunset to the spot we previously scouted so we could find our way when it was still light out and waited for an hour or so for darkness, the clouds to dissipate and the Milky Way to appear. And it did! We walked a few hundred yards closer to the dish, lining up the Milky Way, avoiding the sticker bushes and watching out for snakes (which Bill was sure were there lurking for us).
The clouds cleared enough between the dish and Milky Way for us to get some great shots! What a night – no snakes and we got the Milky Way! Sometimes things just line up the way you planned. And we did not get arrested for trespassing.
Did that stop us? Sort of. We scouted some more and found a public road to the east that went right past one of the largest dishes and using Photo Pills found that it lined up fairly well with the the Milky Way at about 7:50 to 9:50 pm.
Bill Dixon and I had a recent trip to the Eastern Sierra Nevada mountain range along Rt. 395 in California for a fall color trip. The timing of the trip was just right as aspens were turning gold at 8,000 ft to 6,000 ft elevations. We also stopped by the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest to photograph the thousand-year-old trees and stopped at Mono Lake and the ghost town at Bodie – but that is another story. While driving around we came across some large 40-meter diameter satellite dishes that were operated by Cal Tech. The Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO), located in the Owens Valley, California, is the home of several Caltech-operated telescopes performing experiments in the fields of blazar jet physics, the interstellar medium, and the cosmic microwave background. OVRO uses its telescopes and other instruments to improve on the locations of radio sources in the sky, as well as to study hydrogen clouds within the Milky Way. It just so happened that the Milky Way was going to be visible the night we were in area. So, we scouted during the day and found out that only authorized personnel were “supposed” to be within the area.
9 Nov 2018
"Did You Know?"
Willowbrook Wildlife Center will take your uncarved Halloween pumpkins to feed to their rescued and rehabilitated animals. http://www.dupageforest.org/willowbrook-wildlife-center Give nature a helping hand by keeping them out of the landfills and supporting DuPage County’s local wildlife.
