The View Findercvcameraclub.org/Newsletters/CVCC_May_News12.pdf · 2013-05-15 · C. Atlantic Beach 5. More than 1,000 feet long, Seaview Fishing Pier is located on North Topsail

Volume 1, Issue 5 May, 2012

by Lara White from PhotoMint.

It’s the one of those things that holds many photographers back. Each time you create a set of images, it’s more like a blooper reel than a best hits collection unless you cull them ruthlessly. Your im-age library grows and grows, each set containing hundreds of images, the best ones hiding in there somewhere amongst the slop. Sound familiar?

Culling your best work is absolutely criti-cal to your growth as a photographer. That means getting in there and separat-ing the wheat from the chaff” so to speak-be ruthless. It’s hard work to throw away your work, especially for an artist. But in order to learn from your mistakes and grow as a photographer, it must be done. It’s one of the very best ways to learn about your strengths and weaknesses pho-tographically.

Why deleting is different than reviewing

Everyone looks at their work and thinks about what they like and don’t like. But until you make an actual decision about each image-is it the very best image, is it good (but not great) or was it just practice-you won’t open yourself up to the learn-ing that comes when you actively force

yourself to separate the best from the throwaways.

By making decisions about what works and what doesn’t, you begin to train your eye. As an example, let’s say you are looking at a dozen good images of a land-scape, each one slightly different. By comparing and contrasting several good photos, some are better, some are worse. One image is going to be the best. And every other image is not the best, and therefore inferior in some way.

Which one is the best, and how do you know? With this question in mind, you are forced to look at the little details in a new way. Maybe one has better exposure or slightly better composition. It might be in the details, and you have to look care-fully, but that’s where you’ll find your greatness-in the little things.

Your work starts to improve

You’ll begin to see when you really “got it” and what led to that moment, under-standing and learning more from the im-ages before and after that one great shot. You’ll see what wasn’t working-was there too much sky or not enough sky? Next time, you’ll compose a little bit bet-ter. You’ll remember what you liked. You’ll spend a little less time creating

Keep the Best, Delete the Rest

KEEP THE BEST, DELETE THE REST 1

COASTAL CAROLINA PIERS QUIZ 3

PLACES TO VISIT 3

PICTURES FROM FIELD TRIP TO BEAUFORT, N.C.

4

MORE PICTURES FROM BEAUFORT 5

ENTREPRENEURIAL TIGHTROPE 8

PRESIDENTS REPORT & EDITORS COMMENTS

9

ELEMENTS OF A GREAT PHOTO-

GRAPH 2

CALENDAR OF EVENTS 2

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 - KEEP THE BEST, DELETE THE REST

6

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2 - ELE-

MENTS OF A GREAT PHOTOGRAPH 7

QUIZ ANSWERS 8

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION 10

Inside this issue:

C a t a w b a Va l l e y C a m e r a C l u b

The View Finder

Continued on Page 6

http://www.photomint.com/blog/

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As a photographer, it’s in-credibly important to know what makes a great picture. Just having a nice camera and fancy tools isn’t enough to really make good pictures anymore. Knowing what to look for and honing in on those specific things can help you capture truly unique, per-sonal, and in the moment im-ages that will hopefully help to set you apart from your peers. Here’s just a few things that I look for during a ses-sion.

Composition

I had a little bit of trouble deciding what was the most important aspect of an image.

But finally after much thought – I came to the conclusion that composition should be the first thing you consider when taking a picture. Com-position can actually make or break an image. There are some images that seem boring and mundane until you re-compose them. Sometimes all it takes is looking at your sub-ject from a different angle. Try getting above them…. like WAY above them and shooting down. Or maybe you should get below and shoot upwards. Sometimes chang-ing up where the focus is in your image can make a differ-ence too. Like focusing on a ring in the foreground with the couple out of focus in the

background.

Story Telling

This is a trait I personally find important – although not eve-ryone does. I think the best pictures tell the story of the people in it. Now this may be some kind of artistic creation which can be really cool like creating a fairytale image with the people in costumes. But I usually am looking for something more simple. Like a first time dad holding his son for the first time and that look of pure joy and elation on his face. Or the sweet little action of a little girl blowing flower petals out of her hands.

Sometimes

changing up where

the focus is in your

image can make a

difference. Like

focusing on a ring

in the foreground

with the couple out

of focus in the

background.

Calendar of Events

May 2 Projection Competition (2) Repeating Patterns, 7:00 p.m.

May 16 Print Competition (2) Open, 7:00 p.m.

May 19 Field Trip: Duke Gardens & Butterflies, Mitzi Gellman

June 6 Projection Competition (2) Hands, 7:00 p.m.

June 20 Projection Competition (2) Open, 7:00 p.m.

June 23 Field Trip: Frying Pan Mtn-Fire Tower, Donny Teague

July 4 Favorite Image for Collage

July 18 Print Competition (2) Reflections

July 21 Field Trip: All-A-Flutter Butterfly Farm High Point, NC


Continued on page 7

Elements of a Great Photograph

By Stephanie Gagnon http://www.greentreemediaonline.com

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Coastal Carolina Piers Quiz

Against the wind and churning surf, North Carolina’s ocean piers stand proudly.

1. In 1996, 32 public fishing piers dotted North Caroli-na’s coastline. How many are in operation today?

A. 35

B. 25

C. 19

2. Kure Beach Fishing Pier is the oldest pier in North Carolina. L.C. Kure, the town’s first mayor, built the original Kure Beach Pier in what year?

A. 1923

B. 1939

C. 1910

3. Formerly named Yaupon Beach, the Oak Island Fish-ing Pier is the tallest pier in North Carolina. How many feet above sea level does it stand?

A 35 feet

B. 27 feet

C. 50 feet

4. Originally a wooden structure, Johnnnie Mercer’s Pier is now made of reinforced concrete and built to withstand winds up to 200 mile per hour. The pier is located in what New Hanover County town?

A Carolina Beach

B. Wrightsville Beach

C. Atlantic Beach

5. More than 1,000 feet long, Seaview Fishing Pier is located on North Topsail Beach in what North Caroli-na county?

A. Onslow County

B. New Hanover County

C. Dare County

Answers on page 8

Places to visit

I have been in many places, but I've never been in Cahoots. Apparently, you can't go alone. You have to be in Cahoots with someone.

I've also never been in Cognito. I hear no one recognizes you there. I have, however, been in Sane. They don't have an airport; you have to be driven there. I have made sever-al trips there, thanks to my friends, family and work.

I would like to go to Conclusions, but you have to jump, and I'm not too much on physical activity anymore.

I have also been in Doubt. That is a sad place to go, and I try not to visit there too often. I've been in Flexible, but only when it was very important to stand firm.

Sometimes I'm in Capable, and I go there more often as I'm getting older. One of my favorite places to be is in Sus-pense! It really gets the adrenalin flowing and pumps up the old heart! At my age I need all the stimuli I can get!

I may have been in Continent, and I don't remember what country I was in. It's an age thing.

PLEASE DO YOUR PART! Today is one of the many National Mental Health Days throughout the year. You can do your bit by remembering to send an e-mail to at least one unstable person. My job is done!

Life is too short for negative drama & petty things. So laugh insanely, love truly and forgive quickly! From one unstable person to another... I hope everyone is happy in your head - we're all doing pretty good in mine!

This message brought to you courtesy of Robert Hambrick.

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Some pictures from the April filed trip to Beaufort, N.C.

Richard Griffin, John Hildebrand, and Chip Young getting ready to shoot the sunset at the Beaufort Inn Friday night.

Robert & Gaither Hambrick along with Dennis Hacker, Chip Young and John Hildebrand preparing for sunset.

On the left everyone is preparing to shoot the sunrise on Saturday morning. Except John who is taking my picture while I take his picture.

After the sunrise everyone turned their attention to some nice cloud for-mations over an adjacent body of wa-ter.

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Some more pictures from the April filed trip to Beaufort, N.C.

Ann Fitzsimmons and Chip Young are talking about something while we photographed the wild horses on Shackleford Banks. The boat ride to the island was short but the walk to find the horses was long and stren-uous.

Below are Dean Powell, Richard Griffin, and Ed Lane taking pictures of the horses. To the right is a picture of one of the mares in the group of about six or seven horses we found.

On Saturday night at Fort Macon there was a fir-ing of cannons as part of a reenactment of the 150 year old Civil War battle fought there. The pic-ture on the right was one of the volleys fired that night.

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images that you know won’t work.

You’ll start spending more time cre-ating images that are better. Each time you’ll be able to duplicate a lit-tle more of what worked and spend less time on shots that don’t work.

Another benefit to editing images is that your portfolio instantly improves as you remove the uninspiring imag-es. You don’t want the throwaways, the garbage, and the mediocre images crowding out the gems. Sift through and delete images that are unexcep-tional so that great images have a chance to shine. Allow none of the uninspired images to slip through. You don’t really want to show off your average work now, do you?

Learning to see-perspective and composition

Perspective and composition are two key areas that I have improved over the years due to ruthlessly culling images. Each editing or culling ses-sion is a lesson in learning what sepa-rates a great image from an ordinary image.

For example, in the dessert table overview image, it’s pretty much a straight on shot of the table. It doesn’t work because it’s boring, it doesn’t entice the viewer and it doesn’t create any desire for the desserts. There is too much wall and not enough yum.

What did I do wrong in composing the image? The perspective is too

high. I need to get lower, at eye level with the desserts. And in order to make the desserts appetizing, they need to seem larger than life.

Compositionally, this means that I would choose a specific dessert and allow it to take up more space in the frame. Finally, so the image doesn’t feel cluttered by too many desserts, I use a low f stop and focus only on one dessert, allowing the rest to become background.

I didn’t learn this instinctively, and I didn’t even learn it at the shoot. The

Continued from page 1

dessert table overview shot actual-ly felt more appropriate, it captured the scene truthfully and was a straightforward shot. But there is nothing unique or interesting about that image. It’s the same as anyone would take with a point and shoot.

As photographers, I believe it’s our job to say something with the im-ages, to add something more than just what meets the eye. I learned this more in the editing room than on any shoot. The editing or cull-ing process allows me to see what works and why. And even more important, I learn what doesn’t work.

So hopefully you are convinced of the tremendous value in editing down your work to only the best. It’s one of the fastest ways to im-prove the quality of your photog-raphy work. And who doesn’t want to take better images?

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Or maybe it’s a picture of a close up of an el-derly couple holding hands. Telling the story of the people in an im-age can add a whole new level to your pic-tures overall depth and meaning.

Emotion

We are often taking pictures of faces. Everyone’s face is totally unique and different and so much emotion can be seen just in a person’s face. So many, many, many pictures are of people’s faces. So capturing a picture that shows the pure joy between to friends laughing over an inside joke or the love on a girls face as her man literally sweeps her off her feet can create a much more dynamic image than just a photograph of their faces. Of course, happiness isn’t the only emotion you can convey. Sometimes sorrow, loneliness, thoughtfulness, calm, peace, or relief can create an interesting a different picture too. It’s so rare to see images of people experience genuine emotion, and I find that people tend to crave this kind of imagery more be-cause of it.

Detail

I find detail images to be fascinating and often some of my fa-vorite images. We focus on people’s faces so much that some-times it’s fun to mix things up and throw in some pictures of other little details to remind ourselves of the little things. Like a little baby’s feet held in his mother’s hands. Kids grow up so quickly capturing these fleeting moments when they are so small can be some of the most cherished memories a mother could hope for. They often aren’t thinking about those kinds of images when they have you take pictures, but they almost always fall in love with these baby detail shots. These kinds of images are be-ing more and more appreciated in all forms of photography too

including engage-ment sessions. Couples are loving pictures that don’t include their faces. It adds a whole new twist to tradi-tional photography and people are fall-ing in love with it.

Lighting

Lighting is the last element and probably one of the most im-portant because you need light just to create a picture or to set a mood. Silhouetted or backlit pictures are really popular these days as they are different from standard portraiture. There’s a variety of different takes on the backlit pictures and there are some pretty exciting and fun examples to look through. There’s also the fun dramatic, single light source lighting. This type of photography is fun for creating super moody dramatic shots. with high contrast. You really need to know what you’re doing and what you are wanting to achieve for this style of light-ing to work well with your subject matter.

Well there you have it. You now know the five elements that help in creating stunning imagery. Composition can help you take a standard pose and give it a new twist. Story telling can help you relay more about a person or couple in an image. Emo-tion is often one of the most important elements to a picture es-pecially when conveying joy or happiness. Detail shots can make for a great reminder of the little things we love in others. And of course, lighting will always make a break a picture since light is what actually enables us to take a picture. I hope you’ve found this at least a little insightful and perhaps have taken some things away from it that you may try in your next photo shoot!

Continued from page 2

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By Gladys Edmunds

I have been success-ful in my commercial real estate business. And I love my work. But, I find myself at a loss for words when asked by wannbe entrepre-neurs what the secret to success is. I have given this question a lot of thought and I can't put words to-gether to explain what it takes to make it in business. I really want to say something an aspiring entrepre-neur can hold onto. I'm sure you are asked this question often. —V.K.

If there is a secret to success, it has to be tied up in a person's attitude. A winning attitude wins every time.

I have seen people both win and lose based on attitude. Every suc-cessful entrepreneur I have met seems to have an optimistic outlook on life. That is the beginning of a successful life and business.

When I have met people who have not been successful, they usually use words that suggest that life is a drag.

It reminds me of an often-told story of the twin boys about six years old. One boy was an optimist and the other a pessimist. This difference worried the parents, so they took the boys to a therapist to see if there was a way to create an even temper-

Entrepreneurial Tightrope

Coastal Carolina Piers

1. C. 19

2. A. 1923

3. B. 27 feet

4. B. Wrightsville Beach

5. A. Onslow County

ament in both boys.

The therapist put the pessimist in a room full of toys and video games and the optimist in a room full of horse manure to see if that would turn their temperaments around.

After several hours, the therapist went into the room full of toys and found the pessimistic boy in tears. Asked what the problem was, the boy said, "I don't know what to play with first, and I'm afraid I'll break something."

The therapist then went into the room full of manure, where he found the optimistic child singing and dancing with joy. Asked why he was so happy about being in horse manure, the boy said, "With all this manure, there must be a po-ny here somewhere!"

The story illustrates a winning atti-tude: No matter how stinky things get, there's a gift in it somewhere, somehow.

When you find folks who have suc-ceeded in business, sports or enter-tainment, and people who have overcome a catastrophic illness, you will find that their attitude played a major role in their success.

Sometimes when I tell people that success is basically a choice we make, they may disagree. However, the attitude we carry through life, the attitude upon which our success is based, is a choice. When I find myself upset over something, for

instance, I can decide to play a piece of music or do something that appeals to me, to change my mood and lift my spirits.

The next time you are asked about the secret to success, start by saying what your e-mail said to me: "I love my work." Explain what that means.

When you say you love a person, place or thing, you are saying that it lifts your spirits; makes you feel good; gives you the energy to move forward; you enjoy your connection to it.

Also, share what you do that gets you back into a positive state on days when you are not feeling so optimistic.

I could go on about the characteristics and power of a winning attitude. But the most important thing to pass on is that a winning attitude takes place in-side a person. It's a feeling, a belief that is the main ingredient making all the difference between success and failure, in business and in life.

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HARD on my backside. Wink was in

my field of view as I fell and I saw her

eyes immediately fill with tears; the fall

was that hard.

I hadn’t watched out for my-

self... well enough... and I paid the price

for my inattention, my lack of careful-

ness.

Thought it was worth mention-

ing that when we go out, we need to

look out for one another AND EVEN

MORE WE NEED TO MAKE SURE

WE WATCH OUT FOR OUR-

SELVES. Old sailors had a saying,

“One hand for the ship and one for

yourself”. Let’s make our saying, “One

eye for the group (the fellow club mem-

ber) and one for ourselves.”

Rick Bell

We just returned from a very fine

weekend field trip where I had an “a-ha”

moment.

Over the years it has become tradi-

tional, even mandatory, for us to watch out

for one another on field trips, to make sure

no one gets accidentally left or hurt. We

exchange cell phone numbers; we count

noses, we arrange rendezvous points. Gen-

erally we go around in groups, seldom

alone.

All this is wonderful and is as it

should be. We need to watch out for one

another. This trip, I made a decision to look

out for myself. I didn’t go on the boat ride

to the 8 mile long island to look for the hors-

es. Everyone came back saying that I had

made the CORRECT decision.

Then I remembered a time, some

years ago, when we had gone out on a Satur-

day to photograph waterfalls and I walked

out on some wet, slick rocks to get a shot.

Now I knew they were slick and I walked

carefully but not carefully enough. I fell,

Presidents Report

We’re on the Web

http://cvcclub.wordpress.com

Club Officers

President: Rick Bell [email protected]

Vice President: Donny Teague [email protected]

Secretary: Richard Griffin [email protected]

Treasurer: Robert Dant [email protected]

Image Coordinator: Ed Lane [email protected]

Webmaster: Scott M. Powell [email protected]


From the Editor

Six years ago I bought a dig-

ital camera and started tak-

ing pictures again after many

year absent from photog-

raphy. Going from film to

digital was a big change and

I rediscovered photography

and now find it a relaxing

and rewarding hobby.

The advances in technology

is so rapid some times it’s

hard to keep up. I know that

I still have much to learn

about my camera as well as

sharpening my eye as a pho-

tographer.

The presentation given last

week by club member Wink

Gaines taught me several

new techniques that I will

use photographing wildlife.

Like wise I picked up sever-

al new ways of taking macro

shots when I attended a

Mike Moates seminar on

macro photography.

We are fortunate to belong

to a club that has many tal-

ented photographers that are

willing to share there

knowledge with others.

Donny Teague

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Application for Membership

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E-MAIL___________________________________________________________________

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Dues are $35 per year. Meetings are the first and third Wednesday of each month.

Students: $15 per year

CLUB USE ONLY: Date Received__________________ Cash_______Check______

Please print clearly as our club correspondence is conducted via e-mail.

Documents

The View Findercvcameraclub.org/Newsletters/CVCC_May_News12.pdf · 2013-05-15 · C. Atlantic Beach 5. More than 1,000 feet long, Seaview Fishing Pier is located on North Topsail