Catching the sun

I took this pic with my first 2.4 megapixel Sony Cybershot back in the day while walking through the West End.

I agree - not easy to get sunrays in a shot! I find that you don't necessarily need to get the sun in the shot to get the rays, but you could try by getting the camera just off angle from the sun. Then if you take it into Photoshop, adjust the levels (adjustments/levels) so that the pointers are closer to the edges of the histogram and more of the darker colours become saturated - you are usually able to pull out a little more solar/lens flare in the picture that make the rays more dramatic.

Unfortunately on the small camera LCDs, it's not always easy to see if you potentially caught enough rays in your shot that could be brought out in Photoshop - so take lots! =)

Cindy
(Note: no worries, Sha - I promise I am still going to take a shot this week to post, may be a little late though *cough cough*)

Spring in SA (oh, Im back!!)

Hey Guys, Sorry ive been scarce, but im back from my trip to Vietnam and malaysia, so hopefully i'll be contributing a bit more. This pic was taken this w.end in the garden. Guess its the season for flowers

Later
Clint

Fall in Yaletown

Anyone have any tricks to dealing with taking photos directly of the sun? I was trying to get rays of light in my photo, but ended up with a big white glow. I've had this problem before.

Sandra

Fall in Vancouver

Taken on the seawall on the way to the park this morning. We've been having some pretty decent autumn weather. The leaves are still yellow on the trees, some others along the walk had red leaves too.

Cheers,
Sharon 

Next Challenge - Due Oct 31st

Okay, we've let this last challenge go on too long! So, this next challenge is a short one, you have until Tuesday to post it, and there really is only one challenge.

Go out on Saturday or Sunday this weekend, and take a pic of your neighbourhood depicting the season. So for those in Canada, you'd capture your 'Fall' moment (unless you're in Toronto and if it's snowing, take your 'Winter' moment); and those south of the equator, let's see your 'Spring' moment.

And, hopefully this next round, it won't just be Cindy, Sandra and Sharon's posts... come on guys, let's see what your neighbourhood looks like!

Free Study by Sandra

A Dried up sea urchin

Cindy's lazy beer ad contribution

Free Study...

I was really trying to come up with something that fulfilled the "unrelatedness" challenge, but didn't come up with anything good. But I also really LOVE this picture, so I'm going to post it as my entry for the 'free study' challenge. This is quite the opposite from the unrelatedness challenge, in fact, these tomatoes and basil relate VERY well and are an excellent combination together!

Anyway, just love the colours and their combination - yum yum, makes me think of cooking!

Enjoy - Sharon 

Photo apps

We found this cool app called Lightroom produced by Adobe - it is still in the beta phase, which you can d/l for free and try out (like we've been doing) at http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom/. It's a little chuggy while they are working out bugs, but is still really awesome in terms of colour adjustment and cropping your photos in any format (including RAW, jpeg etc.).

But you can still use a similar engine in Photoshop CS - when you open up a RAW image, it will open up an editing window that have similar but limited functions. Usability has a little less options though, and unfortunately, it is only limited to RAW formats.

Looks like Apple have come out with something on their side too (I guess Adobe and Apple aren't very good friends these days) - http://www.apple.com/ca/aperture/

Don't know much about that one though =)

Challenges for Week October 4, 2006

Challenge: Free Study
Details: Anything &/or everything

Challenge: Unrelatedness
Details: Gather exctly two objects that are completely unrelated (e.g. a carrot and a yo-yo) and make some sort of sense out of their combination, photographically speaking.

Challenge: Beer or Soft Drink Advertisement
Details: Use your creativity and your photographic skills to sell a beer or soft drink.

Leading lines from Dubrovnik

Dobra Dan from Dubrovnik! I thought I would try my 'leading lines' while walking along the walls of the Old city, it's a beautiful walk and great views, but for this blog entry, here are my lines!

Do Videnje (Good bye!) -- Sharon

Electricity and Leading Lines by Sandra

Here are 2 of the challenges...I happened to take both of these photos on previous trips, hence the earliness =). Both were taken with my point and shoot powershot with no special settings - this was before I got the SLR.

Electricity - this shot was taken at night in May 2005. It's the lights of Potsdamer Platz in Berlin Germany reflecting off the glass building (I think it's the Daimler Chrysler building). It's one of the coolest plazas I've seen in Europe.

Leading Lines - I'm not sure if these lines are leading, but they were striking. This is the reading room at the British Museum in London. It was new at the time (2002). It was taken on Mike and my honeymoon.

Electricity by Cindy

it's hard to feel inspired this weekend with all the rain, but I know I can always count on my trusty electric toothbrush to keep my teeth clean.

Decided to stay away from 'fancy techniques' this week and practice my balancing and holding steady - still needs some work.

Also found this great Adobe Product called Lightroom - the beta is available for free d/l at the moment, but it specifically allows you to work on your photos (RAW, jpg, anything) - cropping, change temperatures, colours etc. Still runs a little slow but definitely worth trying out before they start selling it and charging you $$.

Sandra's contributions

Hey all, thanks for asking me to join. Better late than never! Here are my contributions from the last challenge:

Life's simple pleasures - a bowl of pasta on a rainy day

Pastels - peaches and cream corn on the cob
Rule of Thirds - sunrise on the creek

Challenges for the week September 13, 2006

Challenge: Far Side – Gary Larson Tribute

Gary Larson created the "Far Side" comic strip in 1980, and it was wildly popular until he discontinued it in 1994. Your challenge is to use your photographic skills to emulate Gary's work. His captions were usually central to the concepts he was exploring, so titling/captioning may be critical here. To see samples of Gary's work, use Google Images and search "Gary Larson Far Side".

Challenge: Seed

"Seed" has a lot of potential meanings; fertilize your imagination for this one, and show us the essence of "seed" your way.

Challenge: Leading Lines

Use this compositional technique to deliver the impact of your photograph.

Challenge: Electricity

Take a photograph depicting how electricity has affected society or our environment in a negative or positive way. Something electric should be clearly visible in your photo.

Rule of Thirds

On Sunday, we were at Trav's mom's place, sitting around a campfire in their back yard, so I tried my rule of thirds. Then we got to roast marshmallows! I couldn't take a pic because it was too dark, but that would've been my entry for life's simple pleasures... mmm mmm mmm!

No special settings from my point-and-shoot.
Cheers, Sharon 

Pastels on a Sunday morning

This morning while sipping on my coffee, I noticed the african violet by my window had budded a pastel pink flower for the first time. Chad was trying to coach me at the same time and this is how I think it worked out optically (pardon my ignorance, I'm learning as I go here). I reached for my tripod and in, A-dep mode, I decreased my depth of field by decreasing the f-stop (or increasing the apperture size). Theoretically, the camera in this mode would have adjusted to limit the amount of sunlight from the window (otherwise the photo would have been washed out) by increasing the shutter speed. By decreasing my depth of field too, it blurred out the green in the background a lot more and highlighted the pastel flower in the front. Turned out alright - will keep experimenting. Cindy.

Rule of thirds

Another contribution, rule of thirds. Its actually the braamfontein spruit, in good ol' Joey's. Taken just a few weeks ago.

CLint

Pastels, my contribution

Firstly, Big congrats to both couples, Cindy&Chad and Stephen&Cherie. You all looked stunning, good pics to whoever took them. Onto the challenges, heres my contribution to 'pastels' It was taken in a park in New Plymouth, New Zealand. During the festive season the park is lit up with lights. Hope u like it.
Clint

Let the challenge begin...

Alright - no more excuses, wedding season is over. Alas, photoclub is alive again! I will post challenges every 2 weeks that you can choose from, and post your pics before the next challenge begins! This weeks' challenges are:

Challenge: Pastels
Photographers tend to favour highly-saturated colours, but this week look for something different - PASTELS! Pastels are commonly defined as 'a light, pale tint of colour'. Your challenge is to look at the worldi n a softer light this week and show us what you have found.

Challenge: Rule of Thirds
The Rule of thirds suggests that if you picture imaginary lines dividing your photograph in thirds (horixontally and vertically) your points of interest should be placed on the intersections of those lines.

Challenge: Simple Pleasures
Life, if we allow it to be, is chock-a-block full of simple pleasures. Your challenge is to show us one, the make us smile =)