November 26, 2008

"The negative is the equivalent of the composer’s score, and the print the performance. "  – Ansel Adams

• Photo Highlights from Flickr:

This week on the IPC Flickr group:

NEW: Classes: What classes would you like to see offered?

NEW: Holiday List: If your spouse/kids/dog asked Indy Photo Coach for a suggestion for what you’d like as a gift, what should we tell them?

NEW: Shoot The Night: Excursion focused on light painting, slow shutter

Photo by Serge Melki

Photo by Brian Logan

Assignments: Designed to help you exercise your creativity and see everyday life differently.

NEW Assignment: Silhouette: Welcome to the world of backlighting  

NEW Assignment: Advertisement: Post a photo that looks like it could be used in an ad for a product or service.

Photo by Gillian Spring

Photo by Miya Evans

Alphabet "S": Create a photo that shows an "S" shape without showing text. 

Photo by Bob Cross

"Full": Show your visual interpretation of the word "Full"

Simplicity: Compose a very simple shot.

Beloved Object: Show us something that means alot to you.

Self-Portrait: Practice and show us who you are!  Start those creative engines and introduce yourself photographically!

Brown County Excursion

Pool: Upload your best shots and comment on other Indianapolis photographers’ work.  Be inspired.

Photo by Anne Springer

• Holiday Photo Contest

Exclusively for IPC Flickr / Newsletter Members! 

Prizes: Awards for 1st, 2nd & 3rd Place, including a $75 Indy Photo Coach Gift Certificate for 1st place.

Post a photo that somehow captures the essence of this time of year (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hannukah, trees, Circle of Lights, etc.)

Judges: All entries will be judged by IPC instructors

Judging Criteria:
* Artistic Merit & Composition
* Technical Quality
* Originality
* Level of Photographic Challenge

Deadline: All entries must be posted to the IPC Flickr Pool by Dec. 28th.
Rules: Contest is free to enter. Must be a member of IPC Flickr group. Only 1 entry per person. When posting your entry to the Flickr Pool, it must include the following tags (or we can’t find it):
- "Indy Photo Coach"
- "Holiday Photo Contest 2008"

Click here for more info.

or

Forward this opportunity to a friend

• Indy Photo Coach Gift Certificates

A perfect gift for your photo enthusiast!

Bonus $10 for every $50 purchased

Click here for more details

• Tip of the week: Thanksgiving! Shooting Food

Why did the police arrest the turkey?
They suspected it of fowl play.

My deepest apologies for that terrible joke.  We all look forward to the festivities of this Thursday and many of us will over eat slightly and doze off around 6:30pm in front of a football game.  But before then it’s the job of you and I to document this wonderful day of humanitiy’s domination over poultry (unless you’re a vegetarian). 

Here are a few tips to keep in mind when shooting food:

1. Lighting is the most important element of food photos.  Make sure your white balance is correct and shadows are not distracting. Soft, diffused light is best.
2. Composition is 2nd most important.  What is the standout ingredient?  Emphasize it.  If you’re shooting dessert, make that apple pie obvious and show the steam rising (are you hungry yet?)  Look for something to grab people’s attention right away.
3. Arrangement: recess back to geometry class and use those triangles & shapes to arrange the plates & garnishes. Keep an eye on your background.  Use props like showy forks & bright napkins to fill in gaps.
4. Focus & Depth of Field:  Shoot on a tripod & make subtle changes to your focus & DoF.  It can do wonders for shots of food.
5. Dig in!  You can always document the clean-up efforts also. 

These tips and more can be learned in any Indy Photo Coach class or lesson.

Visit the website for more information

November 19, 2008

"Photographs objectify: they turn an event or a person into something that can be possessed."  – Susan Sontag

• Photo Highlights from Flickr:

This week on the IPC Flickr group:
Experience Builder Class: Model Portrait-Shoot

Photo by Serge Melki

Photo by David Horton

Assignments: Designed to help you exercise your creativity and see everyday life differently.

New: Advertisement: Post a photo that looks like it could be used in an ad for a product or service.

New: Alphabet "S": Create a photo that shows an "S" shape without showing text. 

Photo by Gillian Spring

"Full": Show your visual interpretation of the word "Full"

Photo by Gillian Spring

Simplicity: Use last week’s newsletter tip to compose a very simple shot.

Photo by Robert Gee

Beloved Object: Show us something that means alot to you.

Self-Portrait: Practice and show us who you are!  Start those creative engines and introduce yourself photographically!

Brown County Excursion

Pool: Upload your best shots and comment on other Indianapolis photographers’ work.  Be inspired.

Photo by Miya Evans

Photo by David Scott

• Shoot The Night – Last Call!

Saturday night social event focused on night shooting.

Class focus: Night photography, light painting, slow shutter
Time: 6 – 9pm
Date: Saturday, November 22nd
Location: Downtown Indianapolis
Registration deadline: Friday, 11/21

Click here for more info.

Example of "light painting" from John Perez:

Register now!

• Tip of the week: Avoid Camera Shake

This week in the Fundamentals of Photography class, we covered shutter speed and when to use "aperture priority" vs. "shutter priority" modes.

The question arose of how to avoid "camera shake," or unintended blur caused by slow shutter speeds when hand-holding.

This problem can obviously be fixed by using a tripod, but here are a few other suggestions:

Convert your focal length to shutterspeed for hand-holding:

• for lenses 50mm in length and shorter, shoot 1/60th of a second or faster.
• for lenses 100mm focal length shoot at 1/125th of a second or faster
• when shooting with a lens of 200mm shoot at 1/250th of a second or faster

Rest against a wall or place your elbows on a solid surface.
Place your camera on your camera bag for a makeshift tripod.
If using a tripod or not handholding, use a self-timer (2 or 10 seconds) to avoid the minute vibrations caused by physically pushing the shutter button.

These tips and more can be learned in any Indy Photo Coach class or lesson.

Visit the website for more information

November 12, 2008

"Photography is a journey.  How will you remember the trip?"

~Recent Canon Ad

• Photo Highlights from Flickr:

This week on the IPC Flickr group:
Experience Builder Class: Model Portrait-Shoot

Photo by Miya Evans

Photo by Lindsay Amore

Brown County Excursion

Photo by Venu Nair

Assignments:

New: "Full": Show your visual interpretation of the word "Full"

Photo by Serge Melki

NEW: Alphabet "S": Create a photo that shows an "S" shape without showing text. 

Beloved Object: Show us something that means alot to you.

Self-Portrait: Practice and show us who you are!  Start those creative engines and introduce yourself photographically!

Simplicity: Use last week’s newsletter tip to compose a very simple shot.

Pool: Upload your best shots and comment on other Indianapolis photographers’ work.  Be inspired.

• Night Shoot Event Announced

Check the website periodically for details about an Indy Photo Coach Saturday night social event focused on night shooting.

Class focus: Night photography, light painting, slow shutter
Time: 6-9pm
Date: Saturday, November 22nd
Location: Downtown Indianapolis 

Click here for more info.

• Tip of the week: Travelling With Camera Gear

Thanksgiving and Christmas are the two highest travel times of the year.   

If flying, you’ll get to experience our brand spankin’ new airport… use the opportunity to snap a few architecture shots! Make sure to check the airline’s website for specific restrictions, but keep the following general tips in mind:

• Never leave your bags alone.  It’s a good idea to carry-on all major photography equipment (camera, lenses, memory cards, etc), but leave tripod-type equipment to the checked luggage.
• Never use a camera inside or near the security checkpoints.  Photography is prohibited in this area.
• TSA requires all spare camera batteries to be kept with you in your carry-on luggage.  According to them, spare batteries are a fire risk and they don’t want them in the checked compartment.
• The standard carry-on bag scanner will not harm your memory card or film.

Use your camera creatively!  It can be a useful travel tool Or snap a photo of where you park before leaving so it’s easier to remember after you return. For example, snap a picture of a huge, confusing subway map and refer to it later by zooming in on your reviewed image. Or snap a few pictures of your rental car to prevent damage being blamed on you.
Try not to "advertise" your camera to thieves.  If going into a "high crime" area, you may want to use a bag other than the one with Canon, Nikon, etc. labeled with big bold letters.

These tips and more can be learned in any Indy Photo Coach class or lesson.

Visit the website for more information

November 5, 2008

“Life is like a good black and white photograph, there’s black, there’s white, and lots of shades in between.”

~Karl Heiner

• Night Shoot Event

Check the website periodically for details about an Indy Photo Coach Saturday night social event focused on night shooting.

Class focus: Night photography, light painting, slow shutter
Time:TBA
Date: TBA
Location: Downtown Indianapolis

• Photo highlights from Flickr:

This week on the IPC Flickr group:
Experience Builder Class: Photojournalism

Photo by Serge Melki

Brown County Excursion

Photo by Lindsay Amore

Assignments:

Beloved Object: Show us something that means alot to you.

Self-Portrait: Practice and show us who you are!  Start those creative engines and introduce yourself photographically!

Simplicity: Use last week’s newsletter tip to compose a very simple shot.

New: “Full”: Show your visual interpretation of the word “Full”

Pool: Upload your best shots and comment on other Indianapolis photographers’ work.  Be inspired.

Tip of the week: Exercise Your Routine

Even the best photographers run into a creative rut once in a while and need to break out with a few simple exercises.  Here’s a few ideas to get you started.

• Try shooting with a fixed lens for an entire day.  If you don’t own one, try leaving your zoom at one focal length and leave it.  This will help improve your point-of-view perception and visualizing the shot before you open the shutter.
• Focus on one or two colors.  Devote an entire shoot to one or two main colors.

Photo by Gillian Spring

• Incorporate one significant color, object, number, or symbol in a series of photos.
• Shoot for a whole day without cropping.
• Do a series on self-portraits.

These tips and more can be learned in any Indy Photo Coach class or lesson.

Visit the website for more information