News

Last call for November Fundamentals Classes!
Next round of Fundamentals of Photography classes won’t be until January 2010.

January, February & March classes announced soon!

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Purchase an IPC Gift Certificate for a friend!

Weekly Group Assignment: The Haunting

It’s that time of year again where little creatures from beyond will comb through neighborhoods in search of snack sized candy. It’s also a good time to try out some trick photography since your best props are already out and ready to go!

Here are a couple of ideas:

Ghastly Lighting
Creative use of lighting was the main way Hollywood scared us before the era of computer generated monsters. A lot of flashes today can be triggered wirelessly for some great effects but even a strategically placed and relatively bright flashlight can do the job. Experiment with different lighting angles and ways of composing image. Sometimes less is more!

Ghostly Motion
The same technique we use to get silky waterfalls can also create the translucent and formless ghost image we’re so accustomed to seeing. The principal is the same, you stabilize your camera on a tripod or anything else sturdy and set your shutter speed at a rate too slow to freeze the moving object — the moving object is blurred while the background remains sharp.

Assignment:

Show us your best spookiest image using one or both of the techniques mentioned above. This is an all-ages group so nothing too gruesome.

Have fun!

Written by Trevor Warren
This is this week’s Group Assignment on Flickr!

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Remember, composition is not just used in photography, but all forms of art: painting, landscape, design and especially film!   Take a look at a creative use of composition in a recent American Express commercial.   It’s not what your subject is, but what you see!

News

New Class Dates Announced

Fundamentals of Photography  Just Added!
Tuesdays in November, Downtown

HDR Workshop  Just Added!
Tuesday, December 1st, 6-9pm, Downtown

Adobe Lightroom Workflow Seminar  Just Added!
Saturday, December 5th

Give the Gift of Photography Knowledge & Experience
Purchase an IPC Gift Certificate for a friend!

Weekly Group Assignment: Capturing the Colors of Fall

This is a magical time of the year however many photographers find themselves disappointed with their fall foliage photos because they lack the color they saw with their eyes.

To make your photos look closer to the way your eyes saw the scene here are a couple of tips:

1) Use a Polarizing Filter
Your fall color photos lack saturated color because of the light being reflected off of the leaves. Your eyes see through this, but your camera does not. Using a polarizing filter reduces the reflections and allows the colors to come through.

2) Adjust Your White Balance Setting
Using a warmer white balance saturates the earth tones so the red, orange, brown and yellow colors look more natural.

Assignment:

On your next fall color photo trip, use a polarizing filter and notice how the colors become brighter as you rotate the filter. Experiment with your white balance settings by shooting the same photo using both the Cloudy and Shady settings. Notice the subtle color changes between the two settings.

Have fun!

Written by Ron Kness
This is this week’s Group Assignment on Flickr!

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News

Next Student Social Shoot: Monday, Oct. 19, 6:00pm.
Mark your calendars and look for more details later this week!

Do you know a bride and groom with an upcoming wedding?
Have they considered lowering their costs by having some of our most talented students shoot it?

Have them contact us!

Give the Gift of Photography Knowledge & Experience
Purchase an IPC Gift Certificate for a friend!

Weekly Group Assignment: Keeping it Simple

Many photographers today try to include too many elements in a photograph. What ends up happening, is the subject gets lost in all the clutter. Simplify a photograph by:

• evaluating the scene to determine what the real subject is that caught your attention
• removing non-essential elements in the photo by either zooming in close with a zoom telephoto lens or walking up close to the subject until just the subject is in the viewfinder
• capturing the subject from various angles and perspectives

By paring down a scene to just the single element that originally caused you to stop and look, you make it easy for your viewer to find the subject.

Assignment:

For this assignment, select a subject. Now by positioning yourself, and zooming in or moving up close to the subject, eliminate various elements until just the subject is positioned correctly in your viewfinder. By using this tip, you will notice an immediate improvement in your photos and your viewers will instantly recognize the subject in your photos.

Have fun!

Written by Ron Kness
This is this week’s Group Assignment on Flickr!

News

Give the Gift of Photography Knowledge & Experience

Purchase an IPC Gift Certificate for a friend!

Now enrolling for November Classes!

Last opportunity to take classes this year. December is a month for us to practice, spend time with family and relax until January. (3 Fundamentals class locations)

Weekly Group Assignment: Focus Lock

All digital cameras have a feature called focus lock. The point of focus is taken off of whatever is inside the circle or rectangle in the center of your viewfinder when you press the shutter button.

Focus lock works great if your subject is in the center of your viewfinder; it doesn’t work if your subject is not in the viewfinder’s center. To use focus lock with subjects off to the side:

• set up the scene in your viewfinder
• place the circle or rectangle in your viewfinder on your subject
• press the shutter button half-way down and continue holding
• with the shutter button still held half-way down, re-position your subject in your viewfinder
• finish pressing the shutter button all the way.

If you have your subject off to the side first, and then press the shutter button, your background will be in focus, but your subject will be blurry. Using focus lock will improve your subject clarity and ad excitement to your photos.

Assignment:

Take a photo of a subject off to the side using the above focus lock steps.

Have fun!

Written by Ron Kness
This is this week’s Group Assignment on Flickr!