On 16 November 2021 Jim Nickelson gave a terrific presentation on printing. This included information on printers, ink, paper, color management and more. Jim has shared a pdf copy of his presentation slides.
Additional content available in the Members Only area.
At our May 25 Zoom meeting Kathy Tarantola gave the third of three presentations on Lightroom. At this meeting Kathy answered questions submitted in advance by BCA members.. Kathy has graciously shared a pdf copy of the slides from her presentation.
Additional content and/or links in the Members Only area
At our April 27 Zoom meeting Kathy Tarantola gave the second of three presentations on Lightroom. This presentation focused on Develop Module highlights. Kathy has graciously shared a pdf copy of the slides from her presentation.
Additional content and/or links in the Members Only area
At our March 23 Zoom meeting Kathy Tarantola gave the first of three presentations on Lightroom. She talked about file management, importing, backing up, and similar topics related to keeping you Lightroom catalog and files organized - and how to recover from mistakes. Kathy has graciously shared a pdf copy of the slides from her presentation.
Additional content and/or links in the Members Only area
On 23 February 2021 BCA Photo Group member gave a fascinating presentation on color theory and how color plays into our reaction to images. She has shared a pdf of a portion of her presentation, accessible at the link below. At the end of the pdf are links to a number of useful web pages and a list of books that she recommends.
Additional content and/or links in the Members Only area
On 26 January 2021 Sue Anne Hodges gave a well-attended presentation on digital restoration of photos to a well attended (>40) Zoom audience. She has shared several handouts from the presentation, which you can access here:
And a link to the organization that Sue Anne volunteers with to restore photos damaged in disasters - Operation Photo Rescue
We had another successful Zoom meeting for our May 26 Technical Series meeting, with more than 40 in virtual attendance. David H. Wells gave a very informative and richly illustrated presentation on video techniques and storytelling, with engaged questions from the audience. David has left us with some useful resources:
Downloadable files (click to download):
Web links
David Wells’ website - you can see some of the videos he showed us there
ASMP Workshop - Taking the Intimidation Out of Video - signup deadline May 28
The March 24 meeting was our first foray into the online meeting world due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis. Paul Nguyen’s presentation was held using the Zoom platform. He gave an engaging overview of his experience with drones, including some of the options that are out there, how you fly and interact with them, regulations that you need to deal with, and examples of the kind of still and video imagery you can collect.
There were over 40 people signed in at one point and everything went very smoothly, with clear images and audio. Questions were asked during the talk through an online chat interface, and at the end of the talk by both text and voice. Feedback from those attending has been very good and encourages us to continue the BCA season in this manner.
Besides presenting to photo groups, Paul offers a range of workshops and classes, primarily for landscape, nature, and night photography. While his in-person sessions are on hold for now, Paul is offering a ‘Beat the Quarantine Blues’ series of online classes.
Rob Sylvan gave a great presentation at our well-attended January 28 meeting, demonstrating a variety of techniques for working with images within the Adobe image handling ecosystem. Rob brought a raft of experience to this - he is the author of many Lightroom and photography related books, eBooks, and videos, as well as a regular contributor to Lightroom Killer Tips and Photofocus. His latest book is Lightroom Classic for Dummies. Rob answers all of the Lightroom questions on the KelbyOne Help Desk, and is also an adjunct faculty member at NHTI.
A lot of the presentation dealt with editing capabilities and techniques , with great tips for streamlining workflow through the use of presets and other methods.
Rob shared a number of resources with us, which you can access here:
Lightroom Articles - a pdf compilation of several of Rob’s articles on Lightroom
Lightroom Resources - pdf list of links to free Lightroom resources on the web
Photoshop Resources - pdf list of links to free Photoshop resources on the web
Starter Lightroom Presets - a zip file with the starter Develop Presets that Rob uses in his workflow
There was great turnout - about 60 people - at the October 22 Technical Series presentation ‘Unleash Your Landscape Photography’ by John Slonina. John is a professional nature photographer with wide experience traveling to many parts of the world running photo tours and workshops. He talked about equipment and techniques, the value of shooting the same subject from multiple points of view, times of day, and lighting conditions, and especially the value of planning, planning, planning. HIs engaging talk was peppered with anecdotes from his field experiences and well illustrated with a variety of shots of landscapes, wildlife, night photography, and more.
Links:
Web site - Slonina Nature Photography. Galleries, info on workshops, blog, …
Page with answers to common questions
Favorite tool for knowing where the sun, moon, Milky Way will be - PhotoPills
The first Technical Series meeting of the 2019-2020 season took place on September 24. BCA member Doug Paul gave a presentation on astrophotography, a pursuit that he took up in earnest upon his retirement. He shared a wide variety of images followed by a detailed description of the equipment, methods, and software he uses to capture his gorgeous images of Deep Space Objects. Doug had the session videotaped and you can watch it in full at this link. On that YouTube page there is more explanation and a table of contents with time codes pointing to the sections of the video .
Doug also supplied a list of references. These are all active links to resources you can access on the web.
A link to the meeting video again
Dragonfly Telescope (telescope made from multiple Canon 400mm f/2.8 lenses)
Software
Dcraw/LibRaw (decoding raw files)
Hardware
At our May 28 Technical Series meeting BCA Photo Group member Diane Bennett provided an overview of copyright basics and image protection considerations for photographers. She has made a portion of her presentation - 10 tips for protecting your images and pointers to printed and web resources available for download here (pdf format):
Vega Buchbinder gave a stimulating presentation on digital infrared (IR) photography at the February 26 Technical Series meeting. She discussed the principles of IR imaging and gave an overview of the equipment and techniques for capturing this invisible part of the spectrum. There was active engagement responding to the many questions from those in attendance. Vega has shared her presentation in pdf format, downloadable from the link below.
BCA Photo Group member Pip Shepley gave an informative and well-received presentation on printing at our January 22 Technical Series meeting, with approximately 30 people in attendance. Pip talked about his own long journey in improving his printing and shared techniques and tips from the numerous classes he has taken, studying under some of the leaders in the field. The talking points were supported by live demos of workflow cases in both Photoshop and Lightroom, the use of soft proofing, and the use of test images to see how well the monitor and the printer reproduce tonal ranges.
Pip has provided us with a set of digital files that you can download here by clicking on the entry:
Copy of the printed handout of resources that Pip had at the meeting (pdf)
Shadow checker - lowest quartile of 256-step brightness scale (jpg)
Shadow checker - lowest quartile of 0 - 100% brightness scale (jpg)
Adobe Carmen Miranda image, good for testing printing of colors and brightness variations (jpg)
Document (from Jack Flesher) that describes how to use the printer evaluation image above (pdf)
He also mentioned several books that are good resources for getting started. The information on these is in the handout, but for your convenience follow these links:
On November 27 we had our first Technical Series meeting with a new format specifically designed to draw on the collective knowledge and expertise of the diverse BCA membership. The evening was divided into three time slots. In each section a group member gave a short prepared introduction to a topic that was of interest both to that person, and to the group in general. The presentations and the ensuing discussions were highly participatory, with members in the audience either asking questions or adding their own thoughts on the topic.
William Feiring led off with a discussion of online learning resources. He focused initially on Lynda.com, a rich source of professionally prepared courses. While Lynda is normally a fee-based site, virtually anyone can get free access either via their home town library or with a Boston Public Library eCard. William and other members also mentioned a number of other resources that they use, including Adobe, Scott Kelby, Julianne Kost, Tim Grey, and others. Instructions on accessing Lynda.com and links to the above resources and more can be found in William’s summary.
Ann Sluder talked about custom photo calendars as a means for sharing themed collections or portfolios. She uses this personally as a way to preserve and share her work, as an alternative to hanging prints or seeking gallery space. Ann brought in several of her past calendars. Some of the ways she uses these - document a trip; capture favorite places; select images that will be meaningful to someone she gives the calendar to as a gift. The possibilities are endless. Other members then talked about other ways to share work - photo books, greeting cards, jigsaw puzzles, printing on fabric or tile, clothing, and more. Ann’s slides include links to several providers that she has used for calendar creation.
Mark Levinson gave an informative presentation on inkjet printer papers. He covered Base Materials (paper types), Surfaces (glossy, etc.), Color/Brightness, Ink Types, Longevity, and Sizes. Mark brought along prints of two images - one color, one black & white - as examples. Each had been printed on quite a few different paper types so that members could compare the appearance for themselves. More info in Mark’s slides.
BCA Photo Group founding member Dennis Rainville once again hosted the popular 'My 5 Best Shots' session. This was our last meeting of the spring, and a chance for members to talk about their photo efforts over the last year. The intent is not to showcase what you consider your 'top shots', but rather to talk about what you have been doing with photography over the past year. Members were invited to submit up to 5 images for sharing. For some it was trying out new techniques and genres (long exposure, night photography, street photography, portraits, etc.), for others it was about travel and new experiences, and for others it was the relationship between their photography and their personal and emotional lives. This format has proved to be a terrific way for us to share more about our photography with our fellow members than we do in the usual meeting formats.
The images shared in the meeting appear in the gallery here, grouped by photographer in the order presented.
Catrine Kelty gave a mouth-watering presentation about her work as a food stylist. Catrine has had a long and active career working with chefs, restaurants, and photographers to get the images that you see in magazines and cookbooks, and on web sites. The meeting was very interactive, with active questioning from the attendees. We learned a lot about this niche of the photography business!
Learn more and see lots of images on Catrine's web sites:
At our April 22 Technical Series meeting approximately 40 BCA members and guests were treated to an inspirational introduction to Fran Forman’s remarkable world of creativity and imagination. Fran is an internationally recognized, award-winning artist who works in a technique she calls Photo Painting. Primarily using Photoshop and a Wacom tablet, she composites elements from multiple photographic images, modifies and blends them, adds color and texture, and more, to create compelling flights of fancy. Hers is truly a world of infinite possibility, with the outcome determined only by the artist’s own sensibility. The evening was highly interactive, with many questions from the group about her inspiration and process, and how those have evolved over time. It is well worth a visit to Fran’s web site at franforman.com to read more about her and to see a selection of her work.
posted by Charles Mazel
The Lensbaby line of special effects lenses was the subject of our March 27 2018 Technical Series meeting. Emily Hojnowski, head educator at Hunt's Photo, brought knowledge, enthusiasm, and a collection of lenses and props! She opened the meeting with a slide show overview of the Lensbaby line. They are all prime, fully manual lenses, and each one has its own characteristics of blur, 'twist', 'glow', tilt shift, and more.
Many of the BCA members brought their camera bodies, and Emily had a good selection of lenses with mounts for different camera types (Nikon, Fuji, Canon, etc.). We chose lenses and then went over to the prop tables to experiment. Emily circulated to advise, teach, and troubleshoot.
Whether or not you think you would want to add these effects to your tool kit, it was a great learning experience and a good time was had by all. I personally tried a Composer Pro II (tilt shift) with the Sweet 50 optic and found that I liked the effect I got shooting portraits. First, a shot of Emily at work.
Now a small gallery of portraits that I shot with the Sweet 50, and a shot of flowers by Bob Bass with the Velvet 56.
Jurgen Lobert gave an image-rich and information-packed presentation on night photography at our January 23, 2018 Technical Series meeting. He went over equipment and techniques, with specific recommendations, and examples of the kinds of images you can make at different locations. Some of the main take-aways:
You can download Jurgen's list of equipment and settings at http://leyetscapes.com/edu/Night.Photography.Handout-Equipment+Settings.pdf
There is of course lots more! You can find more info at Jurgen's blog page and via the list of resources on Jurgen's web site, where you can see a variety of his images. If you want to get out to shoot with him, Jurgen also runs the Greater Boston Night Photographers meetup group.
