Latest Entries »

The October 2011 gallery has been updated.

Please do not forget to submit your entries for January 2012 by midnight on “Monday, Monday!”.

RSVP and payment (R100.00 per person) to attend the WCC AGM at the Westville Country Club on 7 Feb to be confirmed with and paid to Geoff by Wed 18 January.

Click!
Chas.

Image submissions & SNAP

Hi all,

The image submission facility has been enabled for you to upload your images for January 2012. Remember images need to be in by midnight on “Monday, Monday!” 16th January. If you are doing the manual submission thing, then download and fill in the blank submission form.

Set Subject for January 2012 is “Complimentary Colours” (lol, but I am sure that is meant to be Complementary Colours)

The brief for the Set Subject being: “Images where the main element is colour but the colours must be complimentary and not conflicting. Any subject is acceptable.”

The December issue of SNAP has been uploaded for your reading pleasure. Please note that there are notices about our AGM on the 7th Feb. Please R.S.V.P to Geoff and ALL PAYMENTS TO BE MADE BY WEDNESDAY 18TH JANUARY (Sorry about “SHOUTING” the reminder.)

No Tuesday workshop in January.

Remember that if January is your Birthday month, then you are asked to bring a plate of snacks, biscuits or cake to the meeting on Wednesday evening.

See you all soon.

Click!
Chas.

The WCC Weekly Roundup

2012 Photo Challenge

Are you ready to step it up a notch on 2012?

Here’s the challenge: Start a 365 Project.

What’s a 365 Project? Basically its to challenge yourself to take one (or more) photographs every day for a whole year. Then choose one photo a day and share it with your friends and colleagues online.

Is it going to be easy? Absolutely NOT. I started this almost two months ago and its really difficult some days. There’s days where you’ve had a log day at work and the last thing you feel like is picking up a camera. But what I have found that it really does get you to pick up your camera and make images. It also makes you think about what to shoot next. It makes you always take your camera with you all the time. There’s some days that I’ve taken photos I really like and I know I wouldn’t have even had my camera with me if I wasn’t doing this project. The point is just to shoot. Doesn’t have to be an award winning shot every day. Some days you will just take one picture of your dog. That’s fine. Its one more picture than no picture.

So- the new year is upon us- take the challenge!

For those that are keen here’s a few links to help you get started:

A Polaroid A Day for 6,000 Days [18 years!]

Also if you going to take up the challenge you are going to need some place to share your photos. You don’t have to upload the photos every day. You can shoot and upload once a week if you like. Your choice. Just need to shoot every day.

I’ve tried a couple of different options:

Facebook or Google+ – You can create an album/or a page and upload to it every day.

Tumblr - This is quite a nice option. Its basically a simple picture blog. Very easy to upload to every day. (Here’s my album)

Flickr - Good option. There’s many groups on the topic that you can use for inspiration or to post into for advice. (Here’s my album)

500px – This is my personal favorite. I love the way they display the photos and there are endless amazing photos to look through for inspiration. (Here’s my album)

These are just some options- use whatever you like.


Lastly- I shared my project so you must do the same. If you take up the challenge leave a comment with a link to your album and we can all encourage each other.


Happy shooting – Have a great 2012!





Interested in Mountain Biking and Videography?

There will be a premier screening of the documentary “From the inside out” at Giba Gorge MTB Park tonight at 20:00. Tickets R60.00 per person.

Visit http://www.sinamatella.com for more info and http://www.webtickets.co.za/event.aspx?itemid=4370113 to purchase your tickets online.

The WCC Weekly Roundup

The year in pictures

There’s something really powerful about striking news images. The Big Picture always has amzing series of news pictures. Check out this latest gallery (part 1) of “The year in pictures”.

Part 2 : HERE.

Another great collection of news photos from the past year HERE.



CJ Live – Building your portfolio

I’ve spoken about Chase Jarvis and his live interviews before. In this episode of CJ Live, Chase interviews Allegra Wilde who talks about how to go about creating a portfolio. These interviews are definitely worth your time.



Advanced Tips for Better Photography

To tie in with the above interview, check out this article, by ‘Beyond Megapixels’. Steve Russell gives us some fresh points on improving our photography.



Shooting the olympics with Adam Pretty

There’s a lot of us in the club that are passionate about sports photography. In this interview, we get some insight into the mind of sports photographer- Adam Pretty- who makes amazing art from his sports photos.



The WCC Weekly Roundup

Introduction to Studio Lighting

studio
Want to learn studio lighting? In this 2 hour lecture video, Joey Quintero gives a basic overview of the principles and tools.

Father of Digital

In this VIDEO, Eric Fossum (the inventor of the CMOS sensor) gives a lecture at Yale University. If you a bit nerdy like me, you’ll find this very interesting. He not only talks about where digital cameras came from but he also gives some insight as to where digital sensors are going in the future.
Here’s the official video description:
The Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science presents the 2011 Victor M. Tyler Distinguished Lectureship in Engineering with Eric Fossum, Professor of Engineering in Dartmouth’s Thayer School and a consultant to Samsung Electronics’ Semiconductor R&D Center. Dr. Fossum, who earned a PhD in electrical engineering from Yale in 1984, is one of the world’s leading solid-state image sensor device physicists, best known for inventing the CMOS image sensor. His “camera-on-a-chip” technology is used in nearly all camera phones and webcams, digital-still cameras, high-speed motion capture cameras, automotive cameras, dental x-ray cameras, and swallowable pill cameras.
An entrepreneur as well as inventor, Fossum’s transfer of his own IP portfolio to industry has yielded one of Caltech’s greatest licensing revenue streams, and he has served as CEO of two successful high-tech companies. His work was included on Reuters’ list of “Baby Boomer Inventions that Changed the World,” and Forbes calls him an inventor who has “changed your life.”

Use a high pass filter for skin softening

skin softening
In this video tutorial, by ‘Twin Cities Photography Group’ they show you how to use a high pass filter to soften skin without loosing the skin’s texture.

Too much is never enough!

Here’s another 126 more photography links for you to enjoy and explore.

Des sent me a note about photographers being harassed by rangers in the protected areas around and on Table Mountain.

The SA National Parks website has very distinct rules about commercial photography or filming in any of the protected areas under their control. Please refer to the SANP website policy on photography. They do also have annual permits available

SANParks regional (Western Cape) spokeswoman Merle Collins said taking photographs for personal use or for newspapers was permitted. Merle is also quoted in the following forum post on ClimbZA.

In terms of the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act (57/2003) GG 28181, GNR 1061, Part 5 Section 50: Regulations 20 (1) A person may not undertake any of the following activities in a special nature reserve, national park or world heritage site except pursuant to a license, permit or agreement and subject to the payment of the appropriate fees between that person, or some other person, and the management authority:

(a) the filming and simultaneous transmitting of photographic images by the use of a web cam or other image recording or transmitting device
(b) the conducting of tours
(c) the conducting or any kind of competition
(d) the selling or hiring goods or offering goods for sale or hire; or
(e) the provision of, or offering to provide, any service for a fee or reward; or
(f) the conducting of speed trials; or
(g) the conducting of research
(h) an activity of any kind for the purpose of fund raising, personal gain or making a profit
(i) any organized or special event, including sporting or cultural events: or
(j) visual imaging of animals for purposes of any virtual hunting or other such activity

For clarity – in terms of the Protected Areas Act 57 of 2003, any photographer providing or offering their services for a fee or reward in Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) needs a permit to do so, as does anyone taking photographs in TMNP for the purpose of fund raising, personal gain or making a profit. Vanessa Fletcher is our Permitting Officer and may be contacted on 021 7018692 or vanessaf@sanparks.org in this regard. The rangers are required to approach anyone they suspect of photographing for monetary gain/commercial purposes, irrespective of the size or model of camera used especially if such an activity could have negative effects on the site and its’ visitors.

Anyone therefore setting up sets, props or scenery for photography or filming, or seen using specialized equipment that is not normally carried by visitors on holiday or for private use, or anyone acting in a way that is not normal for a regular visitor or site-seer taking images for home use will be checked by the rangers. If the person with the camera has a reasonable explanation and his/her actions reflect this explanation, no further action will be taken.

Amateur photographers can expect to be approached by rangers on duty and if they feel they would be sensitive to such an approach then they are welcome to obtain a free annual or once off permit from the TMNP Permitting Officer (vanessaf@sanparks.org or 021 7018692) which they can show to the Rangers when approached.
Please remember that there are commercial operators out there operating illegally who cause damage to the environment and rangers need to be consistent and check on every one. Of course if we establish that a photographer is operating illegally in the TMNP in terms of the relevant legislation then we will be left with no other option but to seek further relief (warnings, fines, arrests, confiscation of equipment etc).
Over and above administering usage and visitors, management has both national and international mandates to manage the Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) as a National Park and World Heritage Site with respect to conserving this precious and threatened eco-system and globally recognised biodiversity hotspot. The task falls to management to accommodate users while protecting the natural environment so that it can be managed in a sustainable manner taking into to account the enjoyment of future generations and not only current users. Park management strives to ensure that areas that lend themselves to recreational usage are used in a way that impacts on the environment and other users as little as possible.

Merle Collins (Mrs)
Regional Communications Manager: Cape Region *
South African National Parks (SANParks)

Click!
Chas.

The WCC Weekly Roundup

10 Ways to develop yourself Photographically

In this article, by Christina N Dickson, she gives 10 tips for improving your photography. This article is kind of a lead up to a big challenge coming up in a couple of weeks. Stay tuned for more…

The most popular post production software

Digital-Photgraphy-school.com conducted a poll amongst 22000 readers to find out what post production software they use. It was no suprise to find Adobe out in front with 67% of the market, but I was suprised to see which package is in front. Check out the results of the poll HERE… Its also quite interesting to see how it compares with the results from 2009…

Super Cheap Remotes

remote
Looking for a cheap camera remote? Amazon have the above remote for canon/nikkon for $3 to $6 dollars. Have a look at this article for more info.

The WCC Weekly Roundup

Inspiration For Rainy Days

RAIN
With lots of rainy days on the horizon, have a look at these 23 Inspirational Images for a rainy day. (Image by Daniel Stark)

22 Things to change your photography

betterphotography
This website (improvephotography.com) has tons of tips and tricks to better your photography. In this article, the author gives 22 ideas to change/improve your photography. Be sure to check out some of the other articles on this site.

Your sensor explained

Sensor
In this video Lenspro explain how different size sensors on different cameras affect our images.

How to avoid flash reflection

flash
Another good video tutorial by Adorama TV. In this episode they explain how to avoid reflections from your flash from showing up on people’s glasses.

Star ratings

A new page has been added to the Members page which lists each member’s current star rating in addition to indicating how many Gold/Merit awards and Salon acceptances are required for that member to move up to the next star rating.

Please navigate to the Members page and then to the Star Rating page.

Should you have any concerns please email Dianne on dianne.abate@westvillecameraclub.co.za

Click!
Chas.

Sponsored advertising
Sponsored advertising

Powered by WordPress | Theme: Motion by 85ideas | Click here to e-mail The WCC website administrator.