Author: fotohiker

webs are for spiders

April Photo Club Meeting

Example of a photography portfolio web site

The next meeting of the Pagosa Springs Photography Club will be held on April 10, at the Community United Methodist Church on Lewis St. We will have social hour at 6 pm, and the program will begin at 6:30 pm. This month’s program will be a discussion of Building your Photographic Website, presented by Andy Butler and Doug Coombs.

If you are a photographer, the chances are you like to share your images with others. Whether you just want to show off your photos to family and friends, want to reach a wider audience, or perhaps sell your work, there are numerous on-line tools available to help. The choice of which of these tools you might use will vary, depending on your goals. For some, social media may be enough. But if part of your audience doesn’t partake in social media, or you want a platform where you have more control over your images and their presentation, building your own website to share your photos may be the best choice. Andy will briefly discuss a variety of different platforms available for photographers to show their images, and considerations for choosing between them. Doug will then demonstrate the basics of creating a site using one popular photo hosting service, Smugmug. Doug has built a preliminary version of a Smugmug site which is available to members of the Photo Club to highlight some of your own images, which he will also discuss. 

Following the presentation, we’ll have our usual image share. Members may bring up to 5 images on a flash drive to share with the group. If attending by Zoom, please email your photos to abutler@mac.com by April 9. Please save your images as JPEG files, at a size of around 2400 pixels on the long dimension. 

Geology of Colorado

Chimney Rock, near Pagosa Springs, is an excellent example of how the geologic history of Colorado has shaped the landscape that photographers love to record. Photo © Andy Butler.

The Pagosa Springs Photography Club will next meet on March 13, at the Community United Methodist Church, 434 Lewis St. Come at 6 PM for socializing. The presentation will begin at 6:30 PM. Our featured topic this month will be the Geologic History of Colorado, presented by Jeb Baxter. The meeting is open to the public.

This will be a hybrid meeting, also available on Zoom. The Zoom link will be emailed to members; others who wish to attend remotely may request the link by email to abutler@mac.com . 

If you are a landscape photographer, then you well know how important geology is to finding photographic opportunities. Just look at the San Juan Mountains near Pagosa Springs, Chimney Rock, or the red rock canyons and arches of Utah.

Baxter’s presentation will provide an overview of the geologic history of Colorado and localities where the evidence of this history is visible in the rocks.  The talk will begin with the screening of a 25 minute video by the Interactive Geology Project.  The video will then be followed by an explanation of key geologic processes and additional evidence of geologic history in the Four Corners region.  The talk is designed to provoke discussion with the audience and questions are welcomed throughout.

James Baxter is a retired professional geologist and professor of geology, who now lives in Pagosa Springs.  He earned a BS in Geological Sciences at Lehigh University and MS in Geology at The Pennsylvania State University.  His professional career included 16 years of experience in the environmental consulting industry followed by 20 years on the faculty of Harrisburg Area Community College.

The Pagosa Springs Photography Club welcomes all who enjoy making and viewing great photography. The club sponsors educational programs and outings to help photographers build their skills.  For more information about the club, and to download a membership application, visit our website at https://pagosaspringsphotoclub.org/about/ .

Photo Club Moab Outing

Nine Photography Club members traveled to Moab, UT, Feb 20-23, 2024 to photograph in the area. Most of our outings were to Arches NP for sunrise or sunset sessions, plus one to the Island in the Sky region of Canyonlands NP. The first evening’s weather wasn’t great, but otherwise we had lots of good options in a very photogenic area. It was a good opportunity to learn from one another, see some majestic landscapes, and get some good images.

Here are a few sample images from Club members Doug Coombs, Al and Jo Myatt, Andy Butler, Lisa Tedder, and Chris Plemons. Check back, this is a live document and more photos will likely be posted. Click on any image to view a larger version, navigate through using your arrow keys.

Masking in Lightroom

The February meeting of the Pagosa Springs Photography Club will be held on Feb 14 at the Community United Methodist Church. Come at 6 PM for socializing; the presentation will begin at 6:30 PM. This month, we will have a presentation by Doug Coombs on Masking in Lightroom.

Lightroom (LR) introduced very powerful new masking tools in October of 2022. Learning to use these new tools is a game changer for photographers who are serious about post processing. Before this, LR had masking but it was not nearly as powerful as tools in Photoshop (PS). When you shoot a photo with your phone, the manufacturer’s software is using sophisticated algorithms to post-process it. If you shoot .jpg in your camera, your camera is doing the same. Ansel Adams was a master at post-processing in the darkroom and altered his original image greatly to take it beyond journalism to fine art. 

Moonrise Over Hernandez – Ansel Adams

See https://petapixel.com/2018/11/07/the-story-behind-ansel-adams-iconic-moonrise-hernandez/ for an article on Moonrise Over Hernandez, one of Ansel Adams’ most famous photos.

Today we can do much more, with more control and more options digitally, which has raised the bar considerably. People used to ask me if a photo was “photoshopped”, as if post-processing in Photoshop (PS) is somehow cheating. All fine art photos of all sorts have been post-processed from the beginning of photography, at least to adjust overall light balance, contrast and emphasis. LR and Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) use the same photo processing engine. LR is separate from PS and includes many photography-specific tools. PS incorporates ACR with many additional tools in PS itself, often used after post-processing in ACR. In terms of processing a raw photo, ACR and LR are basically equivalent. Doug will discuss the masking tool in LR and ACR from the LR perspective and then demonstrate how he has processed some photos using LR masking. It is not uncommon for him to use multiple masks in a photo. Each mask is considered a local adjustment and emphasizes some particular aspect of the photo. It could be an animal’s eye, head or portion of its body. It could be the sky, foreground or band of vegetation in a landscape. It could be part of a person’s face including eyes, lips, teeth, cheeks and more. Doug  will provide useful links from YouTube at his presentation.

Even if you don’t use LR or ACR, masking is a universal tool found in other post-processing software, so this presentation should be useful.

The photo of the eagle below, has four masks.

The naturescape below, has three masks.

This program will also be available via Zoom. Members will receive an email with the Zoom link, others may request it by email (abutler@mac.com).

The Pagosa Springs Photography Club welcomes all who enjoy making and viewing great photography. The Club sponsors educational programs and outings to help photographers hone their skills.  For more information about the club, and to download a membership application, visit our website at https://pagosaspringsphotoclub.org/about/ .

Bosque Outing, Dec 2023

Several members of the Photography Club spent Dec 10-13, 2023 on a Club outing in Socorro, NM. We photographed at nearby Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge and at Ladd S Gordon Waterfowl Complex, at Bernardo. These refuges are wintering areas for waterfowl, including Snow Geese and Sandhill Cranes. This year, there was a new pond at Bernardo, which succeeded in attracting large numbers of waterfowl.There were thousands of birds, good blast-offs at the “Flight Deck”, mammals, and spectacular sunrises and sunsets. Overall, another fun and productive outing.

Here are a few sample images from Club members Adrienne Disbrow, Dave Anderson, Andy Butler, and Doug Coombs. Click on any image to view a larger version, navigate through using your arrow keys.

Wildlife from Bosque del Apache and Ladd Gordon

Top Ten For 2023

European Roller, playing with its food © Andy Butler

The Pagosa Springs Photography Club will meet on Wednesday, January 10, 2024, 6:30 p.m., at the Community United Methodist Church, 434 Lewis Street in Pagosa Springs. Feel free to arrive any time after 6 p.m. for socializing.

Our January program will be Top Ten: Show and Tell. This has been a popular program, where members may bring up to ten of their photographs taken in 2023 for brief discussion. These might be what you consider your best, your most interesting, or your most challenging photos of the year. This is a good exercise in selecting your best images of the year. The goal is to inspire Club members through a conversation about what makes great images, including aspects such as composition, impact, and technical quality. This will be a more extensive discussion than what we typically have during our image share sessions (which we won’t do this month). Please bring your images to the meeting on a flash drive, or (if attending by Zoom) email them by the evening of January 9 to abutler@mac.com. 

This will be a hybrid meeting, also available on Zoom. The Zoom link will be emailed to members; others who wish to attend may request the link by email to abutler@mac.com . 

Did you get a new camera or lens for Christmas? What better way to learn more about photography and get tips on your gear than by joining the Photography Club! The Pagosa Springs Photography Club promotes educational, social and fun interactions between all who enjoy making and viewing great photography. The club sponsors educational programs and outings to help photographers hone their skills and learn from each other. The Club’s membership year begins in January. Dues remain at $25 per year ($35 family). The membership form may be downloaded  and mailed in with your payment (instructions are on the form) or brought to a Club meeting.