Tag: technique

Color and Intensity of Light

The next meeting of the Pagosa Springs Photography Club will be held on Wednesday, February 8, 6:30 p.m., at the Community United Methodist Church, 434 Lewis Street in Pagosa Springs. Our topic this month is Using the Color and Intensity of Light to Enhance Images. The presentation will be a video on the subject by National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore. 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. If attending in person, feel free to arrive any time after 6 p.m. for socializing; the actual presentation will begin at 6:30 p.m., MST. 

For our program, we will watch and discuss a video by National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore about the Color and Intensity of Light, and how these characteristics can be used to establish mood and enhance the overall composition of your images. 

Club members may bring up to five images on a flash drive to share and discuss with the group following the presentation. As a reminder, submitted images should be JPEG (JPG) format. Resize to about 2000 pixels in the longest dimension.

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.  The Photography Club’s membership year begins in January. We welcome photographers of all skill levels. Dues for 2023 are just $25 ($35 family). For more information about the club, and to download a membership application, visit our website at https://pagosaspringsphotoclub.org/about/ .

In Search of Great Light

Early morning sun rakes the peaks of the snow-covered Sneffels Range, © Andy Butler

The October meeting of the Pagosa Springs Photography Club will be held on Wednesday, October 12, 6:30 p.m., at the Community United Methodist Church, 434 Lewis Street in Pagosa Springs. This month’s program will be about Ambient Light, including discussion of exposure and how to make the most of different types of light. 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 abulter@mac.com . If attending in person, feel free to arrive any time after 6 p.m.; the actual presentation will begin at 6:30 p.m., MST. 

For this program, we will watch and discuss a video by National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore about ambient- or found- light, and how to identify various types of light to use in different photographic situations. The video covers how to see and identify great light, which is one of the keys to making great photographs. 

Club members may bring up to five images to share and discuss with the group following the presentation.  If you are attending in person, bring your images on a flash drive; if attending by Zoom, please email them to abutler@mac.com no later than  October 11. As a reminder, submitted images should be JPEG (JPG) format. Resize to about 2000 pixels in the longest dimension.

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.  The Photography Club’s membership year begins in January. For new members, dues are at $25 per year ($35 family). For more information about the club, and to download a membership application, visit our website at https://pagosaspringsphotoclub.org/about/  .

Nightscape Photography

Star trails over Bullet Canyon

The June meeting of the Pagosa Springs Photography Club will be held on Wednesday, June 8, 6:30 p.m., at the Community United Methodist Church, 434 Lewis Street in Pagosa Springs. Our program this month is Nightscape Photography, presented by Andy Butler. 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 abulter@mac.com . If attending in person, feel free to arrive any time after 6 p.m.; the meeting and presentation will begin at 6:30 p.m., MST. 

It’s hard not to feel a sense of awe when you look at the stars on a clear, dark night. Modern digital cameras are able to produce high quality images from long exposures of weak starlight. This allows photographers to extend landscape photography into the night, producing stunning “nightscape” images, in which both the land and the sky are important compositional elements. In this presentation, Andy will discuss planning and taking nightscape photos featuring the Moon, Milky Way, star trails, and other features of the night sky. Topics will include planning for nightscape photos, discussion of camera and lens choices, focusing and exposure considerations, and use of both natural and artificial light to illuminate the foreground.  

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.  The Photography Club’s membership year begins in January. For new members, dues are at $25 per year ($35 family). For more information about the club, and to download a membership application, visit our website at https://pagosaspringsphotoclub.org/about/ .

April Photo Club Meeting – Masking in Lightroom

Plains Zebras
Looking Your Way, © Doug Coombs. This image was processed using the Lightroom masking tool, with three separate masks (subject AI, gradient, and brush).

The April meeting of the Pagosa Springs Photography Club will be held on Wednesday, April 13, 6:30 p.m., at the Community United Methodist Church, 434 Lewis Street in Pagosa Springs. Our speaker this month is Doug Coombs, who will demonstrate and discuss use of the new masking tools in Lightroom 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 abulter@mac.com . If attending in person, feel free to arrive any time after 6 p.m.; the actual presentation will begin at 6:30 p.m., MST. 

Doug Coombs is the co-founder of the Los Alamos Adobe Users Group in New Mexico. He is primarily a landscape and nature photographer, with an affinity for birds and wildlife. Doug now splits his time between Los Alamos and Pagosa Springs, with a generous amount of travel to photogenic destinations.

Doug will talk about and demonstrate the new masking tool in Lightroom. He will show how to make selections for targeted adjustments. This includes selections of the sky and selections of the subject as calculated by Lightroom, something that has been in Photoshop for a couple of years now. It also includes radial filters, gradient filters, and brushes all of which can be limited by luminosity (brightness) and color. This new tool is extremely powerful and adds a new level of capability to the brushes and filters that Lightroom has had for many years. Watching this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGkYu2hLSDg&t=129s first on Youtube provides an excellent overview.

Following the presentation, members may share up to five of their recent images with the group. If attending by Zoom, please submit these by Tuesday, March 8. They may be emailed to abutler@mac.com. If attending in person, images may be brought on a flash drive.

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.  The Photography Club’s membership year begins in January. For new members, dues are at $25 per year ($35 family). For more information about the club, and to download a membership application, visit our website at https://pagosaspringsphotoclub.org/about/ .

July 14 Meeting: Lightroom Catalog, Part II

Big Horn Ram in Yellowstone National Park, © Doug Coombs

This month’s Photography Club meeting will be on Wednesday, July 14 at 6:30 PM, MDT. Our featured speaker this month is Doug Coombs. Doug’s presentation will be Lightroom Catalog—Part II. In his May presentation, Doug described the basics of Adobe Lightroom’s catalog, including how to create a catalog, how to import images to a catalog, the relationship and location of the catalog and your images, useful settings, and backing up the catalog. 

In this second part, Doug will go cover the layout of the Library module in Lightroom, and will discuss some of the tools for organizing images, including using the Filter, Toolbar and Filmstrip. He will discuss and demonstrate using collections, keywords, and built-in metadata like EXIF to efficiently organize and search for images in the Lightroom Catalog. 

Club members will receive an email with the Zoom link for this presentation. Others who are interested in watching may contact Andy Butler at abutler@mac.com  for the link. 

Doug Coombs is a co-founder of the Los Alamos Adobe Users Group in New Mexico and former chair of the Los Alamos Photography Club. Doug is primarily a landscape and nature photographer, and is well-known for his bird and nightscape photographs. Examples of Doug’s photography can be found on his website, dougsview.com. He splits his time between Los Alamos, Pagosa Springs, and a generous amount of travel to photogenic destinations.

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. Membership is just $25/calendar year for individuals and $35 for families. Non-members are invited to attend a meeting to learn more about the club. For membership information visit our website at https://pagosaspringsphotoclub.org/about/ .

Focus Stacking and Image Sharpness

Focus-stacked orchid, © Dave Anderson

The June meeting of the Pagosa Springs Photography Club will be held on June 9 at 6:30 PM (Mountain Daylight Time), via Zoom video conference. Our speaker will be Dave Anderson, who will discuss Focus Stacking and Image Sharpness.

In Dave’s presentation, he will discuss the use of focus stacking to maximize sharpness and depth of field in both macro and landscape photography. Focus stacking is the process of taking serial images of an object or scene, with the plane of focus moving through the subject, combined to give an increased depth of field. Discussion will include several factors important for perceived image sharpness such as depth of field, diffraction, lens quality, and visual acuity.  A number of software options for focus stacking will be presented, and the process of stacking in Photoshop will be described. Dave will provide examples of stacked images that succeeded and failed, stacking with unintended consequences, and tips for successful focus stacking.

Club members will receive an email with the Zoom link. Others who are interested in taking part may contact Andy Butler at abutler@mac.com  for the link. Club members may submit up to five images to share and discuss following the presentation. 

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. Membership is just $25/calendar year for individuals and $35 for families. Non-members are invited to attend a meeting to learn more about the club. For membership information visit our website at https://pagosaspringsphotoclub.org/about/ .

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