Discussion Group Notes April 11 & 15, 2008
Notes from the first two meetings...
A dry run was held on April 11, 2008, at Bianca's Cafe with two LPA members in attendance.
Discussions included studio lighting, photography classes, natural framing and more.
The weather was warm and we stayed outside on the patio.
The first official (following the announcement at the April 15 LPA meeting) was held tonight, April 18, again at Bianca's, with five LPA members in attendance. The atmosphere was relaxed and the discussions lively. At times all five discussed one topic and at others there were two separate discussion underway.
The topics included studio photography, learning strategies, printing, monitor calibrating, flowers, competitions, birds, abstract photos, Photoshop and Paintshop Pro, locations, cropping and resizing, and many more. Two questions in particular went unanswered, the cause of some artifacts on prints of one of Bonnie's flower photos, and the relationships between picture size, pixel size, and picture quality. But now we know more about what we don't know and have a reason to do more study.
Four web sites were brought up (hopefully I got my notes correct):
- One was photosig.com where pictures from around the world are displayed. "photoSIG is a community of photographers and photography enthusiasts, ranging from amateurs to working professionals. photoSIG members may critique photos that have been submitted by other users and may also submit their own photos for review by the community." Jerry said that he had learned quite a bit by reading the critiques of other people's photos.
- Anita submits photos to digital-photography-school.com. It has great weekly articles, a blog, photography tips, and links to classes and schools.
- Bonnie recommended betterphoto.com which, for as little as $22/yr, you can get into competetitions, galleries, and more. They offer on-line classes for about $200-400.
- Another mentioned was flikr.com where you can share your photos with the world, blog, and more. I'm impressed by the variety of artistic photo they have on display.
This location seems to work well, providing a relaxed atmosphere, the ability to gather close or spread out, a good variety of drinks (unfortunately no wine), light snacks, sandwiches, and some good clam chowder. The folks at Bianca's are as casual as you could hope for, they have a large free book exchange if you're so inclined, and a few things laying around to look at and read. Tonight we sat outside until it cooled off then went inside, moved the two main tables together and chatted away.
I hope to see more folks join us in the coming weeks and months.
Glenn Olson
Coordinator and Moderator
oglenn@earthlink.net
A few sites I recommend are:
- http://www.dpreview.com/ Has digital camera and lens reviews and many useful discussion forums.
- http://www.luminous-landscape.com/ Has articles on many photographic subjects and videos can be downloaded for a small cost.
- http://www.radiantvista.com/ Has free Photoshop videos and daily image critiques.