Discusson Group Notes October 23 & 30, 2009
On the 23rd we had seven of the usual suspects with the usual subjects and the usual banter. Everyone had something interesting to talk about but, after a year-an-a-half, I let my hand take a rest. Hence, no real notes.
On the 30th we were back up to 11 of our unusual suspects.
I described my drive down Elizabeth Lake Road looking for fall colors. As of Wednesday (28th) many of the trees were just showing signs of turning.
http://www.lpaphotography.org/forum/viewtopic.php?showtopic=797&topic=797
Terri showed more of her trip photos in her portfolio so the rest of us used that as an excuse to pass around our portfolios to see what's new.
Cheryl told us that Costco now prints on thick card stock, though she didn't know if it was heavy enough for LPA or fair competitions.
Art showed us a photo of his tabletop studio. In it he had some striped paper that he tried to use as a background. He said that it didn't work because the stripes (blue and white) overpowered the scenes. He said that sand and pebbles were OK. Jerry, Art, and I talked about how to use Photoshop and how to mute the stripes, though none of the ideas convinced Art that it was better to spend the hours at the computer rather than the minutes changing the background. Art described his paper backgrounds which he gets from Adorama. They are 53" wide, 12 yards long, and cost him less than $30 with shipping. King Photo has some backgrounds but I'm not sure how they compare. The camera shop in Santa Clarita also has a selection.
http://www.adorama.com/SearchSite/Default.aspx?searchinfo=paper backgrounds
I talked about my chromakey (green) cloth that I bought a long time ago, but haven't used yet. I took it out of the package and tried ironing the wrinkles out of it but, because it was a little larger (9 ft x 15 ft) than my ironing board it was a bit hard to work with. Plus it was actually cut larger than the nominal size and wouldn't fit in the place I wanted to hang it. So I cut it in half and now I have more manageable 9 ft x 7 1/2 ft pieces. Art suggested doing a wine bottle in front of the chromakey, using photoshop to cut it out and copy it, then paste it in to make a photo with three wine bottles. Three for the price of one, now that's a deal.
Jerry had had a long standing problem with dirt on his camera's sensor that wouldn't go away with the squeeze bulb, the normally recommended procedure. So he broke down and bought an Arctic Butterfly like mine. It cost him about $70 but, with one swipe, he fixed his problem. Terri said that she had also had some dirt on her sensor but Lee was able clear it with the bulb. I've used my Arctic Butterfly so often that it no longer gives me the jitters operating inside my camera's guts.
http://www.visibledust.com/products3.php?pid=3
As a group we talked about possible ways to speed up and improve our competitions, since we're limited on time and need to hold a regular business meeting on the same days. We were able to solve poverty, war, and human suffering but improving competition days proved too much for us.
Mary mentioned the Japanese Festival at Descanso Gardens coming up on November 7th and 8th.
http://www.descansogardens.org/site/jgfest.cfm
We talked about the definition of Human Interest and my writeup on it but I explained that even my take on it still left a lot to interpretation. I promised to do another online search and see if I couldn't narrow my recommended definition down some more.
http://www.lpaphotography.org/forum/viewtopic.php?showtopic=1380&topic=1380
If you can, please join us each Friday evening at Denny's at the corner of Ave K and 20th West. We begin about 6:30 PM and usually go to at least 8:30 PM. You can drop by at anytime and stay for as long as you like (you don't even have to buy anything). Denny's has graciously provided us a section to ourselves and the service is great.
All photography related subjects are fair game and there's never a planned agenda. You can bring in your questions, your stories, your equipment, your photos (paper or digital), or even just yourself to sit, listen, and/or talk.
I would again like to extend a special invitation to both new members and the more expert members who would like to participate in these informal discussions.
You are welcome to visit the LPA forum and leave your comments......
Glenn Olson
Coordinator and Moderator
glenn@glenn-olson.com
816-8278
