Photographic Guild of Nova Scotia

Winter Solstice Sunrise at Horseshoe Island Park, Halifax – 22nd December, 2011.

The sunrise is at 7:48 am – we will meet at the park at 6:30 am on Thursday to capture the vibrant colours (hopefully) just before the sun rises above the horizon. We will start seeing the colours probably at around 6:50-7:00 am, but the traffic might be a little heavy at that time of the day.

We can expect a relatively mild morning with above freezing temperature. There is a 40% chance for precipitation with mostly overcast. If the sky opens up before or around sunrise, this might result some spectacular colours. As Saturday’s forecast looks better (scattered clouds, no rain/snow, -5 Celsius), we will have a repeat trip scheduled for Saturday. You can double dip and come to both of the sunrises – and if you do, please bring signed waivers for both mornings).

I went out a few years ago to the spot. It was -20 at that time, but some great images came out of the camera that day. Here are a couple of images from that shoot. The sea-fog was rolling in, resulting some magical backdrop:

What you need:
- Your camera – an SLR or DSLR with one or more lenses or an advanced Point & Shoot camera.
- A spare battery, fully charged of course.
- Sufficient memory card or film.
- Just in case: protection against rain or snow – e.g. a rainsleeve.
- A tripod – this is important, please do not leave it at home.
- A flashlight – since we start when it’s quite dark, the flashlight helps seeing the controls of your camera.
- Your creative self – dressed up warmly, it will be cold out there!

If you have time, we can go to a Tim’s after shooting to warm up with a hot coffee. If some of you are not in a hurry to go to work, we can take off to shoot some other locations after the sunrise.

As on the macro field trip, I ask all of you who will join us to post a couple of images to our PGNS Flickr Group:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/pgns/

Please bring a signed waiver with you! If you do not have a waiver yet, here is the link to download and print it:

http://www.photoguild.ns.ca/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/pgns-field-trip-waiver.pdf

Hope to see you there!

Happy shooting,
Laszlo

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Sunday November 20^th
10:00am to 4:00pm
Cost $15 to cover materials.

Limited to 10 people. People who bought ColorMunkis get first preference.

Location: Peter Steeper’s Studio

This is a hands on workshop where you will learn how the use Guild’s X-rite Eye-One Photo Pro and the ColorMunki. I’ll also have an X-rite Eye-One IO, Eye-One Display II and viewing booth to use.

You will learn:

1. How to calibrate your camera using the ColorChecker Passport and use the profiles in Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw.
2. How to profile your monitor.
3. How to create custom paper profiles for your inkjet printer.
4. How to setup softproofing in Photoshop and get accurate prints.

Our goal for the day is to start with a still life scene and accurately reproduce it on your monitor and prints.

We will profile any device you bring with you and create profiles for any paper. I’ll send you the test patterns to print before the workshop.

Learn more about colour management for photographers at xritephoto.com.
Hosted by Peter Steeper.

We will all meet at the Mi’kmawey Debert Interpretive Trail on Saturday 8th October at 10:00 a.m. The rain date is the following day (Sunday, October 9th) with all essential details being the same as for Saturday.
Where: The Mi’kmawey Debert Interpretive Trail.
When: On Saturday 8th October at 10:00 a.m.
Cost: No charge to Guild members.

How to get there;
From Halifax, point your vehicle towards Truro. Where the 102 intersects with highway 104 take the left to Amherst and New Brunswick. At exit 13 take the off ramp and at the stop sign take a right on to McElmon Road then veer left on to Plains Rd, the distance from the stop sign to the trail is approximately 2km. Signs for the Mi’kmawey Interpretive Trail will be on your left. There is a small parking lot there. If you have a GPS the co-ordinates for the location are as follows,
45 24.792N, 63 25.613W
The trail is of a moderate nature with most of the terrain being relatively flat. We will be venturing into three different habitats that with luck should afford us a good variety of mushrooms.

The info in the “Field Trip for Beginners” is of a general nature and all the points made in the document may not necessarily apply to your particular group (principally photographers). The other PDF is “Mushroom Fruiting Body“.
Any questions or concerns you may contact me at this email address or by telephone at 396-5465.

As Rob and Melissa mentioned it at the Joggins Fossil Centre, we’ll have a competition for the “Best of the Field Trip” image and JFC will provide a $30 gift certificate for the chosen image.

Here is what you need to do to include your best images:
- Once you processed your images taken on 24th September on our field trip to Joggins, upload them to your flickr account. If you do not yet have a flickr account, you can open it free, just go to www.flickr.com for creating your account.
- Suggested image size is 1024×768 – please use sRGB colour space.
- If you are not yet a member of the PGNS flickr group, please join our group. Here is the link: http://www.flickr.com/groups/pgns/
- Add your photo to our PGNS group and tag your image with “PGNS Field Trip Joggins”
- There is no limit to the number of images – you can submit as many as you want

Melissa and her team will review the images on or after October 17th, 2011 – so please submit your images before October 17th.

Good luck to all of you!

Good news!

The weather will allow us to proceed with the field trip on 24th September, 2011.
Please bring a signed waiver, your camera, tripod and flash(es) with you – and don’t forget the memory card!

See you in Joggins!

Here is some updated information regarding the field trip to Joggins this weekend. Firstly, the weather forecast is not looking great, so we will decide on Friday whether to postpone to the rain date of Sunday. Please watch the PGNS website or your Inbox for further information on Friday evening … no news means we will be going ahead as planned on Saturday.

There is a special railway event going on at the Joggins Fossil Centre on Saturday, so this may provide extra subject material to photograph. Because of this special event, admission to the Centre between 10.00 am and 2.00 pm on Saturday will be by donation … can I suggest that each PGNS participant donates $5, which would have been the group rate for us. If we go on Sunday, we will be charged $5 per person.

In terms of photographing specimens, if people would like to bring some small elements of extra lighting, this would be OK as long as it doesn’t unduly clutter the way for other visitors … something we’ll have to play by ear. The Centre closes at 5.30, but this doesn’t affect access to the beach.

An approximate timetable (for Saturday or … in case of rain delay … Sunday):
Participants arrive between 12 noon and 1.pm … snacks and drinks are available on site.
At 1.00 pm we’ll have a brief orientation from myself and Melissa, probably in the Centre foyer (the program room will be unavailable on Saturday).
1:10 to 2.30: exploration and photography of specimens at the Centre
2.30 begin a guided tour of the beach … Melissa will lead us to points of interest and recent discoveries.
3.30 onwards … individual explorations
5.30 formal end of field trip.

The Centre would like to offer a small prize for the best image shot during the trip in exchange for possible usage of images entered in their publicity and outreach materials. Perhaps this is something we can discuss and figure out how best to do. But please keep this possibility in mind during the trip.

Remember to watch for web and email updates on Friday evening.

For anyone who doesn’t know where Joggins is located, it is well signposted from Highway 104 … basically head west at Amherst and follow the signs. The Joggins Fossil Centre is essentially at the end of the road through Joggins (as long as you don’t turn left or right).

Rob

This year, the “AGS” field trip returns to Joggins, though for the first time since the Joggins Fossil Centre opened.  On Saturday 24th September 2011, Dr. Melissa Grey, Curator of Palaeontology at the Centre, has agreed to allow us special access (i.e. without glass between camera and subject) to shoot selected fossil specimens*.  Low tide next Saturday is at 16.08 (just after 4 pm), so we can access the beach after spending time in the Centre and staff will lead us to or point us towards the best recent discoveries and exposures on the cliffs, bathed in mid to late afternoon sunlight (weather permitting of course).

Subject to confirmation later in the week (by email or on the website) I suggest that we gather at the Joggins Fossil Centre between 12 and 1 pm, with the field trip officially starting at 1.00 pm.  I will briefly set the scene with a discussion of how Joggins fits into the geology of Nova Scotia and our series of “AGS” field trips within the Guild, then hand over to Melissa to help us with the specimens.  Those who want to go directly to the beach may do so at any time, tide permitting, though we will plan to start an expert-led tour at a time to be announced at 1.00 pm.

PLEASE NOTE:

—  an admission charge will apply for everyone at the Joggins Fossil Centre; Melissa has confirmed that we can get the group rate, so tell the sales desk that you are with the Photo Guild.  I will confirm the rate this week.

—  * any images of the specimens must be used for non-commercial, non-profit purposes.

—  rain date will be the next day, Sunday 25th September … watch the website for information if necessary.

—  please contact me with any questions, but note that I will be in the field late Wednesday through Saturday morning and so may not be able to respond.

I look forward to seeing everyone at Joggins next Saturday

Rob Fensome (434-3392)

Our next field trip is the Macro Photography Field Trip at 3:00 pm on Saturday, 17th September.

It’ll be an exciting afternoon, with some introduction to macro shooting, the tools and techniques. Then we will have an acre of gardens to practice on. This includes the following different gardening styles: front yard flower garden, moss garden, rock gardens, woodland. Although the peak of the garden is over, you will have a plethora of subjects for your enjoyment.

If you have not been at our place here are a few pictures. These images were taken a few days ago, they’ll look pretty similarly:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/laszlopodor/6131346437
http://www.flickr.com/photos/laszlopodor/6121676665
http://www.flickr.com/photos/laszlopodor/6122217966
http://www.flickr.com/photos/laszlopodor/6119554751

These are from last fall, but covering larger areas in the garden.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/laszlopodor/5122203222
http://www.flickr.com/photos/laszlopodor/5121600027

Flip the pages of my book of macro images taken in our garden. Click on Preview Book, then view it full screen.
http://www.blurb.com/books/1562377

Please bring your camera, macro lens, flash, reflector and tripod.

Although the start time is set to 3:00 pm, if you want to, you can come as early as 1:00 pm to become familiar with the plants. The introduction and a Proshow show will be at 3:00 pm, then we will keep shooting until your time, the darkness or the mosquitoes will chase you away.

As you heard it earlier, I would strongly suggest to post some of the images to our PGNS flickr group (Flickr account is free – or you can buy the Pro package to get more). I promise you, I will comment on all of the images you post from the macro field trip.

Please send me an e-mail to podor@accesswave.ca if you are planning to come. I will send my home address and directions to you upon receiving your e-mail. Depending on the number of interested members, this field trip might be limited to our PGNS membership only, due to the available space in our home.

Hope to see you on Saturday!

Laszlo Podor

The upload link on the Competitions page is up and running. Here are a few important things to remember:

• Maximum image size is 1024 pixels wide by 768 pixels high.
• Maximum file size is 1.9 MB.
• All images should be converted sRGB colour space.
• Use very high or maximum image quality when you create the JPEG image.
• Check sharpness at 100% size or actual pixels in Photoshop.
• DPI does not matter.
• On the login page there is a Monitor Verification Image to check your monitor accuracy.
• There is also a Printer Evaluation Image for checking your printer.

Good luck this season!

The Summer 2011 issue of the Bluenose Focus is now available on-line at The Newsletter Page and you can view past issues by clicking on the newsletter link above.

In this issue, we have several topics including detailed coverage of the 2010/11 Awards Banquet, photos from PGNS members and more.

Do you know a member who isn’t on-line? Please let me know so I can make sure they get a copy of the newsletter too.

Enjoy! See you in January!