Photographic Guild of Nova Scotia

Workshop Topics

Expressive Photography

This presentation will cover such topics as Dreamscapes, Moonlight Dreamscapes, Composite montages, and Panning. André will conduct a short demo on Photoshop on how he creates some of his images. There will be plenty of time for questions before the break.

Around the World in Pictures

Nature and Landscapes

Photographing People

André concludes with a program on Photographing People. From friends and relatives to strangers. How to go about capturing someone’s spirit.

Learn more about André at www.andregallant.com

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Saint Mary’s University
Burke Auditorium
9:00 am to 4:00 pm
Admission $50 at the door
PGNS Members $45

Download André Gallant Poster

This workshop is fully booked now but I am accepting names for the waiting list.

Sunday February 21 from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Space is limited for this workshop so please contact me to reserve a seat.
Bring your camera, flash and creative ideas. Other light modifiers are welcome.

In the studio, there are two working spaces so we can have two concurrent sessions. I currently plan to have one space setup with a black background and other with a white background. (high key and low key) I have Alien Bee lights, a soft box, beauty dish, umbrellas and other light modifiers to experiment with. If you have a Cybersync radio trigger bring it with you as the studio lights recycle very quickly and we can have multiple people shooting. The radio triggers will work with any camera that has a standard hotshoe. (Sony cameras are non-standard and will need an adapter to work.)
I’ll also be demonstrating tethered shooting for Canon EOS and Xrite’s new ColorChecker Passport for white balance and camera profiling in Lightroom. Everyone is welcome to use the ColorCheckers to calibrate their camera for flash and natural outdoor light.
I plan to have some models but if you have someone you would like to use, please let me know.
Contact me soon to book your space.

Peter Steeper

Presenters

Eric Boutilier-Brown

“From RAW to Ready; the Workflow of a Photographic Exhibition”
Eric Boutilier-Brown will present on the digital workflow from RAW images to final exhibition, using both Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop CS4. Lifting the curtain aside, Eric will demonstrate the entire process, from initial RAW processing, to image finishing, exhibition design, and print-file preparation.

www.photoworkshops.ca

www.evolvingbeauty.com

Mike McCarthy

“Digital Asset Management with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom”
Mike’s presentation will cover the details of importing and cataloging, file locations, keywording and image searching/retrieval.

www.mccarthyphotographic.com

David Librach of Henrys School of Imaging

“Composition”
Now that you know all of the buttons and dials on your camera, you need to learn how to compose your pictures. This mini session will open your mind and imagination as you learn new techniques which will help stimulate your creative side and allow you to make your own photographic masterpieces.

www.henrys.com

www.dlphotography.ca

Stephen Scott Patterson

Steve’s presentation will include “Digital Polarization”, using Photoshop’s features, and the natural colors within the digital file, to create the exact effect of using a traditional polarizing filter. Some creative fun with “Digital Orton Montage” technique to create some impressionistic effects using a simple arrangement of layers and blending modes as well as image overlays to create more interesting and painterly effects. Some thoughts on ompositional approaches and the creative process when approaching possible subjects to photograph.

Peter Steeper

Learn how easy camera calibration can be with Xrite’s new ColorChecker Passport. It includes a plugin for Adobe Lightroom that includes automatic calibration, white balance and exposure verification.

Xrite ColorChecker Passport

Test your eyes. How well do you see in colour?

Goodies from Henrys

The first 100 attendees will receive a Spudz lens cleaning cloth and a coupon for $50 off any Sigma Lens until March 21st, 2010.

Prizes

$100 Gift Card and “Swag”from Henrys

5 prizes of Custom Inkjet Profiles from Xerox

Peter Steeper of Xerox will create a custom ICC profile on your favourite inkjet paper.

Admission $40 at the door

Registration starts at 8:30 am. Workshops start at 9:00 am.

Hi All:

The waterfall field trip on Oct. 10th will be fantastic due to the copious amounts of rainfall that we have had and are going to get.

Directions: We are going to meet at the car pool parking lot off the Hwy 101 on the way to Windsor. Take Exit 4- The St. Croix and Newport exit (a couple of exits before Windsor).
At the Stop sign, turn left and proceed one half (1/2) km and met up at the car pool.
Kindly let me know who can take other people with them and who would like to pool up. Let’s keep the number of vehicles down to a minimum for safety and environment reasons.

Time: 8:30 am- Depart at 9:00 am
Bring: Lunch and snacks. We will be eating at The Port in Port Williams but not until 5 pm.
Wear layered clothing and waterproof footwear. A reflective orange/yellow vest if you have one.
A tripod is essential, a polarizer is an accent , shower cap would be help keep water drops off cameras and lens.
Our goal is to venture to the North Mountain of Blomidon and explore  the waterfalls of Sleepy Hollow, Black Hole. Cobb Irving and Baxter’s Hbr.
If we have time we will do Borden Brook at the Prov. campground.
Kindly print off and fill out the Waiver Form.

“Life is Good”
John

We had excellent attendance and great feedback from the workshop yesterday. Everyone enjoyed the event and thought it was an excellent value. I’ll be posting links here from the presenters and adding more info as I receive it.

Steve Kaiser – Tips from a Pro

DOF Master has a variety tools to help learn and calculate depth of field so you can make sure your pictures are sharp.
www.dofmaster.com

Peter Steeper – Off Camera Flash

Strobist.com is the premier site for learning about off camera flash. Lighting 101 is a great starting point to improve your skills. You can learn more about about how the Canon flash systems work in this article on Canon EX flash system. He recommends the 580EX II in the article but I’ve had the 430EX II for several years and it has done everything I needed. More info about the Nikon CLS system is available at Nikonians.org.

An excellent book about lighting is Light Science and Magic. It is very good for product photography but it also discusses lighting for portraits. Need better light? Bounceman to the rescue!

Sources for wireless systems:

The Cactus Triggers are a cheap system for learning about wireless flash. They are very cheap but not completely reliable.
Cybersyncs from Alien Bees/Paul C. Buff are a reliable intermediate system.
Pocket Wizards are the choice of pros and they have longest range and most features.

The following systems will transmit TTL information for fully automatic remote flash:

Radio Poppers are a new company that created the first TTL remote system.
Pocket Wizards also have a TTL system now.

Mike McCarthy – Adobe Lightroom

Lightroom Tips & Tutorials:
Lightroom Killer Tips
Adobe Lightroom Support

NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals)

Presets & Plug-Ins
Presets Heaven
Presets at Adobe

You can buy educational versions of Lightroom for $99 USD at the Adobe Store. You will need proof that you are a student or faculty.

Saturday, September 19th

Burke Theatre A
Saint Mary’s University
9:00 am to 4:00 pm

This was a very popular event last year and it’s back for another year. If you want to learn more about how your digital camera works and create better images this is the event for you.

Admission is $40 at the door. Registration starts 8:30 am.

Morning Sessions

Mike McCarthy: Workflow and File Management in Adobe Lightroom

• Basic workflow, editing and retouching.
• Digital file management and backups.
• Finding an image—how to use keywords and searching.
• Saving for email and print.
• Publishing to the web and printing to a service.

Steve Kaiser: Tips from a Pro

• Composition – all about lines, shapes, forms, textures, colors, tension and drama.
• Learning to see the background, corners, edges and horizons.
• Customizing your camera and learning to maximize your gear’s capabilities.
• Choosing the right focal length and lens and how to use focus points.
• All about aperture, shutter speed and depth of field.
• Practice makes a pro.

Afternoon Sessions in the Field

Mike McCarthy: Capturing Sports and Action
Dean Hirtle: Exercises in Composition
Steve Kaiser: A Pro in Action
Merv Kumar-Misir: People and Portraits
Peter Steeper: Off-Camera Flash
John Wm Webb: Nature Photography

Google Maps

View PGNS Events at Saint Mary’s in a larger map

Our opening event for the new season! All Guild members are welcome to bring up to 10 images showing “What I Did Last Summer”. Our MC for the evening Mervin Kumar-Misir and the hostess is Esther Theriault.

All regular Guild meetings are held at the Museum of Natural History, 1747 Summer St., in Halifax. Meetings start at 7:30 pm.

Google Map
Red Marker is the entrance for the meetings.
Blue Marker is free parking. (Please do not park in reserved spots.)

View Photographic Guild of NS in a larger map

Hi All: This weekend-May 16th will be our Annual Cape Split Wildflower Field Trip. The word is that the red trillions, spring beauties and dutch-man’s-britches are in bloom and will be on display for some time.

Meet at 8:45 am in Windsor or 10 am at the trail head in Scott’s Bays. (or on the trails)
Where: Exit 5B at Tim Horton’s next to MacDonalds and Superstore.
Print off the waiver, sign and turn it in the me. http://www.photoguild.ns.ca/ under Quick Links.

What to bring/wear:
Good waterproof footwear and layered clothing.
Water/fluids and snacks
All the camera equipment you can carry to capture the wonderful moments of nature.

By late afternoon (4 pm or so) anybody that wants to meet for food and drinks can proceed to Port Williams and partake at “The Port”. Then off on you own for sunset light in the beautiful valley areas.

The trail is rocky and wet for the first km or so then its mostly hard packed ground to the flower area. Approx. One and half kms to the flower area. From there its approx 7 kms to the end of the trail. (if you so desire to hike) The view is the best to see and hear the tides of the Bay of Fundy rushing in or out of the Minas Basin. The cliffs are several hundred feet high and over sees the Parrsboro, Port Greville, Spencer’s Island and Cape Dor area.

“Life is Good”

John

Saturday May 9th, 9:00 am to 1:00 pm

What is Strobist?

Strobist is all about learning how to light to get great shots. Strobist.com was started by David Hobby, a former news photographer to teach photographers how to use more brains to get better lighting. I’d recommend reading Lighting 101 on the Strobist site to prepare for the field trip.

We are meeting at Fish Hatchery Park in Bedford on Saturday morning. Bring your camera, flash(es) and any other light modifiers you have. I will have a very limited amount of equipment to borrow. I have arranged for several models so be prepared to have a good time.
Map of Fish Hatchery Park.

The Awards Banquet will be held at the Ashburn Golf Club on Thursday May 21st at 7:00 pm. Please contact Edie Green for reservations.

If you make a reservation and cannot make it, it is very important to let Edie know. We have to pay for all meals even if can’t make it so please contact Edie if you need to change your plans.