C O L O N I A L N A T U R E CLUB

CLUB OFFICERS Volume 5, Issue 4 Mar/Apr 2019 F O R 2 0 1 9

PRESIDENT: BARBARA HOUSTON VICE - PRESIDENT: Meeting Changes C R A I G H I L L

SECRETARY/TRES: As discussed at previous meetings, the library will R O S E B A K E R

WEBSITE: be undergoing renovations in the near future. JEANETTE NAVIA Because of this, we will need to relocate some of

NEWSLETTER: our upcoming meeting. As it stands right now, our BARBARA HOUSTON April meeting will be in the normal spot at the REFERSHEMRNTS: J U D Y J O N E S JCC Library. Watch your email for updates about the May-June-July meetings.

Meetings held at: April JCC Library 7770 Croaker Rd. Meeting Williamsburg, VA 757-259-7770 JCC Library Community Room

WEBSITE : CNPCVA.ORG

May-June-July C H E C K U S Meetings O U T O N Stryker Center

Next meeting is Monday, April 1 at 6:30 PM at the JCC Library. VOLUME 5, ISSUE 4 P A G E 2

Reminder: Don’t forget to change the time on your to reflect the recent daylight savings time changes.

Not necessarily nature related, but a cool local opportunity if you are interested.

Remember those presidents’ heads? This may be your last chance to see them.

The CNPC will be having a dual outing with the Williamsburg Bird Club on Saturday, May 11th at the Chickahominy Riverfront park. More details will be forthcoming.

Mother Nature network (MNN) has a recent article that shows 15 award winning under-water images. Some amazing photography from The Ocean Underwater Photo Competition. Check it out!

Due to upcoming library renovations, we will be moving our meetings for May - June to the Williamsburg Library Stryker Building. The address is 412 N. Boundary Street. We will monitor the date changes and keep you updated. VOLUME 5, ISSUE 4 P A G E 3

April Meeting Theme is: WWW.CNPCVA.ORG Patterns & Textures

Submit your photos to Craig by 6pm on Saturday, March 30th

See Webpage for Sizing Guidelines

The Colonial Nature Photography Club has a website for all club members and guests. We have made a few changes to create a page with items that are for club members only. This new ’Members Only’ page is a password protected page that has the Welcome member list with emails and website links, newsletters, to Our presentations, and more. The password is lovepics (all lower Newest case). Big thanks to Jeanette Navia for keeping up our Members: awesome web pages. Check it out!

Judy Ewart Michael Jones Skip Maryan Jerry McCoy Ronald Ricca Dean Shostak We continue to have issues with the photos being submitted for Mel Kleiman the monthly photo assignments. Please visit the CNPC website Jamie Wick and review the ‘Resizing Photos’ document if you are having issues, Jeff Claypoole or contact Craig Hill ([email protected]) for assistance.

Make sure to introduce yourself to the new members at the next meeting.

Bring a friend to the next meeting!

VOLUME 5, ISSUE 4 P A G E 4

Reminder: Club Dues are due on January 1st. David Everette

For 2019, dues will be presents: $20 for the year. Bring your dues to Composition and the next meeting or mail to: Image Design

CNPC David is a Richmond specializing in the James PO Box 6971 Williamsburg, VA River and cityscapes in standard and panoramic sizes. He will 23188 educate us on the best ways to compose an image and share some design secrets as well. Club Member Edee is looking for a companion to accompany her on a trip with Ken Conger to Kenya in 2019. There are no buses! Only 2 individuals per land cruiser and Ken rotates to

Bob Schamerhorn Carry your camera always. The more presented photos you take, the better you will get. ‘Atlantic Coastal Those unexpected Birds’ photos may be some of your best! Bob gave a great presentation on the diversity of birds along the Atlantic Coastline. The presentation was filled with awesome photos, videos, and even the sounds of the many birds of the east coast. Visit his website at: http://www.iphotobirds.com to view Bob’s work and future presentation and show details.

‘Blue Skies’ — Ken Conger March Photos - Motion

See more on next page —> March Photos - Motion

Great job!! Thanks to all that entered! VOLUME 5, ISSUE 4 P A G E 7

Shows: in the Park is a nationally-rated, juried art show which offers the opportunity for you to see and purchase fine and original work produced by top-quality artists and crafts people from Virginia and more. This year is the 48th Annual Arts & Craft show and will be held May 4-5th. Visit the Website for more details.

Contests:

The 2019 Audubon Photography Awards are now open. The contest runs through April 8th, 2019. Details are on the website: https://netapp.audubon.org/photoawards/

The IPPA (iPhone Photography Awards) 2019 is now open for entries. Entries are open worldwide to using an iPhone or iPad. Deadline is March 31st. Visit website for full details: https://www.ippawards.com/the-competition/.

AMS is seeking photos depicting the amazing diversity of weather, water, and climate. The winning will be included in the AMS 2020 cal- endar. Campaign key area: Engaging the Public. Submit your entry by March15, 2019 at www.ametsoc.org/index.cfm/ams100/photo-contest/

Winners are chosen each Monday in the BirdSpotter photo challenge and those winners will be entered to win the grand prize in March. Visit the Website for full details.

2019 Save the Bay photo contest runs March 11 through April 5th with Viewers Choice through April 27th. Visit the CBF Website for full details.

The 2019 Chincoteague Cultural Alliance Annual Photo Contest is now open through May 15th. Cash prizes awarded to top three winners. Entry fee required. See Website for details.

The 2019 Gloucester Daffodil Festival will be held April 6-7 on Events: Main Street in Gloucester, VA. Activities include a parade, entertainment, children’s activities, vendors, and more. Visit the Website for full details. VOLUME 5, ISSUE 4 P A G E 8

CreativeLive has many free classes coming up over the next several weeks. Visit the On-Air page to see other classes that are available. www.creativelive.com/onair/photography

Upcoming Classes: March 20 - The Art of Photographing Birds March 22nd -The Art of Seeing: Macro Techniques for Flowers &Birds March 24th - The Art of Photography-Tom Manglesen March 26th - How to Capture & Edit Photos

The latest/most current version of Lightroom CC is v2.2 and Lightroom Classic CC is 8.2 with a new update that came out in February. Visit the Keep Lightroom up-to-date page to see details and see latest versions.

Photoshop CC is Version 20.0.4 - New Release Adobe Camera Raw is 11.2 - New Release Adobe DNG Converter is 11.2 - New Release

Visit the Keep Photoshop up-to-date page for details and see latest versions.

• Canon firmware updates available at the CanonUpdates page.

Nikon has announced firmware updates for the following: D750 Firmware - Version 1.15 2/21/19 D610/600 Firmware - Version 1.04 2/21/19 Z7 Firmware - Version 1.03 2/13/19 VOLUME 5, ISSUE 4 P A G E 9

Novice

Notes: Blurry Backgrounds

Do you ever look at other people’s photos and wonder how they got their background to look blurry (also known as ““) while their subject is perfectly in focus? Basically, bokeh is the quality of out-of-focus or “blurry” parts of the image rendered by a – it is NOT the blur itself or the amount of blur in the foreground or the background of a subject. The blur that you are so used to seeing in photography that separates a subject from the background is the result of shallow “” and is generally simply called “background blur”. The quality and feel of the background/ foreground blur and reflected points of light, however, is what photographers call Bokeh. For nature photography, photos with soft, blurry backgrounds are perfect for making the subject stand out. A blurred background does not compete for the viewer’s attention and can make the photo appear more professional. There are four main things that can affect the blurriness of a photo background: • - Specified by an f-value or f-stops. Larger have smaller f-values, and allow more light to reach the camera sensor. When using a large aperture, the speed should be faster, to prevent the photo from being over-exposed. The lower the f-value, the softer the back- ground blur. • Distance from your subject - Moving closer to and focusing tightly on your subject, ensuring the background is far away from your subject, makes it easier to achieve a blurred background. • - A short focal length has a wide , it keeps details in focus both in the foreground and the background. Zooming in on a subject narrows the angle of view and makes the focal length longer, resulting in more background blur. To blur the background, use a long focal length lens, or a good variable focus length lens and zoom in on your subject. • Sensor size - A small sensor has a short focal length and wide angle of view. with larg- er sensors can achieve longer focal lengths, and subsequently better background blur.

The easiest way to achieve the background blur is to adjust your Aperture. Making these changes can have a huge impact on your photo. 1. Select the Aperture Priority Mode (A or AV). Aperture priority mode is a semi-automatic mode, available on most cameras. When you change the aperture's f-value in aperture priority mode, the camera automatically chooses the appropriate and ISO-setting. 2. Selecting a wide aperture (the smallest f-value possible), will make the background more blurry. The lower the better. Choose the smallest F-value available for your lens. Use 5.6 or lower. 3. Keep your subject closer to you than the back- ground. You need to ensure the subject is further away from the background than you are from your subject. 4. Zoom in on your subject (if using a ). When zooming with a variable aperture lens, the shutter speed should be decreased and ISO in- creased to evenly expose the photo. Try this next time you are out shooting! VOLUME 5, ISSUE 4 P A G E 10

The Art of Cropping

While there is certainly something to be said for getting your photos just right in camera, one of the wonders of modern is that you have a myriad of tools at your disposal if you want to fix things later on as well. Things like , contrast, saturation, black-and-white conversion, and even adding and removing elements can all be done with the magic of Lightroom and Photoshop. But there is another tool available in every image editor that can have a powerful impact on your images and is quite easy to use as well. Sometimes all it takes to give your pictures the added punch you’re looking for is a few clicks of the humble crop tool. Photoshop, LightRoom, and most all editing softwares have a cropping tool. Think of the crop tool as an invisible frame that draws the eye towards the most important aspects of your photo. Making the right cuts in your photo can have a drastic impact on the visuals and can even manipulate the way your audience engages with it emotionally. If cropping has only been an afterthought in your photo process, consider trying it to see how it affects your photos. Things to consider: • Size: If you are printing your photo, you need to make sure you don’t over-crop the photo. You want to make sure the final product is still large enough to print in your desired size. When you crop the photo, you have the option to preset the final cropped size. Set this to your photo size 8x10, 11x14, etc to see the cropped outcome. Use the crop overlay as a guide to see where is the best location for the crop. • Focus Area: You may find that in addition to the main subject, you have included other elements in the frame that might distract the viewers or detract from the impact of the subject. Of course, these details can add a sense of texture, context, and emotion to a scene, but if your goal is to get your viewers to focus on something specific then you might want to utilize the cropping tool to make that happen. Cropping in on the subject may result in a more visually pleasing photo. • Reframing your Subject: As a photographer, you should try and follow the and place your subject accordingly. Sometimes, due to moving subjects, this does not happen. Use cropping as a means to get your subject in the desired part of the frame. • Background: Sometimes, you are so excited to get the special shot of that bird or animal that you don’t notice the trashcan or person in the background. Use cropping as a means to remove the distraction. • Level: As a photographer, you try to ensure that your horizon is always level. But we are not all perfect and sometimes, that does not happen. Use cropping to level your photo.

While it is always best to get the photo right at the time you shoot it, cropping is fine and can be used to enhance your . Try different crops on the same photo to see the various effects that each makes on your photo. VOLUME 5, ISSUE 4 P A G E 11

Have you found a good photo book, webpage, or other stuff you would like to share? Let Barbara know….

• Saving the Grand Canyon - Read this article on CNN Travel about two photographers that hiked the length of the canyon to highlight threats to it’s existence. Check out the phot about midway through the article. Amazing.

• The Winter Wildlife Festival was held recently in Virginia Beach. Visit the website to view the 2019 Photography Contest Winners.

• The Outdoor Photographer of the Year contest has been running for eight years and this year it received 20,000 entries from around the globe in several categories, with the standard as mesmerizingly high as ever. Click through to see the amazing winners and other commended entries that caught the judges' eyes...

Presenters needed for 2019

As you know, the club has a guest speaker or presenter at each meeting. These speakers are usually club members, local photographers, or known acquaintances of our members. If you know of someone who does presentations or would be interested in doing one yourself, please contact Barbara. Also, please remember we do our member showcase in August and we need at least three members to do short presentations for this meeting. Contact Barbara for more info.

Each Meeting Bring your photo books, magazines, or other media that you have lying around and want to ‘share’. Bring your stuff to the next meeting! Table will be open before the meeting and at break. VOLUME 5, ISSUE 4 P A G E 12

On Location: Colonial Parkway The Colonial Parkway is a twenty-three mile scenic roadway stretching from the York River at Yorktown to the James River at Jamestown. It connects Virginia's historic triangle: Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown. The drive will have plenty of pull off areas to stop enjoy the and wildlife that may include deer, eagles, osprey, birds, turkey, and more.

Free is Good! • Anne McKinnell has a new blog series entitled ‘Great Subjects!’ One of her recent lessons in the series is entitled “How to Photo- graph Small Animals”. Some great info and ideas for every photographer. And it’s FREE! • AloTech has a new blog article added entitled ‘Master Your Exposure & Post Processing for Winter Wildlife & Nature Photography’ The article is filled with some great tips and techniques to help you out.

Enlight Quickshot

Quickshot is the new photo editor & camera app for the iPhone photogra- pher who lives for the next adventure. You can count on Quickshots’ unique tools to capture your passion in the perfect shot, fast. If you’re moved by action and the wind in your hair, we’ve got unique camera modes to capture that fleeting moment before it’s gone. Whether you’re inspired by the exotic grittiness of the urban scene or the vibrant of the great outdoors, we’ve built photo editing tools dedicated to bringing out the “wildlife” around you. VOLUME 5, ISSUE 4 P A G E 13 VOLUME 5, UpcomingISSUE 4 Classes, Events, Shows & Contests P A G E 13 March: Sugarloaf Craft Festival - March 22-24th - Chantilly, VA - Details at Website. April: Gloucester Daffodil Festival 2019 - April 6-7 - Details at Website. Sugarloaf Craft Festival - April 12-14 - Gaithersburg, MD - Details at Website. Art on the Square - Williamsburg - April 28th - Details at Website.

Quick tip of the month Backing Up While on the Road

One of the biggest worries a photographer has during an extended trip is whether or not all of the digital files and photos they create will make it back with them. Every- one knows the best way to protect these precious documents and memories is to perform backups, just like you would if you were at home. However, there is the small problem that you aren’t at home with your RAID arrays and card readers and, in some cases, you may be stretching your devices’ batteries to the absolute limit. If you are traveling and have the space to carry all of your important computer gear, an end-of-day backup to two drives or disks, followed by an upload to the cloud will ensure that everything is safe. This gives you the ideal hat trick of backup solutions, which includes two physical copies and one off-site. Dragging everything along might be too much of a pain, You can now purchase dedicated backup tools such as portable storage devices that accept both SD and CF cards to create an on the spot backup. While pricey, these provide on-the-spot, fast backup for peace of mind while traveling.

Have an item that you want to sell or trade? Advertise it here. Send info to Barbara by the 12th of each month.

For Sale: Canon items: 100mm EF F2.8L Macro IS USM Lens $600, 100-400mm F4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens $900, (both include lenshood, case, and skylight filter), Speedlite 430 EX II $160, 72mm Close-up Lens (500D) with case $60, Powershot G1x $275, Powershot G10 –Make offer. Also Pentax digital spotmeter with case $100, Nikon Binoculars 7x21 with case $50, Tembura Photo Back-Pack $25. Contact Jack Brooks at 565-1988 or [email protected].

Hunt’s Photo has offered to give club members access to special deals and pricing with a specific point of con- tact for our needs. They will be sending about ten specials per year to our club and we will post on the website. If you have any photo needs, please contact Alan Samiljan at 781-462-2383 or email at [email protected] . He is in the store Mon, Tue, Fri, and Sat 8:30-5:30 but you can leave a message an- ytime. Make sure you tell him you are with the club to get your discounts. Current specials will be listed on club site at: http://www.cnpcva.org/hunts-photo-video-deals/ VOLUME 5, ISSUE 4 P A G E 14

President: Barbara Houston Secretary/Tres: Rose Baker [email protected] [email protected] Vice-President: Craig Hill Website: Jeanette Navia [email protected] [email protected] Refreshments: Judy Jones [email protected]

The Colonial Nature Photography Club is a Williamsburg-based nature photo group founded by Ken Conger in 2007. The group meets monthly in the James City County library to share pictures, presentations, knowledge, and friendship. All levels of photographers are welcome.

Meeting Schedule & Themes for 2019

• The group usually meets the first Monday of every month at the Williamsburg– James City County Library in Croaker. • Meetings start at 6:30 PM and typically run 1.5 to 2 hours. • Please have one to three pictures submitted by the Saturday prior to each meeting. • Send pictures to Craig at [email protected]. Please make sure images are sized at 4X6 inches and 200 PPI resolution

Colonial Nature Photography Club

Take nothing but photographs; Kill nothing but time; Leave nothing but footprints.

Have an idea for the Newsletter? Send your notes, comments, upcoming events, suggestions, or ideas to Barbara Houston. All feedback is appreciated!