Central Kentucky Photography Group Newsletter Jan/Feb 2014

Issue

9

01About CKPGFeatured Artists02Out and About with CKPG

03Fixing Bokeh Backgrounds

04The CamRanger

05Project 52

Photo by Martin Gillette

CKPG

Featured Artists

About CKPG: Central Kentucky Photography Group was formed to have a meeting place forphotographers of all levels to network and have fun shooting together. This is a very active and growinggroup. Please join in on some of our activities. We would love to meet you!

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Butch Jones Mark Northrup

I am mainly interested in scenic and naturephotography, but like all aspects of photography. I

would love to be able to learn more about portraitphotography, but that is still a little ways away as I needto learn a little more about composition.

Greeting, My name is Mark. Located in Wilmore Ky, Ihope to find others with similar interests in

photography in this group.

Out and About with CKPG

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The year started out great with a Meetup at the GoodShepherd School and Old Church in Frankfort. They

recently built a brand new Church and School and vacatedthe old ones. This gave around 30 members a chance todo a walk through and take some nice photos.

Many of the same members anda few others got the OK to shootthe inside of the HistoricKentucky Theater in Lexington before it undergoesrenovations in February. As Fred the manager put it, he'sgoing to "Open the doors and turn us loose." And that’sjust what he did.

Construction started on this oldlandmark in 1921 and the theateropened in 1922. The openingprogram began with a musicaloverture played on the Wurlitzer UnitOrchestra organ. This was followedby an audience rendition of “My OldKentucky Home”.

The theater has had an illustrioushistory ever since. It’s shown everything from The MarxBrothers in 1927 -the first “talkie”- to Dracula in 1931 andthe Rocky Horror Picture Show starting in the 80s. I thinkthat last one played more than any other. We can takepleasure in the thought that there willbe plenty of photos of the latest eraof this grand theater.

We had our first indoor wintermeeting which was a “free for all”where members got to shoot allkinds of props and drops. TheMeetup was held at the FranklinCounty Extension Office inFrankfort. We will be using thatvenue for future events.

10 photo fanatics went up to the Northern KentuckyConvention Center for the best Photoshop® Lightroom®training on the planet! Taught by Matt Kloskowski, one ofthe world’s top Lightroom experts.

Matt is the full-time Director of Education for Kelby MediaGroup and a Tampa-based photographer. He's theEditor-in-Chief of Lightroom Magazine, the lead instructoron the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom LIVE Seminar Tourand author of several best-selling Photoshop books. Mattalso hosts the world's top Lightroom blog,LightroomKillerTips.com, where he's built up a massivelibrary of Lightroom videos, presets and tips. In additionto teaching Photoshop, Lightroom and photographyseminars around the world, he's an instructor atPhotoshop World and one of the full-time staff writers forPhotoshop User Magazine.

Fixing Bokeh Backgrounds in GIMPIf you've read the last CKPG Newsletter you know that

bokeh is considered "good" when the edges of the outof focus elements are soft. Sometimes the bokeh can bea bit harsh and although not altogether unpleasing it canbe cleaned up.

In this GIMP tutorial I'll go through the steps to do that.I'm sure the steps are the same in Photoshop.

Open your photo. I'm using a photo I took of a couplekids looking a ducks in a pond. The background bokehisn't that bad and the photo could be used as is. Thereare a few elements that bother me.

I shot this photo with the aperture closed down a little tomake sure I had enough depth of field on the kids. Thebokeh is hexagonal because the lens has six apertureblades. Some of the highlights have sharp and brightringed edges. The bright edges are what I'm wanting tofix.

The way to do this is to duplicate the layer, blur the toplayer a bit and use a layer mask to remove the blurredkids on the top layer. That allows the in focus kids to showthrough.

Duplicate the layer by clicking: Layer>Duplicate Layer.Then blur the top layer slightly by clicking:Filters>Blur>Gaussian Blur. In the preview window pickout a spot that represents an area you would like to soften.The photo is 4752 x 3168 pixels. I blurred by only 18 pixelsto get the following result.

To add a layer mask right click on the top blurred layerand then on Add Layer Mask. Be sure to choose whitein the window that pops up. Click on the layer mask tobe sure it is active and that you will be painting on it andnot the image.

Select a soft brush andincrease its size if needed.Now begin to paint in blacknear the edge of the part youwant to remove. Continuepainting around the inner edgeof the object until you'veerased completely around theobject.

Now erase the rest of the object. Note you will see thesharper image coming through while you paint. Youshould not see the color being painted. Hiding the bottomlayer may help to see areas that may have escaped youreye when the bottom layer is on. To hide the layer clickon the eye, in the layer window, next to the layer you wantto hide.

When you are finished with the erasing un-hide thebottom layer to see the final result.

See you next time Martin G.

Donations: $5.00 optional. This covers things like website hosting fees and outings that requireus to pay money up front. Payment is accepted using: PayPal. If you wish to pay by cash, you cansimply pay Butch when you see him at any event. To send check via mail, email Butch foraddress.”Refunds are not offered for this Meetup". Look for the “Pay Online” button at CKPG.

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The CamRanger (www.camranger.com) was introducedto the market over one year ago by husband and wife

David and Melissa Pawlowski. The Pawlowskis came upwith the CamRanger while on a kayaking trip when theyfound themselves having difficulty focusing the camerawhen both were in the kayak, and realizing that otherwireless triggering devices didn't meet their needs.

The CamRanger is a small device that connects yourCanon or Nikon DSLR to a desktop or laptop computer(iOS or PC), mobile phone (iOS or Andriod), iPod Touchor tablet (iOS or Andriod). The device connects to yourcamera using a small USB cable and connects to yourdevice via WiFi. It's a wireless trigger with many morefunctions.

Features of the CamRanger include:

● Live view streaming from your camera● Wireless image capture● Automatic image display as they are taken● Start/Stop video recording and view while recording● Ability to take time lapse pictures● View and set camera settings, such as shutter speed,

ISO, white balance and exposure compensation andbracketing

● Up to 150 foot connection● Lifetime software updates

With the CamRangeryou are able to viewthe scene on themobile device andmake focusadjustments, performfocus stacking, makefocus adjustmentsand touch focusingwhile recording video,use night mode forshooting at night,

overlay text watermarks, rate and compare images andtake a series of images varying the shutter speed,aperture or ISO for post processing HDR.

The CamRanger retails for $299 and can be purchasedfrom many online and local photography retailers.

More detailed reviews of the CamRanger can be foundhere:

Professional Photographer Magazine

Adorama

FStoppers

By: Toni Geiger

The CameRanger

Inspiration: www.gregoryheisler.com www.ronclifford.comwww.colbybrownphotography.com bertstephani.com caseymacphoto.com

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Project 52

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