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Stockton Camera ClubThe Shutter Tripper January 2014
Urban LightsClass B Image of the Month – Sheldon McCormick
Valley View Sunset in AutumnClass AA Image of the Month - Janelle DeRuosi
Lady in WhiteClass A Image of the Month - Em McLaren
December Digital Images of the Month
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The Sparrow in the Brush Class B Print of the Month - Shari Liwanag
Lines and ShadowsClass AA Print of the Month - Doug Ridgway
December Print Images of the Month
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12’s of the Month
Sandhill Crane Showing Who’s BossHeide Stover
Rainy Day View Through a Screen
Susanne Nichols
Cranes, Geese and Swans Oh MyKarleen Gansberg
The Green DoorKris Borgen
Catus FlowerGary Brown
Night FlightChristine Blue
Among the Chili PeppersElizbeth Parrish
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Morro BayJim Cahill
DragonShari Liwanag
CIRCLE OF BEADSLarry Moore
Tiny ArchitectureSusanne Nichols
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Bull SprigShari Liwanag
KeyboardKim Romena
The Drug Free ZoneTrey Steinhart
Chasing RainbowsCarol Marshall
Drawbridge Architecture at China Basin
Susanne Nichols
Bay BridgeChristine Blue
A Rose is A Rose is A RoseDebra Goins
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Old Ship Moored at Seacliff PierSusanne Nichols
Long Beach Convention CenterSheldon McCormick
Tiptoe While He SleepsKarleen Gansberg
Ghost RiderFay Dumont
SarahAddy Streeter
Window Through TimeSheldon McCormick
Dia de Los MuertosCarlos Mendoza
Stockton HotelDebra Goins
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Three Clouds and Half DomeTrey Steinhart
Golden GateChristine Blue
SCC Officers 2014OfficersPresidentHeide StoverEmail: [email protected]
Vice President ProgramsSharon McLemore, 401-0192 Email: [email protected]
Vice President CompetitionAddy Street, 403-8349Email: [email protected]
SecretaryEm McLaren, [email protected]
TreasurerJanelle DeRuosi, 838-1881Email: [email protected]
Committee Chairs
Activities ChairpersonJanelle DeRuosi, 838-1881Email: [email protected]
Education ChairpersonMike Clipka 858-5198 Email: [email protected]
Hospitality ChairpersonDebra GoinsEmail: [email protected]
Print Competition Chairperson Trey Steinhart 471-8438Email: [email protected]
Refreshments Chairperson Sheldon McCormick 931-0461Email:[email protected]
Shutter Tripper Doug Ridgway 617-7050Email: [email protected]
Web MasterJanelle DeRuosi, 838-1881Email: [email protected]
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President’s MessageJanuary 2014By Heide Stover
Here we are at the end of the year beginning a new year. This could be a good time to look back at the images you took and think about the comments the judges made.
Maybe set some goals for improving your work. I have learned so much by listening to what the judges have to say about other people’s work as well as mine. Keep in mind that there is always personal opinion mixed in with the knowledge. The main thing is to keep shooting and look at new ways of shooting. Don’t be discouraged. We are a club and as such are here to help each other so don’t be afraid to ask questions if you need help. The internet is also a good source of help and there are lots of books to read. Our first competition of the year will be in February so there is plenty of time to get some new stuff going. If you would like to attend the banquet and/or participate in the drawing for the CamRanger, I need checks and meal wishes by January 9.
So get out there and shoot!
Happy ShootingHeide
CamRanger.com
SCC 2014 Annual Banquet and Special RaffleThis year’s Annual Banquet will be start at 6:30 on Thursday January 16 at the Old Spaghetti Factory, 2702 West March Lane. Along with our annual raffle, we are having a special raffle for a CamRanger and an extra battery. For those of you, who haven’t heard about it, check out their website, http://camranger.com/.
CamRanger is a stand-alone device that connects to select Canon or Nikon DLSR cameras with a provided USB cable. It creates an ad-hoc WiFi network that your device (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Android, or Mac or Windows computer) can then connect to. The free CamRanger app then enabled control of the camera. There is no need for a computer or existing Internet connection.
This is one “toy” that will make your life easier. The more that you use the CamRanger, the more that you wonder how you ever lived without it. Doug Ridgway will do a short demo at the start of the banquet.
The retail price of the CamRanger and extra battery is $320 and the tickets are only $10.00 each. The raffle will be held at the Banquet.
I you can’t make the Banquet, please contact either Heide Stover, [email protected], or Doug Ridgway, [email protected] or (209) 617-7050 and they will make arrangements for your to get a ticket(s). Tickets will be limited to 100. Remember, the more tickets you buy, the better your odds at winning.
“I love it. And I’ve been waiting for it for, well, about 35 years.”- George Lepp (Outdoor Photographer)
Adorama CamRanger Product Review
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December’s Member Monthly Meetingby Em Mclaren
Heide opened the meeting and Debra introduced Lauren, a guest, and Michael Booth, a new member. Janelle and Debra collected the yearly dues and the banquet fees for the Jan. Banquet. Heide will need your dinner choice soon for the banquet, if you have not given it to her, or paid for the dinner yet. ([email protected]) The Banquet will be Thursday January 16 at the Old Spaghetti Factory on March Lane in Stockton.
Barbara Butterworth, the lady who runs West 12 Ranch has asked for some photos from our club (those who went on the camera club outing there) because she wants to use them in Facebook. She will give you credit for your images. Please contact Janelle ([email protected]) and she can get them on Facebook for you, or you can also contact Barbara at ([email protected]) or upload your images to https://www.facebook.com/West12Studio.
Dean and Sharon presented awards (plaques and ribbons) to our club winners who participated in the SJVCCC competitions this past year. Heide, Dean, Sharon and Carol Marshall took the top prizes. Congratulations to all who entered and keep up the good work!
Janelle talked about the Stockton Rox (Committee for the Betterment of Stockton) run by Wes Soto. They have a website and Facebook account. He would like to do a morning-show style segment on our club. He plans to shoot footage in multiple locations and overlay dynamic imagery to support the club’s story. We will need a club spokesperson to appear on camera. Please be thinking of “how has the club been beneficial to you, what do you love about Stockton and what makes Stockton and our club “rox”(rock)?
Addie introduced the slate of officers for 2014. The club voted and approved the slate. They are:
Officers: Committee Chairs:Heide Stover - President Joanne Sogsti - ActivitiesSharon McLemore - VP of Programs Mike Clipka - EducationAddriane Street - VP of Competition Debra Goins - HospitalityEm McLaren - Secretary Sheldon McCormick - RefreshementsJanelle De Ruosi - Treasure Doug Ridgway - Shutter Tripper Janelle DeRuosi - Webmaster Thank you to our election committee: Heide, Mack and Addy. Also, thank you to all who served this past year including a special thanks to Doug for serving as past Webmaster and to Dean for serving as past VP of Programs, as well as in many other positions.
Submissions for the SCC Annual Year end competition are due to Sharon ([email protected]) by December 27. You can enter a total of 6 images (2 in open, 2 in black & white, and 2 in special subjects) which have been shown this past year. You can mix digital and prints, but if you showed an image in digital, it must be entered in digital and the same with prints. The winners will be announced at the Annual Banquet in Jan.
Dean introduced our December judge Sande Parker, a member of the Sierra Camera Club in Sacramento. She is an adventure photographer and her husband is a fine art black & white photographer who accompanied her to the meeting. She presented a program of wolves she photographed from a reserve in Colorado that rescued wolves. She brought her book of works to view and also had a raffle for 2 of her calendars she gave away. Bret Hunter and Carol Marshall won them. Thank you to Sande for providing them!
PRINT OF THE MONTH COMPETITION WINNERS: BEGINNER: Shri Liwanag - “The Sparrow in the Brush” ADVANCED: No Entries VERY ADVANCED: Doug Ridgway - “Lines and Shadows”
DIGITAL IMAGE OF THE MONTH COMPETITION WINNERS: BEGINNER: Sheldon McCormick - “Urban Lights” ADVANCED: Em McLaren - “Lady in White” VERY ADVANCED: Janelle DeRuosi - “Valley View Sunset in Autumn”
Congratulations to all the winners!
The next competition meeting will be in Feb. and the SPECIAL SUBJECT is PHOTOJOURNALISM.
A big THANK YOU! to all of you who sent in information for the above notes, as I was not able to be at the meeting. Please let me know if there any additions or corrections to the notes. If you want your e-mail address deleted please let me know.
HAVE A HAPPY HOLIDAY! em
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Stockton Camera ClubMonthly Competition - October 2013
Sam Shaw from the Modesto & Merced Camera Clubs evaluated our images this month. He viewed 95 prints and digital images for an average score of 11.05.
Digital Image of the Month Class B – Ride ‘em Cowboy – Christine BlueDigital Image of the Month Class A – Welcome – by Carol Marshall
Digital Image of the Month Class AA – Poseidon’s Good Humor – by Trey SteinhartPrint of the Month Class B – Tule Elk Buck – by Shari Liwanag
Print of the Month Class A – No EntriesPlease check out the to view the images that received the top scores, http://www.stockton-cameraclub.com/
October - Class B TOTAL OPEN SUBJECT FEB MAR MAY JULY SEPT OCT DECKris Borgen 250 189 61 37 44 42 42 43 42 0Sheldon McCormick 249 187 62 36 42 45 43 40 43 0Fay Dumont 238 179 59 32 43 41 41 40 41 0Shari Liwanag 210 189 21 34 22 34 42 33 45 0Bret Hunter 210 165 45 0 46 44 36 39 45 0Adrianne Street 151 106 45 0 0 42 45 43 21 0Susanne Nichols 137 102 35 0 0 46 43 0 48 0Christine Blue 121 99 22 0 0 0 33 45 43 0Richard Harris 71 61 10 35 36 0 0 0 0 0Jim Cahill 68 68 0 0 35 0 0 33 0 0Lanny Brown 54 34 20 0 0 0 23 10 21 0Bob Abrew 32 32 0 0 0 0 32 0 0 0Tina Fulton 31 20 11 0 31 0 0 0 0 0Bob Hickey 31 31 0 0 0 31 0 0 0 0Harold House 23 23 0 11 12 0 0 0 0 0Hal Condon 21 10 11 0 0 0 21 0 0 0Heather Gilker 19 10 9 19 0 0 0 0 0 0
October 2013 - Class A TOTAL OPEN SS FEB MAR MAY JULY SEPT OCT DECEm McLaren 267 201 66 38 45 47 48 43 46 0Carol Marshall 265 198 67 45 47 44 42 42 45 0Debra Goins 257 189 68 40 46 45 43 38 45 0Karleen Gansberg 241 196 45 32 45 41 34 44 45 0Gary Brown 217 163 54 0 44 44 43 43 43 0Larry Moore 215 177 38 34 40 41 41 30 29 0Pat Reeder 163 122 41 38 40 42 43 0 0 0Ricardo Mendoza 163 130 33 32 48 0 0 39 44 0Elizabeth Parrish 131 120 11 35 30 35 0 31 0 0Martha Pacheco 88 66 22 43 45 0 0 0 0 0Kim Romena 86 64 22 42 44 0 0 0 0 0Charlene Martin 82 61 21 37 45 0 0 0 0 0Danny Ho 42 30 12 42 0 0 0 0 0 0Paula Wells 40 32 8 40 0 0 0 0 0 0Jim Wells 38 27 11 38 0 0 0 0 0 0
Stockton Camera ClubMonthly Competition - September 2013
(Continued)
October - Class AA TOTAL OPEN SUBJECT FEB MAR MAY JULY SEPT OCT DECDoug Ridgway 273 204 69 46 45 46 48 41 47 0Sharon McLemore 273 206 67 41 47 48 45 46 46 0Heide Stover 272 204 68 43 46 46 45 45 47 0Trey Steinhart 272 203 69 41 47 46 47 46 45 0Dean Taylor 266 201 65 44 44 46 47 42 43 0Joanne Sogsti 266 199 67 42 48 42 46 45 43 0Stan Sogsti 259 196 63 39 43 45 44 42 46 0Janelle DeRuosi 232 174 58 46 48 48 48 42 0 0Elliott Pasinsky 218 163 55 40 44 46 43 0 45 0Bill Clough 46 34 12 0 46 0 0 0 0 0Brigitte Clough 46 35 11 0 46 0 0 0 0 0
219 E Weber Ave (Across From The Court House)Stockton, CA 95202-2706
Phone: 209-464-2299 | Fax: 209-464-9229www.ulmerphoto.com
Email: [email protected]
A Big Thank You to Our Sponsors!
A. GENERAL RULES1. Only paid-up members may enter club competition. 2. Regular print and digital image competition period: Once each month except January. A competition year is February through December. Current regular meetings are February, March, May, July, September, October and December. The number of meetings may change from time to time at the discretion of the Board of Directors and approval of the general membership as facilities permit. The Annual Awards Dinner will be held in January.3. A total of four (4) images (all prints, all digital or a combination of both) may be entered each competition month. A total of three (3) images may be entered in the Open Division and a total of one (1) in the Special Subject Division. The number of entries may change from time to time at the discretion of the Board of Directors and the approval of the general membership. 4. Each image will be scored from 6 to 12 points. All prints or digital images receiving 11 or 12 points will be classed as an honor image. The title of each print or digital image entered will be read before being evaluated. The name of the maker will be read for 11-point honor winners. Maker’s names will be announced for the 12 point images after the Print & Digital Image-of-the-Month winners are chosen. 5. A print or digital image that does not receive an honor score, may be re-entered one more time in the same division. 6. A print or digital image may be entered in all divisions for which it qualifies; i.e., an honor image in Open may also be entered in the Special Subject Division at another competition. A print or digital image that receives an honor score may not be re-entered in the same division.7. Any print or digital image that appears to be ineligible for competition or not qualified for a specific division could expect to be challenged. The Competition Vice-President shall decide whether or not the image is acceptable.8. The exhibitor must have exposed each negative, slide or digital image entered. All images submitted for judging must be the work of the photographer/maker including the taking of the images and any digital enhancements and/or manipulation of the image. This does not apply to the processing of film or printing by a commercial processor.9. The same image should not be entered both as a print and a projected digital image in the same competition.10. In the event of absence or barring unforeseen circumstances, a member may submit make-up prints or digital images for one competition night per competition year; and whenever possible must submit all make-up prints or digital images at the meeting immediately following the month a member failed or was unable to submit the prints or digital images. Make-ups in the Special Subject Division must be the same subject as the month missed. Also, in case of absence a member may assign the responsibility of submitting his or her prints and/or digital images for competition to another member.11. A club member who serves as judge cannot enter his or her own prints or digital images in the same competition. The judge’s make-up prints or digital images can then be entered in another competition during that competition year. This
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2013 Competition Policyby Sharon McLemore
is in addition to the once-a-year make-up provision already allowed.12. Prints or digital images may be projected/viewed briefly before the judging of each division if the judge indicates he/she would like a preview.
B. PRINT ENTRY RULES1. Each print entered must have a completed label attached to the back of the print including; name of maker, title, date entered and Division (Open or Special Subject). The writing or printing on the form must be legible. Labels must be attached on the back of the print in the upper left-hand corner for correct viewing of the print.2. All prints must be matted or mounted with a total size (including mat board) of no larger than 18” X 24” and no smaller than 8” X 10”. Exception: One side of a Panorama Print may be no larger than 36”. Prints that are smaller than 5” X 7” will not be accepted. The maker’s name must not appear on the viewing surface of the image. Framed prints shall not be entered.3. Prints accompanied by entry forms should be submitted no later than 15 minutes prior to the start of the regular monthly meeting.4. Prints receiving a score of 12 points, in each class, will be regrouped and judged for selection for the Print-of-the-Month honors. Print-of-the-Month honors will be given in both Class A & B. C. DIGITAL IMAGE ENTRY RULES1. Digital images must be submitted in a format and by the deadline specified by the Competition Vice-President. Digital images may be submitted by email, mailed (CD) or delivered (CD) to the Competition Vice-President. Definition of Digital Image: An image taken with a digital camera, a negative, slide or print scanned into the computer and processed digitally.2. Images must be in a format compatible with the projector. The key thing to keep in mind when formatting photos for submission is that the projector we use in the competition has a (maximum) resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels. This means that any photo that exceeds this size in either dimension, could end-up being cropped by the projector. In other words: the image width cannot be more than 1024 pixels and the image height cannot be more than 768 pixels. If your image is horizontal, only change the width to 1024, if your image is vertical, only change the height to 768. Do not change both. Down-sizing the image from the “native” resolution coming out of your camera also significantly reduces the file size. This helps when emailing the files and takes-up less space on our hard-drives.3. The maker’s name, title of image, date entered and division (Open or Special Subject) must be included as the title of the image. When you have finished re-sizing your image save your image with a new title. For example do a Save as: Smith_Sunrise Splendor_05-13_O.jpeg. (O-Open or SS-Special Subject). Specify whether you are Beginner or Advanced.4. Digital Images receiving a score of 12 points, in each class, will be regrouped and judged for selection for the Digital Image-of-the-Month honors. Digital Image-of-the-Month honors will be given in Class A, AA & B.
2014 Calendar of Events
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Every 3rd Thursday(Except April, June &
Aug) 6:30 PM
West Lane Bowling AlleyStockton
Membership MeetingContact Heide Stover
ThursdayJanuary 16
Old Spaghetti FactoryStockton SCC’s Annual Banquet - 6:30
ThursdayFebruary 20
West Lane Bowling AlleyStockton
December General MeetingSpecial Subject - Photojournalism
ThursdayMarch 20
West Lane Bowling AlleyStockton
December General MeetingSpecial Subject - Domestic Animals
ThursdayMay 15
West Lane Bowling AlleyStockton
December General MeetingSpecial Subject - Highway 49/The Mother Lode
ThursdayJuly 17
West Lane Bowling AlleyStockton
December General MeetingSpecial Subject - Movement/Action
MIKE CLIPKA EDUCATION CHAIRPERSON
January 2014Hi All! I hope you all had a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year! Here’s more helpful info for 2014.
Ever wonder how to make sure your pics are sharp when using a telephoto lens? Here’s a link to a great article on that subject from the DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPY SCHOOL website:
http://digital-photography-school.com
Here’s a link to the DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPY SCHOOL website home page:
http://digital-photography-school.com/
They have two great articles on the 5 worst & 5 best habits for photographers. The links are easy to find from the home page.
Here’s another link for “21 Settings, Techniques and Rules All New Camera Owners Should Know”:
http://digital-photography-school.com/21-settings-techniques-and-rules-all-new-camera-owners-should-know
Here’s the first paragraph: “Introductions to Useful Modes and Settings on Your Digital Camera”:
1. Digital Camera Modes Explained – I spoke with a family friend recently who had just bought a new point and shoot camera. She came up to me with her camera when no one was watching and embarrassedly asked me if I could tell her what all the little icons on the dial on top of her camera meant. This article explains what each of these most common digital camera modes means and does. Knowing them can take your shots to the next level.
2. Aperture and Shutter Priority Mode – this introduction talks you through these two very useful settings that can be found on many digital cameras. Aperture and Shutter Priority modes take you out of Automatic mode giving you more control over your images – but don’t thrust you fully into manual mode – they are great settings to explore and master.
3. Introduction to White Balance – one of the most common problems that I see in beginner photographer images are shots with incorrect color. We’ve all seen them – portraits where your subjects teeth and eyeballs (and everything else) has a yellowish tinge. Learn what causes this and how to combat it with this tutorial on White Balance.”
FOR BEGINNERS & MAYBE A REVIEW FOR SEMI-PROS & PROSThe next link is geared for beginners, so if you are relatively new to digital photography this web link will be of use: http://photo.net/equipment/digital/basics/
Here’s the first paragraph: “Digital Camera Basics - A primer:
Digital cameras are confusing to a lot of new users. In this basic guide to digital camera technology we hope to try to give digital beginners at least some basis to use in deciding which digital camera is appropriate for them. When shopping for a digital camera it’s at least good to know what the basic terms like white balance, pixel, ppi and dpi mean and how they affect image and print quality. It’s also important to know the difference between things like optical zoom and digital zoom as well as the advantages and disadvantages between storage formats such as Compact Flash (CF), Microdrives, Sony Memory Stick, Secure Digital (SD), Multimedia and camera interface technologies such as USB 1.1, USB 2.0 (Mike’s comment: & USB 3) and Firewire IEEE 1394.”
OK, there are tons of websites now that explain digital photography techniques. Which are the best? It’s so hard to tell anymore. So, if you spend the time you can find them on your own of course. However, I have spent some time exploring many of the websites out there. What follows is a good one.
Ever wonder how to use your camera on Manual mode? If you want to download a pretty cool EBOOK guide (66 pages!) for FREE that addresses that issue, here’s the link to this guide of basic to advanced photography:
http://kateyestudio.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Digital-Photography-Basics_ebook.pdf
If you want to watch a decent YouTube video on camera basics, plus a little history on photography, here’s a link for that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sfr14br_AP0
Of course, as many of you already know, you will find links to many other tutorial photography videos on the right side of the YouTube website. I did not look at all of them. But, you never know what you will find. Explore at your leisure!
Clipka’s CornerEducation Articles by Mike Clipka
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Ok, that’s about it for now. See you all at the annual dinner! God Bless!
Mike Clipka – EDUCATION CHAIRPERSON
I participated in the “HELP PORTRAIT” event at the Stockton Homeless Shelter. Volunteers on Saturday 12/7/13 included photographers Clifford Oto, Kevin Richtik, Ben Wong, Maddie Von Ratz, Mike Clipka, Karen Kline, Gina Halferty and Ken Sato. Former Record graphic artist Sheldon Carpenter and Oto’s wife, Susan Oto did photo editing & printing. Tim Ulmer of Ulmer Photo in downtown Stockton also donated two 5x7 photo prints to each family Saturday, and was planning to provide eight wallet-sized photos from each shoot to the families in the coming week. The man behind me, Kevin Richtik owns Caroline’s Photo Studio.
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MoonstruckBy Michael Frye
There’s something magical about the moon. Putting the moon in a photograph adds a sense of mystery and timelessness, and can elevate an otherwise ordinary scene into something special. Ansel Adams confessed to being “moonstruck,” and I suppose I am too.The moon will be full next Tuesday (at 1:28 a.m. here on the west coast), and I’m sure many photographers will be trying to capture a rising or setting moon during the coming days, so I thought I would share some ideas about photographing the full moon, and clear up some misconceptions.
Misconception #1One misconception is that moonrise or moonset photos are taken at night. They’re not: they’re almost invariably made near sunrise or sunset. After dark the contrast between the moon and the landscape is too great, and a good exposure for the moon will make the landscape completely black, while a good exposure for the landscape will wash out the moon. Around sunrise and sunset it’s possible to balance the light between the moon and the landscape and get detail in both, yet have a dark enough sky for the moon to stand out clearly.
Misconception #2Another misconception is that moonrise or moonset photos are made on the date when your calendar says “full moon.” This can work if the terrain is flat, or you’re at a high vantage point. But if there are mountains or ridges blocking your view of the horizon, you’re better off photographing a moonrise one to three days before the full moon, and a moonset one to three days after the full moon. While the moon won’t technically be full, it will look full enough, and be in a better position than on the actual full moon night.
Here’s why:Understanding the Moon’s MovementsA full moon is frontlit. During it’s 28-day orbit around the earth, the moon has swung around to the side opposite the sun, so as we view the moon, the light from the sun is behind us, illuminating all of the moon’s surface.
So by definition a full moon is on the exact opposite side of the earth from the sun. That means that, from our perspective on earth, the full moon rises when the sun sets, and sets when the sun rises. But one day before it’s full, the moon rises, on average, 50 minutes earlier, or 50 minutes before sunset. Two days before it’s full, the moon rises approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes before sunset. So on the days before it becomes full, the moon has a chance to rise above mountains and ridges to the east before the sun sets to the west, and you can find balanced lighting between the moon and the landscape. On the full moon date the moon
usually rises too late, so by the time it’s visible the landscape below is too dark, and it’s difficult or impossible to get a good exposure for both.
One day after it’s full, the moon sets, on average, 50 minutes after sunrise. Two days after it’s full the moon sets about 1 hour and 40 minutes after sunrise. So on these days it’s possible to see the moon still hanging above the landscape to the west as the sun is rising to the east, and, again, get that balanced lighting.
Now I said that the moon rises and sets approximately 50 minutes later each day, but that interval varies greatly depending on the time of year and the stage of the moon’s orbit. The interval can be as short as 30 minutes or as long as 1 hour and 10 minutes.
Half Dome and moon at sunset, February 18th, 2008
Rising Moon, Gates of the Valley, December 30th, 2009
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Why Winter is the Best Time to Photograph a Moonrise From Yosemite ValleyThe moon also changes it’s path from summer to winter. Most people know that in summer, in the northern hemisphere, the sun rises further to the north (east-northeast), travels on a high path through the sky, and sets further to the north as well (in the west-northwest). In winter, the sun rises and sets further to the south, so it rises to the east-southeast, sets to the west-southwest, and takes a low path through the sky.
While a new moon takes a similar path to the sun, the full moon does the opposite: in summer, the full moon rises to the east-southeast, sets to the west-southwest, and takes a low path through the sky. In winter, the full moon rises to the east-northeast, sets to the west-northwest, and takes a high path through the sky.
Why is this? You probably remember learning that the earth’s axis is tilted, so in summer the northern hemisphere is tilted toward the sun. But again, the full moon is on the opposite side of the earth from the sun. So in summer, in the northern hemisphere, the earth’s axis is tilted toward the sun, but away from the full moon. Because the axis is tilted away from the moon, the moon takes a low path through the sky, similar to the winter sun. And in winter, when the northern hemisphere is tilted away from the sun, it’s tilted toward the full moon, so the moon takes a high path through the sky, just like the summer sun.This is why winter is the best time to photograph the full moon rising above Yosemite Valley. In winter, the full moon rises to the east-northeast, which lines up perfectly with the valley’s west-southwest to east-northeast orientation, and puts the moon next to Half Dome from many vantage points. In summer, the full moon rises behind the valley’s southern wall, and is hidden from most viewpoints until it gets high in the sky.
Photographer’s HelpersAll of these astronomical gyrations can get quite complex, but luckily there are some tools to help you figure all this stuff out. A new one is an app called PhotoPills. It’s excellent, but only available for the iPhone (so far). The Photographer’s Ephemeris has been the gold standard for this type of program for years. TPE is free for the desktop, and $8.99 for iOS or Android. Both PhotoPills and The Photographer’s Ephemeris are great tools for figuring out not only when and where the moon will rise, but whether it might be high enough to clear a ridge or mountain before sunset. There are excellent tutorials on both the PhotoPills and TPE websites, and if you want to capture a moonrise or moonset it’s worth learning how to use one of these programs.
Since the moon will be full during the wee hours on this coming Tuesday, the actual full moon night is Monday night, not Tuesday. So that should mean that the best evenings for photographing the rising moon in Yosemite Valley would be Saturday and Sunday. Looking at TPE confirms this. On Saturday evening the moon should rise to the left of Half Dome from locations in the eastern end of Yosemite Valley, like Cook’s Meadow, or near Sentinel Bridge. Sunday could be a good night to photograph the rising moon from Valley View or Tunnel View.
I hope this little astronomy lesson helps you understand the moon’s movements. Once you wrap your head around some of these concepts it’s not that difficult to predict when and where the moon will rise so you can put yourself in the right position to capture a moonrise or moonset. Good luck!— Michael Frye
On this February evening the moon had already swung more to the right (south), away from Half Dome. As winter moves into spring and summer, the full moon rises further and further to the right.
Moon rising over Cathedral Rocks from Tunnel View, February 24th, 2013.
Moon rising between El Capitan and Half Dome from Tunnel View, January 18th, 2011
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Here, in summer, the moon was setting to the west-southwest. The image was made only an hour after the moon was at its fullest, but since the image was made from a high vantage point with such a low, open horizon to the west, the moon was still visible just before sunrise.
Related Posts: A Memorable New Year’s Eve; Under a Full Moon; Moonrise and… Moonrise Again
Did you like this article? Click here to subscribe to this blog and get every new post delivered right to your inbox! Michael Frye is a professional photographer specializing in landscapes and nature. He is the author or principal photographer of The Photographer’s Guide to Yosemite, Yosemite Meditations, Yosemite Meditations for Women, and Digital Landscape Photography: In the Footsteps of Ansel Adams and the Great Masters. He has also written three eBooks: Light & Land: Landscapes in the Digital Darkroom, Exposure for Outdoor Photography, and Landscapes in Lightroom 5: The Essential Step-by-Step Guide. Michael written numerous magazine articles on the art and technique of photography, and his images have been published in over thirty countries around the world. Michael has lived either in or near Yosemite National Park since 1983, currently residing just outside the park in Mariposa, California.
Moon setting over an alpine lake, Yosemite NP, June 23rd, 2013
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Using Repetition CreativelyBy Jill Flynn
Seeking out and photographing repeating patterns is a great way to exercise your eye so to speak. It forces you to slow down and really observe your surroundings. It’s amazing what you will find and see when you slow down. Botanical gardens are treasure troves of repeating patterns and one of my favorite places to take photographs with my 70-200mm lens. You can create some very cool imagery by filling the frame with repeating lines, patterns, shapes, etc. Look for things that are pretty much one color. When you do that, it will force you to see through the color and to the actual lines and shapes that define your subject. The agave plant below was a very pretty blue green color of long slender stems that gracefully fanned out and kind of melded together. The dried tips of the stems were so beautiful and colorful. They weren’t very noticeable though, unless you stopped and moved in close. Even without the colorful tips, these stems would fill the frame beautifully. I photographed the picture below using a somewhat shallow DOF, but not so shallow that it blurred everything outside my focal point. I wanted to see the lines and formation of the stems throughout the frame and have them slowly fall out of focus.
Exercise: Seek out repeating lines/patterns. Compose your shot in a way that creatively showcases those lines/patterns and fill the entire frame with your subject. And it goes without saying, find and use diffused and beautiful light. It will make all the difference in the world.
For a different look, create a defined foreground and background. A long focal length and wide open aperture will help you create a shallow DOF and also work some magic in the background. In the photo below, the curly ends of the long plant stems reminded me of musical notes. There were several of them in this one area of the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix, AZ. I knew that if I didn’t shoot this with a very shallow DOF, all the curly ends would compete with each other, the composition would be too busy and none of the individual curls would stand out. They were not clustered close together like the agave stems above. I knew my trusty 70- 200mm lens would do a great job isolating a few of those curls. I used the longest focal length and widest aperture on this lens, focused on one of the curls closest to the camera and fired off several shots. I took both horizontal and vertical shots. The vertical shots worked better because it allowed me to work the long lines of the stems which equated to the staff of musical notes. I love the blurry, dreamy look of the curls in the background. They compliment but don’t pull the focus away from the ones in the foreground.
I titled this photo Music in the GardenCamera specs: Nikon D3s, Nikon 70-200mm
@ 200mm, f/2.8, 1/800s
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Exercise: Seek out repeating patterns/objects. Compose your shot, so the background is filled with the same thing as your subject, then use DOF to isolate your subject. Incorporate color into the background if you can, think outside the box, bring all the elements together creatively and make it sing!
When photographing two or more animals, try to showcase the unique characteristics and relationship of the animals. When I think of flamingos, I think long necks and long legs. Two flamingos standing side by side could make a very cool portrait and easily demonstrate repetition. If they are both the same color, they can look eerily identical. I wasn’t happy with the shots I got of the flamingos standing up, so I sat down and watched them. About 15 minutes later, two flamingos walked up to each other and then decided to graze together. There was my shot! Their long curvy, graceful necks and fascinating faces were framed by four rigid legs. It was perfect. I zoomed in, shot tight and captured just their faces, necks and legs. Camera specs: Nikon D2x, Nikon 70-200mm @ 160mm, f/4.5, 1/320s. Exercise: Photograph 2 or more animals creatively using repetition. Ask yourself what is it about them that fascinates you, makes you smile, etc. then try to capture that. Spend time with them, watch them and listen to them. When they reveal themselves to you, seize the moment!
Slow down, find the light and always photograph what you love. Jill Flynnwww.visualharmonyphotography.com Jill teaches Pet Photography for The Perfect Picture School of Photography
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We are thrilled to announce Rob Sylvans new lightroom course “Lightroom for Everyone” Rob has completely reworked his course and in the past we had it split into two different courses, one for beginners and one advanced. We have combined this all into one intensive 4 week course. Rob shares with us this week a lightroom tip to give you an idea of what is in store in his
new course!
Five Things You Can Do To Improve Lightroom Performance by Rob Sylvan
One: Free up space on your startup drive.You want to keep at least 15-20% (or more) of your startup drive free and clear of data at all times. Your operating system and some applications need the elbowroom to operate. Running out of space can seriously impact performance of all programs.
Simple things like emptying your recycle bin/trash, moving data to another internal or external drive or uninstalling unused applications can recover an amazing amount of disk space. Keep in mind that if you are going to move imported photos to another drive that you should do it from inside of Lightroom (here's how: http://goo.gl/JanlA ) to ensure you keep the catalog up to date with the change in photo location.
Speaking of the catalog, keeping the Lightroom catalog file on your fastest internal drive will give you the best results (assuming you have enough free space to handle the growth in catalog size over time). Two: Run your system's disk maintenance functions.Windows has two utilities that can help you keep your system running in optimal condition-Error-checking and Defragmentation. Double-click My Computer and then right-click the C drive and choose Properties. Go to the Tools tab to launch these utilities. Run the Error-checking first, reboot and then come back and defrag. These can take some time to complete, so you might consider running them overnight.
On a Mac you have the Disk Utility. Open Finder and go to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility, select your disk and click the First Aid tab. Click the Repair Disk Permissions button. This is good to do before and after you install any application as a regular part of your workflow. You also want to make sure you keep all of your drivers, your operating system, and Lightroom up-to-date. Typically, the latest versions of those files will give you the best performance (and contain the most recent bug fixes). In Lightroom, go to Help > Check for Updates to see if there are any waiting.
Three: Optimize your Lightroom catalog.Lightroom has a built-in catalog maintenance function that you can run any time you feel performance is getting sluggish. You won't notice a significant difference on a small catalog, but there is no harm in running this operation. Go to File > Optimize Catalog and click the Optimize button when prompted. The optimizing function will run, which can take several minutes, and then Lightroom will let you know it is complete. This just performs some basic housekeeping on your catalog and can result in both a smaller catalog file size and a performance boost.
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