Minutes of the Fontenelle Forest Photo Club November 17, 2020 Meeting

About 17 people attended and 7 additional members attended via zoom

President Phil Mininni, Presiding

PHOTO DISPLAYS:

Judy Dye:

Vine photos are the next category due.

Treasurers Report:

Kathleen : There is $1297 in the club’s treasury . $75.00 was spent for the photo contest judge

Annual dues are due!!!!

The program for tonight will be a presentation by Aaron Frey of Rockbrook Camera on the latest in photography equipment (as well as some other equipment):

Aaron mentioned that Rockbrook camera is now located only at 168^th and Center at the Legacy Shopping Center. He spent a lot of time on Mirror-less Cameras which are now featured at the store. He mentioned that these cameras are lighter weight with a smaller camera size, faster and have more tools than previous cameras. They are fully weather sealed and are now available in full frame. Some have face detection and animal eye detection. He specifically talked about the Nikon Z series and the Canon EOS-R. Either is available in the $1000-1500 price range. He mentioned that new lens mounts are available for these cameras and the lens available for them are very sharp and fast. Both Nikon and Canon have built-in stabilization into the camera body. He also mentioned the Sony mirror-less cameras that are available in full frame and that they are very compact. He then talked about some of the new lens available including the Sigma and Tamron 600mm lens that are reasonably priced. He finished by talking about a new video camera and new tripods available at the store. To finish he also talked about a couple of new camera bags now available as well as new Led lights and memory cards available.

Thanks to Linda Schuett and Linnea Baney for bringing treats tonite.

The meeting was adjourned at about 8 P.M.

Submitted by Eric Scholar, Secretary.

Additional minutes info:

There were no volunteers to take up the Vice President position. Kathleen told me she and the other officers would be able to handle a meeting when the president could not attend

President Phil is working on a December speaker

Christmas slide show for the December Meeting. “anything goes” will be the subject. There will be another post with details for submission.

No Potluck dinner for December meeting.

Phil is going through user’s and subscriber’s list on the website to get rid of spammers. Many are no longer viable e-mail addresses.

Thanks to Kathleen for picking up a bottle of sanitizer. It was also convenient that the forest had tables set up with little bottles of sanitizer. I thought that it was a more comfortable meeting with tables to sit at!

Thanks to Brent Headley for monitoring the Zoom call. he let me know when the “BRAND NEW MICROPHONE” audio quit.

These are the slides used by Steve Carson for his presentation on photo stacking on October 15. I don’t have any of his talk. So if you didn’t hear his presentation these may not make much sense. Thanks to Steve for presenting this. It was interesting. I have to apologize to our Zoom attendees for the screw up with the lack of the screen share of the slides during the meeting. I will post some videos on stacking later.

The slide below are images of a nebula taken through color filters and then combined for a color image.

I watched another basic Photoshop video by Do Space of Omaha. It was a Zoom call. It was recorded and posted on their Facebook page. Click on the link. It should take you to a Facebook page with the video there. Be sure to check the speaker icon to un-mute the audio. It is about 55 minutes long. I am going to re watch it, as information got by me. I am not as attentive as I used to be.

Meeting October 15, 2020

Our next photo club meeting will be on October 15. Steve Carlson will be giving us some information on a process called “Photo Stacking”. Donna and Kathleen are working on another Zoom meeting for our members uncomfortable attending in person.

Ken Smith

Ken was our contest judge. He writes; if any of the club members want my thoughts on any photo, they can e-mail me the photo. I don’t mind giving my 2 cents worth. Thanks Ken.

Dues Due

Please bring your dues to the October meeting. If you can’t attend you can mail in your dues. See the page about “Becoming A Member” for the form to mail in with your dues.

Forest and Library Photos

For October

Anything Pink and Rocks

For November

Statues and Vines

Better Bird Photography

Kathleen Crawford-Rose received info for taking better bird photos.

Bird photography can seem daunting at first—from figuring out what gear to buy, to finding birds to photograph, to mastering your settings—so I’m sharing my top tips to help you. More than anything, I want to help you realize your goals when it comes to capturing stunning images of these magnificent creatures, no matter how modest or ambitious they are.

Melissa Groo
Wildlife Photographer, Conservationist, Course Instructor

Tips are a .pdf document

Macro Photography

Here is a short video on ideas to try at home for some very interesting macro photography!

Congratulations to our photo contest winners. I want to thank our Judge Ken Smith. This is our first time in doing this on line. Another big shout out to Donna Gray for putting this together.

Club Dues

We didn’t bring up dues in September’s meeting because Kathleen was heavily involved with the Zoom process. We will be asking for your dues to be paid at the October meeting. I hope to have training accomplished so Kathleen will take your dues.

Zoom

Our first meeting for the club’s new year was a success, sort of. It was our first attempt at Zoom meetings. There were a few minor technical issues. If we are to continue to provide Zoom participation, we need to come up with a better way of our audio transmission to the viewers. I made the mistake of getting up from Kathy’s computer and so her microphone in the computer could not pick me up. I do not want to address our members from a chair. I am thinking of using a USB connected microphone. Video is another issue for now. It is a lot of work and Kathleen and Donna deserve a bunch of credit for their hard work in making this happen. I will like to eventually to not do Zoom and have you all attend personally. Fingers crossed.

Thank you to those who commented on their experience with the Zoom meeting below.

If anyone else has experience with Zoom meetings please feel free to offer your input and assistance.

Website Home Page Slideshow

I have put names of the photographers on their respective photos. I have also labeled the winners and categories won.

Photo Stacking

Member’s asked what this is. I am slightly familiar with its use in astro-photography. Another use is in macro-photography. Because macro-photography and shallow depth of field go hand in hand, photo stacking can be used to stack shots of the same subject taken at different focus points. And when processing is completed your subject is completely in focus.

Steve Carson will give us a presentation about photo stacking during our October meeting.

Comments from Zoom users

4022509013@######.com wrote

Thought the photo contest was great. We watched it on Zoom and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Thanks to you, Kathleen, and Donna for forging ahead with the contest!

Allen K wrote

The judge and power point program worked fine because both were in or close to the camera and mic.  The meeting did NOT work because neither the camera or mic were anywhere near Phil.  I don’t think our regular meetings would be worth ZOOMING unless they were a power point or similar format with seated speaker in front of the computer.

Just my thoughts

Meeting Photos

I want to let everyone know we are back. The forest is letting us hold our meetings at the forest for the time being. Donna and Kathleen is going to try something new, as far as the club is concerned. The are setting up a Zoom call for our members who are not yet comfortable attending tomorrow’s meeting in person. Kathleen has already sent out info to our members for Zoom invitations.

We are taking precautions at the forest. Seating will be spaced out. Treats will be individually wrapped. Speaker will be far enough away from you. If you are attending please wear a mask.

Photo Contest

I hope everyone has had the opportunity to see the contest entries on our website. Some very beautiful photos. Did you vote for your favorite?

Agenda

Short and sweet! Ken Smith will announce photo contest winners and critique our photos

Short Business meeting

Steve Carson will be our speaker for October 15. He will be discussing the art of “photo stacking”

Rockbrook Camera may be showing off “what’s new” for November. Due to the Covid they have laid off people and closed a store. If they cannot do it I am working on alternative speakers.

Composition

I have chosen a video that illustrates some common mistakes when composing shots. I understand one can have a different opinion on what makes a good composition in photography. I am certainly no expert. Please view this person’s video. He also discusses lighting. It is about nineteen and and a half minutes long.