Category: Assignment

February Share and Learn – Your Best Shots from 2023! The year ends and I think “What did we do last year”? Hello Lightroom for a review of all the photos that I took, it’s become a journal of our yearly adventures, from trips afar to special events to local highlights. As you might assume, I take my camera everywhere including my cell phone. Reviewing 2023 was an exciting year and my Lightroom catalog did not disappoint. Whatever system you have to download your photos – check them out if you haven’t. I bet you can find a few to share and if they have stories all the better.

I’ve had the privilege of photographing my grandchildren for many events but their graduation from UT is emotional on many levels. She was beaming, graduation was around the corner, and she was looking forward to moving on. Her life is now filled with teaching and making more plans for the future. But I have these photos of a special day with my granddaughter and my daughter. Amazing day and memories for a lifetime. I would love to see your photos too! Meeting Feb 20th, 6:30 pm. See you there!

For those who like to plan. Below are the Share and Learn Topics for 2024 🙂

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For those of us who like to plan, I’m posting the Share and Learn Assignments for 2024. I’ve tried to make them fairly general so you have subject options. For example, May is “Looking Up”. That could be any subject that is above you, a building, birds, sky, sun, moon, stars, ceilings, etc.

As a camera club, we encourage our members to practice their photography. Our club activities are excellent group outings to bring that camera out and spend a day with fellow members doing something you love – photography. The first outing of the year is on January 19 to the Houston Zoo. Check out the Activities News Article on our Web Page.

We also have excellent speakers who share their tips and advice for taking photos. The subjects vary so check out the club calendar to see the topics and speakers that are upcoming for this year.

And for more advice and tips we have a great library of workshops and speaker videos along with the Library Series with topics that range from basics to post-processing. The next workshop is on Feb 24, Camera Basics by Chuck Dugand.

Exciting things for 2024 and if you haven’t renewed or would like to join us check out the Membership Page for instructions to join or renew.

And keep the 2024 assignments in mind when out and about with your camera!

The best camera is the one you have with you so never leave home without it as photos are priceless, a moment in time never to be repeated, savor those moments with your photos.

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I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. I admit that I’m still behind in taking down the outside lights and inside decorations. With the cold spell coming I’m putting extra effort on the outside lights.

So now for the business at hand, our January meeting. Tuesday’s meeting is quickly approaching and we need your Share and Learn photos. January’s assignment “Smart Phone Captures” can be any subject, your choice. The photo of St Martha’s was taken on the Feast of the Epiphany as Mike and I left church.

What photos on your smartphones would you like to share? Currently, there are no January Share and Learn in our Dropbox, so please don’t wait, upload today. I’ll add the photos to the agenda so you have until 3 PM Tuesday.

Tuesday’s meeting will be both an in-person meeting at the church: First Baptist Church 3500 Woodland Hills Drive, and via Zoom (look for the link sent from Chuck). So check out the photos on your smartphone and upload them to our Dropbox today!

Happy New Year!

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I have often heard that our Share and Learn could be more educational if we explained what processes we used to achieve the final photo. So this month will be a challenge, we want to see the “Before” photo and the “After” photo.

I was inspired by Chris Summers’s posts from France and his picture of the Senanque Abbey, which Mike and I visited in 2015, to relook at those photos. As you can see from the thumbnails, I took 7 photos in portrait, 1/180 sec; f/13; ISO 100 on a tripod. I photo merged them in Lightroom, then cropped the panorama, applied an HDR preset, sharpened in Topaz and this year took the photo to Luminar Neo to replace the sky (which I could not do in 2015).

I arranged these in PowerPoint and then copied them here so I could show you the progression. Your after photo could be as simple as a preset you like, using an app like Topaz or Lumniar Neo or any of your favorite post-processing techniques that you’d like to share. It can be as simple or as complicated as you like. Limit your photos to two sets of Before and After. Not certain if this will be a total bust, but I’m hoping some of you will share your experiences with enhancing photos.

I will not be at the next meeting, I’m double booked that night with the KPTA annual meeting so Tim Sullivan will be the meeting host. He will probably run the Share and Learn from Dropbox so you’ll have a couple of extra hours to get them uploaded.

The meeting is on Tuesday, November 14, at 6:30 p.m. at the Kingwood First Baptist Church and via Zoom. Mark your calendars and let’s see your “Before and After” photos!

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Kathy Muhle – Lunar Eclipse – ISO 6400 600mm, f/6.3, 0.3 sec 202211

I’m giving everyone the opportunity to share their favorite photos for next month. If you share a photo from a club activity that would be even better.

This sounds like an easy assignment but picking just 3 photos that are your favorite can be difficult. Spoken from personal experience. Take your time, review your catalogs, and tell a story with your submissions.

The meeting will be on October 17, 6:30 PM at the First Baptist Church in Kingwood, 3500 Woodlands Hill Drive, and via Zoom. Your old Zoom links should work. Chuck ended up getting several requests just prior to the meeting for the Zoom link so please check your links when you get them in e-mail.

Have fun reviewing your photos for our next meeting. See you there!

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