The evening will be a fun “ask the photographer” session with Jordan
McCullough on topics including wedding coverage, architecture imagery, and
abstraction techniques. Be sure to think over these topics and bring your
questions!

If over the recent holidays you’ve had time to play with this month’s photo
assignment, please bring your best images for “Abstraction & Patterns” for a
fun group evaluation of imagery, best approaches to using photography as an
abstract art form, and how concepts can be communicated through shape and
color.

Should you have any questions, please email feedback@hrphotoclub.com.

From Hobby to Hard Cash
with Jordan McCullough

Looking for ways to turn your photographic passion into real cash? Whether you’re seeking a career change, or would like a little extra cash on hand to buy new camera gear, this presentation is for you.

Learn the secrets of the micro-stock industry, what’s hot in today’s trends of sales, and how to get your own portfolio selling images and making you cash.

Monthly Photo Assignment

Be sure to submit your monthly photograph assignment photos, up to three, to feedback@hrphotoclub.com. This month’s assignment is “food,” and detail can be found here.

Photo submissions should include the photograph title and photographer’s name so credit may be given in the new Gallery.

Photographic Insights on Landscape and Nature with Jim Bennett
With Jim’s imagery featured throughout the library during the month of September, he will be sharing his insights on the photographic process and the techniques employed to produce his photography style.

Digital Manipulation and Compositing with Joe Bonita
Stepping beyond the basics of out-of-camera imagery, Joe will share his tips and techniques to digital manipulating, altering, and compositing multiple images to produce artistic expression through photographs.

Sponsored Giveaway
Be sure to attend for your chance to win our evening’s prize sponsored by WHCC. A big thanks to the fantastic folks at WHCC for supporting the Highlands Ranch Photo Club and supplying us with this month’s giveaway.

The Web site has been updated. Anyone not already receiving club e-mail can sign up at the home page. The new e-mail is feedback@hrphotoclub.com.

Jordan announced that August 10 would be a full moon. August 11 would be a good time to observe the Perseids meteor shower and for some great low light photography attempts.

Club member Jim Bennett will be the featured artist at the Highlands Ranch Library for the month of September. Everyone is encouraged to view his photographs while they are on display.

Five Quick Tricks for Better Pics Presented by Jordan McCullough

Jordan McCullough presented five tricks for better photographs. These tips used Photoshop or its baby brother Photoshop Elements. He illustrated the adjustments needed to accomplish these adjustments and showed photographs before and after adjustments were made.

1. Quick Trick Tonality used levels adjustment to make blacks look black and whites look white.

2. Quick Trick Instant Contrast used unsharp mask to achieve a smooth, sharper image. He recommended using a bigger radius for a smoother look – up to 45 percent maximum. When making adjustments for people or portraits, the radius needs to be kept big in order to avoid harsh lines and sharply defined wrinkles. Jordan explained that using the curves tool changes the tonality, while unsharp mask increases contrast.

3. Quick Trick Color Contrast Boost does contrast and saturation all at once. Using an overlay increases vividness (saturation). He suggested trying 25 to 30 percent opacity for the top layer.

4. Quick Trick High Pass Contrast works especially well with athletes or masculine portraits. As with previous tricks, this uses an overlay. Select Filter, then High Pass. A bigger number makes crisper detail and reduces problems with ISO noise.

5. Quick Trick Digital Facial uses layers to lighten facial wrinkles and unflattering shadows. He used a clone tool at 10 percent for this trick.

Show and Tell Event

August’s photo assignment of silhouettes proved to be a great deal of fun for club members, and challenged everyone to view objects and subject matter in an entirely different way.

Special Thanks

A special thanks to Nancy C. for note taking, meeting minutes, and the write up. Nancy, we appreciate everything you’ve done for the club and wish you the very best of luck whereever your photography, travels, and new home might be. Best of luck!

Meeting minutes and notes will be posted in the next few days, so be sure to check back here on HRPhotoClub.com.

Quick Tricks for Better Pics
7:00PM – 7:45PM
Jordan McCullough will be providing a presentation on quick tricks to improving images across a range of subjects. From enhancing a landscape photo’s contrast to portrait softening, and much more.

Questions & Answers
7:45PM – 8:00PM
Bring your photographic questions and discuss with speaker Jordan McCullough and the photo club. All members are encouraged to lend their insight and experience.

Show and Tell
8:00PM – 8:50PM
Bring your best images to share with the club.

As the August photo assignment was made a bit later in the month of July, any show-and-tell images are welcome for the meeting. If you have completed or worked on images for the silhouette assignment, please bring them!

Please note the new show-and-tell guidelines available via this link.

• Limit of 5 photographs
• Each image portrays a unique subject
• Discuss technique or reason behind each image

Several first-time visitors were welcomed to the meeting.

Jordan asked for suggestions from members for future events or meeting topics. Several people were interested in field trips. Field trip topics suggested included flowers and wildflowers at Civic Green Park next to the library, city skyline shots and low light photography. We also discussed picking a general topic and having an assignment to bring three to five photos on that theme. We will also continue to have show and tell sessions periodically. Any other suggestions should be addressed to Jordan.

Sports and Portrait Photography
John Leyba

Denver Post photojournalist John Leyba was our featured presenter at the July meeting. We were treated to an interesting account of his experiences at the recent Winter Olympics held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

John was on assignment in Vancouver for a month. His day typically starated at 4 a.m. and lasted until 1 a.m. every day. Although his goal was to cover three events each day, that was not always possible. The bus ride to mountain events took 2 1/2 hours each direction.

Weather was not an issue as far as being too cold, but the big problem was rain. Some days he was covering mountain events, it was a big problem to keep his equipment dry and free of condensation.

His favorite event was the gold medal hockey game. From Leyba’s point of view, it was better than being at the Super Bowl or a Stanley Cup final.

Leyba explained the nuts and bolts of this kind of sports photo assignment. He lived on M&Ms and Coke because he did not have the opportunity to leave for meals. In order to save a good vantage point for shooting, he had to arrive at a venue early and stay there. If a photographer left, he or she would lose the spot.

In addition to a firsthand look at his Olympic coverage, John answered a variety of technical questions from club members. He also treated us to a slide show with a variety of his sports and portrait photography.

Unlike the casual photographer, newspaper photographers must adhere to a strict code of ethics. Very few changes are allowed. John explained the allowable changes as the sort of thing that might have been done in a darkroom in past days. Some allowable changes would be to straighten, lighten or dark. When editing for news photos, there can be nothing taken out or added to the photo. He gave several examples of photojournalists who were fired for removing something on a table or adding extra people to improve the composition.

John’s next big assignments will be to cover Rockies games and the Bronco’s football camp which begins August 1. Thank you very much for sharing the evening with us!

Show and tell:

• Jim brought photos from Mt. Evans and Roxborough.
• Joyce brought 4th of July photos, a bee on a lavendar plant, a day lily with photo effects and a sunset shot.
• Lou brought a variety of photos from Germany, Austria and several U.S. locations. His photos included some bird closeups.
• Dave shot his cats and some intriguingly humorous shots from the Monaco Hotel.
• Jordan showed several homeless beggars from a recent trip to India, St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Ireland, downtown Denver at summer solstice and a butterfly using image stabilization for a handheld shot.

On the schedule:

• August 10, 2010: To be determined. We may have a software representative.