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Newsletter May 2009ewsletter Subtitle

Month Year

 

 

About SVNP 

 

The Sudbury Valley Nature Photographers

are an informal group of more than one hundred talented advanced amateur and professional photographers from the western suburbs of Boston, brought together by their passion for capturing the beauty and power of nature through photography.

 

The group was established in 1995, and regularly exhibits its members' work throughout eastern Massachusetts and on the Internet.

 

Meetings are held the second Thursday of every month at 7:00 PM in the Great Room in the Main House at Traditions Senior Living Facility in Wayland, Massachusetts.
 

Next Meeting Thursday, June 11 

 

Panoramics--Presentation

 

Charles Lowell will present a body of his work entitled “Cotuit Skiffs”, plus some panoramic images of Cape Cod dunes.

 

Members are also invited to bring several images for viewing and comment. The subject matter is "open."

 

Come early and enjoy snacks and conversation at 6:30 pm. We need volunteers to bring a few nibblies and some beverages. If you are able to help, please call Wayne Hall 978-443-9226 or Betsy Moyer.

 

You can view the club's ongoing exhibit at Traditions prior to the meeting. If you have print(s) for hanging at Traditions (and we would like more) please contact Wayne Hall (978-443-9226) or Betsy Moyer (508-358-2939). Or simply bring them to the meeting. We welcome new additions and replacements for the Traditions Exhibit.

 

Meetings are held at Traditions of Wayland, 10 Green Way, Wayland. 

May Workshop Meeting On DOF

 

Members practiced their control of image focus

 

Warren Bailey conducted a hands-on workshop for members. They had the opportunity to shoot several setups including flowers and still life arrangements. Some members shot hand held and others used tripods. The exercise was to take the same shot with varying f stops (from f 2.8 to f 32) and view the results either in camera or projected to the screen. The workshop provided a useful learning experience for the participants.

 

Before the meeting members enjoyed refreshments and conversation. Munchies and drinks were provided by Doreen O'Connor, Erin Lamb, and Jackie Greene. Thank you!

 

Other Meeting Details

 

Wayne Hall reminded members that the Sudbury Valley Trustees Annual Riverfest Photography Contest will accept framed print entries through June 5 at the SVT headquarters in Sudbury. Details about the competition may be found at the SVT website.

 

Henry Weisenberger encouraged photographers to atted the NECCC (New England Camera Club Council) Conference, to be held on the campus of U/MA Amherst on the weekend of July 10 - 12.  He passed around a conference flyer and directed members to full information at the web site, where you can register for the many programs, photo ops, and competition opportunities.  Vendors will have a roomful of bargains for purchase.  As many as 25,000 have attended the NECCC conference in the past, and around 12,000 are expected this year.

 

Report: Field Trip to Newburyport Saturday, May 2  

 

Carol Walsh led an all-day field trip to Plum Island and Newburyport, which included a morning stroll on the beach and a sunset supper at Bob Loster.  She and the other photographers, Sue Abrahamson, Betsy Moyer, and Marilyn Tromer, will give a full program at the SVNP meeting on July 9.


If you have an idea for future field trips please email Carol Walsh at

clesliewalsh@hotmail.com.  She is keeping a "running list" to see which places are appropriate for the season and how many members are interested.

 

 Meeting Topic Suggestions and Presenters Needed

 

Is there a technical topic you would like to learn about?  

 

Can you present a show of your work or images from a trip? Do you know a photographer you would like to invite to present.Please submit your suggestions to Wayne Hall.  

And we also need refreshments for the June 11 meeting. Please let Betsy Moyer know what you will bring. Thank you!

 

Exhibit Calendar

Individual Member Exhibits 
 
SVNP members - please notify
Wayne Hall of your upcoming individual exhibits for posting on the SVNP website.
 
Date                                     Member                          Exhibit Location

April 15-June 15            Sue Abrahamsen            Emerson Hospital, Concord

                                                                                  Main corridor gallery

 

 SVNP Group Exhibits
 
Date                                        Exhibit Information

 

Open Now!                             Special Website Exhibit          Member Images
                                                                                   "Reflections and Shadows"


 

Ongoing                                    Traditions                 6 Green Way, Wayland, MA

 

High Dynamic Range Photography

 

 Have you experimented with High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography yet? Digital imaging has made it much easier and Photoshop CS3 and CS4 include support for it. There are also plug-in/stand alone versions of downloadable software (Photomatix Pro 3, for example, which offers an indefinite trial but places a small watermark on images) that provide more extensive support.

 

Wikipedia includes the following about HDR--

 

"In image processing, computer graphics, and photography, high dynamic range imaging (HDRI or just HDR) is a set of techniques that allows a greater dynamic range of luminances between light and dark areas of a scene than normal digital imaging techniques. The intention of HDRI is to accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes ranging from direct sunlight to shadows.

 

"High dynamic range imaging was originally developed in the 1930s and 1940s by Charles Wyckoff. Wyckoff's detailed pictures of nuclear explosions appeared on the cover of Life magazine in the mid 1940s. The process of tone mapping together with bracketed exposures of normal digital images, giving the end result a high, often exaggerated dynamic range, was first reported in 1993, and resulted in a mathematical theory of differently exposed pictures of the same subject matter that was published in 1995 by Steve Mann and Rosalind Picard. In 1997 this technique of combining several differently exposed images to produce a single HDR image was presented to the computer graphics community by Paul Debevec.

 

"This method was developed to produce a high dynamic range image from a set of photographs taken with a range of exposures. With the rising popularity of digital cameras and easy-to-use desktop software, the term HDR is now popularly used to refer to this process. This composite technique is different from (and may be of lesser or greater quality than) the production of an image from a single exposure of a sensor that has a native high dynamic range. Tone mapping is also used to display HDR images on devices with a low native dynamic range, such as a computer screen." Click for more information at Wikipedia.  

 

If you would like to set up a local in-the-field experiment to capture some shots to tone map into an HDR image, please contact Bob Diefenbacher by email or phone (978) 443-0014.

Contact Info
Newsletter Editor: Bob Diefenbacher: 978-443-0014 or denbrook@verizon.net

Webmaster: Wayne Hall: 978-443-9226 or wah@waynehallphotography.com
SVNP Information: Betsy Moyer: 508-358-2939 or bmga@aol.com