http://kpa.dunnnet.com/ Kern Photography Association en-us Wed, 17 Dec 2008 19:59:06 GMT 1440 CPG-Nuke Dragonfly Kern Photography Association News http://backend.userland.com/rss http://kpa.dunnnet.com/images/kpalogo11.gif http://kpa.dunnnet.com/ http://kpa.dunnnet.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=34 Bird-PhotographyPhoto by jaki good The following thoughts on Backyard Bird Photography was submitted by NaturesPixel. Check out her Flickr account - particularly her bird photography (one of which is the second shot in this article). Best Time of Year The best time of year to photograph birds is Spring. That way you have the opportunity to capture birds you wouldn’t normally see due to spring migration. Later in spring you can also capture the adults tending to their offspring. That being said, any time of year can be good, in late Autumn you will get the migration coming back down south and winter you may have birds that live north during summer but live in your back yard during winter. Best Time of Day Early morning is best. I find within the 3 hours after the sun rises the birds are at their most active. At this time the sun is not at full strength which gives you nice even light. Two hours before sunset can also be a very fruitful time. Wed, 17 Dec 2008 19:59:06 GMT http://kpa.dunnnet.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=33 In this post, professional photographer Yanik Chauvin[align=center] from Yanik’s Photo School shows us how to take stunning super macro photos. I’m a big fan of macro photography. So much so that when I chose my first ever digital camera, the Nikon Coolpix 4500, it was mostly base on its macro capabilities. And when I purchased my Nikon D70 with kit lens, the next lens in my bag was the Sigma 105mm macro. Thu, 06 Nov 2008 19:48:10 GMT http://kpa.dunnnet.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=32 Halloween Editor's Note Since Halloween is a holiday that presents terrific photo possibilities, it's no surprise that "How to Take Great Halloween Photographs" is one of our most popular "How To" features. Because we've received so many requests to run it again, we're happy to oblige. If you've never read this article on Halloween photos, we promise you'll take better pictures of the goblins and ghouls that you meet on All Hallows Eve after reading our Halloween photo tips. If you have read it in the past, why not review it as a brush up? And, for more merriment, don't forget to check out the NYIP Project Redeye Halloween Photo Challenge video on YouTube." After all, like Christmas, Halloween comes but once a year! If you see a ghost, don't forget to say "Boo!" Fri, 31 Oct 2008 21:43:50 GMT http://kpa.dunnnet.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=31 -or- It's the Leaves, not their Fall. Plus: Fall Color FAQs. By NYI Dean Chuck DeLaney There is perhaps, no more pleasant outdoor photography adventure than the pursuit of the colors of autumn. Let's modify that – certainly no more solitary outdoor photography adventure exists. Frolicking in the woods with a model or two might strike some as even more pleasant. Granted, there certainly are greater outdoor photography adventures, including many grueling and more dangerous ones. But a trek in a hardwood forest on an autumn day – morning, afternoon, or evening – with camera in hand, is hard to beat. Another plus: the subject matter is very accessible. For photographers who lack great mobility, fall colors are within reach. Simply put, autumn photography is both pleasant and easy. There are three main reasons for this. [align=center] Wed, 10 Sep 2008 22:40:54 GMT http://kpa.dunnnet.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=30 by Gary Nugent 'Photography Composition' is something of a dirty word in some photographic circles, because of the way that certain rules used to be raised to the status of a religion, and a picture which did not follow the Rules of Photography Composition was automatically disregarded by the self-appointed pundits in the camera clubs and photo magazines. Even so, the old 'rules' are excellent general guidelines, though you should never be afraid to break them if you can get a better picture that way. Composition is all about how you arrange the elements of the scene in front of you. While you can't move the landscape, you will still have plenty of opportunities for perfecting your composition. Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:39:00 GMT http://kpa.dunnnet.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=29 by Bob Atkins; revised June 2008 There seems to be a lot of confusion among some new digital camera owners about exactly what the difference is between RAW, JPEG and TIFF files. This article is intended to be a very basic guide to these file types and how they are related in a typical digital camera. First some basics The digital sensor in the majority of digital cameras is what is known as a BAYER PATTERN sensor. This relates to the arrangement of red, green and blue sensitive areas. A typical sensor looks like this: Wed, 23 Jul 2008 19:08:26 GMT http://kpa.dunnnet.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=28 Techniques and Tips by Jean-Sébastien Monzani; created July 2008 In this article, Jean-Sébastien offers advice on how to achieve skin softening using low and high pass filtering. The article is enhanced with illustrative figures and screen shots, and includes example images from Jean's portfolio. Whether you are just entering the world of digital photography and need some tips and advice on how best to post-process your images, or are a seasoned pro, the insights shared here should be helpful with your own digital post-processing techniques. Advanced skin softening with low and high pass filtering and noise reduction This tutorial will show you how to adjust a model's skin without losing skin structure and texture. I call this approach "High Pass + Low Pass Filtering." It splits the image into two layers: * One layer holds the texture and fine details of the image (high frequencies) * One layer holds the tones of the skin and its color (low frequencies) Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:58:23 GMT http://kpa.dunnnet.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=27 I normally talk about the importance of using a flash when taking shots into the sun to give sufficient light to add features to your subject but there are also times when making your subject featureless apart from their outline against a bright background can be most effective - or when in other words silhouette is a worth exploring. Silhouettes are a wonderful way to convey drama, mystery, emotion and mood to the viewers of your photos and often stand out in an album because of the combination of their simplicity but also the story that they convey. I love them because they don’t give the viewer of a clear picture of everything but leave part of the image up to their imagination to wonder about. Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:51:19 GMT http://kpa.dunnnet.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=26 By Trisha Leung Many of you photographers have probably stared at a silhouette photo and wondered to yourself how exactly they were taken. Silhouettes could contain a couple’s moment on the beach, a person staring out at a landscape, or an amazing cityscape with the sun going down in the background. Silhouette photographers must have great timing and perfect exposure settings. Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:43:42 GMT http://kpa.dunnnet.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=25 How do you meter a sunset? Or a flag backlit by the sun? Or a very dark-skinned subject? Or any other "tricky" exposure situation? One way is to point your camera with its built-in meter toward the subject...and pray a lot. The exposure you get may be right on the money, but it may be way off too. There's got to be a better way. And there is! In a "simple" lighting situation - for example, a portrait of your friend taken outdoors under the shade of a tree - the traditional aim-your camera-and-trust-the-meter method usually works just fine. But when the lighting is more complex, you often need to use a different method to get the right exposure. A method that involves reading the light hitting your subject, rather than reading the subject itself. You can do this in either of two different ways - either read the light off a gray card or take an incident reading. Either way should bring you the same result as the other. And both are simple, once you know how. Fri, 13 Jun 2008 21:35:54 GMT