February Newsletter Released

Retzer Nature Center

Camera Club

February 2013 Newsletter

February Meeting - February 6, 2013, 7:00 PM

 

Program:

You have taken your pictures and downloaded them to your computer. Now what do you do to make them look their best? At our February meeting Shawn Hibbard will discuss how a good workflow can help you bring out the best in your images. Her program will cover RAW conversion, saving files and backup, color correction, cropping for printing and archiving images. Shawn will use Lightroom and Photoshop to demonstrate her workflow, but the concepts can be applied to any software.

Member Image Sharing:

Members are also encouraged to submit several (up to five) images to share with the club for gentle critique.  This is a great way to get suggestions for improving your images and developing your photographic skills.  We would like to encourage members to submit images for sharing in advance by email to Rick Vollbrecht at Rvollb@wi.rr.com.  This will help to streamline the process of viewing member images. We look forward to seeing your images.

In order to give everyone a chance to share their images during the year, we have decided to provide a schedule listing individuals who will be given priority at each meeting.  Other individuals may also provide images which will be shared as time permits.

The following members should provide images to share at the February 6th meeting:

          Mark Blackman, Craig Brown, Peggy Christopherson, Carl Courtois, Jim & Debby Donner

2013 Club Programs:

The following is a list of programs that are planned for 2013. 

March 6, 2013 - Wildlife Photography - Birds - Isolating the Background  Tom Wright and Jim Edlhuber will discuss how the background can make or break a wildlife image. 

April 3, 2012 - Flash Photography  Chris Jourdan will discuss various aspects of flash photography and how to use flash to enhance images.

May 1, 2012 - TBD

June 5, 2013 - Wildflower Photography  Rick Vollbrecht will discuss equipment, techniques and locations for getting great wildflower photographs.

July 3, 2013 - No Meeting

August 7, 2013 - PSA Region 21 Image Selection  We will select member images to submit to the annual PSA Region 21 inter-club competition.  We will also spend additional time on member image critiques.

September 4, 2013 - Landscape Photography  Terry Molter will present landscape photography with an emphasis on Fall colors.

October 2, 2013 - Miscellaneous Topics  This will be a meeting dedicated to a number of smaller topics:

          Roy Schneider will talk about packing your photo gear for travel.

          Jim Edlhuber will tell us how to keep our lens clean.

          Rick Vollbrecht will cover resizing images for digital projection and competitions and how to transfer images to a thumb drive.

          Tom Wright will discuss offsite image backup and cloud storage.

          Terry Molter will discuss procedures for photographing the moon.

November 6, 2013 - Simple Steps to Improve Images  Roy Schneider will discuss simple steps to improve your images in image editing software.

December 4, 2013 - TBD

Special Note on April Meeting on Flash Photography:   As noted above, Chris Jourdan will be discussing flash photography at our April meeting.  If you have any particular questions or issues relating to the use of flash that you would like to have addressed, please forward them to John Hasse at J3hasse@hotmail.com.  We will ask Chris to include them in his program.

Field Trips:

Photo field trips are a great way for us to share our common enjoyment of photography, learn some new techniques and share in camaraderie while getting to know our fellow club members.  Frank Remfrey has agreed to again coordinate some field trips for the club.  If you have some ideas of where you would like to see us go, please let Frank know (FRemfrey@wi.rr.com).  Better yet, why not offer to coordinate a field trip.  It's not hard - find a place you would like to go, pick a date and we can announce it to the club.

Future Events of Interest:

February 10, 2013 (Rescheduled from January 27th) - PSA Wisconsin Chapter Meeting 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM  Waukesha State Bank, Lower Level.  Take I-94 West, exit 282.  Go North on Hwy 67.  The bank is on the left

Showing of 2012 PSA Chapters Showcase

Selection of 12 images for 2012 PSA Chapters Showcase.  Each member may bring 2 digital images.

Members may bring images for a Bring-Your-Own show

Afternoon program - John Rummel and Mark Weiter will discuss their methods of photographing the Milky Way and lighthouses at the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.

March 9, 2013 - WACCO Photography Seminar  Door County Photographer Dan Anderson will be the featured speaker.  A brochure is attached.  For more information about Dan, check his web site: www.danielandersonphotography.com  Early registration deadline is February 9th.

March 10, 2013 - PSA Wisconsin Chapter Meeting 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM  Waukesha State Bank, Oconomowoc, Lower Level.  Take I-94 West, exit 282.  Go North on Hwy 67. 

Business meeting and election of officers. 

Region 21 Individual Showcase - PSA members may bring two images (print or projected) for consideration for the Showcase. 

Members may bring images for a Bring-Your-Own show, 

The afternoon program will feature Jim Cowell with a program on Natural Element Photography.

May 4, 2013 - WACCO Photography Seminar  Fuzzy Duenkel, a well known local portrait photographer, will conduct an afternoon program.  A registration brochure will be available soon.  Check the WACCO  web site for further updates.  To see some of Fuzzy's work, check his web site:  www.duenkel.com

May 17 - 19, 2013 - PSA Wisconsin Chapter Photo Outing to Door County.  PSA members will meet in Door County for a weekend of photography

August 1-4, 2013 - Southwestern Michigan Council of Camera Clubs (SWMCCC) Summer Weekend of Photography The Southwestern Michigan Council of Camera Clubs invites you to attend the 39th annual SWMCCC Summer Weekend of Photography and Digital Imaging. Whether a beginner or an advanced photographer, you will find instructional opportunities and shooting sessions designed to enhance your creative skills and knowledge of photographic tools. Join us for a weekend of photographic learning, fun and fellowship.  A number of our members have attended this event in the past and have found it very educational and enjoyable.

Photo Ops:

As a club, our members have a wide variety of subjects that we enjoy photographing.  This newsletter can serve as an excellent way to share various photo opportunities with club members.  If you know of interesting subjects or events that may interest other club members, please forward them to Rick Vollbrecht so they can be included in future newsletters.  If you are interested in having others join you, that information can also be included.  It is fun to shoot with a group!

Photography Classes:

A variety of non-credit, reasonably priced classes on photography and Photoshop are available at Waukesha County Technical College (WCTC) and UW Waukesha.  Check their web sites for more information.

WCTC:  www.wctc.edu

UW Waukesha:  www.waukesha.uwc.edu 

If you are aware of other photography classes or seminars, please forward the information to Rick Vollbrecht

Photo Contests:

Wisconsin Great Lakes Photo Contest - Deadline February 1st, 2013

Looking for photos of Lake Michigan or Lake Superior taken from Wisconsin.  Topics include shorleines, people enjoying the lake, cultural and historic features.  For more information check the Wisconsin DNR website: www.DNR.wi.gov/topic/greatlakes/contestrules

Dane County Humane Society Four Lakes Wildlife Center 1st Annual Focus on Wildlife Photo Contest - Deadline February 16, 2013

Looking for original and beautiful wildlife photographs that reveal the natural character and beauty of Wisconsin wildlife.  For more information check their website:  www.giveshelter.org

Old World Wisconsin Foundation 2013 Photo Contest - Deadline August 30, 2013

For more information go to the Foundation web site:  www.friendsofoww.org

Websites of Interest:

Retzer Camera Club blog: www.RetzerCameraClub.blogspot.com 

WACCO (Wisconsin Area Camera Clubs Organization): www.wicameraclubs.org 

PSA (Photographic Association of America):  www.PSA-photo.org

PSA Wisconsin:  www.PSA.wisconsin.org

Friends of Retzer Nature Center: www.FriendsofRetzer.org

Comments on the Newsletter:  We have been using this newsletter format for the last several months as a way to provide you with more information about the club activities and other opportunities related to photography.  What do you think?  Are you finding this useful?  Is there too much/too little information?  Is there something else you would like to see?  If you have any comments about the newsletter, please forward them to Rick Vollbrecht (Rvollb@wi.rr.com).