Inclement weather kept the turnout for our February 9th meeting to just 33 members.
• Our main topic for the evening was Photo Equipment I Wish I Hadn’t Bought, where some of our members showed the rest of The Club items that either didn’t work as advertised or that are seldom used.
Jim Pollock showed a Better Beamer Flash Extender, which when used gives a “flashed” look to wildlife as opposed to more pleasing natural light. He also shared his experience with an expodisc, a device for helping to set a custom white balance, a process that Jim feels is too tedious and takes too much time when shooting on location.
Chris Jorgensen brought in a portable 40 Gig hard drive that still works well, but at $600 is vastly undersized by today’s standards. He also showed us a Canon 2x teleconverter that extends a lens to twice its length, but sometimes produces soft images.
Standing in for Dave Noordhoff, Vince Gagnier showed Dave’s set of neutral density filters that he bought but never uses because he finds them cumbersome to mount and fiddly to change.
Vince brought in an extra large backpack that turned out to be extremely heavy and difficult to carry when filled. He also showed us his Canon 50mm lens, which although produces sharp results, loses out in favour of more flexible zoom lenses. An Arctic Butterfly sensor cleaner was also on Vince’s list of seldom used purchases. His wet swab sensor cleaners have also been retired.
*Note* The best sensor cleaner that we have found is a Sensor Gel Stick
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* We must note that all of the above products work well under the right conditions and our members’ only real complaint was that they bought these items but seldom use them. Links are provided for reference only.*
• During the break we were treated to an on-screen display of some of our member’s favourite digital photos as assembled by Dave Noordhoff.
• Chad Barry presented an excellent tutorial on Converting Photos To Black And White using Nik Silver Efex Pro, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom.
• For those using Adobe Photoshop Elements, Tere Deslippe showed us some of the methods she uses to change a colour photo to black and white.
For review, have a look at this page on Black And White Conversion Techniques.
Thanks to all of our presenters who took the time to assemble informative and well thought-out presentations for this evening. The membership appreciates your efforts.
• Our next meeting will be held on February 23rd when our main topic will be Useful Equipment I’m Glad I Bought, where some of us will share what has worked for them in our efforts to take better photos. Also on tap will be the CCC Competitions for the Novice group (Cityscape) and the Intermediate, Advanced and Salon members (Open in colour). Jana Smith will present What I Shoot and Keith Blackwell will be featured in Twelve Photos In A Year Is A Great Crop. We also invite all of our members to bring in a print of any size, any subject for display and discussion. If you haven’t participated in the print displays before, now is the time! C’mon, show us one of your cool prints.
“The term accessories has come to include a host of photographic gadgets of questionable value…” – Ansel Adams
When you take a picture, don’t jab at the shutter button. Squeeze it gently and evenly, eventually getting a feel for exactly when the shutter will trip. This helps reduce camera shake.