Photo competition in support of Helderberg Hospice

HH PosterHelderberg Hospice are holding a photography competition to raise funds. The exact prizes have not yet been announced as they’re awaiting final confirmation but they have been promised a camera as the prize for the overall winner. Once they notify us of the exact prizes we’ll update this post with the details.

I have asked about copyright implications as I know this is of concern to some of our members. This is the answer I received.

As far as copyright goes we only ask (on the entry form which as to be completed in-store at Kodak Waterstone and Somerset Mall) for the right to exhibit the winning photographs at an Open Day at Helderberg Hospice in November. Winning photographs will be sent each month to Bolander, District Mail and the Gordon’s Bay Review for publication. We would also like to post those photos on our Facebook page as part of the promotion of the competition, but we would always credit the photographer for the use of the photo.

Here are some details of the competition. You can also click the image above to see a larger version of the poster.

Life in Full Focus photographic competition

Whether you’re serious about photography or just a happy snapper, your photographs could make you a winner in the Life in Full Focus competition launched by Helderberg Hospice in conjunction with Kodak Superfoto. There are three categories in which to enter and you may interpret them as widely and creatively as you like. Action photo lovers may enjoy entering the Making the Most of the Moment section, while parents as well as those who specialise in macro photography could find their niche in It’s the Little Things that Matter. Anyone who has been stopped in their tracks by a spectacular view or sunset will want to enter the Wow! category.

Photographs must be submitted for development to Kodak Superfoto at Waterstone Village or Somerset Mall by the last Monday of August, September and November. Monthly winners will be announced in the local media the following week and an overall winner of the competition will be announced in November. A R5 entry fee will go towards Helderberg Hospice and an exhibition of winning photographs will be on display at the Hospice during November.

For enquiries contact Patricia McNaught Davis at 082 731 5736 or at patricia@helderberghospice.org.za

Is HDR a Fad?

20140427-134039.jpgNicole S. Young writes;

I recently read a blog post from someone who casually mentioned that HDR (High Dynamic Range photography) was a “fad”, and they were hoping it would eventually go away. Now this was, of course, a very opinionated statement, but it was not really one that was embellished with photos or even an explanation as to what their own definition of HDR is. After reading that it got me thinking, and I knew it would be a good topic to post here. So, without further ado, here’s my very own opinionated “rant” about HDR.

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5 Lessons Vivian Maier Has Taught Me About Street Photography

20140427-123437.jpgEric Kim presents a fairly in-depth look at the fascinating photographic life of Vivian Maier, ending with some lessons he’s drawn from her work.

He begins;

A street photographer whose work and life I hugely admire is that of Vivian Maier. For those of you who haven’t heard her story, she worked and lived as a nanny her entire adult life– and shot street photography on the side for herself. She created incredible black and white and color work through the 1950′s all the way through the late 1990′s. She shot an incredible amount of images– that amount to over 100,000 negatives.

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AF-ON & Back Button Autofocus: This may just change the way you shoot forever

20140201-205219.jpgFrom Petapixel,

Still autofocusing by pressing halfway down on your shutter release? Well, suppose I told you there’s another way that you might even like better? Sound interesting? Read on.

The technique is called Back Button Autofocus and it can really change the way you use your camera. Rather than autofocusing with your shutter release, you move the autofocus function exclusively to a button on the back of the camera. When you first hear about this technique, it’s natural to greet the idea with a bit of uncertainty, but once you get used to focusing with this method, you may never go back.

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7 Steps to Great Black and Whites in Lightroom 5

From Photofocus;

Great black and white images require more than simply removing the color, and Lightroom 5 is a really powerful tool for making memorable black and white photographs. Take a look at this video to see the seven steps I take to make a terrific B&W image from any color image.

Watch the video, read the full article and find out more about an upcoming Google+ Hangout on the subject here.

Discover Lightroom

(31)Discover Lightroom is a new 6½ hour video workshop series that will teach you all you need to know about Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. Whether you’ve never used Lightroom before and wonder if you should be using it, or you’re an old hand and want to sharpen your skils, this workshop might be just what you need.

It is presented by Chris Marquardt, presenter of Tips From the Top Floor, the Internet’s longest-running photography podcast. Chris is a German professional photographer who presents workshops in German in his home country and in English in the UK and USA. He is also the driving force behind the Everest Trek, the world’s highest photography workshop.

Head on over to Discover Lightroom where you can read more about the workshop and view some sample chapters.

Perfect Photos Every Time

20140128-131340.jpgCJ Chilvers, who previously went by the moniker A Lesser Photographer, is an advocate for simplicity in photography. He believes there is no need for the gear phobia and pixel-peeping mania that abounds but that we can make great photos with the simplest of point-and-shoot cameras, or even with our camera phones. That we have seen a number of well-received camera phone images presented at our meetings backs this up.

In this blog post he presents a short five minute video of a talk he gave and also links to another article that the talk was based on. I found it enlightening to both watch the video and read the article. You’ll find them here.

Reasons to Shoot High ISO Images

Perhaps you, like myself, had bad experiences with poor quality from higher ISO images as delivered by earlier generations of digital cameras. Does this still make you cling to ISO 100 or 200 unless there is absolutely no alternative? If so you are probably not getting the best from your newer camera. In this article James Maher gives the reasons why you should now be embracing the use of higher ISO settings.

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