Friday, April 30, 2010

ART A WHIRL 2010


The 2010 edition of Art a Whirl, billed as the largest open studio tour in the country is scheduled to run from Friday May 14th through Sunday May 16th. The tour takes place in a number of buildings located in the Northeast Minneapolis area, and is sponsored by the neighborhood arts association. This art fair features the work of over 200 artists working in virtually every medium imaginable. There will be tile makers, painters, sculptors, musicians, glass blowers, printmakers, and of course our sentimental favorite photographers, among other artists.

To get a schedule of times, events or a map of this event go to: www.art-a-whirl.org/art_a_whirl.php

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Jim Brandenburg - International Award

An article in the Star and Tribune announced that renowned Minnesota photographer Jim Brandenburg has been recently honored by his colleagues. Four images made by Jim have been included among the 40 best nature photographs ever made in a ranking by the International League of Conservation Photographers. You can view the entire article here: www.startribune.com/local/92303819.html?elr=KArksUUUycaEacyU

All 40 of the images selected, including the four from Jim can be viewed here: www.flickr.com/photos/ilcptop40/sets/72157623774840478

The four photos selected can be viewed on Jim Brandenburg's blog at: www.jimbrandenburg.blogspot.com

You can also view Jim's portfolio of fine images on his gallery at: www.jimbrandenburg.com

Congratulations to one of Minnesota's best!

Monday, April 26, 2010

New Fisheye Lensbaby

Just when you thought the fun couldn't get any better there is a new lensbaby out. Those of you who are familiar with and/or use a lensbaby on your camera know how these tiny lens' can help push the envelope of creativity. Now there is a new 12mm fisheye lens available that has a 160 degree field of view that can focus from infinity to about 1/2 inch from the front of the lens. Although at $149.95 it is somewhat expnesive for the lensbaby product line, it is certainly cheaper than buying a new fisheye lens. You can go to www.lensbaby.com/optics-fisheye.php to check it out. Make sure to search the gallery of fisheye images posted on the site.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Camera Obscura

Looking for some fun? Try making your room into a Camera Obscura. Check out 'Howcast.com' and give it a try. Then think of how else you can make this work for you. Abelardo Morell is a very successful artist/photographer who uses the concept to create some fascinating work. Morell has a number of books in publication that will give your photographic juices a bit of a spark on a rainy day. Check him out on Amazon.com.

For more information on Camera Obscura, check out The Magic Mirror of Life.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Peter Thorpe HDR

I asked Peter Thorpe, a member of the Crosstown Camera Club and admitted HDR junkie, to explain how he processes the fine HDR images he has been submitting to recent salons. He described for me one process he uses that involves a single image HDR processed using only Lightroom 2. Here is what he told me:

He started with the original lighthouse image below:




It was shot using a Canon 30D and a 400 mm lens on a tripod with remote shutter at 1/500th at ISO 100. Then he began processing this original image in Lightroom 2 working exclusively with the Adjustment Brush tool. In essence he is painting with a light/tone/exposure/contrast brush to arrive at a final HDR image. Note that a basic understanding of Lightroom 2 is useful to understanding this technique.

With the original image in Lightroom he painted the wave in it using a saturation setting of –23 and a clarity setting of +100. The saturation setting of -23 got rid of some brownish tint and the clarity setting of +100 pressed the image to HDR levels. Similar treatment was applied to the beacon light using a +5 setting for both Contrast and Saturation to give it a “glow” and +1.38 Exposure setting to give it some illumination. This also added some dimension to the scene. Similar exposure adjustments were made to the building to give the whole scene an acceptable HDR look.

The sky was treated with +80 Contrast setting, +70 Clarity and +35 Saturation for the final “HDR” touches again using only the settings available on the Adjustment Brush in LightRoom2 to brush over the sky liberally. The result of this work was the image below:















Finally, the Histogram was checked as noted in the attached illustration. Peter is mindful of the Histogram of each image mainly at the start and finish of processing. He tried to create one that contains information at all levels from black to white.



















What Peter didn't like in the attached finished shot was a bit of noise that developed upon processing. However, that could easily be removed using noise reduction software offered by such companies as Nik or Topaz. Despite any noise the final image shows well creatively thanks to his work creating an HDR image from the single original image.

You can sample more of Peter’s HDR work at http://canonman.redbubble.com/. He is also a regular contributor to “HDR Spotting” a website dedicated to HDR artists located at: http://www.hdrspotting.com/ (look for Peter as canonman). This website offers a wide variety of HDR styles and techniques and is open to all HDR enthusiasts, but by invitation only.

I’ve asked Peter to continue to share his HDR knowledge, work and techniques with us, so look for more from him in the future here on the Camera Council’s blog.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Split Rock Arts Program

The University of Minnesota's college of continuing education offers a program called the "Split Rock Arts Program". Courses include creative writing, visual art and design, and photography. While many programs are held on the universities twin city campus, there are offerings at the beautiful retreat center the university operates in Cloquet, Minnesota during the summer. Two program offerings that may be of particular interest to photographers are:

Zen and the Art of Photography, with Doug Beasley (7/11 - 7/16)

Digital Nature Photography, with Craig Blacklock (7/18 - 723)

These programs are conducted by well respected and renowned Minnesota based photographers at the retreat center in Cloquet, a perfect setting for the topics being presented.

To find out more about these two programs or other offerings by the University you can call 612-625-1976 and reference the Split Rock Arts Program, or visit the website at www.cce.umn.edu/splitrockarts.

CYNTHIA FLEURY, EXHIBITIONS

Cynthia Fleury, a member of both the Crosstown Camera Club and the Minneapolis Photographic Society, will be exhibiting in two upcoming juried shows.

She has images entered in the Primavera Springtime Art Show that opens on Friday April 16th and runs through April 20th. The show is located at 14800 34th Avenue in Plymouth, Minnesota. This is the 14th year for this annual event that showcases the juried artwork of over 100 adult and student artists in a variety of mediums. The opening reception will be held on April 16th from 5:00 - 9:00 p.m. and there will be an awards presentation for the artists at 7:00 p.m. For more information concerning this event please visit the City of Plymouth website and follow the link to this festival.

Cynthia also has images accepted for the show titled "Landscapes Unfeigned or Illusory" opening at the Minneapolis Photo Center. This juried show runs from April 23rd through May 13th. The opening is being held from 7:00 - 10:00 p.m. on Friday the 23rd. It features 71 images from 64 different photographers. The images presented were selected from over 4000 images submitted by 400 photographers from the U.S. and 16 other countries. The center is located at 2400 Second Street in Minneapolis. Details and directions can be found at www.MplsPhotoCenter.com or by calling 612-643-3511.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Lars Michael Exhibition

If you happen to be out and about on Friday April 30th consider stopping by the Northrup King building in Minneapolis. Lars Michael of the Crosstown Camera Club will be participating in a Juried Gallery Show with six other photographers entitled "Nude in Minnesota III". This is the third annual event for this exhibition that allows photographers to present their visions of the artistic nude. The opening reception is on Friday April 30th between 7:00 and 11:00 p.m.

The Northrup building is located at 1500 Jackson Street in the artists district of Northeast Minneapolis. The exhibition runs from April 30th through May 6th. For more information on Lars work, or to view all of the images on display go to: http://fotoflair.com/?page=news and follow the links. To locate hours of operation or directions to the gallery go to: www.northrupkingbuilding.com. Please note this show contains images depicting the beauty of the uncovered human body. If you think you may be offended by this topic, it is a good idea to view the website first to ascertain the exhibitions content.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Jane Brown, Classical Portraits

Jane Brown is a wonderful newspaper photographer from the U.K. Her natural light portraits are much admired. I thought our readers would find inspiration in her work. Click on her name to see some of her finest. And this link to her own words.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Rikk Flohr's new blog

Rikk Flohr is announcing a new blog creation today. The Blog: Holy Crop! is an augment to the Fleeting Glimpse Images Weblog at which you are currently viewing. Fleeting Glimpse Images is about all things image-related and includes a wide variety of topics across many disciplines. Holy Crop! is about one thing only: Removing Pixels [...] http://holycrop.wordpress.com/
Rikk can also be found on Facebook. Become a follower and keep up on all his many doings......

Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo is scheduled for May 7th & 8th, 2010 in West St. Paul. It should be a great photo op.

Monday, April 12, 2010

It must be Spring, new software is popping up out of the ground.

Adobe Photoshop CS5 and Photoshop CS5 Extended have been announced today. And Imagenomic has just released its award-winning Portraiture 2 Plug-in for Aperture 3. Have fun!

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Pinhole Day - April 25, 2010

http://www.pinholeday.org/ Turned digital? - Buy pinhole caps for your DSLR, click here!

America the Beautiful: The Monumental Landscape of Clyde Butcher

Still time to see the exhibit, but it's nearly done: January 28 - April 15, 2010 -- St. Paul, MN

50 extraordinary large-scale,black and white photographs celebrating the beauty of the American landscape by the acclaimed photographer Clyde Butcher will be on display at the St. Paul Central Library and the adjacent James J. Hill Reference Library.

F-Stop Swap

F-Stop is having their Spring Swap meet Sat. April 17 and Sun., April 18. There is a charge but if you want to buy or sell something, this might be just the ticket for you. http://www.ibuyphotoequipment.com/ for more information.

From 10-1, $6; 1-3, $2.

Friday, April 9, 2010

Photo Excellence - John Olson

John Olson, who is a member of several Twin Cities Camera Clubs and  "J A Olson Photographic Images", has had two images accepted into the Landscape Photography Exhibit at the Minneapolis Photo Center beginning with an opening event April 23rd at7pm. That will be followed by a second show at Umber Studios on Saturday, April 24th starting at 8pm, 3109 E 42nd Street, Minneapolis.

John says, "In addition to my work (at Umber), other photographers include Doug Beasley, Geoff Stone, David Runion, Helen Restall, Kat Moser, Caroline Mills, Cynthia Levine, Laura Hallen, Dan Gustafson, and Gary Eckhardt. We will have some light snacks and refreshments as well as ongoing projected images to go along with those hung for display. Dan Gustafson, Caroline Mills, and Gary Eckhardt are local club members. Geoff Stone is a member of the St Paul Photographers Coop with me (AKA Freight Box Studio), and Doug Beasley is prominent local commercial and fine art photographer. Laura Hallen is a local multi-media artist. David Runion is from Texas, Helen Restall is from Pennsylvania, and Kat Moser is a photographer from Nebraska." (John is also a judge for the Council and is available for club photo judging.)


It's a great opportunity to see John's work and that of other fine local photographers. I plan to be there. - Barb Smith