Eagle Photo Contest

There is a national eagle center right here in Wabasha, Minnesota. The center is having an annual photo contest for those interested in submitting images in four different categories. Click on the image below for more information about the contest, or go to the NEC website and click on "Annual Photo Contest".

Video Projections

You may have seen them on the internet. Photo projections onto walls and buildings in 3D with audio that are extremely realistic. To get an idea of what this type of photo work looks like you can view the video below:

NuFormer - California, USA. August 2010 from NuFormer Projection on Vimeo.

You may also check out the one below:

NuFormer - Samsung, Amsterdam, May 2010 - One take from NuFormer Projection on Vimeo.

These projections are done by a group called NuFormer. You can view all of their work so far by going to www.vimeo.com and typing in the name Nuformer in the search box.

It would be interesting to attend one of these projections in person to experience the whole effect.

MINNETONKA CAMERA CLUB

After viewing and judging more than 200 digital images for the Minnetonka Camera Club, Vijay Karai presented a slide show of all of the submitted images including those that won awards Thursday November 4 at the club salon meeting. We hope to have a copy of that slide show posted soon so everyone can enjoy this wonderful collection of images. Below is a list of the winning images and the responsible photographer:




In the meantime, we do have the image that garnered the "Best in Show" that is titled "Back into the Wild" by club and camera council member John Symchych.

(Click on Image Below for Larger View)

Great job John! We hope to see more images from this digital competition soon.

HDR Class at the MPC

If you are into HDR or want to be you can learn about this process and the software used to create it in a new class offering at the MPC. Click on the image below to learn more, or go to the MPC website to register.

Prop It Up

We know our members are creative people, and that creativity has resulted in many active artistically based careers. Laurie Hernandez, a well known member of the local camera clubs has developed a travel tour business called Worldesign and a prop company called Prop It Up. Laurie has a number of offers for her fellow club members, including the following:

"Looking for unique props for your next photo shoot, play, production, advertisement, or special event?
Prop It Up has an exceptional collection of items to choose from including antique furniture, costumes, telephones, trunks, area rugs, weapons, Santa’s sleigh, vintage sporting good and specialty items. Browse through our website and discover the perfect pieces for your needs. If it's not there, be sure to ask as we are constantly adding new props to our inventory. We are offering 20% off the first rental ( $100 minimum charge.)"

This might be a good opportunity for some winter photo shoots. Have fun, and good shooting.

Winter Retreat with Craig Blacklock

The Split Rock Arts Program at the University of Minnesota has announced that renowned Minnesota photographer Craig Blacklock will conduct a winter retreat at its Cloquet forestry center. The purpose of the retreat will be to guide image makers "to finding and photographing the best (winter subjects) under differing light and snow conditions".

The cost of this retreat is extremely reasonable considering it includes all meals and lodging. Also, it gives participants a chance to experience the university's retreat area that includes 3400 acres of woods and wildlife in northern Minnesota. Click on the image below for details of this winter retreat that is scheduled for February 10 - 13.

Go to Craig Blacklock's website to learn more about his work.

To learn more about the university's retreat center and the programs they offer go to the Split Rock website.

Elliott Erwitt at the Weinstein Gallery

Famed photographer Elliott Erwitt currently has an exhibit of 36 of his images on display at the Weinstein Gallery at the U of M. The B & W images in this exhibit feature dogs and famous people including Marilyn Monroe.

To read more about this exhibit or Erwitt's work go to a recent article in the Star and Tribune.

This exhibit runs through January 9, 2010.

Shooting Light Trails

Light trails can make an eye catching composition when done right. You can access a "How to" article that contains the basics you need to know to successfully capture this subject here: Digital Photography School.

Lightroom Users Group

The Adobe Lightroom product is mainly produced right here in Minnesota. It sponsors a Lightroom Users Group that generally meets bi-monthly in St. Paul. The next meeting is Wednesday November 10th at 7:00 p.m. The meetings are currently held at The Easel Training Center, 23 Empire Drive, in St. Paul. It is located just off of 35E and Pennsylvania Avenue. Click on the map below for larger view of this location>


The meeting next week features two of our favorite speakers; Rikk Flohr will give a demo of the new lens profile downloader tool and the hand coloring/toning of B & W images in lightroom; while Steve Bye will discuss Turning Gate Web engines for building amazing website galleries in Lightroom and generally discuss backup and missing file folder issues. You should go to Rikk and Steve's websites to view their work and the professional services they provide.

One of the exciting features of these meetings is the door prizes. After each meeting the Adobe team gives out a variety of merchandise that usually includes a free version of Lightroom to one lucky winner!

Tim Grey Digital Imaging Expert

Tim Grey is a digital expert who has produced a number of books, newsletters and DVD's to help educate people interested in becoming more proficient in Photoshop, Elements, photography and color management.

You can go to Tim's website to learn more about the various educational products he produces to guide image makers to master their art. Also, he has just produced a series of videos on the use of Photoshop Elements for Adobe TV. If your an Elements user you should view the video tutorials below:

Photoshop Elements Video Preview

To celebrate the upcoming release of his "Learn By Video" title that covers Photoshop Elements, Tim is sharing some videos being hosted by Adobe TV that will be included in the video release. You can view each of these videos here:

An introduction to Photoshop Elements:
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-photoshop-elements-9/what-is-adobe-photoshop-elements

Using the new and very cool "out of bounds" effect:
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-photoshop-elements-9/using-the-out-of-bounds-effect

An overview of the Editor workspace
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-photoshop-elements-9/using-the-edit-workspace

Changing the composition with the Recompose tool:
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-photoshop-elements-9/using-the-recompose-tool

Changing the appearance of an image with Style Match:
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-photoshop-elements-9/using-photomerge-style-match-

Creating a composite panorama:
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-photoshop-elements-9/using-photomerge-panorama

Cleaning up images with Content Aware Healing:
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-photoshop-elements-9/contentaware-healing

Straighten and Crop:
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-photoshop-elements-9/using-the-straighten-and-crop-tools

Using the Organizer:
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-photoshop-elements-9/using-the-organizer-interface

Creating a perfect portrait:
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-photoshop-elements-9/creating-a-perfect-portrait-with-guided-edit

Exhibition Opening at MPC

The MPC has announced openings for two exhibits this Friday. The exhibits sound interesting, and lets face it they can be fun. For more information click on the image below for a larger view, or you can contact the MPC.

You may also want attend the print seminar being offered at the MPC Wednesday November 10th as well. Although it is an all day mid-week seminar, the price is right for learning better printing techniques from two of the best in the business on this subject.

Go to the ASMP website to register for this wonderful opportunity.