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Special Presentation – October Education Night – “The Magic of Blue Hour” presented by Jennifer Renwick

Please join us for a special presentation for our October Education Night, Thursday, 10/27/2022. Our guest speaker will be Jennifer Renwick. Her presentation will be “The Magic of Blue Hour”.

Jennifer’s Bio

Jennifer is a full-time nature photographer based in Golden, Colorado. She travels the American West with her partner, fellow photographer, David Kingham, in a travel trailer, teaching photography workshops in various National Parks and wilderness areas. While she photographs the landscape, she has a particular interest in photographing natural abstracts and smaller scenes. 
Her work has been featured in various photography magazines, including Landscape Photography Magazine, On Landscape, and Lenswork’s “Seeing in Sixes” photography books.

Website: https://www.jenniferrenwick.com/

Summary of the Presentation

The Magic of Blue Hour  

Before the sun rises or sets, the landscape becomes a palette of soft colors and quiet shadows. Many new opportunities come to light during twilight, allowing you the time to maximize your photography outings. In this presentation, Jennifer will talk about her experiences photographing during twilight, go over subjects that lend themselves well to the blue hour, camera settings to capture the magic of twilight, and more!

Some Sample Images

Wildflowers bloom along the washes in the badlands during blue hour.

Who Should Attend

If you shoot or might shoot during the twilight/blue hour, which can be fleeting and tricky, this is for you! Blue hour is one of the most beautiful times to shoot. Jennifer will be showing primarily landscapes including that genre’s more intimate side, but these ideas will apply to other types of outdoor photography, as well.

How to Attend

We will send the Zoom invitation to all current (2022) members a few days prior to 10/27/2022.

Non -Members – If you are interested in joining us to see what we are all about, we will send you a Zoom Invitation for our Competition Night only. Please send your Name and Email address with the Subject line “Zoom Invite Needed for MEETING on (appropriate date)” to mytbcc@gmail.com so we can get the invitation to you.

I hope to see you at our Exhibit/Comment Night on 10/20/2022 and at our Education Night on 10/27/2022, for this special presentation.

Lynn Wiezycki, TBCC President

Timelapse Photography – Presentation by Jim Sykes for our September Education Night

TBCC has always been about still images, but those expensive cameras we all have, as well as our phones, are all capable of so much more!

Video is becoming more and more mainstream. Timelapse photography is a combination of a long series of still photos made into a video, so this is a step up from say, a slideshow. It is a bit of a process but not quite as involved as processing true video. So consider this a stepping stone to videography, which we may address in future education nights.

Join us on Thursday, September 22, 2022, as our own Jim Sykes will share his knowledge of this interesting and fun side of photography.

Summary of Material to be Covered

Timelapse vs hyperlapse

Cameras and accessories

Camera settings

Importing and processing files

Adding a soundtrack

Exporting/rendering video

Alternative camera options

There will be plenty of time for questions, as well.

Why Attend

Timelapse is a lot of fun to create! It is an interesting addition to your bag of photography tricks that not everyone does. This is another form of creative play that can get us out of a photography rut! OH! And we just might have “timelapse” as an Assignment sometime in the future! Hint Hint!

We are all about getting everyone to use their expensive piece of electronics in as many ways as they can!

How to Attend

I will send out a Zoom Link to all members on Tuesday, Sept 20th.

If you are not a member and would like to see what TBCC is all about, please send an email to mytbcc@gmail.com with the Subject: Request Meeting Zoom Link and the date.

Hope to see everyone at our next Exhibit/Comment Night on Thursday, Sept 15, and this Education Night on Thursday, Sept 22nd.

Lynn W.

The James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art is Our Next Outing on July 30, 2022.

Mark your calendars as our July outing will be in air-conditioning at The James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art! Our visit, complete with docent/tour guide, is scheduled for Saturday, July 30, 2022, at 9:30 AM. Sign-up is required– See below.

PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE POST!

Information on the James Museum

The James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art provides experiences that inspire human connection and transformation through art depicting the peoples, landscapes, and history of the American West, and wildlife of the world. More than 400 premiere works of art including sculpture, paintings and jewelry are on display in the museum’s 26,000 square feet of gallery space. The museum engages the community through programs and educational opportunities, for all ages, that bring our history to life and amplify voices that are not often at the forefront of mainstream western art. When The James Museum opened in April 2018 it became one of the newest additions to St. Petersburg’s thriving arts community. Learn more and plan your visit at thejamesmuseum.org!

Our Visit

We will be visiting on the next to last day of the special exhibit of Ansel Adams and Clyde Butcher landscapes. So this is a great opportunity to see some of these master photographers’ work. We will have at least one docent to act as our guide to give us an inside look at the museum. Once the tour is completed you will have the opportunity to explore the museum on your own. Even if you have seen this exhibit the additional insight provided by the docent may be a great reason to visit again!

Photography is allowed except where noted.  Feel free to share on social media using #thejamesmuseum. No flash photography, tripods, video cameras or selfie sticks, please!

Why Attend

Ansel Adams is one of the great landscape photographers and Clyde Butcher is a living Florida legend. Seeing the masters’ work can give you inspiration and help you take your photography to the next level. Even if you are not a landscape photographer, these masters’ use of natural light can only add to your knowledge.

Parking

Individual Vehicles

Museum Parking is available on Levels 3 & 4 of the automated South Core Parking Garage located above the museum. Enter at 101 1st Ave S, St. Petersburg, FL 33701. The first hour in the garage is free and $1/hour after that. Please note: special event rates vary and may apply.

The Cost

The museum has given us a great deal at $15 per person. This is a discount of up to $15 when the tour guide fee is included. I will need to collect the fee prior to all of us entering the museum. Please arrive at the museum by 9:30 AM with the correct change. If you arrive after the group has entered the museum at 10 AM you will have to pay the full fee.

Afterward

We will spend several hours at the museum and follow that up with lunch at one of the local restaurants. Everyone is welcome to join in!

Sign Up Required

Since the number of attendees determines the number of docents/tour guides needed, we must require that everyone signup in advance. The DEADLINE for signing up is July 26th to give the museum time to notify their docents.

Please click this link for the sign-up form:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdmeIqXOdzCmpZs8I13Hh5QSA6C-FzxNL9KVwr0s4jWmfm2DA/viewform?embedded=true

Hope to see everyone there!

Lynn W.

The museum is located at: https://g.page/thejamesmuseum?share

Our Next Outing is Saturday, June 4, 2022 – At the Field of Flowers

Please read this entire post!

Last year one of the strawberry farms in Dover started planting their off-season fallow field with zinnias and sunflowers (see image above). They have planted even more this year and by next Saturday, June 4, 2022, the field should be awash with multicolored zinnias and 3 colorful varieties of low sunflowers (the shorter version of sunflowers so you can actually see across the field).

So our next outing will be a visit to Three Son Farms’ (map below) beautiful flower field on Saturday, June 4, 2022, at 8:00 AM rain or shine. (Flowers are even better to shoot when the sun is not glaring down!) The farmer has left some large paths in the field and some smaller paths have been created in the flowers. It is fairly easy-going, just don’t step on the flowers!

We will meet at the tables under the tent that they have set up beside the flower field.

Zinnias – May 24, 2022

What to bring:

I would recommend that you bring a hat, rain gear, water, bug spray, and, of course, a macro lens, Lensbaby, and a wide-angle lens. Wear old or waterproof shoes/boots in case the field is muddy. A tripod is ok but not necessary unless you want to try timelapse, image stacking, or the multi-image cloud painterly look. Bring a plastic bag with a damp paper towel in the bottom (see Rules below)!

The Creative Challenge:

To add to the fun, here are a few ideas of ways to shoot beyond the single flower image:

  1. Close-up of an individual flower with those behind in a colorful bokeh with a shallow depth of field.
  2. ICM – Intentional Camera Movement – Increase your f stop, slow your shutter and decrease your ISO and then move the camera up or down, or sideways while the shutter is open. This can be so much fun!
  3. Multiple Exposures – find the setting for Multiple Exposures in your camera menu, and set it up. Move the camera for each frame and see the amazing abstracts you will get.
  4. Use the Slow Shutter app and the Average Cam Pro app on your cell phone to accomplish 2 and 3 above.
  5. Look for insects on the flowers… There are a lot of bees buzzing around, in my experience, they are so involved in eating at all the flowers that they do not care about anything else. I have been able to get within a few inches and shoot them with no problem. But be careful! There may also be other interesting insects and some butterflies as well.
  6. Wide-angle of the whole field. If the sky has some clouds include them.
  7. Wide-angle from a low perspective.
  8. Get really close for a true macro shot (1:1 or closer).
  9. Multi-image painterly clouds… this requires a tripod and clouds! Set up your camera for timelapse (but not for a timelapse video as some cameras have a setting that automatically creates a video) as you will need all the images. Take at least 50 images spread over 10 minutes. In post-processing, you take all the images to PS as separate layers, select them all, and then use the “lighten” blend mode. Make a duplicate of one of the layers (should be one with no movement in the flowers), using a mask, bring in all but the sky into the image. This should give you a very painterly sky and perfect flowers below!
  10. Timelapse. Use a tripod. Use the Timelapse movie setting in your camera. This makes a short interesting video, especially with flowers, clouds, and people moving around.
  11. Image stacking – tripod, set up in camera(if possible) and shoot a number of frames with the point of focus moving slightly with each frame. Combine the frames in Helicon Focus or PS to get an image that is in focus from front to back.
  12. Use the video setting on your camera or cell phone!
  13. Images of People in the flower field.
  14. Make a Selfy with the flowers!
  15. Anything else you can think of! Just have fun!

Rules:

  1. Because we want the farmer to keep planting the flowers every year, we must support him! SO, you must buy flowers (Zinnias last for days and Sunflowers last for a few days) OR buy some produce. I buy tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, etc from their stand and it has all been fresh and tasty! The flowers are what that plastic bag with the wet paper towel is for! We don’t want your flowers to wilt on the way home! Recut the stems when you get home and stick them in cool water immediately.
  2. Be respectful of your fellow TBCC members, other photographers, other visitors, and our hosts! It is Saturday so they may be very busy!
  3. Please send me up to 10 of your most creative images and/or your videos so I can create a highlight reel for the outing! I will send out a reminder email after the outing.
  4. Be creative and have fun!

Why Attend?

Since we are not having meetings in person, this is the next best thing….to me, even better, because we are getting to do some fun photography while we get to spend some time together!

We may drive to a local taco place for an early lunch after we finish shooting!

Any questions, email me at mytbcc@gmail.com

Lynn W.

PS Here is a link to my Sunflower Field Gallery from last year if you are interested. FYI- The images at the top of the gallery are the tall sunflowers they planted in the fall. https://galleries.theilluminatinglens.com/Places/Sunflower-Field-Dover-Florida-2021/