UserFriendly DPC

Originally the topic was Technology In Action. which seemed a good Idea at the time. However once we got out with our cameras the `in action' part proved more difficult to portray than anticipated. We cut the topic back to just Technology with a restriction being put on computers, since a previous topic had covered our computers. The submissions have proved to be of the usual high standard from our club members.

As always, all photos are the intellectual property of the respective photographers and can not be used without expressed permission ©2009

A challenging topic this months and the pictures submitted have been outstanding. Well done to all our participants

A challenging topic this month either single or composite pictures the team of UF photographers took up their cameras and excelled.  Thanks to Davydd, diginferno, hieraco and ideur for their wonderful pictures in a difficult topic.

We're a little sparse on submissions this month, I guess all of our regulars are on vacation. Hopefuly things will pick up for the August topic.

As always, all photos are the intellectual property of the respective photographers and can not be used without expressed permission ©2009

In the photography world, you sometimes need a lot of equipment to get the perfect photo looking exactly how you want it to.Tiffen's DFX software does away with one of those things forever: Filters. With a few clicks, you can add any filter effect you want to your photo. The trial edition weighs in at 84 MB, and give you 15 days to check out the program. I should warn that it is a fairly memory intensive program. The requirements call for 1 GB, and reccommend 2 GB. With 2 GB of memory, my system ran the program just fine.

Once you load the program, simply open the photo you want to add a filter to, and select one of the filter types from the nine different categories of filters. As you select each filter, it will automatically apply the filter to the preview in the center of the screen. If a filter shows a subtle effect or if you're wondering what difference the filter made to the photo, use either the side-by-side comparison tool, or either of the vertical or horizontal split comparison tools. Using the filter function, I've added a final touch to this picture from my phone:

The original is on the left, and the filtered is on the right. A simple "pale sepia" enhanced the colour of the photo, and gave the browns a deeper tone, and takes away some of the natural brightness. The next example is another useful tool in the suite, which fixes any photos that may have not come out quite as planned, either due to poor lighting/not being able to use a flash, out of focus subjects, or other elements beyond the photographer's control. This photo (contributed by confused.brit. Thank you, c.b!), as you can see was very overexposed and blurry. Using both the auto adjust (to fix the overexposure), and the sharpen (to reduce some of the blur) in separate phases, the very high resolution photo is now clearer and the colours are much deeper:

The summer is talking shape with lots of sunshine world wide. Thanks to our veteran photographers, and welcome to the new folks, we have some very impressive pictures this month and I'd like to congratulate the photographers of such fine pictures. Keep up the great work. Simpley click on the picture for a full sized view of each, then use your back button to return to the main post.

As always, all photos are the intellectual property of the respective photographers and can not be used without expressed permission ©2009

Thanks to our team of photographers for this month's entries, Well done.

Thanks to all who submitted this month. We have some great pictures and welcome comments, and constructive criticism. As always you can click on any thumbnail to see a large view of the pictures. Comments emailed to the photo club will be forwarded to the appropriate photographer. All images are copyright the respective photographers and can not be used without expressed permission. To contact a specific photographer, email the photo club and your request will be forwarded.
Next month's topic is : Around the home

The next two pictures are large Panoramas and may take a while to load. Please be patient.

Ideur-20090429.CityPark

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Mekkanik_Mike-Panorama

Obviously, if you're reading this, you know that sometimes your camera phone just doesn't cut it. The camera market is flooded with products and options, and choosing a camera from the hundreds of options that works for your needs can get a little overwhelming. Some people listen to the salesman, which, depending on where you're looking, isn't always a bad thing. No commission salesmen will often give you a better idea of what each model has to offer than a commissioned salesman would. Others just pick a camera because they like the way it looks. For the hobbyist, its best to take an approach that assesses your needs and matching them with a product that fits the range of photography you'll be doing. In this article, we'll be looking at the various features of point and shoot, all in one compacts, and DSLRs.

Point and shoot cameras these days are surprisingly feature rich. In terms of bang for the buck, some can get pretty well unmatched. Most come in at the $150-$250 range, and sport up to a 5x optical zoom, a good max resolution, and on newer and higher up models in the point and shoot market, some can even shoot HD video. One of the major annoyances I have with point and shoot cameras lately is the lack of a viewfinder. I found a viewfinder was a great thing to have on my older Fuji Finepix A101, because it went through batteries quickly while shooting with the LCD on. I also find that the range is limited in some case with a point and shoot camera, and since the camera has no manual focus, your picture subject is sometimes blurred out in favour of something in the foreground. This is particularly problematic while shooting from behind glass (for times when you're out sight seeing, for example). All in all, point and shoot cameras are a great tool, but realize that they can impede your photography in some cases.

All in one compacts are a step up from the point and shoot, and provide all of the features of a point and shoot, with some of the features of a DSLR. While lacking the ability to use interchangeable lenses, they still have the ability to be manually focused (eliminating many of the problems you get with pictures taken with a point and shoot camera), will usually have a viewfinder, and its not uncommon for these cameras to have a larger built in memory. While the price jumps a bit from a point and shoot, typically coming in around $300-600, the value for the money is quite good. It's also worth mentioning that 720p HD video is a fairly standard feature on these cameras. If you're starting to get more serious about photography, but don't want to spend a lot of money on a new camera, this may be the product for you. On the other hand, a serious enthusiast may not be satisfied with an all in one compact, because of it's compromising nature.

Finally, we get to the "Holy Grail" of modern photography, the Digital SLR (or simply DSLR). The sky is the limit with these cameras, and the price is no exception. While you can buy a previous model for $800 on clearance sales (which at that price is still usually just the body), some of these beauties will cost more than your new car! The good news is, this is the most micro-manageable camera type you can buy. Not only do they have lots of options in the camera, but you have the range and freedom of interchangeable lenses. DSLRs tend to take a little bit of setting up to work with, but the results are almost always worth the extra time over shooting with a point and shoot or all in one compact. All in all, if you have the money, time and some patience to learn, this is the best choice for the enthusiast, and the only choice for professionals.

Hopefully, this gives you some insight as to what's out there. Remember that some brands/models will do certain things better than others. It's all a matter of choosing the camera with features and equipment you need. Note that I've left out any brand information to keep from appearing biased. Keep watching us, as more articles will be coming in the future that will give a more in-depth look into the technology behind digital cameras.

After a brief sabbatical, we are back with the topic Things I Value. A difficult task judging from the feedback. We will go easier on you for the April topic. Thanks to all who submitted pictures, and to those who provided feedback. Letting us know what we can change, will make this a fun hobby for all. If you have ideas for topics that you would like to shoot please feel free to drop us a line. Also if you have a project that you are working on, let us know and include a few pictures. We will get them up to share with the group.

As always photos are the intellectual property of the photographers, and can not be used without their expressed permission..

March2009-ideur-01

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March2009-Radiowave911-01

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