Jacksonville Camera Club Newsletter Established 1935 August 2017 Vol 22 No8 !

CLICKS

A Walk Through the Cummer Website - One Year Later Which Tripod?

ContentsFeatures

Information

Competition

Schedules

2 The President’s Report4 Matting Your Prints5 A Walk Through Cummer6 Website Anniversary7 Which Tripod to Buy?

10 Announcements11 Directions to Club Meetings11 Cover Page Credit12 Board and Chairpersons

10 Schedules for Contests

9 People’s Choice

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“Mr. Green” by

Marek Pawlowicz

First Place July People’s Choice

On My Mind Gordon Ira

President’s Report for August 2017

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Have you had a chance to look at the comments on the website made on the Cumberland outing by some of the attendees? To be honest, I hadn't seen them. After I learned that they were there and went looking for them, I still had a hard time finding them. Scroll way down under blogs on the website for the Cumberland outing, click on the picture for the full article, read Jan V's article and then scroll down to the bottom and read the comments. I was impressed with all this material! Jan Vallely, Jan Gemeinhardt, Dan Dymer, Irene Ward, Ed Wright, Craig Shier and Brian Leonard wrote about their experiences on the outing. All these pieces were very interesting, very funny and very well written. You can tell this is not the first time they have written humorous articles, and it's obvious that they spent time putting it all together. Nice job!

This is how I imagine a great follow-up from an outing should be. By reading this article, a photographer wanting to visit Cumberland would know a lot about the island, the people, where to shoot and how to have fun. I didn't learn a lot about camping....just what not to do. But I did learn what works, like taking Don Dymer along for food and entertainment.

If a member was planning a trip to Cumberland Island, reading all the experiences of our intrepid campers would present a fairly good overview of what to expect. I know it is technically difficult to do and Young is working to make it happen, but I wish that this kind of information could be immediately obvious on the website. It should grab you when you open up the home page and compel you to check it out.

Otherwise, how is a reader supposed to know that all these excellent articles are there for them to enjoy?

I know that you are getting tired of me talking about the website, but after its first anniversary, it has passed the grueling startup phase and is now undergoing rapid improvement. It is becoming more user friendly and, with additional members contributing to the content such as schedules, outings, etc., it is becoming quite reliable. Plus other features are being initiating to save us time. Take for example: making payments via the website. The first offering for this is the Busch Brewery outing attendance. Being able to pay online will be very helpful in the future for dues, the banquet and other events. Well done, Young!

As you know Craig Shier has produced a brochure for the club and is in the process of getting them out to various places in the community, like the public libraries, hobby shops, etc. A spread sheet was sent out to everyone so that you could see if there was a location near you where you could drop off some of the brochures. He has gotten ten people from the sheet and from the handout that he passed around at the last meeting. With about ten brochures each, we now have about 100 brochures out. There is still time to let Craig know if you want him to give you some brochures. Just add your name to the list and it will show up on Craig's computer. If you need brochures, he can bring them to the next meeting. We will try to track the new members and visitors in order to see if the brochure helps with attracting new

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BTW, thanks to Craig for running the last club meeting. I was totally involved with the death of my brother-in-law whose funeral was on Thursday. Craig's program looks like it was full of information, and I'm sorry that I missed it. His slides and notes are on the website if you want to review them.

Bruce Hagstrom has the program this Wednesday on Phone Photography. I have talked to him a little about this at our meetings, and it should be very interesting. Certainly my grandkids and a daughter-in-law are buying phones just because of the pictures they take. Young McQueen is putting on the next program entitled Photoshop R Us. Young always puts on a good program, usually producing a different spin on a complicated subject that will end up teaching us something.

Don't forget about the total eclipse on the 21st. Mike Rexroad has picked out a great spot in the Deerwood area for us to set up and shoot. Check out the outing post on the website for more information on how to shoot the eclipse, plus all the information about when and where to meet.

I'll be back at the next meeting, so I'll see you Wednesday!

Gordon

On My Mind - cont. Gordon Ira

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Craig Shier presented a program on matting prints at the meeting of July 19. !He included information on selecting a mat, sizing and cutting. !The presentation charts are available in .pdf form at the following link: JCC Matting The charts include a number of links to websites where one can purchase mats and tools. The links are only intended as examples of reliable sources. There may be others.

Matting Your Prints Craig Shier

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A Walk Through Cummer

by Darrel Joseph

Not being a very “artie” person, I know very little about the fine art paintings at the Cummer Gallery. In order to try and slightly remedy this situation, I went to Darrel’s tour and lecture of exhibits at the Cummer for the July outing. I was amazed at what I didn’t know. Darrel and Diane Wise made the paintings come to life, bringing in the story of the painter, the period in which it was painted and a description of the contents. Darrel and Diane split up the descriptions, and Dick Cardell had an occasional comment to make.This is clearly a whole new world and JCC is privileged to have Darrel and Diane around to teach us something.

There was a good crowd, the Cummer is a magnificent place and the cafe was a busy place, with 16 staying for dinner. I didn’t stay for dinner but Darrel says the “dishes they served were attractive and tasty if a bit limited and designed for sharing” I think that for a museum cafe, that is a fairly good report. For more pictures check out this Google Photo Gallery. I’ll add more pictures if folks will send them to me, or you can put them in the outings gallery. Gordon

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At the July 5th meeting Young McQueen and the JCC Website were presented with a cake to commemorate them on the one year anniversary of its going online, which it did on July 4th 2016. Congratulations, well done. !After this first year of development and some growing pains, it’s time for everyone to get on board. By this time next year it will have three times the functionality that it does now….just wait and see.

One Year Website Anniversary

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Selecting a Suitable Tripod

Whenever I attend the various club outings I always take notice of the different tripods that members bring along. I often wonder about the criteria people use in buying tripods, what research they did before they made the purchase and what price points, if any, they used in getting their go-to tripod. Although I don't claim to be the club's tripod expert, I prefer to research my camera equipment before plunking down my hard earned money. To understand why and when to use a tripod is a good place to start in this article. The first reason would be that you need a stable platform that helps prevent an otherwise blurred image as a result of to slow a shutter speed for the camera/lens combination that you are using. Another reason is that you wish to create either a photo stitch panoramic image, an HDR image, or both. Finally, a very good reason is that you wish to be more purposeful and methodical in your approach to framing, cropping and exposing an image, in doing this you slow down and think about what you are trying to photograph. ! There are many brands and options in the market place along with a broad range of price points to consider. This article is not meant to promote a particular brand. Rather it is to get you thinking about how to pick the most suitable tripod for your budget. Keep in mind that no matter what, you decide on, there will be a compromise either in weight, height, stability, functionality, or even price. To me a tripod is one of the single most important camera equipment investments that you will make. The right tripod will be around long after you have purchased several camera bodies throughout the years. ! So here are some important considerations, with a brief explanation, for doing your research: ! Tripod extended standing height - Very important. With the tripod legs extended fully you want the camera mounted close to eye level. If it is a little above eye level you can adjust the legs shorter to compensate. If the mounted camera is well below eye level, raising the center column to compensate will result in less camera stability (blurred images). Don't buy a tripod that is too short. ! Tripod minimum standing height - On occasion you may want to get really low for a different and perhaps unique perspective. The minimum standing height is when the tripod legs are spread to the standing position, but not extended at the joints or sections. Several tripods have a feature that takes this a step further by allowing you to unlock the top of the leg joints thus allowing the legs to be spread or splay further apart bringing the camera even closer to ground level as long as the center column is shortened as well. ! Number of tripod leg sections - The common number of telescoping leg sections is three. This is considered to be the most stable. However, many travel tripods may have four or more leg sections that allow for a shorter stored tripod. This is a plus if you want a tripod that can go into your checked luggage when flying to a destination.

by Bill Coppedge

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Tripods - cont.

Tripod Feet and Leg Locks - For some, these items may or may not be a game changer in tripod selection. Some tripods come with fixed feet that are either rubber, or a combination of both rubber and spikes. The combination feet have a rotating adjustment that spins the rubber feet up and exposes the spikes. Some tripods have removable feet that allows the user to interchange the rubber with spiked feet. The rubber feet are non-slip and work on most surfaces. The spiked feet work on hard surfaces and help grip the ground that may prove to be too wet and slippery for the rubber feet, particularly if the ground is on an incline or uneven. The two types of leg locks are the twist type and the clamp type. The twist locks are a rotating friction adjustment. The tighter you twist the lock the more friction is exerted on the leg section to lock it into place. The clamp locks flip in either the open or closed position. In the closed position they grip and lock the leg sections, in the open position they allow for the legs to be adjusted. There are pros and cons on both types of locks. The twist locks take more time for set up and take down. The clamp locks are quicker because they are either opened or closed. Periodically they can loosen their grip and will need adjustment in order to exert enough friction on the leg section to lock. This adjustment requires either a wrench, socket, or screw driver depending on the manufacturer. Clamp locks have a higher profile and can be accidentally banged and be broken off. This happened to me, when my tripod was in my checked luggage, on a flight to San Francisco (although I have to wonder if it was actually accidental since two out of the three were broken). I have since changed all of the clamp locks to a newer low profile version. But I still have to periodically tighten them. I highly advise checking clamp lock tightness, prior to going on a trip, because it's a real hassle when you are out somewhere and one of the tripods legs won't stay extended. Maximum weight bearing capacity- Consider the combined weight of your camera body and your heaviest/biggest lens. This can easily be found by looking up your camera and lens specifications. Then research the weight bearing capacity of the tripod that you are interested in to see if it meets that criteria. ! Tripod weight - In terms of aluminum tripods, the heavier, the more stable. The same could probably be said for carbon graphite although it has a much better strength to weight ratio than aluminum. The compromise is how much weight you are willing to carry around with you and be comfortable, yet still meet your budget. ! Tripod heads - The really inexpensive tripods come with a permanent fixed head. Spend a little more and you can either get one that comes packaged with a removable head or purchase the head and tripod as separate items. There are many types of tripod heads available at different price points. Some can cost almost as much as a thousand dollars. Examples of tripod heads types: Pan/tilt heads, gimbal heads, grip action heads, joystick heads, geared heads, panoramic heads, and ball heads. Which one you choose depends on what you mount on it and what it is used for. For example the gimbal heads are typically used for long heavy telephoto lenses whereby the lens, not the camera body, mounts to the head. The gimbal head gives balance to the camera/lens combination and allows easy adjustment and movement. The joystick head is very easy to use because you just squeeze the trigger on the grip and make adjustments, once the trigger is released the camera is supposed to stay put. However, after many years of using the joystick head, I like ball heads much better because the camera really does stay put, once it is locked down, plus it works on long lenses that have tripod collar mounts. As I mentioned above about tripod weight bearing capacity, the same goes for tripod heads. Be sure to get a tripod head that has the correct weight bearing capacity for what you shoot with.

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People’s Choice Tina Jordan

July Winners - Reptiles

People’s Choice is a monthly contest that allows members to bring in a print and the members vote on the entries without knowing who took the picture. Only the top three are awarded. None of the pictures are critiqued, so this is a great way to have your pictures compared to others without anyone knowing whose picture it is.

1st - Marek Pawlowicz - “Mr. Green” 2nd - Les Satz - “Here’s Looking at Ya” 3rd - Brian Walsh - “Shedding”

Quick release plates - Quick release plates mount on the bottom of your camera or telephoto lenses that have a tripod collar. These mate up with the tripod head and allow you to quickly change from one camera body to another or one telephoto lens to another. They even make “L-plates” that allow you to switch the camera from a vertical to a horizontal orientation easily without drastically moving the tripod head position. I have them mounted on both camera bodies as well as on my telephoto lens collar. Quick release plates are a real time saver. !!

In summary ! Spend time and do your research. You can go to a number of websites and blogs that will give comparative data and reviews on camera equipment. Go to the various manufacturer's websites and get the data on what you are interested in and then find out what meets your budget. Go to club outings and talk to members about their tripods and find out what they like or don't like about them. With an informed decision you will be buying on value and not necessarily on price.

Tripods - cont.

FACEBOOK Page for Jacksonville Camera Club ! JCC members may place event pictures on the JCC Facebook page. If you want any of your pictures to be posted either send them to me at nuroad@aol.com or drop them into the Facebook page and then I will post them for you. ! We are getting quite a following on our page and I would like to continue building the following so that we may get people to come and check out the club. ! Thanks to those of you that have submitted pictures and those that have liked and are following the page. !Gail Means Facebook Manager

Announcements

Program Schedule - click for website post !Outings Schedule - click for website post !Print Schedule for 2017 - click for website post !Digital Schedule for 2017 - click for website post !Digital Schedule for 2018 - click for website post - members only Monochrome Yearly Contest - click for website post !People’s Choice - click for website post !F3C Schedule - click for website post - members only !Club Calendar - click for website post

Schedules

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Cover Picture

Directions to the Club Meetings

Copyright Privileges

!CLICKS

!Clicks is published monthly by the Jacksonville Camera Club as a service to its members, providing information about club activities, entertaining and educational articles about photography. Photographs and article information are provided b y t h e J C C m e m b e r s a n d contributors. !!

John Neel - Editor bluehouse80@comcast.net !!

Charise Tanner - Copy Editor

Our meetings are held at The Shepherd of the Woods Outreach Center located at 6595 Columbia Park Court, Jacksonville, Florida. Come visit with us at 7:00pm on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month. Guests are always welcome. Check out the website for more information at www.jaxcameraclub.com. Check out Google Maps for directions.

Contents of this site are 2000-2017 by the Jacksonville Camera Club or its members except as noted. All image copyrights are held by the photographer. You may not copy, distribute, offer for hire, create derivative works from, or use for commercial gain any contents of this site without the explicit written permission of the copyright holder. Any links to external Web site provided on the Jacksonville Camera Club Website and/or Newsletter pages are provided as a courtesy. They should not be construed as an endorsement by the Jacksonville Camera Club of the content or views of the linked materials. The information contained in this website is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by the Jacksonville Camera Club, a not for profit organization, and while we endeavor to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind.

“The Leaning Bottle” by Brian Leonard

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Board and Chairpersons for 2017

President Gordon Ira

Vice President Craig Shier

Treasurer Jim Jordan

Secretary Bronwyn Horvath

Digital Chair Charise Tanner

Print/Glennie Chair Chuck Shealy

Membership Chair Jennifer Thompson

Outings Chair Jan Vallely

Librarian Kathy Jaworski

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Board and Chairpersons for 2017

F3C/Mono Chair Julius Dean

LPIG Chair Brian Leonard

Fifty-Fifty Manager Linda Lynn

Webmaster Young McQueen

Facebook Manager Gail Means

SOTW Liaison Lynda Smith

People’s Choice Tina Jordan

Clicks Editor, Property Manager

John Neel