1 Jan 2019

FOCUS

Newsletter of the Mayslake Nature Study and Photography Club

Hosted by the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County www.naturecameraclub.com

Up Coming Programs

February 4th

– Close-Up and Personal: The Joys

of Macro Photography by Lou and Todd

Nettlehorst

March 4th

–Feedback on Images from the Macro

Workshop (all are welcome)

March 18th

– Competition

February 4th at 7pm

Close-Up and Personal: The Joys of Macro Photography

February’s meeting has been 8 months in

the planning. We are so honored to welcome 2019 NANPA Fellow Award Lou Nettelhors and his son Todd for CLOSE-UP AND PERSONAL: The Joys of Macro Photography Clinic. This is a three part series. On Feb 4th they will talk about Macro photography, which is open to the club members and guests. Feb 16th is a 4 hour workshop where Lou and Todd will set up 35 different stations to photograph. This event is only open to the registered photographers and is SOLD OUT. On March 4th participants from the Feb 16th workshop will receive gentle and honest feedback on their images from the workshop and of course this meeting is open to the club members and guests. What better way to spend the cold months of winter than learning about Macro Photography in the warmth of the

indoors…

Brown Pelican by Ramu Bijanki

2 Jan 2019

Postcard Competition – April 1st (No Fooling)

MNSPC will conduct our Postcard Competition at the April 1st Meeting prior to the 7 pm meeting

start time. MNSPC members should bring up to two 6x4 inch postcards to Mayslake no later than

6:30 pm. Hand of Man rules will not apply (e.g. you can include buildings, lighthouse, etc. in your

images). Voting will start at 6:30 pm.

The back of each postcard entry must display image title, maker name, email address and/ or

phone number, and camera club name.

Winning MNSPC Postcards will be entered the 2018 CACCA Postcard Competition, which will be

held at the April 13th CACCA meeting.

Detailed rules for MNSPC and CACCA Postcard Competition can be found

at http://caccaweb.com/images/newsletters/news_2019-01.pdf

See the article at the end of the newsletter for tips and techniques to make a winning postcard.

Forest Preserve District of DuPage County (FPDDC) Interaction

Once again Mayslake FPDDC will be holding the Wonders of Winter event on Feb. 2nd from 10am-2pm. Go on a horse-drawn hayride, take a nature hike, and try ice fishing, snowshoeing and other ways to enjoy the outdoors in winter. Then, warm up inside Mayslake Hall with fun activities. All ages. Free admission; fees for some activities. Registration not required. Questions? Call 630-933-7248 Cheryl Rausch, Steve Ornberg, Tim Jensen and Beverly Bartos have volunteered to represent MNSPC and conduct some photo walks for interested event participants. In addition, we will have a photo give-away of photos donated by Gail Chastain and Cheryl Rausch. Thank You!

In Mid Air by Bill Ludemann Old Bull’s Warning by Rich Shoenfield

3 Jan 2019

The January meeting attendees were treated to stories and photographs from the Rainforest of Asia to the land of Fire & Ice and with lighthearted talk on the 4 letter words of photography to close the

night. Thank you so much to Rich Schoenfield, Don Cochrane and Steve Basingski for sharing your

experience and knowledge.

Upcoming Outings

MNSPC Officers and Chair Board Positions We are looking for interested club members for the following MNSPC Board positions for 2019/2020. If you are interested please contact Steve Ornberg, steveornberg@yahoo.com .

Vice President of Programs: Noriko will not be able to continue in her role as Vice President. She has programs scheduled for the remainder of this year but we will need a club member to assist in booking new presenters for 2020 and beyond.

Social: Although we have successfully been organizing treats for meetings, we are still looking for someone to also be responsible for coordinating the following social responsibilities of the Club: Annual Banquet (April), Holiday Social (December).

Social Media: Coordinate our interactions with subscribers on social media outlets (see pg 10)

Outings Assistant: Beverly is doing an excellent job in coordinating the club’s outings. We are looking for a volunteer to assist Beverly with scouting and organizing club outings.

February 9th TBD

In January, I hibernated in my house for many reasons. However, I am looking forward to getting back out to nature and photography for February. Please mark your calendar for an outing with me for February 9th. Location to be determined by the weather. If you are free that day let me know. -Bev bartobee@comcast.net

March 23rd 8:30am – 10:00am Orchids by Hausermann

Located in Villa Park, this is a family owned business that grows 300 species of orchids by automated, specialized methods in 3.5 acres of greenhouses. Carl Hausermann founded the business in 1920 growing sweet peas, roses, and gardenias. His son, Edwin, began acquiring orchids in 1935 and eventually replaced all other flowers with orchids. Every year they hold an open house. We will have access to the greenhouses before the business opens to take images of the orchids. Tripods and backdrops are allowed. Please contact me at bartobee@comcast.net for more information. After the photo shoot at, we will end our morning with a late breakfast/early lunch.

4 Jan 2019

Competition Report

The third competition of the club year was held on January 21st. A total of 35 print images (23 in Class A, 12 in Class B) and 61 digital images (28 in Class A, 33 in Class B) were submitted for judging. Thank you to our judges Bill Dixon from Mayslake and outside judges Don Alton and John Emmel. Also, thank you to members who volunteered to help with some of the administrative tasks on competition night –Lee Balgemann, Dave Schooley, Chuck Klingsporn and Fred Drury. Results are as follows:

Class A Prints Awards: Barred Owl Fred Drury

Dallas Divide Fred Drury Antelope Canyon John Janunas

Deep in the Smokies John Janunas Clearing Storm on Canyon Beach Steve Ornberg

Grabbing a Quick Bite Ron Szymczak Honorable Mentions:

Wagner Falls Fred Drury Portrait of a King Chuck Klingsporn Just Mom and Me Ron Szymczak Class B Prints Awards: Handsome (Mandarin Duck) Ramu Bijanki

Blue Jay Ramu Bijanki Barred Owl Don Cochrane Broad Winged Hawk Don Cochrane

Honorable Mentions: Lobo Nevado Frank Norton

Class A Digital Awards: Merganser Parade John Janunas

In Mid Air Bill Ludemann Eagle Eye Bill Ludemann

Opossum Marcia Nye Handsome Blue Jay Marcia Nye Honorable Mentions: On the Edge Barbara Dunn Old Bull’s Warning Rick Schoenfield Cocoi Heron Late Afternoon Rick Schoenfield Class B Digital Awards: Brown Pelican Ramu Bijanki Fall Song Sparrow Don Cochrane

You’ll Never See This Again Chuck Peterson Old Man Long Horn Andrew Williams Honorable Mention: Blue jay Chuck Peterson Congratulations to those who received honors. Thank you to all who submitted images. The last competition of the year is March 18th. We continue to encourage members to consider participating in competition and/or attending the judging on competition night. Remember, to be eligible for year-end honors, you must submit a minimum of 8 prints and/or 8 digital images in competition.

5 Jan 2019

Open Non-Competitive Image Critique April 15th 7pm.

The objective of this event is to provide an opportunity for all, but especially for members new to competition, to prepare and submit images for review by a panel of judges (Fred Drury and Hank Erdmann). The images will not be scored, and the makers will not be identified by name. The judges will offer their comments on the images’ technical and artistic merit and its photo impact. They will also offer suggestions which they believe could have been used to improve the image. The following are the instruction (also included in the attached).

1. You can participate in either the Prints or Digital category, or both.

2. Individual entries are limited to a maximum of three per category.

3. The ‘hand of man’ rule does not apply.

4. Commentary Cards are not required.

5. You may enter images used in the non-competitive critique in regular competitions, however keep in mind that the ‘hand of man’ rule does apply in regular competitions.

6. Print entries should be mounted on 11x14” black boards, available for purchase at Mayslake meetings or from art stores such as Blick’s.

7. You will need to identify your print entries with a sticker (on the back of the board) showing the name of the work and the maker’s name. Stickers are available on our website (http://www.mlnpc.com/competition-rules/ ) and will be available on the night of the event.

8. Print entries will generally benefit from a narrow white border (approx. 1/8” wide).

9. Digital entries should be prepared using the Club’s normal procedure which is available from the website: see http://www.mlnpc.com/competition-rules/

10. Digital entries should be sent by email to fred@marklandimaging.com no later than noon on Monday, April 8th. Bring prints to the meeting on April 15th.

11. Give Fred a call at 630.665.6598 if you’re having a problem following the procedure for preparing digital entries. The first time with the procedure can be difficult, but once you’ve mastered it, preparing an image only takes a couple of minutes.

I encourage all members to participate, especially those who have not participated in competitions before.

Merganser Parade by John Janunas

You’ll Never See this Again by Chuck Peterson

6 Jan 2019

Nature Corner

Nature Corner aims to educate about animals,

flowers, plants and trees. Each month we will

include a plant or animal photo and a few

words about the subject so you may be able

to identify it when you see it.

Everyone is encouraged to submit a photo to

Sheila Newenham via the club e-mail for

inclusion in an upcoming newsletter. Include

the name, location and date if relevant, and a

little information about the subject.

Moth Orchid

The Moth Orchids (Phalaenopsis) is a genus of about 60 species of orchids (family Orchidaceae),

native to southeastern Asia and part of Australia. Some species are cultivated for the commercial

flower trade. They are crossed to produce hybrids with beautiful white, purple, and pink flowers. Many

of the horticultural species and hybrids are fairly easy to grow and are popular houseplants. The

flowers are long-lasting and resemble butterflies, hence, the common name.

Many of these and other species of orchids will soon be on display at the Chicago Botanic Gardens

Orchid show, which runs from February 9 through March 24. This year’s theme is “In the Tropics.”

By Barbara Dunn

Tech Tidbit: Reducing noise

Here is a YouTube video about how to reduce noise in your image using just Lightroom that you might be interested in: https://youtu.be/QEPK-cXzOi4 Also, two other plugins that can help reduce noise are DXO Nik Dfine and Topaz AI Clean. These plug-ins may do a better job of reducing noise and adding clarity to the detail parts of your image. It is especially good with night photography images. We are looking for contributions for tech tidbits. If you have an item you love in your software or came across a good tool, share it with us. Send tidbits to Sheila (drsnewenham@gmail.com)

7 Jan 2019

Exhibits By Fred Drury

First of all, thanks to all of you who are participating in the current ‘Maker’s Choice’ show. There are a total of 19 images in the show provided by 7 exhibitors: Susan Gajda, Bill Dixon, Steve Ornberg, Marcia Nye, Sheila Newenham, Barbara Dunn and myself. The next show theme is Macro which we’ll expand to include Close Up so as to include a broader selection of subjects. Technically, macro photography is that which is taken with a dedicated macro lens. A real macro lens has the capability of achieving in the least a 1:1 magnification. Alternatively, Close Up photography is the act of photographing objects such as flowers or insects in close range so the subject you are photographing fills the frame. To make it more convenient for exhibitors, I’m going to schedule hanging future shows shortly after the first meeting of the appropriate month; this will allow exhibitors to bring their work to that first meeting and avoid additional trips to Mayslake. We hope this change will encourage an increase in exhibitors and exhibits! So bring your exhibits for the ‘Macro/Close Up’ show to the April 1st meeting, and I’ll hang that show later that week. Exhibits from the current ‘Maker’s Choice’ show will be available for pick up no later than noon, Sunday, April 7th. I expect most folks will pick up their images when they attend the 2nd meeting in April on Monday, April 15th. We’ll adopt the same procedure for the ‘Abstracts & Intimate Landscapes’ show opening in July, and the ‘My Backyard’ beginning in October. Looking ahead to the Abstracts and Intimate Landscapes show scheduled for the July-September quarter, I thought I’d include a description of the ‘Intimate Landscape’ genre of nature photography from Tom Till:

The intimate landscape wasn’t a big vista or a macro image, but an image of a subject in the area somewhere in between. The lighting was usually flat from cloud cover or open shade, and great magic hour illumination wasn’t part of the equation. Instead, Porter relied on pattern, texture, color, reflections and tight, immaculate compositions. The horizon and sky were often missing, and many of his shots were wonderfully abstract. Instead of the images of nature symbolizing something else entirely, an idea I never liked, Porter tried to en-capsulate all of nature’s grandeur into a smaller space, each photograph being a symbol for the deep canyons, spiky peaks and rushing oceans and rivers just out of the scene. Intimate landscapes are another way for us to communicate, perhaps not as forcefully, but as effectively, the beauty and power of nature and its fragility and intrinsic value. Porter was the ultimate purveyor of the “less is more” philosophy in nature photography.

If you’re not familiar with this type of photography, you’ve got until July to do some research and give it a try! BTW, if you’ve got suggestions for future show themes or any other exhibit related matter, drop me a note at fred@marklandimaging.com. We’d be glad to see suggestions for new show themes or any ideas which we could implement to increase interest in our exhibits.

Old Man Long Horn by Andrew Williams Handsome Blue Jay by Marcia Nye

8 Jan 2019

CACCA & PSA

Club Member Honors at CACCA InterClub competition in recent months

Maker Photo Title Honor Division CACCA Mtg.

Ramu Bijanki Horned Grebe AW SC Print October

Marcia Nye Lord Baltimore HM SC Print October

Chuck Klingsporn Down the Hatch HM SC Print October

Frank Norton Focused HM SC Print October

Karl Knapp Idaho Mountain Rivulet AW SC Print November

Frank Norton Bonding AW SC Print November

Ron Szymczak Dinner Time AW DPI November

Barbara Dunn Sunflower Hug AW DPI November

Marcia Nye Virtuoso HM SC Print November

Karl Knapp Bisti Badlands Landscape AW SC Print December

Barbara Dunn Heart Shaped Bloom AW DPI December

Fred Drury You Voted For Him! AW DPI December

Karl Knapp Osprey Flyover AW DPI December

Steve Ornberg McGee Creek Cascade HM SC Print December

Frank Norton Ounce HM SC Print December

Don Cochrane Hummingbird, Insect & Flowers HM SC Print December

John Janunas Clear Wing Moth HM DPI December

Ron Szymczak Hanging On HM DPI December

Charles Peterson The Eyes Have It HM DPI December

Marcia Nye Where's My Dinner AW SC Print January

Ramu Bijanki Northern Parula With Snack AW DPI January

Don Cochrane Hummingbird & White Flower HM SC Print January

Ramu Bijanki Contemplation HM SC Print January

Janice Henry String of Light Plum Orchids HM SC Print January

In November's general PSA competition Don Cochrane won an Honorable Mention for his “Monarch on Milkweed” and Ramu Bijanki won an Honorable Mention for his “Caspian Tern with Fish”. In January's general PSA competition Don Cochrane won an Honorable Mention for his “Hummingbird, Insect, & Flowers”.

9 Jan 2019

MNSPC Member

Adventures

This column highlights the

nature photo experiences of

our intrepid members. Seeing

where members have been

and what they have been

doing may pique your interest

in visiting some of these

areas. We encourage

everyone to contribute a

nature-related story for this

column. Please email Sheila

Newenham at

drsnewenham@gmail.com

with a few of paragraphs and a

couple of images about your

experience.

An Adventure in the Making

Dunham Prairie by Sheila Newenham

Join us, Beverly and Steve Bartos, as we attend our first Wild

Things Conference on February 23rd at the Stephen Convention

Center in Rosemont.

The Wild Things community is recognized as one of the

largest networks of environmentally concerned people in the

nation. They serve to educate others while protecting

Chicago’s wilderness, natural parks, prairies, woods and

wetlands.

The conference brings together the region’s best experts,

professionals, and dedicated volunteers to speak on a variety on

Chicago wilderness/nature subjects. Some of these

presentations and workshops explore the latest in natural areas

conservation and advocacy, wildlife protection, and monitoring.

They showcase Chicago area places from backyards to refuges.

A special focus is on empowering citizen scientists, stewards,

and advocates with information, networking, and good ideas.

http://www.wildthingscommunity.org/

10 Jan 2019

MNSPC and Social Media

MNSPC has an active Facebook page, Yahoo Group and Flickr account. With the increase in use of social media in all demographics MNSPC is looking to increase our social media impact. To this end the MNSPC Board is establishing a new Board position for a Social Media Chair. This person would be responsible for coordinating our interactions with subscribers, not only on Facebook but also on Instagram, Twitter, Flickr and Groups.io, as well as, other social media outlets. If any members are interested please contact either Steve Ornberg (steveornberg@yahoo.com) or Noriko Buckles (nbucklesphoto@gmail.com).

Yahoo Groups CACCA has recently switched from Yahoo Groups for communicating with all CACCA representatives to a new system, Groups.io. Since Yahoo was sold, Yahoo Groups has not been updated and reliability has decreased. MNSPC will be looking make the same move in the coming months. We will keep you updated with our schedule for the transfer. Some of the improvements will be:

Requires Only an Email Address: No frustrating and confusing requirement for a Yahoo login.

Sub Groups: Create sub groups within your group.

Hashtags: Tag threads with hashtags, making them easily findable.

Advanced Subscription Options: Follow or mute threads and hashtags. Receive only the messages you want.

HTML or Plain Text Support: Post new threads and replies using HTML or plain text.

Edit Messages: Edit already posted messages, and view previous revisions of messages.

Flickr and SmugMug Accounts Recently Flickr was purchased by SmugMug. As a result, Flickr instituted some new limitations for free accounts which we previously had. Free accounts are now limited to 1,000 photos. MNSPC currently has over 800 photos. Steve Ornberg found out that Flickr offers a free Pro account for qualifying non-profit organizations and applied for one and was qualified! So MNSPC now has a free Flickr Pro account. With a Pro account we get unlimited storage, ad-free browsing, advanced stats and auto-back-up of photos. Since SmugMug owns Flickr, Steve also checked with SmugMug to see if they also provided free accounts. They do. Steve has applied for a free MNSPC SmugMug account that would allow us to better host and share the photos we take for FPDDC and our outings and only use Flickr for our competition photos.

11 Jan 2019

"Did You Know?"

There are seven common shapes a snow crystal can take, depending on the

temperature and humidity of the air in which it forms.

hexagonal plate crystals, the most common, are armless;

stellar crystals are classic snowflakes with arms that radiate from the center;

columns are hexagonal tubes with flat or pointed ends;

capped columns are hollow tubes with plate crystals on the ends;

needles are long, slender crystals with pointed ends that readily combine,

spatial dendrites are three-dimensional, six-sided stars;

and irregular, the catch-all category that includes graupel or tapioca snow.

A crystal commonly passes through a number of atmospheric conditions before

landing, often forming combination crystals.

Status of New Equipment for our Meetings The new lavalier microphone system worked well for our January member presentations. The donated laptop was also an improvement and was used for the member presentations and January competition. We did notice that despite being calibrated prior to the competition the images looked too warm, contrasty and over sharpened. In addition, we had issues with trying to get thee 1400 px images to display correctly. David took the projector and laptop home to try and get them re-calibrated and to confirm if the 1400 px images can be properly displayed. If the 1400 px images cannot be displayed we may have to invest in a higher resolution laptop. If anyone has an HD display laptop that they would like to donate or sell for a nominal fee we would be interested. Contact Steve Ornberg. In addition, we are also looking at purchasing a new hand-held, wireless microphone that will work with the new lavalier system. This purchase may be delayed for a good sale price. Cost is about $150. We are also searching and evaluating new competition software that will work with prints as well as digital to be more efficient and reliable. We have found a free software package and are currently evaluating it. An upgrade to the keypads and associated cables may be purchased after we select the new software. These changes are targeted for implementation at the September competitions at the latest.

12 Jan 2019

MAKE YOUR BEST SHOT POSTCARDS – Getting the Message Right

By Marie Rakoczy, Excerpted from CACCA NEWS - January 2019

CACCA’s eleventh annual postcard competition is slated for April 13, 2019. When creating a postcard, the most important element is the message: the message you convey with your image, and the message that you convey with your text. A postcard is basically a very slow text message with a good graphic that you can hold in your hand and then place on the mantle to admire! The CACCA Postcard Competition is the only CACCA competition that welcomes and encourages a text message. Let’s look at the elements that go into creating good text, then look at the mechanics of creating text in Photoshop Elements. Not all postcards have text, but text can provide additional impact to the image. The impact is a result of the text identifying the image, enhancing or reinforcing it artistically, and/or providing an informational, humorous or ironic comment on the image. The text on a postcard needs to be appropriate to the image, both in wording and style. The less text the better in most cases. For example, a photo of the Eifel Tower at night can be titled “Paris,” or “The Eiffel Tower,” or “City of Lights.” Putting more than one of these phrases on the card may make it too wordy. If your postcard image is vertical, vertical text may work well. If it is playful, you may try to use the pencil tool to create text (but be careful because if this is not done well it can look messy). In the Eiffel Tower example, an elegant font is probably best – avoid something like the staid Arial, the informal Comic Sans, the newspaperish Times New Roman, and go for a script style like Caflisch Script Pro Regular or a more elegant block style like High Tower Text. Choosing a font is one of the most enjoyable, though time-consuming, parts of creating a postcard. The text needs to be easily readable and to stand out from the background. This usually means using a lighter text on a darker card and vice-versa, but sometimes a complementary color like yellow against a blue sky or red against green grass can work equally well. If more impact is needed, a bold version of the selected font might do the trick. Avoid choosing an overly complex font like Ravie or ALGERIAN unless it fits perfectly with your image, because it may just be distracting or difficult to read. Be sure that your font is large enough to stand out and be read, but small enough so that it doesn’t overpower the image. Here are some examples of good postcard text:

The first image has an appropriate, impactful font and the yellow makes the text stand out nicely from the blue sky background. Imagine if the maker used black or white text; the impact would not be nearly as dramatic. Additionally, the text has been well placed in the image so as not to distract from any elements of it. The second image could have been titled “Bond Falls in Autumn,” but autumn is already obvious in the background, so the simple “Bond Falls” works better. It is more succinct and does not take up too much room on the card. The font is well chosen and well placed. It balances the trees in the upper left. Placing it in the lower left would have made it a bit more visible, but the image would not be as well-balanced. Continued on page 14

13 Jan 2019

2019 NANPA Fellow Award: Lou Nettelhorst

Lou Nettelhorst will receive one of NANPA’s 2019 Fellow Awards. This award is presented to members who have made significant contributions to the professional nature photography industry over a period of at least 20 years. Nettelhorst is a widely-published nature and fine art photographer. The awards committee noted that, “for eight years, he led the NANPA’s high school scholarship committee, in essence establishing the efficient way the committee continues to work today. Lou shares his talent through community college courses, field trips, presentations and nationwide workshops and private instruction.” Read more here

14 Jan 2019

Now on to the mechanics of creating text. The Text tool in Photoshop Elements takes a little time to get comfortable with. In Figure 1 you can see the criteria for the Text tool in Photoshop Elements. Your version may look different, but all the features should be available if you have version 10 or higher. The Text tool is accessed by choosing the large letter “T” from the “Draw” section of the toolbox. The shortcut key is the letter “t” on your keyboard. Figure 1 – Criteria for the Text tool in Photoshop Elements

Note that the text features circled above are divided into four parts by dotted vertical lines. From left to right, the first deals with the nature and placement of the text, the second with Font features, the third with faux styles and text alignments, and the last with special effects. In the first section there are seven options, indicated by the seven “T” icons shown: • Horizontal Type Tool – This is your go-to mode for text; it lets you do exactly what it says: type horizontally. • Vertical Type Tool – This tool allows you to type vertically and is great for vertical postcard images. • Horizontal Type Mask Tool – Use this tool to create text that can be filled in with color or images or to cut text out of an image. • Vertical Type Mask Tool – Same as above except vertical. • Text on Selection Tool – This is a little more complex tool. When you select this tool, you access a special set of criteria for it: Figure 2 – Criteria for the Text on Selection Tool in Photoshop Elements

Your cursor becomes a selection tool. Access the Add mode to select, and the Subtract mode (to the right of the Add mode) to take away from your selection. When your selection is complete, you can set the font type, size and color from the box. Use this tool to put text around a selected area in an image. At first glance it was hard to think of a use for this on a postcard, but, as an example, if you are doing something extra-creative or funny, you might want to select the entire image and leave just a little edge unselected, then type text around the entire card. Text on Shape Tool – Like the Text on Selection Tool, this one also has its own set of criteria. It is similar to figure 2, but instead of a selection tool, there is a series of shapes to choose from: rectangle, rounded rectangle, ellipse, polygon, heart, speech bubble and butterfly. Also like the selection tool, the text you add arranges itself around the edges of the shape that you choose. To clarify, this is not the place to go to create the speech bubble in the “Take Me to Your Leader” postcard above. For that, you will need the Custom Shape Tool, also located in the “Draw” section of the toolbox. Text on Custom Path Tool – This tool is probably the most useful for a postcard. It allows you to draw a line (the “path”) and then have your text follow that line wherever it may go. Like the two tools above, you get a separate criteria box for the tool that is different in the second section: instead of showing the Add/Subtract for a selection tool or a series of custom shapes, this one simply shows “Draw” with a pencil icon and “Modify” with an arrow. Take the pencil and draw your path, then make any changes with the modify arrow and click the checkbox to indicate that you are done. That sets your path. Now use the font type, size and color options to print your text along the line you have created.

15 Jan 2019

The next part of the criteria for the text tool (shown in the second box of Figure 1) is the font features. The first drop-down box allows you to select from hundreds of fonts (and if you do not find what you want, you can purchase more online). In the first column, each font is designated with “O” or “TT.” The “O” fonts (open type) are generally better to use because they were created by Adobe and Microsoft more recently. The “TT” (TrueType) fonts were introduced in the nineties and are not as digitally refined. Besides listing the name of the font, there is also a sample of how it looks to aid in your selection.

Under the font selection dropdown is another dropdown with font styles. For example, for the Arial font, one of the

most commonly used, there are nine styles: Narrow, Narrow Italic, Narrow Bold, Narrow Italic Bold, Regular, Italic,

Bold, Bold Italic, and Black. Not all fonts have the same number of styles, and many fonts have no styles at all. If

your font shows no style options, never fear: there are faux styles that can be applied (see below).

To the right of the font styles is the font size. The drop-down box allows you to choose from a selection of sizes

from 6 to 72 points. If none of those are right for you, just key in any size and the font will adjust. Be aware that the

size of the font depends upon the size of the image. A 9-point font on a larger image is going to be smaller than the

same font on a smaller image (“smaller” refers to the pixel size of the image).

Below and to the left of the font size box is the Color tab. When you click on it, the color swatch group that you

have selected will appear. The Default swatch group is probably good enough for your use, but if you would like,

you can choose a custom color from your image. To do this, use the Color Picker tool (eyedropper icon) from the

“Draw” section of your toolbox and click on the desired color in your image. This will become the foreground color

and will automatically appear as the default color in the color box. The foreground color is always the default color

and when you select a new color from the Default swatches, that becomes your foreground color.

The last item is the Leading drop-down box. This is a throwback from the old days of printing. If additional space

was needed between lines to make the print fit better, the printer would insert a little strip of lead between lines.

Just as with the font size, the leading size has selections ranging from 6 to 72 points, but you can customize the

size by typing in the number.

The third section of the Text tool criteria contains the options (see Figure 4). As noted when discussing font styles

above, not all fonts have font styles, and some of those that do are “missing” certain styles. This may be because

the font designer did not feel that those styles were appropriate to the font (e.g. why would you want to apply the

bold style to an already bold, blocky font?); even so, Photoshop Elements gives you the option to use Faux Bold (B

in Figure 4), Faux Italic (I), Underline (U) and Strikethrough (S).

Figure 4 – Faux Styles and Text Alignment

The text alignment options, familiar to any Microsoft Word user, allow you to left align text, center text and right align text so that you can put it in just the right orientation on your postcard. The last section of the tool criteria allows you to apply various effects to your text. The drop-down box shown in Figure 5 (next page) presents seven different bevel styles: simple pillow emboss, simple sharp inner bevel, simple sharp outer bevel, simple sharp pillow emboss, inner ridge bevel, scalloped edge bevel (not really scalloped, but similar to the inner ridge bevel with a different light pattern) and wacky metallic. The emboss options make the text look like it was stamped into the image, which is rather interesting (though perhaps of limited use on a postcard – but get creative and prove me wrong!). The wacky metallic has the effect of electricity passing through the text or light reflecting on metal. These options are definitely worth looking into. Below the bevel drop-down box are two T’s. The first T with the arrow next to it is the Toggle Text Orientation tool. Use this when you want to quickly see how the text would look if placed in the opposite orientation (horizontal to vertical or vice-versa).

Continued next page

16 Jan 2019

Figure 5 – Text Effects

The second T with the downward-curved arrow underneath it accesses the Create Warp Text options and brings up the Warp Text dialog box (see Figure 6). From this box, you can select from a drop-down box of premade warp text styles (shown overlaying the Warp Text dialog box in Figure 6).

Figure 6 As an example, the “Arc” style has been applied to the “Wild Blue Yonder” text in the illustration. Each of the warp options results in a creative presentation of your text, so be sure to explore these as you determine what is best for your postcard (if any). Once you have chosen a premade warp text, or if you have chosen “None” and want to work outside of the (drop-down) box, the Warp Text dialog box has sliders that you can adjust to customize the text: the percentage of Bend, Horizontal Distortion and Vertical Distortion can all be modified. The very last option in the Text tool criteria box is a check-box for “Anti-aliasing.” Anti-aliasing is a software technique that helps eliminate jagged edges on computer-displayed text, so unless you are trying to achieve an effect that emphasizes the pixeled edges of your text (which are more likely to occur when distorting them with the warp tool), you will definitely want to keep that box checked. There you have it: a complete run-down of the text tool in Photoshop Elements. Here are just a few more tips to help you work more efficiently: • Each line of text automatically creates its own layer, so in order Figure 6 – Warp Text Options to adjust a line of text, you need to be on the proper layer. If you are not accustomed to displaying the layers panel, go to menu option Window and click on Layers to display it. • Besides being on the correct layer, you need to highlight the text to work on it. With the Text tool selected, place the cursor on the line of text that you wish to edit. You can then swipe across the line to highlight it for editing, or just click twice to highlight a specific word or three times to highlight the entire line. • When you flatten an image, the text becomes a part of the overall image and is no longer editable. Do not flatten your image too early, or else save the unflattened image, too. If you later find a spelling error or want to rephrase something on the postcard, it will be easy to make the correction. • Don’t overuse the text tool options. Just because you can create wild effects with your text, don’t do it unless it makes sense artistically. • To move text around as you are working, move your cursor away from the text and the cursor will turn into the Move Tool (also accessible from the tool box in the “Select” area). It is necessary to pick up the Text tool again before you try to enter additional text. This is one of the most frustrating aspects of the Text tool, and it is why the Text tool shortcut (keystroke t) is one of my favorites.

17 Jan 2019

Call for Art "No Holds Barred!" Photo Show 2019

at The EXibit Fine Art Center and Gallery

Here at The EXibit in Morris, IL, we believe there is no such thing as “Pure Photography” anymore, that every image we see in today’s world is digitally enhanced,

manipulated, refined, or just plain reconstructed. Therefore, to impose “rules” on a photo show is rather absurd. That’s why we decided to have the “No Holds

Barred” Photo Show, where the artist can enter any kind of “photo” they’ve created.

We have $700 in prizes available (with more $ coming).

A nice gallery space to display the artwork. All work juried into the show will be featured on our

website for 1 year.

A $45 entry fee for 3 JPEG’s. DEADLINE is March 17.