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Membership Director:
Assistant Directors:
Bob Costanzo, robert.costanzo101@gmail.com
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Welcome to the 2020 Fall Issue of
The PSA NH Membership Newsletter!
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Tracy Szela, the new president of the Manchester Camera Club,
and Joe Drapeau, the immediate past president, are really keeping us on our toes with wonderful field trip adventures show and tells, contests and critiques and delightful zoom meetings. The club's meeting schedule is posted on their newly designed web site https://manchestercameraclubnh.wordpress.com/
The featured image above by Tracy, is of Gleason Falls in Hillsboro, NH
http://www.newenglandwaterfalls.com/nh-gleasonfalls.html
It was was taken using a neutral density filter to slow the shutter speed down to about 20 seconds, which allowed the movement of the water to be shown in the image. She says " I got low down by the water surface to allow the interesting perspective.
Tracy "has been taking photographs off an on for about 20 years, starting with a pieced together Mamiya SLR that I loved, despite its faulty light meter. I used to focus primarily on black and white artistic images, but once I started using a DSLR, I started making more images of wildlife and nature. I also like to document my travels, and share these experiences with others." Tracy
To see more of her work, here is her web site
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Joe Drapeau, another water-wizard says...
"i have the camera on a tripod which is probably the most important thing, and I use a Nikon d850 or d7500 with a polarizer and a neutral density filter to get a slow shutter speed from half a second to 2 to 3 seconds."
Some field trips he suggests for us
"MCC had a great field trip to Ogunquit Maine on Marginal Way and we did a sunset /Milky Way photo shoot - socially distanced of course! It was great to get out.
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He suggests "If your looking for something different, visit Vins Nature Center in Quechee, VT https://vinsrise.org/ , a rehab center for injured birds,You can get great photos of the raptors when they bring out some of their birds during the scheduled demos.
A 200 or 300 mm zoom lens should serve you well."
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If you like hiking, you might enjoy Mt Adams, in the Presidential Range.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Adams_(New_Hampshire)
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Or the Sawtooth Mountains
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in the New York Adirondacks is sure to produce some great photos. Just make sure you are prepared for cold weather at this time of the year.
https://www.lakeplacid.com/story/2015/12/sawtooth-mountains
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Bob Legg – Manchester Camera Club |
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" When you go to photograph one of the most iconic scenes in the U.S., it needs to be different. A Mass/NH resident all of my life, but since 2015 retired and moved to warmer climate in Northwestern Virginia, just outside of Front Royal. I still hold membership in the
Manchester NH Camera Club as well as PSA Mid-Atlantic. My family and I took a fall vacation October 2019 in Rockport MA. Of course I had to include Motif #1 in my images. A Nor'easter was approaching and many of the boats had been moved so I needed to
get out and about. 7:30 AM and it starts to shower and the flat dim light was ideal to create this image with the seagulls perching just beautifully. Camera info: Nikon D750, Nikon 28-300 lens at 38mm, iso640, F111, 1/15 sec, Manfrotto 055 tripod. Raw image processed in Luminar 4 for
Mac, shadows opened and then Topaz Studio2 Glow filter applied with a HSL red filter to brighten up the scene. Thanks Massachusetts for the fantastic weather."
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Bob says "This image was take in the Adirondacks NY. The sky was cloudy but there was nice color in the trees on the other side of the pond. I processed Raw in Luminar 4.3 and exported .tiff to Topaz..
II then added Expressionistic/Impression lookup (this is where the unusual motion comes from). Then iI converted color to B&W in Luminar.,"
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New NH Individual Member of PSA!
We welcome our newest PSA NH members
Chris Quinn of Derry, NH
Tracy Szela-Brunner of Concord, NH
and Alison McMahan of Manchester, NH
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Alison McMahan - Manchester Camera Club
"I live with my husband and two teen foster children in Manchester, NH (just moved here from South Florida). I'm a writer and a teacher. I took a semester of photography in college and developed my black and white images in a closet in my apartment or in a lab at school. In graduate film school I learned about film cameras, then video cameras. I worked in non-fiction film/video until
the 2008 recession (see Homunculusprods.com). Mostly I was a writer/producer so my tech skills are rudimentary. By the time the film work dried up I had a Canon 5D Mark III which I used mostly in my video work. Now I'm interested in learning how to take good still pictures. So I joined a local photography club and the PSA. I'm looking forward to learning from all of you. Thanks for inviting me to the group!" To learn more about Allison, visit her corporate web site https://homunculusprods.com/about-homunculus-productions-llc
and her is her galley on the PSA web site. https://psa-photo.org/index.php?alison-mcmahan-0122#ad-image-5
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Beach Wedding at Marginal Way. Ogunquit, ME |
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Judy Burgess, President, North Country Camera Club
The North Country Camera Club Schedule: all meetings will be by Zoom:
October 8 NECCC 2019 'Nature 'Circuit Image Competition with
critiquing (helpful for our upcoming Nature competition)
October 22 Monthly Competition, category " Nature" - Judge, Brenda Driscoll
November 5 Joe Viger Photography presents "Action Photography with Joe Viger"
November 19 Monthly Competition category - "Black & White" - Judge Ryan Knapp
December 9 Holiday Party at Stonehurst Manor (not at school)
December 17 Monthly Competition category - "Open" - Judge Kathy Bergeron
January 14 Educational Mtg - Glennie Nature Competition with comments
January 28 Monthly Competition category - "Creative Manipulated"
Feb 11 Education Mtg - TBA
Feb 25 Monthly Competition - category "Open"
March 11 John Hoffman & John Keator present "Milky Way & Night Sky Photography"
March 25 Monthly Competition - "Macro - any subject"
April 8 NECCC 2020 Open 2020 Circuit Competition has been cancelled..new program-TBA
April 22 Monthly Competition - category "Open"
May 13 Field Trip with Ed Bergeron (not at the school)
May 27 Monthly Competition - "Leaf - one leaf wild or cultivated"
June 10 Year End Annual Competition - all images/prints score 8 & above
June 16 Annual Banquet (not at school)
Fall Field Trip with Judy Burgess -depends on weather & foliage & Covid 19
Spring Field Trip with Ed Bergeron - depends on weather
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Judy Burgess- Merganser Chicks
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Judy Burgess - Fall foliage along Joe's River VT
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Joe Burgess -
The Other Barn - in the Grand Tetons
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Q & A with Fred Orkin
Fred asks :
Have you taken advantage of the items offered for sale on the PSA web site? PSA E-News
Have you made a gallery of your work on the PSA web site? https://psa-photo.org/index.php?north-america-member-galleries#northeast
Have YOU had any of your images published in any of these magazines? Have you entered any of the contests they may offer?
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Lydia Williams: Hello Fred,
You asked if anyone had a photo in the AAA Northern New England Journey...
Yes, I did a few years ago. This was of the Alton Bay Cottages and won a second-place award.
Also, I had an image in Yankee Magazine (in 2013) of a tugboat in Portsmouth, for "Icon of the Year".
Thank you to you all who do the Northeast PSA newsletter!! Much appreciated. Enjoyed. Best, Lydia Williams
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https://sharonnahill.com/
Sharon is a biologist, a botanist, a potter and the former owner of an art gallery too!
She tells us that "Photography has been a part of my life since I was an art student (sculpture, pottery and Fine Arts); from high school, through college and into graduate work. Later on, as a Research Scientist (Immunology and Virology in Biotech), I used cameras to capture microscopic images and to document experimental results for many years. Now that I am retired, I have plenty of time to "chase the light" outdoors, on my hikes and travels as well as here at home in Meredith, NH. These photos were selected from a group that were taken in my backyard during the Covid-19 period of social distancing. I am forever amazed at how nature is right there outside my door if I just take the time to sit, wait, watch and shoot. With a camera, of course!"
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Hummingbird Clearwing Moth (Hemaris thysbe):
Olympus OMD EM-1 Mark II, M. Zuiko 40-150mm F2.8, hand-held at ISO 640, 150mm (300mm full frame equivalent), f/2.8, 1/1600 sec.
These amazing mimics visit my garden every year when the phlox are at their peak.
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Ruby-throated Hummingbirds
Male Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubrus) :
For years, I have struggled to photograph the elusive male ruby throated hummingbird. They get pushed out of the way by the aggressive females and only visit my feeders and vicinity rarely. I was delighted to catch these with the sun lighting up his stunning "gorget".
On the feeder:
Olympus OMD EM1 mark II, M.Zuiko 40-150mm F2.8, ISO 400, 135mm (270mm full frame equiv.) f/2.8 1/320 sec. Hand held.
On the cardinal flower:
Olympus OMD EM1 mark II, M.Zuiko 40-150mm, 1.4x teleconverter, F2.8, ISO 200, 210mm (420mm full frame equiv.) f/5.0 1/1600 sec. Hand held.
In flight:
Olympus OMD EM1 mark II, M.Zuiko 75-300mm F4.8-6.7II, ISO 400, 275mm (550mm full frame equiv.) f/6.7 1/250 sec. Hand held.
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Bears!!
American Black Bear (Ursus americanus):
This bear cub visited us all summer long, peering through our first floor windows to look at my son who would gaze out at him across the pain of glass. Two lonely young ones. Unlike other years when the whole resident bear family would come to raid my bird feeders, this little guy is always alone. My son has named him "Martin". These two photos were captured within a few yards of the cub and over many minutes as he foraged for insects in our leaf pile.
Portrait:
Olympus OMD EM1, M.Zuiko 75-300mm F4.8-6.7II , ISO 1600, 75mm (150mm full frame equiv.) f/4.8 1/100 sec. Hand held.
In Profile:
Olympus OMD EM1, M.Zuiko 75-300mm F4.8-6.7II , ISO 800, 228mm (456mm full frame equiv.) f/6.3 1/40 sec. Hand held.
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Phyllis Meinke – Lakes Region Camera Club
Phyllis has several of her lovely images on display for the Lakes Region Art Assoc. 's Show at their gallery in the Tanger Mall in Tilton NH. http://www.lraanh.org.
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Dawn in the Orchard "was taken last winter on a back road in Canterbury, where I’ve been walking with my dogs. The trees were bare and the background trees provided a kind of abstract vertical look. I took it into Topaz Textures and used a texture created by Tony Sweet, and then fiddled with the colors. (I have many versions of it, with different looks)"
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The image above is called
Maine Beach,
"It is an old photo that I took when walking on Marginal Way in Ogunquit, ME . I used a blurring technique and then brightened the colors."
and the image below is
Tulips in the Grass
...It is just a fun one – I used the double exposure technique in Topaz Textures to layer the tulip photo (which I’d done using my lightbox) and a shot of grasses with wildflowers to give depth and bring out the color. "
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Jay Fitzpatrick - Lakes Region CC
Lakes Region Camera Club member , Jay Fitzpatrick saw images of what appeared to him as an “other-wordly place,” and he wanted to go there. So in August of 2019 he flew to southwest Washington State to explore the Palouse Region, especially that section located in Whitman County.
As seen from Steptoe Butte, the rolling Palouse Prairie spreads out in all directions as far as the eye can see, creating a patchwork of colors and tones, from the golden wheat, to the greens of the garbanzo fields to the rich browns of overturned soil. The colors change as the sun sweeps from east to west and as cloud formations come and go. Jay spent eight days traveling through the back roads that cut through miles of wheat feels.
In addition to shooting in color, he experimented with his infrared-converted Canon 5DMII, and black and white conversions as well."
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1 Palouse From Steptoe Butte
2 Abandoned Homestead
3 Palouse Barn
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4 Green Truck
5 Wheat
6 One Room School House
7 Lone Tree
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Bob Costanzo – Assistant NH PSA Membership Chairman & Member of Merrimack Valley Camera Club "It would be great to get comments on photos taken from different angles from one site"
"I was all excited when I saw these two bathtubs together in a corn field. The first image has very little adjustments. I thought the image would look better without the fence posts, so, I got out my photoshop text book and took out the poles and did some processing in Lightroom. Then I discovered, while checking the sharpness of the corn, that there was a thin wire connecting all the poles. As I wanted to print it ,but was concerned about the wire showing up in a larger print. . My question is, in a competition, would you notice the thin wire ? It also occurred to me that I should find a friend and we could liven up the photo by getting in the tubs... naturally fully clothed. This is what happens to your mind when you wear a mask too long. Thanks and be safe, Bob
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Here are more images of the cornfield with the tubs. I took a lot of photos as I was trying to get sharper images and use focus stacking to make my images more competitive. |
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I prefer to take images from different positions, training myself to move around to get a different look.
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All the images were shot from public property which is usually about 13ft from the road. I hope to get permission soon before they harvest the crop.
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I used 3 different lenses: a wide angle zoom 16- 35, 70- 200 and my new social distancing lens 100-400."
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Comments on Bob's the images of the tubs in the cornfield?
Fred:
I suggested getting closer to the tubs & using a wide angle lens to include much of cornfields. OK; now I understand you were on a road & could not get closer to the tubs. Your last image was closest to what I suggested, but there’s excess space between the tubs & the cornfields, plus the cornfields compete for my eye: I’d suggest, if possible, to use your social-distancing Zoom, get as close to ground as possible without including ground in ‘foreground’, adjust focal length to have tubs occupying 1/3 to 1/2 of width of frame (keeping them in middle of width but lower than center of frame), focus on tubs, & experiment with aperture so that cornfields are slighting ‘soft’
I don't even see the wire connecting the poles on my screen. I'm SURE that anyone who is unaware the poles were removed would notice the wire. BTW: Is it permissible to remove elements in the image (the poles), then submit the image in a competition? (I'm probably too much of a purist.) But I see your note about private property, so that explains why you were not able to be closer to the tubs.
Arabella:
Oh! Bob, I didn’t see the wire ! However, there is a phone app called Touchretouch that is marvelous at removing lines… So.... airdrop your image to your phone and fix it in Touchretouch and then airdrop it back to your computer…..here is the link on the app store https://apps.apple.com/us/app/touchretouch/id373311252
Merrimack Camera Club:
The critique of the image suggested that this image has two compelling subjects - the cornfield and the two tubs.
NH MEMBERS - YOUR THOUGHTS ? Please Send in your Suggestions for the cornfield and the two tubs and i will print our ongoing dialogue in the winter image.
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are working on a NH Statewide photography project “to document the people, culture, architecture, industry, landscapes, and events of the Granite State. Photographers will travel across the state making photographs in the spirit of Farm Security Administration photographers like Dorothea Lang, Walker Evans and Carl Mydans who documented all aspects of life during the depression.” If you wish to join the group and participate in the project, Here is the link to the NH SPA web site
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PSA offers WEB-inars, ON-line Learning and more!
Free webinars to individual members..
https://psa-photo.org/index.php?webinar-info
Online Educational Courses as well
https://psa-photo.org/index.php?education-online-courses
Contests: this one is happening now!!! please consider entering
PSA Photo Contest "Layers of Passion" https://passioncircuit.club/
this international contest that will close on Oct 22 2020 on has 6 judging circuits
Annual Conference: Oct 6 - 9 2021 The PSA 2021 Festival will be in RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA
Please join us!
Rapid City, South Dakota
CONFERENCE HOTEL:
Best Western Ramkota Hotel
2111 N Lacrosse Street
Rapid City, South Dakota 57701
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Musings.....
Like this old house Pittsburg NH, we are all becoming ratty-tatty as these Covid days drag on.
As the saying goes.. "Lord willing and the creek don't rise," we will survive these difficult times and perhaps, by spring, will once more be meeting together in person celebrating each other's talents and our shared fascination with photography.
Meanwhile, please keep your families safe and nurture the flame of hope.
Thank you, to each of you - the individual members of PSA; the members of PSA Clubs; and the members of the NECCC Council; for sharing your ideas and your inspired work with us on line, in print and via Zoom. Arabella Dane, NH Membership Director
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New England Camera Club Council of PSA
http://www.neccc.org/
NECCC offers a selection of wonderful opportunities :
The Blog -They also offer a marvelous blog that showcases adventures, workshops. items for sale and temptations of all kinds both regional and national. You need to signup for it. Here is the link. necccnews.blogspot.com
So that is it for now! Please keep in touch and share your news with us. Would you like to have a zoom meeting with a speaker perhaps? Or a shred photo critique with a noted instructor? Let us know your thoughts. Our next issue will be during the winter. Arabella Dane, Bob Costanzo, and Fred Orkin, your NH PSA membership team
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Would you like to participate on our PSA NH Newsletter committee? Please share your ideas about how our PSA NH membership team can be helpful to you. Ever gratefully, Arabella Dane, Fred Orkin, & Bob Costanzo
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Hillcrest Farm PO Box 711, 252 Dane Road
Center Harbor, NH 03226
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