July 2013 Beginning Digital Photography SIG Report

SIG Leader: John Krill #3160

It was a small group that met this Sunday. I suspect the reason was the July 4^th was a long weekend.

One question I couldn’t answer was: Can you arrange your images in the order you want for a Slideshow? Will have to look into this and put up an answer on the SIG Blog: nocccbgphotosig.wordpress.com.

Lightroom 5 (LR5)

There is one really cool new tool in LR5. It’s a new version of perspective correction. I demonstrated what this tool could do on one of my own photos. In previous versions of LR you need to use the manual mode to correct for any distortions in the image. You still can manually correct distortation  in LR5 but always try the AUTO mode first.

The best way to see what’s new in LR5 go to Adobe and examine the videos for LR5. A good starting point at Adobe is: http://tinyurl.com/l9mpvlf.

LR5 Lens and Perspective Adjustment Before and After Using The Auto Mode

Notice there is some cropping. I’ve set LR5 to automatically crop the image (Constrain Crop) to eliminate white space.

The New Flickr

Because of the small size of the group I didn’t go to deeply into Flickr but because of the amount of storage now available, one terabyte, this may be a good place to store your photos. In August I will go deeper into Flickr’s possibilities.

Questions and Comments

Touch Screen Laptops

It was good to see someone at the club WANTED a laptop with the touch screen option. Only problem was he wants a laptop with a 17” screen and Dell didn’t have the Touch option for the 17” laptop.

Keep bringing in your questions. It really is the fun part of being a SIG Leader – answering question.

August Meeting

We will continue to take a look at Flickr. It’s changed but are the changes an improvement?

I still want to do a ‘Walk About.’ Didn’t I say that last month? Bring your camera and we’ll walk about and see what kind of picture taking problems we can find and maybe answer.

If you have specific picture taking problems then bring your camera and just maybe we can solve your problem.

Adobe Lightroom or A New SIG Maybe

I got so wrapped up in the Print Test that I forgot all about trying to start a new Lightroom SIG. No one showed up at Irvine Hall and complained about the lack of a meeting. So what follows is just a repeat of last month. I STILL want to try and get some kind of Lightroom SIG.

It will be at 12 Noon in Science 131. I plan to start at the very beginning and gradually go through the entire program in the coming months.

Note: I’ve changed the room location to Science 131. Since both photo SIGs meet in this room I’ve decided to add Lightroom to the list.

Or maybe only experienced Lightroom users will show up and we then can discuss just about anything related to Lightroom.

Or maybe it will be a little bit of both.

Sadly, for me, no one showed up for the July meeting. Maybe a little more publicity will help. Can’t give up yet.

If you’re interested in a Lightroom SIG then e-mail me at: noccc.bgphotosig@gmail.com

Standard Stuff That Is Always In This Report

If you have a special request for information regarding digital photography let me know. E-mail me using the address listed below.

Check out the SIG BLog for other information and maybe info on what we will discuss at the next meeting.

As always we will answer any and all questions.

If you have a special request for information regarding digital photography let me know. E-mail me using the address listed below.

We had 2 members at our SIG meeting.

See you at the next meeting.

Note: I am using a new Web location for the photos I take at the meeting. I now upload the photos I take to Microsoft SkyDrive. A link will be put here every month to the folder location with the current month’s photos.

SkyDrive Photos for the July 2013 Club Meeting: http://sdrv.ms/13v7P63.

Flickr Photos for July 2013 Club Meeting: http://tinyurl.com/m9nxh9x.

SIG BLog: https://nocccbgphotosig.wordpress.com/

Email: noccc.bgphotosig@gmail.com

SIG Report – Fabruary 2012

Photo by Howard Phillips with his Nikon 1 V1

February 2012 Meeting Beginner’s Digital Photography SIG
SIG Leader: John Krill #3160

NEW Room Science 131A: We have moved our meeting location from Science 127 to Science 131A. To repeat we will be meeting in Science 131A from now on. Science 131A is next door to Science 127. Clear?

Slide Shows

Howard Phillips brought in his new Nikon 1 V1 and he also provided us with a set of pictures taken with the Nikon 1 that we all looked at using Picasa’s slide show capability. The current version of Picasa is 3.9. Can’t wait for 4.0. It just keeps getting better and better. And it’s free.

You Need A Gmail account to get Picasa. Like all free products on the Web you need to give something before the free stuff comes your way. So it is with Picasa. Google requires you have a GMail account. It’s easy to get and that added benefit is GMail is one of the better e-mail apps around.

What’s In A Name.

The difficult part in signing up for a GMail account is what name will you use. Because GMail has several million users getting the name you desire is next to impossible. So be patient and a name will be yours.

Picasa Is The Center Of Google+

Google just may have big plans for Picasa. It’s central to Google+ the social network. Of course Google+ was my wall. Up until Twitter, Facebook, and now Google+ I could get the hang of it fairly quickly but now I’ve hit a wall of understanding. It took me several trips to Twitter before I fully understood the site. I then cancelled my subscription. Next it was Facebook. Now I understand the concept but trying to do anything is beyond me. I’m constantly calling my niece and asking here how to get anything done on Facebook. The only reason I stay on Facebook is to see what all the youngins’ are up to.

Now comes Google+. I’m completely lost with this thing. The problem is I really like Picasa and Google is integrating Picasa into Google+. So much so that I’m getting lost whenever I put photos online using Picasa. In the past you went directly to Picasa Online. No more. Now it’s Google+.

Why do I keep hitting my head against the WALL?

Why All This Complaining?

Picasa, the off-line application, is a terrific tool for keeping track of all your photos. It’s easy to use and getting better. But I fear that all the effort to make Google+ a winner Picasa users will be the losers. The latest version of Picasa is all about integrating with Google+. Is this the beginning of the end for a terrific little program?

In the past I’ve always recommended Picasa for beginning digital photographers. I don’t know haw much longer I can do that.

More about Picasa at the next meeting.

Will the Cellphone Replace the Point-and-Shoot Camera?

The cameras inside that latest iPhones have gotten much better. But that’s not why they may replace Point-and-Shoot cameras. The reason the iPhone is everything you can do with the photo AFTER you take the picture. What to send the baby picture to grandma? No problem. Want to put the baby picture online at Flickr or Facebook? No problem. Want to add it to a blog posting. No problem.

Now try doing any of the with you Point-and-Shoot camera. The only place it can go is the computer. You carry your computer everywhere you go? And once it’s in the computer how many steps are required to get that photo to grandma or up to Facebook?

iPhone Volunteer Needed

Anyone with an iPhone willing to give our SIG a short demonstration on using the camera in your phone?

Also – I’m Still Hoping That An Android Pad User Will Volunteer

I would like to demonstrate Adobe’s new Photoshop Touch App (http://tv.adobe.com/watch/adobe-touch-apps/what-is-adobe-photoshop-touch/) I will pay you to install the software App on your Android ($10.00). Any one interested?

Standard Stuff That Is Always In This Report

This report should be up on the SIG’s blog. I may go into greater detail and I will include screen shots as well.

If you have a special request for information regarding digital photography let me know. E-mail me using the address listed below.

Check out the SIG Blog for other information and maybe info on what we will discuss at the next meeting.

As always we will answer any and all questions.

If you have a special request for information regarding digital photography let me know. E-mail me using the address listed below.

We had 15 members at our SIG meeting.

See you at the next meeting.

Note: I am using a new Web location for the photos I take at the meeting. I now upload the photos I take to Microsoft SkyDrive. A link will be put here every month to the folder with that months photos.

SkyDrive Photos for the December 2011 Club Meeting: http://tinyurl.com/6rl9sa7

PS: If you saw the actual link to the photos you would think it never ended. It’s the longest link I’ve ever had to deal with. Solution is the TinyURL web site. Give it a really long link and they give you a nice short one. That’s the link you see above.

SIG Blog: https://nocccbgphotosig.wordpress.com/

Email: noccc.bgphotosig@gmail.com