From the President Dates to Remember · you have to expand your photography knowledge and skill. You won't find a more friendly and supportive environment than our club to share your

From the President

As we kick off the new club year we also enter

into a new competition season. The primary

mission of the Lake County Camera Club is to

be a learning club. To that end competition

nights are an excellent learning opportunity for

photographers at all levels whether you are

participating in the competition or simply

observing.

Competition helps us to expand our

photography skill and technique. As

photographers we often have some level of

emotional attachment to our images. Having

an understanding of the judging process and

how images are scored provides guidelines

that help us step back and be more critical

when assessing our own work. Viewing

images from other photographers helps to

expand our understanding of what makes a

good image in terms of subject selection,

composition, technique, and overall creativity.

Your first competition may be a little

intimidating. Don't let that stop you from

participating in one of the best opportunities

you have to expand your photography

knowledge and skill. You won't find a more

friendly and supportive environment than our

club to share your work and learn from others.

Ron Meyers

Dates to Remember

October 2 Libertyville North Fire Station

October 7 Competition Night, 7:00 p.m.

3 total images, plus a 4th if

monochrome, with no more than

2 images in one category

October 9 CACCA Competition

October 16 Shutter Cafe, 8:00 a.m.

October 21 Light Painting presented by

Chris Knight

October 31 DPI Photos Due for Individual

“Alteration of Reality” and “Soft

Focus” CACCA Competitions

October 31 Monochrome (Black and White)”

October Assignment and

Challenge Due

November 4 How To Get Better Images from

Your Digital Camera presented

by Jerry Hug, 7:00 p.m.

November 6 Milwaukee County Zoo

November 13 CACCA Competition

November 20 Shutter Cafe, 8:00 a.m.

November 25 DPI Photos Due for Interclub

Competition and Individual

“Close Up” CACCA

Competition

November 30 Assignment and Challenge

Due

Questions or comments, please contact

[email protected] or visit our

website at www.lakecountycameraclub.org.

© Lake County Camera Club. The contents of “Exposures” are copyrighted. No material may be

reproduced in any manner without the written permission of the Editor or the material’s specific contributor.

The Lake County Camera Club is a proud member of the

Photographic Society of America and the Chicago Area Camera Club Association.

Bristol Renaissance Faire

The day was cool, jackets were needed for

most, but once we entered the portal gates,

we were able to capture an exciting village

celebrating the arrival of Queen Elizabeth.

The costumes, characters and even a joust

were all there for the shooting!

Front row: Tom Biegalski, JJ Johnson, Terri Hanlon,

Mike Jordan, Mike McEnery. Back row: Paula Matzek

(Arlington Camera Club), Ken Johnson, Terry

Ferguson, Margie Hurwich, Paul Kurek, Don Schmidt,

Bob Kruzic, Linda Kruzic, Jim Ross, Megan McGrath,

Quintin McGrath. Not pictured: Dana Deutsch,

Brenda Hernandez, Marcelino Hernandez, Luanne

Kowalke.

Our challenge

to “Put LCCC’s

Stamp on the

Location” was a

fun challenge.

This months

stamp finds

that at LCCC’s

Renaissance Faire, Photos Rule!

Here are more images taken that day.

Exposures, October 2010 Volume 3, Issue 2 Page 2

© Mike Jordan

© Margie Hurwich

© JJ Jordan

© Mike Jordan

© Quintin McGrath © Paul Kurek

© Terry Ferguson

© Tom Biegalski

Here are more images taken that day.

© Margie Hurwich

© Ken Johnson

Milwaukee County Zoo

On Saturday, November 6, our excursion will

be to the Milwaukee County Zoo.

Recognized as one of the country’s finest

zoos, the Milwaukee County Zoo is home to

more than 2,200 mammals, birds, fish,

amphibians and reptiles with more than 320

species represented. Parking is $11.00 and

admission is $11.75.

If you will be attending, a car pool has been

set up. We will meet at the Fifth/Third Bank

on the corner of Grand and 21 at 8:15 a.m.

and leaving no later than 8:30 a.m. If you

plan on meeting us up there, we will be

meeting at the entrance at 9:30 a.m. The

zoo is located at 10001 West Blue Mound

Road, Milwaukee.

All attending are responsible for liability and

travel arrangements. The photo excursion is

subject to weather, no rain date. If you will

be attending, please contact Michelle Cox at

[email protected] or

(847) 356-1933. Michelle will need to know if

you will be carpooling or driving as well as

your cell phone number.

Glossary

Just what is all of the terminology used in

photography? Find out right here…each

month new terms will be shared.

GRAY CARD - Also known as the “Kodak

neutral test card,” a gray card is an 8" X 10"

(20 cm by 25.5 cm) card, about 1/8" thick,

that is uniformly gray on one side. The gray

side reflects precisely 18% of the white light

that strikes it (corresponding to the

calibration of a reflected-light meter). It is

uniformly white on the other side, which

reflects 90% of the light.

HIGH CONTRAST - An image that is high in

contrast (as opposed to a "flat" image),

wherein the negative, slide or print contains

a wide density range.

HIGH KEY - An image that is mainly made

up of light tones, which relatively few mid-

tones or shadows.

HIGHLIGHT - The brightest area of a subject

or scene.

HOT SHOE - An accessory holder (or

accessory shoe) on a camera that embodies

an electrical contact so that, for instance, a

flash unit can be triggered to go off. A small,

portable flash that has a contact on its "foot"

can be connected to a hot shoe, which will

cause the flash to fire when you press the

shutter release.

For more definitions, you can visit

www.photographytips.com.


© Milwaukee County Zoo

Back to the BasicsCameras and Lenses

by Margie Hurwich

I am a firm believer that to learn digital

photography, there are steps involved.

Since this is of course digital photography,

one must first learn how to use a

computer. Knowing how to get your

images from the camera to the computer,

where files are stored and how to open

them will be key. After there is a comfort

level with the computer, knowledge of the

camera is essential. Know what the

buttons do and how to find settings on the

camera. The last step is the post

processing of the digital image in a

software (i.e. Photoshop). It is only after

learning the computer and the camera that

computer software is learned. I’m not

talking high end knowledge, but a basic

workings are a must.

Whether you are new to photography

needing to learn the basics or a seasoned

veteran looking for a refresher, I am

hopeful you will find this monthly column

useful. Starting this month and moving

forward, this column will pertain to the

basics of photography. These columns

come with the idea that you already have

a basic knowledge of your computer and

where your images are when you

download your images.

After each column I'll be giving you a

challenge. No one will hold you

accountable for these challenges but

yourself. So let's get started.

There are few different types of cameras.

• Point and Shoot

These cameras feature zoom lenses and

give some creative control with aperture or

shutter speed. The latest models are only

offering an LCD panel to view your

composition rather than an optical

viewfinder.

• Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR)

These cameras are larger than point and

shoots, but offer full creative control with

aperture, shutter speed, ISO and the use of a

variety of lenses and attachments.

• Camera Phone

In the past, the quality for these cameras has

been average at best, but phones are now

offering zoom lenses and higher resolutions.

You won't have much control over creativity,

if any at all, however your creativity comes

through composition.

In addition, there are different lenses.• Point and shoot cameras and phones have a

fixed lens, but often have zoom features.

• DSLRs have a variety of lenses that are

interchangeable.

Wide angle: 28mm to 35mm

Standard or Normal: 50mm to 80mm

Telephoto or Zoom: 100mm to 400mm

Prime: 50mm, 100mm, 200mm, 600mm

Specialty: Fisheye, Lensbaby

Your challenge:• Whatever type of camera you have, you need

to become familiar with it. As such, it is very

important to read your manual! This is

something that I cannot express enough. You

can read all of the columns that I will be writing,

but if you don't know where to find the items I

write about, my columns won't mean anything.

So get out your manual, sit on your sofa and

practice each of the settings discussed on each

page, all the while shooting that nice glass of

wine sitting on the table next to you or the

antique table in the corner of your room or your

child playing on the floor...you get the idea!

The nice thing about any digital camera is

that you will receive instant feedback. After

each shutter release, take a look at your

image and determine what you have read in

your manual is what you are seeing on your

camera.


Tips, Tricks and IdeasOverview of Adobe Photoshop

Lightroom 3

by John Williams

Just what is Lightroom and why should

this application be considered when

assembling your digital darkroom

applications. Yes you’re right, good

software applications can be expensive

and time consuming to learn and then

costly to keep updated. So making the

decision to adopt an application should be

done carefully and with consideration to

where you are going with your

photography. There are many

applications like Picassa, iPhoto and ones

that come with the camera that are

designed to import, save, enhance and

print or publish your photos. They were

designed to be inexpensive or free, easy

to learn, all in one solution. In contrast we

have the pro standard of the industry for

serious editing with Adobe Photoshop

CS5 or its little brother Photoshop

Elements, arguably the best for photo

editing and manipulation, although with

that sophistication comes serious study

time and learning curve. So where does

Lightroom fit in.

Adobe Lightroom was designed

specifically for photographers. Its

strengths are unique to all the others

mentioned above. Its primary competitive

alternative is called Aperture by Apple

which only runs on the Mac system.

Lightroom is all about handling efficiently

the photographers’ workflow through all

major steps of importing, cataloging,

processing, printing, publishing, viewing

And exporting your images. Yes, you can

accomplish all these tasks without it, but by

comparison, not likely anywhere near as

efficiently. It acts like the main controller for

your digital darkroom with smooth handoffs

to additional outside editing functions when

needed like Photoshop CS5 or plug-ins from

several of the same sources for Photoshop.

The functionality built in is powerful, yet easy

to learn and use. If you don’t currently have

a well organized workflow for processing lots

of images after you get back with a full

memory card, then Lightroom will get you

there.

I love using Lightroom and the way it keeps

me organized. Its simplicity allows me to

quickly sort through my images, compare

and rate them, and accomplish the majority

of editing needs without any of the

complexity or distractions of using filters,

layers, or blending modes or carefully

orchestrated steps required in Photoshop.

Let’s go through the functions briefly…

First Step “Library” - This is where you

import your images and have complete

control of how and where they will be

organized. Lightroom maintains catalogs of

your images, makes backup copies

simultaneously and makes it possible to

track the locations of photos even if they are

on external drives not attached to your

computer. It’s easy to add keywords and

search by all data tracked with each image.

It’s easy to group photos into collections or


Tips, Tricks and IdeasOverview of Adobe Photoshop

Lightroom 3 - continued

automate them based on flexible criteria.

This is a big one, you can see, evaluate

and select images quickly with great tools

to compare several and magnify areas to

discern and compare which ones to keep

or work on.

Second Step “Develop” - By design,

Lightroom is all nondestructive editing

done in Camera RAW, you can use jpeg

images as well, but this is RAW power. If

you’re serious about your photography

then chances are you shoot in RAW most,

if not all, of the time. You can crop and

level your photos and even use various

grids to help with composition. You have

sophisticated exposure, color, contrast

and sharpening tools including a flexible

brush the lets you edit in targeted areas.

You can use presets, you can save your

own, you can sync adjustments to several

photos at once, and you can convert to

black and white. The newest version has

fantastic noise reduction combined with

highly adjustable detail and sharpening. It

also has lens correction that comes with

lens profiles for most models and also lets

you manually take care of distortion,

vignetting, aberrations and even

perspective angles and it also has

vignetting as effects. I do more than 80%

of my work in Lightroom without ever

needing Photoshop but Lightroom makes

it easy to take a photo or multiple photos

and automatically send them to

Photoshop for further editing, or

Photomatix, or photo merge, and when

you save the image in Photoshop, you see

your edits immediately back in Lightroom.

Third Step “Slideshow, Print or Publish” –

Here is where Lightroom provides ways to

create customized print set ups, it makes it

easy to layout photos to any paper sizes you

want. It allows for several copies of one or

multiple images on a single sheet. You can

use the print engine to print to jpeg files as

well. You can make slide shows into videos

with music or do web gallery layouts and

also directly publish to photo-sharing sites.

When you have finished an image,

Lightroom makes it simple to export to any

size and quality file you want, you can add

watermarks, and for example you can set the

maximum dimensions for our DPI

submission and that’s what you’ll get on

export automatically.

There are many other cool things that you

can do in Lightroom but I hope this has

provided a good overview. Put Lightroom

together with Photoshop CS5 and you’ve got

an extremely powerful and efficient photo

handling and editing package that is by far

the most universally used and supported by

the photography community.

For those that would like to learn more about

Lightroom, it’s easy to download a free 30

day trial version to give it a whirl, there are

many online resources for training. It also

appears that in January, our club will be able

to participate in a special overview

presentation of Lightroom and have Adobe

sponsor it by providing free goodies and

even a free copy of Lightroom for a lucky

winner. More about that in the near future.



Tips from Bill BrownHow To Darken Edges of A Print To

Draw Interest To The Subject

With the competition season upon us,

having darker edges on your images

draws interest to the subject. Here are

steps to achieve this.

1. Open your image.

2. Duplicate the Background by clicking on

Layer/Duplicate Layer from the top menu.

(You have the option to rename this

layer.) Click OK.

3. Click on Layer/New/Layer from the top

menu. Click OK. This layer will be blank.

4. Using the Marquee Tool, (circled in red

below) make a selection about one quarter

of the way inside the edges of the blank

layer and draw a rectangle around image.

Once you have selected that are, you will

see “marching ants” (highlighted in red

rectangle below).

4. Click on Select/Inverse from the top menu.

You will now see the “marching ants”

around your entire image.

5. Using the Brush Tool (circled in red below)

paint the selection with black. You can

change the color of the fill by clicking on

the top box in your Color palette

(highlighted in red rectangle below) and

selecting black.

6. Click on Select/Deselect from the top menu.

7. Click on Filter/Blur/Gaussian Blur from the

top menu. Move the Radius slider to 250.0.

Click OK.

8. Move the opacity slider at the top of the layer

palette (highlighted in red rectangle below)

until you are satisfied with the darkened

edges. Note: Don’t make the edges too

dark. Make them look natural but dark

enough to highlight the subject.

Before After

© Margie Hurwich


Mick’s Picks of

Places to Shootby Michelle Cox

Fall is here along with the cooler weather,

later sunrises and earlier sunsets and of

course – COLOR! The choices for spots

to take photos continue to surprise me.

This month I’ve decided to feature a

couple places for fall colors, as well as a

couple of “honorable mentions”. Hopefully

you will grab a partner and get out there to

capture the beauty all around us.

• Heron Creek Forest Preserve Get out and

into nature at one of Lake County’s many

forest preserves. This month I’m highlighting

the 245 acre preserve called Heron Creek.

The preserve has more than 116 species of

birds including include Herons and other

waterfowl. There are six state endangered

bird species - Black Tern, Black-Crowned

Night Heron, Yellow-Crowned Night Heron,

Osprey, Forster’s Tern, and three state

threatened bird species - Brown Creeper,

Pied-Billed Grebe and Red-Shouldered

Hawk have been found in the area. Heron

Creek Forest Preserve is in Ela Township,

located on the southwest corner of Route 22

and Old McHenry Road. The entrance to the

preserve is on Old McHenry Road, south of

Route 22. More information is available at

http://www.lcfpd.org/preserves.

• Schlitz Audubon Nature Center, 1111 E.

Brown Deer Road, Milwaukee, WI 53217

Information: Call 414-352-2880.

This Center is a 225-acre sanctuary located

just 20 minutes north of downtown

Milwaukee on Lake Michigan, (exit I-43 at

Brown Deer road, east). Located along the

Lake Michigan migratory corridor, 250

species of birds have been recorded within

the Center. Two ponds, ravines, woodlands

and prairies provide habitat for hawks,

ducks, owls, warblers, finches, falcons and

many others. You can also enjoy a walk on

the beach or hike along a 6 mile trail. There

is a 60 foot observation tower open to the

public. I exchanged emails with the Center

and they encourage photographers partake in

the beauty of this nearby escape from the city.

Next year they may even arrange a raptor

photo day. For more information, see their web

page at http://www.schlitzauduboncenter.com/.

• Civil War Re-enactment October 16 and 17

at the Dollinger Family Farm, 7502 E. Hansel

Road, Channahon, IL 60410 815-467-6766 or

815-467-4698. This event is a bit of a travel but

seems to be worth the drive. This working farm

(including pumpkins) is hosting the re-

enactment. This past weekend I was talking

with the re-enactors in Lake Villa. They were

amazed that so many photographers wanted to

take photos of their equipment rather than

them! So if you go, be sure to take some

photos the folks involved in the event. Visit the

farm’s web page at

http://www.dollingerfarms.com/index2.html.

• Russell Military Museum, 43363 Old Hwy 41,

Russell, IL – just a quick note to let you know

that this years season will end October 17. If

you want to get by there to see the equipment

as well as the new F-15 fighter jet this year, you

will have to plan an early day in October. See

http://russellmilitarymuseum.com/ for more info.

Have you been to any of the Mick's Picks

locations? Be sure to share your photos with

the club by submitting them to

[email protected].

Here are photos from the

Waukegan Air Show and

another Civil War Re-enachment in Lake

Villa. Anyone want to join me on an

October pick?

© Michelle Cox


Focus”

This month we

put the “focus”

on Mike Jordan.

Mike first "saw

the light”

Photographically

speaking, while inserting a flashbulb into

his Boy Scout box camera. A couple of

brilliant flashes in the face and some

singed fingers later he figured out that the

shutter button was stuck. Those old M42

flashbulbs were bright!

When he showed continuing interest in

photography, his Dad gave him his World

War II Kodak Retina-- which he still has.

He found that Tri-X had so much latitude

(Dynamic Range in digital-speak) that he

could shoot most things at 1/500 and f16.

With the 50mm 3.5 lens set at the

hyperfocal it was like a box camera on

steriods.

A few days after payday at his first real

job, he purchased a used Contaflex for

$35. Non-interchangable lens, but a built-

in light meter! He shot that through

college.

A short time after he married, second in

his heart was his first new camera-- A

Mamiya/Sekor 1000 TL with 55mm. After

a canoeing accident (funny how cameras

no longer want to play after submersion!),

he went the Canon route with an A-1. He

used this, and later, an F-1, while working

for a local weekly newspaper. This was

now the 80s and, in addition to Real

Estate work, he had his own mail-order

used camera business. If there had been

EBay back then, he says, he'd probably

still be doing it.

Mike continued to shoot Real Estate

exclusively for a Broker friend He has also

done work for a local Residential/

Commercial architect.

In the last 10 years he's been fortunate to be

able to travel internationally with his sister

and a friend. "The 3M Traveling Circus &

Flying Show" has been to Central and South

America, Africa and Northern, Southern and

Eastern Europe. After the trips he uses

Blurb.com to assemble a momento book for

his sister and their friend.

Today Mike's got a great gig shooting for a

large paving company. (Yes, they pay for

images as mundane as concrete and asphalt

paving--photography skills can lead

anywhere!)

As of today his current equipment is Nikon--

a D300s with D200 as backup.

When he's not behind the camera, Mike is a

Personal Assistant to a North Shore family.

He's also their designated photo 'Chronicler'.

Here are some of Mike’s wonderful photos.

© Mike Jordan


Accomplishments and

Accolades

Each month members are highlighted for

their exciting photography news. This can

be anything photographic related like

getting a new camera, lens or

photography toy; making the switch from

automatic to manual; having one of your

photographs published; selling a

photograph; displaying your work in an

upcoming show...the list goes on and the

sky is the limit.

• A BIG Congratulations to LCCC for winning

an Honorable Mention in the PSA Website

Competition! Thanks to Don Chen for his

continued hard work to make our website

something we can be proud of!

• Terry Ferguson

had this image

chosen as the Photo

of the Week on

Dyxum.

• Carolyn Lewis and Ralph Durham

attended a Lightroom 3 class given by Jerry

Hug. This was a four session class, and very

informative. Jerry Hug is an exceptional

teacher who's class is geared for beginners

to experts. Each class was designed to help

the class understand how powerful this

program can be in organizing and editing

your photos. Both Carolyn and Ralph raved

about Jerry's ability to excite the class

members, and teach this program. If the

opportunity comes along again they

recommend taking the Lightroom 3 class

from Jerry Hug.

Congratulations to all!

2010-2011 Board and

Committee Members

Without the efforts of the people listed below,

we wouldn’t have such a successful club.

Board Members

President Ron Meyers

President Elect John Williams

Secretary and Vice Margie Hurwich

President, Communications

Vice President, External Jim Ross

Operations

Vice President, Internal Bill Sullivan

Operations

Committee MembersCACCA Representatives Jim Ross

Ron Meyers

Bill Sullivan

John Williams

Competition Chair Bob Kruzic

Continuing Education Jim Ross

DPI Coordinators John Williams

Mike Trahan

Facilities Coordinator Bill Sullivan

Hospitality Desk Margie Hurwich

Linda Kippes

Gina Borkowski

Internet Coordinator Owen Fox

Judge Procurement Mike Jordan

Membership Coordinators Terry Ferguson

Margie Hurwich

Newsletter Contributing Bill Brown

Columnists Michelle Cox

Newsletter Editor Margie Hurwich

Photo Excursion Coordinators Michelle Cox

Margie Hurwich

Carolyn Lewis

Programs Coordinator Paul Kurek

PSA Representative Michelle Cox

Treasurer Jim Ross

Webmaster Don Chen

If you are interested in helping the club

continue to be successful, please see any of

the board members.

© Terry Ferguson

Documents

From the President Dates to Remember · you have to expand your photography knowledge and skill. You won't find a more friendly and supportive environment than our club to share your