You are hereBlogs / Phil-Phlash's blog / GPC Photographic Themes for 2009
GPC Photographic Themes for 2009
General Guidelines
Photographs of People, Places and Nature must depict subjects with good fidelity to reality. Post-camera changes may subtly enhance a photograph optimizing fidelity but not add to it. Cropping, removal of minor unwanted elements, removal of color cast, highlight and contrast control and subtle use of digital effects (like sharpening, gradients, contrast masks, black & white filtering, etc.) are acceptable enhancements. Photography is an art form reflecting your creative interpretation of a selected subject. Reproductions of paintings, other's artwork or photographs and mere record photos (snapshots!) of monuments, sculptures, and buildings are discouraged for presentation at the Gainesville Photography Club. Keep them for your personal files and show us your very best.
Five of the themes carry forward year-to-year and the Nature theme will be assigned twice a year due to its' general popularity. Each year six new themes will be identified. These will only be used once and will not carry forward. This plan is intended to stimulate members to photograph new material every year yet know at least some of the themes will be there every year. Hopefully, the quality of the recurring themes will improve as time passes.
GPC 2009 Themes
| January | Found Still Life | July | Pan It |
| February | Nature | August | Seascapes |
| March | Contemporary | September | Nature |
| April | Color Play | October | Places |
| May | People | November | Autumn Glory |
| June | Lines | December | E-O-Y Slideshow |
Themes that carry forward
People (May): Photographs that do more than simply record what a person looks like. They should reveal what is special about a person, or perhaps provide clues to what they are feeling. They should convey information about their character or the essence of their personality. They could be anything from intimate facial close-ups to full length images of from one to several people interacting. Environmental portraits are made in or near the subject's neighborhood -- their home, workplace, on the street, or where they play. Placing relevant objects from the environment in the composition relates information about the subject to the viewer. The photographer may be inconspicuous when taking these pictures to avoid outside influence. Whether formal or informal, the best People photographs tell a story and have an emotional impact on the viewer – no snapshots of old Aunt Myrtle sitting by the pool please. This definition applies equally to children and adults.
Places (Oct.): The best photographs of places strongly convey the character of a place; its particular location and culture giving the viewer a sense of place. This is not simply a matter of including some recognizable feature. The photographer should be aware of experiencing unusual lighting, and unfamiliar sights, smells and sounds. Photographs should try to capture this heightened awareness. Be receptive to the mood of a place and your own feelings about it. Look for a telling image or an evocative effect of light that expresses how you feel.
Nature (Feb.&Sept.): A depiction drawn from any branch of natural history, these photographs should tell a nature story. As such, this theme includes landscapes, plants, and animals. Photographs should depict subjects with high fidelity to reality and near to total absence of human influence (including fences, power lines, roads, signs, footprints, trash, etc.). However, it is acceptable to "house clean" the subject area. While animal portraits can be very interesting, the best animal pictures show typical behaviors and interactions. The best plant photos result from using equipment creatively and are often taken from unexpected viewpoints. Lighting is most important to capturing the colors and textures of outstanding landscapes. Garden or zoo photographs are acceptable if the plants or animals would normally be found in the wild. Images of cultivated plants, domestic animals, still life, or stuffed or mounted specimens are inappropriate. NOTE: Due to popularity of this theme with photographers, this theme will be offered twice a year.
Contemporary (Mar.): These photographs might be called abstract art. They represent a deliberate alteration of reality; it does not mean subjects of our era. They may be achieved using one or more camera attachments such as special filters, fisheye lenses, creative use of flash or zoom lenses, black light, distorted reflections, and long exposures. They are often derived from original images using one or more processes such as bas relief, posterization, solarization, or other forms of darkroom or digital manipulation. Some original photographs such as abstracts, infrared, and multiple-exposures (not panoramas) may also qualify. Almost anything qualifies if it artistically distorts reality but is not an error in technique.
End-of-Year Slideshow (Dec.): Select your best pictures of 2009 or create a theme-based slideshow. If necessary, add others to your best of 2009 photos. Include music background in your slideshow, music and narration, or just narration. You need not buy special software. Windows has Movie Maker 2 built in or download a free copy of Microsoft's Photo Story 3. Photo Story is easier to use but Movie Maker has 2 audio tracks and flexible timeline. Please respect others by limiting your slideshow to about 6 minutes or less. If you include music in your show, plan on 6 seconds per photo or no more than 60 photos. If you include narration in your show, plan on 12 seconds per photo or no more than 30 photos. Then, we can finish all slideshows in about a 90 minute time frame.
Themes that do not carry forward
Lines (June): A basic photographic element, line is often the basis of composition. Imagine a dew covered spider web in light against a dark background or lines in sand dunes created by the tonal contrasts of light and deep shadow. Lines generate a sense of movement into or around a picture space because we instinctively follow them with our eyes. Lines can balance an image drawing the eye toward the main subject such as a fence to a barn and linking other elements together. Lines generate a sense of movement into or around the picture space. They can create an illusion of depth such as converging lines of a tree bordered road receding into the distance. Emphasize this feature using a wide angle lens. The mood of a composition can also be influenced by lines. Angles and jagged edges convey a sense of aggression or restlessness. The gentler rhythms of curves suggest a soft, romantic mood. This assignment is to create photographs where lines are a predominant element.
Color Play (Apr.): It’s a colorful world, and photographers have the distinct pleasure of being able to frame compositions that play colors off against one another to create form and design. How those colors are arrayed can add significantly to a picture’s visual pleasure. Using complementary, supplementary, and even clashing colors, pictures can excite the eye and bring pleasure to all who view them. This month’s assignment is just that—Color Play. (From Shutterbug magazine Picture This! June 2003)
Pan It (July): Panning is a technique for catching action and takes practice to really master. It's accomplished by setting a slow shutter speed on your camera, tracking your subject through the viewfinder as it moves past and taking the picture when the subject comes into focus. Ideally, the subject will be sharply focused while the background is a blur of color. Even better, is photographing only part of the subject in sharp focus while much is not (such as a bird's eye while its wings are flapping). The panning technique allows us to see the world in a way impossible for the unaided eye. Everything from sports action to birds on the wing are good subjects. Surprise us with a creative interpretation of this theme. When you want to try a fun technique, slow down that shutter and give panning a try! (From Shutterbug magazine Picture This! August 2003)
Seascapes (Aug.): On a calm, overcast day the sea and wet sand reflect the sky's shades of grey and muted colors. Cameras have the remarkable ability to record these subtle colors, sometimes with exquisitely delicate hues, especially at dawn and dusk. Avoid underexposure as the sea will look dull. A little extra exposure will capture the pastel hues. Start photographing up to an hour before sunrise and an hour after sunset for surprising color. Sunlight shows the sea in another mood picking out deeper, richer colors and providing breakers with brilliant white crests. Pay attention to clouds as they move over the sun casting shadows on the sea producing dark horizons that form dramatic contrast with the color of sunlit water closer to shore. In blustery weather get good pictures near rocks, piers and jetties where the sea throws up jets of spray, especially if the waves are backlit. If you can get close enough a wide angle lens makes the scene even more dramatic. (From Shutterbug's Picture This!, Nov. 2003)
Found Still Life (Jan.): Serendipity has its own rewards, especially when you go out wandering with eyes wide-open and a camera in hand. This month's theme is “Found Still Life,” pictures that present themselves to you as you make your way on a trip, or just on the way to work. Each step is a journey, and a photographer is never bored, especially when the world is filled with such unexpected feasts for the eyes. These should not be staged by the photographer. (From Shutterbug, Picture This!, Jan. 2004)
Autumn Glory (Nov.): Autumn is a season of dramatic change when the countryside begins to wind down in preparation for winter, creating a stunning palette of vibrant, rustic colors. Deciduous trees turn a yellow, bronze, and red as their leaves die and fall to the ground. Other plants glow russet and gold in the evening sunlight and the lush landscape is transformed into a beautiful patchwork quilt of rich, earthy tones. Autumn creates endless opportunities for taking stunning pictures which is why autumn is the most rewarding time of year for many photographers.
Please E-mail Your Photos
Please, help us by sending your photos before the meeting. We can save precious time and fumbling at meetings by e-mailing your photo files in advance, say by the Friday before the meeting. We assume you can email photo files. If you resized your photos to medium quality JPG's, 1024 pixels X 768 pixels at 72 ppi, the files will be quite small. All 8 photos probably will not exceed 1.5 MB. Unless you use a 56KB modem and phone connection, your files will be emailed quickly - faster than buring a CD. Send your files to GainesvillePhotoClub@Gmail.com. Please enter "(Your Name) Photos for (Month)" in the e-mail subject line.
Send up to 8 photos a month: up to 3 theme photos, up to 3 general photos, and up to 2 black and white photos. If you send less than 3 theme photos, please do not make up the difference by sending 4 general photos. The objective is for you to submit all three.
Please use the following to name your photo files. This naming structure makes it easy to know which photos belong to which club members. For theme photos please use:
T1-your name-month&year
T2-your name-month&year
T3-your name-month&year
For example, my first theme photo file would be named T1-Olivier-Oct08. Follow a like naming plan for your General and Black & White photos:
G1-your name-month&year
G2-your name-month&year
G3-your name-month& year
BW1-your name-month&year
BW2-your name-month&year
NOTE: You can send your photos to our Gmail as indivual photo files. However, e-mail programs will not send a folder, they only send files. So, if you place your photo files in a folder, use a free program like "7-Zip" to create a ZIP file. The .zip file you create contains the folder with your photo files, can be e-mailed since it is a file, and it is compressed so it e-mails quicker. FastStone Image Viewer also has a very easy way to zip and send your photos. Photo files will be deleted after the meeting!!
- Phil-Phlash's blog
- Login to post comments
