Saturday, August 8, 2009

Rain or Shine

9 am – 8 pm

Belmont Lake State Park Pavillion

625 Belmont Avenue, Babylon, NY 11702

Sponsored by the Parrot Fanciers Club

Admission $5 pp to help with rescued birds; additional fee for parking.

The Parrot Club will be providing hot dogs, plates, soda and will share donated food dishes.  If you plan on eating the Parrot Club’s food you should contribute a dish that will feed at least 10 people.

Photos: A variety of parrots – not in cages, but hanging out all day – will be available to photograph some will be placed in trees for a more natural photo opportunity!

Other park activities include boat rentals, fishing, biking, horseback riding, hiking, horseshoe & basketball courts, playgrounds and picnic tables.

Grab the family and have fun!

The best way to keep your camera lenses clean is to, first and foremost, keep your lens caps on when your lens is not in use.  When changing lenses, be sure to immediately cap the lens after you remove them from the camera body.

The most important part of the lens is the rear part of the lens, the part that is closest to the camera’s sensors.  If any dust accumulates on the back part of the lens, it is more likely to cause problems with the way the sensors capture your image.  It is important, of course, to keep the front of the lens clean too.  But the cleanliness of the back of the lens is much more critical.

Now, before you start rubbing your lenses clean with a micro-fiber cloth, stop!  If there is anything on the lens that is abrasive and you begin to use a micro-fiber cloth to rub it off, you could actually be doing more harm than good.  You could be scratching the lens!

Experts recommend using two simple tools.  A blower and a lens pen.  Both are inexpensive and available online or at your local camera supply shop.

Step one is to use the blower.  The blower, like the Giotto’s Rocket Air Blaster gently removes any dust or particles from the surface of your lens.  It is simple to use and takes about 3.5 seconds of your time to manually blast air over the surface of your lens, blowing dust and other particles away.

Step two and three is to use the lens pen.  A lens pen has two functions.  One side of a lens pen is a small, gentle brush and the other side is a small, carbon coated felt pad.  Use the brush side first to remove any larger particles from the lens that perhaps were to difficult for the blower could not remove.  Then, use the padded side to rub the glass of the lens to a crystal clear finish.  These two steps takes about 10 seconds of your time.

Step four is to use the blower one more time to remove any residual that the carbon coated felt pad may leave behind.  Your done!  Put the cap back on your lens.

Reserve those micro-fiber clothes for emergency use only.  The micro-fiber cloth is a quick way to solve an emergency, but you should finish the job when you get back to your studio using the 1-2-3-4 steps outlined above.

Happy cleaning!

It may look easy, but portrait photography requires more than a point and click approach.  The photographer wants to capture the physical features of the subject or subjects and inject the mood of the moment into the photograph.  So how do you get the subject to give you a natural look and how do you capture the mood of the moment?

You may want to try to meet with your subject once before the photo shoot.  As you meet your subject or subjects take a moment to get to know each other.  Ask yourself, ‘What are the features or traits that capture the individuality of this person?’  Is it the hair, they eyes, the smile or an athletic frame?

Don’t begin photographing your subject until he or she is comfortable.  A good sense of humor may be useful to relax your subject or even a general Q & A conversation to get the subject comfy with you and the whole idea of having their picture taken.  Keep the conversation going even as you are clicking away.  And reinforce how beautiful they look, and how great things look from your point of view.  Let’s face it, there are lots of people who hate to have their picture taken.

But don’t you get too relaxed!  Remember to continually check the background, foreground, lighting, exposure and the subject’s appearance.  You must be in control of the session.  Don’t let a bad background ruin a pretty face.

Make sure you are prepared with backup batteries, flash, tripod, memory cards and lighting reflectors if necessary.  Of course, the best light for photographing individuals is natural lighting.  Natural lighting easily helps bring out the natural features of the subject.

In some instances, get adventurous.  Especially with small children or families.  What I mean is, don’t hesitate to use props such as hats or a beach ball in your photo.  Matching clothing can also be quite appealing, say white shirts and denim bottoms for the entire family or the newly engaged couple.  Nice.

Keep composition a part of your image.  Try not to shoot the subjects dead center of your frame.  Use your background and natural surroundings to help compose a beautiful picture.

Now that you know some of the basics, go ahead and find a willing subject.  Have some fun with the camera, props, nature and your subject.