Don't Forget Camera Club Outing to South Holston Dam Saturday

We will be heading up to South Holston Dam Saturday to see what photographic opportunities can be found.  

This is one of our few afternoon outings.  We will meet in Colonial Heights at Ingles Grocery Store Parking lot 4:30 PM.  We will park near McDonalds and carpool from there.  It will take about 40 minutes to drive to South Holston Dam so if you plan on meeting us there you should be there around 5:10 - 5:20.

Important - Don't forget to bring a picnic dinner and drink to eat at the dam.   We'll spend some time eating and socializing before starting our walk about.

The weather forecast calls for a warm day with partly cloudy skies.  You should expect harsh lighting conditions.   Think about making the most of these lighting conditions by converting your photos to black and white.   See the August issue of Outdoor Photographer magazine for some good info on shooting black and white.

Fog at Osceola Island

Sunset is around 8:00.   If you are still there, the top of the dam is a good spot to shoot a sunset.

If you missed it, here another blog about the outing - http://thesiggins.blogspot.com/2014/08/scouting-for-ideas.html 

If you have questions, send an email to Richard Siggins.

Here's your chance to "shoot the moon" this weekend

The next Supermoon occurs this Sunday evening.  If the weather cooperates, it will be a great chance to photograph the moon. 

http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2014/08/07/catch-the-extra-supermoon-this-weekend/

Here's some suggestions that will improve your chance of getting a killer moon shot.

1. Shoot when the moon is first rising Sunday evening, which is be at 8:14 PM in Kingsport.   That way the moon will "appear" larger and will have a warmer color.  It will also allow you to include other objects in your composition.   The moon by itself on a black sky is not as interesting as it could be.
   
   Of course, you can also photograph it when it's setting at 3:11 AM.
2. Use a tripod.   Your exposure may be too long to hand hold your camera.  The photo above was shot at f/13, ISO 125 and 1.6 seconds.
3. Set your camera to manual mode, the ISO at 100, aperture around f/11, shutter speed around 1/125.  If the lowest ISO you can use is 200 then slow the shutter speed to 1/60.  These are suggested starting points.  You may need to adjust.  Be sure to check your histogram to make sure the moon is not over exposed.
4. Set your camera/lens to manual focus and set the focus at infinity.  Most lenses will go past infinity.  Back it off to the mark on the lens near infinity.   If your camera has live view use it to manually focus.
5. Use a shutter release cable or delay timer to avoid camera movement.

Set focus as shown on left, not right

 

 

Have fun and show us what you get.

Camera Club Council of Tennessee - August 2014 Newsletter

The Eastman Camera Club is affiliated with a larger state wide organization of camera clubs.   The latest newsletter from the 3CT (Camera Club Council of Tennessee) is available online.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-R3WA1SvCZGci1TODJFbWRNRHM/edit?usp=sharing

You'll see there are many opportunities to participate in photographic events across the state.