2021-05-18 Fine Art Photography SIG meeting notes

We met online using ZOOM 6:00pm-9:15pm

The goal of our Fine Art Photography SIG is to help each other to create fine art from our photography.

ATTENDEES
Mike Barry
Judy Canon (submitted images)
Rich Ernst
Dave Fahrney
Michael Hohol
Jim Limburg
Paul Marcoux
Albert Wang
Ann Yang

OUR MAIN DISCUSSION TOPICS WERE
"Edges/Borders, and Getting Over a Creative Slump, and Personal Projects"
Rich demo'd edge creating techniques.
Michael discussed a few dozen photography books.
We all discussed projects that we are working on.
There will be a "Blood Moon" on Wed 5/26 at 5:12AM. The eclipse will last about 4 hours and Cobb Lake sounds like a good place to photograph the moon over Horsetooth Rock.

OUR MAIN DISCUSSION TOPIC FOR JUNE WILL BE "Creating Watercolor Images in Photoshop"

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT - RESEARCH "Creating Watercolor Images in Photoshop"
Everyone has the homework assignment to research "Creating Watercolor Images in Photoshop", study them and bring back some information for the group to discuss at our next Fine Art Photography SIG meeting. If you find some good "Creating Watercolor Images in Photoshop" information online, tell me where it is and I will put a link to the information on our website.

DEMOS
- Creating edges demo by Rich
- Jim showed how to create a new style of mandala.

FCDCC.com/resources.php
Make Photo Edges in Photoshop tutorial by Photoshop CAFE - link on Resources page
Painted Edges Photo Border Effect by PhotoEssentials.com - link on Resources page
Adding a Painted Edge in Photoshop by Nicole S. Young - link on Resources page
Worn, Torn Photo Edges Effect in Photoshop by TangiSchools.org - link on Resources page
SkillShare.com - tutorials
Udemy.com - tutorials
CreativeLive.com - tutorials
YouTube - tutorials
Google - examples of fine art
DeviantArt.com - examples of fine art
Pinterest - examples of fine art

Michael will create a list of valuable photographic books with recommendations for the Resources page.

SIG Project - FINISH-IT-PHOTO
Several members showed their versions of the "San Giorgi" image. Dave told us about the Venice Carnival. Even though we started with the same image, we had different visions for the image and we all created different art.

If you haven't already sent in a FINISH-IT-PHOTO, please do send Mike Barry an image in RAW format. Mike will choose one of the images, send it out to the SIG members, and everyone will create their own interpretation of the image to show at future meetings. The idea is to show how all the members would process the same image in different styles.

The FINISH-IT-PHOTO for June will be: "House on the Hill" from Ed Ogle

Constructive Critiques
We discussed images from several of the group members.

What Project Are You Working On?
Several members briefly shared what they were working on this past month.

AGENDA FOR OUR NEXT FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY SIG MEETING - Tue 6/15/2021 @6:00pm
1. The main topic will be "Creating Watercolor Images in Photoshop" Please research on your own so we can all discuss it at the meeting (optional)
2. We will discuss our interpretations of the FINISH-IT-PHOTO Please, everyone send Mike Barry a RAW image file that we can use for this Project.
3. We will hold constructive critiques (optional) Pick as many as 3 images that you would like critiqued, and be prepared to show them by sharing your screen during the ZOOM meeting.
4. We will pick a topic for the next meeting

If you don't have time to research the topic, or you don't have any images that you want to have critiqued, that is OK, you can just attend the meeting and participate when you want.

I would like to see more pictures from our Fine Art SIG in the regular club meeting slideshows.

Jim Limburg will send out the Meeting ID, passcode, and meeting link when we have scheduled the meeting, which will be about a week before the meeting date.

We have put video of the April 20 Fine Art SIG meeting online
https://youtu.be/DqVq8x2z0Gc
or link to it from the club website.

Please email Mike, info@fcdcc.com, when you find mistakes, missing information or if you have suggestions for the Fine Art Photography SIG and I will try to address the issues.

======== Some notes on creativity from the meeting =========

David duChemin says "Everything has been done before, but your creative vision is when you you combine concepts your own way to create something new, so you should expose yourself to as many other ideas as possible."

Cole Thompson says "You shouldn't let your vision be influenced by other photographers, so you shouldn't look at other artwork."

David duChemin: "Start Ugly..."
Don't get paralyzed by searching for perfection, just start, make mistakes, get better...
"Done is better than good"

Balance between Challenge and Skill to grow, thrive, and be happy
- too much challenge causes anxiety
- too much skill causes boredom

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Find images that have some aspect that you like
- Watch a movie - interesting color grading
- Look at CD covers
- Look at Movie posters
- Art shows, Flickr, Google Search Images, Photoblogs, DeviantArt, Pinterest

Learn a new skill
- Try a new lighting technique
- Try a different type of photography - sports, landscape, portrait, tabletop, macro...
- Skillshare, Udemy, YouTube, CreativeLive

Shoot using a new technique
- Interesting lighting: model lit by neon signs, backlight portraits, shoot in dark, intense color
- Long exposure to blur or ghost moving objects
- Move camera during long exposure
- Free Lensing - remove your lens and hold it in front of camera body to take picture
- Light painting on a subject - person, object, building...
- Light graffiti - flashlight, lightstick, string of lights
- High speed photography - drops, splashes, explosions...
- Shoot motion blur and not blur
- Shoot out of focus
- Underwater
- Wide angle lens to purposely distort
- Forced perspective - include items far away to make them look small

Shoot a new topic
- Look in all directions for something to shoot
- Shoot something ordinary in 7 different ways
- Self portrait, Beautiful model, family,
- Panorama
- Favorite food
- Interesting prop
- Reflections - puddles, water, mirrors, shiny objects
- Light trails - cars at night
- Oil and water photography - surface
- Oil paint and water photography - 3D
- Toys
- Food
- Chalk art, grafitti
- Flowers or things frozen in block of ice
- Shoot fire and sparks - steel wool
- Smoke art - color smoke in PS, use smoke bombs
- Openings, arches, doorways, windows
- Shadows
- Patterns
- Landscape abstracts
- Body painting portraits
- Closeups of hands or body parts
- Sunrise and sunset
- Shoot in a deserted building
- Restrict your shoot - one lens, small area like backyard, black and white, leaf parts...

Experiment with new equipment
- Spray drops of water on your lens to create interesting bokeh shapes
- Add a mask to your lens - to create interesting highlight shapes
- Tilt-shift lens
- Fog machine
- Shoot through a crystal ball
- Shoot through water filled glass
- Drone photography for a different point of view
- Shoot through a prism - adds glare and distortion
- Soap bubbles

Start a project
- Photowalk
- Photo-a-Day project
- Photo assignment - like the challenge or fix-it-photos
- Shoot a holiday theme, family event
- Reproduce a classical painting

Edit in a new way
- Create a tilt-shift effect with selective focus
- Double Exposures - image inside a silhouette

Tell a story
- Tell a story in 5 pictures
- Add words to an image - rope, flowers...
- Shoot a series - triptych