Fort Collins Digital Camera Club

ATTENDEES
Bill Adkison
Mike Barry
Judy Cannon
Heather Coe
Mike Dunetts
Rick Dunnahoo
Rich Ernst
Michael Hohol
Jolene Jernberg
Jim Limburg
Jack Lipscomb
Kevin McCaghren
Ed Ogle
Rich Roberts
Guy Turenne
Albert Wang

OUR MAIN DISCUSSION TOPICS WERE "ORBs", "Composite Workflow", and "Neural Filters"
Jim demonstrated his ORB technique, and several members presented the orbs that they created. Instructions are available in the ORBs section of the Resources page of our website, FCDCC.com.
Ed demonstrated his own version of the ORB technique which started by duplicating an image and arranging the duplicates similar to a kaleidoscopic image and then running the Rectangular to Polar filter. Ed will investigate using the reflection in a cylindrical mirror to convert the ORB images back to how they originally looked.
Including the before and after versions of the ORB images was even more interesting.
I think that someone should try printing some of the ORB images on metal or transparent plastic (Duraplaq) with a light behind the image.

We discussed Composite workflows.
The planned workflow starts with visualizing the finished image, then taking the necessary photographs, combining them using blending modes and overlays. This method is often used by commercial artists making movie posters or commissioned art and can take months to produce.
The unplanned workflow often starts with a collection of interesting images that are added to the composite, then moved around and modified and blended and combined with overlays until the artist likes the result. This unplanned technique is more often used for "fun" relaxing work and may only take 1/2 hour. The final image can still look very good, but I think that it depends more on LUCK than planning (my opinion).
We can make digital versions of a "vision board" or "mood board" by adding images to our composite and sizing/moving/altering them until they are roughly what we want when previsualizing our final composite.

We discussed asking a professional artist or (CSU) art teacher to speak to us about "How to develop a creative vision and then realize it". Physical painters may use similar techniques, creating thumbnail sketches and arranging them to create a plan for their final image. Michael Stauder, who used to be a member of our club, creates wonderful composites for his book covers. Mike Barry will contact him and ask if he would join our club meeting to discuss how he "develops his creative vision and then realizes it".

Adobe has added "Neural Filters" to Photoshop. I tried out the "Smart Portrait" and it can change your models face from Happy to Sad or Sad to Happy, but I thought that they have a long way to go before I would use this filter. Some other members tried out "Makeup Transfer" and "Landscape Mixer" and they liked the effect but I don't know if they would use them. If Adobe perfects these filters they will be amazingly powerful, but they aren't there yet.

I am still not happy using Adobe's new selection tools for making fine extractions like hair. If you are able to make "Select Subject" and "Refine mask" and "Refine Hair" to work well, please demonstrate how you do it. We also discussed bringing in a professional retoucher to speak at either the general club meeting or the Fine Art SIG meeting. Michael wrote up instructions for Glyn Dewis technique for selecting Hair and I have added it to the "Portrait Photography" section of the Resources page.

Several members discovered the feature in ZOOM that will add mustaches, hats and other props to your face during the ZOOM meeting.

Constructive Critiques/What Project Are You Working On?
I asked for help on some of my water dress and ballerina images and I appreciate the help that I got from the group. I always try to make my images sharp and vibrant, even when that is not appropriate. We all decided that it is OK to soften the focus, and reduce the vibrance of the subject if it helps blend the subject into the background. I will try adding some motion blur or orton blur to the model, reduce the saturation and contrast of the model and try compounding blending modes and add more atmospheric effects to the model to blend her into the background. I will also try changing the size and position of the cloud in the background for the ballerina shoot and see how that looks.

OUR MAIN DISCUSSION TOPIC FOR FEBRUARY WILL BE "Using a Lens Baby" and "Matching Color in a Composite"

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT - RESEARCH "Composite Workflow", "Using a Lens Baby", and "Matching colors to unify a composite".
I will contact Michael Stauder and ask him about speaking to our Fine Art SIG about his creative process. If you find any good information about Composite Workflows, please send me a link so I can add it to the website, and you can tell us about it at the next meeting.
Heather will show us "How to Use a Lens Baby" to add artistic blur for a more ethereal effect.
Think about how ou match the colors of different objects in your composites, and tell us at the next meeting.

RESOURCES
1. Great Courses is offering a deal on a Photography class or $35. We thought that it would probably be worth the cost.
2. Look at the ORBs section of the Resources page of the club website, FCDCC.com. I try to put related information on this page and I have included several articles about creating ORBs.
3. How to extract Hair -by Michael Hohol (on the Resources page)
4. Blake Rudis is presenting "The Artistic Vision Summit" starting on Thursday 1/27. You have to register to see the summit, but registration is FREE
5. More Than Snapshots and Postcards - by David duChemin (Travel Photography)

SIG Project - FINISH-IT-PHOTO
Several members worked on David Fahrney's "Sculpture" picture, and we discussed what we did.

The FINISH-IT-PHOTO for February will be "Badlands" by Mike Barry.
You can find it on our club website at:
https://fcdcc.com/images/finish-it-photos/2022-02-mike-barry-badlands-panorama-5000.tif

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.

AGENDA FOR OUR NEXT FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY SIG MEETING - Tue 02/15/2022 @6:00pm
1. The main topics will be "Composite Workflow", "Using a Lens Baby", and "Matching colors to unify a composite" 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 previous Fine Art SIG meetings online and you can link to them from the Fine Art SIG page of 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.