Fort Collins Digital Camera Club

The goal of our Fine Art Photography SIG is to help each other to create fine art from our photography.
The Fine Art SIG is a place where artists support each other and nurture creativity in others.
Unrequested criticism can feed an artist's fear of failure and stifle their creative growth.

ATTENDEES
Mike Barry
Judy Cannon
Heather Coe
Rich Ernst
David Fanning
Jim Fellion
Andy Goris
Michael Hohol
Jim Limburg
Jack Lipscomb
Ed Ogle
Rich Roberts
Ken Sandberg
Jim & Joan Sayre
Albert Wang

OUR MAIN DISCUSSION TOPIC WAS "Soap Bubbles and Films".
Joan gave a presentation on "Soap Bubbles and Films". Other members discussed their techniques. Some hand hold the film and camera, and some put everything on tripods and stands. Some use natural light and some use studio strobes. Some used commercial "bubble stuff" and some made their own. Some shot bubbles, some shot films, and some made mandalas out of their images. We had a great variety of techniques and resulting bubble/film images. We created lots of beautiful images! Some even showed frozen bubbles.

RESOURCES (Where you can find sources of inspiration)
1. Refraction and the Ray Model of Light
https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/refrn
2. Soap Film Interference
https://demos.smu.ca/index.php/demos/optics/68-soap-film-interference
3. Soap film
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soap_film#:~:text=Soap%20films%20are%20thin%20layers,films%20connected%20by%20Plateau%20borders.
4. Soap films
http://soft-matter.seas.harvard.edu/index.php/Soap_films
5. Soap-bubbles, surface tension, minimal shapes, soap bubble colours and formation
https://www.animations.physics.unsw.edu.au/jw/light/soap-bubbles.htm
6. Interference: Thin film interference and reflections
https://www.animations.physics.unsw.edu.au/jw/light/thin-film-interference-and-reflections.html
7. Soap Bubble Photography Tutorial Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSqjsaoFen4
8. 10 Hour Soap Bubble RECORD - DIY Macro Photography Tutorial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BxtgHe0vG4
9. Soap Bubble Photography | Tutorial & Tips and Tricks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWEuxCRkWd8

FINISH-IT-PHOTO
We discussed several members techniques for making fine art from the "Horsetooth Reservoir" image by Mike Barry. Please send me more images if you wish to continue doing Finish-It-Photos.

Please finish the "Buddha's Hand" image by Mike Barry for the January meeting. If you want better images to work with you will have to send them to me.

CONSTRUCTIVE CRITIQUES AND PERSONAL PROJECTS
Several of our members discussed what the art projects that have been working on.

I showed what "Sketch Creator" does. It is a PSD file that you can use to turn any image into a "Sketch". Cost is $12 from DesignCuts.com.
https://www.designcuts.com/product/sketch-creator/

PICK A TOPIC FOR THE NEXT MEETING
We had so many suggested topics for next month that we decided to choose 3 main concepts "Christmas Lights", "Frozen Soap Bubbles", "Bokeh Cutouts". For a real challenge, see if you can combine all 3 concepts into one image!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH1YevTWeoA - DIY Bokeh Filter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzeZHWZ51fM&t=91s - Photographing Frozen Soap Bubbles
Chapungu Sculpture Park at Centera is hosting Winter Wonderlights

AGENDA FOR OUR NEXT FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY SIG MEETING - Tue 1/24/2023 @6:00pm
1. The main topics will be "Christmas Lights", "Frozen Soap Bubbles", and "Bokeh Cutouts".
2. We will see what everyone did with the finish-it-photo of "Buddha's Hand".
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.

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.