VPPA
Northern District Newsletter
Affiliate of the
October 2014
David Lee Michaels Pets And Their People
If you have a passion for pets and a desire to make them a part of your photography business, you will really appreciate spending this day with David Lee Michaels. • Learn how David Lee Michaels has turned his passion for pets and animal welfare into the cornerstone of his studio. • Learn David Lee’s grassroots marketing • Learn how David Lee handles a pet session—the pets and their owners for successful sessions • Learn how to achieve the sales sessions you want with a few simple procedures ...and so much more. The entire day is going to be devoted to pet photography. There will be demonstrations that will illustrate the all important relationship between the photographer and the pet. David Lee will be leading hands on activities. Miranda will be present with her dogs. We are set for a fantastic Northern District day!
PPA
Monday, October 6 Gitchell’s Studio
618-A Forest Street
Charlottesville 10:00 - 4:30
It’s Been A Great Year! Northern District Officers Governor Jeanette Burkle, FP
A big thank you to all who came out and attended the Summer Seminar, presented a program, or worked behind the scenes! The turnout was great and the speakers were awesome! It was a fantastic opportunity for learning and growing your business whether just starting out or having years of experience behind you!
jeanette@galiephotography.com
Lt. Governor Kathy Kupka, FP kathykupka@aol.com
Secretary Mike Patch Michael@PropertyOnePhotography.com
Treasurer / Newsletter Editor Jim Sanders, AFP jimlondonsanders@mac.com
It’s that time of year again when a new slate of officers begin to lead our fearless District! It was an honor and a pleasure to serve as your Governor this past year. We had a very successful year with the various programs that have been offered to our members. I’d like to extend a heartfelt thank you to my fellow officers, Kathy Kupka, Lt. Gov., Mike Patch, Secretary, and Jim Sanders, Treasurer (and all-around-do-everything-guy!) for all their help. Their excitement and dedication toward our organization is outstanding. I could not have asked for a better group of people to work with this past year—it was beyond great! On a sad note, Mike Patch will be leaving our District because he has permanently relocated to Lynchburg. He will be sorely missed as he makes his move to the Blue Ridge District—their gain, our loss. But Mike, don’t forget to come back and visit from time to time!! Without further ado, starting in November, the officers for the Northern District will be: Kathy Kupka, Governor Barbi Barnum, Lt. Governor Andrew Clark, Secretary Jim Sanders, Treasurer
A great big thank you to these four members who so generously have offered their time and service! We look forward to the year ahead! I hope to see everyone in Charlottesville this coming Monday, October 6th for David Lee Michael’s program on pet photography! It’s sure to be a ton of fun and an awesome learning experience! The details are in the newsletter. Thank you for allowing me to serve and for all your support this past year! Jeanette
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A good thought is always worthy of continued reflection. Here is a collection of quotes from past newsletters.
“There is a brief moment when all there is in a man’s mind and soul and spirit is reflected through his eyes, his hands, his attitude. This is the moment to record.”
“It is one thing to photograph people. It is another to make others care about them by revealing the core of their humanness.” Paul Strand
Yousuf Karsh
“Pictures, regardless of how they are created and recreated, are intended to be looked at. This brings to the forefront not the technology of imaging, which
“Sometimes your best zoom is your feet.” Jay Maisel
of course is important, but rather what we might call the eyenology (seeing).”
Henri Cartier-Bresson
“A mad, keen photographer needs to get out into the world and work and make mistakes.” Sam Abell
“Great dancers are not great because of their technique; they are great because of their passion!”
Martha Graham
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Larry Lourcey writes about reasons to enter in competition — … Competition will force you to become a better photographer. Even if you enter and don’t do so well—it doesn’t mean you didn’t grow as a photographer. I can assure you this: by pushing yourself creatively every year in competition, you WILL become a better photographer. No doubt about it. It just takes a willingness to put yourself out there and maybe fail a little bit. Everyone fails at competition every now and then. The winners are the ones who keep trying.
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Lightroom For Your Competition Prints —Yes You Can! by Jim Sanders
...a drag and drop from the Lightroom filmstrip will have your competition images in place quickly—every time!
For Lightroom users, here is one more reason to love this program. Lightroom can be used to create your competition presentations. It’s all done in the Print Module where templates can be created and saved. Thereafter, a drag and drop from the Lightroom filmstrip will have your competition images in place quickly—every time! Stoke border color & width settings are created using the IMAGE SETTINGS panel. It needs to be pointed out that Lightroom does not have a color picker like Photoshop. All colors are available, but they will need to be created by sampling through Lightroom’s robust color palette. Stroke borders for black and white images are easily selected from the gray palette. OK. Let’s get on with creating a template. We’ll be back with stroke borders at the end. Note: for colors you will want to duplicate exactly in the future, save the HEX color code 5
Creating templates...
There are several steps to follow in creating a custom template. Once created, templates can be saved in the Template Browser found on the left side of the Print Module. In the Template Browser, there are two drop-down menus. “Lightroom Templates” comes with Lightroom and contains a number of ready-to-use templates. “User Templates” is for custom templates you can create yourself. For this article, a custom template for a 16x20 competition print with a black background and for an image with a 2:3 ratio will be created. Begin by going to the Print Module. On the right side are a number of panels. The first panel to be used (and this is very important) is the LAYOUT STYLE panel at the top. Select Custom Package. Next, in the PRINT JOB panel, select Custom File Dimensions and type in 20.00 in x 16.00 in. This will create a horizontal format. (The reverse will create a vertical format.) In the RULERS, GRID & GUIDES panel, select Show Guides. A grid will overlay the template. Go next to the CELLS panel. Check Lock to Photo Aspect Ratio first. Now open any of the six drop-down menus under Add to Package. Select Edit at the bottom of the drop-down menu. A New Custom Size dialog will show. Type 2 x 3 for the ratio size. Click on Add. A 2x3 frame will pop into the 16x20 format. Using the grid for a guide, drag out the frame to the size and position you wish to save. Once positioned, select Page Background Color from the PAGE panel. For a saved template, I like black. Any color may be created for individual images at any later time.
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More about image sizing… • Drag a corner to resize. • Move the image to the desired position and then use the grid for precise positioning. • Adjust Selected Cell can also be used to set sizes.
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The template is now ready to be saved. Now, that didn’t take long! Return to the Template Browser on the left side. Select User Templates and the + sign next to Template Browser. A New Template dialog will show. Type in the template name. In this case, it will be — competition 16x20 horizontal. Click on Create and voilà… all is saved and ready for future use.
As shown above, my personal preference for saving templates is to create my own folders by category in the New Template dialog. The thing to know is that the folder designated in the New Template dialog is where the newly created template will be saved. At the time of actually dropping an image from the Collection filmstrip into the template, the saved frame may shift some. This will happen if the image is of a different ratio than the ratio saved to the template. When this happens, be very precise in dragging the image to be positioned exactly where you want it to be. Be sure to have the grid selected while doing this positioning. Stroke borders are added once an image has been added to the template. The stroke border is created in the IMAGE SETTINGS panel (see page 5). Uncheck the grid if it is showing to allow the stroke border to be seen more easily. 8
Preparing for your lab‌
In the PRINT JOB panel, set the desired File Resolution and JPEG Quality. Check to see that the image is positioned exactly the way you want it. If need be, it can be easily adjusted by selecting the grid again and repositioning the image. Check to see that the Custom File Dimension is showing 20x16. (or the size you are using) When all is ready, click on Print to File... located just under the Print Job panel. A Save File dialog will come up. Name the file. (I like to include the print size with the title as a reminder when uploading to ROES.) Choose where you want the file to be located. Note: the file does not return to its original Lightroom folder. Important: When uploading files for VPPA, SEPPA, and IPC competition, a specific file size must be used. Since the competition file is not in a Lightroom folder now, simply import the file back into Lightroom where is is available for all file sizing to follow. If you are a Lightroom user, this tutorial may prove to be helpful. Even where Photoshop is preferable, using these Lightroom templates can be a way to quickly prepare images for print critiques and your own assessments.
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An example of a competition presentation created in Lightroom’s Print Module • It is ‘drag and drop’ from the Lightroom filmstrip to a template that is sized and ready. • Image position may be changed by dragging. The grid is available for precise positioning. • Corners can be pulled in or out for image resizing. The aspect ratio remains the same. • Canvas and stroke border colors are easily created. • CLICK TO SEND and the file is ready to be uploaded to your lab.
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