One of the more confusing terms used in photography is Depth of Field. Simply defined, Depth of Field is the distance between the nearest object in sharp focus and the furthest object in sharp focus. The Depth of Field is controlled by the aperture size. The smaller the aperture, the greater the Depth of Field. With each change of the aperture by full f-stops, the Depth of Field will be halved or will double, depending on the direction of the change. Remember, the aperture is measured as a ratio of the size of the opening to the focal length of the lens focused at infinity. This is why the larger number equals a smaller aperture.
To clarify, a change from f 8 to f 11 will decrease the aperture size by half, allowing half the light to strike the film plane or the sensor, and will double the Depth of Field. Conversely, a change in the opposite direction, from f 8 to f 5.6 will allow twice as much light to reach the film plane or sensor, but will reduce the Depth of Field by half. Another factor in the Depth of Field is the focal length of the lens. Depth of Field decreases as the focal length increases. Thus wide angle lenses exhibit a greater Depth of Field than telephoto lenses.
        Most single lens reflex cameras, whether film or digital, allow several choices for exposure settings. The two that I use more than others except Manual, are the Av (aperture variable) and the Tv (time or shutter speed variable). When viewing a scene, you must make a determination of how much Depth of Field is important to the scene you wish to record. If a greater Depth of Field is important to the image, I recommend using the Av setting and stopping down (decreasing aperture size) as far as necessary to attain the Depth of Field you desire. Many cameras have a Depth of Field preview setting, allowing you to see the Depth of Field more clearly through the view finder. Choosing the Av setting allows you to control the Depth of Field directly and lets the camera decide the shutter speed. This, of course, may require the use of a tripod if the shutter speed is reduced below the free hand comfort level for sharp images, which in most instance is 1/60 or slower. When shooting a landscape scene you will optimize the Depth of Field by focusing 1.3 of the way into the scene. This is the ideal focal point for the greatest Depth of Field in almost any
circcumstance.
           Portraits most often require a shallow Depth of Field, as this prevents the background from becoming distracting and drawing attention away from the subject. You can blur the background this way, allowing the viewer to realize, perhaps by a landmark, where the image was taken without the landmark dominating the the scene and overwhelming the subject. By choosing a larger aperture (smaller f number) you will reduce the Depth of Field, thus isolating the subject. I recommend experimenting. Try different uses of the Depth of Field. You'll see what a useful tool it is for improving your images.

The Future of Photoshop
             Adobe has initiated a new approach to photoshop users. It is called Photoshop CC, which stands for Photoshop Creative Cloud. Updates to photoshop in the past were released every 18 – 24 months, and if you wanted to new version you could purchase the upgrade at a lower price than purchasing the new version alone. Photographers who are photoshop users will have no choice in the future for upgrades but to subscribe to the Creative Cloud.
            This isn’t all bad, however. If you already own license to a recent version of Photoshop, CS 5 or CS6 for instance, the license is good into perpetuity. You can continue to use that license for as long as you wish. None the less, in the long term, photographers who use only Photoshop will pay $240.00 a year for the subscription, as opposed to purchasing upgrades every 18 months in the past for less than $200.00. If you want the latest updates, you’ll have to subscribe.
              The standard subscription is $49.99 a month but includes all of Adobes products, most of which are used by graphic designers. The monthly subscription for photoshop alone is $19.99 a month, but if you already own a qualifying product (Photoshop CS 5 or 6) you would qualify for a 50% discount, but only for the first year.
               This new cloud approach to Adobe products, does not include Photoshop Elements or Lightroom, so although neither of these is a substitute for full photoshop, together they make a good combination and will continue to be available for purchase. Whether this will change in the future is not known at this time, nor is the future of Adobe’s pricing structure, which could drop over time.

Source: Tim Grey, Pixology Magazine, June 2013

Waterfalls Trip
Over this past weekend, 26 – 28 April, several club members made a trip west to Hendersonville to photograph some of the many waterfalls in North Carolina. On the trip were Tom McCabe, Mike Carter, Rick Meyer, Judy Hills, Rosemary Osterhus, Janice Arthur, Mike McCulley, Robert Hendricks, and Alan Welch. We met up at the Best Western in Hendersonville Friday evening, where we met with local photographer Chuck Hill for a trip to Jump Off Rock to photograph the sunset. The weather, however, was uncooperative, and we know the sun did ultimately set, the overcast prevented us from anything spectacular. None the less, it was fun to meet with Chuck, and create the images anyway. See Tom McCabe’s Gallery for some images from the weekend.
Saturday morning we met for a run to the ranger at the entrance to the DuPont State Forest. We received the code to enter the forest area for later in the day and headed down the road for the trek to Hooker Falls. This fall is a short walk from the parking lot, not very strenuous, and the fall was readily accessible.
From there we headed to Triple Falls, where the trek up was much more strenuous. The trail was very steep and, though the climb wasn’t too high, it did become extremely difficult at times. The view from near the top of the trail opened to see all three levels of Triple Falls. Climbing down a long staircase took us to the top of the lower fall. The folks from LL Bean were doing a catalogue shoot there, but told us not to worry, they would shoot around us. We didn’t get in the way, nor did they interfere with us. Then the climb back up.
From Triple Falls we went back to the DuPont State Forest and Lake Julia. There are some older, abandoned buildings back in the woods around the lake, and these made for some compelling photography. Of special note was an old boathouse that sat out into the lake just off shore. . While were there rain came in and as the rainfall became heavier we called it a day and went back to the hotel.
Sunday morning we went to the very secluded Poinsett Bridge in Traveler’s Rest, SC. The rain was quite heavy off and on, but we shot anyway. Poinsett Bridge was built in 1820 and spans Little Gap Creek, and was a part of the roadway from the coast to the settlements in the mountains. The bridge was named for Joel R. Poinsett, who was the South Carolina Director of Public Works at the time, and introduced the poinsettia flower to the US from Mexico.
For those who went on this trip it was a great time. For those who didn’t you missed a great time and we hope to do it again soon.

Photographing Waterfalls

Waterfalls present some of the most intriguing and beautiful places to photograph.  Often the waterfall is not readily accessible and requires a bit of a hike to get back to it.  This makes it imperative you know what you need and are able to carry it with you for the trek.  Besides the obvious, here is a list of what you should have with you:
Tripod!  The most essential tool for capturing motion and for multiple exposures.
Cable or Remote Release.  Tripping the shutter with a finger can often cause a little camera shake and can lead to a softer image.  A remote release will prevent this.
The Book for your camera.  Know it inside and out.  Understand how the time release for the shutter works as a good alternative to a cable release.
Wide angle lens.  This can capture the essence of a waterfall and the surrounding area.  Including the surrounding area can give the waterfall a sense of scale.
Neutral Density filter.  This isn’t always necessary but can be helpful to get those extremely long exposures that make waterfalls so intriguing.  A Polarizer can act as a neutral density filter as well.
And extra battery and card.  Always!
Towel or cleaning cloth.  Waterfall areas tend to have high humidity and moisture can accumulate on lenses and the camera body.

How to get that smooth, milky look
Some of the best images of waterfalls have a silky, milky look to the water.  Be aware this can be overdone, but here’s how to do it.  With your camera securely mounted on a tripod, stop down your lens to the smallest aperture possible.   Meter for an area close to middle gray somewhere in the scene.  Try to get your shutter speed down to ½ second or even longer if possible, but still maintain a good exposure.  If the scene is fairly dark (as waterfalls tend to be because of their location) open your aperture to get the shutter speed close to ½ second.  Open the shutter using a remote release or the time release for the shutter.  This is to prevent camera shake when the shutter is tripped.  If your camera has a mirror lock up feature, use it here as well after you have composed the image.  The mirror lock up will help prevent that slight camera shake when the mirror flips up to allow light to register on the sensor.  
    Should the scene be fairly bright and you cannot get the shutter speed to ½ second or longer, attach the neutral density filter or the polarizer.  Both neutral density filters and polarizers reduce light evenly across the total spectrum, and thus will allow the exposure to change and you can apply a longer shutter speed.  As noted by Peter Hill in 2010, An ND filter is to a camera lens what a pair of sunglasses is to a human. (Peter Hill, 2010.)
    Neutral Density filters come in different strengths, and the designations can be a little confusing.  Below is a modified chart showing the neutral density factor and the f-stop reduction needed for the most common ND filters.
    Remember the Exposure Triangle and the relationship between shutter speed and aperture.  F-stop reductions can be made with shutter speed changes and not just with aperture settings.  For instance, if your camera is set to f8 at ½ second, adding an ND2 neutral density filter will require an exposure change of one f-stop.  That means you can open the aperture to f4 and keep the shutter speed the same ½ second, or you can keep the f stop at f8 and double the shutter speed to 1 second

ND filter types
In photography, ND filters are quantified by their optical density or equivalently their f-stop reduction.
            f-stop reduction      % Transmittance
    ND2              1         50%
    ND4             2         25%
    ND8             3         12.5%
    
   

     Why do we take photographs?  We take photographs to preserve a memory; of a person close to us, a significant event, a special place.  There are a lot of reasons.  With the proliferation of digital photography we take thousand more photographs than we did in the days when everyone used film.  This is a wonderful endeavor. However my guess is most of the photographs taken today will never be seen by anyone other than the maker, and only then when the image is made.
     Recently some of us in the club sponsored a photo workshop with the local 4H Club in Trenton.  We had a great time with those kids.  Several of them had their own cameras, or their Mom's camera.  One lad I remember was using his Mom's camera.  When we were finished shooting for the day we wanted to download the images to a computer and view them on the screen.  This young fellow's camera had more than 2200 photographs on the card going back to 2009!  Most of them were of him as he was growing up.  What are the chances his children will one day be able to view those photographs?  Nil.  If they stay on that camera they will be lost.  That is a guarantee.    All electronic devices can fail.  How easy is it to simply lose that camera?  Drop it into some water?  When that happens all those photos will likely be lost. 
     So what is the solution?  Simple.  Print them!  It doesn't matter where they are printed; just print them.  I do not mean to print every photograph, but those of your family, your friends, special events, special places.  Think about why we take photographs.  To preserve a memory. 
      I was at a symposium with PPofNC a few years ago.  A fellow from one of the camera stores was passing out a new Delkin CD for backing up images.  I still have it, and keep it for illustration purposes.  There is a note on the cover that it will store your digital images safely for 300 years.  300 years!  How wonderful!  But then....................who cares!  That is an unenforceable guarantee anyway.  And who really believes that in even 50 years there will be an ability to even read that CD?  This is marketing, without practical application.  Think about it.