TRAINING

The Board of Directors of the Florida Camera Club Council has announced the next annual conference will be held on March 23, 24, and 25th, 2012. We are expanding the conference from two to three days, to accommodate the added workshops and breakout sessions. The conference will be held at the four diamond Naples Hilton. The emphasis this year will be on the expanding role of technology in photography. Breaking news will be forwarded to all participating clubs as it becomes available. All questions should be directed to the conference chairperson: Eric Hansen F3C 2012 Conference Chair president@f3c.org 1-800-891-3258 www.f3c.org

Club Presentations

Photographic Accessories Part 1 by Matt Muskovac and Jim Goins
Photographic Accessories Part 2 by Jim Ickes

Shootout at the Rodeo by Kurt Allebach with contributions by Lisa Cawte-Baker

Understanding RAW and RAW Workflow by Kurt Allebach; Capture One RAW editor

Histograms & Exposure by Ron Mayberry

Painting with Light by Jack O'Connell & Erik Rosengren

High Dynamic Range Images by Kurt Allebach

Tripods and Quick Releases by Matt Muskovac

Sports Photography by Lou Abilock

Slide-in-Mat design by Nick Muskovac

Reusable Mat design by Jack O'Connell; Order forms: Excel or PDF revised 11/6/07

Panoramics by Matt Muskovac

Published Tips

Adorama Learning Center Top 20 Countdown 2011
Our Best Photography Tutorials of 2011 by DPS

Glossary of Photography Terms and Definitions by PhotographyTips.com

21 Settings, Techniques and Rules All New Camera Owners Should Know

60 Sources of Inspiration for Photographers

23 Digital Photography Books Reviewed - Ranked

eHow How to Photograph a Model: Photo Studio Tips: Video Series

5 Minute Life Videopedia Photography Videos in Arts Category

Achieving your Personal Style by Alain Briot

New travel rules for lithium batteries by USDOT

Photoshop/Proshow Gold Tips and Tricks by Stan Ashbrook

Creativity and The Rule of Thirds by Jim Altengarten

Image Histograms Part 1 by Sean McHugh

Luminance and Color Histograms by Sean McHugh

Demystifying D-SLR Sensor Cleaning by Bob Dean

Framed and Exposed: Make a Clean Sweep of Your Camera by Ben Long

The Basics of Nature Photography by Cindy Marple

10 Questions to Ask When Taking a Digital Photo by Digital Photography School

My Favorite Nature Photography Locations by John Cang

The Nature Photographer's Year by David Middelton

How to Take Great Photos of Holiday Lights by NYIP

Tools

ADOBE

Adobe Photoshop Keyboard Shortcuts compiled by Trevor Morris Photographics

Free web version of Adobe Photoshop

Adobe® Media Gallery (AMG) for Adobe Bridge adds quick, powerful Web gallery creation to Adobe Photoshop® CS3, Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended and the Adobe Creative Suite®. AMG makes it possible to create HTML or Flash-based galleries from any of the file formats supported by Bridge; adjust the galleries using the built-in preview; and export the results or upload them via FTP.

GENERAL

DxOMark Lens Test Database provides objective, independent, RAW-based image quality performance data for lenses and digital cameras to help you select the best equipment to meet your photographic needs.

Depth of Field Calculator

Photodex ProShow Lightroom Plug-in

The Photographer's Ephemeris is a topographical map allowing the photographer to match the sunrise/sunset and moon phases to a particular location.

Nikon D50, D70 & D100 Battery Recall and Replacement

Having a Problem Reading Raw Files from Your New Camera
provided by George Burke

Every camera has a different raw format. As new cameras come out, Adobe keeps updating it's raw converter to accommodate them. However, these updates only work with the LATEST VERSION of Photoshop. So, you have to upgrade in order to be able to use the raw images from your new camera in Photoshop.

There is a free solution. Use Adobe's free DNG converter. DNG is Adobe's universal raw format. It converts your existing camera raw files to ones that can be read by any version of Photoshop. The DNG Converter is a standalone program that will convert an entire folder of camera raw images to DNG type raw images.

You can get it for a PC at:
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=3941&promoid=DTEHR

The Mac version is available at:
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=3940&promoid=DTEHQ

There are several advantages to using dng files, even if you have the latest version of Photoshop or Elements.

DNG files do not have a "sidecar" (.xmp) file. All the changes made in the raw converter and Lightroom are saved in the DNG file. No more problems in sending raw files to someone, not sending the sidecar file (it's invisible), and having the recipient only be able to view the original unedited file.
DNG files are about 20% smaller than raw file formats from camera manufacturers. That saves a lot of hard disk space.
Adobe has put the DNG format in the public domain, so anyone can use it at no cost, and promises to maintain it forever. There is no guarantee that several years from now a camera manufacturer, will still maintain a raw format for your (by then) obsolete camera. (Remember, every camera has a different raw format.)

AN ALTERNATE SOLUTION: Lightroom can import any type of raw image a DNG file.

MICROSOFT

Microsoft Photosynth can be downloaded for free. It looks for overlapping points in the images then arranges them into a browsable 3D model.

Tips and tricks for Windows XP
Featured tip: Rename many pictures at once
If you import digital photos, you're going to love this tip.
1. Open the folder where you've saved your pictures. Select your first batch of pictures to rename.
2. Right-click the first picture selected and then click Rename.
3. Rename the first picture to whatever you like(for example, Boston Vacation), then click any empty space within the window to deselect the pictures.
Your pictures automatically rename themselves ("Boston Vacation (1)," "Boston Vacation (2)," etc.). This tip also works to rename any collection of files.
Featured tip is courtesy of the book Windows XP Killer Tips by Kleber Stephenson.

Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP include Color Control Panel Applet, RAW Image Thumbnailer and Viewer, HTML Slide Show Wizard, Image Resizer, and CD Slide Show Generator

Microsoft RAW Image Thumnailer and Viewer for Windows XP provides the ability to view, organize, and print photos captured in RAW image formats from supported Canon and Nikon digital cameras. The software supports the following image types: Canon EOS RAW images (.crw, .cr2, .tif), Nikon Electronic Format images (.nef), Bitmap images (.bmp), JPEG images (.jpg, .jpe, .jpeg), Windows Metafile images (.wmf), Tagged Image File Format images (.tif, .tiff), Graphics Interchange Format images (.gif), and Portable Network Graphics images (.png)

Windows Vista RAW image codecs for viewing in Windows Explorer:
Canon (you'll need to navigate to the drivers for your particular camera model to check),
Nikon, Olympus, Sony

PHOTOSHOP

A Superb Collection of 240 Categorized Photoshop Tutorials, Plug-ins and Brushes

Free Actions:
Action Central
Action Fx
Adobe Photoshop Exchange
Deviant Art

Free Plug-ins:
Auto FX Software
onOne Software (free versions of some of their popular plug-ins)

Paid Plug-ins (most of these companies offer trial versions that you can download):
Alien Skin Software
Auto FX Software
Lucisart Nik Software
onOne Software
Red Giant Software
Topaz Labs

Tours

NANPA 2012 Regional Event: Everglades

February 23-26

Everglades National Park is a wonderful place to photograph birds, wildlife and unique scenic beauty. This national park is the 3rd largest in the lower 48 states, covering 2,500 square miles. A vast expanse of roughly 1.5 million acres, there seems no end to the adventures that can be found in Everglades National Park.

Join us as 5 professional photographers take you on various field trips to capture all this park has to offer, from birds to scenic beauty, landscapes to macro subjects. We'll start with an orientation on Thursday evening, where you'll get a taste of what awaits you in the park as well as an introduction to your guides for the weekend. Field trips will occur during the prime lighting hours in the morning and afternoons on Friday and Saturday.

Midday we'll gather at the hotel for critiques and question and answer sessions with the pros. Our shooting time will wrap up on Sunday morning, then everyone will gather for a final farewell brunch

How to Choose a Photography Workshop or Tour by Peter West Carey

Johnson PhotoImaging Safari Club led by James Johnson

Awake the Light by Mollie Isaacs and Mary Lindhjem

Bill Campbell Digital Photography Workshops specializing on the Smokey Mountains

Canon Live Learning: Workshops and Classes
Canon Live Learning is an exclusive educational experience that delivers dynamic learning opportunities for enthusiasts and professionals through workshops and high quality classes around the country. Led by industry experts and professional photographers, including Canon's Explorers of Light, you'll gain both technical and creative expertise through these exciting programs in locations near you.

Digital Nature Photography Workshops and Events by Richard Bernabe

FotoForever Amazon wildlife workshop

M & M Photo Tours featuring Rick Sammon, Michael Yamashita, Matt Brandon, Tyler Stableford, and Mark Moeller

Mentor Series: Worldwide Photo Treks
by the experts at Popular Photography magazine and premier sponsor Nikon

Natural Exposures Tours by Daniel J. Cox

Nature's Vision Photography by Richard Higgins

Nikonians Academy

Soujourns In Nature by Gustav Verderber & Robert Servranckx