April 2016 Winners

Judges: Ozzie Cummins, Leigh Cimino and Tim Bullard (Guest Judge)

Print Image Competition – Assigned Category (Back to the Basics)

Note: this months assignment allowed no post processing at all – Straight out of the camera

1st Place – Image of the Month

“North Pole” Dave Bell

I Joined the Caveman Camera Club in October of last year.

I joined because I have always been an “Green Button” auto everything shooter.

I am learning how to shoot manual thank’s to the clubs Guidance Mentor system.

I now shoot with a Canon 5 D Mark III

And would highly recommend the club to anyone wanting to advance their skills.

My Photo was taken while I was serving in the Coast Guard. It was a once in a lifetime shot hovering above the ‘North Pole’.

When we were hovering and looking down, I was so inspired looking down on the top of the world. Just can’t get any better.

When I saw the picture a couple of weeks later I was shocked that I took it. I was one of 4 crewmen taking the photos.

The picture was taken with a Very, Very small Panasonic ( 1/3 inch by 1 inch by 3 inch) pocket camera, that’s all I carried when flying. Yep, it’s off my bucket list

2nd Place – Tie

“Chihuly Glass” Marcia Fasy

2nd Place – Tie

“Soft Overcast Light” Ozzie Cummins

Electronic Image Competition – Open Category

1st Place

“Palouse Farmstead” Nomeca Hartwell

Marcia and I came across this abandoned looking Dutch Barn with grazing cows as we were barn-hunting along a side road outside of Rosalia,WA. I took several shots of the barn and the squashed mailbox but I liked this one the best with a close up of the cows. It really seemed to come alive in a modified ‘natural’ B&W out of Photomatix . I then took it into PS and toned down the highlight glow around the tree with a Luminosity Mask, also open up some of the very dark shadows a little bit using another Luminosity Mask on a burn/dodge layer. It has since been improved per Tim’s suggestion with a small neutral density gradient on the sky. Canon T2i, f/10. 1/160 sec, ISO 200 with my ever useful 18-135 lens set at 18mm.

2nd Place – Tie

“Bottoms Up” Lori Mitchell

2nd Place – Tie

“Soccer Field” Doris Welborn

3rd Place – Tie (x4)

“The Guilded Age” Dale George

3rd Place – Tie

“Perezosa” Doris Welborn

3rd Place – Tie

“Late Autumn Light” Ozzie Cummins

3rd Place – Tie

“Peonies” Jan Kloes

Print Image Competition – Open Category

1st Place

“A study in Glass #1” by Dale George

After wasting many hours trying to shoot an image for the assigned category, I became frustrated with my efforts and decided to try some lighting techniques we had talked about at our last educational meeting. I built a 3 sided wall from black foam-core board scraps, lined the back and bottom in some velveteen fabric and experimented with lighting placement. I again went to my tried and true method of bracketed shots and used Photomatix to blend them. I realized it was too beautiful to use just a single exposure and no edits, so I chose to enter it fully edited in the open class. Shot with a Canon 5dMK3, Canon 100mm Macro 2.8, average exposure of .7 seconds at f/19 and ISO 2500. Also used a single Alien Bee strobe approx. 5 feet above my subject.

2nd Place

“A girl and her horse” by Linda Bryant

3rd Place – Tie (x4)

“Ye Olde Dining Chamber” by Dale George

3rd Place – Tie

“The View” by Donald Tedrow

3rd Place – Tie

“Keep on Smiling” by Rose Christner

3rd Place – Tie

“Fallen Giants” by Jim Ingraham

Electronic Image Competition – Assigned Category (Back to the Basics)

Note: this months assignment allowed no post processing at all – Straight out of the camera

1st Place

“Lets get Together” by Rose Christner

This image was taken during Spring Break at the Monterey Bay aquarium. Among the myriad of obstacles of children popping in a photo, there is always the “right” lighting issues in dark rooms, especially when no flash is allowed. I tried to get a decent shot with my Canon PowerShot SX20 IS, but couldn’t. So I pulled out my trusty Samsung Galaxy Note5 (cell phone) which was set on automatic and waited for the jellyfish to literally get together and used the lighting that was in their fish tanks. I was concerned about possible reflections coming off the glass as well. but standing about 3′ away helped alleviate that. As a beginner, I have a lot to learn yet. I’m so thankful for the help from all the knowledgeable photographer’s who love what they do from all their “trusty” cameras.

2nd Place – Tie