This feature was introduced for the 2007-2008 year. Look for it to grow over the coming years.
Here we will collect presentation notes from the various speakers we have over the year for members and guests who might want to review what was presented, or see the sorts of things that are presented during the club meetings.
If the presenter doesn't have soft notes or Powerpoint decks, then perhaps an eager member will provide a summary for the benefit of others.
Note: some materials we save just for our members. Afterall, we need some reasons for getting you to join our club! If you're seeing this paragraph, you are not logged in and so may not be seeing all the resources available.
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Do You Have A Backup Plan?
by David Emery (presented Apr 29/2008)
With so many of us now shooting digital, we often forget how easy it is to lose those thousands of images stored on our hard drives. David lays out the options you have for backing up those prescious memories, as well as some suggestions in developing a back-up plan that suits your needs.
( Click here for presentation PDF ) -
Depth of Field / Depth of Focus
by Shona LaFortune (presented Oct 5/2010)
This is information that every photographer must master if they are going to have creative control over their images. Shona presented this material and some interesting images demonstrating the issues and points to consider. The handout link below has main information that she covered as well as some more technical background.
( Click here for presentation handout (PDF format) )
This is an ongoing series of short presentations aimed at the "less confident" photographer. Someone who has just gotten their first camera, or perhaps has been shooting a few years but is timid about moving off the fully automatic mode (the "green square" on many Canon models).
The series covers both mechanical and compositional topics and hopes that through education in the so-called "basics", a novice photographer will gain confidence and start to try new ideas and techniques.
Where it makes sense, some "study guides" will accompany the presentations and also a fun little idea: "Pocket Mods". A cheat sheet of sorts with key points from the presentation. Folded properly and one quick snip with scissors, the sheet becomes a nice little 8 page booklet that can be tucked in your camera bag.
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Session 1: Taking Control
(presented Feb 5/2008)
an overview of the basic image controls on a camera and their effect on your final image.
Topics covered: focal length, aperture, shutter speed, film speed, exposure control, depth of field, angle of view, learn the automatic modes on your camera, hollywood special effects from photography's point of view.
Resources:- Members note: more materials are available if you log in.
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Click to show a Focal Length Demo
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Wikipedia Articles: If you really want to go in-depth on these
topics, Wikipedia has some good articles:
- Angle of View
- f-Stops
- Normal Lens
- Plane of Focus (Depth of Field)
- Focal Length
- Perspective Distortion
- Shutter Speed
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Session 2: The Golden Rule
(presented Apr 15/2008)
This session takes the new photographer into the world of "Rules of Composition". The first rule is one of the most fundamental one used in photography. But why does "moving your subject off-centre" make for a better image (usually!). And what do ancient measures and the Parthenon have to do with modern photography?
Topics covered: Golden Ratio (Phi), Golden Rectangle, Golden Spiral, Eyes of God, Rule of Thirds, The Rule in action.
Resources:- Members note: more materials are available if you log in.
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WikiPedia Articles: If you really want to dive into the history and discussion of golden geometry and its use in art and photography:
- Golden Ratio - wikipedia backgrounder on this famous ratio
- Golden Rectangle - applying the golden ration to rectangles
- Golden Spiral - talks about the golden spiral (also called the Fibonacci Spiral), as with most Wikipedia articles, the "see also" section will lead you into a variety of related topics.
- Phidias ( ??????? ) - famous greek sculptor, one of the designers of the Parthenon. Known for his use of the golden ratio, and honoured by mathematicians by selecting the first letter of his name to represent the golden ratio: Phi (?)
- Fibonacci numbers - any in-depth look at Phi will lead you to Fibonacci numbers. The first part of this Wiki article is heavy on math. But if you skip down to the "Applications" section, you'll find information of more interest to photographers. Fibonacci stole a lot of his ideas from ancient Hindu mathematics and poety structure and tried to apply it to rabbit populations --- which went to show he knew nothing about rabbits!
- Henri Cartier-Bresson on Wikipedia - a biography of Bresson. In addition to his strong feelings on golden geometry from his training as a painter, he is also known as the "father of photojournalism" and developed styles and techniques used in modern street photography.
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Other External Pages: some other external pages you might find of interest:
- www.goldennumber.net one man's labour of love devoted to Phi, an excellent source of material on the "divine proportion"
- AtRise's Golden Section - a software tool useful to graphic artists and book/web page designers. But also useful to photographers as well. It allows you to place a grid on your screen (over a photograph perhaps?!) and find the Phi lines in the frame. It has a variety of commonly used graphic art ratios and grid patterns.
- Images from Henri Cartier-Bresson a well known photographer who often used golden geometry in creating his artistic compositions. Some samples of his images are at this site.
- NPR coverage of Cartier-Bresson - news article on Cartier-Bresson's death in 2004 and a look back at his career with earlier interviews with the photographer.
- 35mm Film and the Golden Rectangle - talks about the background of the development of the 35mm frame format, and its relationship to the golden rectangle. There are a couple of Cartier-Bresson samples there as well.
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Session 3: What's My Line?
(presented May 6/2008)
In this session the new photographer continues their exploration of the "Rules of Composition". We learned how to place images with the Rule of Thirds, now we learn how to use "lines" to help direct the viewer to your subject.
Topics covered: Types of lines (horizontal, vertical, diagonal, S-curves, C-curves), use of perspective to generate "presence" and leading lines, using repetition to create leading lines, convergence and radial symmetry.
Resources:- Members note: please log in to access study guide and pocket cheat-sheet.
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Other External Pages: some other external pages you might find of interest:
- Composition in Visual Arts - a Wikipedia article on composition in visual arts, with a discussion on importance of Rule of Thirds and types of lines.
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Session 4: I've been framed!
(presented Sep 16/2008)
In this session we continue our exploration of the more fundamental rules of composition, in particular: Framing.
Resources:- Members note: please log in to access study guide and pocket cheat-sheet.
- Other External Pages: some other external pages you might find of interest:
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Session 5: A Shot in the Dark
(presented: Nov 18/2008)
We've spent the last few sessions on compositional topics. Tonight we return to a more "mechanical" topic, Night Photography.
Since the meeting for this evening revolves around the topic, this session will attempt to bring newer photographers up to speed on some of the various genres and techniques you will see in this area of the art. As with all BTGS sessions, this is meant to be a springboard for those who might not have experience in these areas to go on and do further research/experimenting on their own. BTGS will open the door to the "dark side", will you enter?
Resources:- Members note: please log in to access study guide and pocket cheat-sheet.