Saturday, April 9, 2016

Back With Salons

Greetings and welcome to Hohenfels Volks, THE place for our place!

"Spring has sprung!" Things are warming up and we're enjoying longer days and more time to make photos. Today, we’re going to revisit photographic salons.

A photographic salon is basically a competition where photographers compete to be included in a photographic exhibition. A circuit is generally several salons with unified coordination.

The advantage of salons is that your fellow photographers judge all the entries. The judges are generally advanced photographers who've been competing for a while and been honored by one or more of the photographic societies. They generally aren't about who has the best gear and does the "fanciest" editing. They're about the photographs entered, and the art of photography.

The biggest drawback is that many of the better-received images are more in line with the current trends and tastes. For instance, HDR images can be highly received, as can images with high contrast or color purity. A well-received style can garner lots of acceptances and quickly becomes recognizable. The big drawback in all this is the tendency to intimidate the newer participant. If you aren't comfortable with your style or willing to try something new, you can get put off salons quickly. The problem is that this mindset and effect is also common outside salons. How many times have you looked at an image and thought, "I wish I could make something like that?" You can see it in many photography forums and groups. Of course, great images should never discourage us; they should inspire us and drive us to pursue our own style and merit.

I suggest every photographer enter a salon, the experience is quite wonderful overall. The joy of getting your images ready, the anticipation of your report, and finally the joy of seeing how many acceptances you receive is quite exciting. You also get valuable feedback by knowing whether you photos were well received. Knowing what worked for one, though, doesn’t guarantee it will work for another, as each salon has different judges. That allows for your work to be seen by real photographers, and to be judged on the photographic merits, rather than sentiment of a random audience. The feedback is more useful that way.

For the second year, I entered the Trierenberg Super Circuit and Special Themes Circuit. I entered The large print divisions. These entries are part of the PSA's Pictorial Print Division. I had 5 images selected into the 4 exhibitions across Austria. After last year's entries, and further acceptances into the Al Thanni Award, exhibited in Qatar, Austria, and London, I'm convinced that the learning experience and joys of achieving such recognition far outweigh the negatives. Those images not accepted have helped improve my technique, editing, and presentation, as well as show where I missed the mark.

The following images were accepted:

Hohenfels Volks : A Temporary State
A Temporary State. Open Color Print.

Hohenfels Volks : For Us
For Us. Open Monochrome Print.

Hohenfels Volks : Christmas Cheer
Christmas Cheer. Experimental Color Print.

Hohenfels Volks : Cross and Field KChrome
Cross and Field: KChrome. Experimental Color Print.

Hohenfels Volks : God's Embrace
God's Embrace. Landscape Color Print.

We want you to share your photos, especially of our place, with us on our Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. You can also e-mail questions, photos, or comments to HohenfelsVolks(at)tks-net.com, and we’ll get them posted!

Is there anything you’d like to see here? Do you have a question? Share your thoughts here or at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. Of course, commenting on both Facebook and here is always appreciated, too!

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Greetings

I hope this post finds you well and making great photos! Enjoy the rest of your week!

Local wedding photographers
Image courtesy of: SnapKnot - Local Wedding Photographers

I hope everyone finds time to share your photos, especially of our place, with us on our Hohenfels Volks Facebook page, and we’ll get them posted here! Is there anything you’d like to see here? Do you have a question? Submit them and we’ll get them posted, also. We also welcome any tips, tricks, and ideas. If you’d like to write an article about something photographic or some place of interest, we’d be happy to post it here! You can also e-mail questions, photos, or comments to HohenfelsVolks(at)tks-net.com, and we’ll get them posted! Of course, commenting on both Facebook and here is always appreciated, too!

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Express or Selfie?

Greetings and welcome to Hohenfels Volks, THE place for our place!

Ansel Adams once said, “We must remember that a photograph can hold just as much as we put into it, and no one has ever approached the full possibilities of the medium.”

Given the self absorbed state of the world around us, evidenced by the "art" of the "selfie," it's time to start looking back and moving toward approaching the full possibilities of our medium.

The best "selfie" is made using the external to express something of the internal, allowing a fuller expression of the individual self than a cell phone at arm's length. When we make our photography expressive, as well as creative, we can approach closer the full possibilities of the medium.

Of course, that's just my two cents.


The lodge wall. Antique sleigh on the wall at the lodge.
ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/30, digital

A photo doesn't have to be fancy or artsy to be expressive, creative, and artistic. Look internally, and find the expression in something external!

Well, that’s enough for today. We want you to share your photos, especially of our place, with us on our Hohenfels Volks Facebook page, and we’ll get them posted here! Is there anything you’d like to see here? Do you have a question? Submit them and we’ll get them posted, also. We also welcome any tips, tricks, and ideas. If you’d like to write an article about something photographic or some place of interest, we’d be happy to post it here! You can also e-mail questions, photos, or comments to HohenfelsVolks(at)tks-net.com, and we’ll get them posted! Of course, commenting on both Facebook and here is always appreciated, too!

Sunday, June 29, 2014

National Camera Day

Greetings and welcome to Hohenfels Volks, THE place for our place!

Here's an item from the good Volks at SnapKnot to celebrate National Camera Day.

SnapKnot
Courtesy of: SnapKnot

I hope you have your passport and get some great photos this week.

We want you to share your photos, especially of our place, with us on our Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. You can also e-mail questions, photos, or comments to HohenfelsVolks(at)tks-net.com, and we’ll get them posted!

Is there anything you’d like to see here? Do you have a question? Share your thoughts here or at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. Of course, commenting on both Facebook and here is always appreciated, too! Don't forget, we're on Google+, too!

Monday, November 18, 2013

Daylight

Greetings and welcome to Hohenfels Volks, THE place for our place!

Today we’re going to talk a little about light. Hohenfels and our surrounding areas are home to a wide variety of light, and lighting conditions. For most of us shooting outdoors, we’re using what most volks think of as natural light. Really, though, any light can be natural if properly incorporated into our vision.

Generally speaking, we think of daylight as our source of natural light. Natural light really is made up of several components. First, we have sunlight, which is just that, light from the sun. Sunlight is warmer than plain white light, although we don’t perceive it as such until we examine our photos. Then we have skylight, which light reflected from the sky itself. This light tends toward the blue end of the spectrum. We also light reflected from clouds, which is more neutral than skylight. The last part we’ll look at is light reflected from environmental objects, such as buildings. This light picks up the colors of the reflecting source.

We can generally count on most daylight running between 5000 and 5500 k in color temperature. Photographically speaking, daylight is standardized for most applications as 5500 K. We generally, though, think in terms of warm or cool light.

Having covered both the general color temperature and make up of daylight, we can move on to some thoughts when shooting in it.

When using daylight as our source, we want to consider more than its intensity and temperature. We also want to consider its direction, or its diffusion. Diffuse daylight makes for some wonderful portraits, having a lower contrast. With a little help from a reflector, some nice shadows can be formed. This allows for marvelous shape and depth to a face. Less diffuse lighting makes for some very nice landscapes and detail shots.

The lower the sun is in the sky, the warmer the light we see. This can add some nice effects to an evening shot, bringing some golden highlights into your scene. Even later, during the blue hour, the light becomes incredibly cool, almost a pure blue!

Natural light can be used indoors, as well. Using only an open window and a reflector, an amazing portrait can be made. It’s also great for product or detail shots, with a little planning. Another great use for natural light indoors is for architectural shots. Churches, ruins, palaces, and the like can be a source for great photos when you shoot with natural light, as evidenced by the photo below.

Hohenfels: Bayreuth Schlosskirche, natural light
ISO 1600, f/3.5, 1/30
The Schlosskirche in Bayreuth. The only light inside the church was from the windows. Being large and reasonably open to the light, an adequate image could be made. Using only natural light, even indoors, can make for a sense of openess in almost any image if done right.

Well, that’s enough for today. Don’t forget that we're having a "Thanksgiving means..." feature. You can submit your photos on our Hohenfels Volks Facebook page, and we’ll get them posted here!

We want you to share your photos, especially of our place, with us on our Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. You can also e-mail questions, photos, or comments to HohenfelsVolks(at)tks-net.com, and we’ll get them posted!We also welcome any tips, tricks, and ideas. If you’d like to write an article about something photographic or some place of interest, we’d be happy to post it here!Of course, comments on both Facebook and here is always appreciated, too! Don't forget, we're on Google+, too!