Monthly competition results

By Rex Dolby


The Wassenberg Camera Club held its monthly competition in prints and slides on Thursday, Aug. 14, at the Wassenberg Art Center. Will Hawkins’s photo of a soccer goalie won the print category and Rex Dolby’s picture of action at an early-season OSU basketball game with Miami was selected as the best Sports slide.

The call for workers for receiving pictures from 1–5 Sunday, Aug. 24, at the fair grounds and assisting with the judging of the photography exhibit on Monday at 6 p.m. People are needed to host the exhibit once it opens also.

Also announced, was how to get information concerning the 37th Annual Wassenberg October Photography Exhibit, which involves a number of steps. First, go to: wassenbergartcenter.org. Once up, click on Exhibits, 2014, then “37th Annual Photography Exhibits Call for Entries”.  Read the fine print to the right, continuing down to the sentence that states: “Click here to download a prospectus.” Click on the word, “here”, to open the prospectus. Read it carefully to become familiar with this year’s major changes in the rules and procedures. Download a copy once you have decided to proceed.

Chris Wilson and Will Hawkins concluded the meeting with information on how to color a part of a black and white photo by creating a duplicate image, removing its color, placing the image exactly on top of the colored version and erasing as much of the top layer as needed to accomplish the effect. Using the same method, you can photograph the subject carefully seeing to it that their support does not press on their clothes. You may need a fan or string to give the illusion of movement, then place the duplicate on top of the original image and erase any indication of support, thereby giving the illusion of the person either flying or floating. Chris also talked about the advantages of using neutral density filters and a polarizing filter to achieve a photographic effect.

Will explained the method of achieving a zoom burst effect by moving the zoom lens while the camera is on a tripod and its lens is open. All the movement must be completed before the shutter closes. He said it takes a lot of practice to get a good result. He then discussed HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography. Basically you need a minimum of three exposures. Locking your camera on a tripod, expose the scene so all the bright areas are correctly exposed, take one of the mid tones, or entire scene, correctly exposed, and make one of the dark areas correctly exposed. You can do more shades if you wish.  Stack each of these scenes on top of each other and merge them making the sky not too bright, overall just right, and the dark areas not too dark. Those present were very appreciative of the duo’s presentations and their efforts to prepare them.

The club’s next meeting will be Sunday, August 24, at the fair grounds to take in pictures. People wanting to exhibit pictures need to stop by the Fair Board Office from 9–5 p.m. on Friday or 9 a.m.–noon on Saturday to get their entry tags. These tags are to be tied to the wire on the back of each picture. Make sure the tag matches the picture. 
See ya at the fair!

If you have any questions regarding our camera club, classes or programs or would like to sign up please call the Wassenberg Art Center at: 419.238.6837, email: info@wassenbergartcenter.org or register for classes online at: wassenbergartcenter.org. Hours during exhibits are: Tuesday through Sunday 1–5 p.m. The Wassenberg Art Center is located at 214 South Washington Street in Van Wert.