Join us for tonight’s meeting where Hugh Hudson will discuss fine art architectural photography!

Meeting begins at 6pm with library staff giving their ‘coming attractions’. Our presentation begins shortly after. Don’t miss it!

This IS a hybrid meeting, meaning we’ll be meeting in person as well as doing a live broadcast via Zoom (which will also be recorded). After the meeting, the recording will be uploaded to our website.

Link to the Zoom meeting is below.

The invite will be sent out to all members the morning of the meeting.

In tonight’s presentation, I’ll go over the other lesser known and used modules in Lr. Map, Book, Slideshow, and Print. If there’s enough time, perhaps Web. We’ll play it by ear.

Some YouTube channels that explain Lightroom very well are:

Julianne Kost

Anthony Morganti

Phlearn - Aaron Nace

Adobe Lightroom

When you go to these channels, type in the search box “lightroom” and which module you’d like explained better. If you find any others that help, let us know! I’ll add them to this list.

Click the button below to attend the Zoom! A recording will be uploaded within 24-hours of the completion of this session.

Tonight’s theme is churches. Any type of place of worship will be acceptable. Churches, synagogues, mosques, chapels, basilicas, cathedrals, or temples.

As always, submit your images to fit the theme before 5pm on the meeting date. When you export them, be sure they are resized to 2500 pixels on the long edge. 

Link to the Zoom meeting is below, and an invite will be sent shortly before the meeting.

Hope to see you all there!

Some info about our “FrameIt” sessions. We’ve decided to add some light critiques and post-processing recommendations, along with praising the submitted images.

Critiquing doesn’t mean condemning or scolding or being mean, its a way for folks to point out some things that they may perceive as could be improved upon so that the photographer may consider it and maybe tweak their processes. Maybe there’s a distraction you missed, maybe a color cast is making it look “off”. Many of the things could be fixed with a bit of additional post processing work - or at the least, something to think about next time you’re shooting in a similar situation. As with all critiques, you can take the statements and learn from them, or if what they pointed out was intentional, you can choose to ignore them.

A little something I learned from getting my own images critiqued by professionals, EVEN THEY make mistakes. Everyone does, and anyone can miss something. It comes down to this, would you rather people ignore a big piece of spinach stuck in your teeth and say nothing? Or would you like for them to let you know so you can fix it? Yeah, sometimes its a bit of a hit to our egos, but in the long run, you’ll learn something and hopefully improve. And really, that’s why we're here. 

In tonight’s meeting we’ll be discussing light, natural light to be exact. And that light comes from the sun, even moonlight is a reflection of the sun’s light. I’ll go over all the types of light, show some images as examples, and give everyone some “homework” so that you can study light when you are just out and about.

You’ll learn about the different temperatures of light, the directions of light, luminosity values, and everything in between.

This IS a hybrid meeting, meaning we’ll be meeting in person as well as doing a live broadcast via zoom (which will also be recorded). After the meeting, the recording will be uploaded to our website.

Zoom meeting invites will be sent the morning of the meeting.

Hope to see you all here!

Tonight, we’ll MEET at the road to Mahogany Hammock for a nice sunset and then a moonrise, weather permitting of course. And when it’s dark enough, we’ll photograph the landscape by moonlight! 

Hopefully everyone will have attended or watched the replay of the July meeting to learn the techniques. Essentially, it’s the same as daytime landscape photography, except with much longer exposures. The cool temperature of the light as its reflected off the moon gives the landscape an eerie look.

As should be common knowledge by now, be sure to bring your entire arsenal of mosquito repellant; spray, ThermaCell, bug jackets. Also bring refreshments if you so desire, at least some water. It may not be sunny and as hot as daytime, but it will still be hot and you don’t want to be dehydrated.

Be sure to RSVP by clicking the button below to let me know you’ll be attending.

Mahogany Hammock Road

If anyone is unsure about how to get to the road to Mahogany Hammock, please let me know when you RSVP and we can meet at the visitor’s center 30 minutes earlier. If I get no notice that you need assistance, I will not stop there.

As I was preparing for July meeting’s presentation, I rifled through many of my planning “apps” that we as photographers use to determine weather or sun/moon cycles. And then there are the starry sky apps, and the planning apps that can many times confuse us mere mortals. I thought for this PhotoFinish I’d go through some of the more popular apps and show how to use them.

Below are links to all of them so you can have them handy to follow along if you so wish, or play with beforehand and come up with questions for me when I’m presenting.

Map Apps

Google Maps

Google MyMaps

Weather Apps

Weather Bug - Didn’t get to this app.

Windy - Didn’t get to this app.

Clear Outside 

Sky Apps

Time and Date

Stellarium

Photo Planning Apps

The Photographers Ephemeris (TPE)

AllTrails

Click below to attend the Zoom! A recording will be uploaded within 24-hours of the completion of this session.

Tonight’s theme is “Americana”. Miriam Webster’s dictionary defines Americana as such:

Americana
1: materials concerning or characteristic of America, its civilization, or its culture, broadly: things typical of America
2: American culture
3: a genre of American music having roots in early folk and country music

Basically, Americana is anything from the past that invokes a sense of nostalgia. Most people might associate it with old stuff: cars, abandoned homes or buildings, old collectors items, or even historic cities.

You may interpret “Americana” any way you like, literally or figuratively. Get creative!

As always, submit your images to fit the theme before 5pm on the meeting date. When you export them, be sure they are resized to 2500 pixels on the long edge. 

Link to the Zoom meeting is below, and an invite will be sent shortly before the meeting.

Hope to see you all there!

Some info about our “FrameIt” sessions. We’ve decided to add some light critiques and post-processing recommendations, along with praising the submitted images.

Critiquing doesn’t mean condemning or scolding or being mean, its a way for folks to point out some things that they may perceive as could be improved upon so that the photographer may consider it and maybe tweak their processes. Maybe there’s a distraction you missed, maybe a color cast is making it look “off”. Many of the things could be fixed with a bit of additional post processing work - or at the least, something to think about next time you’re shooting in a similar situation. As with all critiques, you can take the statements and learn from them, or if what they pointed out was intentional, you can choose to ignore them.

A little something I learned from getting my own images critiqued by professionals, EVEN THEY make mistakes. Everyone does, and anyone can miss something. It comes down to this, would you rather people see a big piece of spinach stuck in your teeth and say nothing? Or would you like for them to say something so you can fix it? Yeah, sometimes its a bit of a hit to our egos, but in the long run, you’ll learn something and hopefully improve.

Come join us at Dinner Island Ranch (DIR) for some late afternoon and evening photography. Perhaps we can capture some afternoon thunderstorms, a gorgeous sunset, and maybe some moonlit landscapes; whatever nature decides to give us. For sure, it’ll give us cows, and they’re just so cute! Most likely you’ll see many birds. Maybe even the elusive Crested Caracara!

Dinner Island Ranch is a HUGE piece of property. I highly recommend you do a little research (if you haven’t been here before) to get a lay of the land before showing up. Click the LINK here. In short, it was once owned by the Hilliard family as a cattle ranch but also grew a bit of citrus and sugarcane.  Eventually the State became the owners of the property and its now operated as a Wildlife Management Area (WMA) that still allows cattle ranching. And there are cows everywhere roaming the prairie and woods. There are a few buildings located on the property that make for great photos. And as a WMA, there are plenty of birds and other wildlife. I’ve seen deer and alligators, and of course, mosquitoes.

Lets meet at the Check Station circled in red below. While there, I’ll pass out some paper maps of the area that you can follow. I recommend we all take the advice of my friend Jennifer Renwick in her latest blog post about slow photography (this was also posted on our private Facebook page). And by ‘slow photography’ I don’t mean long exposure! 😄 It’s about going out with no expectations and just looking around, seeing what excites you, what makes you want to get out of your car and explore. Then, taking your time, getting to know your subject, exploring all the angles and coming up with your unique way of photographing the subject. 

I’ve found that everyone has different interests when it comes to DIR. There are the cows and birds (and other wildlife), there are the former cypress domes teeming with gorgeous moss-covered trees, there are man-made structures and wildflowers, there are waterways with lily pads, and prairies galore! So much to fill up an afternoon and evening.

At the check station, we’ll go over the areas on the map so you can decide what you’d like to do, and where you’d like to explore. You can pair up with others or head off on your own. This is totally up to you. 

Please be sure to RSVP to let me know you are planning to attend. Click the button below.

You’re all invited to the FIU Green Library for SFNPCC’s “Hidden Everglades” closing reception.

Parking is at the Graham Center parking lot, walking distance to the library. Take the escalator up to Room 220. (Tell them you’re there for the reception.) Parking info below. Light refreshments will be available. 

From the FIU Parking Rules and Regulations:

"Metered parking is available throughout the University at a cost of 25 cents per 15 minutes. You can pay using the on-site Parkeon kiosks, PayByPhone or by downloading the PayByPhone app."

Visit the FIU Parking, Sustainability, & Transportation's Visitor Parking page for more details.

Here’s a sampling of the photos on display.

Artists: Barbara Livieri, Claudia Masella, Delfin Hernandez, Ernesto Rodriguez, Ira “Hugh” Hudson, Inna Malostovker, John Sabatier, Maribel Gonzalez, Marta Cubillas, Pilar Geada, Robert Chaplin, and Rolando Prol.

UPDATE - Thanks to all who attended the July 9th meeting on moonlit landscapes. I’ve attached the presentation file below if anyone is interested in re-reading the materials. Enjoy!

In tonight’s meeting Barb will show some examples and techniques to make the most of photographing the landscape at night.

Landscape photography isn’t just for during the day, but at night as well. All moonlight is, is a reflection of the sun’s light shining back to us. The position of the moon relegates how much light is actually reflected back to us. During the full moon, it’s directly opposite from the sun and showing 100% illumination or close to that. A new moon would be the opposite, nearly 0% illumination, and the two quarter moons would be approximately 50% illumination. The position of the moon during the different phases determines how much light is reflected back to earth. That’s about as much science as I’ll get into about this. 😁

During these hot oppressive summer days in South Florida, having another way to photograph the landscape, outside of the high heat of daytime hours, can lend itself to new and interesting scenes that you can’t get during the day. 

Below are some examples of images I took about 6 years ago now when we did a moonlit landscapes field trip. Poor processing aside, this is about what you can expect during our moonlit landscapes field trip next month.

The principles to moonlit landscape photography are pretty much the same as regular photography, its all about the light, but the techniques will be tweaked a bit as a longer exposure will be required. 

We will be applying what we’ve learned in this meeting tonight to our August field trip. The reason we’re doing this in July is the full moon occurs before the August meeting. Plus, it will give everyone a chance to get any new supplies if you don’t already have them. 

I hope you can make it tonight!

This IS a hybrid meeting, meaning we’ll be meeting in person as well as doing a live broadcast via Zoom (which will also be recorded). After the meeting, the recording will be uploaded to our website. Link to the Zoom meeting is below. The invite will be sent out shortly before the meeting.

Tonight, we’ll go over the start to finish that was missed last month when I had to cancel at the last minute. Then, we’ll go over some of the new Lightroom updates that were introduced last month.

Join the Zoom meeting by clicking the button below.

This month we’ll be doing a triad of storm-chasing field trips. Last year we attempted to have a storm chasing day and we were greeted with blue-bird sunny skies. This year, we’re going to “plan” on 3 separate occasions to storm chase and or shoot dramatic skies. Surely we’ll find something!

Summertime in South Florida is the best time to photograph dramatic skies. Barbara Livieri will be leading the field trip, and if possible, will show different techniques on how to photograph lightning. We will also take advantage of South Florida’s summertime storm patterns to photograph dramatic skies and lightning. While every attempt will be made to place the club members in the best location for lightning, we are still at the mercy of Mother Nature. Lightning can be deadly. We will all be together operating outside the edge of the storms. Safety is a priority, however it is up to you how much risk to put yourself in.

Where? This is the million-dollar question. The ‘where’ will be decided on the fly. I will be keeping an eye on the weather forecast and select the most probable spot where conditions are possible and we’ll go from there.

LEARN - I STRONGLY urge everyone to attend either in person or via Zoom (or watch the recording) the June 11th meeting where Robert Chaplin will explain the most important part of storm chasing, being safe. Robert has led storm chasing workshops and has given many talks about how to stay safe or as safe as possible during storm events.

What to bring (see below for list). I say, bring it all. We’ll be shooting out of our cars. No trail walking. Take this opportunity to try something new. Bring a macro lens, a super zoom lens, bring different filters, you never know. We might have the occasion to find something else to shoot besides dramatic skies.

RSVP-ing is essential so I may let you know where to go. I’m not going to announce it to the world.

Camera Gear to bring:

Camera
Lenses
Tripod
Filters (optional)
Remote Shutter (optional)
Lightning Trigger (optional)
Rain cover for gear (shower cap or grocery bag will work in a pinch)

What to wear:

Long sleeve shirt and long pants, preferably light colored and breathable.
Hat or other head covering
Cooling towel (wet dish towel works well)
Sunscreen
Bug Spray

Comfort & Wellbeing:

Water! Lots of it
Other drinks and snacks
(I pack a cooler for these with my drinking water, iced teas, or sodas, snacks, and then a gallon of water for splashing on the cooling towel)
Lawn chair (optional)

Other items of note: If we happen to go into the Everglades National Park, be sure you have a park pass or be prepared to pay at the gate. $35 for a 7-day pass. Or pay $70 for an Everglades Year long pass, or for $80 get a National Park Pass which gets you into ALL National Park entities for an entire year. Buy your passes online beforehand by clicking HERE.

This month we’ll be doing a triad of storm-chasing field trips. Last year we attempted to have a storm chasing day and we were greeted with blue-bird sunny skies. This year, we’re going to “plan” on 3 separate occasions to storm chase and or shoot dramatic skies. Surely we’ll find something!

Summertime in South Florida is the best time to photograph dramatic skies. Barbara Livieri will be leading the field trip, and if possible, will show different techniques on how to photograph lightning. We will also take advantage of South Florida’s summertime storm patterns to photograph dramatic skies and lightning. While every attempt will be made to place the club members in the best location for lightning, we are still at the mercy of Mother Nature. Lightning can be deadly. We will all be together operating outside the edge of the storms. Safety is a priority, however it is up to you how much risk to put yourself in.

Where? This is the million-dollar question. The ‘where’ will be decided on the fly. I will be keeping an eye on the weather forecast and select the most probable spot where conditions are possible and we’ll go from there.

LEARN - I STRONGLY urge everyone to attend either in person or via Zoom (or watch the recording) the June 11th meeting where Robert Chaplin will explain the most important part of storm chasing, being safe. Robert has led storm chasing workshops and has given many talks about how to stay safe or as safe as possible during storm events.

What to bring (see below for list). I say, bring it all. We’ll be shooting out of our cars. No trail walking. Take this opportunity to try something new. Bring a macro lens, a super zoom lens, bring different filters, you never know. We might have the occasion to find something else to shoot besides dramatic skies.

RSVP-ing is essential so I may let you know where to go. I’m not going to announce it to the world.

Camera Gear to bring:

Camera
Lenses
Tripod
Filters (optional)
Remote Shutter (optional)
Lightning Trigger (optional)
Rain cover for gear (shower cap or grocery bag will work in a pinch)

What to wear:

Long sleeve shirt and long pants, preferably light colored and breathable.
Hat or other head covering
Cooling towel (wet dish towel works well)
Sunscreen
Bug Spray

Comfort & Wellbeing:

Water! Lots of it
Other drinks and snacks
(I pack a cooler for these with my drinking water, iced teas, or sodas, snacks, and then a gallon of water for splashing on the cooling towel)
Lawn chair (optional)

Other items of note: If we happen to go into the Everglades National Park, be sure you have a park pass or be prepared to pay at the gate. $35 for a 7-day pass. Or pay $70 for an Everglades Year long pass, or for $80 get a National Park Pass which gets you into ALL National Park entities for an entire year. Buy your passes online beforehand by clicking HERE.

Tonight’s theme is “Life’s A Beach”, it totally is! Interpret that any way you like, literally or figuratively. Get creative!

As always, submit your images to fit the theme before 5pm on the meeting date. When you export them, be sure they are resized to 2500 pixels on the long edge. 

Link to the Zoom meeting is below, and an invite will be sent shortly before the meeting.

Hope to see you all there!

Some info about our “FrameIt” sessions. We’ve decided to add some light critiques and post-processing recommendations, along with praising the submitted images.

Critiquing doesn’t mean condemning or scolding or being mean, its a way for folks to point out some things that they may perceive as could be improved upon so that the photographer may consider it and maybe tweak their processes. Maybe there’s a distraction you missed, maybe a color cast is making it look “off”. Many of the things could be fixed with a bit of additional post processing work - or at the least, something to think about next time you’re shooting in a similar situation. As with all critiques, you can take the statements and learn from them, or if what they pointed out was intentional, you can choose to ignore them.

A little something I learned from getting my own images critiqued by professionals, EVEN THEY make mistakes. Everyone does, and anyone can miss something. It comes down to this, would you rather people see a big piece of spinach stuck in your teeth and say nothing? Or would you like for them to say something so you can fix it? Yeah, sometimes its a bit of a hit to our egos, but in the long run, you’ll learn something and hopefully improve.

This month we’ll be doing a triad of storm-chasing field trips. Last year we attempted to have a storm chasing day and we were greeted with blue-bird sunny skies. This year, we’re going to “plan” on 3 separate occasions to storm chase and or shoot dramatic skies. Surely we’ll find something!

Summertime in South Florida is the best time to photograph dramatic skies. Barbara Livieri will be leading the field trip, and if possible, will show different techniques on how to photograph lightning. We will also take advantage of South Florida’s summertime storm patterns to photograph dramatic skies and lightning. While every attempt will be made to place the club members in the best location for lightning, we are still at the mercy of Mother Nature. Lightning can be deadly. We will all be together operating outside the edge of the storms. Safety is a priority, however it is up to you how much risk to put yourself in.

Where? June 14th trip will be on the west coast with Everglades City as a base camp. Where exactly will be decided on the fly. I will be keeping an eye on the weather forecast and select the most probable spot where conditions are possible and we’ll go from there. 

LEARN - I STRONGLY urge everyone to attend either in person or via Zoom (or watch the recording) the June 11th meeting where Robert Chaplin will explain the most important part of storm chasing, being safe. Robert has led storm chasing workshops and has given many talks about how to stay safe or as safe as possible during storm events.

What to bring (see below for list). I say, bring it all. We’ll be shooting out of our cars. No trail walking. Take this opportunity to try something new. Bring a macro lens, a super zoom lens, bring different filters, you never know. We might have the occasion to find something else to shoot besides dramatic skies.

RSVP-ing is essential so I may let you know where to go. I’m not going to announce it to the world.

Camera Gear to bring:

Camera
Lenses
Tripod
Filters (optional)
Remote Shutter (optional)
Lightning Trigger (optional)
Rain cover for gear (shower cap or grocery bag will work in a pinch)

What to wear:

Long sleeve shirt and long pants, preferably light colored and breathable.
Hat or other head covering
Cooling towel (wet dish towel works well)
Sunscreen
Bug Spray

Comfort & Wellbeing:

Water! Lots of it
Other drinks and snacks
(I pack a cooler for these with my drinking water, iced teas, or sodas, snacks, and then a gallon of water for splashing on the cooling towel)
Lawn chair (optional)

Other items of note: If we happen to go into the Everglades National Park, be sure you have a park pass or be prepared to pay at the gate. $35 for a 7-day pass. Or pay $70 for an Everglades Year long pass, or for $80 get a National Park Pass which gets you into ALL National Park entities for an entire year. Buy your passes online beforehand by clicking HERE.

Fine art nature photographer Robert Chaplin will be presenting how to photograph dramatic stormy skies and lightning (and how to stay safe). Florida is the number one state for lightning strikes. Being one of the most unpredictable forces of nature, lightning storms present a unique challenge for most photographers.  During this presentation Robert will talk about these topics:

-What creates lightning
-Dangers of lightning
-The basics of looking at and understanding radar
-Camera set up
-Shooting with and without a lightning trigger
-Processing images

I sure hope you can join us for this fun and informative meeting. This is especially important for members who have never photographed this type of photography before and plan on attending one of our field trips this month. 

This IS a hybrid meeting, meaning we’ll be meeting in person as well as doing a live broadcast via Zoom (which will also be recorded). After the meeting, the recording will be uploaded to our website. Link to the Zoom meeting is below. The invite will be sent out before the meeting.

In March’s Zoom presentation, I went through the Basic Panel in Lightroom’s develop module, in April I went through all the other panels in the develop module, and last month I introduced you to the masking tools to make local adjustments.

So this month, I’m going to process a couple of my own images from start to finish explaining each slider move, each mask, so you can understand the “why” I do something as well as the “how”. Hope to see you all there!

Zoom invites will go out the morning of the meeting.

Tonight’s theme is “Your Yard”. This should be an easy one for everybody. Show us your yard and lets get creative!

As always, submit your images to fit the theme before 5pm on the meeting date. When you export them, be sure they are resized to 2500 pixels on the long edge. 

Click the button below to email us your images.

Link to the Zoom meeting is below, and an invite will be sent shortly before the meeting.

Click the button below to attend the Zoom Meeting

Hope to see you all there!

Some info about our “FrameIt” sessions. We’ve decided to add some light critiques and post-processing recommendations, along with praising the submitted images.

Critiquing doesn’t mean condemning or scolding or being mean, its a way for folks to point out some things that they may perceive as could be improved upon so that the photographer may consider it and maybe tweak their processes. Maybe there’s a distraction you missed, maybe a color cast is making it look “off”. Many of the things could be fixed with a bit of additional post processing work - or at the least, something to think about next time you’re shooting in a similar situation. As with all critiques, you can take the statements and learn from them, or if what they pointed out was intentional, you can choose to ignore them.

A little something I learned from getting my own images critiqued by professionals, EVEN THEY make mistakes. Everyone does, and anyone can miss something. It comes down to this, would you rather people see a big piece of spinach stuck in your teeth and say nothing? Or would you like for them to say something so you can fix it? Yeah, sometimes its a bit of a hit to our egos, but in the long run, you’ll learn something and hopefully improve.

Today’s field trip / photo walk is a first for me, and a long time coming for the club. I’ve seen club photos from here from previous photo walks, but that was about 10 years ago. There’s lots to read up on here, so I HIGHLY recommend you read the rest so you’re fully prepared.

WHAT:                                   Gator Hook Trail Photo Walk
WHERE:                                Loop Road - Big Cypress National Preserve
WHEN:                                  7am at the trail head. Likely done by mid-morning
CAMERA GEAR:                We will be walking in and you will need to carry all of your gear with you. I suggest you condense your pack and carry only what you think is necessary. Camera, a wide-range zoom lens, tripod, filters.
WHAT ELSE TO BRING:   Water - Sunscreen - Bug Spray - Bug Jacket - Snacks/Bars - Maybe a hat and/or cooling towel. A change of shoes/clothes for the ride home. A cooler with more cold refreshments for the ride home.

Join me and the rest of the crew as we check out the Gator Hook trail. As I write this, we are 15 days from the event and it is bone dry. I don’t suspect we’ll have much, if any, water in the cypress dome on the day we visit, but it’s possible. Either or, if there is an onslaught of rain between now and then, and we do have water in the dome, you don’t have to go in. There will be plenty to see on the outside of the dome as well as inside if you so choose.

THE TRAIL

I highly recommend you do your research on this trail. Check out the reviews on ALLTRAILS HERE. This is NOT a nicely paved trail, its more of an obstacle course. Lots and lots of potholes in the limestone which we will be walking on. We’ll go slow, and take our time so we don’t get hurt, but for those who cannot walk far or have balance issues, maybe this trail isn’t for you. You certainly can come along and photograph from the trailhead. There’s a nice area there with bathrooms and picnic tables. For those of us who will walk the trail, it’s long (the full out and back trail is about 4.5 miles - 7.4kms), but we won’t be going all the way in. Most likely we’ll only go in about a half mile, and then turn back. Or, keep going, if the group is in agreement. You absolutely can go off on your own if you so choose.

THE WEATHER

It will be hot, and there will be bugs. Sorry, that’s the nature of the Everglades & Big Cypress, heck all of south Florida in May. Be prepared for the worst. I like to carry a cooling towel (a small water-soaked dish towel will also work), or even a hat that can be dipped in the water will surely cool off the hottest heads. And make sure you have plenty of water for the hike in, and some for when you’re done. We don’t want anyone dehydrating out there.

THE GEAR

Personally, I’ll probably be renting the 28-400 zoom lens like I did for the swamp walk back in November. That will give me all the range I desire with very little weight. Last thing I want to do is carry all three of my heavy lenses with me. However, you don’t need to do that. A 24-70 would be nice lens to carry, and if you like the long zooms a 70-200 would also be nice. You know yourself and what you’re capable of. Don’t over pack, and choose your lenses wisely. A tripod might also be necessary. That also is up to you. If you are comfortable shooting hand-held, by all means, leave the tripod in the car. I have a smaller travel tripod that I’ll put in my pack. Other than that, make sure you have plenty of charged batteries and memory cards. 

WHERE?

The trailhead is approximately 2 1/4 miles south of Tamiami Trail on Loop Road. Keep in mind, Collier County maintains this road and it’s mostly washboard, so plan to go slow. The entrance of Loop Road is near the old Monroe Station, approximately 4 miles past the Oasis Visitor’s Center on Tamiami Trail. I don’t recommend you catch Loop Road near the 40-Mile bend. You’ll be travelling on 21 miles of Loop Road, most likely in the dark. Best to leave that for the ride home.

Other than that, it should be nice. Sunrise is around 6:30am this time of year. If you wish you can get up super-duper early and go out for a sunrise before meeting for the walk. That is totally up to you. Lots of nice spots between Miami and the trails.

Please, RSVP so we know to expect you. You can click the button below. Hope to see you all there!!

In tonight’s meeting, we have a special presentation. Our very own member Tomas Abreu will be presenting a photo essay from his trip to Greenland last year. All the photos and all the stories!

Be sure to attend this one. If you can’t be here in person (which is highly recommended), at least attend through Zoom.

I have added my program below (PDF Document) that you can open and print if you like, or just open and follow along at your leisure while practicing on Lightroom with your own images.

In March’s Zoom presentation, I went through the Basic Panel in Lightroom, and last month I went through all the other panels. So this month we’ll dive into local adjustments using the masking tools. Hope to see you all there!

Click the button below to attend the Zoom. Invites will go out the morning of the meeting.

Since not getting enough ‘smoke & mirror’ photos for March’s FrameIt, we’ve moved it to April. So again, tonight’s theme is “smoke & mirrors”. Interpret that any way you like, literally or figuratively. Get creative!

As always, submit your images to fit the theme before 5pm on Mar. 19th. When you export them, be sure they are resized to 2500 pixels on the long edge. 

Link to the Zoom meeting is below, and an invite will be sent shortly before the meeting.

Click here to go to Zoom Meeting

Hope to see you all there!

Some info about our “FrameIt” sessions. We’ve decided to add some light critiques and post-processing recommendations, along with praising the submitted images.

Critiquing doesn’t mean condemning or scolding or being mean, its a way for folks to point out some things that they may perceive as could be improved upon so that the photographer may consider it and maybe tweak their processes. Maybe there’s a distraction you missed, maybe a color cast is making it look “off”. Many of the things could be fixed with a bit of additional post processing work - or at the least, something to think about next time you’re shooting in a similar situation. As with all critiques, you can take the statements and learn from them, or if what they pointed out was intentional, you can choose to ignore them.

A little something I learned from getting my own images critiqued by professionals, EVEN THEY make mistakes. Everyone does, and anyone can miss something. It comes down to this, would you rather people see a big piece of spinach stuck in your teeth and say nothing? Or would you like for them to say something so you can fix it? Yeah, sometimes its a bit of a hit to our egos, but in the long run, you’ll learn something and hopefully improve.

Join us as Mary takes us a walk through a magical farmland area of South Dade.

Just 30 miles from Miami is the second largest agricultural area in Florida. Come walk and choose your shots of some groves, fields, and vineyards (sorry not grapes, but peppers). No picking, cause that’s stealing. Bring dog whistles (they’re usually behind fences, but you never know), good shoes (very few even surfaces) and insect repellent cause, we’ll be out in the Redland.

Here’s a couple of shots of what we might see.

Meet at Mary’s house at 1562 NW 8th Terrace in Homestead. Call her if you need help finding the place at 305-458-2736.

Hope to see you there!

Don’t forget to RSVP by clicking the button below.

Tonight, we have a special guest speaker, long time member Mary Ostlund, who will be discussing the disappearing farmland of South Dade.

Just 30 miles from Miami is the second largest agricultural area in Florida. It doesn’t look like what Americans think of as farmland - few barns, cattle or horses, just acres of vineyard, fields and groves. It's a major agricultural area that is crucial in feeding the south and the northeast during the winter. It’s now the only tropical agricultural area in the continental USA. We’re losing the farmland to housing. Take a look at what’s happening. 

This IS a hybrid meeting, meaning we’ll be meeting in person as well as doing a live broadcast via Zoom (which will also be recorded). After the meeting, the recording will be uploaded to our website. Link to the Zoom meeting is HERE and the invite will be sent out before the meeting.

What a treat we have for you! Roger Hammer, for those who don’t know, is an award-winning professional naturalist, author, botanist and photographer. He offers entertaining and informative programs to orchid societies, garden clubs, butterfly organizations, Audubon societies, environmental groups, and botanical gardens in addition to civic groups. And today, he’s offering his services to the SFNPCC to take us all on a wildflower walk in the Everglades, hopefully we’ll see the grass-pink orchid!

He’ll take us down an approximate 1 1/2 (one and a half) mile trail in the Everglades prairie. Be sure you’re physically able to walk that far with all of your gear before signing up.

After the walk, Roger will have his many books for sale. If you wish to buy, be sure to bring cash or checks (books are $25 to $30 each). He doesn’t do credit cards or payment apps. Totally old-school here. If you’re interested in seeing which books he’s written, here’s the list on his website. Below is a sample of the many guides he’s written.

Space is extremely limited. We’re aiming for 10 participants, and will possibly accept 15.  

Cost to attend:
Members $10
Non-members $20

So secure your spot today by clicking the box below. Once you’ve made the purchase, I’ll email you with the instructions on where to meet.

Be sure you also have a National Parks Pass or Everglades Park Pass. You can purchase those online HERE or you can buy them ahead of time at the visitor’s center (not the day of, they don’t open until 9am). Single use is $35 and good for a week, an Everglades Yearly pass is $70, and an American the Beautiful pass (for all National Parks) is $80 per year. You can also buy them at the gate with a credit card when you enter the park.

In last month’s Zoom presentation, I went through the Basic Panel in Lightroom, as that’s generally the most used panel that can have the most impact to images. So in tonight's meeting, I want to go through all the other panels so you know what they do and how they can affect your images.

All this will lead to next month’s Zoom presentation where I’ll dive into local adjustments with the masking tools.

Zoom invites will go out the morning of the meeting.

A bit of a change to our “FrameIt” sessions. We’ve decided to add some light critiques and post-processing recommendations, along with praising the submitted images.

Critiquing doesn’t mean condemning or scolding or being mean, its a way for folks to point out some things that they may perceive as could be improved upon so that the photographer may consider it and maybe tweak their processes. Maybe there’s a distraction you missed, maybe a color cast is making it look “off”. Many of the things could be fixed with a bit of additional post processing work - or at the least, something to think about next time you’re shooting in a similar situation. As with all critiques, you can take the statements and learn from them, or if what they pointed out was intentional, you can choose to ignore them.

A little something I learned from getting my own images critiqued by professionals, EVEN THEY make mistakes. Everyone does, and anyone can miss something. It comes down to this, would you rather people see a big piece of spinach stuck in your teeth and say nothing? Or would you like for them to say something so you can fix it? Yeah, sometimes its a bit of a hit to our egos, but in the long run, you’ll learn something and hopefully improve.

That being said…

Tonight’s theme is “smoke & mirrors”. Interpret that any way you like, literally or figuratively. Get creative!

As always, submit your images to fit the theme before 5pm on Mar. 19th. When you export them, be sure they are resized to 2500 pixels on the long edge. 

Link to the Zoom meeting is below, and an invite will be sent shortly before the meeting.

Hope to see you all there!

We’ll meet up at 6:15am the Ernest Coe Visitor’s Center parking lot and at 6:30am sharp, caravan over to our shooting location.

Fingers crossed for perfect skies to photograph both the sunrise at 7:30am and the moonset at 8:08am. As soon as that sun pops up over the horizon it will color the moon a pretty shade of peachy-pink, hopefully. So we should have a good 30 minutes of a colorful setting moon. As long as everything goes to plan. 

Be sure to RSVP to let me know you’re coming!

Tonight, Hugh will explain how to best photograph motorsports ahead of this month’s NASCAR races in Homestead. The topics he discusses here will also apply to any fast moving events, like airshows, horse races, and even birds in flight. So don’t miss it!

Meeting begins at 6pm with the “coming attractions” from the fine library folks. Our presentation will start shortly after. Hope to see you all there!

This IS a hybrid meeting, meaning we’ll be meeting in person as well as doing a live broadcast via zoom (which will also be recorded). After the meeting, the recording will be uploaded to our website. And invite to the Zoom meeting will be sent out before the meeting.