December 11, 2018, gave us a beautiful but wind and chilly evening to shoot the holiday lights at Vitruvian Park in Addison, Texas. Here are a few shots from TAPC photographers who braved the cold and reaped the rewards.
Be sure you join us for a field trip this coming year.
Photo by Nancy Abby
Photo by Lynne Rogers Harris
Photo by Nancy Abby
Photo by Theresa Walker
There’s often more to creating a successful photograph than pressing a button. Here’s the story behind our holiday party print competition winner. (See 2nd place here.)
By Lana Macko
It was a beautiful fall day at my friend’s house at Possum Kingdom Lake. When I went into the guest room that I had been assigned for my girls’ weekend, I was immediately drawn to the open windows and the filmy curtains blowing in the breeze. Naturally, I started taking photos.
Before photo by Lana Macko
When I got home I knew I wanted a large print but not something quite so “country” feeling. So using TAPC-member Jim Hamel’s amazing suggestions, I went to town with cloning. It was a cloning extravaganza to remove the bed and pictures and then replace part of the curtain, let me tell you. And then it looked too empty, so I added my Boston Terrier, Beanie. The finishing touch was a texture from Topaz Texture Effects.
After photo by Lana Macko
Our holiday party print contest winner was Lana Macko (see post here), but the 2nd-place photo deserves a spot as well. So here’s the story behind this incredible shot.
On Guard by Norma Schafer
By Norma Schafer
This picture was taken on the Katmai Peninsula south of Anchorage, Alaska, as part of a Grizzly Bear Viewing Photography tour. Our group included eight photographers plus a guide.
To reach our photography location, we waded across a creek wearing chest waders. On the first day in Geographic Harbor, we counted more than 20 bears feeding on the salmon within 100 yards of our location. We had several bears come as close as five or six feet from our group. But I was never afraid because the tour guide was extremely competent and made it clear what we needed to do to be safe.
This little cub caught my attention because she looked so sweet and dependent on her mom, who was obviously very protective. We shot the photos from a camera mounted on a tripod using a Nikon D7200 with an 80-400mm Nikon zoom lens.
Dallas, TexasAs say they, “If you want to take more interesting photographs, stand in front of more interesting things.” That also works if you stand above interesting things, like Dallas.
As you can see below, TAPC members got a lot of great shots at a recent field trip atop Reunion Tower in 
downtown Dallas, too many to show them all here. See the Trinity Arts Photo Club Facebook page for more.
Thanks, Lynne Rogers, for providing photos of all who attended.
Photo by Teresa Hughes
Photo by Janet Cunningham
Photo by Leanna Mendoza
Photo by Nancy Abby
Photo by Bruce Hutter
Before you start evaluating the images you captured in 2018, think about what makes a great photo to begin with: the rule of thirds, symmetry, contrast, framing, etc. This exercise alone will help your future photographs.
Review your shotsStart with your favorites, i.e. the shots you did some post-processing on. If you made that effort, you must’ve thought the photo had some merit. But also take a look at your entire body of work. Analyze the duds to see what they lack. How’s the composition? Is it telling a story? Is there some contrast in color, or light, or subject matter? Are you shooting from an interesting angle or always at eye level?
This can be difficult because we always tend to be our own worst critics. But you must be doing something right. Look for the things you always tend to nail. Then congratulate yourself for doing so well. You’ll need the ego boost for the next step.
Be ruthless or at least honest. It might help to take one aspect at a time. Review all the images just assessing the rule of thirds. Then go over them again to check focus. Then
contrast. Then look for distracting elements. Are interesting details too close to the edge? Where are the lines in the image leading your eye? Is your subject the brightest or sharpest part of the image? Remember, anything that doesn’t add to your composition is probably subtracting from it.
When reviewing a photograph, it’s easy to remember the original scene. You saw it in 3D, so your subconscious mind might be adding details that aren’t really there in the image.
Time alone has a way of helping with this, but getting a fresh pair of eyes to view your work will help you see the things that are missing.
If you’re new to this, you may find many issues to address. Don’t get discouraged. Everyone’s been there. Good photographers are just bad photographers who kept striving to improve.
They say the best goals are SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timebound. So keep that in mind when creating yours. They also say that if you do anything 30 days in a row, it becomes a habit. That means 2019 gives you 12 chances to create 12 new habits. So, in January, take a new photo every day that contains something you normally overlook, say, leading lines. When the month is over, you should be seeing leading lines everywhere, even when you don’t have a camera. In February move on to the next thing. By December, you’ll be a master photographer, or at least a lot better than you are now.
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