Some people take photo-journalistic pictures, and this session is not for you.

But for those who consider photography as an art form, then get thee to the January 21 meeting.

We will  be working with layers, mostly using layers for color enhancement.  We will not do Levels, Curves, Hue/Saturation - no adjustment layers.  Just plain layers.

We will demonstrate color enhancement from it’s simplest uses with Blend Modes, which will include a way to use the clone stamp in a non-destructive way (that is, if you change your mind tomorrow you can still put the tree back you took out yesterday, even if you have saved several times).  We’ll work with Blend If….., that is, correct colors only if they are dark, or only if they are light in one easy step, using only existing layers.  We’ll do non-destructive Burn and Dodge….in one easy layer.

Also on tonight’s agenda, David Henkel will give a tutorial on how to give your photograph a "hand-tinted" look.  As a bonus, he’ll also show you an easy way to create a vignette layer that’s easily adjustable.

And then, back to layers.  We’ll do High Dynamic Range (HDR), the ultimate in color enhancement.  Well, we will almost do HDR.  The real thing involves buying expensive software, but the effect can be faked, and that’s what we’ll do.  This gets a better result than Shadow/Highlight, and is non-destructive as well.

And oh yes, for those of you who have asked about how to replace a washed out sky with a sunny blue one, even behind tree branches, that’s a quick and easy layers project, and we’ll do that too.

Join us tonight for this great learning event.  Meeting starts at 7:30 p.m.

Our January competition is coming up on Wednesday, January 7, starting 
at 7:30 pm.

The assigned subject for November is Cemetaries.

***Entries into the digital projection category must be sent to the image collector (DHFore@hotmail.com) no later than 3:00 pm Monday, January 5.***

Print submission are accepted the night of the competition up till 7:15pm.  We will start promptly at 7:30pm.

We are pleased to welcome our judges for our January competition.  Please make them feel welcome.

Colette Jacquet

"I was a graphic design major at Parsons where I graduated in 1967.  It’s there where I started being interested in photography in earnest.  My first job was with a wedding photographer where I learned darkroom techniques such as exposing, printing and retouching.  I worked there a year before going to Paris, working for J. Walter Thompson as a graphic designer for three years.  I did a lot of photography in those years and had an enlarger in my apartment bathroom.  Then with the birth of my kids, photography took the back seat, although I never stopped shooting.

About ten years ago I started shooting again with the old ferver.  I’ve had two little shows in Paris, both on the subject of the Argentine tango, one of which was a shared show with my husband’s paintings on the same subject.  I also have participated in a group show in New York City.

My other favorite photo subjects are bullfighting, travel, landscape and street photography.

Please welcome Colette as a first time judge.

Richard Ventre

Dick, a Norwalk resident, is a Scenic Artist in the theatre, television, and motion pictures.  He has been a Chargeman Scenic Artist on more than 50 movies including the Emmy Award winning Death of a Salesman, and the Academy Award winning Sleepy Hollow.  he currently paints for the Metropolitan Opera.

Mr. Ventre’s current work, in the style of Tableaux Vivants, is a pastiche of the photographic, theatrical, digital, and painterly disciplines honed by years of experience in each.

For the past two and a half years, and working with one model, Sara Duquette, he has created images that crisscross and meld subject with background, the painted and the unpainted, with the real image and the enhanced image.

This will be Dick’s first time as a judge for us.

Anne von Stuelpnagel

Anne von Stuelpnagel is Director of Exhibitions at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut.  In this position which she has held since 1995 she is responsible for the design of the Museum’s 12-14 exhibitions per year along with the accompanying exhibit graphics, as well as the majority of printed materials, such as invitations, brochures and catalogs.  Anne has worked at the Bruce Museum since 1980 in various positions in the exhibition department, gaining increasing responsibilities for shows which span art, history, anthropology, and science.  Anne also initiated, planned and carried out the Museum’s two annual, juried outdoor arts and crafts festivals and now oversees their execution.

Anne received her BFA from the Blocherer School of Fine and Applied Arts in Munich, Germany with a Major in painting and Minor in interior design.

We are delighted to have Anne back as a returning judge.