Midlands Meeting Info

Hey Everyone,

This months meeting will be on Tuesday November 17th. You can see the info below:

"Take your images from ordinary to extraordinary with help from Noel Steele, an accomplished Photoshop artist and photographer." Noel will cover Photoshop basic image adjustments including using levels correctly, protecting highlights, and just lots of tips and tricks to take images from ordinary to extraordinary. Members are asked to bring at least one image on a CD/DVD, CF card or flash drive for Noel to work on while we watch and learn.

Where: Patty Hallman's Studio 1305 Hwy 601 South. Lugoff, SC 29078 803.318.4868

When: Pizza will be served at 6:30, meeting will start at 7:00

October Midlands Meeting

Hey Everyone,

This month's meeting is going to be held at Bill Barley's studio. Come watch Bill as he talks about Small Product Photography. He will present techniques on photographing using strobes and possibly a short demo with hot lights. He'll also touch on the business side of commercial shooting. Color balance and RAW capture issues will also be covered. If you want to know more about this, Bill is the guy to listen to!

Where: 71 Crystal Springs Drive Lexington, SC

When: Tuesday October 13 the meeting is at 7:00, dinner at 5:30 at Corner Cafe'

(on the corner of Crystal Springs Drive and Hwy 302)

Bill's number is 803.755.1554

2010 Convention - Speaker #4

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for. The last (and certainly not least) convention speaker is......

Mr. Cliff Mautner!

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that some of you have never heard of Cliff Mautner. I had never heard of him until I saw him speak a few years ago at a convention in Las Vegas. The imagery and passion Cliff has for wedding photography just blew me away. Cliff made me want to be a better wedding photographer. He really knows weddings and loves to share his vision and techniques for getting some amazing imagery on a wedding day. Cliff Mautner was one of the first names I thought of when I began planning this convention and I'm looking forward to having him here.

Here is a description of his seminar titled, The Photographic Anatomy of a Wedding Day:

Cliff Mautner, one of the top ten wedding photographers in the world, and the 2009 WPPI grand award winner for photojournalism will dissect the various elements of the wedding day in his patented no holds barred style. This is a PHOTOGRAPHY seminar, first and foremost.

From his utilization of window light for the beginning stages of the wedding day, to his off camera flash techniques during a reception, Cliff will share his approach and philosophy as he shares his mindset and his imagery for each facet of the wedding day. Of course, his seminar wouldn't be complete without sharing his unique insight for capturing the best possible photographs in the most difficult lighting conditions imaginable. He'll also demonstrate the importance of the right lens choice for the right situation to maximize impact.

Cliff will share his insight and his vision on how to capture images that stand out from the competition in this oversaturated marketplace. He will take you through the specifics of his thought process while studying different lighting and compositional scenarios at all times of the day.

The seminar is designed to help students develop and enhance their own vision and photographic style. From understanding our gear, to understanding our clients, the goal is to empower photographers with the skills to accomplish all of the above.

Attendees can expect to gain from this seminar:

* learn how to turn bad light into good light
* acquire new flash techniques that can be implemented immediately
* discover how to utilize light to create texture, dimension, and mood
* gain a better understanding of light quality vs light quantity
* the ability to "see" three dimensionally to improve composition

Cliff is sponsored by ProDPI lab. You can see more of Cliff's work here: http://www.cmphotography.com

2010 Convention - Speaker #3

I am pleased to introduce you to the third featured speaker at the 2010 Convention in Columbia next February.

Mr. Darton Drake!

I invited Darton to speak for several reasons. First and foremost I learned the majority of my portrait lighting techniques from Darton several years ago at a SC convention. The image that won Best of Show this year was captured using what I call "Darton Lighting" or at least my interpretation of what I learned from him. I use it all the time and firmly believe that most of my inspiration to get better as a portrait artist came during his seminar.

His seminar is "Depth of the Spirit"

Capturing the spirit of another human being is a privilege. Our jobs as portrait photographers are not only to create a physical likeness of the subject; but to try and record the beauty of their spirit in an artistic and pleasing way that will touch their hearts and move their spirits. This program will deal with portrait photography as an art form and expression of the human spirit. To me, the definition of art is simple: it's an outward expression of an inner emotion. The complete scope of artistic qualities to produce a beautiful salon portrait will surpass the expectations of your customers and produce a handsome income for your studio will be presented. The span of this program will be from creating a powerful moving senior portrait to an elegant renaissance portrait of a child with just a bit of fantasy added. Some elements to be covered are: composition, cropping, exposure, balance, angle, color harmony, proper background choice, lens choice, and props or sometimes more importantly, "the lack of props."

The seminar will cover an artistic approach to imaging of portraits. It will cover composition, lighting, emotion, passion, and different flavors of people's personality. It will deal with minimizing the technical and enhancing the spiritual. This is not a step-by-step process of how to take pictures. It is about creating portraits of power!

Darton Drake's website is http://www.dartondrake.com if you would like to learn more about him and see some images. Darton is sponsored by White House Custom Color and Larson Enterprises.

Please make plans to join us at the 2010 PPSC Convention next February and be prepared to be inspired!

Clark