Meeting at the Norwegian Church

The weather looks fine for this afternoon, so we'll go for it!

See you outside the church at 2:15pm...ish

If you can't make it, do not worry, and if you're late, you're bound to catch up with some of us somewhere in the vicinity!!  

If you need directions, this is where we are meeting:

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Five Week Camera Class 3

Last week we started off looking at some of the tools in Adobe Photoshop Elements. 

Tonight we continued in a similar theme, but this time I provided a series of images on USB memory sticks for the students to alter. There were several images on the sticks, and I allowed the students to pick and choose the ones they were happy with.

We concentrated mainly on the Clone Stamp Tool.

Here are some 'before' and 'after' images from the class.  Everyone did an excellent job!

You can click on each of the images to see a larger version.

Before.

After. All of the People have been removed from the image.  I particularly like the way the man has been removed from the stone, and how the shape of the stone has been reconstructed.

Before

After.  Few more flowers have been added to the top of the bush!

Before

After. The Car has been completely removed from the picture. Ensuring the pebbles are the right size is particularly tricky in this example, but a good job was done here.

Before

After. Where have the cows all gone? They've wandered off! Good job in reconstructing the hedges.

Before

After:  "I'm sure there were cows here too!"

Congratulations to all in the class, a great session's worth of editing!

Next week we'll do some more, and start piecing together the student's folders so you can get your Agored Certificates!!

Digital Camera Class 8

Time is running out for us pretty quick, I cannot believe this is the eighth class already!  Time flies when you are having fun!

The first order of business was to discuss Class 9. Back when we began I suggested that it might be a good idea if we spent one of the classes out of the classroom. The problem with teaching nightclasses at this time of the year is that the light is against us. So I suggested that we go somewhere perhaps on the weekend instead, at a time when it is convenient with the majority.  After much deliberation, and making sure Richard has enough time to do the dishes after Sunday lunch, we decided on Cardiff Bay, meeting up outside the Norwegian Church at 2:15pm on Sunday 17th March.

You can zoom in and out of the map below, and switch it to a standard map if you wish.


View Larger Map

Anyway, thats for the weekend after next.....

Tonight's class centred around a few topics, so it was going to be a bit of an in depth session, but you can't have it all, when you're having a nice time out, for the following class!! 

We started off by discussing F Numbers and Aperture Settings on Cameras. Basically altering the opening and closing of the aperture controls the amount of light let into the lens. Its very similar to how our eyes work.  Further bedtime reading if you really want to know more can be found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-number

We then looked at ISO Speeds and Shutter Speeds, of which detailed reading can be found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shutter_speed

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_speed

....the latter being a bit like rocket science, so apologies for that!!

Getting the techy stuff out of the way, we then went on to look at how we copy and paste the pictures off our cameras, backup our data.

First of all, I find it so much easier to use a card reader with the computer. You dont have to mess about with cables and various pieces of software, you simply plug in the memory card from the camera into the computer, and simply cut, copy and paste to the folder you want. Delete the contents of the memory card, and away you go!

Finally we ended the session by looking at the various ways we can backup our data.  The external USB drive seems to be the best solution for most people. Combine that with the Windows Vista/ 7 'Backup and Restore Centre' and you've got all bases covered!

Don't forget, no class next Monday, we'll be meeting the following Sunday.  I will post a message on here on Sunday 17th, at noon, as to whether or not we'll be meeting up, ie. just in case of bad weather on that day!

Over and out!!