Tag Archives: astrophotography

Meeting: Thursday, Aug 4th, 2016

NAPfS’s August 2016 meeting will be held on August 4th 2016 starting at 7PM. The meeting location is United Christian Church, 3500 West Parmer Lane, Austin, Tx. 78727.

LOCATION CHANGE: United Christian Church at 3500 West Parmer Lane, Austin, Tx. 78727.

The meeting schedule is:

7:00PM – Meet and Greet
7:30PM – Speaker: Bill Bunton – Behind the Wire
8:00PM – Monthly Competition “After Dark” with Judge Andrew Fritz

Monthly Competition with Judge Andrew Fritz

Submission Deadline: Midnight, Sunday July 31st.

33dde9d4b5b311e38c270e01faf4e0e4_8August’s theme is “After Dark”. The world after dark is changed visually. Photographers have a special power to capture it in new and interesting ways. Photos must be made after dark or in a dark environment. Any image from the last 2 years may be entered. Image submission is open until midnight on Sunday July 31st. Participants will be divided into two classes. Each club member will choose which class to enter. For more information, see this post.

Submit your images here.

Our guest judge for August’s competition will be Andrew Fritz of AzulOx Visuals.

Speaker – Bill Bunton, Club Member

20160515__D4S9529Bill is an Austin area electrical engineer and committed photographer.   Bill started learning photography while stationed in Germany, where he purchased his first 35mm SLR camera – a Pentax Spotmatic at the Post Exchange.

Bill took advantage of the on-post darkroom facilities and inexpensive black-and white film; he shot and processed tens of rolls per month. Some of the exposures were demonstrations of shutter-speed and lens-aperture effects; others were experiments in pushing Tri-X to higher ISOs. Following weekends of travel, it was not unexpected to have 12 or 16 rolls of Tri-X film to develop. This effort brought him a second place and two third place trophies in the US Army in Europe photo contest.

After leaving the service and returning to Austin, the pace of photography slowed. Without easy access to a darkroom, processing was more expensive and required more time. He was able to upgrade to his first Nikon – an F2 with a 43-86 f3.5 lens. Photography continued to receive less and less attention, though the F2 was used occasionally.

His long dormant photography addiction returned in its full glory when he acquired Lightroom and his first DSLR – a Nikon D300. During this time, he found a way to make photography twice as expensive, by introducing his wife (Evelyn) to high quality cameras and lenses. Needless to say, the equipment list has grown longer with almost two of everything. You can’t expect two adult engineers to share expensive equipment.  Bill rarely passes an opportunity to learn or to share what he has learned.  He is comfortable applying complex techniques to get a unique image.  Bill’s photography interests vary widely, covering landscape, macro, the Austin music scene, but his favorite is motor-sports and action.

Behind the Wire – Auto Sports Photography

How do you photograph motor-sports without event promoter credentials? How do you shoot photographs as a simple spectator, without access to dedicated photographer locations between the track’s wire fences?

Bill will discuss his experience photographing at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) Austin. His presentation will cover choosing shooting locations, equipment, and camera settings. He will present images that are the result of good choices, bad choice, and simple good luck (right place, right time & right equipment).

Meeting: Thursday, July 7th, 2016

NAPfS’s July 2016 meeting will be held on July 7th 2016 starting at 7PM. The meeting location is Lone Oak Barn in Round Rock.

The meeting schedule is:

7:00PM – Meet and Greet
7:30PM – Andrew Fritz – Night Photography 101
8:00PM – Monthly Competition, Judge TBD

Monthly Competition with Judge Tani James

Submission Deadline: Midnight, Saturday July 2nd.

TaniJuly is an open competition. Any image from the last 2 years may be entered. Image submission is open until midnight on Saturday July 2nd. Participants will be divided into two classes. Each club member will choose which class to enter. For more information, see this post.

Submit your images here.

Our guest judge for July’s competition will be Precision Camera & Video Education Director Tani James.

Speaker – Andrew Fritz

33dde9d4b5b311e38c270e01faf4e0e4_8Andrew is a self taught photographer who learns through trial and error, and experimentation. His first love photographically was night landscape photography. On his first trip with his first camera to Quebec, Andrew spent long hours out after dark trying to make pictures. Not long after that he started experimenting with astrophotography.

Andrew is a full time professional photographer who practices many forms of photography including editorial & lifestyle portraiture, wedding photography, sports (in the form of lindy hop) photography and product photography. Andrew teaches night photography (and other) classes at Precision Camera & Video in Austin.

Night Photography 101

When the sun sets, the world changes visually. For a camera, time slows down and the photographer is able to choose to show much longer slices of time. The relationship of bright and dark areas shifts as well with shadowed structures glowing. While night photography has numerous challenges, it can be incredibly rewarding allowing the photographer to depict the world in ways far outside our human experience.

Andrew will present an introduction to night photography including tips and trips for focusing and determining exposure. He will also present various night time images and talk about how they were made and the complications night time photographers face.

 

Results – January 2016

Our second competition was judged by Geoff Hammond, a classically trained photographer working for clients, producing stock photography and who has a background evaluating images for iStock Photo. We had 22 entries and gave out 6 awards, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 3 honorable mentions. The winning images are below.

1st Place – The Astrophotographer by Andrew Fritz

Andrew Fritz - The Astrophotographer

The judge’s paraphrased thoughts on why this image won:

While the technical skill of this image is obvious, the feeling communicated is what completes this image. There is a definite sense of awe from the silhouetted photographer.

2nd – Najatt in Gold by Joshua Baker

Joshua Baker - Najatt in Gold

3rd – Proud Fella by Travis Johnson

Travis Johnson - Proud Fella

Honorable Mentions