Camera Club News 5/5/17

By Rex Dolby

The Van Wert Area Photography Club has a meeting next week on Thursday, May 11, starting at 7 pm. at 114 S. Race St.  Four reports are expected, three of which may impact future meeting times and locations.  The fourth will reveal the financial status of the club.

We’d like to remind the reader that time has a way of surprising us by how quickly it can run out.  With that in mind, here again is the list of categories for this year’s county fair Photography Exhibit.  They are:  Expressions/ Emotions,

Macro/Things Up Close,  Reflections,  Water,  and   Weather.  These are for both Juniors and Seniors in Color and B/W.   They may be submitted in frames with openings no larger than 18 united inches. (one length + one width, such as an 8×10)

You may have heard someone say that you aught to get a UV filter, which reduces haze by absorbing some of the ultra violet light, or a Skylight1B filter which has a slightly pinkish color in order to counter the bluish cast that you see in some outdoor scenes. But their reasoning is not so much to improve the photo as it is to protect your lens from dirt or damage.  They argue that it is much cheaper to replace a scratched filter than a lens.

Although this is certainly true, the other side argues that they don’t want to shoot through a cheap piece of glass when they could be taking the picture through their premium lens. That’s true too.  What’s a photographer to do?

Advocates of the filter as protector say that if you buy a quality-made filter, you’ll never notice the difference when comparing a filtered photo with an unfiltered photo.  I guess the only way you can really know for sure that’s true is to conduct your own tests.

First research what companies make high quality filters, then find someone having what you need and borrow them. I would suggest you set your camera on a tripod, make your settings, add the filter, check that the lighting will remain the same for a few more seconds and shoot. Immediately remove the filter and shoot again.  That way you can be assured that the two photos are the same, except for the filter on or off.

You might want to try three pictures that have detail, one closer, one mid-range, and one farther away, so depth of field can also be ruled out.   It’s something to think about anyway.