I attended the November 2010 League City Photography Meet up Group this past week. There was a pretty good turnout of about 17 attendees.

Announcements

Upcoming Events in November

Nov 10 Wed 7:00 PM | Photoshop Social
Nov 13 Sat 2:00 PM | Armand Bayou Nature Center - Lonestar Bluegrass Band
Nov 16 Tue 5:30 PM | Dion McInnis Presentation - U. of Houston - Clear Lake
Nov 20 Sat 5:00 AM | Liendo Plantation - Civil War Days
Nov 20 Sat 5:00 PM | Evening at Memorial Park

Topic – Various Tips

David Paulissen reviews a couple of articles that go into various tips for photography.

The first article he reviewed was Five Tips for Better Wildlife Photos by Andrew Goodall.

The article goes into depth on the below tips -

Tip #1. Get to the subject's eye level.
Tip #2. It's All In The Eyes.
Tip #3. If The Background Doesn't Help, Get Rid Of It.
Tip #4. If Your Background Is Working For You, Use It Well.
Tip #5. Capture your subject in the best possible light.

The second article dealt with how to hold your camera. (could not find a link to that, but it was some good information.

The last article that David reviewed was 12 Ways to Never Miss a Photo Opportunity by Jim Goldstein.

There are several really good tips in the article.

Have a camera bag that enables you to easily and quickly access your camera
Be sure to have not just (1) one fully charged battery but (2) two
Be sure to clean the front and rear elements of your lens to minimize spots (optionally cleaning your camera sensor)
Before heading out make sure you have CF cards in your camera that are empty or have lots of free space
Pre-set your camera settings for the type of subject you’re aiming to photograph
If you have a camera with image stabilization or vibration reduction set your lens appropriately for the subject
Have needed filters on your lens or take filters off your lens as necessary before heading out.
It may sound obvious but take off your lens cap.
Head out with a notion of what you’d like to photograph and how, but always keep your eyes open for new subjects and the unexpected
Have your camera on and your hand on your camera bag
Stay focused
Don’t Chimp

Again, the article goes into detail on each point.

Additional Information

Another tip that was given was on White Balance. Try using the Cloudy WB setting when shooting outdoors. Also, if you shoot in RAW, you can batch fix any White Balance issues.

At the table I was sitting at, someone, Diego I think, mentioned that the Smithsonian was holding online photo contests. Below is the link I found.

The 8th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest

Photos from the Group

"A photograph is usually looked at - seldom looked into." -Ansel Adams