New Rules!

We hope everyone has been having a wonderful summer capturing images from your vacations near and far. And if you’re thinking of entering some of these images in this year’s upcoming competitions, there are a few changes you should be aware of.

New Size for Digital and Nature Images

The biggest change for this year’s competitions is the new size for digital images in both Nature and Pictorial competitions. The club has invested in a new projector with different image size specs than the old one. When sizing your images for competition, two things to keep in mind are the new pixel length and the maximum image size:

1. Image size must be 1050 pixels along the longest side (horizontal or vertical) including borders. Square images, where both dimensions are 1050 are acceptable.
2. Maximum file size is 1.5 megabytes.

For a complete list of the new Digital Image Competition rules, please refer to the rules on TCC’s website or click on the link.

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JCC on the Palisades is seeking artists to feature in 2014

The Kaplan JCC on the Palisades holds monthly art shows and they are looking for artists interested in exhibiting their work in 2014. To be considered, send a brief bio, an artist’s statement, and 3-4 high res jpegs of your work to Rochelle Lazarus at rlazarus@jccotp.org. If you have a website of your images, include

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Frank Crommelin Awarded Photographic Society of America Distinction

The Photographic Society of America (PSA) is pleased to announce that Frank Crommelin, EPSA has been awarded the Excellence Distinction (EPSA) in recognition of his photographic achievement record in PSA recognized International Exhibitions of photography. He has also been awarded the Galaxy 3 in the new PSA Projected Image Division (PID). To qualify for the Excellence Distinction, 700 or more acceptances

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Focus Stacking for Incredible Macro Images

How did photographer Thomas Shahan caputure every tiny detail of this insect’s eyes? Read all about this technique at Light Stalking, a photography blog full of incredible images and instructions on how to add them to your arsenal.  

Shooting close to home

By Ellen Bedrosian

I’m sure I’m not unique among photographers when I see images from far away places and wish I had the time and resources to go there and shoot them myself. The aurora borealis in Iceland, Chinese fishermen on rafts in the early morning mist, snow-covered bison in Yellowstone National Park … they’re all images calling out to me to capture them.

Sometimes, though, we have no choice but to listen to the whispers of the images that surround us everyday, close to home, that may be worthy of our attention as well. I like to walk around my neighborhood on warm, summer evenings with my camera, always on the lookout for something new to shoot. It was on one such walk that I captured this image, which after some manipulation, won Image of the Year in Beginner class in 2008.

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The After-competition Whine and Cheese Party

By Ellen Bedrosian

It happens after almost every competition. Members gather in small groups and complain about how the judge scored their images. Sure, there are times when it seems as if the judge completely misses the point of your image. I remember one image submitted by another member that I thought was pretty cool. It was a selective focus shot of one mug out of rows and rows of “I Love  NY” mugs,

and the judge’s critique was that the entire image of out-of-focus. I remember thinking: We gotta get some new judges. But more often than not, judges have legitimate criticism of our images, and if we listen to what they have to say and try not to get defensive, we can learn from their comments and in the process, become better photographers.

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Tips for Cold Weather Photography

By Ellen Bedrosian

We’ve had a few snowfalls already, and I hope some of you have ventured outside and braved the lower temperatures to capture some images. Is there anything more peaceful than a white blanket covering pine trees, open fields or mountains? Unfortunately for me, I’ve been sick with bronchitis and missed taking advantage of the last snowfall. But I hope to be fully recovered soon, conquer my dislike of cold weather, and try my hand at capturing some winter scenes.

Some of our members are taking a trip out to Yellowstone this month (see inside for photo of them), but you don’t have to venture far from home to get some nice winter photos. This photo was taken at a park near my home last year, and even though it didn’t do very well in competition, I learned that I have to underexpose the image so that the whites don’t get blown out.

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TCC Launches Facebook Page

Looking for photography tips? Want some buddies to go shooting with? Need advice on how to improve an image? TCC members will now be able to do all that and more in one centralized location — our new Facebook page. All members have the ability to post questions, comments, photos etc. When you “like” our

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Shooting Fall Foliage (and a Halloween Treat)

The air is crisp. The sunlight becomes magical. It’s the photographer’s favorite time of year for capturing Mother Nature in all her of glory. Here’s some tips from around the web for shooting Fall foliage, plus some pointers for killer Halloween shots.

In addition, I’ve added a link to Fall Foliage Reports from NJ Hiking.

Happy hunting.

Ellen B.

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Seeing the “Little” Picture

Text & photos by Ellen Bedrosian except where noted 

With our stereoscopic vision, the human eye is designed to see the “big” picture, especially when we come upon a new scene. As photographers, our first instinct is to try and capture the entire view before us, especially a breathtaking building or landscape.

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