By Annabeth Miller,
ShowMe Times Editor
Summer is upon us. That means cameras will be preserving precious memories from family vacations, get-togethers, weddings, graduations, and so much more.
However, when the perfect photographic moment comes into view, a great many find themselves frustrated with their ability to capture the moment with a great photograph.
Here’s five simple tips from AAA that will go a long, long ways to helping you be prepared to get that great family vacation photograph.
5 Simple Tips for Great Vacation Photographs
Practice before you leave home – This is quite likely the most important tip of all. Get your owners manual out and practice some of the lighting and subject situations that you are likely to find yourself with. You’re likely to have family members posing in front of scenes and objects. You’re likely to be photographing in bright sun, cloudy skies, indoors, in places where flash is not allowed, on beaches, on hiking trails; the various situations are near infinite. Set up these situations as best you can at home and practice, practice, practice.
Memory Cards – Today’s megapixal digital cameras can quickly eat up a memory card. This is particularly true if you plan to shoot any video on your vacation. Today’s digital cameras will generally tell you how many photographs you can store on your memory card. Take a look at this and determine if your card is large enough to store all the photographs from your vacation. If you happen to witness an elk doing the moonwalk, you’ll want to be certain to have enough space on your memory card to capture it.
Scene Modes - It’s a simple fact: many baby boomers have never taken a photograph out of their digital camera’s green automatic setting. Come on…live large…explore the scene settings on your camera! If your camera was purchased in the last few years, you are very likely to have quite a number of special scene modes. These might include special settings for portraits, beach/snow, cloudy skies, sunsets, landscapes, museum, close-up, indoors, etc, etc. While your green automatic setting will try to accomplish all things, these special setting will give your camera more information and allow it to do a better job.
Fill-Flash – One of the most common mistakes I see in vacation photographs is shadowy faces in front of a brightly-lite background. Your family is posed in front of the Grand Canyon. The scene is stunning. You shoot the photograph and the faces of your loved ones are dark and shadowy. Believe it or not, you should be using your flash quite a bit in sunny situations where people are standing in front of brightly-lit subjects. Your camera doesn’t know that you have loved ones in front of the Grand Canyon. It just sees all that light and compensates accordingly. In situations like these, you need to force your camera to flash and then your loved ones faces will be bright and clear. Practice this at home before you leave!
Composition – In photography, it seems to be human nature to stick our subjects smack dab in the middle of a photograph. However, this can result in drab, predictable photos. Before you get to the subject of your photograph, give some thought to how you will compose it. How can you better tell a story with your photograph? Instead of shooting straight on, can you shoot down on your subjects?
Can you get ground level and shoot up? Type “rule of thirds” in Google and do a little study on composition. A little creativity and study on photographic composition can really make a big difference in coming home with great vacation photographs.
One other suggestion in this day and age of technology and “smart phones”. If your phone has a good camera, consider shooting some (don’t forgo using your digital camera) using one of the photo aps – like Hipstamatic and Instagram. Hiptamatic applies a number of softwaref ilters to make the images look as though they were taken with an antique film camera. You can choose among a number of effects that can shed a unique and different perspective on your photos.
Whether you head 30 or 3000 miles away, you'll want to bring back great photos of your vacation
Photos Above: Top Photo - Warwick Castle framed on a hillside Warwick, England; Middle Photo - An example of being at the right place at the right moment - French soldiers celebrating after a Bastille Day Parade outside the Louvre, in Paris; Bottom photo - A photo of a typical Irish street, free from the tourist and commercial hub-bub. (Photos by Annabeth Miller)
Zach Hedrick, SMT Writer
5:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Friday
With the 12th Annual golf tournament the previous weekend, it didn't take long for a new inspiration to hit the group. And as usual, the ideas are spontaneous and creative. But more so, the new activities are an inspired idea that are searches for a way to become involved and make a contribution. The most recent 18 Fore Life Banquet featured an incredible video highlighting the wide variety of events held by the Foundation to include the long time projects of the golf tournament, the banquet and the 10 Pins for Ben bowling tournament. Also featured were several new events for 2011 such as the 18 Fore Life Crappie Tournament, Julie Dodd's Claus for a Cause event and the T. S. Hill Middle School Inspired "Dig Pink" Volleyball and "Hits For Hope" contests, to name a few.
These events are simply an opportunity where both young and old are given a chance to become involved and contribute to those in need. They are filled with fun and great memories, but participants share in the accomplishments of delivering kindness, love and help to those hurting and in need.
The Ben Kruse 18 Fore Life Foundation is in fact More Than Just a Golf Tournament - so what happens when a new idea surfaces? A call is quickly made to Scott Kruse who, with an excited tone in his voice says, "What else could I say but yes?".
Sometimes, the opportunity is thrust upon the Foundation at breakneck speed. Miller's Extravaganza Shows hit town last Friday afternoon in search of a location in Dexter. Within a couple of hours, the agreement had been reached that the carnival would partner with the 18 Fore Life Foundation to have an incredible week of big fun, great food and fantastic memories, while raising funds for the charity all in the same event.
Dana Adams, of Montgomery Bank, was quick to capture the idea that this event could become an annual event and broadened in coming years to include other activities. Ideas have been kicked around such as an 18 Fore Life BBQ Contest, an 18 Fore Life Music Festival, and even a dress up Mardi Gras Night. So there is great hope that attendance this year will be an encouragement for future activities that will be planned for 2013.
Even as easy as this event may appear with the support of Miller's Extravaganza Shows, there are always those that kick in a little extra effort on this short of notice. And a special thanks goes out to:
- Ryan Duley of A Cut Above Lawn Care: for quickly mowing and preparing the lot for the Miller team to setup.
- Scott Rankin of SEMO Land Design: for pitching in last minute to fill the "duck ponds" and deep tire ruts.
- Dana Adams & Scott Nelson of Montgomery Bank: for their quick planning, promotional activities and willingness to plan for the future.
- Alan Hedrick, Jason Comfort & the County Wide Insurance Crew: for their willingness to say "Yes" and contribute to the great community of Dexter.
Celebrate | Give | Remember
"One week after one of the largest and most successful events in our history," event organizer Scott Kruse said. "We still have names of people on our list that need help. So yes, yes, yes ... let's have a Ben Kruse 18 Fore Life Carnival!"
The weather promises to be great the remainder of the week. This is a great opportunity for you to gather up your kids, your grandkids or your neighbor kids and come to the 1st Annual Ben Kruse 18 Fore Life Carnival. You will be able to CELEBRATE a great time, GIVE to a worthy cause and make memories you will always REMEMBER!!
By Taylor Eggimann,
ShowMe Times Contributing Writer
The first annual Rockin’ For Racks breast cancer benefit, hosted by Matt Harris and the Chris Welch Band, is scheduled for 2 to 11 p.m., Saturday, June 9. at the Boathouse Winery in Bloomfield.
Rebekah Northern will take the stage at 2 p.m., followed by Maggie Thorn at 3 p.m., with the group Salvation at 4 p.m. The evening will be rounded out by Crossed Timbers at 5:30 p.m., and the Chris Welsh Band will close the show at 8 p.m.
T-shirts will be available for $15, and Bernie resident Becky Dennington will be doing a signing of her book "Me and the Ugly C". Various items will also be raffled off throughout the day.
"Tell everyone you know; friends, family, and coworkers, and come on out to the Boathouse Winery to help give cancer a fight," said project organizers.
