Fourth on the 4th!

Having a Fourth in our BizName... How could I not say that 4th of July is a GREAT day for photography!  My dad invited us to his house for the day and what FUN we had Swimming, Eating, Homemade Apricot ice-cream and of course taking Pictures!  Here is a Dip recipe that I created with some Fresh Zucchini.  I LOVE working at an Organic Farm! 

Cheesy Zucchini Dip

3 cups fresh zucchini diced or shredded

1 cup Cream Cheese

1 cup Sour Cream

1 cup Cheddar Cheese

3 eggs

1 tsp Garlic Salt

Combine ingredients with a mixer and pour into a 9X12 baking pan.Bake at 375 for about 25 minutes until set.  Top may be browned under the broiler for 1-2 minutes.  Serve warm with tortilla chips or baked crackers!

YUM!

F/stop Chart

Here is an F/stop chart created to help in figuring Full, Half, Third & 2/3 settings for your Aperture.  A trick to memorizing the full stops is to remember the numbers 1 & 1.4 then double them(approximately) & alternately until you get to 64!  I'm still learning these myself but I hope this helps!

The Sunny 16 Rule:

If you don't have a Light Meter, Here's a great way to set your Camera Exposure outdoors on a SUNNY day! It's called the Sunny 16 rule... also known as the Sunny f/16 rule:

The basic rule is, "On a sunny day set your aperture to f/16 and shutter speed to the ISO film speed."

Example If the sun is shining and your camera is set at an ISO of 200 you can use an aperture of f/16, set shutter speed to 1/200 or 1/250. An ISO of 400 @f/16 would require an aperture of 1/400 etc.

In the same way if you remember these numbers for other lighting situations, You could shoot anywhere without a meter with as close to the correct exposure as possible!

Aperture	Lighting Conditions	Shadows
f/22	Snow/Sand	Dark sharp edges
f/16	Sun	Crisp
f/11	Slight Overcast	Soft edges
f/8	Overcast	Minimal
f/5.6	Heavy Overcast	None
f/4	Open Shade/Sunset	None
Add One Stop	Backlighting	n/a

Northern California Photographers...

We have formed a study group that will be meeting every 1st & 3rd Tuesdays of each month.  All photographers who wish to join us are welcome to come out and talk, share and learn about current chapters of Study in the Certification Process.  Check out the Certify with Sandy Puc website and join the Forum as well to stay updated on meeting times and places.  The next meeting is on July 6th at the Borders Cafe in Sacramento. We are on Chapter 2 in the PHOTOGRAPHY textbook!

CSHA Memorial Day Showdown Event

We are finishing up the Horse event that we shot on Memorial Day!  PHEW!  There were over 6000 images to sort through!  This was a two day event with about 100 riders.  We definitely had some lessons to learn on this two day shoot.  Natural lighting of course and high shutter speeds to catch some action. A generator charged Laptop and some very full CF cards!  There is not a big profit to be made at these events and we haven't quite figured out how to get people interested in the photos we take.  Sometimes we have to ask why we are even doing it! But I must say it is very rewarding to watch the riders and how they handle the Horses and going through the photos in post production my mind goes back to those certain riders who rode good rides, came out smiling and ready to run AGAIN!  That's kinda like photography too!  We are always ready to capture the moment that thrills with a hope that the image will preserve the memory of the Ride! That's why we do it and will do it AGAIN! Giddy up & GO!