Pro Store No Longer Available On My Website

Auntie has closed the store part of her website. You can still order all photographs and note cards by emailing Auntie directly. My email is: cheryl@focusmaui.com

Please email any requests for photographs and I will get back to you right away. We will be able to service our friends and customers easier this way.

Let me know if you need anything special and we'll see what we can do.

Look for my next blog soon.

Aloha,
Auntie

Lesson 1 From: Auntie Next Door With A Camera

The first thing we have to do is take our cameras out of the auto mode and start learning about aperture and shutter speed. Not that easy for us Auntie's but we can learn it. Start reading everything you can about aperture and shutter speed. I'm finding Digital Photography School a very good resource for the how 2's. Just sign up for their tips and newsletters. You'll find lots of very valuable learning here and it's free. Just cost you your time and it will be time well spent. Auntie is still looking for a good explanation to the usual definitions of Aperture and Shutter Speed. Many professionals will refer to this as the triangle. That's easy enough to understand but the F stops and the relationships to each part isn't. I'm still learning... so for now I'm using the Auto Mode to give me an idea of where I should be setting the Aperture and Shutter Speed. This gives you something to aim for. Manual Focus is easy but the settings are more complicated to understand and implement...more to follow...


Photo shop can really be a challenge and for this Auntie Next Door With A Camera I'm finding you can use Photo shop Elements 6 and cut the learning curve a little bit and still have control over your RAW images and adjust and create with your photographs while you learn the skills needed to be able to work in Photo shop. There is a tool in the Elements version called Essentials 2 that is the same plug in for Photo shop called Mask Pro. This tool will let you crop out a person from the background and work with that part of the photo and incorporate it into different backgrounds.

You'll still want to attend Photo shop seminars and workshops whenever you possible. You will learn a little more each time and continue to grow with your editing skills. Auntie just learned about working with levels and this is really a great editing option in all Photo shop programs. You can adjust the lighting and shadows to create very realistic corrections.

More next time and until then, keep smiling!
Auntie

Auntie Next Door With A Camera

Today we will journey together into the life of: Auntie Next Door With A Camera.

Thank you to Peter Liu, Professional Photograher for the inspiration for my blogging. When I first consulted Peter for his Photoshop expertise I found him to be not only a professional photographer but he was willing to teach and guide. First gave me a lot of articles to read and directed me all over the place with things to read and learn.

The first blog he directed me too was one of his older ones. In this blog he mentions how professional photographers have to now compete with the Granny Across The Street With A Camera. Well, after some discussion we agreed that was me! Better known here as Auntie we will go with that title for my blog series.

We will learn together from Auntie's perspective how to venture into the world of professional photographers from the amatuer starting point. There is a lot to learn both about photgraphy and marketing. So Auntie will share her experience with you.

Please comment along the way and we'll learn and grow together.

Well Saturday Came and Went

Saturday came and went without my being accepted into the Lahaina Arts Society. Main reason being I was not doing my own printing. They didn't feel I was in enough control of my dark room. I will be attending a Canon and Maui Digital Imaging seminar next week on guess what? Printing, if you answered that you were correct. So much to learn about all of this. I thought having my printing done locally by respected photographers was a good thing but not for the Lahaina Arts Society. I will post again after the seminar on what I learn. In the meantime I plan to look into displaying my photos at the swap meet in Kahului. Wish me luck...

Lahaina Art Society

Aloha and welcome to my first blog,

Lahaina Art Society here I come...

Saturday I will be interviewed by the membership committee of the Lahaina Art Society. If all goes well, I'll be starting my volunteer time in the gallery and have my photography hung in the gallery soon. I'll keep you posted. Any hints before Saturday are most welcome.

Cheryl