My first post...

Hello world....sorry but as a developer geek I have to start there since this is my first post to this blog. I have been asked to try and contribute occasionally to support DPS (as we tend call Delaware Photographic Society) which is my home photo club - and a great one at that.

I have been thinking about what might interest the wide world out there and since I am one of the club's Photoshop folks I am thinking maybe I might post about assigned subject or creative images I've made for our club internal competitions and other purposes.I'll start with a simple one to get things rolling.


This shot is titled "Focus" and a larger version can be seen here. It was taken for an assigned subject competition with the subject of "Selective Focus". It is a macro shot using a 50mm f/1.4 lens on an 8mm extension tube and I actually had to stop down a bit to get the foreground and background text at a sensible level of out-of-focus. At a fully open f/1.4 the text was so blurred it was almost not visible. I used a focus rail on a tripod to mount the camera to ensure a sharp image...exposure was 0.1 secs using available light.

Post-processing here was simple. Color balance and initial sharpness were adjusted using Adobe Camera Raw then some gentle noise reduction with an edgemask to protect the edges. Some gentle color correction and contrast enhancement then gave me my "digital negative". Creative additions consisted of some selective shadows (in the foreground and background) and selective sharpening (in the centre) to further emphasize the main subject...the word 'Focus'.

OK...we'll see how this goes and watch this space for more in the future.

Al G

Photo Restoration Services Do Amazing Work

If you've ever had a treasured photo damaged, or would like that old photo of Great-Great-Grandmother restored to its original condition, consider an online restoration service.  ScanCafe is one such service and I recently asked them to restore an image of my cousin.  Her mother asked me to see what I could do with it since she knew I was into digital photography.  Well, when I saw the print, I knew it was beyond my abilities so I uploaded it to ScanCafe.   Just scan the photo at 600dpi or greater and post it for a quote which is usually between $10 and $40 depending on the amount of time they expect the restoration will take.  The response will take a few days. With my photo, I was expecting the price to be close to the top end of the scale but the quote was for $9.95, the exact opposite.

Before	After

There are several online and traditional restoration services. If you would like to try ScanCafe, the quotes are free, the prices are very reasonable and the results are stunning.

John D.

Photos from the October 5th Pot-Luck Supper

Welcome to the DPS Blog

Welcome to the new Delaware Photographic Society Blog!

The blog will be our way to get news and commentary published by our most experienced members.

The Delaware Photographic Society was established in 1931 and is still going strong. We have over 250 members of all ages with most of the membership living within 50 miles of Wilmington, Delaware. But, we currently have members from nine states.

If you're looking for information on the club's activities and photo galleries, please visit our web site at www.delawarephotographicsociety.org.

We will also be unveiling a new site specifically for the Wilmington International Exhibition of Photography which is hosted each year by DPS. The new web site will be operational in time for competition entries.

Entries this year will be fully automated with an online fee caculator, payment and image upload capability.

Stay tuned to this blog and visit the new website when it opens.