Hello All,
Here are Alan's Notes for the SLO Bytes Photo Group Meeting of 08/14/2022
TOPIC: New Skills, New Thrills Again
The meeting started promptly at 2 pm. We had 6 people in attendance with the meeting ending at around 3:50 pm with no break taken.

Ralph Sutter did not attend the Photo Group session this time. Instead, he set out on a 5-day kayak paddle in the San Juan Islands near Anacortes WA.
Still, he was present in spirit, leaving some images and videos with Alan Raul and asking that Alan pick and choose the content from the following options
New content on the SLO Bytes Photography Links Page;
www.slobytes.org/digital/links.html
Sundry images using closeup rings, portrait background removal and Irfanview Compare
Kendama; a Japanese ball and stick toy turned on a wood lathe
Video of a Tippy Top video on YouTube; https://youtu.be/T6tnngJQUD0
Tippy Top video on YouTube (Playing with the Tippy Top):
https://youtu.be/j-rK0iECHj4
Chicks video on YouTube chronicling the delivery of 10 baby chicks: https://youtu.be/tWhFB3oGFxA

Kaye Raul demonstrated the power of the new presets available in Lightroom Classic version 11.4 released in June. She followed that showing the HDR plugin now available in Luminar Neo contrasting Neo with the ease of using Aurora HDR which Luminar is no longer updating.

John Waller showed off more impressive photographic capabilities of his recently purchased Samsung S22 Ultra phone. He also showed the NEW photoshop feature which removes anything from photo (Multi image Content Aware Fill). https://youtu.be/J60YZTdAUsw
He also linked a video "Can I process the JWST data better than NASA?"
https://youtu.be/DVuonz26P0w

After reading a B and H Photo article, Alan Raul decided to explore Intentional Camera Movement (ICM) photography. ICM photography is an impressionistic and abstract style of shooting that has no rules - it all comes down to moving your camera over a long exposure. After researching more about ICM photography, he found out you can also have a similar ICM result from previously shot images using the Moton Blur filter in Adobe Photoshop.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/photography/tips-and-solutions/intentional-camera-movement-photography-part-1-introduction
Just one of many ICM videos available on YouTube
The Liquid Landscape
https://youtu.be/OMPuQBvnKWQ
Olga Karlovac Photography - an abstract expressionist photographer
https://olga-karlovac-photography.com/
The Female Street Photographer Who Only Takes Blurry Photos
https://youtu.be/r7wF7d04aX8

Stanford Brown showed images while taking his walk around Paso Robles.

The next meeting will take place on September 11th beginning at 2:00 pm. The topic for the meeting is open-ended. Members are encouraged to try new techniques and share with the group the results of their experiences.
The meeting will be held via Zoom. An invitation will be e-mailed to Photo Group members shortly before the meeting.
The meeting schedule for the remainder of 2022 is as follows
October 09
November 13
December 11

Ralph Sutter for Alan Raul

Hello All,
If you already own Skylum Luminar Aurora HDR and Luminar Neo, you can get the Luminar Plugin, HDR Merge, for free.
You run HDR Merge from within Luminar Neo..  Open the Catalog. HDR Merge will appear in the right-hand column.
Learn more about HDR Merge at https://community.skylum.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/6642319680786-HDR-Merge-introductory-offer
For a demo of how to use it, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP_biHqLGT0
Ralph Sutter

Hello All,
The freeware image viewing program. Irfanview, now offers a Compare feature
Download that version from https://www.fosshub.com/IrfanView.html?dwl=iview460_x64_setup.exe
To access the Compare feature
  Open an image in Irfanview
  Click on File/Compare
  From within the Compare dialog screen, navigate to the second image and open it

Ralph Sutter

Hello All,
This is a re-post of a message received from SLO Bytes' parent organization, APCUG.
Ralph Sutter

JULY 2022
WEDNESDAY WORKSHOPS
9 am PT, 10 am MT, 11 am CT, 12 pm ET
 
July 13, 2022
Is the future of money digital currency?
Chris and Jim Guld, Geeks on Tour
and
QR Codes and More, John Krout, PATACS
 
July 20, 2022
Learning Linux - Networking
The Linux Team
John Kennedy, Orv Beach, & Dave Melton
 
July 27, 2022
Apple Apps
 
Mac Find My app and AirTags
Craig Wright, Columbus Computer Society and
Deborah Neff, Prescott Macintosh User Group
 
Apple Maps -- Flyover Tours and City Guides
Brooke Thomas, Central Kentucky Computer Society
 
Intro to Pages, Numbers, and Keynote
Jerry Rogan, Sunland Springs Village Technology Club
 
7/13/22 - Register for this workshop here -- https://forms.gle/9NHNAKym3DKKHELp7
 
Is the future of money digital currency? Chris and Jim Guld. Is it the emerging technology of the decade? What are Cryptocurrency and Bitcoin? All this and more will be covered in Chris’s presentation with Jim handling the technology.
 
QR Codes and More, John Krout. QR codes provide a great variety of info and are popular for communicating Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), also known as web page addresses. Find out how your smartphone can read QR codes and other barcodes. In particular, find out about the info stored about you in the barcode on the back of your driver's license or state ID card. Some stores, including grocery stores where the presenter lives, now scan that barcode when alcohol is purchased. The scan obtains a great deal more personal info than your birth date.
=============================================
 
7/20/22 - Register for this workshop here – https://forms.gle/LNm3qG9KVy4jvY6T8
 
Learning Linux – Networking with the Linux Team (John, Orv, and Dave)
There have been some requests from attendees regarding “networking” in Linux. However, being a wide topic with no real specific questions for the team, we’ll try to put together a presentation on networking that we feel relates to Linux. The workshop will be of more value to someone if they have a Linux box and more than one Linux box that can be networked together (if you don’t have at least two, you can’t have a network). This would include running Raspberry Pi’s. But even if you don’t, you might learn something and give networking a try.
 
We’ll start out with the basics of networking; Orv will begin at the beginning with information on IPv4 (we won’t be covering IPv6), addresses, netmasks, gateways, and using DHCP vs. Manual assigning of addresses. He will focus on networking in the terminal. John will share some screenshots of different distro’s GUI windows for setting up networking. Then Dave and John will present options for remote access including SAMBA, Warpinator, AnyDesk, and basic usage of the ssh/scp command in the terminal. Time permitting, Orv may share information of the more modern sftp command. After the formal presentation, we’ll open things up for others to share their knowledge about networking in Linux.
 
=============================================
 
7/27/22 - Register for this workshop here – https://forms.gle/xwVpN3TQ3zi4UAHs6
 
Mac Find My app and AirTags, Craig Wright & Deborah Neff. Have you misplaced your Mac, various devices, or personal items? Before that happens, learn to set up the Find My app – it can help you locate and protect your valuables. Also learn how to use an AirTag to help you track your keys, wallet, purse, backpack, luggage, and more.
 
Apple Maps -- Flyover Tours and City Guides, Brooke Thomas.
 
Intro Pages, Numbers, and Keynote, Jerry Rogan. All of these apps are on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Jerry will demonstrate the ability to Open and View Microsoft Office files and create new documents and save them as Office documents, PDFs, or other formats.

Hello All,
Here are my Notes from the SLO Bytes Photo Group Meeting of 06/12/2022
TOPIC: New Skills, New Thrills Again

Ralph Sutter opened the meeting with images of his recent landscaping project as well as shots from his orchard and vegetable garden.  Ralph added a video of rocks sliding downward as he scooped them into a wheelbarrow.

Kaye Raul offered weather-worn barns, scenes from Oceano and Port San Luis before demonstrating the use of the level horizon tool in Adobe Lightroom

Alan Raul showed images shot with his Sony A7iv with a 35mm F2.8 lens of the north end of Pismo Beach at low tide. He then showed images shot with his 24-70mm F4.0 lens of the sand dunes and the Pismo Beach Creek area. Images were modified with a variety of image editing software to get the desired effects he wanted to share.
Alan's photography gear is listed on DP Review  https://www.dpreview.com/members/9828863162/gearlist

Stanford Brown found fractured trees and scenes high above Las Vegas before retreating to Paso Robles where he added angles inside his house and local landscapes.

John Waller demonstrated the use of luminosity masks inside Adobe Lightroom.  This technique allowed him to enhance yellow flowers in a field of yellow while affecting the flowers but not the field behind.  John then applied the technique to trees in Morro Bay and the iconic rocks of Yosemite.

Connie Sutter looked at trees and the shadows that they cast.  She then shifted focus to a rock outcropping that she excavated as part of her landscaping project.

The session closed with Kaye’s positive review of several lesser known lenses for her Sony A7iv camera.  Alan called attention to the free web space offered by DP Review where he posted details of his camera gear and showed samples of his photos. 
See https://www.dpreview.com/members/9828863162/gearlist 
Ralph showed some of the camera resources that he posted to his web site at https://www.fullbean.com/camera/camera.html

Our next meeting will take place on 07/10/2022 beginning at 2:00 pm.  The topic is once again New Skills, New Thrills; Learn and share that knowledge.  A Zoom invitation will be sent shortly beforehand.
The meeting schedule for the remainder of 2022 is as follows
   August 14
   September 11
   October 09
   November 13
   December 11
All meetings begin at 2:00pm
See the Links Page, https://www.slobytes.org/digital/links.html for tutorials and other resources
Ralph Sutter

Hello All,

SLO Bytes is a member of APCUG; The Association of Personal Computer User Groups.  The latter organization presents regular free workshops via Zoom.  Afterwards, they often post on line the content of those presentations.  I will mirror some of that content on the SLO Bytes website at https://www.slobytes.org/apcug/workshops/workshops.html.  For more visible access, I have also added the tab, APCUG Workshops to the left hand menu of SLO Bytes opening page.

Ralph Sutter

Hello All,
Here are my notes from the SLO Bytes Photo Group meeting of 05/15/2022

TOPIC: New Skills, New Thrills Again

Ralph Sutter began the meeting demonstrating focus stacking with Adobe Photoshop Elements 2021. This required purchasing the after market add-on, Elements+; https://elementsplus.net/. Sutter then showed a video; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdrkURWyRsQ of the flight, crash and recovery of his DJI drone in conjunction with the autonomous flight software, Dronelink; https://www.dronelink.com/

Kaye Raul shared images taken with her new Sony A7 IV full frame camera; https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1667800-REG/sony_ilce_7m4_b_alpha_a7_iv_mirrorless.html. Her subjects included shots of Guadalupe, Main Street Beach and local strawberry fields.

Alan Raul showed images of Shell Beach including the construction project of a new seawall, staircase and sidewalk along the oceanfront. Later in the day (when it was cooler) using his Sony A7iv with a 35mm F2.8 lens; https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=sony%2035mm%20f%202.8&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma he ventured into the dunes near the Pismo Beach Creek to capture images of the creek and dunes area.

Stanford Brown used his Vikeri Trail Cam; https://vikeri.tech/ to capture images of 4 footed nighttime visitors around his house. He then reminded the group of the capabilities of the free Microsoft Photos app; https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/microsoft-photos/9WZDNCRFJBH4?hl=en-us&gl=US. It allows image and video viewing, slideshows and simple video editing. program,

John Waller introduced log exposure photography in conjunction with density filters. The filters allowed him to take much longer exposures and capture details of dark scenes that otherwise wouldn't be visible.

Bob Styerwalt shared several closeups of roses growing in his back yard.

Our next meeting will take place on 06/12/2022 beginning at 2:00 pm.  The topic is once again New Skills, New Thrills; Learn and share that knowledge

Here is the meeting schedule for the remainder of 2022
   July 10
   August 14
   September 11
   October 09
   November 13
   December 11
See the Links page for tutorials and other resources

Ralph Sutter