Posted by Ivan Domazet on Feb 16, 2010 in
State Events 
“Certification is the most common, well-known and respected professional credential. Clients seek out credentialed professionals, and people recognize certification as a sign that you are an authority in your field. So it makes sense for you to be a Certified Professional Photographer to better market yourself to your clientele. Here are some specific ways certification can help you in your business” -certifiedphotographer.com
So, are you certified yet? Why not? Less than 3% of photographers have achieved this credential. It’s time you take that step. The Certification exam will be given on Apr 09, 2010 1:00 PM at:
4171 S Black Horse Pike
Williamstown, NJ 08094
(2nd Floor)
You do not need to be a member of PPA to take the exam. However you do need to register for the exam online: http://certifiedphotographer.com/
Please feel free to e-mail me (Ivan@debs-studio.com) with questions about the process and the test.
Ivan Domazet CPP, Cr.Photog., FP
Certification Liaison for NJ
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Posted by Ivan Domazet on Feb 2, 2010 in
South Events Neil van Niekerk
“Just give me the f-stop“
March 1, 2010
Location: Winslow Family Diner
491 Williamstown Rd
Sicklerville, NJ 08081-1777
(856) 875-4700
Times:
6:00 PM – 7:00 PM Dinner and Fellowship
7:00 PM – 7:15 PM South Business Meeting
7:15 PM – 10:00 PM Speaker Neil van Niekerk www.planetneil.com/tangents/
Cost: FREE to PPANJ members in good standing and $35.00 for guests.
Program:
By focusing on clear and understandable methods, this seminar will give attendees specific points they need to understand to significantly help their flash photography.
We will concentrate on three areas - correct exposure, direction of light, and colour of light when balancing flash with ambient.
At the end of the seminar, attendees will have the knowledge they need achieve more consistent and predictable results in their flash photography.
The premise was that in trying to get to grips with flash photography, many try to break it down into what they think are the understandable elements – the numerical values of the settings used. They want numbers, believing that in knowing a certain image was taken at 1/125th @ f4.5 @ 400 ISO, that they might get closer to understanding lighting. They want the f-stop.
The irony though, is that these numerical values often have little meaning. They could’ve been any combination of settings. It is in this breakdown into discreet numerical values that they in fact, often move further away from understanding lighting. Lighting scenarios change so much, that it becomes meaningless for anyone to “give you the f-stop”.
What is far more important is the methods we use in lighting, such as how to get to correct exposure, and how to get beautiful light, and how to enhance the existing light with controlled use of flash. And it is in this intersection between available light and flash, that we get great results in seamlessly bleding flash with available light.
And with that in mind, we will cover three main topics in the presentation:
- (soft) directional light,
- flash exposure (incl use of the histogram),
- mixing flash with tungsten light.
Bio:
Neil van Niekerk, originally from South Africa is now a full time professional wedding photographer in New Jersey. He has photographed weddings and portraits across the United States and internationally. He is well known for his planetneil.com website, described by Rangefinder Magazine as: “an unusual and informative web site dedicated to digital imaging.”
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Tags: Demonstration, Meetings, Program, Speaker
Posted by Ivan Domazet on Jan 19, 2010 in
South Events UPDATED!!!
http://ppanj.com/images/meeting/020110/20100201.pdf
PPANJ
Statewide Educational Program
Proudly Presents
Two great speakers for the price of one.
Scott Kurkian & Bobby Carlsen
www.PPANJSouth.org
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Tags: Meetings, Program, Speaker
Posted by Ivan Domazet on Dec 29, 2009 in
Uncategorized 
This past summer I read a blog post on DIYPhotography.net (Link) that showed you how to use the lens from you old scrap optical disk drive to make a macro lens for your phone. It’s a neat little hack but I didn’t have a drive that was ready for the scrap heap anytime soon. It looked like I’d have to go without a macro lens for my iPhone.
Then last night I was cleaning out some boxes in the garage and I came across two old “one time use” film cameras. I can’t even tell you where they came from but they looked like they were just what I needed to distract me from being productive. I ripped them open and removed the plastic lenses to make a cheaper/easier macro for my phone.
Now please be VERY, VERY, VERY CAREFUL!!! There is a capacitor which stores lots of current to fire the flash. DO NOT TOUCH the electronics of the camera. If you do, it will give you a nice reminder that I warned you.
So, if you don’t want to brave the capacitor or don’t have a plastic camera near by, just visit your local 1 hour photo lab. They should have a box full of these things ready for recycling.
Here is the steps I used to take it apart. When you’re done just tape the lense to the phone. Also be sure to play around with different makes of plastic cameras. I found that they use different lenses.
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Posted by Ivan Domazet on Nov 20, 2009 in
South Events Canceled
We will inform you of the new date as soon as it is set.
PPANJSouth
2010 Print Competition Rules
January 4, 2010
Sponsored by: M.L. Ruberton Agency www.mlruberton.com
Ask for: Anthony Mortellite 609.561.1200
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Posted by Ivan Domazet on Oct 27, 2009 in
South Events Nov 2, 2009
South Meeting
Q. What could be better than seeing a great program given by an amazing photographer and businessman?
A. Two speakers .
We are excited to have with us both Josh Lynn and Dennis Kelly at our next monthly PPANJ South meeting. First up will be Josh who will speak on his wedding photography business and lighting techniques used to create stunning images. Then we will finish up with Master Photographer Dennis Kelly. During his program you will learn the right and wrong way to create promotional materials.
Because we are packing so much into one evening we will be starting the program promptly at 7:00 PM.
Location: Winslow Family Diner
Times:
6:00 PM – 7:00 PM Dinner and Fellowship
7:00 PM – 7:05 PM South Business Meeting
7:05 PM – 10:00 PM Speakers Josh Lynn and Dennis Kelly
Cost: FREE to PPANJ members in good standing and $35.00 for guests.
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Posted by Ivan Domazet on Sep 29, 2009 in
South Events Oct 5, 2009
South Meeting and Print Comp.
Sponsored by: Garden State Color Labs www.gardenstatecolor.com
B&S Picture Frames http://www.bandspictureframes.com
Location: Winslow Family Diner;
Times:
6:00 PM – 7:00 PM Dinner, Fellowship, and registration of entries
7:00 PM – 7:15 PM South Business Meeting
7:15 PM – 10:00 PM Judging and critiques by master photographers John Miele, Steven Kramer, AFP, and Richard Gaffney.
After the mid point break our judges will pick the winners from PPANJ South’s Think Tank Shootout from Atlantic City. Please be sure to bring CDs for the models if you have not already. Entries will not be accepted if the models have not received the CDs.
Cost: FREE to PPANJ members in good standing and $35.00 for guests. BRING A GUEST FOR FREE!!!
Info and Rules
It is that time of the year, our last competition for 2009. Members are encouraged to bring in the prints and folios that they have on display in their studios. You must be a PPANJ member (from any region) in order to enter. Entries should be framed (with or without matting) and be representative of the work you display for your clients. Images can be from 8×10 and up, not including the frame. Multi-opening entries should have a minimum image size of 80 square inches of image. However prints may also be presented as they would be for state or national level competition. Images already having won a Blue Ribbon in any PPANJ South Region Competition may not be entered. Members are permitted to enter up to four pieces. An entry fee of $15 a case will charged to defray costs of judges and ribbons. Your case can have one to four submissions. You must enter submission into one of the five categories:
Wedding/Social Event
Portrait
Illustrative
Commercial
Folio (table top or wall)
Any entry with a bride must be entered into the Wedding/Social Event category (excluding folios). If there are less than three entries in a category they will be entered in the Illustrative category. All decisions of the print committee are final and are not contestable. Ribbons will be awarded based on the following:
Blue Ribbon 100 – 95 Exceptional
Blue Ribbon 94 – 85 Superior
Blue Ribbon 84 – 80 Excellent
Red Ribbon 79 – 76 Above Average
White Ribbon 75 – 74 Average
White Ribbon 73 – 70 Acceptable
None 69 – 0 Unacceptable
Entries scoring 76 – 79 will automatically be reviewed at the conclusion of the category and either remain at the current score or be elevated to the next ribbon by a majority vote of the judges.
Print sign-in and dinner orders will be taken starting at 6:00 pm. The meeting will begin at 7:00 pm and judging to proceed immediately afterward. Please be on time if you plan on eating or entering prints. Entry forms will be available at the registration table.
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Posted by Ivan Domazet on Aug 20, 2009 in
South Events Sept 14th 2009
South Meeting with Master Photographer Michael Travisano
Sponsored by: Garden State Color Labs www.gardenstatecolor.com
Location: 15th St N, Brigantine, NJ 08203
Times:
4:30 PM – 4:45 PM Meet at the parking lot. (Please leave your cameras in the car or at home.)
4:45 PM – 7:00 PM Michael Travisano CPP, M.Photog.Cr., FP
7:15 PM – ?? Local restaurant for dinner, drinks, and questions.
All who attend will receive a certificate for a Free 16×20 from our sponsor Garden State Color Labs. This is a wonderful gift from Garden State and we are very appreciative of their support for this event and in years past.
Cost: FREE to PPANJ members in good standing and only $35.00 for guests.
Program:
Michael will demonstrate couple posing with our models on the beaches of Brigantine and surrounding structures. This will include the use of off camera lights, reflectors, and other light modifiers. The intensive session promises to get you jazzed up for your next beach shoot.
From his engagement sessions Mike is able to consistently produce high end guest books and large portraits for display at the wedding. Be sure to stick around during dinner when you’ll be able to pick his brain.
Speaker Bio:
Michael has owned and operated Michael Angelo photographers for more than 20 years. His international award winning wedding and portrait studio started out as Peskin Studio inc. in 1955.
Michael holds the prestigious Master of Photography degree, Certified Professional Photographer and Photographic Craftsmen degree. Michael has numerous awards in print competition as well as having his work in the prominent PPA Loan Collection. He currently sits on the PPA national council for the state of New Jersey as well as an alternate delegate for PPANJ. Michael lectures regularly for his peers on professional photography. He is one of the most numerous award winning photographers in the state of NJ.
Currently Michael Angelo Photographers are proud members of The Professional Photographers of America (PPA) & Professional Photographers of New Jersey (PPANJ)
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Posted by Ivan Domazet on Aug 15, 2009 in
Tips, Tech, & Techneques 
Thanks to Adobe Lightroom 2.x and a supply of cheap 16GB compact flash cards our studio has gone RAW crazy. As a result we’re filling up hard drives at a staggering rate. So the time has come to build a new RAID and load it up with the biggest drives at a fair price point. Which at today’s market price is $99 for a 1.5TB SATA.
That in itself is making my head explode. My first computer had a 40MB drive which cost around $250. At the time it was twice the size of what my friends had in their PCs.
Now the plan is to build a five disk RAID 5. That will yield about 6TB of useable space. And as history has been an accurate predictor of the future I expect that in about 3-4 years we’ll have single drives with a capacity of 16TB at a reasonable price. So there is no end in sight to where technology will go.
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Posted by Ivan Domazet on Aug 5, 2009 in
South Events So some chose to hit the beach, some to stay at home, and the smart ones came to the meeting.
So you may have heard the rumor that our hand model was going to be George Costanza but sadly, no. Jason Alexander was not available. But, we were very lucky to have Tara Weeast as our lovely and tall model.
Next month’s meeting will be Sept. 14th, Beach Portraits with Michael Travisano in Brigantine, NJ. Details to follow so check back soon.
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Tags: Demonstration, Meetings, Program, Speaker
