Links

This page provides links to sites that our members have found useful for them. If you have others you want added here, contact us at the email address provided below. Thanks goes out to all our members who shared these opportunities with us. Note the educational links towards the bottom of the page.

If you experience problems with any of these links, please let me know by clicking on the contact the webmaster link at the bottom of this page.

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Training/Photo Opportunities

Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Information and registration at http://www.arboretum.umn.edu/photographyclasses.aspx.

Marjorie McNeely Conservatory at Como Park - The North Garden and Sunken Garden are open for artists and photographers during these times:

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Places to Go

The Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge has a number of special events during the course of the year. Their wildlife drive is 7.3 miles of viewing pleasure. It is open during daylight hours from late April through October.

Minnesota Streetcar Museum - Como-Harriet Special Events - Streetcars are now running in Minneapolis and Excelsior. Check their schedules for days and times. In June of 2015 they had offered a Fan Photography event but it had to be canceled. Watch their website to see if they offer it again.

Sax Zim Bog is a noteworthy birding area in Northern Minnesota. They even have a Facebook page now. They have been really developing the area to make it more welcoming for the flocks of birders that come up there in the winter to enjoy viewing all the owls that come around there. They developed a suggested driving route to make it easier for people (birders and photographers) to tour the area. This should be helpful for you if interested in touring the area. Here's a link to their directions. They offer field trips periodically. See their schedule.

Found out that the Three Rivers Park District has several options/events for photography. Here's a link to their Events calendar page to get more up-to-date information as to what they have going on. The Three Rivers Park District includes these parks.

The National Wildlife Federation can be an excellent resource. They have also recently published a list of the "7 Gorgeous Alternatives to National Parks" on their blog. Check it out to see some great state park options to explore. Both are worth looking at.

Explore Minnesota Website - This website is available for everything about Minnesota activities. Use it to find your next photo opportunity/event. You can also search by keyword to find more items of interest.

The Minneapolis Photo Center is a nationally renowned photography center. They have great photo displays, seminars, and you can get prints made there as well. It might be worth checking out.

National Eagle Center - Wabasha - Check out their Events and learn about photo opportunities and eagle viewing trips (usually January/February).

Minnesota Zoo

Minnesota State Parks

Lake Maria State Park sometimes has events that may be of interest for you.

Nowthen Threshing Show - Check this link for when the next show will be.

Wapiti Historical Rendezvous

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Camera Rentals

Interested in trying out equipment to try before purchasing? West photo: https://www.westphoto.com/rental is a local business that rents out photo equipment from cameras to lenses and more. They are in the metro area. I've been to West Photo and know that it is a regular stop for professional photographers in the metro area. The more well known internet site that rents camera gear is a site that appears to be highly recommended but that has not been used by any of our members that I know of. Therefore use at your own risk. This site is http://www.borrowlenses.com. They have excellent recommendations from a variety of customers so they appear to be a great place to rent from. Adorama Camera has camera rentals as well. Click here to get to their rentals page. Here are some additional resources that can help answer questions about their rental process. https://www.adoramarentals.com/i/Resources and https://www.adoramarentals.com/i/faq.

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Educational Links

Adorama has a variety of training videos on their site. Here is a link to their page. Looks like good training and it is free.

Canva.com has a variety of education topics to learn on their website. Check it out.

Best Buy has a great page on their website that is a lens buying guide. Check it out.

Nikon has Education of various types on their site.

Digital Photography School is a website that has EXCELLENT content for learning more about all aspects of photography. They bring out a multitude of new training on their site daily. If you "Like" them on Facebook, you will see all of their new training. Or just go to the club Facebook page (members only access) and many of the items are shared there.

A good site to learn lighting techniques is Strobist's blog website called strobist.blogspot.com. Specifically, their Lighting Archives are worth looking at. To see all of the lighting subjects, you will want to go over to the archive listing and search through those listed (on the right hand side of the screen). They also list Lighting 102 & 103 Archives, On Assignment Archive and a Monthly Archive.

A good website for general purpose learning of photography is called Improve Photography. Their website is http://improvephotography.com/. They offer courses on photography but have made available a lot of general purpose tips as well. Check them out for great tips on shooting Aurora Borealis, flash photography, indispensable equipment, travel photography tips and more. Check them out.

At the November 2012 meeting, Steve Fowler brought the technique of Bokeh to our attention. Bokeh is an adaptation from a Japanese word meaning blur. In photography, this term is used to describe the quality of the areas in the picture which are not in focus. Although late getting this posted, here are some links to learn more about this interesting technique:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokeh
• http://photoextremist.com/bokeh-tutorial
• http://www.diyphotography.net/diy_create_your_own_bokeh
• http://www.obsidiandawn.com/creating-faux-bokeh-backgrounds-in-photoshop-tutorial

On 6/20/12, Rose Luffel demonstrated Matting/Framing Photography. In her presentation, she tried to make use of two websites but we were unable to access the internet properly that night (sorry). Those websites and her handout are shown below.

• How to mat a print in an archival, conservation-safe manner
• Matting

I just found a great learning site put out by Tamron out on YouTube. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/tamronvids. They explain all sorts of techniques that will be of interest. You'll find a list of their videos on the right side of the page. Enjoy!

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A few of our members receive the free Tim Grey eNewsletter on a daily basis. It is full of good advice related to the "digital darkroom". In other words, it has advice related to Photoshop, Lightroom, and photography in general. Included here is a link to Tim Grey's site where you can sign up and learn more about receiving this free daily eNewsletter. You can also pay for and receive a monthly emagazine called Pixology which has a lot off good information as well.

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In our November 2009 meeting we mentioned Scott Kelby and how he, and their whole organization (NAPP and Kelby Training), provides excellent training. NAPP and the Kelby Training has been combined to form KelbyOne. Here is a link to their site. You can also look for books by Scott Kelby on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

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PhotoSecrets.com is a very good resource for tips on photography, links of websites to explore, location guides, and books.