Bay Sailors  A Tampa Bay Sailing Club for Singles

Newsletter Extracts: Miscellaneous Items

Taking Photos for the Club

Bay Sailors is about sailing and fun and we like to see that in our newsletter and on our web site. Sadly, the majority of photos we receive from members are unusable. In hopes of upping the success rate, Here are some tips:

- First, understand that the photo in your digital camera (no film, please) is as good as it is ever going to get. Later modifications to put those photos into the newsletter or on the web site only degrade the quality. So…

- Set that digital camera to take a BIG photo, five megapixels is good or maybe a megabyte in storage size. We will cut it down but give us something to start with. (Also means that you will have to email those to us one at a time. That's OK, you're only sending us the best shots anyway.)

- Think vertical too. Sailboats are tall and it is actually legal to turn the camera sideways. Take overall photos to get the whole boat and then close-ups for the people on board.

- Very few people have any telephoto capability that works out there. So fill the frame or don't bother to push the button. Do the best you can but we do not need more photos of tiny blobs a quarter mile away. - Get the horizon level. Sailboats lean over. You don't have to. Shoot at a level horizon.

- THINK and LOOK before you SHOOT: Take the time to compose your shot. Are there things in your view finder that you would not want in the final shot? Don't just look at the object you are photographing, also look at everything else in the shot. On sailboats this means no stays, wires, rigging, odd bits of sail or overhead bimini, half of someone, etc. unless you want them in the shot.

- Lose the date stamp. A photo with a date stamp across the face of it is a photo you didn't need to send to us. Make it go away. (Same goes for anything else you may later be tempted to print across the photo.)

- Identify your photo subjects. People, boats, we need names. Often you can do that right in the file name: "DallasDawson_Talisman.jpg". That sort of thing. Or send a separate Word file with the descriptions coded to the photo file numbers. Put your own name in there someplace too, so we know whom to credit.

- Shoot, shoot, shoot. It's digital, the photos cost nothing! Always take several shots of everything in case one has someone frowning.

- Bracket your shots. Take the most obvious first, then shoot one f-stop lower and then one f-stop higher. Fastest way to do this? Don't twiddle with knobs on the camera. For your second shot, point the camera at something darker. Push your button down halfway to lock in the settings, then re-aim at your subject and fire. Do the same with a brighter area, lock, re-aim, fire. Later, pick out the best of the three.