Recently I updated my X1 software only to find out that it no longer supports the i1 Display by x-rite. This device and others in this family are no longer supported. As you might imagine a few unkind words were said! Fortunately, I noticed a link that said we don't support this anymore, but Calibrate Profiler offers a solution. I didn't want to throw away a functioning device. So, I downloaded the software, reviewed the UI, and decided it was worth the $39 for their software

4/16/2024 CIPPA members enjoy another beautiful day at the Santa Barbara Botanical Gardens. The weather was gorgeous with the beautiful Santa Barbara hillside covered in poppies, and Iris. We wanted to share a few photos from the outing for everyone to enjoy.

2023 was another superb year of image competitions, with wonderful images and excellent judging! Of 188 total entries, there were 125 merit winners ~ well done! Please enjoy the slideshow!

Photographer of the Year Photographer of the Year Award is awarded to the individual with the highest aggregate score of their four (4) best scores in three different categories. An individual must have entered at least six (6) entries spanning at least two (2) separate competitions to be eligible for this award. 2023 Photographer of the Year - Endre Balough Category Awards The award is given based on the highest aggregate score of an individual’s four (4) entries in a single

Our final Virtual Image Competition of 2023 was held Monday, November 13. We had 46 excellent entries in 7 categories: Animal, Family, Illustrative, Landscape, Lifestyle, Nature, and Photojournalism. The judging by 3 experienced PPC Judges: Duane Murphy, Bruce Bonnett, and Cindie Wolfe was excellent. Each judge brought a different view and critique skill set. Kudos to all who entered, every single photograph had emotional meaning and impact. All the Merit images can be se

“Break the Rules”? Nope – in almost every case, a compelling photograph or image contains compositional elements that draw our eye into the image, hold our attention, and create an emotional response or connection. A simple take on the rules of composition: “yup – they are there because they work”. Yet, something about us makes us rebel against “rules”, so let’s just call them “elements” – and there are a lot of them! Here, I’ll break down this photograph into 4 elements that

We are adding a new category to our CIPPA Image Competitions - Lifestyle! What is considered lifestyle photography? According to Wikipedia, the definition of lifestyle photography is “a style of portrait/people photography which aims to capture and document real-life events, situations, or milestones in an artistic manner and the art of the everyday”. Lifestyle is not as controlled as portrait photography or as unscripted as photojournalism. It gives us the chance to create

2022 was a very good year for CIPPA - we have weathered a couple of crazy years and have evolved with a combination of in person and virtual events along with a growing membership. Thanks to Mike Mercadante for his excellent work on creating programs that are interesting, challenging, and informative! We had another strong year of Image Competitions with superb images and excellent judges. We have all improved and continue to learn. The image entries were strong, compelling,

Our final Virtual Image Competition of 2022 was held Monday, November 14. We had 68 excellent entries in 6 categories: Animal, Architecture, Commercial, Electronic Imaging, Fashion, Illustrative, Landscape, Nature, Photojournalism, Portrait Environmental, Portrait Studio, and Wedding . Gold Coast Professional Photographers joined the competition and tho their images weren't included in Category or Best of Show Winners, they submitted powerful imagery and were a very welcome

Our digital world gives us so much ability to create, adjust, finish, and go wild with our photographs. For most of my landscape and nature photos I work mainly with color and contrast, a bit of "digital gardening", highlighting and drawing attention to the compositional elements that made me want to press that shutter. The camera will create a nice version of what it thinks you will like, but that will be just a nice average exposure and combination of color across the entir

What made me pull up the camera and zoom into this mountain? Mainly, it was because when looking through the viewfinder, “it felt right”. Now, define “right” – why did it feel “right”? It doesn’t have dramatic powerful lighting, it was taken at noon – not the magic hour, it doesn’t have that big grizzly bear in the red bikini… I didn’t really think about it when I took the photo, but it contains several compositional elements that made me come back to this image, rank it

Our first Virtual Image Competition of 2022 was held Monday, February 14 - yup Valentines Day! We had 55 excellent entries in 9 categories ~ telling many many different stories. As a first, we invited members of the Gold Coast Professional Photographers to join. Tho their images weren't included in Category or Best of Show Winners, they submitted powerful imagery and were a very welcome addition to the Competition! The judging was excellent, by 3 experienced PPC Judges: Fra

Our fourth and final Virtual Image Competition of 2021 was held Monday, November 8, using Zoom Meeting and a shared Microsoft Excel Scoresheet. We had 58 excellent entries in 13 categories ~ from Album to Wedding ~ telling many many different stories. The judging was excellent, by 3 experienced PPC Judges: Mel Carl, Michael Collins, and Michelle Pennings. Thanks to Mike Mercadante for designing the shared Excel Sheet, and kudos to all who entered, every single photograph ha

Our third Virtual Image Competition of 2021 was held Monday, August 9, using Zoom Meeting and a shared Microsoft Excel Scoresheet. We had 57 excellent entries in 14 categories ~ from Album to Wedding ~ telling many many different stories. The judging was excellent, by 3 experienced PPC Judges: Tim Mathiesen, Rebecca LI, and Antoine Didienne. Thanks to Mike Mercadante for designing the shared Excel Sheet, to Bob Dellis for his radio voice, and kudos to all who entered, every

CIPPA'S next Image Competition will be Monday, August 9th. Zoom gathering at 6:30, Meeting starts at 7:00pm. Register here: Zoom Meeting Registration Image submission deadline is Thursday, August 5th at midnight. Judges will be Tim Mathiesen - PPOC, Rebecca Li - IEPPV, and Antoine Didienne - PPSDC. Some highlights from May's Comp:

Our second Virtual Image Competition of 2021 was held Monday, May 10, using Zoom Meeting and a shared Microsoft Excel Scoresheet. We had 48 excellent entries in 11 categories ~ from Animal to Wedding ~ telling many many different stories. The judging was excellent, by 3 experienced PPC Judges: Duane Murphy, and Jim Doyle from PPOC, and John Powers from PPLAC. We departed from the norm, by sending the images to the judges 3 days early for their review and scoring. This experim

Here is a link to a PictureCorrect.com article that I found interesting. The author, Adam Williams, makes some great points about looking for Balance in Landscape photographs. It is not necessarily something we see when we compose, but it is something we feel. https://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/compositional-balance-vs-the-rule-of-thirds/ This photo is from Mike Mercadante, and is a great example of balance in a landscape image.

Our first Virtual Image Competition of 2021 was held last night, using Zoom Meeting and a shared Microsoft Excel Scoresheet. We had 54 excellent entries in 11 categories ~ from Animal to Wedding ~ telling many many different stories. The judging was excellent, by 3 experienced PPC Judges: Karen Nakamura, Eleanor Gray and Mel Carl, all from PPLAC. Thanks to Mike Mercadante for designing the shared Excel Sheet, to Bob Dellis for his radio voice, and kudos to all who entered, ev

Presentation and impact have a big influence on how an image is judged in competition. Borders and Strokes add a finishing touch and are always appreciated by the judges. Here is a step by step of how I create my Borders and Strokes, there are other methods - which may be easier - but this works for me, maintains the Layers in my Tiff images, and lets me continue to adjust the stroke & border color/size. When finished, I flatten and convert to the required size jpeg for submi