There have been discussions about club members posting photos. High Park Hiking Club has had no problems, to our knowledge anyway. There are some issues we would appreciate club members kept in mind.
Hiking club members are able to post photographs on Meetup and on our Facebook page. Our Facebook page is fairly well controlled in that we see everything, and we are able to delete offending posts, and the member responsible. To date, this has been spam, not photography. Facebook is visible only to members of our Facebook group. These are not necessarily paid up members of the club. Meetup is less controlled. Sometimes, people post a lot of photographs, and we don't have time to review everything. Everything posted to MeetUp is visible to the outside world. We are able to delete offending photos and members. Don't piss us off.
The internet is forever. Anything posted to the internet stays up on the internet.
There used to be a photo gallery on this website. There are no plans to revive it. We have only ten megabytes of space. Meetup and Facebook are so much more convenient for everyone.
So, you have brought your camera out on the hike, as we have repeatedly recommended. What should you do with it, and what shouldn't you do?
Not everyone wants to be photographed. Get permission. Make it obvious that you are photographing so that people have a chance to object. Don't take candid photos. Post good photos. If the lighting is bad, if someone is squinting at the camera, if they are doing something embarassing, don't post it.
Please do not hold up the group. Learn to take your pictures quickly and efficiently. If you can move to the front of the group, you can stop and take a little time. When the sweep shows up, put your camera away and resume hiking.
Don't upload everything. Upload the stuff that is good.
Common sense states that you want to photograph people who are facing into the sun. Generally, this is wrong. While you do not want the sun inside the field of view of your camera, you do want it somewhere behind your subject. If the person you want to to photograph is staring into the sun, they are squinting. Direct sunlight picks up every wrinkle. Club members must be at least eighteen years of age. There is evidence that some of us are considerably older than this. A little shade in front is a good thing. Try a little fill-flash, where you force your flash to go off, regardless of conditions. If the sun is behind the subject, the sunlight outlines everything, creating a sense of depth. A lot of leaves glow when they are lit from behind. You get beautiful photographs.
One of the many benefits of digital cameras is that you can inspect your results immediately. You don't need to wait several days for your film to be developed. If your settings do not work, you can try again.
Most compact cameras with zoom lenses start off at wide angle. Wide angle creates an unnatural perspective. Anything at the edges looks weird. Back up from your subject, then zoom in a bit. This is not always possible, but you will get better photos when you can do it.
If you are buying a camera with detachable lenses, consider buying a fixed focus lens. On a full‑frame DSLR or a 35mm film SLR, you should start with a 50mm lens with an aperture of around f/1.8, the nifty fifty. On a half-frame DSLR, a 35mm f/1.8 lens is equivalent. These lenses are small, light and cheap. They provide a natural looking field of view, and they work in limited light. These are the correct focal lengths to shoot with most of the time. Ask the people at your camera store.
Please don't.
Facebook and Google Photo can pick faces out of photographs, and they allow you tag them with names, and/or with your chosen smart-ass remarks. Many people do not appreciate this.
If we get complaints, there are only a few things we can do. MeetUp lets us delete individual photos. Facebook allows us to delete the post, or delete the post and the poster. My understanding is that we cannot delete tags, only the post with the tagged photo.
| Last modified: 2021/05/06 | High Park Hiking Club | Webmaster: Howard Gibson |
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