November 2, 2023

Transform Everyday
Snapshots to Great Photos

with Michael Petersen

Program Details

Everyday people are out taking pictures of everything…with their cameras, phones, and even drones every day of the week. What happens to most of these images? Mostly, nothing as they are just snapshots.

On the business side of photography everything is planned out, location, lighting, subject, clothing, etc. The photos are then culled together to show the client, photos are picked, and hours of Photoshop follows (hopefully not that long).
What can we do to turn our snapshots and quick photos into great-looking images?

Tonight, I will be going through the basics of photography in competition terms with the 12 elements. Not all elements are needed for great photos, some we will talk about:

• Impact
• Story Telling
• Creativity
• Composition
• Presentation
• Lighting

This is not a competition presentation. The 12 elements can all be used to take a snapshot and turn it into a good-looking photo.

During the presentation, we will go through my process of taking a snapshot, turning it into a better photograph, and hopefully a merit-worthy image.

Time permitting, we can look at member photos and see how we can further improve them to possibly be competition-ready.

NEW MEETING LOCATION

Polk State College – Lakeland Campus
3425 Winter Lake Rd
Lakleand, FL 33803

Room: LTB-1121 (Lakeland Technology Building)
The Lakeland Technology Building is the first building on campus.

Social at 6:00 – Dinner at 6:30 – Program at 7:00

BIO

Michael Petersen has had the photography bug since joining the Navy in 1985. He had the opportunity to take photos from across the world with good old fashioned film cameras. Today his specialty is family portraits and beach photography…which has been put up on hold due to Hurricane Ian.

He has been on the FPP Board of Directors since 2018 and has held many positions including the President in 2020.

Michael Petersen holds a Master of Photography Degree with PPA. He is a Certified Professional Photographer, and PPA Councilor. He also holds the Florida Degree of Photographic Excellence, Florida Degree of Artistic Excellence, the Florida Education Degree, and Florida Service Award.