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Original vertical format cover photos should include
some sky for placement of The SETOFF publication name.
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COVER PHOTOS
To score the front cover of The SETOFF for your
photograph, it must have been originally shot in a vertical (or portrait)
format such as the one at left.
It must be high resolution with a .jpg file size
between 2200KB to 3200KB. For many electronic cameras this is the
highest resolution just short of "raw." Raw format files are too big for
e-mailing, and have more detail than is needed for our newsletter.
If you're still shooting with film, that's OK! Have the negative
scanned to disc by your local discount photo processor.
Finally, send all photos in their original form, don't make any changes in
Photoshop.
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Center cutting this photo to get a vertical format for
the cover does not work. In addition, the Editor does not like "rear
view" photos of motorcars. Have your passenger turn around, and
shoot the car following behind you.
The above horizontal format type of shot is suitable
for placement in a run report on the inside of The SETOFF. But,
vertical format shots also work very well in the three column format of
the newsletter.
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ARTICLES
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RUN REPORTS
The new format of The SETOFF has more space allocated
to run reports. Run reports should be e-mailed to the editor in MS
Word format with .doc file extensions within two weeks of the
event. Rich Text Format and Plain Text format are also fine.
Those files would have .rtf or
.txt file extensions. Please set your word processor to put two spaces between
sentences after the period. This is important for later paste up in
the justified column format used by The SETOFF.
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Technical Articles
Technical articles should be e-mailed to the editor in MS Word format
with .doc file extensions. Rich Text Format and Plain Text
format are also fine. Those files would have .rtf
or .txt file extensions. Please set your word processor to
put two spaces between sentences after the period. This is important
for later paste up in the justified column format used by The SETOFF.
Please include photos with your technical articles.
Technical articles vary widely, so the editor will make
the best decision he can on each submission. Please include photos
when possible. For example, if writing about flange lubricators a
good photo is at left below. The additional close up shot at right
below really shows how a lubricator works. Wide shots with close ups
together "sell" articles.
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Feature articles cover a wide variety of subjects. In
the May 2008 edition there was an article entitled "Railcar Widow" written by
Diana North. That story was about how her husband came home one day with
two old motorcars on a trailer, and how she hasn't seen much of him since!
It was a very cute article. The July 2008 edition had an article about
the speeder hobby in Hungary. Upcoming features will cover people who
recently mentored as excursion coordinators. So, feature articles cover
a wide spectrum. I hope to get more feature
articles, because they give "color" to The SETOFF coverage of the hobby.
I'm looking for stories!
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Photographs |
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Composing interesting photographs is easy. It involves using the "rule of thirds". When you look in your camera
viewfinder, in your mind draw two vertical and two horizontal lines so
that the view is divided into three equal parts across and three equal
parts vertically. When taking any photograph you put one of the
major features in the scene on these lines, preferably at the intersection
of the lines. Check out the examples
below.
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The weight of this photo is on the left "thirds" line with
the orange car touching two of the intersections of the lines. The
distant
tree horizon follows the upper "thirds" line. The use of the method
of "thirds" here has created a shot with lots of depth with the viewers'
eye pulled to the orange car.
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This vertical photo was shot too quickly from a moving
motorcar. The water tower should have been placed at the
intersection of the lines. Thus, this photo needs the "missing" part
seen in red above.
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Note how the track and motorcar fall on the left "thirds" line and the
tree / sky intersection is on the upper "thirds" line.
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Imagine this shot with the moving motorcar dead center...boring!
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 Putting the
horizon on the upper "thirds" line gives this photo good balance. |

Placing people on one of the "thirds" lines makes this
portrait interesting. If the people had been dead center it would be
just another snapshot.
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Putting the motorcar at the intersection of the
"thirds" lines opens up the shot to see the diagonal line of the repaired
track.
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This shot was done out the rear window with no time to
really frame it up. However, by placing the track and following
motorcar on the "thirds" line the oncoming car on the left was revealed.
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Lots of stuff happening in this shot. By placing
the walking men on the right "thirds" line they get the desired emphasis,
and we are drawn to wonder what they're talking about.
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Please write captions and photo credits for all
submissions. Make the captions the body of your E-mail and include
the photos as .jpg file attachments two at a time to:
setoff@ix.netcom.com
Please do not paste photos into Word
documents. This reduces their resolution.
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The motorcar is placed at the intersection of two of
the lines, and so was the apex of the roof. The open left side of
the frame shows where the cars are going.
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If you have more than half a dozen photos, please burn
them to disc and mail them to:
Wayne Parsons, SETOFF
13380 Golden Valley Lane
Granada Hills, CA 91344
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