<p>SPRINGVALE, Maine Southern Maine Garden Club (SMGC) met for their November meeting on the 20th at the Springvale Library. The presenter was Allan Amioka of South Berwick, who, in addition to being a good photographer (not a professional one as he reminded us); he is also a Master Gardener. His talk was on how to take the perfect nature photos.</p><p>Mr. Amioka had planned on giving us an illustrated presentation with his laptop, but as luck would have it none of his thingamajigs were compatible with ours so instead of an illustrated lecture, he decided to just talk photography and the best way to frame a shot, among other topics.</p><p>First, Mr. Amioka gave a brief history of photography; in the past glass negatives were used to preserve images. Three important ingredients to a good photograph the scene, the camera, and the results; results aren't always what the photographer hoped for and a scene is perceived differently by all observers. He used his personal camera to review all the parts of the camera for the club members. Many of the members use a digital point and shoot camera, although just as many are using their Smart or I-Phones to take a photo. He discussed how all digital point and shoot cameras have pre-sets that you can easily manipulate depending upon the type of subject to achieve greater results.</p><p>Mr. Amioka's tips on framing a good shot are: have a clear focal point, examine the relation to what's around the subject, look from different viewpoints using your hands to frame the shot (make a rectangle or a square with your fingers), zoom in and out to get various compositions, avoid use of negative and positive space, inject movement and interest whenever possible and last but not least have fun and remember you can always hit "delete" and begin again if you are not happy with the results the first time around.</p><p><a href="http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20131215/GJCOMMUNITY04/131219594/-1/rocnews">Keep reading...</a></p>