As of 11 January 2025

The Alaska Photo Chat is an informal zoom-based group that generally meets once a week to chat about photo post-processing, composition, equipment, locations to photograph, to mentor each other, etc. Anyone is welcome to attend. The post-processing chats are a core element of our gatherings and are based on “straight out of the camera” image files uploaded by participants for other participants to edit. The chats are an open forum workshop where the moderator puts up each image. The photographer introduces their unedited image then the edited versions are shown and each editor is invited to share what they did and why. The other participants are then encouraged to politely share their views on each of the edits. Creativity is strongly encouraged. The chats often result in actual demonstrations of techniques, if time allows. The group has participants at all skill levels and everyone has an equal voice. Our participants use equipment that spans the range between smartphones to high-end professional gear and a wide variety of editing software.

We've created a private Facebook Page for the group. The only requirement to join is to attend one of our online meetings.
Search for "Alaska Photo Chat" on Facebook to find the page and request membership.

The chat group grew out of an Ole' shared interest group (SIG), the Photo SIG, but you don't need to be an Ole' member to participate in the chat.

All times are Alaska local time

Join Meeting

Watch a video of a typical meeting! Click here.

Index to Meeting and Instructional Videos

The Process

Joining the meeting:

• This is the easy part. You are welcome to come hang out with us even if you don’t want to edit photos with us. We generally meet Wednesdays (see calendar above) at 10a local Alaska time until we run out of things to chat about or for two hours, whichever comes first. There is no registration.
• Join Zoom Meeting. Download Chat Links Document for current links.

Contributing images for editing:

• To contribute an image for editing and discussion, the image must be “straight out of the camera” with no editing. The image may be one that you don’t think is salvageable, or one that you are struggling with. The moderator reserves the right to delete images he considers (at his sole discretion) to be in poor taste.
• By uploading an image, you are consenting to allow other people to fiddle with your image, but not for them to use the image outside of the chat group.
• Upload images. Download Chat Links Document for current links.
• The Dropbox upload/download links almost never change.
• File format is as what comes out of the camera. Some of us prefer RAW, but others like JPG.
• The moderator will assign a number to the image and rename the file to include the number, photographer’s name, and the fact that it is an original image.
  (i.e. 1453 – Joe Cool – aaoriginal.jpg)
• The moderator then moves the image to the download dropbox for others to view and to download for editing.

Downloading images so that you can edit them then submitting your edit:

• Go to the Download Dropbox (Download Chat Links Document for current links) and look for images you might want to try your hand at editing. You should be looking for images with “aaoriginal” in the filename.
• Download the image and edit to your heart’s content.
• Please rename your edited image (generally best done in your device’s file manager or photo manager after editing) to: image# - Photographer – Editor.jpg
  (i.e. 1453 – Joe Cool – TBQEdit.jpg)
• A long side dimension of ~2,000 pixels is encouraged for edited images.
• Upload the results of your labors to the same link as for uploading originals: (Download Chat Links Document for current links.)

Finally, if you have questions or would like further assistance, email the moderator (Bart Quimby) at alaskaphotochat@gmail.com