Newsletter January 2012

Meeting Report

To quote the Chairman!

We had a really enjoyable last night of our pre Christmas programme, thanks to a small band of people who really worked hard to make it.

Anne Nagle, Alex Swyer, the Chairman (Di Walker) and Audrey all were responsible for:

• the food and drink - Anne and Di
• the quiz Anne and Alex and
• the mince pies (delicious) Audrey.

Hot mulled wine was available with several soft drink alternatives and we had nuts, crisps , chocolates, sausage rolls to name just some of the eats.

The quiz kept us engaged for the whole evening. We were divided up onto five tables of four people each randomly selected and we were given annagrams to solve and questions about photography, pubs and general knowledge, most of which were quite beyond my very limited intelligence.

Anne and Alex must have spent a large number of hours setting the questions.

So, a large vote of thanks to all who worked so hard to really make our last night of the term a great success! Our Honorary member Mike Eddows attended and reported that he really enjoyed himself. We might even get money out of him next season and have him a paying member!!

A very Happy Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year to all our members and their families.

Meeting Report

Last night we had a real treat when Pete (as he is known to his friends) gave us a really entertaining talk about Photoshop. He is one of Chichester CC's top photographers and we have seen his work over many years at Chichester's annual exhibition at South Mundham village hall. This is an event not to be missed as Chichester have a large number of very talented photographers including Mike Davison who we trained at Storrington!!

I met Pete when we jointly won the Regnum print competition with Chichester a few years back and he was Chairman. We shared having the shield for 6 months each. Bearing in mind my last report, you see we did it then and with our new talent in the club we could win it again!?

Pete's opening remark was about the women taking over winning everything photographic; so over to you girls. He then asked 'who shoots in RAW?' And if not why not? Everyone should shoot in RAW except when taking family snaps!

Pete used a couple of pictures taken in bad conditions and showed us with the use of the RAW converter how to rescue and improve pictures. His first example was of a Chinese girl taken in a very confined space with very bad lighting. There was a very over-exposed area which was a window but which had detail of the buildings outside the flat which gave it context of the location. The girl herself was very dark in the picture and sadly had several blemishes on her face. By going through a series of corrections starting with the recovery tool he was able to get the exposure corrected for the different parts of the image and deal with noise and sharpenimng in a most amazing fashion. Then we were shown a landscape where the sky was bland and the whole image fairly flat and uninteresting. By applying the various tools and sliders again we ended up with an interesting sky and a landscape which had come to life.

Pete kept us chuckling throughout his presentation with his remarks and asides which were very amusing indeed.

During the break we were able to admire some of his work which he had laid out for us. He really is a most talented worker and in the second half he showed us the care and attention he gives to every detail throughout the picture which really pays off. I for one have not got either the patience required or the talent to know what to do.

After the break he told us about his cameras (Canon), his lenses, his printer (Epson 3800), and the papers and software for the printer (he does not use Epson paper). He has researched every stage of his production of his masterful printing.

Finally he showed us a print of an old Canadian barn which was lovely. He showed us how the picture looked After it had been processed with the RAW converter and the sky was still rather too bland. In the normal Photoshop workspace he showed us how he 'beefed up' the sky still further and improved and brought to life the foliage in the foreground. This amongst other things invoved masking everything except the sky and including a tree and bits of the barn where ths sky was showing through. It must have taken ages of painstaking work. he showed us how it is best to use adjustment layers which can be saved and changed at a later stage if thought necessary.

We really had a very absorbing and interesting evening, so 'thank you Pete' and we would love to have you back again one day.

Meeting Report

The Regnum print competition was hosted by Bognor Regis CC at the St Mary's centre Felpham.

The Judge was Caroline Colgate ARPS and she was very good giving very specific reasons for all her marks for the entries.

Eleven clubs took part, but the evening was dominated by Chichester CC who started of with a 20 in the first round and followed that with two more out of a total of only six awarded altogether. Their lowest score was 16 for the brilliant shot of Carmarge Horses taken by Rosie Armes!!

Our first picture was awarded 17 and this placed us 6th and was Daisy's lovely picture of a sparrow framed on a wire fence called 'Framed'. Next up was Ian MacWhirter's 'Wasp Spider' which got 16 and we swept up to 5th equal! Sadly John Gauvin's 'Popping the Cork' only got 14 and we dropped back to 8th at the break.

In round 4, Peter Michell's 'Hot Saxaphone' was awarded 18 and we lept up to 5th place. In the 5th round Ian's 'Kittywakes feeding in glacier melt water' got 16 and finally, Martin Tomes 'Askham Fell' also got 16.

This placed us 7th equal overall and I was not alone in thinking that we had not presented our best work and we could have done much better. I am responsible for assembling the selection teams for these competitions and usually take part; but on this occasion I had a last minute family commitment and could not make it, and some may think my comment is 'sour grapes'.

I would just make a point about two of our entries and hope the authors will not be upset. Ian MacWhirter is without question in my mind our star wildlife photographer and printer. His Kittywake picture was selected by the Nature group of the RPS for this years exhibition and I saw it exhibited in London. However for this type of competition it was not really appropriate. Also John's cork picture was quite amazing and I for one would not be able to take that picture if I tried for a month. It quite rightly got high marks in the set subject competition in which it was entered. However, sadly it was not right here. We all know that both these gentlemen have pictures that could have got higher marks in this competition. We have clearly got to look again at how we select our pictures in future, and after this little outburst I shall be lucky to get anyone to select!

I appologise to the members of the selection committee on this occasion for my observations and again to the authors of those pictures, but I had to get my feelings known.

Meeting Report

We welcomed back Leslie who has become an annual attraction in our calender of events. This evening was devoted to layers. Some people (including me) have some difficulty in understanding the concept of layers. If I had had Leslie explaining them to me before I would have picked it up much faster. Leslie teaches Photoshop Elements at Lodge Hill Computer Centre, Coldwaltham, Pulborough if anyone is interested in improving their skills.

Leslie started using 'blobs of colours' to illustrate the principles of layers, before moving on using photographs to illustrate how to combine different elements of two frames of a simple landscape image, one with a good sky and one with a good foreground. (If you shoot in RAW you can do the same thing from just one frame by 'bringing out' different elements of the same shot and combining them in the same way as Leslie showed us).

Leslie then showed us how to introduce other parts of completely different pictures i.e., birds.

We were shown how one can improve a portrait of, in this instance a lady, by sharpening the eyes and the mouth on a seperate layer and then blending these bits back into the original image.

Then how one can colour old restored photographs using layers to very good effect, followed by our first look at how Elements stiches a series of frames taken of a scene taking each shot slightly overlapping the previous one. This can produce very good panoramic pictures and the technique uses layers to achieve this with photomerge.

After the break we were shown how to compose a picture with different images of a similar subject, for instance flowers, and combining them on the same sheet.

Using layers you can bring out blown detail in an image which appears to be beyond help.

Then we were shown how using adjustment layers you can use say levels and you can return later to the same layer and change your adjustment. You can do the same thing with curves or any other adjustment tool without interfering with the original image.

Then, starting with a static shot of a motor car, we were shown how to blur the background to give the illusion of motion and how to get the wheels moving as well; all very clever stuff!

Finally we were shown more panoramas which rounded off a splendid evening which I am sure will have provoked many of us to try the various techniques shown for ourselves.

Leslie has written her own book illustrating how to do these and many other operations which can be obtained from her, (Paul Hayward is a friend and neighbour of Leslie and will help you contact her if required).

Thank you once again for a very interesting and thought provoking evening Leslie and we look forward to the next episode next year if you would oblige us please.