Monthly Archives: Mar 2023

23 March 2023 (Sets of Six / Technical Presentations)

Posted on by

This evening was very busy and varied. We started with a “Sets of Six” session. This was an idea that folks could show a short video or AV or show a set of (up to) six images on whatever subject they choose, and folks could ask questions and discuss. The first item was a short AV presentation from Allan Cameron that was prepared from film images taken on a compact camera on a visit to Tunisia in 1986. This featured some appropriate music and on-screen captions. The film-based images have a certain look and colour that added to the aged look of the photos that digital images just don’t have. Ross Robertson provided a selection of landscape shots. Malcolm Roberts had a set of images from a studio day organised by Ron McCombe, from a harvest mice to a tarantula. Steve Williams had a set of aviation images, including some taken from Traprain Law so that he was even higher than the planes. Derek Muller brought along a set of images that he thought captured Feelings, and they sparked some discussion. New member Jim Innes had a variety of shots from the iconic dark hedges in Northern Ireland to the lit up phone box in Portobello with a light streak from a passing bus. Liz Sowler had some images from her travels including Lake Garda and the Faroe Islands. Gavin Marshall showed some photos of clay pigeon shooting, one freezing the shot in mid-air while another showing the moment the clay disintegrated. Joe Fowler brought a set of images that highlighted his photoshop compositing skills. George Todd brought 2 versions of the same image showing how a problem image that had a colour cast (from the long exposure used) and many blotches caused by light rain, that was not too obvious at the time. He then showed a mono version that got rid of the colour cast and had various other adjustments made along with a lot of careful cloning to get rid of the many raindrop splodges. His patience was rewarded with a striking image produced from a fairly unpromising start image.

Next up were ideas submitted for a poster to advertise the club in local shops etc. There were quite a few candidates shown. An interesting suggestion was made that we could use more than one design. A decision was deferred until next week and George invited anybody who wanted to submit any other ideas.

Finally, Joe gave a very clear and useful demonstration on how to prepare a window
mount using a Logan mat cutter along with a scalpel, scissors, masking tape, etc. This led
to some discussion around whether competition judges subconsciously preferred window
mount images to the simpler method of sticking prints straight onto the mount board.

  • Steve Williams announced the request that the club has received about running a Photo Walk as part of WalkFest 23 later in the year. Any interest should be discussed with Steve in the first instance. The web page for last year is here:
    https://www.volunteereastlothian.org.uk/latest-news/east-lothians-festival-of-walking-and-wheeling-15-21-august
  • There is a “free to enter” photography competition being held by the Royal Over-Seas League (ROSL) and more information can be found on their website:
    https://www.rosl.org.uk/photography
  • This coming Thursday, 30th March, we will be holding our annual joint meeting with Musselburgh Art Club. We will be meeting in G6 at 7pm. Our meetings with the art club tend to be hands-on, with artwork displayed around the room, which is not a good format to view by Zoom. Members are encouraged to come to G6 in person.

16 March 2023 (Human Portrait Print Competition)

Posted on by

Neil Spowart visited Musselburgh Camera Club this week to judge our human portrait print competition, our last formal competition of the season. Sadly, I missed this competition because of car problems, so apologies for not being there.

This was a smaller competition than usual, with just 22 prints entered by 8 members. The top scorers were (in reverse order):

  • 4th place (47 points)
    • Jim Innes
    • Derek Muller
  • 3rd place (48 points)
    • Mike Clark
  • 2nd place (49 points)
    • George Todd
    • John West
  • 1st place (51 points)
    • Joe Fowler
    • Carol Edmund

The top images were:

  • Milla (Joe Fowler) – 18 points
  • Katrine (John West) – 18 points
  • Pensive (Carol Edmund) – 18 points
  • Grandad (Carol Edmund) – 18 points

Well done to the joint winners, Joe and Carol. It looks like it was a tight competition, with just 1 mark separating 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Thank you to everyone who entered and thank you to Neil Spowart for judging the competition for us.

  • On Thursday 23rd March we’ll have a special “set of six” night which includes a poster competition. If you have any images that would work on a club poster, or have any ideas for poster design, please bring them along (or send them to George Todd) and we’ll choose our favourite.
  • George Todd is collecting club trophies for engraving. Please bring them along.

My car isn’t being serviced this Thursday so there’s a fair chance I’ll make it next time. See you there.

09 March 2023 (Swedish Interclub)

Posted on by

This week we were delighted to be joined once again by members from Mölnlycke Fotoclubb, in Gothenburg, Sweden for our annual interclub meeting. The meeting was hosted at the Fisherrow Centre and Mölnlycke Fotoclubb members joined us by Zoom.

The evening began with Musselburgh members reviewing the 15 images submitted by Mölnlycke Fotoclubb. The images once again demonstrated the creativity of our Swedish counterparts at Mölnlycke Fotoclubb. Members commented on the images and each then voted for their top 4 favourites. The most popular images were:

  • 1st place (13 votes)
    • A joyful and unusual portrait of a woman splashing in the water. Unusual because the water droplets were captured in perfect focus, with the woman blurring into the background. The technique made the image very eye-catching, like a health spa advertisement. We felt the moment had been captured perfectly.
  • 2nd place (11 votes)
    • An unusual and beautiful image of a cormorant captured in silhouette against a golden sunset sky. The photographer had enhanced the image by adding a texture, which we learned had been done using an in-camera ICM technique. A very impressive image.
  • 3rd place (9 votes)
    • A lovely wedding portrait, showing the bride as a side-on portrait framed by a bokeh of sparkly lights in the background.
  • 4th place (8 votes)
    • A really unusual abstract in muted colours, showing an intriguing array of similar shapes leading the eye through the frame. We learned the image was an ICM made while photographing a group of ducks.
  • 5th place (5 votes)
    • A close-up shot of the edge of some melting ice. We liked the subtle shades of colour, and the fact that the ice resembled the Mediterranean coastline.

Mölnlycke Fotoclubb members then commented on our 16 images. Their members had chosen several favourites, but there was only one clear winner:

  • Favourites:
    • Autumn Reflections (Elaine Gilroy)
    • Forest Huntress (George Todd)
    • Glen Coe Water (Mike Clark).
    • Kingfisher on the Rocks (Malcolm Roberts)
    • Lovely Cup of Tea (Joe Fowler)
    • Nuthatch (Gavin Marshall)
    • Sunset in Arisaig looking towards Eigg & Rhum (Gordon Davidson)
  • The Winner!
    • The Rescue (John West)

Well done to John West, whose creative image of a rescue made with paperclip figures (in Swedish blue and yellow) was declared to be our winner on the night.

  • This coming Thursday we have the results of the Human Portrait print competition, judged by Neil Spowart. Since this is a print competition I recommend that members come to Fisherrow to view it in person, rather than connecting by Zoom.
  • We are approaching the end of the season, and George Todd will be collecting trophies so he can have them engraved ready for the AGM and trophy presentation on 27th April. If you were lucky enough to win a trophy last year, please bring it along to Fisherrow.

02 February 2023 (Set Subject Competition C – Landscape)

Posted on by

Our set subject competition concluded on Thursday with the third and final part, on the theme of “Landscape”. George Todd had won last year’s competition and judged our entries. George mentioned that he liked landscape images to contain three balanced parts: something interesting in the foreground to lead in your eye; something in the middle distance; and something in the far distance to give depth to the image. He also mentioned that landscape images containing bodies of water work better when there is a landscape in the distance (with the water ending in a distance island or distant mountains, for example).

14 members had entered 42 images altogether. Most of the images showed scenes from Scotland, although there were a few from as far afield as England, Ireland, Iceland and Arizona. George found that some scenes were spoiled by the inclusion of people and houses in the far distance which didn’t add anything or act as focal points. George also pointed out how one image was spoiled by a large number of footprints in the foreground sand. He recommended photographing sandy scenes early in the day before other tourists have arrived to spoil the pristine surface. He also explained how landscape images could be made more punchy and colourful using a “levels” adjustment in Photoshop. Images that were a little too hazy and flat in the distance and could be improved with the Photoshop “de-haze” filter. Overall, George was impressed with the quality of the entries, especially from new members Ross Robertson, Jim Innes and Derek Muller, and there were a lot of high marks. The top scorers were (in reverse order):

  • 5th place (50 points)
    • Malcolm Roberts
  • 4th place (51 points)
    • Steven Beard
    • Steve Williams
    • Elaine Gilroy
    • Jim Innes
  • 3rd place (52 points)
    • Mike Clark
    • Derek Muller
  • 2nd place (53 points)
    • Joe Fowler
    • Ross Robertson
  • 1st place (54 points)
    • Gordon Davidson

The top images were:

  • Sunset in Arisaig looking towards Eigg and Rhum (Gordon Davidson) – 20 points
  • Wild Ponies (Joe Fowler) – 19 points
  • On the Trail (Steven Beard) – 19 points
  • Glen Coe Water (Mike Clark) – 19 points
  • Sky High (Ross Robertson) – 19 points
  • Icy Fjord (Steve Williams) – 18 points
  • Autumn Reflections (Elaine Gilroy) – 18 points
  • Natural Light Show over Urquhart Castle (Derek Muller) – 18 points
  • The Desert Guardians ensure the sun is extinguished after another burning day (Derek Muller) – 18 points

Well done to Gordon Davidson, who had the top image, achieved the highest mark, and has won the right to judge next year’s competition if he so wishes. Also well done to Derek Muller for submitting the most imaginative and amusing titles! The scoring was very close and, now that George has consulted his final spreadsheet, I can reveal that the final result from all three competitions is:

  • 1st place
    • Joe Fowler (54 + 53 = 107)
    • Malcolm Roberts (57 + 50 = 107)
  • 2nd place
    • Mike Clark (52 + 52 = 104)
  • 3rd place
    • Steven Beard (52 + 51 = 103)
    • George Todd (55 + 48 = 103)
    • Derek Muller (51 + 52 = 103)
    • Gordon Davidson (49 + 54 = 103)
  • 4th place
    • Steve Williams (51 + 51 = 102)
  • 5th place
    • Carol Edmund (50 + 49 = 99)
  • 6th place
    • John West (49 + 49= 98)

Well done to Joe and Malcolm for jointly winning the trophy! The scoring was so close this year that there are a lot of medal winners. Well done to you all.

  • Since we are coming up to the last few competitions of the season, it is time to start returning your trophies from last year to George so he can engrave them ready for the AGM.
  • This coming Thursday, 9th March 2023, we will be hosting our annual meeting with Mölnlycke Fotoklubb from Gothenburg. The meeting will be held by Zoom, but we will also show the meeting at Fisherrow. Come along a comment on Mölnlycke’s images and vote for your favourites.