We had a god number of ‘Human Portrait Comp. Images’ handed in last night. If you could not make the meeting but have an entry, please send me an e mail and we will work out how to deal with it.

I only got two CD’s last night – please bring a digital copy  next week or e mail me with them.

Last night we viewed the entries of the Scottish Photographic Federation 2013 Comp. There was a good range of images, too many squirrels though!

Only Joe had an entry, I hope that we will have some ‘quality’ images to submit for next year.

Next week we have Richard Bingham presentation on ‘ Landscape in a Figure, Figures in a Landscape’. This should be a ‘revealing’ and interesting talk.

Please remember to let me have your digital images for the club’s data base.

Clive

George Neilson last week mentioned the Scottish Photographic Society’s Club Digital Championship at Stirling on 17th Nov. (Details on notice board)

See   http://www.scottish-photographic-federation.org/  for full details.

George gave us a lot of constructive comments last week – I would suggest that if you agree with his comments to do some further work on your images and if you then think that it improves it, send me a digital copy and then I can update the Club’s Data Base, thus improving the standard of our work.

George also mentioned the mounted presentations – Charlie Briggs held a print mounting workshop – 12 members put their names down, but only five turned up – this was not good – if you cannot make a commitment then it is only decent to advised the organiser of the event. There seems to be a need of further training so Charlie has agreed to have a further workshop if there is enough interest.

On Monday 2nd Dec. (not Tuesday as per syllabus) there is the ‘4 way Interclub Comp’ to be hosted by Edinburgh Photographic Society. They are keen to know how many of our members will attend, so I have put a notice on the board, so please put your name down if you are able to go and support our club.

Kirkcaldy – Monday evening proved to be good for the MCC

Results

Digital Projection – total scores

MCC                           221

Kirkcaldy                     202

Prints

MCC                           231

Kirkcaldy                     224

Thus MCC triumphed with a total score of  452  against Kirkcaldy’s of 426

Anita Nutter got 20 for ‘Frozen Tulips’ (Digital) and awarded ‘Best Digital Image’

Steven Beard  got 20 for ‘Splash Dance’ (Print)

We now need to build up a further set on 30 images for the return visit in April 2014 – so let’s start working towards this goal.

Last night everyone  was a ‘Judge’ – members were free to say what they like about the images, hopefully constructively. This proved to be an enjoyable and interesting evening.

Next week please bring in up to three ‘Human Portrait Image’ prints to be judged on 5th Dec. Please also bring a CD with images or e mail them to me.

We also have the Scottish Photographic Federation’s Print & Projected winning images for 2013. If we can build up our Data Base we can have a go at a submission for our images next year.

Joe Fowler is holding a further workshop at Southfields this Saturday – the subject is ‘Sport Photography’ – 10am – Noon.    For more info     fingalfowler@aol.com

Clive

We are visiting to Kirkcaldy on Monday 11th Nov. Martin & Gavin will be at Fisherrow to organise transport, leave at 6pm, remember to leave cars in road if you are getting a lift

Christmas dinner – Thursday 19th Dec – please put name on list if you are able to join us all in a relaxed and enjoyable evening.

Anita is having an exhibition at The Gallery at Fenton Barnes – preview this Friday 7-9pm and open all day Saturday and Sunday Noon to 4pm. If you can ‘pop along’ and give her your support.

Last night we have George Neilson, who judged our Projected Images in season 2010-11.He is Vice President, Judge Secretary and Area Rep for Edinburgh North & South of the Scottish Photographic Society, he is also past President of the Edinburgh Photographic Society.

George has a speciality in ‘Sport Photography’, he has agreed to give us a talk on this for our syllabus 2014/15.

We were fortunate to have him to invest a lot of his time in assessing our prints, he gave a lot of very constructive comments and ideas that if we take on board will assist us to improve our images. Look for distracting items that could be removed, darken areas that are too light, crop to show the best aspect

Remember take a larger image which can be cropped down, because you cannot add to an image if more space around the subject is required, with modern cameras you do not need to ‘fill the frame’ as was required with the ‘ancient’ slides.

Think about using ‘fill in flash’ if there are dark areas even if the sun is shining. Lighting was the main element with landscapes, study the ‘sun’ time tables and get up early to get the best light.

Take note of the comments and have another look at your images and see if you can improve it.

Next week we have another members meeting, this time we will set up tables and members will discuss the images which every member must bring in – this proved to be interesting and enjoyable last year.

So without fail each member must bring in a print (mounted or otherwise).

Start thinking about and preparing your Human Prints for submission at the meeting on 21st November – Please note that you can have up to three prints for this comp.

Clive

I wish to thank members for letting me have their digital copy of the print submissions – Jennifer now owes me 10 pence!! Can we now treat this as the norm for future print submissions.

It is worth making time to visit  the Viviane Sassen exhibition at the Portrait Gallery – it is quite an experience, especially in the way that they have staged the displays.

Anita is having an exhibition at Fenton Barns – 8/9/10th Nov ., please try to visit. Full details on notice board.

We will be visiting Kirkcaldy Camera Club on Monday 11th Nov., put your name on the  list on the notice board then we can organise car sharing.

There is also a further list in respect of our Christmas Dinner on Thursday 19th Dec. please put your name on the list, there is a copy of details on the notice board.

Last night we had Horst Meyerdieks to enlighten us on the art of Astrophotography, he is a member of the Astronomical Society of Edinburgh and also a member of the staff of the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh.

He has had a lifelong interest in amateur astronomy and has been working in the field of astrophotography since 1999, when he replaced his telescope eyepiece with a digital camera. He has a web site  www.chiandh.me.uk which you might like to look at.

We were given an insight into the equipment that he has developed in order to capture images that we would not know were there with the naked eye. It does take a lot of dedication but by using a SLR on a tripod and keeping the shutter open from 30 seconds to a few minutes on a clear night it can produce some interesting results.

So get away from street lighting, wrap up warm and have a go.

Next week we will have our Colour Print entries judged (or taken apart!) by George Neilson. I am sure he will give us his opinion and guidance that if we take on board it will help us to develop our skills further.

Please note we will be expecting your entries for the ‘Human Portrait Competition’ on 21st Nov. This time will wish to receive up to three printed mounted images, so please start to prepare so that we have a high number of entries.

Clive

I appears that the Photoshop Workshop on Tuesday proved to be helpful to the members who attended, I based it on making a composite from three images and a schedule which showed a step by step procedure which covered using most of the tools that one could practice on in order to improve your own images.

If you would like to have a copy of this exercise, send me an e mail and I will prepare a CD which you can have at the next meeting.

We have started setting out the Syllabus for 2014/15 – do you have any ideas for subjects or speakers? If you have an idea please send me an e mail.

The prints you handed in for the Colour Print Comp. have been passed to the judge and we will not be able to see them again until they are judged on 7th Nov.

The Kirkcaldy CC Comp is on 11th Nov – therefore there will not be time to decide on the ones that we want to take to for the comp.

It is therefore ESSENTIAL that I get digital copies via e mail from all members who put a print in but has not already let me have a copy

Another good reason was that I said that I would get all images in and Jennifer doubted this and bet me 10p – I am a poor loser – so please let me have your image by this coming weekend at the latest.

Many thanks to Lynn and Martin who last night gave us an insight into how they have developed their interest in photography and the way they have used their imagination to create something different, with Lynn’s stacked stones on the beach and the time lapse images of the ‘two faces’ of Martin. Their development of their skills of using Photoshop could be seen with the ‘before & after’ images and how they have taken on board comments from judges and made the improvements.

Next week

We have a ‘star’ speaker – Horst Meyerdierks from the Royal Observatory Edinburgh telling us about ‘Astrophotography’ – Steven Beard suggested this, therefore if you have any work colleges who could give us a talk please let me know.

Clive

Members who were unable to bring in their colour Prints last night, please e mail me and I will make arrangements for you to take them to Joe, Lynn or myself.

I only had a few CD’s last night, it is essential that I have a digital copy of your entries, therefore please e mail me a digital copy asap. Put your club number and title as the file name

Last night we are very fortunate to have Libby Smith, who came all the way from Carluke .

She is  one of the main stays in the Carluke CC and  is a Master of the Photographic Alliance of GB and has an Excellence award in the Federation International Art of Photography.

She is also on the roll of honour at the Scottish Photographic Federation and is one of the SPF Executives, Judges Secretary and is the Hon. Life Vice President.

Fantastic achievements and a major contributor to photography.

Mono photography is a real art and Libby  gave us an illustrated presentation which highlighted the ways you can transpose a ‘bland greyscale image’ into an image that has ‘wow’. This advice and guidance should encourage us to put that extra effort in and create an interesting images. She will come back and judge our Black & White comp. in March, so we had better take note of her advice!

I am sending out separately to you the notes that Libby has prepared which should assist us, I will also organise a further Photoshop Workshop to cover this topic.

Next Tuesday 22nd Oct. we have the colour Photoshop Workshop, 7.30-9pm,

At our next meeting  we will hear about the ‘deep secrets’ of Lynn and Martin’s exploits into photography.

Clive

As I guessed I missed a fascinating meeting on Thursday, Lynn has advised me of this fact and I am sure that all the members present felt the same. I copy below her summary.

“What a fantastic session on 3D photography by Denis Alyshev, Denis brought along his own equipment and explained to everyone what he had and why it was used.  He even brought along his recent ebay purchase which was a vintage silver screen which he pulled up straight from the beautiful wooden box.  He used the modern version to show his images though!  He showed us images from his home town in Russia and around his local area – including beautiful winter scenes.  He showed us images of inside his friend’s houses and his own.

He moved on to photos of Japan – beautiful pictures in Autumn.  Then he showed us pictures of Scotland.  His pictures were fantastic.  We were all given 3D glasses to view the images and you felt that you could just reach out and touch them”.

Next week remember to bring along your two entries for the Colour Print Comp. Do not worry about what the judges say, by making an effort and participating in these local club comp. it gives something to aim for, you get guidance (even if you do not agree) which believe me does help in developing your skills.

If most of the entries were perfect no one would benefit and it would be most discouraging and very little would be gained So please make a real effort and put  your work in.

If you cannot make next weeks meeting and you didn’t bring in your prints last week e mail me and I will find a way to have them included, so no excuses!

Next week we also have Libby Smith, as I have mentioned before she is one of the best photographers in Scotland, advising us on mono photography, she will then judge our Black & White comp. in March. So we had better take note of her advice!

I have had an e mail from the National Galleries of Scotland which advises of an exhibition that would be worth making an effort to see: –

“At the Portrait Gallery later this month, critically acclaimed Dutch photographer Viviane Sassen showcases her fashion and fine art photographs (In Bloom, in the only UK showing of her retrospective, In and Out of Fashion. Come see how her work has transformed fashion photography in the last decade”

Hope to see most of you next week.

Clive

Print comp – two colour print images to be handed in at meeting on 17th October

Put your club number & title of image on the back of the mount.

Please put the images on a CD or e mail it to me (clivemcc@talktalk.net)-reduce image size to 1400mm longest side and put club number and title as file name                             ( i.e     01 My image.jpg.

There are two good reasons for this:-

1. To build  the Club’s Data Base
2. We require material for the forth coming Interclub Competitions

• Kirkcaldy – Monday 11th Nov. 10 prints & 10 digital
• 4 way hosted by Edinburgh 2nd Dec. 15 digital

Members can also let me have additional digital images which can go on the data base and can be considered for these external competitions – file names as above format.

Workshops

• Print Mounting – Tues.8th October –
• Photoshop -Tues.22nd Oct – if you are interested please put your name on the list on the notice board or send me an e mail.

Last night we had the pleasure of Dr Neil Scott  to judge our first Club Competition where 27 members entered two projected images each. There was a good range of images, but one of the main points that Neil tried to advise us was that if we want to develop our skill to get to the level of ‘competition images’ they should reflect the input of the photographer.

Consider the best angle and get that different or even unique shot. Picture post card images are fine, but these have already been captured by millions of ‘point and click’ photographers. Have a good look at the scene in front of you and see if there is an element that can be homed in on that the average person would not even notice. Post processing must also be carefully considered to get the best out of the shot, experiment by using the tools that are available which can assist in maximizing the ‘real’ impact and give it that ‘wow’ factor.

Next week

We have a fascinating talk by Denis Alyshev who will introduce many of us to 3D Photography

I unfortunately have to go south again (family problems) so will miss this meeting, so Lynn will be in charge again.

I hope to be back for the meeting on 17th Oct. with Libby Smith, a skilled photographers who is one of the leading figures at the Carluke Camera Club and is now their Honorary Vice President (Hunter Kennedy who showed us his amazing work two weeks ago is also a leading member of Carluke). So this is a standard of presentation that no member should miss.

Clive

Many thanks to Anita who gave us her very experienced comments on the images brought in by members at our ‘Critique’ evening. There was a wide range of subjects and by opening it up to comments from ‘the floor’  I think it made a constructive and ‘entertaining evening.

If there is enough interest Joe Fowler will be holding a workshop at Southfields on Saturday 5th Oct. – for details and booking contact him on fingalfowler@aol.com

Calumet are having another ‘Open Day’ on Weds 9th Oct – offering a ‘free’ (they are looking for a small donation for local charity) sensor cleaning service, plus other promotions.                       http://www.calumetphoto.co.uk

Charlie Briggs has now arranged the ‘Image Mounting Workshop’ on Tuesday 8th Oct.     7.30-9pm. Put your name on the list on the notice board or remove it if you cannot make that evening. He will e mail you with details etc.

I have planned to run a Photoshop Workshop on Tues. 22nd Oct. 7.30 – 9pm – just come along and bring a laptop if you have one.

I would like to remind members that we will be receiving Colour Print Images at the meeting on 17th October. Two mounted prints per member – you can bring then along on the 10th October if you cannot make the 17th. Please hand them to our Comp. Sec. George Todd. Will everyone make a real effort to put their work in so that we have a good entry for George Neilson to judge on 7th Nov.

Next week we have our first Club Competition where 27 members entered two projected images each which will be judged by Dr Neil Scott who some of you might remember that he gave us a fascinating talk entitled ‘A silk Purse from a Sows Ear’. He also was the judge at last season’s Interclub Competition against Kirkcaldy

Clive