Category Archives: Competitions

07 December 2023 (Black and White Print Competition)

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Our Black and White print competition took place on 7th December 2023, judged by Fiona Brims, who travelled to us from Central Scotland. Fiona’s work can be found on her web site, where her work on creative portraiture stands out in particular.

https://www.fionabrimsphotography.co.uk/

28 prints had been entered by 10 members, which was fewer than usual, so Fiona had time to comment on each print in detail. She gave some useful, amusing and considered feedback explaining how each of the prints could be improved. Fiona introduced us to three tongue-in-cheek terms. Oomph! A print needs to have an impact. Increasing the contrast and making sure the background gets darker towards the edge all help to keep the eye on the subject. Smidgeon. Lightening some of the shadows by just a smidgeon could help improve the visual impact. Meh! Some of the blank skies, areas of empty grass or open water made boring areas in between areas of interest. Try to minimise the boring areas by changing your viewpoint to reduce their size or by boosting their contrast. Fiona found there was something to like in each of the prints. There were some nice compositions with a good tonal range, some striking and atmospheric landscapes and some studies with an emotional impact. There were some prints which gave a fantastic first impression but Fiona was disappointed to find were not sharp when viewed closely, or they had smudges or cloning faults in the background. Fiona recommended that when photographing an object it is important to have an anchor point to put that object in context. So, for example, a photograph of a typewriter could be improved by showing some of the desk it is sitting on, or a photograph of lights dangling from a tree needs to show where the lights are attached. There were also a few black and white portraits. Fiona explained that she liked to see a catchlight in the eyes, which improves the empathy with the viewer. At the end we had plenty of time to chat and review the prints over tea and sandwiches. The top scorers were (in reverse order):

  • 4th place (46 points)
    • Jim Innes
  • 3rd place (48 points)
    • Jennifer Davidson
    • Mike Clark
    • Carol Edmund
  • 2nd place (50 points)
    • Derek Muller
  • 1st place (55 points)
    • George Todd

The top images were:

  • Man on a Tram (George Todd) – 20 points
  • Suffering for your art (Derek Muller) – 19 points
  • Patiently waiting for prayer to finish (George Todd) – 18 points
  • Exhausted (Carol Edmund) – 18 points

Well done to George Todd, who wins the competition, and to Derek, Jennifer, Mike and Carol, who came close.  Fiona will return next year to give us a talk.

There is now only one meeting left at Fisherrow before Christmas. Come along next Thursday (14th December) at 7pm for our annual quiz night.

 

16 November 2023 (Match An Image Competition)

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This week club members visited North Berwick Photographic Society for the “Match an Image” competition. The competition took place at the St. Andrew Blackadder Church in North Berwick, where we were treated to tea and cakes.

The competition was judged by Gordon Rae. North Berwick began the competition with an image of a tap, and Musselburgh replied with Jim Innes’ image of a kite surfer. We were astonished that Gordon declared our image a match. This first round set the scene for the competition, where every single pair of images in the first half was declared a match! John West’s domed bowl of pears and light bulbs successfully matched North Berwick’s photo of the inside of a domed cathedral roof. We played John West’s image of a feeding hoverfly to discover that North Berwick had an image of a feeding giraffe weevil, which was declared the better image as it was a harder subject photographed in Madagascar. We tried to exhaust their images of insects by following up with Malcolm Robert’s beautiful blue dragonfly, only to find they matched it with a photograph of a crocodile with butterflies on its head, also photographed in Madagascar. At the tea break North Berwick were leading 20 points to Musselburgh’s 18 points.

In the second half it became harder to match the images; but we successfully matched their image of baobab trees in Madagascar with Steven Beard’s image of Butterdean Wood. Then they matched Jennifer Davidson’s Woodland Nymph portrait with a very different lady whose tattoos matched the nymph’s dress. The matches became more tenuous as the evening wore on. Karen Woodcock’s Winter Sky image and Joe Fowler’s Old Mill image both successfully matched North Berwick’s pictures from Arizona because all the images contained rocks and stones. But the matches became harder and harder, and Steve William’s interior of the Sagrada Familia couldn’t quite match their abstract image. Then we pulled off a lucky match late in the competition when North Berwick presented us with an image of an upturned boat on the beach at sunset and we replied with Mike Clark’s image of the X Craft submarine. The competition finished as a well-deserved draw, with Musselburgh and North Berwick both achieving a total of 36 points.

Thank you to everyone who travelled to North Berwick to support the club, and to everyone who submitted images. And thank you to Gordon Rae for judging the competition and putting up with the heckling. Next year the competition returns to Musselburgh.

Next week we are hosting the 4-way interclub competition at Musselburgh. Come and support your club as we host Stirling and District Camera Club, Edinburgh Photographic Society and Kirkcaldy Photographic Society. We will be meeting at Fisherrow in the larger room G6 (not our usual room) at 7pm on Thursday, 23rd November.

09 November 2023 (Colour Print Competition)

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This week the club welcomed Kenneth Goodfellow CPAGB LRPS, of Dunfermline Photographic Association, to judge our colour print competition. Ken described how he had transitioned from film photography to digital photography back in 1999, when he bought his first digital camera and started using an early version of Photoshop. You can see a gallery of Ken’s images in Dunfermline’s members gallery:

https://www.dunfermlinephoto.org/members

32 prints had been entered by 11 members. Ken showed that several of the prints had issues with their mounting. There were some ragged edges that could have been trimmed, some mounts were still tacky with glue, and some prints had glue stains on the front. Ken recommended that members check their mounts for excess glue before submitting them. Some prints had air bubbles or ripples, and Ken recommended covering prints with tissue paper and pressing them from the middle outwards to expel air bubbles. He also warned us of “A3 syndrome”: If you have a nice A3 printer and are feeding it with expensive A3 paper there’s a temptation to make sure none of the paper is wasted, so all your prints end up A3-sized. Ken felt that some of the prints would have looked better cropped to a different aspect ratio. Also be careful how you label the mount, as it determines which way up an image will be judged. One of the images was judged upside down as a result of its label. “Why is this image labelled St .Peter’s Square and it shows a lamp, and is Shankar heading to the brickworks or from the brickworks?” Ken also gave us the usual advice about cutting out distractions, watching for lost detail in the highlights and shadows, and making sure the subject of each print is sharp. Despite all the criticism about mounting, many of the prints were of a high quality and achieved high marks. The top scorers were (in reverse order):

  • 5th place (52 points)
    • Joe Fowler
    • Gordon Davidson
  • 4th place (53 points)
    • Jennifer Davidson
    • Carol Edmond
  • 3rd place (54 points)
    • George Todd
  • 2nd place (55 points)
    • Derek Muller
  • 1st place (59 points)
    • John West

The top images were:

  • Pear Shaped (John West) – 20 points
  • Melon-Cauli (John West) – 20 points
  • Knee to the Ground (Jennifer Davidson) – 19 points
  • Shankar Heading to the Brickworks (George Todd) – 19 points
  • Dutch Style Still Life (John West) – 19 points
  • Formidable (Carol Edmond) – 19 points
  • Helenium (Elaine Gilroy) – 18 points
  • Monkey Sanctuary Success Story (Derek Muller) – 19 points
  • Eyes Wide Open (Joe Fowler) – 18 points
  • Three Sisters (George Todd) – 18 points
  • Pettico Wick Jetty Surf (Mike Clark) – 18 points
  • Vulnerable (Carol Edmond) – 18 points
  • Lady of Venice (Jim Innes) – 18 points
  • Eyes on Lunch (Derek Muller) – 18 points
  • Coming in to Land (Derek Muller) – 18 points

John West blew away the competition and earned a fantastic 59/60 points for his expertly-created set of still life prints! Well done also to Derek Muller’s and George Todd.

Our next meeting will be taking place at North Berwick, where we are joining them for our annual “Match an Image” competition. North Berwick Photographic Society will be hosting us at 7:30pm on Thursday, 16th November in the St Andrew Blackadder Church Chapel, St Andrew Street, North Berwick.

12 October 2023 (Digital Projected Images Competition)

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Our Digital Projected Images competition took place on 12th October 2023. Eddie Telford had travelled over from Ayr to judge the competition for us. Eddie began by telling us that he evaluates three Cs when judging the quality of photographic images: Colour, Context and Composition. Some of Eddie’s work can be seen on his Flikr page:

https://www.flickr.com/people/buddy2010/

There were 66 images altogether, entered by 22 members, and Eddie managed to get through them all exactly on time, giving us plenty of time to discuss the results over tea. Landscape, wildlife and macro shots were popular this year, including many sunsets. There were many high quality images submitted this year, resulting in a lot of high marks. Eddie commented on the composition of each image, pointing out how leading lines and shapes create pleasing triangles. The best landscape images were the ones which included a focal point to draw your eye into the scene. The best wildlife shots were the ones that captured their subject in the act: such as hunting prey or feeding.

The top scorers were (in reverse order):

  • 5th place (52 points)
    • Steve Williams
  • 4th place (53 points)
    • Jim Innes
  • 3rd place (54 points)
    • Malcolm Roberts
    • George Todd
    • Mike Clark
  • 2nd place (55 points)
    • Jennifer Davidson
    • Derek Muller
  • 1st place (58 points)
    • Joe Fowler

There were many top images:

  • Hunting Sparrowhark (Jennifer Davidson) – 20 points
  • Woodpecker Feeding (Joe Fowler) – 20 points
  • Going to School (Joe Fowler) – 19 points
  • Forrest Princess (Joe Fowler) – 19 points
  • Hummingbird (Malcolm Roberts) – 19 points
  • Brahmana Priest (George Todd) – 19 points
  • Happiness looks like THIS (David Muller) – 19 points
  • Woodland Nymph Queen (Jennifer Davidson) – 18 points
  • Blue Dragonfly (Malcom Roberts) – 18 points
  • Fighting for the Lead (George Todd) – 18 points
  • European Brown Bear Shaking It (Mike Clark) – 18 points
  • X Craft Submarine Last Light (Mike Clark) – 18 points
  • White Mountain Hare in the Heather (Mike Clark) – 18 points
  • Interior – Sagrada Familia (Steve Williams) – 18 points
  • Dawn on the Tron (Jim Innes) – 18 points
  • Kite Surfer (Jim Innes) – 18 points
  • When Colour Doesn’t Matter (Derek Muller) – 18 points
  • Ready to Take On Fuel (Derek Muller) – 18 points

Well done to Joe Fowler for winning with only 2 points short of maximum points. Thank you to Eddie for judging for us. Eddie will be returning to Musselburgh Camera Club on 22nd February 2024 to tell us about “Remember Photography is Fun” and “Around the World in 80 Images“.

On 19th October (this evening!) we have our “Introduction to Photography” session. Don’t forget to bring your 3 mounted prints for the Colour Print Competition.

Digital Images Competition and Aurora

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A reminder that this coming Thursday is the deadline for entering the Digital Projected Images competition. This is an open competition where you can enter colour images of any subject. To enter the competition please email your 3 JPEG images to our competition secretary, George Todd (georgetodd1957@me.com). If you can’t email your images you can give them to George this Thursday.

Images need to be sized to fit into a 1600×1200 pixel rectangle, as shown below. A 4:3 landscape image can be resized to 1600×1200, but a 4:3 portrait image needs to be resized to 900 x 1200.

If you are a beginner and don’t know how to resize your images, send them anyway. George is always happy to help beginners to resize their images. Best of luck. The competition will be judged by Eddie Telford on 12th October 2023.

And now the second part of the news. I am getting a red alert for an aurora this evening, and the sky is clear! If you have the time, and are able to find a place with a good view of the northern sky, you could get some great shots this evening.

https://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/

See you this Thursday, when Neil Scott will give us his talk on “Minimalism My Way”.

27 April 2023 (AGM and Presentation of Trophies)

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The 2022/23 Musselburgh Camera Club season ended on 27th April 2023 with the AGM and the presentation of trophies. The AGM was organised as a hybrid meeting, with most members attending at Fisherrow but a small number joining by Zoom. Next year we plan to go back to face to face meetings as the norm and restore our regular tea and coffee breaks, but we’ll use Zoom as an occasional tool for reaching out to more distant speakers and clubs.

Members had an opportunity during the evening to suggest and vote for the topics for next year’s set subject competitions. The top results were:

  1. Macro
  2. Contrasting Textures
  3. Flowers
  4. Water

The first 3 topics become set subjects A, B and C and the last topic will become the subject of our digital knockout competition. For beginners who may be reading, “Macro” is a close-up photograph of something small, as defined in this article: Macro photography definition. It’s an opportunity to look at the small things around you. You can use any of the special equipment described in the article (macro lens, reversed lens, extension tubes, close-up lens) to take macro photographs, but here are a few tricks you can try if you don’t have such equipment:

  • Use a telephoto lens at its minimum focus distance. Some lenses can take surprising good macro photographs even when they are not labelled as “macro”. You can use a larger subject to disguise the fact that you are not that close.
  • Take a photograph through a magnifying glass. A close-up lens is merely a magnifying glass that clips onto the front of you camera.
  • Use your mobile phone. Mobile phones can take close up photos because their cameras are small.

The AGM finished with a presentation of trophies and medals and with a delicious selection of snacks and refreshments provided by Jennifer Davidson, Liz Sowler and George Smith, who also received the club’s “Golden Teapot” award. The full list of trophy and medal winners can be found on the following page:

Trophy Winners – 2022/2023

Although the AGM brings the formal 2022/23 season to an end, there will be informal meetings by Zoom every Thursday evening throughout the summer. We also have an exhibition in The Wee Hub at Ocean Terminal and at various libraries. The timetable can be found at the following page:

2023 Library Exhibitions

Our first meeting of the 2023/24 season will be on Thursday, 7th September 2023. We have another programme packed with speakers, competitions and special events to look forward to. In the meantime, best of luck and I hope you have a summer packed with fun photography.

See you in September if not before. All the best,

Steven Beard

06 April 2023 (Digital Knockout Competition)

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As we approach the end of our 2022/23 season, we reached our annual digital knockout competition. This year’s knockout was on the theme of “black and white”, which had been chose at last year’s AGM. As this is an informal knock-out without a judge, members could interpret this theme any way they wished, although strongly coloured images were not popular in the voting rounds.

15 members entered a total of 43 digital images, plus one print which couldn’t be digitised in time. Members once again showed their creativity in interpreting the theme. There were black and white images of strongly shaped or textured objects, such as the Shard, a tunnel under St. Andrews Castle, shadows and refractions of household objects viewed through glass, black and white portraits, and some black and white wildlife and nature images, including some misty woodland scenes and portraits of birds. Then there were also images of black and white subjects photographed in colour, such as a piano, salt and pepper, a Dalmatian dog, or a pair of lemurs. The images were ordered randomly and paired together in a series of head-to-head rounds until only 3 remained. Members then voted for their favourite to determine the final placings, and the result was:

  • 3rd place
    • Peek a Boo (Jennifer Davidson)
  • 2nd place
    • Mortonhall (Karen Woodcock)
  • 1st Place
    • Clear Head (Jennifer Davidson)

Well done to Jennifer Davidson, whose winning image showed a black and white image of a glass head which emphasised the edges. Jennifer wins an Easter egg! Well done also to new member, Karen Woodcock, whose beautiful woodland image secured her second place. Jennifer’s third placed image showed a black and white portrait of some children alongside a black and white lamb.

  • The dates for our 2023 library exhibition have been announced. The club would like some volunteers to help transfer our prints between libraries on the following dates. All the libraries except Gullane will need our display stands. Please contact Ed or Steven if you would like to volunteer.
    • 6th May 2023: Setting up the exhibition at Gullane library.
    • 20th May 2023: Transferring the exhibition from Gullane to Prestonpans.
    • 3rd June 2023: Transferring the exhibition from Prestonpans to Port Seton.
    • 17th June 2023: Transferring the exhibition from Port Seton to Longniddry
    • 1st July 2023: Transferring the exhibition from Longniddry to Musselburgh
    • 15th July 2023: Taking down the exhibition from Musselburgh library.
  • Next Thursday we have the club’s outdoor photoshoot. We will be meeting at Cockenzie harbour at 7pm on Thursday, 13th April, and will explore the coastline from the site of the former power station up to Port Seton harbour.

 

16 March 2023 (Human Portrait Print Competition)

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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)

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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)

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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.