A reminder that this Thursday, 9th December 2021, is the submission date for the first of our set subject competitions. Please send your 3 JPEG images on the theme of “reflections” to George Todd (georgetodd1957@me.com). Remember to resize your images to be no larger than 1600 x 1200 pixels.
The competition itself will be judged by Malcolm Roberts on 6th January 2022.
Our black and white print competition took place on 2nd December 2021. Like the colour print competition judged earlier in the year, this competition was also judged digitally. The competition was judged by Gordon McMann CAPGB of Queens Park Camera Club, Glasgow.
15 members had entered 45 images altogether. There were landscape shots, some shots of local architecture and artwork, a selection of portraits, some sporting action shots, and a few shots of flowers and wildlife. Gordon commented on the impact and composition of each image. In some cases there was a loss of detail in the highlights or the shadows, and in other cases the dynamic range had been compressed so the image lacked contrast. Gordon recommended solving both of these problems by dodging and burning. The photographer can “paint” regions of brightness or shadow onto the image to enhance some areas and dampen others. Some of the portraits could have been improved by this method: brightening the face while darkening the light shining through a window; darkening the shadows under the chin to enhance the contrast and give the image more depth. While a lack of contrast can make an image seem flat, so can a blank background. A portrait or flower image on a plain background can look two-dimensional. Carol Edmond’s image “Dying Roses” was an example of a background that worked. The subtle gradient of tone in the background maintained the depth in the image. Gordon also warned photographers to beware of photographing artwork, like the Kelpies, where the sky shows through the holes. If you darken the sky you need to darken everything shining through the holes as well. Also, watch out for odd shapes at the edge of the artwork where the shadows don’t look right. One of the most striking images in the competition was Kevin Johnson’s abstract portrait called “Neg”. A portrait of a model with a tattoo had been boldly presented as a negative black and white image.
Gordon had classified the images into commended (16 points), highly commended (17 points) and then 1st, 2nd and 3rd. The top images were:
When the points were added up, the top scorers were revealed to be (in reverse order):
Congratulations to George Todd, Gordon Davidson, Malcolm Roberts and Carol Edmund. Next week we have our second members evening, and our last meeting at Fisherrow before Christmas. Jennifer Davidson, George Todd and Gavin Marshall will be presenting their work.
See you on Thursday,
Steven
The 4-way inter-club competition between Musselburgh, Kirkcaldy, Stirling & Edinburgh took place on Monday, 29th November 2021. The meeting was hosted by Edinburgh Photographic Society via Zoom. Some Musselburgh Camera Club members joined the meeting by Zoom and the rest watched the competition from the Fisherrow Centre. Unfortunately, the Zoom format meant we couldn’t socialise with the other clubs over tea and biscuits as we normally do.
Each club had submitted 15 digital images, making a grand total of 60 images. The images were judged by Campbell Skinner, who is based in Greenock. Campbell commented on the composition and quality of the images presented. He suggested that many of the images could be improved by an increase in contrast to make them more punchy. Some of the compositions could be improved by cropping more tightly on the subject, whereas other compositions had the subject too close to the edge. Campbell suggested using the “content aware fill” facility in Photoshop to add extra background to an over-tight composition.
There were several examples of the clubs submitting similar images. There were two examples of white water canoeing, images of interacting birds, empty streets photographed during lockdown, and several flower images. In each of the cases when Musselburgh had a similar image, the other club’s image had a better background, was sharper or had a punchier contrast. Musselburgh had submitted some good images, but this year the other clubs submitted better ones. The final scores were:
None of our images were awarded 20 points this year, but the following images came close:
Well done to Mike, Carol and George for keeping up the good standard. Commiserations to everyone who had an image in this competition. The scoring was the exact reverse of the 4-way competition from 2019. We have won this competition several times in the past, and we can do it again in the future.
The 4-way inter-club competition between Musselburgh, Kirkcaldy, Stirling & Edinburgh takes place this coming Monday, 29th November at 7:30pm.
The meeting is being hosted by Edinburgh Photographic Society via Zoom. Information on how to connect to the meeting has been circulated to members separately. Musselburgh Camera Club members can choose to connect to the Zoom meeting from home or join us at the Fisherrow Centre, where we will be showing the meeting on the screen.
Come along this Monday and support your club.
Please note that the 4-way competition is not due to take place this coming Monday, 15th November 2021, as originally advertised on your programme. It is taking place 2 weeks later on Monday, 29th November 2021.
The arrangements will be the same. The meeting will hosted by Edinburgh Photographic Society by Zoom. We will circulate the Zoom information a few days before the meeting. Members can choose to join the meeting from home or to watch the meeting from the Fisherrow Centre.
Our colour print competition took place on 4th November 2021. Since we are still in a period of hybrid meetings, with not all club members able to attend at Fisherrow and deliver prints, this competition was judged digitally. Clive Watkins, president of Irvine Camera Club, judged the competition and presented the results by Zoom. Clive told us he had been a photographer for more than 20 years and, after being at the receiving end of judges’ comments for a few years, he decided to become a judge himself. He told us that a photograph first needs to look good and be technically well executed. But photography is a work of art, and a photograph also needs to make a statement or have an emotional impact. You can view some of Clive’s work in the Irvine Camera club gallery or on his web site (Siglov).
16 members had entered 48 images altogether. There were wildlife images of birds, insects, a hare, and a fox. There were photographs of flowers, landscapes, sport and urban architecture and one or two portraits and still life compositions. A popular image with the audience on the night was Carol Edmund’s lovely portrait “Stylish”. Clive commented on the composition of each image, the shapes formed by the components, and the separation of the subject from the background. Some of the landscape images could be improved by cropping out areas of dull lighting. Some of the images had a large expanse of green grass in the background. He suggested reducing the contrast of the background and reducing the green saturation so that the grass didn’t detract from the main subject. Some members had photographed their subject against a plain black background. While this helped to separate the subject technically, Clive felt that a plain background didn’t help to present a subject (and made it look cut out). He suggested choosing a background which harmonises with the subject. For example, photograph flowers against a background of greenery, and photograph nuts, cones, seeds and spices against a natural background of wood or slate.
Clive ended his presentation by taking us through his top images in reverse order, which were:
When the points were added up, the top scorers were revealed to be (in reverse order):
Congratulations to Mike Clark, who managed to secure Clive’s top image of the night and two of his second placed images, making his total just two points short of a perfect score. Congratulations also to George Todd, Jennifer Davidson and Gordon Davidson for winning silver and bronze medals.
Next week we have our first members evening. George and Joe will show some of their work, but we may have some time to fill. If you have any images you would like to show please bring them along to Fisherrow or have them ready at home if you are connecting by Zoom. Don’t forget to submit your 3 JPEG images for the “black and white print” competition this week.
See you on Thursday,
Steven
Our annual digital knockout competition took place earlier than usual this year, on 28th October 2021. This year the subject was “Three Colours”, and members submitted 3 JPEG images, each with a different dominant colour.
13 members entered 39 images into the competition. We had some added complications due to the hybrid nature of the meeting this year, with 6 of the images from Zoom attendees stuck in limbo because they had been emailed too late. The remote attendees shared their screens to show the late images, which needed a lot of screen jugging during the evening. (If we are still having hybrid meetings next year we’ll set an earlier cut off time for remote entries.)
Carol Edmund and Charlie Briggs had got into the spirit of the time of year by coming in Halloween costume. Come to think of it, nobody photographed the costumes. But thanks to Carol and Charlie for cheering us up.
The competition had inspired some very creative images. There with images of brightly coloured animals, leaves and flowers. There were urban scenes of coloured lights; abstract scenes of water droplets, reflections or chocolate; and a brightly coloured car. The images were paired together in a series of head-to-head rounds until only 5 remained. Members then voted for their favourite to determine the final placings, and the result was:
Well done to Gordon Davidson, whose winning image featured a girl in a red dress in a poppy field looking at a stormy sky. Mike Clark’s second placed image showed a flock of geese silhouetted against a fiery orange sunset, Jennifer Davidson’s third placed image showed the folded petals of a beautiful pink rose. Steven Beard’ s image showed two blue meconopsis flowers, and George Todd’s image showed the urban landscape around Canary Warf lit by blue lamps.
Reminder: If you would like to come to the club Christmas dinner on 16th December 2021 please email Joe Fowler and bring a £10 deposit to the next club meeting.
The first major competition of the club calendar took place on 7th October 2021. Neil McGoldrick, from Hatton, Aberdeenshire, joined us via Zoom to judge our Digital Projected Images competition. You can check out some of Neil’s work on his Flikr site: https://www.flickr.com/people/45770642@N04/
The competition almost didn’t take place as expected. We arrived at the Fisherrow Centre to discover the Wi-Fi was not working! This is not a good thing for a hybrid meeting connected through Zoom. After we had spent 20 minutes struggling to connect, George Todd eventually saved the day by turning his mobile phone into a Wi-Fi hot spot.
17 members had entered 54 images altogether. There were shots of wildlife, landscapes, urban architecture, portraits, men at work, flowers, and some interesting abstract and still life shots. One of these, John West’s “For Khandles”, was praised for it’s amusing and imaginative title. Neil commented on the composition of each shot and did not like shots with too much empty space or strong background colours. There were some beautiful compositions he really liked but needed their highlight areas darkened. Some shots were not quite sharp enough where it mattered. Neil was pleased that so many members had decorated their images with a border, which helped delineate them when projected onto a screen, but he suggested that pure white is not necessarily the best colour to use. A very bright colour can draw the eye away from the centre. He suggested using a more neutral colour. The top scorers were (in reverse order):
The top images were:
Well done to George Todd for winning the competition and getting the 1st and 3rd placed images. Commiserations to Charlie Briggs and Mike Clark, who had images placed 2nd and 4th but just missed out on a medal. But your great images will still help the club in our inter-club competitions. The total scores included a lot of shots scoring 17 points.
Next week we will go through the competition images a second time, with more opportunity for feedback, comments and questions. I am away on holiday, so next week’s meeting will be hosted by George and Joe.
See you in two weeks.
Steven
A reminder that the submission date for the Digital Projected Images competition is this coming Thursday, 16th September 2021. This is an open competition, so you can send colour images of any subject. If you would like to enter, please send 3 JPEG images to George Todd (georgetodd1957@me.com) by this Thursday.
Please resize your images to no larger than 1600 pixels wide and 1200 pixels tall.
The club has been contacted with information about the Royal Overseas League photography competition, which is free to enter and open to everyone over the age of 18. The competition is open until 6th September 2021 and is accepting digital images on the theme of “International Friendship”. Not many of us have travelled overseas recently, but perhaps you have some images which fit the subject?
Visit this link for more information: https://www.rosl.org.uk/photography
Musselburgh Camera Club 
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