Category Archives: Locations

Please share your favourite locations here, with directions if possible.

20 April 2023 (Justin Minns: Interesting Stuff)

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This week, in our last club meeting of the 2022/23 season, we joined Beeslack Penicuik Camera Club for a fascinating Zoom talk by landscape photographer Justin Minns. His talk “Interesting Stuff” was inspired by a 1947 quote by photographer Jim Richardson:

“If you want to be a better photographer, stand in front of more interesting stuff.”

Justin began by showing us some landscape images he had captured around his local environment in Norfolk and Suffolk; mostly beach and woodland. He tended to capture his images around sunrise, but would sometimes stay longer and walk around to see what other opportunities were available in the area. His advice was to go with the flow and work with what you have. Look at the shapes and textures in the landscape. Even ugly subjects can become interesting if you apply the right technique, as demonstrated by a long exposure shot of Felixstowe docks taken during the blue hour after sunrise. The blue hour provided just enough residual daylight to balance the artificial lights of the docks. Justin advised us to compose shots carefully. Try to avoid overlapping objects in the frame. If you have taken a landscape shot which seems to look great on the back of the camera, zoom in and check it carefully for small mistakes before walking away. Justin referred us to his books “Photographing East Anglia” and “Photographing Essex” for more details.

The second part of Justin’s talk was on the theme of “Making it Interesting”. He demonstrated the following techniques you can use to enhance landscape shots:

  • Using motion: Photographing a moving subject with a long exposure, or moving the camera when photographing a stationary subject, can add drama and movement to a shot. Keeping the camera still for a while and then moving it before the exposure ends can create a striking double exposure effect. Justin recommended a shutter speed of 0.3-3 seconds for creating a “swoosh” effect which emphasises the motion of water or a long exposure of 30-120 seconds to render moving water into a minimalist mist. When only part of the scene is moving, a long exposure can make stationary subjects stand out.
  • Using focus: Most landscape photographers will try to make everything sharp, but you can make a shot more atmospheric by deliberately blurring part of the scene. Justin showed a woodland image where some heather in the foreground had been turned into a blurred mist by throwing it out of focus with a narrow depth of field. There was also an atmospheric shot of some blurry, back-lit seed heads.
  • Using infrared: If you have an infrared-converted camera, or use a conversion filter, infrared shots can make dramatic black and white images of woodland or old buildings.
  • Framing: Using a wide angle lens and including small figures in a scene can give a sense of space. Conversely, a telephone lens can pick out important details from a scene and cut out distractions. For example, woodland images look more dramatic if you cut out areas of distracting bright sky. A scene can also be improved by viewing it from an unusual angle, for example by looking down using a drone.

The third part of Justin’s talk was about “Interesting Places”, where he showed us fabulous shots of his favourite places for photography, which are:

Justin’s final section was about “Interesting timing”; how your approach to landscape photography might change with the season or time of day. The golden hour and blue hour are good times of the day, but if you can’t visit a place at those times you can make the best of what you have. Frosty conditions during the winter can transform a landscape into something unusual, especially when the combination is unexpected, such as a frozen beach. Another example of “going with the flow” was a snowy scene where all the sky detail had been lost. Justin used the opportunity to create a minimalist image. The same thing can be done in foggy or misty conditions. In calm conditions look for interesting reflections. Some of the most dramatic scenes happen at the transition point where good weather ends and bad weather begins. Justin finished the section with a collection of images of the aurora borealis. If you are lucky enough to capture an aurora, don’t forget to include some foreground interest to make a more balanced composition.

Justin concluded that he disagrees with Jim Richardson’s quote. You can visit and photograph lots of interesting places, but the really good photographs arise from your own ideas, inspiration and creativity. He felt this quote by Henri Cartier-Bresson was closer to the mark.

“To photograph: it is to put on the same line of sight the head, the eye and the heart.”

Thank you to Justin for a fascinating and inspiring presentation, and to Beeslack for hosting it. Next week we will be holding the club’s AGM at 7pm in our usual room, G3, at the Fisherrow Centre. Please come along with ideas for set subjects we can use next year.

See you there.

Steven

16 February 2023 (Alan Walker: Discovering Nature Photography – Japan and Beyond)

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This week we joined Beeslack Penicuik Camera Club for a fascinating talk by Alan Walker of Keswick Photographic Society, who described his experience discovering nature photography around the world. This particular talk, Japan and Beyond, is part 4 of Alan and Julie Walker’s “Discovering Nature Photography” series. You can find Keswick’s summary of this talk at the following link:

Julie and Alan Walker “Discovering Nature Photography Part 4 – Japan and Beyond” October 30th

Alan began by showing us the photographs he had taken from a visit to Japan in February 2018. The trip began in the Japanese Alps, where macaque monkeys gather to warm themselves in the hot pools. The two main problems in photographing these monkeys are the large numbers of people who gather round them and the steam from the pools. Alan avoids these problems by getting in close and waiting for moments when the steam subsides. He uses a Canon 200-400mm zoom lens with a built-in 1.4x converter, which can take the lens to 560mm. Photos were typically taken at ISO 1600, f/5.6 and 1/1000th second. Next he showed us photographs of the iconic red-crowned cranes at the Akan-Mashu National Park. These cranes are black and white birds photographed against a white snow background, so are difficult to capture. Alan recommended an exposure compensation of about +2 stops to get the whites looking right. The birds can be darkened in post-production. The best images are taken by getting down low to capture the birds against an out of focus distant background. Alan also described his experience photographing Steller’s sea eagles in the Sea of Okhotsk, birds which make great silhouettes when captured in profile.

Next, we were treated to a collection of nature photographs captured at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico, USA. Here Alan photographed snow geese and sandhill cranes in dim lighting. He experimented with photographing the flocks of birds at slow shutter speeds (e.g. 15th-60th second) while panning, which created images with movement. He also captured individual birds when taking off or landing. The birds look better when taking off, because they are looking up, but it is much harder to catch a bird doing this.

Alan moved on to show us photographs of mountain hares and red squirrels captured in the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland, and photographs of tawny owls and other birds captured from a hide in Otterbourne in Hampshire. Alan also showed us photographs of big cats captured in the Kalahari Desert in South Africa. He explained that the Kalahari is not a good place to visit for a safari if you want to see lots of animals, but if you are a photographer you go for the yellow grass and the lovely light. Alan finished by showing us images of polar bears captured in the arctic tundra around Churchill in Canada. This is a very bleak and cold place, and the polar bears are out to get you! Alan showed how polar bears are photographed safely from large viewing vehicles. In the question and answer session Alan gave some tips on keeping your camera operating in the extreme cold:

  • Keep your batteries warm at all times. Keep charged batteries in your pocket, not in your camera bag. Be aware that even the discharged batteries need to be kept warm, or they won’t charge properly.
  • Be aware of condensation when you return to a warm room after being out in the cold. If you need to take your batteries out do it before you come in. Opening the camera in a warm room when it is still cold could let condensation form inside.

All in all this was a fascinating talk from beginning to end. Thank you Alan for entertaining us with the talk and thank you to Beeslack Penicuik Camera Club for organising it.

Steven

02 February 2023 (Audio Visual Evening at Beeslack CC)

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The week Musselburgh Camera Club members travelled to Beeslack High School in Penicuik to join members of Beeslack Penicuik Camera Club for an Audio Visual evening.

The evening began with a MCC presentation by Allan Cameron on the “Battle of Prestonpans“, describing how forces lead by Charles Edward Stuart had achieved victory over Johnnie Cope’s government forces at Prestonpans, and showing photographs captured at the battle re-enactment.

Beeslack then presented a historical narrative on the creation and expansion of Edinburgh’s New Town, using a combination of old and new maps and some fascinating archive photographs showing the construction of Edinburgh’s most iconic buildings and the construction of bridges (such as North Bridge and Regent Bridge) spanning difficult chasms that we don’t even notice today.

Musselburgh’s Mike Clark then presented a unique record into the sites and sounds of underwater photography, showing the incredible variety of wildlife living in Scotland’s coastal waters.

Beeslack’s second audio-visual was on the construction and demise of the Edinburgh to Peebles railway, using a clever combination of “before and after” photographs to show how the railway used to look and what is left now. Drone footage showed us how the railway route is still visible in the landscape.

The evening finished with a recording of the Edinburgh Hogmanay Fireworks made by Steven Beard from a vantage point on Blackford Hill to test out his new camera microphone.

  • This week George Todd is accepting entries for the third and final part of our set subject competition. Please send your 2 JPEGs on the theme of “Landscape” to George by Thursday.
  • Next week (9th February) we have our Digital Photo Feedback session. In this session we will include some demonstrations on how to make digital enhancements in Photoshop. So please bring along images that you think could be improved with a bit of tweaking. Joe Fowler will also use this evening to demonstrate how to use the mount cutter.

I have finally written up the presentation that John Glynn gave us a couple of weeks ago. Click the link below if you are interested. See you on Thursday.

19 January 2023 (John Glynn: How to See Creatively)

08 December 2022 (Julian Elliot: Breathless in Nepal)

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Our last meeting before Christmas was another joint Zoom talk hosted by Beeslack Penicuik Camera Club and joined by Earlston Camera Club members. Julian Elliot, an award-winning landscape and travel photographer, connected with us from France and gave us a fascinating talk about his experiences. You can find more about Julian on his web site:

https://www.julianelliottphotography.com/profile/

Julian began his talk by describing his kit and explaining his techniques. He normally travels with a Canon DSLR camera plus 6 lenses (3 zoom lenses and 3 tilt/shift lenses), although 90% of his travel photography is made with the following gear:

  • A 24-70 zoom lens. Julian finds this lens makes great portraits, and is also useful for landscapes and use in cramped spaces. He likes to photograph hands with this lens.
  • A 100-400 zoom lens. Julian uses this lens to make landscape images of distant mountain scenery. Some people are surprised that a telephoto lens can be used for landscapes, but mountains tend to look more impressive when the depth is compressed. The lens can also pick out interesting details from the landscape. Julian also uses this lens to make panoramas, and to take distant portraits with a compressed background.
  • A 24 tilt-shift lens. Julian finds a tilt-shift lens invaluable for photographing architecture. It gives superior results than taking a picture with a normal lens and using a lens correction filter because you can see the result you are going to get in-camera, and there is is no cropping of the image at the edges. Julian showed some examples of what could be done with this lens: a superb shot of the inside of a cathedral, or a photograph of a statue in front of a temple taken from only a few feet away with all the verticals vertical.
  • A 1.4x extender, which Julian uses to extend the capabilities of the above lenses/
  • A carbon fibre tripod (lightweight for travelling).
  • A polarizer filter and a neutral density filter. Polarizer filters can enhance the sky or remove reflections, and the neutral density filter allows longer exposures.
  • A decent camera bag. Julian explained that most bags are designed to be used in an airport, and it is hard to find a bag that is versatile enough to use on a flight and carry outside.

Julian went on to explain how he plans his travels. He learns about destinations by reading travel magazines and using travel guides for research. He looks at photographs published by other photographers to get an idea of the possibilities. You can follow particular photographers on social media, but you can also follow specific hashtags, such as “#vietnam”, to see all the posts made about a particular place. But he warned us that landscapes are constantly changing. What you see described in a guide or shown in a past photo might not be there any more, so be prepared for the unexpected. He uses the following tools to plan his shots:

  • Google street view can be used to explore a destination virtually, but not all countries allow it.
  • Once Julian has decided on a destination, he uses Google Mind Maps to plan his travel. It can be linked to maps, and the application can be used on a phone to create an itinerary.
  • The Photographer’s Ephemeris can be used to plan your shots and investigate where the light will come from at different times of the day. The PhotoPills application is also a very useful planning tool.

After taking us through the basics, Julian then took us on a journey to Upper Mustang in Nepal, showing us the spectacular landscape images he had take on the trip, the portraits of the people he had met on the way, and his architectural photographs of the towns and temples. Travelling to Upper Mustang was like travelling back in time, with very different norms and customs. He became friends with a local guide who introduced him to interesting people. Julian would often ask permission to take his shots from unusual vantage points, such as the roof of a temple. On his journey through Nepal, Julian needed to climb to some high altitude view points, and on one of these excursions he suffered from serious altitude sickness. Julian told us the story of his treatment and recovery and warned anyone else travelling to Nepal to be aware of the effects of the altitude and not to push themselves too quickly. Julian finished his presentation with a selection of portraits and images of more spectacular temples. It was a very entertaining and enlightening evening.

That was the last club meeting at Fisherrow until the New Year. Next week we will be meeting at the Ravelston House Hotel in Musselburgh for the club’s Christmas social evening.

Steven

Appeal for photographs of Preston Tower

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Prestonpans community council are looking for photographs of Preston Tower to help with its restoration. If you have any photographs of Preston Tower in your collection please email them to prestonpanscommunitycouncil@gmail.com, together with dates when they were taken. You can also click this sentence to add photos to their original Facebook post.

Club Photoshoot at Figgate Park, Portobello

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Next week’s Musselburgh Camera Club photoshoot will be taking place at Figgate Park (Figgy Park) in Portobello. We will meet there on Thursday, 14th April from 7pm onwards and stay as long as the light allows. I understand there are some lovely walks and opportunities for photographing water birds. I don’t know the area as well as some members, but it looks like Hamilton Drive has the best parking opportunities, so I will aim to be at this entrance by 7pm:

Map of Hamilton Drive entrance

Click here for a map, courtesy of the Edinburgh Southern Orienteering Club.

Figgate is quite a small park, so if you arrive after 7pm or use a different entrance I’m sure you’ll bump into other members while wandering around.

I look forward to seeing you there, Steven.

04 March 2021 (Three Weeks in Burma)

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On 4th March Mölnlycke Fotoclubb chair Jan Arell joined us to describe the three weeks he spent 2 years ago visiting and photographing Burma (also known as Myanmar).  Jan’s presentation was quite poignant, given the tragic news reports currently coming from that country at the moment.  Jan had been a journalist and foreign news reporter, so he was used to touring and photographing interesting places around the world; and Burma/Myanmar was one of his favourite places.  He began with a quick overview of the country and a map showing the many places he had visited during the three weeks. Then he entertained us with a stunning series of images of golden temples covered in gemstones, a truly gigantic Buddha statue and a temple containing the world’s largest book. He contrasted his images of bejewelled temples with the basic houses and shacks where people lived and the places they worked. He showed portraits of locals wearing colourful costumes and market stalls selling everything from food and textiles to gemstones.  Jan also took us virtually on a narrow gauge train journey across the country, including a video shot as the train travelled across a frighteningly deep river gorge. Then he showed us the aerial images he had captured during a balloon trip across the country.

Jan told us that he found Burma to be a “photographer’s paradise”. He discovered almost everyone was eager to be photographed, and most would offer a portrait just for the laugh of seeing themselves appear on the back of your camera. The decorated temples, market stalls and lovely scenery also had great photographic potential.

Thank you to Jan for an evening that was both enjoyable, informative and tinged with a little sadness. Let’s hope one day the photographic beauty of that country will once again become its main talking point.

 

18 February 2021 (Astrophotography & Action Photography)

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This week the club had a virtual visit from Andy Bennetts of Haddington Camera Club, who gave us two talks on very different photographic subjects: “Astrophotography” and “Action Photography“. 

Astrophotography

Andy showed us examples of different kinds of astrophotography. The easiest subject to photograph is the Moon, which is best photographed on a clear night with your longest possible telephoto lens. Andy’s examples were photographed with his 400mm lens, with a 2x converter, at ISO 3200, 1/2000sec at f5.6. The tripod and fast shutter speed help remove camera shake at this extreme magnification. You can use the web site https://www.timeanddate.com/ to predict the phases of the Moon and look up the times of moonrise and moonset.  Andy also likes to photograph the Sun at sunrise or sunset. You need to be careful not to look at the Sun through the telephoto lens and use a narrow aperture to protect your camera. The Sun will appear as a featureless disk unless you use a dark solar filter (see https://www.baader-planetarium.com/en/solar-observation.html), so it is best photographed next to a landmark. The web site https://photoephemeris.com/ can be used to predict when and where to photograph the Sun and Moon against local landmarks. There are also smartphone apps called TPE and Sun Surveyor which give you the same information.

Andy then showed us how to photograph more difficult subjects, such as the stars and Milky Way. These are best photographed from a dark site well away from light pollution. The most convenient dark site near East Lothian is the B6355 from Gifford to Duns. The camera should be set to manual focus and manual exposure for best results.  A red headlight is useful for setting up your camera in the dark.  Andy recommends focussing by looking at a magnified “live view” on the back of the camera, rather than just setting your lens to infinity. Photographs to emphasise star trails are best made with a wide angle lens, with the camera on a tripod. Exposure times of up to an hour can be achieved by setting the shutter speed to “bulb” and using a remote shutter release. Images containing some foreground detail, such as trees, lakes and mountains, will have the most impact. Use a wide aperture and an ISO setting below 400 to reduce noise. On the other hand, photographs to emphasise the Milky Way need an exposure time of 20-30 seconds to prevent star trails. These shots require an ISO setting greater than 1600. Andy recommends taking 5 or more shots of the same scene and stacking them in Photoshop to reduce the noise. Layers can be matched together manually using the “difference” blending mode. The Milky Way shows up better on a dark, clear night without the Moon.  Andy showed us some beautiful images he had taken by the Whitadder reservoir.  Finally, Andy showed us some post-processing tips for astrophotography:

  • Darken the shadows to emphasise the blackness of the night sky
  • Increase the contrast to brighten the stars.
  • Increase clarify, vibrance and saturation to emphasis the faint detail and colour.

Action Photography

Andy then showed us the techniques he uses to capture action shots, using different kinds of sporting events as examples. The photographer has control of the aperture, shutter speed, focal length and camera movement.  A wide aperture (such as f2.8) is useful for reducing the depth of field to emphasise the action while blurring the background.  A fast shutter speed (such as 1/500s) will help to freeze the action, while a slower shutter speed (such as 1/50s) can help to emphasise movement. Panning the camera helps to emphasise the movement of fast-moving subjects such as motorbikes, cars and cyclists.  A long focal length lens allows you to zoom in on the action from a distance. You can also eliminate a distracting background (such as ugly buildings behind a sports stadium) by cropping closely on the action, such as a rugby scrum. You can hand-hold a lens up to 200mm, but for longer focal lengths Andy recommends a tripod or monopod. A monopod gives you the best compromise between steadiness and flexibility. If you don’t have a long lens there are also opportunities for capturing action from a closer viewpoint, such as at the Edinburgh Marathon or at road cycling events.

Getting the focus right is one of the most difficult aspects of action photography. Autofocus works better when your subjects are well separated from the background, but even then most of the shots will not be focussed properly. Andy takes lots of shots and selects the ones with the best focus. Some sporting events, such as horse racing, are difficult to get right with autofocus. For those events, Andy recommends manually focussing on a stationary object, such as a fence, and waiting for the riders to jump or pass that fence.

Andy gave us some hints on where to find subjects for action photography. There are usually (when not in lockdown) regular football, rugby and cricket events in Haddington. Horse racing can be photographed at Musselburgh, action water events often take place at Fox Lake Adventures, near Dunbar, golf at Gullane, Canoeing at Grand Tully, wind surfing at Longniddry and Gullane beach (best viewed at high tide) and Motor Cycling at East Fortune.

Thank you to Andy for a very enjoyable and informative double evening.

03 December 2020 (International Dutch Members Evening)

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This week we were joined by my good friends Hans van der Boom and Denise Gielen from the Netherlands. Denise began the evening by showing us some of her macro, wildlife and drone photography, including some stunningly beautiful kingfisher images and cleverly framed drone shots of colourful tulip fields.  Some of Denise’s wildlife shots were taken in Oostvaardersplassen, a park in Flevoland made from reclaimed land, and Amsterdamse Waterleidingduinen, a national park and nature reserve on the west coast. Hans enjoys travel photography and showed us a selection of photographs he had taken on travels throughout the world.  Hans finished his introduction with some cleverly-constructed indoor studio shots.

The Hans and Denise took us on a photographic tour of the Netherlands, showing us less visited places where we can experience Dutch scenery without being swamped by tourists.  Amsterdam is crowded with visitors each year, but Hans showed us the following less crowded towns which are similar to Amsterdam.  Click the links for more information:

When tourists visit the Netherlands they also want to see windmills, and Hans and Denise showed us some of the more photogenic windmill sites. For example:

But the Netherlands has more impressive structures than just windmills. Hans showed us the impressive architecture within the city of Rotterdam, and Denise showed us beautiful long exposure shots of the Ketelbrug in Flevoland and Hans his dramatic image of the Zeeland Bridge, the longest bridge in the Netherlands. You can also see some of the most iconic structures in the world in miniature in the Madurodam model village.

Of course, a visit to the Netherlands would not be complete without a visit to the impressively colourful tulip fields. The most famous of the tulip displays can be seen between March and May every year at the Keukenhof Gardens near Lisse.  An even bigger and rarer event is the Floriade exhibition, which is coming to Amsterdam in 2022.

After Hans and Denise had finished, Mike Clark showed them some of his impressive underwater shots. Denise’s husband Niels photographs farming machinery for Agrifoto, an agricultural photography site, so Steven Beard finished with a selection of photographs from the Royal Highland Show.

Thank you very much to Hans and Denise for entertaining us, showing that with Zoom we can reach out to other clubs and photographers around the world.

 

MCC Trip to the Trossachs – This Weekend

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Jim Tod has provided more information about this weekend’s club trip to Loch Ard in the Trossachs. Jim is proposing to go on Saturday morning, as the weather forecast looks better that day, and there is a chance of some morning mist. If you would like to go on the trip please sign the list on club noticeboard this evening. (I will be passing Jim’s contact details to those who signed up, in case you need to get in touch on the day.) Jim recommends bringing warm clothing and wellies. (Some photographic equipment would also help! 🙂 )

On the subject of car sharing, Jim is happy to pick up 2 members from Eskbank railway station car park at 5:50-6:00am on Saturday. Please call him if you would like a lift.

Jim has provided some maps showing the meet-up points. The first map shows an overview of Loch Ard. The 7:30am meeting point is on the right, on the road from Aberfoyle, and the 10:30am meeting point is on the left, near Kinlochard village hall.

Here are some more detailed maps of the two meeting points.

I hope you all have a fabulous trip, get some good weather and come back with some great sunrise images to share with the club.