Category Archives: People, Portraiture & Pets

Be it family, friends, street portraits, pets or models (nothing too rude please!), post them here.

11 Dec 2025 (Eddie Telford: Remember Photography is Fun – Part 2)

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This week Eddie Telford returned to Musselburgh Camera Club to give us another custom talk. When he last spoke to us back in April 2024 the custom themes were “Remember Photography is Fun” and “Around the World in 80 Images”. This time he resumed the “Remember Photography is Fun” theme and added some advice on the theme of “From Beginner to Advanced”. Eddie began by telling us not to worry about competitions and scores. The main reason to take up photography is to have fun. Eddie showed us some examples of the joke photographs he had made: for example a photograph of someone slumped over a chair mimicking a yoga āsana, or showing the mischief at home that children got up to during the Covid pandemic. The “Nessie” toy (who likes whisky and now has his own passport) features in many of Eddie’s fun travel photographs.

Eddie described his recent experience photographing the Women’s Open Golf Championship at Dundonald Links. He sets his camera to silent mode and takes his photos from a distance with a long lens (to avoid disturbing the players) and tries to take one shot just at the moment the ball is struck. If he is lucky, the ball will still be in the shot. Eddie also likes bunker shots because the sand can fly into some dramatic shapes. Besides the action shots, Eddie also captures portraits of the players, first when they are concentrating on their shot or posing with their trophy, and then a few minutes later when they have relaxed. The relaxed portraits looks more natural. Eddie also showed us some images he captured at a youth competition organised by Bowls Scotland. The story begins with drone images showing the initial setup, followed by some action shots, this time captured at the moment when the player releases the ball.

Eddie is a member of Ayr Photographic Society and often supplies images to Ayrshire Magazine. Eddie was keen to point out that Ayr Photographic Society won the SPF Digital Championship this year for the first time in 35 years! He described two fashion photoshoots he made for the magazine: one was with the 2024 Miss Scotland, shot on the Ayrshire sea front, and the other was a shoot with the winner of Miss Great Britain at Turnberry. There was also a photoshoot covering the 50th anniversary of the Women’s Institute. Eddie was surprised at the images chosen by the magazine, but they wanted images that emphasised the characteristics (such as the jewellery or a particular look) featured in their articles. Eddie prefers natural-looking shots where the model looks relaxed. Magazines also like images that have a lot of empty space where they can add titles. Eddie also showed us how photographers and artists can help each other. He has collaborated with local artist, Rona Mcseveny, who converted Eddie’s photograph of Ayr Town Hall into an artwork which became the Lord Provost’s official Christmas Card.

Eddie showed us an audio-visual he made to commemorate the 80th anniversary of VE Day in Ayr, including the “Field of Heroes” art exhibition. Eddie finished with an audio-visual advertising the spectacular scenery of Dunure, which was used to raise money for Dynamic Dunure, a local charity. We finished the night with a chat with Eddie over tea and biscuits. Thank you Eddie for a another great presentation. We look forward to your next visit.

Next week we have our Christmas night out at the Lido restaurant in Musselburgh. Our table is booked from 7pm on Thursday, 19th December 2025. See you there.

30 Oct 2025 (Carrie Southerton: A Fun Insight Into Dog Photography)

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This week we really did have a fun insight into dog photography. Carrie Southerton (aka Carolyn Cowan) visited the club with her husband Alasdair and took us through the story of their dog photography business. Carolyn has always had a relationship with photographic arts. She owned her first camera at the age of 3 and spent most of her life either in front of the camera as a model or behind the camera as a photographer. She has always loved dogs, and her German shepherds, Beagles and Jack Russell terriers have won several awards at the Crufts dog show. Carolyn became a press photographer covering dog shows; and a gig photographer and covering events with bands such as Heaven 17, Human League, the Sex Pistols and Adam Ant, etc… A few years ago, Carolyn realised she could combine her love of dogs and photography by setting up a dog photography business, and “Carrie Southerton Dog Photography” was born. You can find out more on the business web site and Instagram page:

https://www.carriesoutherton.co.uk/

https://www.instagram.com/carriesouthertondogphotography/

Carolyn and Alasdair’s studio covers a 7 acre estate in Slamannan, Near Falkirk. The estate is landscaped with features that provide a range of dog photography environments, including two log jumps for dynamic shots, a selection of mounds and rocks for posed shots, a flower meadow, some marshland, a ridge that simulates being on the edge of lake, plus walls, doors and fences that can be used as props. Carolyn uses three Canon EOS 1D bodies and two Canon EOS 3 bodies. These are paired with a selection of lenses: 16-35mm f2.8, 28-300mm f3.5-5.6, 105mm f1.4 and 70-200mm f2.8. Carrie uses multiple camera bodies so she can switch lenses quickly without having to remove them from the camera. This also keeps the cameras and lenses clean. The dogs are lit with a selection of Newer and Godox lights and soft boxes. Most of the photographs are taken using a wide aperture and very fast shutter speed, although Carolyn might stop down the aperture in very bright conditions. She aims to underexpose each shot slightly to preserve detail in dogs that have white patches, but also tries to overexpose a plain sky background to make it easier to replace.

Carolyn explained the story behind some example photoshoots. The best photos are taken when lying on the ground to get down to dog level, and she uses her clients to get the dog’s attention and encourage it to pose or jump as needed. Quite often the dog will do something unexpected, but these “out takes” sometimes turn out to be more interesting than the original plan! The photoshoots are just the start of the process. Each client is given the opportunity to choose a situation and a colour pallet for their dog portrait. Group shots are made by photographing each dog individually. Carolyn has a collection of photographs of different skies, backgrounds, and photographs or drawings of extra things (such as a bird, flower or butterfly) that can be included. Every portrait is carefully crafted with hours of tedious editing, which Carolyn demonstrated by showing us some mesmerising high-speed videos. Carolyn uses Corel Paintshop Pro, which she prefers to Adobe Photoshop. The dogs were placed together, leads and harnesses removed, a new background added, extras placed, boundaries cloned and healed, areas brightened or darkened, colours adjusted, eyes brightened and sharpened, special effects added, tones adjusted, textures applied, etc… The process turned each photograph into an artwork.

Carolyn ended her talk by showing us some “catch the cheese” shots which had recently raised several thousand pounds for charity, as reported by the Daily Mail, the Falkirk Herald and the Daily Record. We finished with tea and biscuits and a general chat.

Next week we have our Colour Print competition, judged by Dougie Allan of Penicuik Camera Club. Members will have the opportunity to choose a print for our exhibition at Cockenzie House in November.

09 January 2025 (Human Portrait Print Competition)

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In a last minute change, David Ferguson, president of Falkirk Camera Club, visited us for a second time this year to judge our Human Portrait Print competition. David had previously judged our Digital Projected Images competition. David is an expert on portrait photography and well qualified to judge this competition, but he pointed out that any marks given are just his opinion. He has himself had the same print given a widely different mark on different occasions. David mentioned that portrait photography is often described as “capturing the personality of a person or group of people using lighting, a background and props”, but portrait photography can be much more than that. It can cover any situation where people are the main subject. The eyes are the most important part of any portrait, and the general rule is that the eyes must be sharp, and at least the eye closest to the camera must be sharp. David explained how lighting can affect the mood of a portrait. Many of the portraits entered had been made under soft, balanced lighting, which works well for female subjects, but male subjects often look better when lit more strongly from one side to enhance the contours of the face. He also suggested some of the male portraits would also have looked better in black and white. He also warned that lighting a face from below eye level can be unflattering and should be avoided, unless it is done for special effect (as in some horror movies). He suggested experimenting with the lighting when taking a portrait and try several variations until you find one that works. David also commented on the pose of some of the entries. Arms can be difficult to pose naturally, and he recommended avoiding poses where arms or elbows point towards the camera, as they can look distorted and distracting.

39 prints had been entered by 13 members. Some of the portraits were of other club members, taken during last year’s studio night, and we were amused to see the same hat coming up again and again. David judged each image on its lighting, pose and sharpness, and whether the composition told a story. Although it is good to crop out distractions in the background, David felt that some images had been cropped a little too tightly to tell the full story. Sometimes it’s good to see the whole outfit. Some portraits were a little different. Charlie Baird’s portrait of a woman “Looking out to sea” broke the rules by not showing the eyes, but it still worked because of the strong narrative. John West’s double self-portrait “Is COVID behind us” also had a strong narrative. Hovhannes had blurred the boundary between art and photography by entering a series of innovative prints which combined photographs with ink drawings on plastic. The top scorers were (in reverse order):

  • 5th place (49 points)
    • Joe Fowler
    • Charlie Baird
  • 4th place (50 points)
    • John West
  • 3rd place (51 points)
    • Carol Edmond
  • 2nd place (53 points)
    • Hovhannes Hovhannisyan
  • 1st place (55 points)
    • George Todd
    • Melanie Gallacher

The top images were:

  • Siddharta Guardian of the Hoogly Imambara Temple (George Todd) – 20 points
  • A Quiet Moment (Melanie Gallacher) – 19 points
  • The Pessimist (Hovhannes Hovhannisyan) – 19 points
  • Anastasia (George Todd) – 18 points
  • Breakfast Time (Carol Edmond) – 18 points
  • Ayla (Melanie Gallacher) – 18 points
  • Little Man (Melanie Gallacher) – 18 points

Well done to George and Melanie who share the trophy, and well done also to new member Hovhannes on a well-deserved second place, and to Carol for achieving her usual high standard. Thank you to everyone who entered and thank you to David Ferguson for judging the competition for us at short notice.

  • Don’t forget to send your 3 JPEG images on “Buildings” to George Todd before the end of the weekend.
  • Next week we have a talk from wildlife photographer Gordon Rae, who judged last year’s portrait competition. Although we can’t get a reply from Gordon, we are in his talk schedule:

    https://www.gordonraephotography.co.uk/section807167.html

    Gordon describes his talk “Wild at Heart – A Photographers Journey”, as “A far from boring presentation that takes you on what can only be described as a wonderful wildlife journey“. Fingers crossed that it goes ahead as planned. I’m looking forward to it.

19 September 2024 (Fiona Brims: My Journey into Creative Portraiture)

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This week we were delighted to welcome our first speaker of the year, Fiona Brims. Fiona’s work can be found on her web site, where you can also sign up to her workshops:

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

Fiona described her journey into creative portraiture, which she defined as the creation of an image that is not a normal portrait, such as an unusual situation, an unusual location or an unusual prop. Fiona began by showing us her very first images from a photoshoot at an old paper mill in Bo’ness, where the idea was to shoot a bride in an unusual situation. Although it was a great idea, Fiona bravely pointed out all the mistakes she had made as a beginner:

  • There was insufficient attention to the lighting, which meant the models often had harsh shadows across their faces and no catch-lights in their eyes. Fiona had used a Weetabix packet with tracing paper as a soft box, but she could have used another light or a reflector to light the faces. She also pointed out that every pose needed careful light placement. It wasn’t sufficient to place lights on each side of the model and leave them there.
  • Always remember to iron the outfits before using them, as a photograph will reveal all the creases. Also, remember that a strongly coloured outfit could reflect light on the same colour onto the model’s face. Be prepared to correct the colour or cancel it with another light.
  • Don’t overdo your corrections in Photoshop, as they can make a portrait look unnatural. Less is more.
  • The model’s pose, expression, location and props need to make sense to the viewer. They need to tell a story, although each viewer might make up their own story.

The next set of images showed how Fiona had learned from her mistakes and improved. There were some outdoor shots at Bo’ness Railway Museum and St. Peter’s Seminary (which was a great place for graffiti but is now unsafe to access). [Note: The A1 tunnel at Newcraighall is closer to Musselburgh and easier to access for graffiti.] Fiona moved on from outdoor shots to renting a real studio, and moved on from photographing friends to photographing models. Moving on to professional models and professional make-up makes a big difference in quality, but it also costs more money. Fiona emphasised that you’ll need money to pay for the studio, the model, the make-up, the outfits, the props and the backdrop. But you can save money by looking for second hand bargains, for example buy your props from ebay, or look for outfits in charity shops. Remnant Kings is a good place to find material for backgrounds. If you want to try studio portraiture, you can join an organised model day, where a studio will rent hourly slots with a professional model.

Fiona finished by showing us a collection of stunningly good portraits that she had taken recently. Her journey into creative portraiture had been a learning experience, but it had lead to a flurry of creativity. See for yourself at her creative portrait gallery. Thank you Fiona for enlightening us.

  • Next Thursday we have a Members Evening. Please bring along any images you would like to share with other members. I expect we’ll see a lot of images from the Battle of Prestonpans, which happened at the weekend.

08 February 2024 (Human Portrait Print Competition)

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Gordon Rae kindly agreed to judge our human portrait print competition at short notice and had travelled to Musselburgh from South West Scotland. Gordon is an award-winning wildlife photographer whose work can seen on his web site:

https://www.gordonraephotography.co.uk

Gordon said he was impressed with the quality of the entries and had judged and scored them to a high standard, so he hoped nobody (especially beginners) would be disappointed with their score. Gordon had identified one winning portrait, plus some second and third placed runners up.

23 prints had been entered by 9 members. The subjects included sports competitors, street artists, musicians, wise men, soldiers, and pictures of other club members. John West had entered a unique, double-exposed, self-portrait called “Doppelganger” which was popular during the tea break. Gordon commented on the composition of the portraits and suggested some crops that would tighten up the subject in the frame. He explained that the “rule of thirds” guideline that is useful for landscape photography is not so important for portraits. Male subjects can be shown looking straight into the camera but female subjects often look better with their head turned at an angle. In some of the portraits there were dark shadows on the face that could have been prevented by using softer lighting (or by balancing the light with a reflector). He also warned photographers to watch out for colour casts in their prints and make sure that the skin colour looks natural. Watch out also for places where the subject could merge with the background (for example a dark coat shown against a dark background of a similar colour) and make sure there is a distinct boundary. The highest scores went to the prints that Gordon judged had captured a moment, showed a great expression, had a good balance of tones and had good backgrounds. The top scorers were (in reverse order):

  • 4th place (46 points)
    • John West
  • 3rd place (51 points)
    • Jennifer Davidson
    • Joe Fowler
    • Carol Edmond
  • 2nd place (53 points)
    • Derek Muller
  • 1st place (54 points)
    • George Todd

The top images were:

  • Kalon (George Todd) – 20 points (and the overall winning print)
  • 96 Years Young (Carol Edmond) – 19 points (and overall 2nd equal print)
  • Beguiling (Derek Muller) – 19 points (and overall 2nd equal print)
  • Katrine (John West) – 18 points (and overall 3rd equal print)
  • He Gets The Joke (Derek Muller) – 18 points  (and overall 3rd equal print)
  • I Love my Purple hat  (Jennifer Davidson) – 18 points
  • Downhill Racer (Joe Fowler) – 18 points

Well done to George for winning the competition and achieving best print with a fabulous portrait of a tattooed boxer, and well done also to Derek, Jennifer, Joe and Carol. Thank you to everyone who entered and thank you to Gordon Rae for judging the competition for us at short notice.

We had some spare time after the competition, so Gordon gave us a short presentation entitled “Birds of Iceland”, which showed the wildlife photographs he had collected on a tour of Iceland (see Gordon’s Iceland gallery for a couple of examples). Gordon explained that he most often used a Nikon 200-400mm lens with a 1.4X teleconverter. Most of his photos are taken at f/5.6, but at low angles he finds f/10 a better choice because the water appears more out of focus at those angles. We enjoyed the talk so much we booked Gordon to give us a full-length talk next year. Watch out for next year’s programme.

  • On Thursday, 15th February we will be joined by Beeslack Penicuik Camera Club for our annual audio visual night. We will be meeting in the larger room in the far corner, G6, not our usual room, G3.
  • If you would like to enter the “contrasting textures” set subject competition, please send your three JPEG files to George Todd this weekend.

See you this Thursday for some AV entertainment.

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.

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

Battle of Prestonpans, 18-19 September 2021

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The Battle of Prestonpans re-enactment takes place this year at Greenhills park in Prestonpans during the weekend of Saturday, 18th and Sunday, 19th September 2021. More information and tickets can be found at the following link:

http://www.scottishbattlefields.org/events-1/2021/9/18/battle-of-prestonpans-1745-re-enactment-weekend

There are also some online events taking place to commemorate the battle. See the following links for more information:

https://lothianloop.com/2020/09/08/prestonpans-275-online-festival-announced-to-mark-anniversary-of-battle-of-prestonpans/

https://prestonpans275.org/creative-project/

26 November 2020 (Model Photography)

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On 26th November 2020 we had our first virtual speaker of the year. Les Duff from Midlothian Camera Club joined our Zoom meeting to talk about his model photography. Les has had 40 years of experience in photography. He explained how he had got started in model photography, helping out a family member with a photoshoot and giving out business cards. Les now finds work with the aid of the following modelling and portfolio sites:

You can join these sites as a photographer or a model and describe the kind of work you are looking for. The site then shows you models or photographers who fit the criteria you are looking for. To join a site you need to submit a portfolio of images which meet the site’s standards. Les also showed us his own personal web sites:

Les likes landscape photography and prefers to take his shots outdoors. He showed us a variety of different shots taken in scenic locations such as Longniddry Bents, Hailes Castle and Colinton Dell. Les’ shots varied from fashion photography to nude, with nude being the most difficult to get right. Les prefers to do only minimal processing on each shot, preferring to get each shot right in camera. He will correct the white balance and levels but prefers not to apply a skin softening filter unless specifically requested. Most of Les’ outdoor shots are lit naturally, but he will use a reflector or fill-in flash to lighten shadows. Les uses prime lenses for the best quality (85mm for portraits and 45mm for whole body shots) and carries two camera bodies so he doesn’t waste time changing lenses. The best shots are usually taken looking horizontally at the model (Les often goes down on one knee to get the best angle). Shots looking up or down tend to be less flattering.

Les also showed us some of his indoor studio work. These have an entirely different feel from the outdoor shots: plain backgrounds and softer lighting. Les normally uses two softbox lights either side of the model to produce the soft lighting, but he also uses vertical strip lights to cast shadows and emphasise body contours. Occasionally he will recreate outdoor conditions indoors by (for example) using a single spotlight to simulate the beam cast by a street light.

Thank you to Les for visiting us, showing us your work and answering our questions.

 

Photographers needed for school prom on 5th June 2020

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The club has been contacted by an S6 pupil from Preston Lodge High School in Prestonpans to find out if any club members would be willing to take some souvenir portraits of the class at their final year school prom at 7:30pm at the Strawberry Barn in Dunbar (near the Thistly Cross roundabout) on 5th June 2020. The pupils would like to be photographed on arrival. I think we will need more than one photographer to photograph them all in a short space of time while they are arriving (luckily it’s June so there should be daylight). The pupils are happy to reimburse expenses, although they can’t afford professional prices. To save time and costs they would be happy to accept digital copies of the photos and make and frame the prints themselves.

If you can help out on 5th June please let Joe or Steven know.