The Camera Club meeting, due to be held at 7:30pm on Thursday 3rd December  at the Fisherrow Centre, has been moved to Beeslack Camera Club at Beeslack Community High School, Edinburgh Road, Penicuik EH26 0QF   If anyone needs a lift, transport will be available leaving the Fisherrow Centre at 7pm.

A bitterly cold but sunny November Saturday when 8 club members ( 6 girls + 2 ) met up at 10:30 at Port Seton. After a coffee at the Cafe opposite the Co-op, everyone went out to explore the harbour area. The light was very bright but the sun occasionally clouded over giving better exposures. Lots of opportunities for coastal and abstract images for later competitions.  After about an hour, fingers were frozen so all moved off to the other end of the town and a look round Cockenzie Harbour. Then lunch at 12:30 at the Secret Garden Cafe in Cockenzie House.  Delicious soup and tea/coffee with strudel.  Cockenzie House is a 16th Century building with a large and beautiful garden. It is now a community centre with rooms for hire.  There was a beautiful display of art works on sale in the rooms at the front of the house. Next outing, between Christmas and New Year, will be to see Edinburgh Christmas lights. Watch this space.

Club members enjoy photographing fishes, animals and birds.  If we want to enter these images in important competitions, there are international criteria and definitions of “Nature” and “Wildlife” which are used in Scottish and UK competitions.  Basically they aim to exclude photographs of stuffed animals, and major Photoshop reconstruction of the subject ! A copy of this info will be on the Club notice board too.

FEDERATION INTERNATIONALE DE L’ART PHOTOGRAPHIQUE (FIAP)

Nature Photography Definition

Nature photography is restricted to the use of the photographic process to depict all branches of natural history, except anthropology and archeology, in such a fashion that a well-informed person will be able to identify the subject material and certify its honest presentation. The story telling value of a photograph must be weighed more than the pictorial quality while maintaining high technical quality. Human elements shall not be present, except where those human elements are integral parts of the nature story such as nature subjects, like barn owls or storks, adapted to an environment modified by humans, or where those human elements are in situations depicting natural forces, like hurricanes or tidal waves. Scientific bands, scientific tags or radio collars on wild animals are permissible. Photographs of human created hybrid plants, cultivated plants, feral animals, domestic animals, or mounted specimens are ineligible, as is any form of manipulation that alters the truth of the photographic statement.

No techniques that add, relocate, replace, or remove pictorial elements except by cropping are permitted. Techniques that enhance the presentation of the photograph without changing the nature story or the pictorial content, or without altering the content of the original scene, are permitted including HDR, focus stacking and dodging/burning. Techniques that remove elements added by the camera, such as dust spots, digital noise, and film scratches, are allowed. Stitched images are not permitted. All allowed adjustments must appear natural. Color images can be converted to greyscale monochrome. Infrared images, either direct-captures or derivations, are not allowed.

Images used in Nature Photography competitions may be divided in two classes: Nature and Wildlife.

Images entered in Nature sections meeting the Nature Photography Definition above can have landscapes, geologic formations, weather phenomena, and extant organisms as the primary subject matter. This includes images taken with the subjects in controlled conditions, such as zoos, game farms, botanical gardens, aquariums and any enclosure where the subjects are totally dependent on man for food.

Images entered in Wildlife sections meeting the Nature Photography Definition above are further defined as one or more extant zoological or botanical organisms free and unrestrained in a natural or adopted habitat. Landscapes, geologic formations, photographs of zoo or game farm animals, or of any extant zoological or botanical species taken under controlled conditions are not eligible in Wildlife sections. Wildlife is not limited to animals, birds and insects. Marine subjects and botanical subjects (including fungi and algae) taken in the wild are suitable wildlife subjects, as are carcasses of extant species.

Wildlife images may be entered in Nature sections of Exhibitions.

This is for everyone who put their name down for the above. Alistair Peacock from Galashiels Camera Club has organised this and it looks like there will be quite a large and wide ranging attendance – 28 people from 6 different camera clubs throughout Southern Scotland!

Please note the details below and let me know whether or not you are still ok to attend by return email (ken19ud@blueyonder.co.uk). I will liaise with Alistair to confirm our numbers.

Although there is a fair bit of parking at the Observatory, it may be worthwhile organising car sharing. I have listed the people from Musselburgh but I do not guarantee I have not missed anyone. If so drop me an email. Arrange car sharing between yourselves but if anyone is stuck and is coming from the east side of Edinburgh, let me know.

Ken Sharp

Robert Stewart

Steven Beard

Derek Mack

Malcolm and Lorraine Roberts

Mike Clark

Gavin Marshall

Steve Williams

Alan Fitchie

Please see the below from Dr Eric Tittley (our host on the evening). It details how to get there, what to expect and what to bring.

Regards Ken

Hey Alistair!

There is a minor amount of confusion at our end to determine if the venue we will be using is actually available.  All indications are that it is, but those in the know aren’t sure.  I’m still awaiting confirmation but you need a reply sooner. Like, today.

I’m going to go with the venue being available and everything a go from our end for next Tuesday, November 24 at 7pm.  In the worst situation, we move from the rooftop gallery to the lecture theatre which makes no difference to your club.

The plan is to have a brief overview of astrophotography with some compulsory pretty pictures.  Then there will be a brief overview of camera terminology and what it means to astrophotography.  Then we’ll have a “get to know your camera in the dark” session, which will be done indoors.   If weather is agreeable, we will take our cameras outdoors and try what we’ve learned.  If it is just cloudy, we can take photos of the skyline.  If it is raining, we can try some things indoors.

Everyone should bring:

* warm clothes

* a camera

* a lens or two (wide to mid range. Nothing with a focal length longer than 100mm. Faster is better.)

* a tripod. (Small is good for training and reduces folks tripping over it, even though a massive tripod is best in practice).

Stuff that will make life easier:
* a *small* flashlight, preferably with a red filter.
* the manual for their camera

Cheers,
Eric

OH!  I forgot to add what to do on arriving:

The ROE is located:
http://www.roe.ac.uk/ifa/about/location.html

Put EH9 3HJ in your GoogleMaps to get yourselves here.

There is plenty of parking outside the gates.  Enter through the gates and stick to the right, coming through the door that says “Visitors Centre”, up a wee incline. 

We can collect in the Visitor’s Centre before I take you too the venue.  Please have everyone here for 18:45 or so.

Cheers,

Eric

Competition Founder

We are very pleased to have 2 Swedish members of Musselburgh Camera Club.  Members of their Molnlycke Fotoklubb, near Gotenberg, had sent 70 digital images for the Musselburgh Club to look at and comment on. Joe Fowler had translated the Swedish titles into the English description that fitted the image best, and introduced each one. Club members viewed all the images and made comments and suggestions.

The images were technically of a  very high standard. Particularly the handling of difficult exposures on sunny snowy scenes. The subjects were very refreshing – almost no postproduction manipulation which is so common in UK images. The photographers had sought out stunning angles and views of their everyday surroundings. Feedback will be sent back to Sweden. We hope to continue this connection in future,

REMEMBER REMEMBER 5th November submission of Human Portrait Prints

Message from Alistair Peacock, Syllabus Secretary, Galashiels Camera Club :

Would any Musselburgh members be interested in joining in the event below  ?

A Night Sky Photography Workshop

at the Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill,  Edinburgh, 

on 24^th November at 7.00pm.

Spaces are limited and will be available on a first come first served basis.

Closing date for reserving a place is  23^rd October 2015.

The cost for the evening will be your expenses for getting to and from the Observatory. Parking is available at the observatory and the workshop will be hosted by Dr Eric Tittley. You can view Eric’s web page here –  http://www.roe.ac.uk/~ert/.  If the weather is cloudy there is the opportunity to photograph the Edinburgh skyline at night.

If you wish to book a place, or need further information please contact Alistair direct on

        email   aip1039@btinternet.com    or    mobile number    07777 626 937

Jason listed a series of helpful websites during his talk last Thursday night.

Here is some more detailed info:

1.  www.resourcespace.org – commissioned by Oxfam and used by the Royal Observatory Edinburgh to manage all their digital data.  Free, fast, friendly, multi platform resource for the storage and management of all types of digital data/assets
2. http://www.dpbestflow.org – Best practice in digital photography and workflow. Free. US Library of Congress initiative with the American Society of Media  Photographers.  Lots of useful explanations and clear definitions.
3. http://www.xnview.com – Photo editor, viewer and manager. Free for private use. Run by Pierre Emmanuel Gougelet in Reims, France but available in English.
4. thedambook.com –  Digital Asset Management for photographers, “The DAM Book” This was devised by Peter Krogh In USA. World authority on DAM and workflow. Tutorials and workshops.
5. http://www.photometadata.org – Clear explanations about metadata and its uses. Free. Initiative by the US Library of Congress and the US “stock” photographers organisation. Stock photographers contribute images to photo libraries and license their use for a fee. Anyone can do it but you have to manage large volumes of images and make sure your copyright is secured.

For me 1), 3) and 5) seemed the most useful at a first look.