Category Archives: Workshops and Groups

20 November 2025 (Soft Focus and Double Exposure Workshop)

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We spent the club meeting on 20th November learning some techniques that we could try on our Saturday photoshoot at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh. We tried two different techniques:

1) Double Exposures

This technique combines two or more exposures together to create a surprising result. Try “double exposure photography examples” as a Google search to see some example images. Common examples include portraits blended with natural or architectural silhouettes, or multiple poses blended together. Exposures can be combined in-camera, or they can be captured separately and blended later using software such as Adobe Photoshop. The following YouTube videos show how to set up a Canon camera:

Ask David Bergman: A Step-by-Step Guide for In-Camera Multiple Exposures

Eric Floberg: How to Shoot a DOUBLE EXPOSURE In-Camera [2023]

If you explore the “shooting menu”, you’ll find Nikon cameras have a similar setup. We discovered that all our cameras had slightly different ways of setting up double exposures, and the newer cameras had more options. If your camera doesn’t have a multiple exposure option, you can still take single exposures and blend them in Photoshop. We tried a few experiments inspired by Leonardo de Vinci’s Vitruvian Man.

2) Soft Focus Techniques

Hans van der Boom had given the club a talk on improving flower photograph using soft focus techniques back in April 2024. Bob Daalder also describes how he uses soft focus techniques in macro photography in the following blog:

Macro Photography: Discover the Little World with Bob Daalder

We explored the following soft focus techniques:

  • Using a wide aperture to blur the background.
  • Making a double exposure (as described above) but combining an in-focus image of a flower with an out of focus image.
  • Using coloured cellophane to mask off an area you want to be out of focus.
  • Using an out of focus image of a crinkled piece of Aluminium foil to create some foreground bokeh.

We discovered that both techniques need a lot of practice to get right, but it is fun to experiment. We came away from our Botanics photoshoot with lots of weird and wonderful images.

13 November 2025 (Live Shooting Workshop)

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In a wee change in plan, this evening’s programme was provided by Derek to help folks obtain sharper looking photos and to present prints in the best light (see what I did there?) by mounting prints very neatly.

The evening started with a demonstration of mounting prints using double-sided tape. This is suggested in place of using the 3M Photo Mount adhesive. Photo Mount spray can get messy and there is quite a strong smell that can linger for hours. There is also the danger of spreading the adhesive while you set the print in place. The tape is tearable, or you can use scissors. For window mounts, the tape is applied to the four sides of the rear of the window. Using the tape roll to prop up the window front mount to allow the print to be positioned. The protective film is removed from one of the sides and this side is used to secure the print in place. The other three sides can then have their protective strips removed so that each side can be secured in turn. Four lengths of adhesive tape are then stuck to the rear mount card. Again the tape roll can be used to hold the print up off the adhesive tape, to allow positioning and the edges are each stuck down in turn. An additional suggestion was to obtain a roll of wallpaper lining paper. Once cut to size, the paper is easily flattened out under a box for a few hours and it makes a decent “cartridge paper” backing for photographic print mounts.

The rest of the evening was taken up with a few lighting setups with still life subjects. The idea was to see how the direction of light can influence the contrast and apparent sharpness of photographs. When the light was positioned directly in front of the subject, providing flat illumination with little contrast showing. As the light source was positioned further to the side, contrast increases and the apparent sharpness of the image is enhanced. This effect is apparently, is called “acutance”. Look it up on Wikipedia, or better still, just see what effect it has on your photos.

It was an interesting and fun evening, with folks getting the chance to talk to each other.

Regards

Ed

11 Sep 2025 (Creative Lighting Workshop)

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We got our 2025/2026 season well and truly started with a creative lighting workshop. Steven began the evening with a discussion of the lighting equipment available to photographers. This web site has a good introduction to creative lighting techniques: https://shotkit.com/photography-lighting/. Taking photos in low light usually requires a long exposure, which can blur your photos with camera shake. Adding extra lighting is a good way to improve portraits and still life photos taken in a dark place. This time we concentrated on portraits. We’ll spend more time on still life photography at our second workshop on 13th November 2025. There are two basic kinds of lighting available:

  1. Flash. A flash creates an intense and very rapid burst of light. The burst is so rapid that it freezes any movement or camera shake. A disadvantage of a flash is that it can cast a shadow onto the background. Also, because the flash only fires briefly, it’s hard to see in advance where those shadows will be. Some flash units have a dim “modelling light” which shows up the shadows. Firing a flash straight into someone’s face can also cause “red eye”. If your camera has a built-in flash it will probably suffer from these problems. You can get a softer lighting and eliminate the “red eye” problem by attaching a flashgun to your camera and angling the flash upwards so it bounces it off a light ceiling. You can start to emulate a studio setup by adding “slave” flash units which synchronise with your main flash. Lighting your subject from the left and right side can give a softer effect with fewer shadows.
  2. Continuous lighting. Continuous lighting allows you to see how your subject is illuminated before you take the picture. You can add as many lights as you like. However, these lights tend to be dimmer than flash, so you’ll find yourself putting up with longer exposure times. We demonstrated several different kinds of continuous lights at our workshop. There were some bright, mains-powered bulbs, a battery-powered LED panel and a battery powered torch.

Members tried out 3 main lighting setups. Ed and I had set up some of the club’s studio lighting equipment. This equipment consisted of two main-powered flash units combined with some modelling lights, a diffuser umbrella and a “beauty dish”. The equipment triggered each time it detected a flash. This combination was good at taking well-lit portraits with soft lighting. Derek had brought two contrasting setups with continuous lighting. One setup demonstrated how a single light from the side can create dramatic, high contrast portraits. The other setup had two lights with red and blue gels, which created colourful special effects. Steven showed how the battery powered lights can be deployed and removed very quickly, when the LED panel and the torch were used to photograph a rabbit who didn’t like the bright lights.

Next week (18th September) we have our first speaker of the season. Graeme Barclay of Midlothian Camera Club will talk to us about Street Photography.

24 April 2025 (AGM and Presentation of Trophies)

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The 2024/25 Musselburgh Camera Club season ended on 24th April 2025 with the AGM and the presentation of trophies. Although the AGM is our last meeting at the Fisherrow centre this season, we are planning a series of activities through the year, so watch out for notifications or check our latest activities page. The club has a private Facebook page which members can join to be notified about events and to chat during the summer. Click the link below to chat or request to join (you’ll need a Facebook account):

https://m.facebook.com/groups/25703565185901411

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. Weather
  2. Emotion
  3. Comedy

which become the themes for set subjects 1, 2 and 3.

The AGM finished with a presentation of trophies and medals and with a selection of snacks and refreshments provided by Jennifer Davidson and Liz Sowler, who once again received the club’s “Golden Teapot” award. The full list of trophy and medal winners can be found on the following page. Well done to all of this year’s winners.

Trophy Winners – 2024/2025

Although the 2024/25 season has come to an end, the club’s exhibition will be touring local libraries during the summer. Here is the current timetable and list of volunteers. Further exhibitions may be added between 5th July and 2nd August.

Thank you to everyone who volunteered. Our first meeting of the 2024/25 season will be on Thursday, 4th September 2025. But in the meantime, I look forward to seeing you at our summer photoshoots.

25 April 2024 (AGM and Presentation of Trophies)

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The 2023/24 Musselburgh Camera Club season ended on 25th April 2024 with the AGM and the presentation of trophies. We discussed the upcoming programme for 2024-25, which John West has packed with more speakers and special events. We are planning a series of monthly photoshoots through the year, so watch out for notifications or check our activities page. The club now has a private Facebook page which members can join to be notified about events and to chat during the summer while we are not meeting at Fisherrow. Click the link below to request to join (you’ll need a Facebook account):

https://m.facebook.com/groups/25703565185901411

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. Buildings
  2. Distorted
  3. Cycling

which become the themes for set subjects 1, 2 and 3. We decided that the knockout will be open to all images next year.

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

Trophy Winners – 2023/2024

Although the 2023/24 season has come to an end, the club’s exhibition will be touring local libraries during the summer. This year we also have an exhibition at Cockenzie House. Here is the timetable and list of volunteers.

Thank you to everyone who volunteered. Our first meeting of the 2023/24 season will be on Thursday, 5th September 2024. But in the meantime I hope to see you at some of our summer photoshoots.

All the best,

Steven Beard

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)

Making Audio Visual Presentations

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There is an audio visual evening with Beeslack scheduled for 4th February 2021. Last week I was asked about software for creating audio visual presentations from photographs. Microsoft Powerpoint can be used to make a presentation, but it can be tedious to use. I gave an introduction to audio visual presentations back in 2018, which you can find by clicking this link.

https://musselburghcameraclub.org.uk/2018/11/26/22-november-2018-introduction-to-audio-visual-presentations/

At the time, the recommended software to use was Photodex ProShow Gold, which was available for Windows only.  There was a Mac alternative called “Photo Theatre Pro” (which may or may not still be available in the Mac store). Sadly, Photodex Proshow is no longer available and has been replaced by “Photopia”.  The good news is the new software now works with both Windows and Mac. It has a subscription-based licence, so you could subscribe only when you need to make a show. Click the link below for more information.

http://photopia.nl/proshow/

However, if you have Windows 10, the free Microsoft Photos program also contains some of the basic elements that Proshow Gold used to have. You can combine images into a slideshow or video, add a title slide, add captions and add background music. I think this is now a better option than Powerpoint for Windows users. You can start the program by selecting the images you want to show, clicking with the right mouse button and selecting the “Create a new video” option shown in the menu.

When the program starts you will see a screen like this (which looks remarkably similar to the Proshow screen). You can drag photos from the library window on the left onto the timeline at the bottom and view your show using the preview window on the right.

I hope this helps. Have fun, whichever tool you use.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Garden Photography

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While we are on the subject of this weekend’s Musselburgh Flower Show and garden photography, the National Garden Gift Voucher scheme have announced a photographic competition where you could win a trip to next year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Click the link below for details.

https://nationalgardengiftvoucher.co.uk/photography-competition

On the same subject, the club has received the following notification :

I wanted to let your members know about an exciting weekend workshop for keen amateurs wanting to improve their garden and landscape photography skills, led by Garden Photographer of the Year 2018, Andrea Jones . September 20th-22nd.

Andrea will explore her creative process and share her trade secrets over a weekend in one of East Lothian’s most beautiful gardens, Fairnielaw. Expect an inspiring taste of practical photography, theory and image processing. Learn how to deal with the most common challenges a photographer can face; coping with harsh light, making the most of the elements and shooting in cramped spaces. group will be limited to 12 people to allow space and time with Andrea for everyone.

Click here, for details and booking. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/garden-photography-workshop-with-andrea-jones-tickets-63559735881

Any queries, please let me know.

Best wishes

Susan Begg (susan@semplebegg.com)

More info about the club trip to Harris & Lewis around October 2019

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Back in January, Jim Tod circulated a suggestion for a possible club trip to the western isles later this year. Jim has been researching the possibilities and has sent us the following update. If you are interested in going please contact Jim ASAP so he can make the booking.

Harris & Lewis Trip Update

The proposed dates for the trip are Saturday 2nd November 2019 until Friday 8th November 2019, arriving on Harris from Skye on Saturday 2nd about 8pm and leaving from Harris on Friday 8th about 4pm. I am just firming up but these are the most likely dates currently.

The hotels will require a deposit of 50% of the accommodation cost 3 months prior to arrival (i.e. end of July 2019). Since this is well before the start of the new season in September, we will need a deposit before the end of the current season this April. The 50% deposit for hotel accommodation would be £180 per person. Jim will hold the deposit money (or we can ask Steve to hold the money in the club account) deposit has to be paid. If circumstances change, it is possible to cancel the accommodation any time before the deposit is paid by letting Jim know, and the deposit will be returned. Jim can arrange bank details with those interested.

If anyone is interested in these dates can they please email jim@todfamily.me.uk to confirm interest ASAP as Jim is looking to provisionally book the hotel this week.

Regards

Jim

Possible club trip to Harris & Lewis around October 2019

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Here is the information from Jim Tod about the trip to the western isles he is suggesting for later this year and is happy to arrange on behalf of the club. If you are interested please email Jim at jim@todfamily.me.uk so he can keep you informed. Jim would like to meet with those interested early in February to talk about the arrangements and see if the trip would be feasible.

Club Visit to Lewis & Harris in Autumn 2019 – Jim Tod

The time-frame would be late October to early November 2019, but preferably late  October just before the clocks change: sunrise 8am, sunset 6pm-ish, dipping back to 7.30am to 5pm-ish when the clocks change.

For me it’s mainly a landscape trip but I’m not averse to a bit of wildlife photography. If there are clear skies (and perhaps aurora) then I’d be aiming for a bit of astrophotography also: dark skies galore if the weather’s good. There are lots of classic places: Luskentyre, Seilbost, Scarista, Hushinish, Northton salt marshes, Rodel Church, Gold Road, Mangersta, Callanish and anywhere else that works for us. There would be an opportunity to head over for a bit to North Uist.

I’d be planning to travel on the ferry from Uig in north Skye, not far from Quirang, Fairy Glen and Old Man of Storr. There would be an option for people to add some  time on Skye if they wished, as the journey is a good 5-6 hours’ drive and 2 hr ferry, and the hotel in Uig is a minute from the terminal. Another option would be to travel via the Ullapool to Stornoway ferry. Ullapool is a quicker drive by about 1-1.5 hours but the ferry trip is longer at 3.5 hours and there’s another hour’s drive from Stornoway to Tarbert.

For the accommodation plan I would aim for a B&B in Harris, or a hotel subject to availability. For meals, maybe packed lunches from the hotel and then it depends where we are at night for either dinner in the hotel or somewhere else. The planned duration would be 5 to 6 days. The duration really depends on ferry times which change on different days of the week.

Depending on numbers I’d be suggesting no more than 2 or 3 people in a car which is more about getting all the kit there (camera kit, wellies, wet weather gear) and allowing flexibility on the island for those who wish to do different things at different times.

Budget-wise I think £450-600 would be the order for a B&B for 5 to 6 nights plus a share of the ferry trip. Shared fuel, lunch, dinner and drinks would be on top of that.

Please email me at jim@todfamily.me.uk  if you are interested, and speak to me at a club meeting, and we can discuss the options in early February,

Jim Tod