EAST LONDON PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY

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NOVEMBER 2014 VOLUME 51 NO 04 EAST LONDON PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY

AFFILIATED TO The opinions expressed by contributors are not

to edit and/or abridge any material submitted for publication.

1 NOVEMBER 2014 VOLUME 51 NO 04 EAST LONDON PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY PERSPECTIVE JUNIOR DIGITAL COLOUR IMAGE Kathy Smith Feeding Butterfly AFFILIATED TO The opinions expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the Editor or the committee who reserve the right to edit and/or abridge any material submitted for publication. Moreover all such material is deemed to be the original work of the author. WEB SITE : www. elpsoc.co.za

2 Page 2 PERSPECTIVE November 2014

3 Page 3 PERSPECTIVE November 2014 LETTER FROM THE EDITOR The workshops held recently was a great success, the attendance at the how to workshop was very well attended, for those members who missed it I will give you the content at the next workshop, so please bring a flash drive so you can upload the full lecture, I will do a follow up in February, this will be hands on, bring your laptop, a senior member will go through all the steps. The cover this month is a picture taken by one of our junior members, well done Kathy keep up the good work. The judging this month was excellent thanks Mike for your positive comments, I am sure all members benefitted from your expertise and comments. Terry Smit FPSSA E Mail mwtsmit@iafrica.com East London Photographic Society Web site President John v Onselen cell Vice President Vacant Secretary Heather Furter home Treasurer Wally Devos cell Editor /Competition Secretary Terry Smit cell Webmaster Mike Harman Tea Joan Smit cell Members Siani Tinley cell Simon du Plooy cell

Page 4 PERSPECTIVE November 2014 PRESIDENTS REPORT As a Club, we are very happy to welcome our five new members. You can look forward to informative workshops and great outings.

4 Page 4 PERSPECTIVE November 2014 PRESIDENTS REPORT As a Club, we are very happy to welcome our five new members. You can look forward to informative workshops and great outings. Members are always happy to share knowledge and information. Please don t forget the end of year function at Pierre & Heather Furter s home at 10 Gotz Street, Nahoon on Saturday 6 December from hrs. This takes the form of a bring & braai. Do come along. Season s greetings to all members and their families. Remember to take lots of photographs as the set subject in January is The Festive Season Regards John van Onselen PRESIDENT

5 Page 5 PERSPECTIVE November 2014 CLUB FEES 2014/2015 ORDINARY MEMBER FAMILY MEMBER R350 R425 VETERAN MEMBER (This member must have served ELPS to the satisfaction of the committee and who had reached the age of 65) R70 PSSA MEMBER LEVY NON PSSA MEMBER LEVY COUNTRY MEMBER /STUDENT PSSA MEMBER LEVY NON PSSA MEMBER LEVY R35 R70 R270/R175 R35 R70 Club Banking Details EL Photographic Society Current Account(cheque) ABSA Account No: Branch Code: HOW TO NAME AND SIZE IMAGES FOR COMPETITIONS smit terry-title of image.jpg (DO NOT USE _ /#@) Use only. - First number is your star rating e.g. 1 star Second number is you entry number e.g. 1 st image entered. Third number is always 0 this number will be corrected by the Comp. Secretary. Name max 18 DIGITS, Title 24 digits, spaces included. Size 1920x1200 Pixels, 1meg Profile Adobe srgb IEC

6 Page 6 PERSPECTIVE November 2014 Events Calendar Ca Set Subject 19 January holiday season - Judge: Frank Smith Outings/Events 23 November Aquarium, AGM and braai, photography of penguins. time: 11h30 6 December-Year end Bring and braai, ladies please bring a salad - venue Heathers house, 10 Gotz Street Nahoon Time 16h00 onwards. 19 January 2015-JUDGE Frank Smith Competition Evenings Workshops. 1 December- Table top (water drops and smoke, bring camera and tripod and flash Terry will do the set up. Workshops are conducted to assist members on how to improve their photographic skills, most are hands on, bring your laptop computer. Committee Meetings 24 November Simon du Plooy

7 Page 7 PERSPECTIVE November 2014 SET SUBJECTS FOR YEAR AUGUST SEPTEMBER OCTOBER NOVEMBER JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE AUGUST WINTER SCAPE/S STILL LIFE BUILDINGS HOLIDAY SEASON SILHOUETTS RETRO ( see definition in Editors report) NIGHT PHOTOGRAPY VECHILE/S IMAGENATION OPEN ROAD COVER IMAGE Junior DIGITAL COLOUR Butterfly by Kathy Smith I took this image at the Butterfly Dome at St Lucia, on a rainy overcast afternoon, while we were on holiday in October I used a Macro lens on my D200. The settings are F9, 1/10 th second with ISO at 320 on my tripod. The butterfly was feeding on a banana. Frank said if I told you it was hand held, you would know I was telling a big fib!

Page 8 PERSPECTIVE November 2014 SENIOR DIGITAL MONO IMAGE - Wally Devos APSSA I took this photograph in the pick-nick area at Gubu dam near Stutterheim. The camera settings were f10 at 1.

8 Page 8 PERSPECTIVE November 2014 SENIOR DIGITAL MONO IMAGE - Wally Devos APSSA I took this photograph in the pick-nick area at Gubu dam near Stutterheim. The camera settings were f10 at 1.3 sec and ISO200 as it was overcast. I then converted the picture in RAW to black and white and opened it in Photoshop. Here I duplicated the layer and put a vertical motion blur filter on the top layer. Then I put a layer mask on the top layer and painted with a soft brush at intensity of about 15% black in the area of the table until the table that is not blurred from the bottom layer came through. Then I saved the picture as a Photoshop file and then resized the image for competition requirements. I sharpened the bottom layer, flattened the photograph, put a border on it and saved it as a j-peg file. Camera : Pentax K5ii Lens: Pentax zoom.

8 Nikkor lens at f19, 1/8th sec at 125mm, when I was in Namibia in August.

9 Page 9 PERSPECTIVE November 2014 Senior Digital Image of the month Sunrise over Namib Rand Rob Heffer LPSSA "I took this image with a Nikon D700 with my F2.8 Nikkor lens at f19, 1/8th sec at 125mm, when I was in Namibia in August... The light was just coming over the horizon in the early morning light" SET SUBJECT- Buildings Simon du Plooy

10 Page 10 PERSPECTIVE November 2014 Mike Harman john Arseniou

11 Page 11 PERSPECTIVE November 2014 Kathy Smith Frank Smith

12 Page 12 PERSPECTIVE November 2014 Wally Devos Neville Preston

13 Page 13 PERSPECTIVE November 2014 Rob Heffer Joan Smit

14 Page 14 PERSPECTIVE November 2014 Gordon Smith Terry Smit

Page 16 PERSPECTIVE November 2014 10 Most Common Mistakes in Landscape Photography and How to Overcome Them A Post By: Anne McKinnell If you re serious about landscape photography, it won t take you

15 Page 16 PERSPECTIVE November Most Common Mistakes in Landscape Photography and How to Overcome Them A Post By: Anne McKinnell If you re serious about landscape photography, it won t take you very long to realize the fundamental problem of the craft: not every landscape that catches your eye will easily translate into a compelling photograph. When we experience a place, the smells, sounds, the warmth or chill in the air, and our own emotions combine to give us an overall impression. Our job as photographers is translate that overall impression into a photograph. Every landscape photo needs to be carefully crafted with the final image in mind. The overall impression of a scene from shining through in the final image. The following are the most common traps to expect, and how you can avoid them.

16 Page 17 PERSPECTIVE November Crooked Horizons Most landscape photos will feature the horizon a dead giveaway to the picture s overall perspective. That means that if the line dividing land and sky is not perfectly straight across, the whole picture looks totally out of whack. There are a few ways to make sure your horizon squares up right: Grid Overlay On most DSLRs (and some compact cameras), you can overlay a grid on either your viewfinder, your live view screen, or both. Align your horizon with one of these lines. Electronic Horizon Newer, higher-end cameras often have a built-in electronic level. When turned on, it will gauge the camera s position in space and tell you when it is evenly aligned. Bubble Levels Some cameras have a bubble level attached and some tripods will have one as well. If you don t have one built into your gear, you can purchase one that affixes onto the camera s hot shoe. Just like a spirit level in construction, this will help you straighten your camera out. Post-Processing If all else fails, every major photo editing software will feature a straighten tool which allows you to draw a line tracing the horizon. Using this, the program will automatically crop the image on an angle to make sure that the line is perfectly horizontal. 2. Eye-level Perspective Most people photograph from an eye-level standing position producing photos that look as you would expect to see things if you were there. For a more interesting composition, try climbing on top of something, or getting close to the ground to achieve a different point of view.

Page 18 PERSPECTIVE November 2014 3. Empty Skies Without clouds, birds, or some other interesting feature, empty skies can turn out pretty flat and boring in a photo.

17 Page 18 PERSPECTIVE November Empty Skies Without clouds, birds, or some other interesting feature, empty skies can turn out pretty flat and boring in a photo. Try to compose your picture with something interesting in the sky. If there is nothing interesting to show, raise your horizon line to the top third of the image to minimize how much space the sky occupies in the frame. 4. Hand Shake Blur A blurry photograph loses almost all of its impact. Either use a tripod or use a fast shutter speed combined with image stabilization. When it comes to landscapes, securing your camera onto a sturdy tripod will always yield better results. Even if you re using short exposures, a tripod will allow you to compose your shot more precisely and lock its position into place while you shoot. 5. No Focal Point Skies and mountains are lovely, but a picture can t be all background. Your photo needs a focal point to hold the viewer s interest. This can be anything an interesting tree, a boat, a pier, a log but no landscape photo is complete without a main subject.

Page 19 PERSPECTIVE November 2014 6. Cluttered Backgrounds The opposite also applies be careful not to focus too much on the subject and forget about how the background comes together.

18 Page 19 PERSPECTIVE November Cluttered Backgrounds The opposite also applies be careful not to focus too much on the subject and forget about how the background comes together. Pay attention to what is behind your main subject. If the background elements don t add to the composition remove them if possible. Be careful that you have separation between each element, and don t let them visually blend together (i.e. two or more trees merging into a greenish blob). This is especially problematic when the objects are backlit or silhouetted. 7. Poor Lighting When you rely on the sun to light your shots, you ll find that some days the weather just doesn t cooperate. Grey, cloudy days will give you muted, washed-out colours and not much in the way of shadows or contrast. Extremely sunny days might do just the opposite. Carefully consider the lighting conditions on your scene before you decide how to approach it. If the sun is out, position it to one side of the camera to take advantage of the shadows and textures created by sidelight. If the sun is in front of the lens, your scene will be backlit and you can make some dramatic silhouettes.

Page 20 PERSPECTIVE November 2014 If the sun is behind you photographing the scene will be more difficult because the direct light will make the scene appear flat. Consider changing direction.

19 Page 20 PERSPECTIVE November 2014 If the sun is behind you photographing the scene will be more difficult because the direct light will make the scene appear flat. Consider changing direction. If there is no sun and the sky is white, use the soft lighting conditions to make close-ups. 8. Underexposing If the sky is overly bright (say, in the middle of the day), it can confuse the camera s light meter, which will try to compensate by underexposing the rest of the image, resulting in a dark foreground. If this happens, use the exposure compensation to turn up the brightness, but not so much that the sky becomes blown out (turns white). If you re having this problem, try re-composing your image to include a darker area of the sky. This type of scene is a good time to use a graduated neutral density filter. These filters are dark on the top and clear on the bottom. You place it in front of your lens to darken the top half of the image and even out the exposure. 9. Hot Spots and Blown Out Highlights

20 Page 21 PERSPECTIVE November 2014 It s not just the sky that can blow out, though a hot sun can cause glare on many surfaces. Watch your scene for bright spots caused by reflections or excess sunlight. Most cameras have a highlight warning viewing mode on the image preview which will show any pixels that have turned pure white. If you have blown out highlights, use the exposure compensation to reduce the exposure slightly until they are gone. 10. Lack of Dimension Even though a photo is a two-dimensional image, a strong landscape composition gives the illusion of depth. When you re setting up your shot, make sure to populate the frame in the foreground, mid-ground, and background.

24 HEATHER FURTER APSSA

Revised JUNE 2014 VOLUME 50 NO. 19 PERSPECTIVE DIGITAL COLOUR IMAGE OF THE MONTH KATHY SMITH AAH HE SAYS

Revised JUNE 2014 VOLUME 50 NO. 19 PERSPECTIVE DIGITAL COLOUR IMAGE OF THE MONTH KATHY SMITH AAH HE SAYS The opinions expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the Editor or the committee