CAPTURE. your passion with Maroondah Photographic Society. Cover image by Leanne McLellan Sweet confusion. April 2019 Issue No 182.

Transcription

1 CAPTURE your passion with Maroondah Photographic Society April 2019 Issue No 182 Cover image by Leanne McLellan Sweet confusion Page 1

2 Upcoming club events see also 12 April (8:00 10:00 pm) - B&W discussion group The discussion topic is learn to see in monochrome, followed by a brief critique session. Venue: Heathmont Uniting Church 17 April (7:45-10:00 pm) - Workshop on architecture photography Tonight s workshop is led by Michael Evans, one of Australia s top architecture photographers. All members and friends are invited. Venue: North Ringwood Community House 1 May (7:45 10:00 pm) - Judging May set task The golden hour and open subject B&W Submit June open task and open subject B&W images. Venue: North Ringwood Community House 14 May (7:45 10:00 pm) Committee meeting Venue: Bendigo Bank Meeting Room 15 May (7:45-10:00 pm) - Workshop on creating audio-visuals All members and friends are invited to tonight s workshop on how to create audio-visuals. Our annual audio-visual competition will be held on 21 August, so this workshop will give you plenty of time to learn, practise, and perfect. Venue: North Ringwood Community House Remaining tasks for 2019 The remaining set tasks for 2019 are: The golden hour, to be submitted by 3 April for judging on 1 May Architecture, to be submitted by 5 June for judging on 3 July Transport, to be submitted by 7 August for judging on 4 September Abstract or creative, to be submitted by 2 October for judging on 6 November The alternate months are open tasks. The Christmas folio task (three prints) is Food and wine, to be submitted by 6 November for judging on 4 December. The Jack Milton landscape or seascape is also to be submitted by 6 November for judging on 4 December. The audio-visual competition is on Wednesday 21 August. A workshop on creating audio-visuals will be held on Wednesday 15 May. Entries to be submitted by 7 August. Newsletters Capture If you have any suggestions for articles, for this newsletter, please editor@mpsociety.org.au. Click here to access past editions. VAPS Newsbrief Click here to read the latest VAPS Newsbrief. Page 2

3 Entering photo competitions Trevor Smithson Over the years I have always made it a policy to enter Australian Photographic Society National Exhibitions both in print and EDI. There are several reasons that I do this, which include: 1 The discipline of getting an image ready for an exhibition. Often, I park it on the desktop and then each day look at it and make minor changes. This helps me to develop the image into something that I am happy with. 2 Having attended a judging, I have a greater appreciation of the work, comments and the difficulty each judge goes through to arrive at a score. Sitting behind them for an hour, I learnt more about photographic appreciation than ever before. Basically, keep it simple, high impact and it tells a story. 3 At the conclusion of an exhibition there is an on-line display or DVD of all the images that were accepted. It s enthralling to look through the angles, ideas and interpretations that other photographers have completed to get their image ready for submission. 4 Its great fun!!!!! 5 At the club level a judge may make some suggestions. Consider them and then put the final image together. 6 If you ever wanted to represent your country in something, this can be perfect opportunity. APS is running its Four Nations at the moment. Why not have a go? 7 The thrill and excitement in getting an image in is indescribable. You have worked so hard and there is a pat on the back saying well done. Its exhilarating to get that feedback. 8 For those looking for a career or recognition, you can save up your acceptances and put LAPS (see below) after your name if you wish. Photographic Honours are available from the APS. Some of the early levels are as follows. APS Honours Motion 4724 to take effect 1 January 2020 Part 1 Changes to the minimum number of Australian acceptances at each honours level: LAPS Minimum 5 Australian National or International Acceptances (was 10) AAPS Minimum 10 Australian National or International Acceptances (was 20) FAPS Minimum 20 Australian International Acceptances (was 10) MAPS Minimum 30 Australian International Acceptances (was 15) GMAPS Minimum 30 Australian International Acceptances (was 15) APSEM Minimum 60 Australian International Acceptances. (was 75) At MPS, if you want to have a try please see me and I will most happy to give you a hand. It really is fantastic fun. Remember the photographic cliché: You have to be positive and not negative...and PLEASE read the Terms and Conditions especially with landscapes and seascapes. A very constructive and helpful way to improve your photograph is to join APS. THEN join a folio. I have been in a folio for five years and we have so much fun. There is a member in each state and we submit one landscape or seascape per month. It is mailed to other members who vote and Page 3

4 make comments. It s the best learning experience. You learn so much and you often see their names in the results of Nationals and Internationals. Some of exhibitions are advertised on the APS website. You don t have to be an APS member to enter. The main benefit is the process and the result. Sometimes if the image does not make it, I change it and resubmit. OR I see a technique that would fit so you find it in a book, You Tube it or ask a colleague how to get the effect. A real practical learning curve. At the end of the year put the images into photobook!!!! Soooooooooooo have a go. If you do, let me or Ross Taylor or Joy Rollason know. Send your image to Capture and let others enjoy it. Good luck and have fun!! Here are some of Trevor s images... Entering photo competitions... Port Lincoln Seascape Dusk Northern Lights accepted at two APS Na onals Page 4

5 Entering photo competitions... Norway Church Accepted at both Interna onal and Na onals; won the Bronze Medal at APS Na onals Tunnel Interna onal and Na onal Acceptances; represented Australia in the Four Na ons Compe on Fire Dancer Accepted at 4 Na onals Page 5

6 Follow up on Basic Processing Workshop At the March workshop, Mark Smith and Roger Frost demonstrated their approaches to basic processing in Lightroom CC and ON1 respectively. It was surprising (for some) that these two programs had very similar features. You can currently get Lightroom CC and Photoshop, plus 20 GB of cloud storage, for $14.30/month (upgrades when available) and ON1 Photo RAW for $80 (stand-alone once off; paid upgrades when available). Did you know? - You can still buy Lightroom 6 as a stand-alone, perpetual licence. As Adobe announced in October 2018, this version is the final update Lightroom 6 will ever receive, and Lightroom 6 is the final standalone version of Lightroom that Adobe will be releasing. Lightroom 6 may not be compatible with future cameras' raw files. ( A small survey of the attendees, around 20 people, revealed a wide-range of software packages being used by members. Ten packages were identified ranging from Paint 3D (Windows) and brand software (e.g. Nikon ViewNX 2) to Lightroom and Photoshop. Many people are using multiple products and move between them according to experience and need. The packages vary widely in their functionality, complexity and cost but the main message from the night was that most delivered good modified images at the end! Lively discussion shows that members are eager try new techniques and tools to improve their image making. Processing so ware Number of people Paint 3D (Windows) 1 Nikon ViewNX 2 1 FastStone Image Viewer 3 Photo Essen als 1 Corel PaintShop Pro 1 Nik So ware 2 Picasa 1 ON1 4 Lightroom 9 Photoshop 9 Nil 1 UPCOMING CONFERENCES The VAPS 2019 convention is on 24 to 26 May in Churchill. Details here APSCON 2019 is on 12 to 15 September in Ballarat. Full details here Page 6

7 April comp winners Congratulations to the following members, who achieved first place in the April open task competitions. See these and our other competition images at A-grade prints The winning run by Ross Taylor B-grade prints My friend Fiona by Leanne McLellan Page 7

8 April comp winners... A-grade EDIs End of the day by Ross Taylor B-grade EDIs Looking intently by Gareth Little-Hales Page 8

9 April comp winners... A-grade B&W prints Where is the wind by Ross Taylor B-grade B&W prints 95-year-old Barney by Leanne McLellan Page 9

10 April comp winners... A-grade B&W EDIs Maasai girl by Vanessa Bluett B-grade B&W EDIs Dreaming by Gerritt van Baalen Page 10

11 Ross Taylor Monica and Eve In 2017 I joined with many other photographers at a Goth Picnic in Fitzroy Gardens. Here there were many opportunities to photograph individuals and groups of people who had very much dressed up for the Goth Picnic in the Gardens. On the down side it was a very bright sunny afternoon and most of the people taking part, especially those I wished to photograph, were enjoying the shade under the trees making it a little difficult to take photographs. Subjects in full or dappled shade with in most cases a very bright uninteresting backgrounds e.g. in Photo 1. These girls, possibly models, were being photographed by another photographer who had the forethought to bring along an off camera flash to reduce the shadows especially on their faces. When I got home and had a look at my photos I liked Photo 1 and wanted to do something with it but found it too difficult to process to an acceptable standard with my skill level in Photoshop so put it in the too-hard basket for another day. A year or so later I was looking for a picture to convert to B & W and rediscovered Photo 1, which started me thinking once again about how I might be able to use this photo. At about the same time I had set myself a task of using Photoshop to make a composite photo using components of several individual photos as a starting point. This was the nucleus of the idea for the composite Monica & Eve. Photo 1 ex-camera shot The composite photo needed a different background that more closely matched the picture I had in mind and so, after a short search, I settled on Photo 2 taken during the Club outing to Brunswick Street early in Page 11

12 Photo 2 ex-camera background shot Monica & Eve final composite photo Post-processing Photo 2 Basically I converted Photo 2 to B & W, made a mirror image, joined these two images together, increased the blur and reduced the opacity to a level acceptable as a background that didn't interfere with or overpower the main subject. These changes were all made in Photoshop. Photo 1 The post processing here was a little more of a challenge. First challenge was to remove the shadow from Blondie's face in Photo 1. See the links below for a techniques to remove the shadows. Page 12

13 The second challenge was to convert the modified Photo 1 to B & W in Photoshop. The third challenge was to cut the girls out of the B & W modified Photo 1 and place in the new background. Finally tidy up the composite to make an acceptable image having completed the above steps. General comments This exercise was a challenge that I set for myself. I am not suggesting that this process should be attempted by everyone but if you do take on a similar challenge there is an enormous amount of information available on the internet, especially in YouTube to help you every step along the way, you just have to find the technique that works for you. No doubt the above exercise is time-consuming. It took me several attempts at each stage to get an acceptable image. Don't give up, try again and if this still doesn't work find a different method, i.e. a different YouTube video, to help you achieve the desired result. In the end you will not only achieve your composite goal but you will learn a lot about Photoshop or whatever software you choose to use along the way. Since completing this exercise I have entered Monica & Eve in the MPS Club monthly B & W EDI competition, obtaining a first place. First place is always nice but what I was looking for was that my composite photo Monica & Eve didn't contain any obvious errors and was of an acceptable quality to others i.e. at least one judge. I also entered this composite in the APS National 2018 Digital where it received an acceptance. I am grateful to Ron B for his comments, suggestions and encouragement during the making of this composite image. I think the message here is if you get stuck "ask for advice or suggestions" as there is always more than one solution to most problems. If you wish to read an article on a similar topic the article is titled "Portal" published in Digital Photography, Volume 55, dated April 1, You can read this article for free in the comfort of your home by following the method below: Download the App RB Digital mailchi.mp/7a64042ff85d/get-on-the-go-access-to- your-favourite-magazines-free-through-your-library ?e=e a Enter your ERL library details, using RB Digital search for the magazine Digital Photography, April 1, 2017 edition. Page 13

14 Dear Abby Question: Answer: How do you photograph moving objects? Here are three camera setup tips for photographing moving objects: 1 Shutter speed: If your subject is moving fast your shutter speed needs to be fastswitch to S (sports) mode or Tv (shutter speed priority) control this. The faster the speed, the less light you get and may need to increase the ISO or lower the aperture value. 2 Release or drive mode rather than taking one photo at a time switch to continuous option. 3 Auto focus mode for tracking moving objects is recommended. Whether taking photographs of moving water, cars driving by or people or animals moving the most important setting you need to address is the shutter speed. Every situation is unique when it comes to photographing moving objects and there are only guidelines to suitable shutter speeds to begin the task. When taking moving water it may be necessary to start with 1/80 sec shutter speed and review test shots in the view finder and adjust the shutter speed until you get the results you require be aware that no two situations will have the same available light so it is necessary to experiment. For example, photographing people running a marathon (start with 1/250 sec), or capturing a racing car (start with 1/1300 sec), would depend on if you want to capture the scene in sharp focus. Panning is another way to show intentional movement. Panning with a moving object will result in background blur whilst the object stays in sharp focus; start with 1/60 sec for panning with a horse race. So there you have it - experimentation with varying shutter speeds and practise panning to get intentional blur is the name of the game for photographing objects that move! Page 14

15 Committee update Meeting held Tuesday 9 April 2019 Outings Yvonne advised that the previously advised outing to the Redwood Forest at Warburton East had to be re-scheduled due to the closure of the park by Parks Victoria as a result of recent bushfires. Further options are being considered and will be advised in the near future. If any member cares to offer any suggested outings, Yvonne looks forward to hearing from you. Special Interest Groups B&W Gary Leete has handed over the leadership of this group to Ross Taylor, who has prepared a program for the remainder of The group will continue meeting at the Heathmont Uniting Church at 8:00 pm on the second Friday of each month and will predominantly be B&W discussion sessions with the opportunity for members to bring along their work for critiquing amongst the group. The next meeting is scheduled for Friday 12 April. Portraits After a long recess, Neil Roberts reported that discussions were in train with Steve Sheddick, a wellknown local photographer who specializes in portraiture, with a view to him running a 2½ hour training session. Special emphasis will be on lighting and off-camera flash. Models will be present and opportunities will be available for Q&A. It is proposed running this session at HUC on a Friday night to be advised. Participants will, most likely, be asked to contribute $20 to cover Steve s costs. Interclub competitions VAPS The Club submitted 15 EDPIs and 15 prints and will identify the images and their makers in the May newsletter. All images will be exhibited at the VAPS annual convention in the Latrobe Valley later in May. Knox B&W; Four-club Interclub & Eastern Interclub Gary Leete, the club s Interclub Coordinator, will approach members for images in the not-too-distant future. Please ensure you put in your very best work because MPS will be defending its title in each of these interclubs. Special achievement Each year, following the VAPS Interclub, VAPS retains a small number of images it considers worthy of competing in the annual Australian Interstate Photographic Competition (AIPC). Last year Elaine Van Dyk s wonderful B&W digital image, Move it Buddy, was chosen with a short list of others. We are very pleased to report that Elaine s image received a merit, gaining equal first place for Victoria and equal second in Australia in the Monochrome Digital section of the national competition. Well done, Elaine. Subscriptions The Treasurer, Shane Montaperto, advised that subscription renewal notices will be ed within the next week or so. Please note that subs fall due on 30 April and Shane has asked if members can assist our cash flow by transmitting payment on or before the due date. Bereavement Committee noted the sad passing of John Stevens, Mark Stevens father, following a spate of ill-health. John may have been known to some members as he attended two or three meetings a few years ago with a view to joining the club. The next committee meeting is on Tuesday 14 May Page 15

16 MPS Facebook pages MPS members are reminded that we have several Facebook pages, and we encourage all members to make full use of them. At the moment our pages are: Maroondah Photographic Society This is our public-facing page, where we post notices and photos for the general Facebook public. MPS Photography Group, Image Sharing and Critique, This is a secret group. Members are invited to upload their images to share with other members. If you want feedback on your image, or suggestions for how it could be improved, just ask, and you ll get some great, constructive suggestions from the group. MPS Buy Swap And Sell This is a closed page for members to advertise any items of photographic equipment that they want to buy, swap or sell. The Special Interest Group (SIG) closed pages are: MPS SIG Portraits MPS SIG Macro MPS SIG Urban Landscape MPS SIG B&W Our mission is to contribute to the health and vibrancy of the Maroondah community by providing an outlet for the people of Maroondah to enhance and develop their photographic skills, and to participate in the advancement of photography as both an art and a science. MPS fosters a culture of inclusivity and embraces individual uniqueness in all its forms. Our aims are to encourage meeting of members and to facilitate the exchange of ideas for the mutual improvement of our photography and allied processes encourage the advancement of photography as an art and a science hold exhibitions, conduct competitions and award trophies arrange photographic and social functions Page 16

17 Upcoming compe ons, exhibi ons and events April Two exhibi ons at Monash Gallery of Art, Wheelers Hill that focus on our environment (9 March to 12 May): Dombrovskis: journeys into the wild (Peter Dombrovskis) & Swell (Katrin Koenning) (h ps:// Experience the new Nikon Z Series: Melbourne April (10 April from 6:00 9:00 pm), Show me Events Centre, 61 South Wharf Promenade, South Wharf. (h ps:// the new nikon z series melbourne april ckets ?aff=ebdssbdestsearch) Occupa on Displacement (April 4 to May 2), Sky Light Gallery, Sunstudios, South Melbourne. Melbourne photojournalist Darrian Traynor presents a selec on of uncommissioned and self funded work made over three years focusing on stories of people affected by conflict in the Middle East. (h ps://sunstudiosaustralia.com/events) APS exhibi on and compe on closing dates (h ps:// p s.org.au/index.php/compe ons) APS AV Autumn Na onal 2019 (5 April) APS Na onal Exhibi on Nature 2019 (13 April) Sydney Harbour Interna onal 2019 (14 April) 2019 Grief and Glory Victoria s Unseen Anzac Photographic Treasures (14 April to 6 May), Magnet Galleries Melbourne (h p:// magnet.org.au/) May The Australian Conceptual Photography Prize (CAPP) entries close 3 May. The APS has announced a new ini a ve aimed at promo ng the work of conceptual photographers with a cash prize totalling $10,000.. To qualify for the CAPP, images must be a s ll work that has been substan ally produced by photographic means, including analogue and digital photography, collage and mixed media, and be accompanied by an ar st's statement. (h ps:// p s.org.au/ It s only rock n roll but I like it The music photography of Wendy McDougall (10 to 24 May) Sky Light Gallery, Sunstudios, South Melbourne. (h ps:// sunstudiosaustralia.com/events) Annual VAPS conven on (24 to 26 May) Federa on University, Gippsland Campus, Churchill (h p:// ons) Robin Boyd, a portrait of an Australian house (25 May to 14 July) at Monash Gallery of Art, Wheelers Hill. This exhibi on is part of the Robin Boyd Centenary of Design program in partnership with the Robin Boyd Founda on. (h ps:// APS exhibi on and compe on closing date (h ps:// p s.org.au/index.php/compe ons) Australian Cup 2019 (25 May) Shot in the Heart of Melbourne (30 May to 10 June). The Victorian Ar sts Society in East Melbourne runs an annual exhibi on focused on a photographer s personal interpreta on of street photography within the Melbourne CBD. Entries closed on 7 th April. (h ps:// Annual VAPS conven on (24 to 26 May) Federa on University, Gippsland Campus, Churchill (h p:// compe ons) Robin Boyd, a portrait of an Australian house (25 May to 14 July) at Monash Gallery of Art, Wheelers Hill. This exhibi on Page 17

18 is part of the Robin Boyd Centenary of Design program in partnership with the Robin Boyd Founda on. (h ps:// APS exhibi on and compe on closing date (h ps:// p s.org.au/index.php/compe ons) Australian Cup 2019 (25 May) Shot in the Heart of Melbourne (30 May to 10 June). The Victorian Ar sts Society in East Melbourne runs an annual exhibi on focused on a photographer s personal interpreta on of street photography within the Melbourne CBD. Entries closed on 7 th April. (h ps:// Some for the long term calendar VIGEX 20th Interna onal Print Salon 2019 closing date 2 June h p:// Ballarat Interna onal Foto Biennale (28 August to 20 October), Ballarat. (h ps://ballara oto.org/) APS conference (12 to 15 September), Ballarat. (h p:// ons). APSON 2019 coincides with the Ballarat Interna onal Foto Biennale. Page 18