Royal Photographic Society Digitial Imaging Group eNews December 2017

DIG News - December 2017

‘Orchid’ by Peter Stickler ARPS

Winner of the forum competition this past month.

DIG ANNUAL PRINT EXHIBITION The annual free to enter DIG print competition is now open for your submissions.

For those of you new to this we hold the selection at our AGM in March.

You submit 3 prints and are guaranteed of having one selected. All prints become part of the 2018 travelling DIG Print Exhibition.

For full information go to www.rps.org/digprint

For overseas DIG members we have arranged a printing service. You can pay online through the RPS, send your files to the Exhibition Organiser and she does the rest for you. Full information on the web page.

This is a great opportunity for our overseas members to join in on a level playing field with UK members.

NEW DIG DISTINCTIONS Well done to the following members who have recently gained their LRPS……

Debbie Boobier LRPS Michael l’Anson LRPS Zoltan Balogh LRPS Simon Street LRPS Thomas Allaway LRPS Roger Stewart LRPS Mary Mitchell LRPS David Alderson LRPS Michael Herrmann LRPS Anthony Woods LRPS Michael Malby LRPS

Clevedon Fakenham Eastleigh Esher Nottingham Stirling Aberdeen Bristol Sherborne Worcester Coventry

<<<<<>>>>> This month we are going to take a close look at the recent ARPS panel from our NW DIG Centre organiser Malcolm Blackburn. Not only is it great work, for which he is to be congratulated, but it is also a natural history panel and I am cognizant that we don’t often show nature work but that many of our members work in that genre.

Malcolm Blackburn ARPS â&#x20AC;&#x201C; SoI I first visited Africa in the 90â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and again in 2005 and became interested in Natural History both in Africa and other parts of the world. In the last two years I returned to Southern Africa and had a wonderful opportunity to photograph wildlife. My aim was to accurately record wildlife in their surroundings and in their day to day activities.

I gained my LRPS in 2011 and felt that I did not have a coherent set of images to make up an A panel until 2016. There were few Advisory Days for Natural History so I went straight for the September Assessment, having taken the advice of a local Natural History FRPS but had not shown him the final images. Sadly, I failed without being offered a Referral, so I knew that I had not done well. This was later confirmed in detail in my report.

Having attended a January Advisory day for Fine Art but with input from a NT assessor, I was told that my printing was not up to standard either!

I worked hard to change my ways when printing. I went back to South Africa this summer and gained some additional shots, which had more action. I picked a panel with the best of the first panel and with the remainder new images. This time I was happy when I was told that I had reached the standard. I was pleased to add this to the DPAGB I gained earlier in the year.

Listen and try again is my advice to candidates who fail en route.

OLDEST AND YOUNGEST MEMBERS I recently became aware that we had perhaps one of the youngest Society members as a member of DIG. This got me thinking about how huge the membership age span was so I thought it would be good to raise the profile of such members.

Alan Elliot OAM ARPS Born in August 1921, Alan at 96 years is one of the oldest members of the RPS Digital Imaging Group and a keen member of the RPS Australian Chapter which he’s supported enthusiastically for many years.

He has a keen interest in historical photographic processes and he’s even made a daguerreotype! He’s written extensively on photo-history and has given presentations to the Chapter on various early photographic processes.

He’s been very active in the Chapter’s History Group, and a major contributor to its publication on the life work and of 19th century photographer and inventor Walter Woodbury, as well as transcribing and editing Woodbury’s letters. Alan is recognised worldwide as a ‘Woodbury expert’.

Alan has been an active member of the Melbourne Camera Club for many years as exhibitor, archivist of the club’s permanent collection, and its historian, with several publications to his name. He’s also a man of wide interests, from amateur radio and Egyptology to Japan and its culture; in July this year he hosted a Chapter meeting at his home on Japanese Arts & Crafts.

Alan received the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for his services to photography in 2013, and later that year the RPS awarded him the

prestigious Fenton Medal in recognition of his significant contribution to The Society.

In 2004 Alan entered the world of digital photography and now revels in the freedom it offers to the photographer. Photography is still a big part of his life and he aims to take a photograph every day! His current project is to produce a series of images of old buildings near his home in South Melbourne.

We asked Alan for his favourite image and a short biography……

Title: A Touch of Gold “Date" 1989 Location: Near Bright, Victoria, Australia.

Importance: These Golden Poplars are an introduced species surrounded by Australian eucalypts. Almost certainly they mark the site of a long-vanished gold-rush camp, and thus are a poignant link with Australia’s past. I took this photograph when researching the life of Walter Woodbury, who came to Melbourne from Manchester, expecting to make his fortune on the goldfields, but was disappointed.

A short biography Photography has always been a part of my life. I learned the rudiments of photography at an early age for my mother developed and printed the films from her box camera. I was fascinated to see the image appear as if by magic in her improvised darkroom. When at age sixteen I started work as lab assistant in a chemical laboratory I understood that photography was based on chemistry. I bought a second-hand Voigtlander Bessa roll-film camera in 1938.

Lucia Moholyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 1939 paperback A Hundred Years of Photography opened the world of photographic history. I resolved to teach myself the earlier processes but many years before I made a daguerreotype. Work, study and family commitments and other hobbies intervened but I always had a camera and a darkroom, and colour film to record items of interest. In 1962 I joined the Melbourne Camera Club and became involved in competitions and International Exhibitions.

In 1991 I wrote the history of the Club for their publication A Century Exposed, and in 2013 a biography of the founder of the club under the title Ludovico Hart, the Complete Photographer.

In 1988 I held an exhibition of 60 Cibachrome prints at the Melbourne Camera Club. Also I became the photographer for the National Trust Iron Lace Committee.

I joined The Royal Photographic Society in 1991 and became involved with the History Group of the Victorian (now the Australian) Chapter in researching the life and work of Walter Woodbury. We published Walter Woodbury: a Victorian Study in 2008. Over the years I have written numerous short articles about aspects of photographic history for the Chapterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Newsletter.

I entered the world of digital photography in 2004 and revel in the freedom it offers to the photographer.

I have been honoured to receive the Order of Australia Medal and the Fenton Medal of the Royal Photographic Society.

Alan Elliott OAM ARPS

Now our youngest member, Robert Woods, who is just 15 years of age – but with a very mature attitude which he displays in his words……..

My parents bought me a Canon EOS 750D for my 13th birthday. I first used it on a school trip to Iceland – with its unlimited photographic opportunities - a week later. The photos I took weren’t of the highest standard as I didn’t know how to use most of the settings on my camera, but I enjoyed capturing photos of the spectacular scenery. I also learnt very quickly what “format card” meant – pressing it on the second evening….

I find photography a positive distraction to the normal stresses of school and teenage life. Taking a quick snap on your phone is very different to looking through the view finder and concentrating on the composition and layout of a photograph. This stops me thinking about other things that are happening in my life.

When I was feeling stressed about revision for my upcoming school entrance exams, I found that spending time taking photos was very relaxing and helped reduce my stress.

I also enjoy the fact that when I am taking photos, there is little pressure from deadlines, rules or exams. Instead I am completely free and can adopt a wide variety of style.

As a result, I think that photography can be a big benefit to young people â&#x20AC;&#x201C; freeing us from expectations and helping us to relax as well as learning a variety of new skills.

FORUM The beautiful orchid with texture, on our front page, is from Peter Stickler ARPS. This was the runaway winner in the November DIG Forum competition. A simple but very pleasing composition with a delicate limited colour palette. Well done Peter.

The first step was to photograph the orchid in the conservatory with a plain background using defused natural light. See image 1 The clips and the support stick are then cloned out.

The pen tool is then used to select the flower, stem and some green leaves (image 2) An alternative background is then laced behind the image see image 3 layers 2, 3, and 5.

At this stage it was necessary to use a layer mask to deal with some fringing â&#x20AC;&#x201C; see layer 2.

The final stage is to add a texture screen (image 4) with a blending mode of soft light and some reduction in opacity.

image 1

image 2

image 3

image 4

2nd placed was David Pearson ARPS, with Autumn Morning

3rd placed was ‘Left to Rot’

by Susan Ashford LRPS

KEN PAYNE TRAINING VIDEOS We are getting back to basics with Ken this month and showing you how to resize images in both Photoshop and Lightroom. Then one for changing your colour space to sRGB for web and screen use.

Resizing in Photoshop – 8.25 mins

Resizing in Lightroom â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 10.14 mins.

Changing the colour space â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 5.09 mins.

click the image to link to the video

MEMBERS GALLERIES The two chosen Galleries this month show one rather interesting A panel and the other a great example of how to turn your otherwise ordinary holiday snaps in to little pieces of art.

click on the images to take you to the gallery to see the album.

iPHONEOGRAPHY – Apps reviewed by Jo Cope LRPS This is our final App review from Jo. We thank her for taking time to write this little series for us and showing us how to get more from our iPhone camera. Personally I knew it had the capability but hadn’t really bothered to explore it previously.

This was the photo app that got me into mobile photography. It has a loyal following and produces a dedicated e magazine called Scene (via Newstand App). It is an iPhone App. It is both a camera and an editing app.

It would take too much space to provide a tutorial here on how to use it and there is good info already out there to do that https://iphonephotographyschool.com/hipstamatic/ Let me then summarise what I like and don’t like about it Plus points *It easily allows a consistent style of shooting by using any combination (combos) of lens and film (in effect a filter) which can be applied before the shot is taken. I often use this approach for a project/holiday. If you take an ordinary native camera photo you can apply the effect afterwards. *lens and film combos can be saved with your own description *you can buy newly released film lens and flash combos *good close up ability (macro) *you can save both original shot and the shot with film lens combo *a simple to use multiple exposure mode and you can do any number of exposures just by pushing the slider across

*you can use camera in classic mode which is point and shoot with only control over flash, shutter speed and multiple exposures or in full manual control Minus points *getting drawn into buying new films and lens some of which are not that different (I am now more discerning) * shake to randomise setting - the film and lens combos can be annoying and come on by mistake (I have this turned off) * lens and films are not saved alphabetically in the app * making searching and remembering combos long winded Overall It is a fun app to use but do allow time to get used to it and experiment and practice.

This is my last app review and of course there are many many more apps on the market.

Other popular ones are VSCO Enlight Distressed FX Mextures And not forgetting the Adobe ones which link together and with Creative Cloud.

My overall advice is not to download and use too many apps as you will only end up using a few. Then get to know those apps well and practice with them and of course most importantly - have fun!

Jo Cope

These are a few of my favourite shots taken with Hipstamatic , using film and lens combo to shoot street scenes.

using macro setting

Using double exposure

DIG CENTRES Thames Valley Centre Last month we published an item about volunteers who had received their service awards. Inadvertently we made it sound as if all had got their bronze (4 years) awards, whereas some have served for 8 years and were receiving their silver awards. Apologies to all concerned.

Correction followsâ&#x20AC;Śâ&#x20AC;Ś

Members presented with a Silver badge and Certificate to mark their eight years of service were: Janet Barton, Alan Cross LRPS and Roger Norton LRPS Special mention for Carol Drew who achieved this status in 2015.

South East Centre Looks like a great day out coming up in early January….

DIG SE Centre. 14th of January at Crockstead Farm Hotel Near Uckfield BN8 6PT. Times10.30 - 3.30 Presentations by Polina Plotnikova ARPS EFIAP on "still life and flowers" together with Pat Broad ARPS EFIAP and Hugh Milsom FRPS MFIAP EFIAP silver with their "mostly landscapes".

Coffee and tea available, also bar meals but you can bring sandwiches.

Please indicate which you are doing.

Ticket prices, DIG members and full time students £6.00, RPS but non DIG members £9.00, Others £12.00.

For tickets email Barrie Brown digsetreasurer@rps.org For enquiries email Bruce Broughton on digse@rps.org, tel 07482275811.

Southern Centre Following her sell out workshops at DI Expo in September the Southern Centre have booked Polina to run special workshops for them.

Limited places still available – so book quickly so as to not be disappointed.

See Polina’s website at http://www.polinaplotnikova.com/

All welcome: DIG Members £7.00 All others £10.00 Advanced Booking Strongly Recommended Forms available by download from www.rps.org or from

Barry Senior: email: digsouthern@rps.org T: 01425471489

Greyfriars Community Centre 44 Christchurch Road BH24 1DW

GETTING TO KNOW YOU Having now completed all the bio’s of the elected committee I guess it is my turn to be put under the spot light. So I asked a colleague to ask me some questions…….

Janet Haines ARPS – Chair Q. Have you achieved what you wanted to achieve as Chair or is there more to come?

When I took over as Chair in 2014 I set out my vision for DIG which, interestingly, I reviewed only recently. With the support of the committee most ideas became part of our plans and strategy, with the exception of increasing DIG Forum activity, which was severely hampered by the Society renewing the web site and not giving due attention to the ease of using the Forum. But we achieved our biennial conference and a major increase in regular communications with members: have increased both membership and the number of DIG Centres. We now have a 3 year rolling forecast and a strategy which we regularly update. More to do? – watch this space!

Q. What advice would you give to your successor?

Make things happen and keep evolving the group in line with member needs and harnessing technological advancements. DIG was born from innovation – we need to keep embracing change.

Q. Has being in the Netherlands and running DI group had problems? Is there a lesson for the RPS? When I moved here in early 2015 I considered hard and long how appropriate it was for me to retain the DIG Chair position. As a committee we were already using Skype conferencing and emails to conduct 90% of our business. I was happy to motor back for key meetings throughout the year; indeed I can probably get to Bath more quickly and cheaply than someone from Aberdeen. It has not proven to

be a stumbling block at all. As a UK Society with overseas members I feel we do not embrace overseas members enough. In DIG we have a DIGIT Editor who lives in Luxembourg, a proof reader in Australia and myself in the Netherlands. It makes no difference so long as we embrace technology.

Q. What are your plans for your photographic journey?

Throughout my Society membership I have found the Distinctions process the way to keep me moving forwards in my quest for personal improvement. Slowly and steadily, with some significant disappointments along the way, I have worked through to now aspiring for my FRPS. I am realistic in knowing that attaining the F is extremely difficult, so accept that I may well not get it first time out. However one learns more from failure than success, so long as one is open to feedback and can overcome the knock the ego takes. But I am determined that ultimately I will gain those magical FRPS letters after my name and more importantly to know I have achieved that gold class standard.

When asked to choose my favourite image it is extremely difficult, but I think this is my all time favourite. The model and I worked hard to achieve the make-up look we wanted and then the direct stare into camera. After a little fiddling and diddling I liked the final arty feel to it. I think it is definitely recognized as being my â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;styleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.

SIG Link

The newly instituted biennial Colin Ford lecture series recognises the contribution of Colin Ford CBE to the study of photographic history, and his support of the RPS Historical Group and will celebrate the work of significant photographers, historians or collections. The inaugural lecture will be by Robert Gurbo, curator of the Estate of André Kertész in New York.

Colin’s career reveals a lifetime of commitment to photography and the arts. He was the first curator of photography in any national museum or gallery (National Portrait Gallery, London), and subsequently the founding Head of the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, Bradford and then Director of the National Museums & Galleries of Wales. Colin has published several books on early photographers, such as Julia Margaret Cameron (the first ever catalogue raisonné of a photographer), Hill and Adamson and Lewis Carroll. Eyewitness: Hungarian Photography in the 20th Century accompanied the first photography exhibition ever originated by the Royal Academy, which he curated. His work with Hungarian photographers began when he wrote the catalogue for the 1979 Andre Kertész Serpentine Gallery exhibition and has continued to this day.

The inaugural lecture will be by Robert Gurbo, curator of the Estate of André Kertész and the André and Elizabeth Kertész Foundation in New York. Gurbo worked for André Kertész in the late 1970s, building an archive facility and making slides before Kertész died in 1985. He was subsequently hired as Curator of the collection.

ONLINE WEATHER COURSE David Taylor LRPS I was wondering how many RPS members read the Journal in detail?

Strange question you may be saying to yourself, the reason I asked is because I guess like many members I don’t normally read every article in the Journal, I choose to read what is interesting to me. But in the September 2017 issue, tucked away in the bottom right hand corner on page 687, was a little piece of news which read “ ONLINE WEATHER COURSE STARTS THIS MONTH” yes it was in capitals, so I read the details and thought ok what is it going to cost me?

I logged into the website futurelearn.com/courses/learn-about-weather and read down the information. It sparked an interest as we photographers we are interested in what the weather has install for us.

I read down and discovered this was a free course.

Yes, you guessed right I signed up for the 4 week course and went through the introduction and was surprised I guess to see a familiar face; that face was our very own Chief Executive Dr Michael Pritchard FRPS. He introduced himself; and so then introductions over we launched in to week 1.

The course, as I said earlier, was over 4 weeks and required 3 hours a week. During this course we looked at all aspects of weather, and I have to say that when we were looking at simple things like how a rainbow is formed? Why is a sunset red? All these everyday occurrences I thought I understood. Well the answer to that assumption was I didn’t know how or why we see the colours that we do, but the course changes that assumption.

The support material that we used I have to say was very good and interesting. Below is just one subject that was covered which was relevant to photography. It was produced by the Met Office and Exeter University and is very informative:

Cloud cover and photography

Overcast skies are generally not great for photography, they can make the landscape appear very flat and featureless.

However, with some texture to the cloud allowing some light to shine through, even overcast skies can be very beautiful.

Similarly, completely clear skies are not necessarily ideal for similar reasonsâ&#x20AC;Ś

â&#x20AC;Ś though clear skies are good for taking photographs of the night sky

Broken cloud tends to be the best, giving texture and interest to the scene.

A low sun angle can also be great for photography, so the time of day is important.

The further from midday, the lower the sun is in the sky towards the horizon. This results in lower contrast and warmer light.

At midday, the sunlight is mostly direct and downward, and results in the hardest and most neutrally-coloured lighting, so is generally the least desired time of day â&#x20AC;&#x201C; however, it can be useful for photographing water, as the transparency will be most visible.

Light becomes slightly warmer at mid-morning and evening, with shadows becoming more noticeable. Objects therefore become more three-dimensional.

The golden hour is the hour just before sunset and just after sunrise. This is usually regarded as being the best light for photography, with the horizontal sunlight casting long shadows and having a warm glow.

Twilight usually describes the half hour before sunrise or after sunset, when there is still some brightness in the sky, but no direct sunlight. One side of the sky will appear warm with a red tinge, the other side cool and purple. This can give a lovely soft, multicoloured light.

You can find the times of sunrise and sunset where you are, on the free Met Office app.

The type of cloud can also have an impact on your photographs. Low cloud is generally not ideal, but medium and high-level cloud – as long as it’s not full cover – can make for excellent landscapes. We’ll learn more about cloud types shortly, and by putting this knowledge together with our learning about fronts from Week 2, we can make informed decisions about when would be a good time to go out with the camera.

We know that a warm front slope forward, and that high cloud, then medium cloud will spill ahead of the surface warm front, so when a warm front is in the forecast, there are likely to be good conditions a few hours ahead of the front passing through your location.

A particularly visually appealing and well-known cloud formation is the mackerel sky. This can also precede a warm front.

A mackerel sky, the distinctive lines and chevrons looking like a mackerel

It is worth commenting here on the colour of clouds. They can be brilliant white, through various greys, to almost black. Their colour is actually not to do with the composition of the cloud, the size of the drops or the cloud type.

When illuminated by the Sun, all clouds appear bright white. Clouds only look dark if they are in shadow, or when they are so thick that light cannot penetrate through.

However, they can also look dark due to an optical effect if there are contrasts between the background (blue sky or white clouds) and foreground cloud.

Essentially, our eyes are tricked with the foreground clouds appearing dark relative to the overwhelming brightness of the background.

That was just one of the topics that we covered, others included weather charts and interesting facts about Frost and cold weather.

This was a free course that was advertised in the Journal, the quality was very good and very informative, and I am glad that I took the time and signed up for it.

This is the link https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/learn-aboutweather these courses are on-going and there are follow on courses which I will be looking into.

This is the last DIG News of 2017 and by now no doubt most of us are thinking more about the holiday season rather than photography. But I hope you can find the time to read this newsletter as we have some interesting contributions from and about our members.

DIGIT and the PI Comp catalogue are in the final throws of production and will be printed/distributed early in January. So something to look forward to following all the celebrations.

However you decide to spend the holiday DIG Committee wishes you all an enjoyable time â&#x20AC;&#x201C; who knows maybe Santa might be bringing you that little camera of desire or a nice shiny new lens.

Regards

Janet

Janet Haines ARPS DIG Chair digchair@rps.org