Royal Photographic Society Digital Imaging Group News August 2018

DIG News - August 2018

‘Three Share a Swing’ by John Bull LRPS Winner of the DIG monthly competition for July.

DIG ANNUAL PROJECTED IMAGE COMPETITION We are now in the final 10 days so please take action and get your work submitted. You will find a count down clock on the web page so that you don’t miss the deadline.

For full information go to http://www.rps.org/special-interest-groups/digital-imaging/about/050projected-image-competition

DIG ACCOLADE

- issue 2

Our second edition of the very well received online magazine about DIG members Distinctions is now online and ready for you all to read HERE.

The link takes you to the page turning software service from ISSUU. At the bottom of the RHS you will see an open box shaped icon – click this and Accolade goes full size on which ever screen you are viewing on.

Additionally, there is a slider in the lower right area of the live screen (roll your cursor over if you cannot see this) which enables you to easily enlarge each page to view the images magnified if you wish. Also you can download a pdf copy from ISSUU – with the page live you will see a small download arrow in the top LH corner that looks like this…...

As we use ISSUU to host both DIG Accolade and DIG News the above information is relevant to both.

To find both issue 1 and 2 of Accolade if you log in to My RPS on www.rps.org and navigate to the DIG web pages www.rps.org/DIG you will then see additional member hidden page links down the right hand side, one of which is DIG Accolade.

MONTHLY COMPETITION This months winner is John Bull LRPS with the super shot you have seen on the cover – ‘Three Share a Swing’. It is simple, strong compositionally and unusual. So let us find out a little more about how he shot if from John….

“Three share a swing” was taken from the Balcony of the Tate modern extension, now called the Blavatnic building. I am attracted by images looking down from above and the strong early afternoon April sunlight was casting some lovely shadows. I composed to place the shadows of the chains on a diagonal. In post-production I cloned out the lower half of two adults standing top left of the image and some additional bars bottom right.

I posted the image on the DIG Facebook forum where it was well received. (I still mourn the loss of the DIG forum on the RPS website). Janet very helpfully suggested cloning out the shadow of another adult behind the children ready to push the swing and she was right that this strengthened the image, resulting in the version presented on the monthly competition.

2nd paced is Reykjavik Reflections by Eric Begbie LRPS

3rd place went to a new name to submit work, so hopefully we will be seeing more in future - ‘ The Peacock Brace’ by Bryan Kelvie FRPS.

If you wish to see all the images submitted this past month then go HERE. But be quick as we will soon be starting the August collection.

DIG MEMBER GALLERIES Two very different galleries to enjoy this month, with thanks to the photographers.

There is additional information on Tatas gallery page about how to order the book to which he refers.

Click on the images to take you to their galleries.

DIG PRINT CIRCLE This is something many of you may not be aware of as there are only 12 DIG members involved – but we do have a print circle. So we asked the leader Andrew Brochwicz-Lewinski ARPS to give us an update and show us some of their work…..

DI Print Circle 1 – update on activities in the last year.

It’s always quite fun writing about the Print Circle – I wonder why I do it so rarely. At present the group is going strong, although we went through a tough time about 18 months ago, when we had several leavers. Since then we have had a good number of new recruits and now have a stable membership of 12. This actually is the maximum number that our kind of postal folio can realistically cope with, without making the whole process unwieldy and too long-winded.

Dartmoor Packhorse Bridge by Ken Wilkie LRPS

The excellent thing about this recent influx of new and very talented members has been that everyone has upped their game. We are not a noisy bunch of people, so you probably don’t hear a lot about us, but the standard is now probably as high as I can remember in the last 10 years or so. And so it should! We boast one FRPS, 4 ARPSs and 5 LRPSs in our midst, so if between us we could not muster up a few decent images four times a year, it would be surprising.

The way we work is that everyone submits one print per round and we get through roughly four rounds a year. We all then comment on everyone else’s entry and choose our 6 favourites in order of preference. While of course it is nice to occasionally be the winner of a round, it is the comments of the other eleven of us that, I believe, are most useful in our own development. Everyone brings a slightly different perception to bear and very often we do not see the faults and merits of our own images until they are analysed by all the other good photographers in the Circle, each adding their own angle to the comments..

Dead Viei, Namibia by John Shaw ARPS Most of us have a comfort zone and yet the work submitted to each round seems to vary widely, including people, landscapes, patterns and

architecture. Currently the majority is fairly ‘trad’ as can be seen from the attached images that have done well in recent rounds. However, increasingly we get more off-beat images (I hate the buzz-word ‘creative’) which all attract valuable comments. In fact, in the two rounds that are now under way, there are several very interesting different images of which some are sure to be included in my next report.

Andrew Brochwicz-Lewinski ARPS

Over the Sea to Skye by Andrew Brochwicz-Lewinski ARPS

Thames Barge Cambria at Rest by Peter Brook LRPS

The 4270 by Dennis Russ LRPS

TRAINING VIDEOS Greetings Members - I managed to find time in between all my photographic duties to knock up a video. It’s all about resizing. Can PSCC Resize stand up to ON1 Resize. Check out the video by clicking HERE If you prefer to see the address then click below. This video is coming from my web site. http://www.kpdigital.co.uk/MOVIES/PHOTOSHOP/ON1%20Resize%20vs%20PSCC%20Re size/ON1%20Resize%20vs%20PSCC%20Resize.html Best regards Ken

Click on the image to connect to the YouTube video tutorials.

GREAT WIN AT CHELSEA FOR POLINA Many of our members will know of the beautiful work of Polina Plotnikova as she was a presenter at the last DI Expo 2017 and has also given workshops and presentations at DIG Centres. So we were delighted to hear that she won a very coveted Gold Medal at this years RHS 2018.

New work especially created for the RHS:- Dancing flowers. Exquisite.

Well done Polina and very well deserved.

DIG CENTRES All DIG Centre meetings are open to everyone. Each puts on a minimum of 4 meetings p.a., offering varied and inspiring content. All welcome to every DIG meeting; members and nonMembers alike.

By clicking on any of the Ads it will take you to the RPS Events pages where more information can be found about the meetings.

Thames Valley Centre

DIG SE Centre

Western Centre

Scotland Centre

WELCOME to our new members this month… Paul Evans LRPS Anne Overstall LRPS Yvonne Green Pamela Martin Gerry Mitchell LRPS Melanie Chalk ArpS Mark Seton ARPS

- Tadley Susie Scott-Wakeling LRPS - Weybridge Gary Richards - Bognore Regis Brian Flemming LRPS - Coventry Jana Murray - Teignmouth Lisa Greenwood LRPS - Folkestone Michael Smith LRPS - Dunmow Kathryn Alkins

SIG LINK Creative Eye Group

- Salisbury - St Agnes - Edinburgh - Winchester - Braintree - Southport - London

RPS AV notice‌ The Festival will be open for entries from 1 August, with the closing date on 24 August.

More information can be found here http://rps.org/special-interest-

groups/audio-visual/about/2016-festival-results

DOC & TRAVEL

click on the ad to go direct to the event page for more information

100 HEROINES If you have yet to learn about this Society project then we would encourage you to read the information below and to vote for your Heroine by going to www.rps.org/100heroines

WOMEN IN PHOTOGRAPHY Following on from the 100 Heroines we are also putting a proposal to the Trustees for a ‘Women in Photography’ symposium in early summer 2019. To help us to scope this and determine how to appeal to Society members to attend we have put together a short Survey. Any / all of you can become our ‘focus group’ but clicking on the following link and taking just a few minutes to answer some simple questions.

It would be invaluable to us if you would spare the time please. Thanks.

Go to the short survey HERE. Or use this url if you prefer to type it in yourself. https://tinyurl.com/WIP-Focus

iPhoneography Awards Given we ran a few articles on this topic in past DIG News we thought you might like to see some amazing examples of just how good mobile images can be – I would defy anyone to tell the difference between a DSLR and an iPhone image, especially when displayed online. To read the article in full and see all 70 images go HERE.

HAVE YOU MADE a SoFoBoMo BOOK? If you have then please let us know so that we can feature it in the next DIG News. Email information and link to your book to digchair@rps.org

A UK MEMBER Whilst looking for the galleries to feature this month we spotted one from David Rosen so got into email correspondence with him. As they are such great images we decided to feature him as the UK member for August, but to see the entire album of 31 images you might also wish to link to http://www.rps.org/member/gallery/david-rosen/Iceland-in-Black-andWhite

Iceland Trip 2018 | Capturing the Beauty of Water in Monochrome

The creative potential of black and white photography, made possible by the advent of digital, has marked an exciting period for image creation. Long-exposure black and white in particular, offers a new realm of photography that with

the right subject can literally become works of art in its own right. My own interests lie in photographing dramatic seascapes and waterfalls, where the capture of water can transform it from frozen-in-time to a dynamic, soft and ever-changing physical form.

I have a passion for seascapes and water captured by long-exposures.

Iceland was a natural choice. For anyone interested in the power of nature and the part played by water in our landscapes, Iceland is a must-visit location.

Halsanefshellir, Vik

I spent a great deal of time researching the locations and planning the trip, organising a total of over 35 locations in a 10-day period. I chose June for the trip as this gave time for the flora to take hold on the landscape and allowed me to circumnavigate Iceland’s famous ring road without worrying about the weather and the possibility of road closures.

Iceland’s ring road provides access to a majority of the island’s most dramatic locations without having to travel to Iceland’s challenging interior.

Capturing the waterfalls and seascapes requires meticulous kit planning. For my own shoot, I needed several tripods, neutral density filters, grad filters, a range of lenses, waterproofing protection for my 5D, remote shutter releases, a laptop and a host of peripheral items such as alcoholic lens wipes to continually wipe away the mist generated by the waterfalls (probably one of the most used items from my kit bag!).

Skogafoss

The shots themselves were all processed in both Photoshop and Silver Efex Pro 2. I look to make water the hero in my images and use the darker tones as the backdrop to the water. I believe it is vital to have a

clear vision of how the final images will be realised and spent time previsioning the shots. Often my RAW files bore very little resemblance to the final processed image. I guess that is fairly common in photographers who believe in the power of digital.

I have recently designed and written a website which I have developed both as a place for my portfolio, but also to share ideas and tips about long-exposure, monochrome and capturing seascapes. For anyone wanting to learn more the site is davidrosenphotography.com I am planning to create specialist photographic trips to Iceland and will be announcing details on the website in the future.

David Rosen

Denttifoss

Seljalandsfoss

It is a busy time of year for us all, but somehow we seem to have managed to get DIGIT and the Print catalogue out to you all this past month, plus the DIG Accolade. Your DIG Committee have been as busy as usual beavering away on your behalf. We are very fortunate in having members who are active and are willing to give their hours up for the benefit of others. I thank all the DIG committee for their continued hard work and support.

We have newly appointed DIG Centre organisers in Scotland and joint Centre organisers in DIG SE; Ken Ness, Avril Christensen and Melanie Chalk respectively. Thank you to the three of you for volunteering.

Regards

Janet

Janet Haines ARPS DIG Chair digchair@rps.org