Royal Photographic Society Digital Imaging Group News May 2018

DIG News - May 2018

‘The Weir’ by Chas Hockin LRPS Winner of the DIG monthly competition for April.

A NEW MEMBER BENEFIT This month we are delighted to be announcing the publication of a pilot magazine for DIG Members, about DIG member Distinctions.

Fanfare here and a bottle of bubbly broken over the bows as we launch…….

This is planned to be a quarterly online publication, subject to the membership feedback we get from this pilot magazine.

It will be published mid May and available online using the ISSUU page turning software – the same as we use for DIG News each month. The main DIG Accolade web page will also be a ‘hidden’ DIG web page. To view this you will need to be logged in to

at the top of www.rps.org Then navigate to www.rps.org/DIG and you will see extra ‘hidden’ pages appear down the RHS, including the one for DIG Accolade. On that page you will be able to download a pdf version of the publication. Do watch out for the email around the middle of the month and follow the links from there.

Please give us feedback to DIGaccolade@rps.org We thank the Editor, Simon Street LRPS, for his sterling efforts to get this publication put together so beautifully. Also to Holly Stranks LRPS for supporting Simon and making contact with the members to obtain their help and cooperation with the material.

We would also like to thank Andy Moore LRPS, Distinctions Manager, for his support in the launch of this magazine.

Congratulations to all our members who have work featured in the magazine. If you recently gained your Distinctions then watch your email as Holly will be in touch.

SoFoBoMo – why not have a go yourself?

Rex Waygood recently told us about SoFoBoMo and it seemed like a good idea to get him to write something up about it and perhaps some of you might even want to join in. But don’t hang around as the date is fast approaching.

SoFoBoMo http://www.sofobomo.com is a website which runs a photographic “self-challenge”. SoFoBoMo stands for Solo, Photo, Book, Month There are no prizes, no money, no accolades, just the self-satisfaction of completing the challenge.

The challenge is to produce a PDF book and upload it to SoFoBoMo with a minimum of 35 pictures and accompanying text in a 31day period starting 1st July earliest and completed 31st August latest. The period starts on the day the first picture is taken.

“My idea was to photograph members of the Bransgore Townswomen’s Guild to produce the book.

This challenge is tough for me as I have never done anything like this before and photographing people is not my strong point. I prefer photographing buildings as they do as they are told and don’t get grumpy.

As my wife Nora was a founder member of the Townswomen’s Guild in our village I gave a presentation at their AGM and found 20 members to sign up to have their picture taken in their home. I will aim to use two pictures per member with them providing a paragraph about themselves.

I have proposed a natural portrait and a picture of them doing something special for them. Hopefully 20 members won’t want to walk their dogs and there are no potholers or skydivers!

I have said that I won’t Photoshop their image unless they have just developed a “spot” and visiting the beautician on the morning of the shot isn’t what I intend, unless they do that every day!

I have offered them the ability to decline the pictures, which I will show them at the time. They will be offered a free print if they wish and I will publish the book in a way that allows them and the Guild to purchase the final book if they wish.

Would anyone else like to join me in this challenge? There are no limits as to what you use as a subject.

I have a couple of favourites, Secrets by Steve Dodds and Natural Colors

by Pat Cooney. You will need to register with the site to find these quickly and register to participate. Don’t worry if the website still says 2017, it is still going ahead and I will remind the “owner” to change the date.”

Rex

FORUM The monthly competition is still being run on the DIG web pages so anyone who wants to enter should email their image to digweb@rps.org - your file size should not exceed 600px wide please. To see all the entries this past month go to http://www.rps.org/special-interestgroups/digital-imaging/about/monthly-competition Even if you do not enter then all DIG members are free to vote for the winner. Watch the web page around the 26th of the month for the link for voting. <<<<<>>>>> This month we should congratulate Chas Hockin LRPS – so often in the runners up spot in our monthly comp that it is lovely to see his work win and get the front page this month. Well done Chas.

I have been a bit frustrated lately, for various reasons, in not being able to get out and take some pictures. So when a sunny day happened recently I went to Henley on Thames where I knew there were possibilities in photographing water at Marsh Lock.

I came to the lock and noticed that the fish ladder in the weir was running quite fast and making interesting shapes. I had with me my Lee Filters so set up my tripod and used a Big Stopper ®. I took various exposures but this one had the “best” water in it. If you look at the original image, the weir itself is blurred – that’s because I was on a wooden walkway above the river, and people were walking along it, making it bounce. So I cropped out the surrounds and just did a little post processing to make it presentable. (Image details – 8.5 seconds @f9 ISO 200. Fuji XT2 with 50-140 mm lens shot at 140 mm = 210 mm FF equivalent). This image has led me down another path in my photography………

Chas

as shot equal 2nd placed is ‘You Have Been Warned’ by Eric Begbie LRPS

and ‘Softly Embracing the Old’ by Janice Payne ARPS

BRICKBATS AND BOUQUETS A rather special bouquet came in from a past DIGIT Editor…..

I’ve been a bit slow getting around to the latest DIGIT but I do want to say that I found it an excellent issue. Well done! A really nice mixture of articles, technical and more general.

Many thanks for all your hard work.

Jim Buckley

DIG DISTINCTIONS Well done to all of you. We look forward to seeing your work in DIG Accolade at some stage in the future.

Agnes Clark LRPS Kathryn Hemsley-Hake LRPS Anthony Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Reilly LRPS Sheila Butcher LRPS Frances Hartshorne LRPS

Larbert St Austell Salisbury Newton Stewart Market Drayton

Andre Meyer-Vitalis ARPS

Netherlands

100th DI ONLINE MEMBER The Digital Imaging Online (DIO) membership has now been available for a little over 1 year and this past month saw our 100th member sign up. It is interesting to see what is happening with the alternative, online only, membership offer. A few members are migrating, we are attracting new members direct to DIO and a noticeably higher percentage of overseas members join DIO. So we thought we would find out a little more about our 100th memberâ&#x20AC;Ś

I'm a bit of a hoarder and have saved all my RPS and DIG magazines to look back on, but this doesn't happen very often and they sit in a cupboard waiting to be looked at. When given the chance to save a little bit of cash and not add to my piles of magazines, I jumped at it. Now I just have my RPS mag which I find sufficient, and I can go on line to see the DIO and catch up with what is happening.

I have found a good use for some of my old DIG's, in that a friend of my granddaughters is studying photography for her GCSE's so I am passing them on to her.

Geoff Timms Good to know our DIGITs are proving useful to the younger generation.

Maybe she will join the Society one day!

REMEMBER the only difference between DIG (£16 p.a.) and DIO (£8 p.a.) is that DIO do not get any printed magazines, but everything else remains the same. So if you like reading online and saving paper then when your Society membership is up for renewal you might wish to consider transferring at that time.

TRAINING VIDEOS Greetings Members - it’s been three months now since Luminar promised major updates for the PC and I have to say there are major issues, which need to be addressed before it can be used comfortably. I have made three videos for YouTube recently, two on a PC and one on a MAC, all using the same picture. If you would like to view them please click on the following links:

1. PC - In this video I show you how to add a new sky using a Luminosity Mask and a Blending Mode. We use the new Transform Tool as well.

There were a few issues. Some of you may have seen this video already. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSZcjbnKowU&t=1349s

2. PC - A subscriber suggested I colour the water to reflect the sky better so in this video I show you how to do that. There are issues, which makes it hard work to get the job finished comfortably. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y17K9fHm6xE&t=430s 3. MAC - Back to a great programme with no issues and in this video I show you how to add the same sky as a reflection in the water, which was suggested by the same subscriber and I have to say it worked out better on the MAC. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnoQm2a_SRQ&t=12s Best regards Ken Payne

DIG CENTRES 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

Southern Centre

Eastern Centre

Seeking Volunteers DIG Eastern Centre operates with a small team of volunteers. At the moment there is myself as Centre Organiser, Graham Wickens, our Treasurer and a third member of our team who will be working abroad until 2019 The workload is not particularly onerous but we would like to invite other members to join us. Most of our business is conducted electronically and we occasionally meet up outside the organised events. If you’d like to become more involved please get in touch with me whether it is to help out at our events or to become more involved with planning our programme.

The benefits of volunteering with the RPS include: • A full RPS induction • Appropriate resources and equipment to carry out your role • Recognition for your volunteering • The services of a dedicated Volunteer Coordinator • Agreed out-of-pocket expenses reimbursed in accordance with Society policy I look forward to hearing from you and seeing you at one of our events during 2018.

Mark Gillett Centre Organiser digeastern@rps.org 07984 518959

DIG Western Centre

DIG South Eastern

note – just because this says Artistic Nudes’ do not be in the least bit put off.

Tim’s work is extremely tasteful and beautiful; his biggest fans are females.

Highly recommended.

DIG N W Centre

DIGIT ENTIRE COLLECTION Did you know that every DIGIT ever published is available to members to read as an online pdf?

The collection goes right back to Issue 1 in September 1996. The collection also includes the competition catalogues that have been produced in the past two years and two Monographs on Eddy Sethna and Barrie Thomas.

First you need to be logged in to www.rps.org on the big blue LOGIN button. Then navigate to www.rps.org/DIG and in the tabs down the RHS you will see a page titled ‘The Full DIGIT Archive’. They are filed numerically so click on an issue number and enjoy!

example of part of the listing – black are issues as yet unpublised

WELCOME to our new members this month…

Peter Hyett ARPS Barbara Dudley ARPS Anthony Baines ARPS Edward Strawson Ron Lord LRPS Neil Wittmann ARPS Anna Levene LRPS Anthony Gignon Claire Goodbody Alan Collins Andy Kelsall Jeremy O’keeffe RPS Graham Titheridge LRPS Katrina Devenport LRPS Michael Morfett LRPS Geoffrey Morfett LRPS Chris Jepson ARPS Maggie Bullock LRPS Cheryl Harvey Alison Trimbee Des Ward Roseanne Baume ARPS

Exmouth Swansea Ashford Wellington Worthing Leeds Haselmere Hove Pinner Fareham Coventry Cranbrook Huntingdon Ashford Longfield Llantwit Major London Northwich Auckland, NZ Rickmansworth Tewkesbury Dun Laoghaire, Dublin

If one of these individuals belongs to your camera club or lives locally, then do make them welcome and help them to feel part of our DIG community.

SIG LINK Each month we invite other Special Interest Groups to share with us their meetings. We appreciate that many of perhaps do not live close enough to a DIG Centre to attend their meetings so this extends opportunities to members in other areas.

Landscape Group

South Wales Regional meeting Whilst we do not usually feature Regional meetings we felt that this was one our DIG members, who can possibly get to South Wales, really shouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t miss. Joan Blease is an extremely talented and creative photographer who very readily shares her tips and tricks. Highly recommendedâ&#x20AC;Ś.

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

AN OVERSEAS MEMBER This month we hear from one of the Benelux Chapter membersâ&#x20AC;Ś.

Phil Dunbar My interest in photography stems from school, when my physics master started a photography club. I only had an old box camera that took 120 film, and I remember the excitement of developing the films in open trays in the understairs cupboard at home, later in the school darkroom. We did a lot of experimentation: sticking a magnifying glass to the front of the camera for macros, making photograms and solarising.

I moved to France in 1996, where I joined our local photography club, unique in the area in that has its own equipped darkroom. When we first came to Paris, Boulevard Beaumarchais had many photography shops for both equipment and chemistry, but most have sadly disappeared. Although I still like to use my Mamiya 645 for black & white, I mainly use digital cameras now.

Paris is a great subject for photography as it is so diverse. There is the modern business area at La DĂŠfense, whose architecture inspires me to experiment with line and reflection. The bustling tourist area of Montmartre has plenty to interest the street photographer, from the artists and tourists around the Place du Tertre, to the quiet little alleyways and streets with their individual shops. At night the city lights up and night photography is always a pleasure: there are always people about.

Since retiring a couple of years ago, I have started studying photography more seriously, and am trying to find my style. Paris is great for this as there is a long tradition of photography, and the city is full of galleries focussing on photography, as well as excellent lectures (in French) at the Jeu de Paume..

I joined the RPS in 2016, so now I need to get to work on my Licentiate!

A UK MEMBER In this section we are endeavouring to showcase members who live in UK areas where we do not have DIG Centres.

Biography â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Warren Alani Over 25 years ago, my love of photography began by discovering the humble analog film camera. While it was only in possession for a brief time, it was enough to get me hooked.

Fast forward to 2009, and, with the help and encouragement from my wife, I rediscovered the camera and remembered what drew me to it in the first place.

Soon after, I decided to join my local camera club (Smethwick Photographic Society), where I am still an active member. Joining a photographic society like Smethwick has certainly not only helped me to develop my photography skills, but also introduced me to likeminded individuals, many of which I am now proud to call friends. After gaining my LRPS & ARPS distinctions (in 2013 & 2015 respectively), I am currently preparing my panel for RPS fellowship distinction. I am a member of the RPS Digital Image and Travel groups.

The Long Wait The sense of purpose and achievement is what drives me to pick up the camera every day. I shoot a variety of subjects, particularly sports, architecture and travel photography. Although I do relish the thrill and excitement of entering photography competitions and exhibitions, I am a firm believer that we, the photographers, should always try to explore our personal styles of photography: seeing my own vision develop and flourish will always be the true reward for me.

At home

Accomplishment

The Imitation Game

The reason we found Warren’s work in the first place was by visiting his web site. Even the front page image (seen left) was rather impressive. To enjoy more go to http://www.warrenalaniphotograp hy.com

Watch out for emails from DIG – we don’t just email you for any old reason but only when there is something important that we know our members will want to know about.

Around the middle of May you will get an email with the link to the new DIG Accolade publication. We hope you will all take a look at this as we know that whether you are doing Distinctions or just want to enjoy others panels, that Distinctions are a very important aspect of your Society membership. Please give us feedback as the only reason we do these things is for the benefit of our members.

Regards

Janet

Janet Haines ARPS DIG Chair digchair@rps.org