Royal Photographic Society Digital Imaging Group News September 2016

DIG News - September 2016

‘Rainy Night’ by Eric Begbie LRPS

This past months DIG Forum winner.

It is interesting to see how Eric has captured something a little unusual where the rest of us would have retreated behind the curtains and not taken advantage of the moment, photographically.

DIG PROJECTED IMAGE COMPETITION

After an extremely slow start to competition entries I must thank all of you who responded to my emails as at the final count we had 394 images entered in the Creative class and 844 in Open, from 317 members (20% of our membership). Up to the last week prior, the entries were so low that we honestly thought the annual PI Comp was in jeopardy. It costs us quite a bit to put on the annual competition as we use Bright Imaging salon software, requiring an annual subscription to use. So it is important to get 1000+ images to make this a worthwhile annual event in our DIG calendar.

We had less members experiencing upload problems and no queries this year when the system failed to recognize your RPS membership number. Of course there are always one or two exceptions but we assisted those needing help to upload their images. Year on year we try to improve the system and take note of feedback given by members.

For the first time this year we used the huge 4k monitor that the RPS now uses for projected LRPS panel Assessments. It had beautiful colour reproduction; none of the problems of over blown highlights and blocked blacks that we sometimes experience at clubs when seeing our work projected. And no difference from that which we were seeing on the calibrated laptop screen we were using to run the comp. But at the same time it was pretty unforgiving of any obvious processing errors.

The committee and selectors all felt that it was a great improvement and that we were seeing your work in the best possible way.

RESULTS All entrants will had had their score cards which went out within 48 hours of selection. For both classes we accepted all images that scored 12 or over, and any with a 5. This equated to approximately a 29% acceptance rate – our highest ever.

The DIG web page has been updated and a slide show of the images that won RPS Gold medals and RPS Ribbons can be viewed HERE Congratulations to Adrian Lines ARPS who, for the second year running, won the overall Raymond Wallace Thompson trophy with his image “Welcome to the Work House”

This beautifully executed and composed image won the Creative class RPS Gold Medal and then went head to head with the Open class winner for the overall trophy. After much debate from the selectors it finally

pipped at the post an excellent Open class Gold Medal winner from Sheila Haycox ARPS, with her stunning sports image titled “Jet Ski Turn�

As usual DIG members excelled themselves and gave us a wide variety of work to challenge our three selectors. Val Duncan, Peter Clark and our DIG Hon member John Long must all be thanked for giving up a day and working through all your photos to select our final images.

One bonus was that Sheila was with us for the selection, keeping very quiet, and no doubt with all her fingers crossed, as the selectors got down to their final discussions on who should win the gold medals.

Once it was bought to my attention that she had won and was in the room it enabled us to make the presentation to her there and then.

Well done again Sheila.

Peter Clark presenting Sheila Haycox with her RPS Gold Medal (Open)

All the accepted images will be in the DIG PI Competition catalogue which will now be prepared and will be sent to every DIG member, wrapped with the DIGIT magazine in December 2016. But if in the meantime you wish to view the Ribbon winners, or the accepted images, then please follow the links on the web page HERE In conclusion I feel we can say that this was, at the end of the day, a successful DIG PI Comp 2016. And I wish to thank the PI Comp organizer, David Taylor, for all his hard work. Also that of other committee members whom, without their time and effort, this competition would not have happened.

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NEW DIG VOLUNTEER EDITORIAL TEAM As you all know we have recently had to recruit a new DIGIT Editor to replace Margaret Preston, who has just completed the latest edition Issue No 70. This is currently with the printers and will be out to you in the next couple of weeks. I am sure Margaret’s final edition will be a great swan song to go out on. Again thank you for all your work on behalf of DIG Margaret.

I am delighted to report that in response to my email, appealing to members to volunteer as the new DIGIT Editor, we had six people who made contact. This was especially pleasing as it has enabled us to restructure the workload a little and thereby not only reducing each individuals volunteer hours, but also will enable us to bring new and additional membership benefits in the longer run.

We welcome them all and look forward to working with them. Allow me to introduce you to the new team……

First is the new DIGIT Editor Laura Zuber Based in the heart of Cheshire, I'm a web developer & photographer by daily trade, but I'm a creative at heart. I have always had an interest in photography, but never thought it would be something I would do until I started studying it in college.

After finishing my qualifications I realised that I wanted to pursue it; I knew that I wanted a career where I made people feel good about themselves & what better way to do that than to capture the best days in someone's life and by helping them to see the beauty in themselves & in their families? It may all sound like a cliché, but there’s nothing better than knowing I’ve made someone happy & helped them to capture their beautiful memories.

Today anyone with a lens is a photographer and most of them are using their phones. So it follows that in order to convince my clients that it’s worth spending their hard-earned disposable income on photography I have to make sure my work looks different from the thousands of images they document their daily lives with. In my work I strive to deliver a certain finesse and timeless quality in addition to authentic emotion and genuine moments. I feel photography isn’t about numbers, it’s about looking at something or someone, getting a feel for the situation and working with your subject. I have always positioned myself as a word of mouth photographer, and one who wants to build relationships that aren’t just about a one-off interaction and monetary transaction. Especially with young children I love having the privilege of watching a family grow.

When I'm not behind a camera, designing websites, writing or in the gym you'll find me cuddled up with my pug watching TV with a good brew!

The link to my website is: http://ljzuberphotography.co.uk/index.html To support Laura and do some of the regular features and content we now have an Assistant Editor – Barrie Brown LRPS. Barrie is a retired forensic/clinical psychologist who was born, raised and still lives in London. An avid collector of art and photographic prints for many years, he only started taking a deeper interest in photography in 2010. He joined a local camera club where he enjoyed the support, and benefitted from the expertise of other committed and more experienced club enthusiasts. .

His passion for photography is primarily focused on natural history possibly a legacy of his scientific background. He uses a Canon 5D Mk III and a 100mm Macro lens for close-up images (particularly butterflies, bees and dragon flies) and a 70-200 telephoto lens, with an extender where possible, for other natural history subjects.

As his network of contacts within the club photography world grew, however, he also found himself increasingly interested in landscapes, architecture and candid street photography, typically using 16-35 and 24-105 lenses. He prefers to go photographing with a small group of colleagues, and finds sharing practical experience and talking with others informally about how they capture and process their images the best ways to learn to improve as a photographer. He uses Photoshop CC and Lightroom for post-camera work, dipping sparingly into Nik, On-One and other specialist software to achieve specific effects. He works with a professional printer friend to print and mount his images for competitions and exhibitions because he likes to experiment with a range of papers and varying colour balance and brightness during the printing process itself.

In 2014 he successfully obtained his LRPS Distinction and joined the RPS Digital Group. He is currently working on his ARPS panel in the Applied genre. Barrie will hope to make good use of his network of contacts in the photography community in his role as DIGIT Assistant Editor.

Another new post has been created for the DIG competition catalogues, as these will be separate to DIGIT from now on. Gary Beaton has agreed to be the new DIG Competition Catalogue Editor.

Gary has enjoyed all things photographic for many, many years. He specialises in no specific discipline or technique but loves to try anything new (to him) – sometimes with greater success than others! Still a regular film user, he will happily share his experiences with home processing and darkroom printing and using ‘alternative’ processes including developing film in instant coffee.

Although having had a digital camera for some years, he recently decided he really should learn how to use it more productively and

joined the Digital Imaging Group to benefit from the wide experience of its members.

Over the years he has been active in the Society’s South-East Region activities and has had the privilege of sitting on the Advisory Board. Now living outside the UK (currently in Luxembourg), his involvement with the Society is more often limited to those available on-line, but this will be no impediment in his role Competition Catalogue editor, a role he looks forward to greatly.

Prior to leaving the UK Gary was an enthusiastic member of a local camera club, and latterly judged club competitions around the Kent and Sussex area. He uses an eclectic variety of equipment to capture images, whether digitally or otherwise, ranging from Canon SLRs, through pinholes and zone plates, to home-made gadgets and accessories to supplement the more conventional equipment found in a camera bag. When working with digital images, his primary tool is Photoshop.

Despite wistfully looking forward to retirement, he has not yet managed to find a way to retire, take photographs (ideally in exotic places) and eat. Consequently, on working days he can usually be found on an airport and working in the aviation industry.

One day, he promises he will try and get a distinction!

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CONGRATULATIONS A fairly short list this month, but still a very important for three of our members who should be congratulated on their achievements.

John Marshall LRPS Dennis Russ LRPS

North Humberside West Glamorgan

Stephen Salmon ARPS

Cambridgeshire

Fiona Cadger is a member of the DIG Scottish Centre and has recently gained her ARPS with the following Creative panel.

We invited Fiona to tell us of her experience…….

I have always had a love of photography; late 2012 I joined the RPS as I hoped that through joining I could improve my photography.

Having seen successful panels at a Celebration of Distinctions, I had thought the Licentiateship was a something I could aim for, so I set myself the goal of achieving the “L”. In May 2015 I was proud to have achieved that goal.

Between applying and the actual Licentiateship Assessment day, I started to work on a project, that as time passed I thought it might have the potential of becoming the subject for an Associateship panel. So, I took an initial sample panel and presented it at an Advisory Day. The purpose was to find out if it was worth developing into an “A” panel. To my great joy and surprise I was told it was not only suitable but with some changes it would be ready for submission. So, after the recommended changes, the attendance of the next Advisory Day my panel was ready for submission.

In June of this year, I was very fortunate and extremely proud to achieve my Associateship in the Creative category.

Of course, I would love to achieve the Fellowship, but I am in no rush and I know I have a lot to learn and improve before I even consider attempting it. But what a great goal to have.

For now, I am more than happy enjoying just taking photographs.

I believe that my “L” and “A” distinctions would not have been possible if it was not for the advice and encouragement of not only Scottish RPS panel members but also my fellow RPS members. To all of them I say a heartfelt “Thank you”.

The images in my panel are either 16x16cm or 21x12cm in size and were mounted on the standard 50x40cm boards.

My Statement read:

Hidden Images Abandoned to the ravages of time and the elements, an old wooden boat would typically be a point of interest within a larger image.

But what if we take the time to really see the boat, could a raft of opportunities open up to us?

Once the context of what is being photographed blurs into insignificance, it gives our imagination the opportunity to take over and opens up our minds to the possibility of seeing hidden images.

Henry David Thoreau expressed it nicely when he said:

“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see”.

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DIG FORUM Despite it being August and holiday time we still had a fairly good number of people posting on the DIG Forum and entering the monthly competition. You will already have seen this month winner as our cover image – ‘Rainy Night’, by Eric Begbie LRPS. Well done Eric.

So I asked Eric for a few words about his unusual composition….

A few weeks ago there was a violent thunderstorm in the early hours of the morning in central Scotland.

Woken by the thunder, I grabbed a camera and stood by a window hoping to get some dramatic shots of lightning. I had no luck with the lightning but, during a particularly heavy period of rain, I got this photo of the rain in the light of the lamp below my window.

2nd place this month went to Max Green LRPS with his beautiful timeless image of “The Old Boots Building, Nottingham’.

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TUTORIALS FROM KEN PAYNE This month I thought you might like to learn more about putting together a panorama using LightRoom Click on the image to go to Kens instructional video

And for those of you who want to get to grips with layers in Photoshop you might find the following video helpful………

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DIG MEMBERS SURVEY In our recent DIG Survey we asked members if they were willing to volunteer at all. Each individual who ticked ‘yes’ has been followed up, with several either considering new roles or agreeing to take a small part in some way. But the most rewarding contact was made with Peter Jarvis from Crosby.

Peter really moved fast and within a matter of days had booked for the DIG Members 2016 Print Exhibition to go to Crosby Library from November 2nd - 29th. If deemed successful this year then we hope it will become a regular feature of our travelling exhibition, giving people in the NW the opportunity to see your work.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------DIG 2016 PRINT EXHIBITION For the past month the DIG travelling Print Exhibition has had the top 30 selected images hung at Fenton House, Bath. We hope that some of you have visited to view them. Whilst organising the selection of the PI Comp several of the DIG Committee were in Fenton House and able to enjoy seeing our exhibition. Thanks to Chas Hockin for taking some quickie shots ………..

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MEMBERS GALLERIES The two selected members’ galleries this month show us a successful LRPS panel and some pleasing Cornish landscapes.

David Bull LRPS It is interesting to see how well David has mixed panoramas, mono and landscape/portrait works together and still have a good looking balanced panel overall.

Living in Truro obviously gives Paul Nash the opportunity to be more or less on the spot when the weather and sky oblige to give the photographer the best possible shooting conditions.

FOCUS ON OVERSEAS MEMBERS This month we have invited a DIG member, Jason Whitworth, who lives in California to share some of his thoughts and show us his work. As the selfie is just so fab I shall show it in full size – it deserves it.

In Jason’s own words……..

The development into digital photography has grown and changed over several years. The way we see and interact with a camera has become so much easier then I remember with my first digital SLR Canon Camera back in 2003. If it is your camera phone or your first digital camera, technology has made it possible to do more and enhance and develop old or past techniques or learn new and adventures methods. All are influenced from the culture we grew up in and the culture we call home or the culture we strive towards.

For me I have been particularly influenced by the UK and the US where I studied photography, and have now been living in Los Angeles for over half a decade as an Art Director working on branding and marketing projects using my skills and knowledge in photography and graphic design. I have found there are several differences and not so typical stereotypes within the city called ‘tinseltown’. Los Angeles is known for entertainment, celebrities and the glamorous lifestyle though the city has been going through massive changes which has inspired photographers, artists and media designers using photography to impact the future.

These changes within Los Angeles, have made it possible to implement experimental photography since the 1960s to present, showing the fluidity of local conditions, identity, labels and the different contexts that surround an increasingly disperse city. This experimental photography uses sharp-focus and highly selective cropping with the use of natural light and geometric positioning.

Overall through my work, selecting and preparing or taking photographs for particular projects, there is an increase in pure photography in a digital era, using the natural surroundings and beauty, with the intelligent use of digital techniques or editing to enhance the final aesthetics within the photograph.

I leave you with this quote: “There is no art which affords less opportunity to execute expression than photography. Everything is concentrated in a few seconds, when after perhaps an hours seeking, waiting, and hesitation, the photographer sees the realization of his inward vision, and in that moment he has one advantage over most arts - his medium is swift enough to record his momentary inspiration.� - Sadakichi Hartmann

Runyon Canyon

Humming Bird

Point 7

Poster image -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DIGIT

Issue 70 is now being printed. So you should all see your next copy arriving around the middle of the month (UK members) Don’t forget that you can also read DIGIT online by logging on to the RPS web site, going to our DIG About us page where you will then see a link down the RHS DIGIT Archive. Only DIG members have access to this page but you do need to be signed in to be able to see them.

Rather a long DIG News this month but perhaps that is due to more and larger photos rather than content.

If you have something you wish to contribute, an exhibition or meeting you want covered, then do get in touch.

The DIG Centres are all getting their winter programmes up and running again. With Centres now spread around more widely it is well worth getting along to their meetings if you live within a drivable distance.       

Western Centre meetings are held near Taunton Southern - Ringwood Thames Valley - Wokingham Eastern - Foxton Hall, Cambridge Midlands - Smethwick School House NW - Warrington Scotland - Bridge of Allen

To visit their web sites for more information go to the right hand side of the DIG About Us page near the bottom. www.rps.org/dig

Regards

Janet Janet Haines ARPS DIG Chair digchair@rps.org