Blog archive - December 2008

2008 NorthStar International Circuit of Nature Photography

The 2008 NorthStar International Circuit of Nature Photography, approved by the PSA, comprises 6 exhibition venues: Little Crow; Minnesota Nature; East Troy; Twin Cities Area Council of Camera Clubs; North Metro Photo Club; and White Bear Lake.

Acceptances

Martin Currie:

Arctic Tern in Flight (5)
Puffin with Sandeels (4)
Young Large Red Damselfly (4)
Wild Red Kite (2)
Gannets Feeding (3)
Gannet Displaying (2)

18 December, by Tony Redford. (Notices and news)

News and a photograph from "Big Arthur"

I had a 'phone call from "Big Arthur" this week! Older members will know I'm referring to Arthur Barrow who served as president of NCPS a good number of years ago. More recent members may remember Arthur turning up at a recent Portrait Evening in his Chelsea Pensioner uniform. He asked me to pass on a "Merry Christmas" wish to everyone at the club and I'm sure we would all enthusiastically reciprocate his best wishes for the New Year too.

Arthur sent to me a unique night photograph of the quadrangle at the Royal Chelsea Hospital which he snapped from his room and which I hope reproduces reasonably well here. He tells me that he is considered the official photographer of the Chelsea Pensioners, taking their portraits in full regalia upon their admission. He is also pretty much responsible for the computer room down there. Nice to know he's keeping his hand in - and in a useful and productive way.

We are always delighted to catch sight of Arthur at the cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday. At well over six feet, this ex-guardsman is hard to miss during the march-past!

We hope you can visit us in person again at the club soon, Arthur.

16 December, by Barry Pearson. (Notices and news)

The law and photography - some useful documents

The lastest RPS Journal indirectly identified a document that may sometimes be useful. It is a PDF file called "Practice Advice On Stop And Search In Relation To Terrorism, 2008", and describes police powers (and sometimes the lack of them) under the Terrorism Act 2000. Apparently, sometimes police have claimed powers they don't have to prevent photography, or to delete digital images or destroy film.

Here is the relevant section (out of a 63 page document!) Section 43 is "Search of persons" and section 44 is "Authorisations" (for stop and search).

2.8 PHOTOGRAPHY

The Terrorism Act 2000 does not prohibit people from taking photographs or digital images in an area where an authority under section 44 is in place. Officers should not prevent people taking photographs unless they are in an area where photography is prevented by other legislation.

If officers reasonably suspect that photographs are being taken as part of hostile terrorist reconnaissance, a search under section 43 of the Terrorism Act 2000 or an arrest should be considered. Film and memory cards may be seized as part of the search, but officers do not have a legal power to delete images or destroy film. Although images may be viewed as part of a search, to preserve evidence when cameras or other devices are seized, officers should not normally attempt to examine them. Cameras and other devices should be left in the state they were found and forwarded to appropriately trained staff for forensic examination. The person being searched should never be asked or allowed to turn the device on or off because of the danger of evidence being lost or damaged.

Downloads

The above document is available from: National Policing Improvement Agency: "Stop and Search in Relation to Terrorsim" [sic].

Another useful PDF file "Photographer's Rights in the UK" (Linda Macpherson) is available from: "UK Photographers Rights". (I carry a print of this single-page document in my camera bag).

An equivalent document for the USA, "Your Rights and Remedies When Stopped or Confronted for Photography", is available from: "The Photographer’s Right".

16 December. (Awards and acceptances)

ISF (Image Sans Frontiere) World Cup 2008

Salons in China, Cyprus, Italy, Spain, and Vietnam

Awards Italy Martin Currie: Certificate of Merit: Sadhu
Spain Alan Saunders: Certificate of merit: Fighting Ruff
Vietnam Martin Currie: Certificate of Merit: Puffin with Sandeels
Other acceptances Alan Saunders: Wild Red Kite (2) Wild Red Kite in Flight (2) Fighting Ruff (4) Gannet in Flight (1)
Martin Currie: Gannet Displaying (3) Puffin with Sandeels (2) Sadhu (2) Dawn at Dunstanburgh (2) Pushkar Camel Fair 2007 (2) Swannery (1)

14 December, by Gillian Hargreaves. (Notices and news)

Please bring in prints for our Poynton Library display

In the first half of February (see the Diary) we will have our usual pre-Exhibition display of prints. Here are examples of earlier displays.

Please bring in some suitable prints on Tuesday 20th January. Thank you.

12 December, by Roger Dye. (Notices and news)

Material for the Annual Exhibition

Some members have asked for the categories of material accepted for our Annual Exhibition next February to be extended to include projected digital images in the same way as our Clubworker Competitions have been. When the new system of Clubworker Competitions was proposed by the Committee and agreed by the last AGM, it was stated that the Annual Exhibition arrangements would not be changed for this session.

After detailed consideration it has been decided not to change the exhibition system for this year as it would not be possible to fairly inform all members in time for the submission date which is the first meeting after the Christmas break (Tuesday 6th January). Additionally our constitution requires rule changes to be agreed by an Annual or Extraordinary General Meeting after due notice has been given.

Members may enter up to 8 prints and up to 8 slides for the exhibition in Advanced Class, and up to 5 prints and up to 5 slides in Beginner/Intermediate Class. The largest possible number of prints will be hung and it should be possible to back project all the slide entries in sequence whilst the exhibition is open for viewing. Also it is hoped as last year to digitally project copies of those prints which could not be hung, again in sequence on a monitor display.

The Annual Exhibition arrangements will be reviewed for the 2009/10 session in the light of experience gained in running the projected image competitions this session.

The confusion on the matter is much regretted.

12 December, by Martin Currie. (Notices and news)

On Entering International Salons

“Beauty is no quality in things themselves: It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty.”
David Hume, Scottish Philosopher, ‘Of the Standard of Taste’ (1757)

Don’t be discouraged if an image that really pleases you nevertheless receives a disappointing mark in a club competition. Other judges may perceive your image very differently. Why not submit the image to an external competition?

There are many International Salons under the patronage of Fédération Internationale de l'Art Photographique (FIAP) and / or of the Photographic Society of America (PSA). Entering such salons is becoming more and more popular; for example, entries to the 8th Malmö International Exhibition of Photographic Art were 80% up on the previous year. Normally you enter up to 4 photographs per section to one or more sections (e.g., open, creative, monochrome, nature, photo-travel) with separate sections for prints and for projected images. Increasingly, there are provisions for the online submission of digital images and for paying the entry fee via PayPal. Judging is anonymous with at least three judges. For the German Mega Circuit, which comprises 6 salons, each image is marked by 18 judges! Perceptions of the same image frequently do vary. Certainly performing well in a club competition is neither sufficient nor necessary for an image’s acceptance in an international exhibition. Of particular interest is to compare the success or otherwise of the same image in salons in different countries. You normally receive a DVD or a printed catalogue. Some catalogues, such as Narava 2008 and Bor 2008, are of very high quality. With sufficient numbers of awards and acceptances, you can qualify for ‘letters’ or ‘stars’ from FIAP or PSA. For my own part, I find it satisfying to think that my image is on display in Brazil, in Taiwan or in Italy - and, of course, in the NCPS Awards and Acceptances section designed and maintained by Barry.

At least 12 members of the West Cumbria Photo Group entered the Third French Digital Tour. We in North Cheshire could follow its lead in fostering members’ participation - and success - in external competitions. Individual performance in such salons should not be seen as another vehicle for competition between members. Rather we should look for ways in which we can encourage and support each other.

11 December, by Bill Chadband. (Meeting and event reports)

2nd Projected Image Competition 9 December 2008

Judge Dave Bibby AFIAP, BPE3* from Hassra Fylde Photographic Society told us that he had learned a lot about judging from the late Graham Schofield. Dave declared at the outset that he was an outdoors man who had this summer completed his task of climbing all of the Munroes. This was his subtle hint that he was passionate about landscape images, particularly of mountains he knew and had climbed. He was eager to see how our digitally projected images turned out as he had not been impressed with his own club’s projector performance. However he was immediately impressed by the standard of the images he saw, including the Beginner Worker images. He felt they mostly deserved a good mark (out of 20) which meant later on in the proceedings he felt obliged to give half marks in an attempt to differentiate between good images.

The judge noticed that a number of the digital images had been given borders. In some cases this assisted the image, though occasionally he felt it detracted. For example in a monochrome image the white border emphasized the lack of tonal range. But borders seemed to assist close-up or detail images. Dave was delighted to see images of mountains with subtle skies, and he liked the simplicity of other images (for example a single back-lit pine). There was no indication that Jonathan Bawden had been in prior contact with the judge when we finally discovered that two of the three 20’s in the advanced digital section (the frozen mountain and the Pine) belonged to Jonathan. When asked to compare the best digital, with the best film slide (Frank Hutchinson’s Stamens) the judge chose the Mountain.

John Ade proposed the Vote of Thanks. He congratulated Dave on his Munroe achievement; and noted that he had faced a similar difficult task in choosing between the many varied images tonight. He had been intrigued to discover that this was the first Digitally projected image competition he had judged; but clearly the judge had enjoyed the challenge. Once the applause had died down President Roger Dye thanked Joyce Robson and Stephanie Clack for providing the tea and coffee.

10 December. (Awards and acceptances)

1st Salon Internacional de Imagen Virtual Foto Club Quilmes, Argentina

Awards

Martin Currie: FCQ Bronze Medal: Sadhu

Acceptances

Martin Currie: Puffin with Sandeels; Arctic Tern in Flight; Gannets

10 December. (Awards and acceptances)

34th Smethwick International Exhibition of Photography 2009

Acceptances

Alan Saunders had the following accepted: Gannet in Flight; Fighting Ruff; Wild Red Kite in Flight

Martin Currie had the following accepted: Sadhu; At the Taj Mahal; Puffin with Sandeels; Feeding Gannets

10 December. (Awards and acceptances)

33rd Smethwick International Exhibition of Photography 2008

Awards Martin Currie: PSA Ribbon for: Puffin Landing
Acceptances Martin Currie: Puffin
Alan Saunders: Wild red fox; Wild red fox at rest

9 December, by Barry Pearson. (Members' competition results)

Second Clubworker Projected Images Competition results

9 December, by Barry Pearson. (Notices and news)

The "Autumn Trees" website experiment

From 24th November to 2nd December, the Home page of this website had an Autumn Trees appearance. This was an experiment for a short period to test that we could make such changes, and to see what the reactions were. The intention is to use this capability in future for promotion purposes, for example to draw attention to the Exhibition after Christmas.

It was certainly noticed! Reactions were mixed: some people were spontaneously complimentary, while others didn't like it, especially in comparison with the "classic" style of the last 3 months. One comment was critical of the inconsistency of having a Home page different from all other pages, while another suggestion was that changes of this nature should be confined to one or a few pages other than the Home page.

Unfortunately, we didn't find out what occasional visitors to the website thought. They are typically the ones we are trying to influence with any promotion. People familiar enough with the website to draw comparisons between a special promotional style and the "classic" style will probably already know about what is being promoted.

There is no doubt that we can make such changes to the website relatively easily, especially having learned new techniques and developed bits and pieces that will be useful in future. The hard part will be to design changes that will achieve the aim of any particular promotion. Perhaps we need people with expertise in "sales and marketing".

5 December, by Bill Chadband. (Meeting and event reports)

3rd Digital Meeting of the Session - 2nd December 08

We welcomed Mike Lawrence DPAGB, AFIAP, President of Oldham PS, to this third digital meeting of the session, to talk about Selections in Photoshop. This was a natural follow-on from Barry’s talk which had included using selections in producing Layers. In the first half Mike considered the various selection tools in a systematic manner, looking at the rectangular, elliptical, single row and single column marquee tools and considering how one might use them. He noted that there was usually more than one way of achieving one’s end point in Photoshop, and that often people stuck to a method learnt using an earlier version of PhotoShop even if a superior, or different, way emerged in later PhotoShop versions. There was nothing wrong with this since ultimately it was a matter of efficiency in getting the job done.

Mike then considered the Lasso tools; and emphasized the importance of the Inverse selection. CTRL H was a convenient way of hiding the marching ants if they became annoying. The shortcuts SHIFT; ALT; & SHIFT+ALT were useful in speeding up ones work. Holding down the SHIFT key allows one to add extra area to a selection. Holding down the ALT key allows one to remove an area. SHIFT+ALT allows the common area between 2 selections to be retained. The sequence Select;Modify;Expand (or Contract) allows the selected area to grow or contract by the number of pixels you choose. Mike normally chose to feather his selections at the end of the process, but interestingly would work to a fraction of a pixel when initially setting the degree of feathering, Of course one cannot have a fraction of a pixel in the final image, but the modifications to layers is a mathematical process of changing the contents of groups of pixels, and the mathematics can deal with such fractions. Mike felt that the final image was marginally improved by this method.

After the interval Mike presented a few examples of the use of selections. He moved a car from one image to another emphasising the need to get the lighting and shadows correct. With reference to the initial image he chose to add shadows to the inserted car to match those already present.

Mike presented a grab shot image of a Romanian girl anxious to have her photo taken. The right eye was sharp, but not the left eye, so clearly the background would be even more out of focus. He constructed a new image with the sharp left hand side of the face peering into the picture, whilst behind was the blurred image of the tenement blocks in which the girl lived. He chose LENS BLUR from the possibilities of FILTER:BLUR range to produce the desired background out-of-focus effect.

But a particular problem was how to deal with Hair, which is impossible to select and has to be fudged. The colour of the hair is a function of the background light, which makes selecting and moving the hair selection tricky. Mike chose to select the majority of the hair, and then, on the new image, paint in the extra hair he had excluded from his initial selection using a splatter brush. He used Multiply or Screen options to blend the images

Jon Allanson proposed the Vote of Thanks. He had found the session to be most interesting; and felt that everyone would have taken something new from the session. As Mike had mentioned, folk tended to stay with what they knew well, but new-comers could decide to become proficient at some of the latest techniques.

4 December.