Don’t Forget to Calibrate Your Printer

On Friday 5th September the RPS Digital Group invited John Read of Marrutt Digital to talk about Printing. As a last minute decision your editor decided to go and he is mightily glad that he did so. John took to the Grappenhall venue a range of printers (Epson 1160, 1290, and 2100) each fed by the Lyson Bulk Ink feed system, and a large number of Prints, both colour and Black and White.

The aim of the photographer is to reliably reproduce on paper the image captured by the camera. In the process there are many possible pitfalls. To begin with, said John, remember “Rubbish in= Rubbish out”. If the image is badly recorded (blurred or under or over exposed for example one should not expect a good outcome. But one might expect a good outcome to a well taken shot of a good subject. John noted that Digital photography has progressed in leaps and bounds recently and most serious digital cameras (the £600 plus variety) produce good, (faithful) colour images. By using Photoshop Elements II, or Photoshop, it is possible to employ icc profiles and the Adobe RGB 1998 colour gamut to drive the printer to accurately reproduce the image on the paper. But though the printer is a much more stable system than, say the Computer Monitor, individual printers each have their own quirks and should be calibrated. This is particularly important if one deviates from using the manufacturer’s own inks and paper. John described the relatively simple way that printer’s can be individually profiled. A ‘test image’ is received by email or CD and one prints out this image (of coloured squares) using the individual’s preferred photo paper and inks. This printed image is then returned to the profiler, who examines it (using expensive equipment) and relays back the adjustment required for the individual printer/paper/ink combination. The cost is about £90 +VAT, but this can quickly be saved in terms of not wasting future ink and paper on unnecessary test runs.

A3+ paper cost about £1 a sheet and the ink to produce the image on the paper may well cost another £1.

John sang the praises of the new Epson 2100 printer, which was over four times as fast as the 1290. Used together with the precision calibrated Lyson ink-sets the professional (eg wedding photographer) now had a reliable and quick way of producing Wedding Albums (for inspection the same day as the wedding!) And the Lyson Fotonic dye-based ink-sets yielded certified indoor longevity well in excess of the conventional darkroom print. It was noted that the 125ml bottles contained about 10 times as much ink colour as the cartridge, and the use of such continuous inksets would soon result in money saving on inks.

Photoshop was a useful way of interfacing the digital image to the printer (using icc profiles) but should be used as little as possible, otherwise. He showed many examples of images taken straight from a digital camera (including, I am pleased to say, the Minolta 7i) and reproduced on his calibrated printers. He also showed superb prints of a 6Mpixel image printed at A2 size. He suggested printing at between 180 and 360 dpi only. Photoshop (the Bicubic interpolation) could be used to parly expand an image, and the printer Error Difusion system could be used to finish the expansion. In his experience such a combination worked well.

If the image on the monitor didn’t look right, then question the monitor! Monitors were notoriously problematic regarding photo images. The monitors changed (deteriorated) continuously with time; much more so than the printers. John suggested that the proper approach to differences in tones between monitor image and printed image was to print a good image (from a Digital camera) and then adjust the monitor controls to try and reproduce the printed image; and not to adjust the printer controls to mimic the deviant monitor. Unless one paid good money (over £1000) for a flat screen monitor one should not expect to get a faithfully reproduced image on a flat screen monitor.

John thought that digital camera images were preferable to scanned images (from slide or negative). If a scanner is to be used then make sure its dynamic range was about 4+ rather than 3+

The RPS Digital Group are to be congratulated on organising such a thought provoking evening. And thank you Harry Bosworth for taking the trouble to write and inform me of the meeting.

The New Session Begins

A good turn-out on 9th September, no doubt helped by the need to hand in images for the 1st Quarterly, saw the new session get off to a flying start. “Pictures from Club Outings” produced a mixed bag of images, not all, it must be noted from official club outings. But the evening was a convivial affair, allowing for a variety of notices from members, and finishing ahead of normal time to allow ample drinking time in the “Grapes”. Tony Redford applauded the Photo Quicker programme which came with his Epson 1290 and which allowed him to tick off a variety of Thumbnail pictures on the screen and then let him have tea whilst the 1290 printed them all onto his roll of photo-paper. Apparently the printer even draws a line to show you where to cut to separate the printers. Ever a generous man, Tony invited members to take away those pictures they fancied, or which they did not want to see getting into the wrong hands!

There is often a rush of Autumn competitions to prepare for, before we have had chance to sort out our latest winners. Jon Dixon’s task as Chairman of the selection committee was made more onerous by the discovery that we had not appointed a selection committee to support the chairman. Following a review of the entries to the 1st Quarterly Jon requested a variety of members to produce a second print for consideration amongst other prints by an ad hoc committee at the next meeting.

This second meeting was also a members evening – with the themes of Red, White and Blue or Lamps /Chimneys. Emboldened by the first meeting members almost doubled the input compared with the opening meeting. It became clear that white clouds in a blue sky solved the problem for many members. Again we had ample time for announcements; Colin Pickles saying that his numbers for Prague were now approaching the maximum and urging members who had not yet contacted him to do so quickly. Tony continued to woo members by producing a large pack of past photo-magazines for members to take away, or peruse at the club. It was suggested that they might be kept as a kind of library in the club cupboard.

Richard Scaife, our new syllabus secretary, anxious to satisfy members, asked for feedback on the kind of club evenings members liked. For example, were they happy with the two member’s evenings we had started with, or did they have other suggestions. If members refuse to respond they cannot, of course, complain about whatever syllabus Richard eventually produces.

First Quarterly Competition of the Session

Our first quarterly competition of the new season took place on Tuesday 23rd September. Our judge for the evening, Dave Hollows of Sale, had a tough time getting through the entries in the time allocated. Although we had restricted entries to 3 prints and 3 slides our judge still had 60 prints and 48 slides to deal with - Well done to Dave for doing such a good job. He noted that the print entry was particularly strong; he marked out of 20, but still felt the need to use half marks on occasion to separate the entries. This being my first evening as the competition secretary I would welcome opinions on how the evening went and on any changes that would be generally welcome. We have the room booked from 7pm so that if the 2nd Quarterly entry is also large would it be beneficial/possible to start at 7.45 or 7.30?

This summer I exposed many rolls of slide film. Why did I bother? Though I entered both categories my marks total struggled to beat that of entrants who only entered one category! Perhaps if we didn’t give the judge so long to deliberate I would do better. Is judging really so subjective? Still the 1st quarterly has helped our selection committee choose prints for both the Keswick visit and for the Southport meeting. And before the 2nd Quarterly we must choose entries for our annual Chapel battle (10 prints & 10 slides), the print panel competition at Bramall, and the triangular battle at Wilmslow.

And by the way, if you want to see some more of my slides don’t forget my MACRO evening (see the syllabus!)

No. Title Author Score

1 A Euro for the guy Roy Cheetham 15

2 Almost there John Coles 12

3 Anticipation Bill Chadband 16

4 Arch arcane John Ade 15

5 Begonia textures Dorothy Redford 19

6 Bull elephants Steph Clack 18

7 Chancel, St Peters Gerald Hallworth 19

8 Chestnut horse John Ade 15

9 Cliff dwelling Brian Turnbull 18

10 Cloisters, Gloucester cathedral Gerald Hallworth 18

11 Cuban peasant Frank Hutchison 14

12 Dignity in poverty Frank Hutchison 14

13 Evening gold Lowry Centre Gordon Robson 17

14 Evening patrol Geoff Robinson 18.5

15 Farm track Brian Turnbull 13

16 Georgina Dorothy Redford 20

17 Greek conservatory Joyce Street 10

18 Green heron, Norfolk 2003 Ted Wilson 15

19 Hay Tor Brian Turnbull 13

20 Holker Hall & gardens Stuart Forbes 13

21 Indian dance troupe Geoff Robinson 20

22 Jade Joyce Street 13

23 Kilimanjaro George Beaumont 16

24 Lapper faced vulture Ted Wilson 17

25 Last climb Jonathan Bawden 13

26 Lavatera (tree mallow) Gordon Robson 15

27 Lighthouse at Ilseornsay Colin Pickles 13

28 Liverpool life Tony Redford 19.5

29 Liverpool, giftwrapped Richard Scaife 15

30 Long division Bill Chadband 16

31 Love is in the air Geoff Robinson 20

32 Madona & child George Beaumont 15

33 Marabou fishing Steph Clack 17

34 New face of Manchester Gordon Robson 16

35 No title Colin Pickles 12

36 Ocean serenity Dorothy Redford 18

37 Old tanners houses Castres Mags English 13

38 On the shore Colin Pickles 15

39 Painstaking work on tableware Mags English 13

40 Parapet view Carcassonne Mags English 14

41 Pheasant breaking cover John Coles 9

42 Portugese prowess Stuart Forbes 15

43 Puffin Island & Great Orme Gerry Davey 10

44 Pulpit detail, Southwell Cath. Stuart Forbes 15

45 Race on Tony Redford 19.5

46 Rescue act Tony Redford 19

47 Rhododendron John Ade 13

48 Root carving, small Goose Richard Scaife 13

49 Salford Quays 2003 Ted Wilson 14

50 Sea shells Jonathan Bawden 16

51 Shock lines Jonathan Bawden 16

52 Speedway style John Coles 12

53 Spring in South Park Drive Gerry Davey 10

54 The measurers Gerry Davey 14

55 The seaside Bill Chadband 12

56 Venetian morning George Beaumont 15

57 Walking the millennium bridge Gerald Hallworth 14

58 Weeping rock, Zion national park Richard Scaife 13

59 White pelican in breeding plumage Steph Clack 15

Results - Slides

No. Title Author Score

1 A quiet street in Barcelona Gordon Robson 13

2 Abstract Jonathan Bawden 13

3 Age of steam Dorothy Redford 15

4 Bearalund steps George Beaumont 14

5 Clematis detail Frank Hutchison 14

6 Country colours Tony Redford 20

7 Covered arcade Gerald Hallworth 13

8 Crocusmia masontum Gordon Robson 10

9 Croft at Luib Colin Pickles 13

10 Enjoying the hills Jonathan Bawden 16

11 Escape Tony Redford 13

12 Evening scene Lesbos 2003 Ted Wilson 17

13 Field pansy Stuart Forbes 10

14 Fir cone on snow John Ade 10

15 Go with the flow Colin Pickles 15

16 Hibiscus with insect Frank Hutchison 12

17 High tea at the museum ohn Ade 12

18 Impending storm John Coles 17

19 Lift off Stuart Forbes 15

20 Lion cubs Steph Clack 15

21 Little Morton Hall Frank Hutchison 17

22 Loch Leven Estelle Broomhall 13

23 Long & winding road Jon Dixon 14

24 Male adder George Beaumont 16

25 Manchester Picadilly Estelle Broomhall 14

26 Marigold ( 3D or not 3D ) John Coles 10

27 Millennium bridge Gerald Hallworth 17

28 Mondrain garden France 2003 Ted Wilson 16

29 Pelicans Steph Clack 14

30 Penmon Point Dorothy Redford 14

31 Pennies from heaven George Beaumont 18

32 Phillipe the Dog France 2003 Ted Wilson 19

33 Pigeon fancier Brian Turnbull 16

34 Poor imitations Tony Redford 16

35 Rachel Douglas Brian Turnbull 14

36 Riveting Jon Dixon 15

37 Scale force Jonathan Bawden 15

38 Shadows ( Palma airport ) Colin Pickles 15

39 Snow & leaf Jon Dixon 14

40 Summer shade Dorothy Redford 13

41 Sunset over Salford Quays Gordon Robson 16

42 Tawny eagle on ant hill Steph Clack 19

43 The biscuit factory Brian Turnbull 15

44 Three chestnut doors John Ade 16

45 Trawler detail Gerald Hallworth 12

46 Urbis Estelle Broomhall 14

47 Wet Wednesday in Stockport John Coles 10

Keith Suddaby FRPS – A Very Good Place to Start

On Tuesday 30th September the new President of L&CPU, Keith Suddaby gave a wide ranging presentation under the heading of “A Very Good Place to Start”. Waving a Rolleiflex camera in the air he asked what is this? Ignoring the silly comment that it was a brick, Keith stated that it was an “information gatherer”. It was a mechanism for gathering information (spatial, and colour etc) of the scene before it. The Gatherer then used known technologies to reproduce the information on a suitable, convenient medium ( eg photographic paper).

Keith discussed the virtues and problems of reproducing a black and white image, talked a little about the early photographic processes, and confessed that he had started with colour slides. Some people found it hard to visualize a scene as a black and white image. Dennis Thorpe had once commented to him that he always saw scenes as a black and white image. This was one of Dennis’s special abilities. Keith also confessed that he was not good at landscapes but preferred to point the camera down and see images on the ground.

Keith’s father had been an artist and we were shown a variety of his father’s excellent drawings and paintings. The advent of digital imaging (digital cameras, scanners, Photoshop and the like had brought the artist and the photographer closer together. The artist reproduced what he saw in his mind’s eye. Previously photographers unavoidably reproduced intrusive detail that they might not even have noticed when they framed the image in the viewfinder. Digital manipulation now allowed the photographer to reproduce the picture in the photographer’s mind’s eye. An interesting comment (of his Father’s?) was that the manipulation of an image should be a subtractive process rather than an additive one. Keith had used colour washes on the screen to good effect, in a manner reminiscent of that used by water-colour artists. Depth of field and out of focus parts of the image were no longer a problem.. Digital blurring would give a suitable out-of-focus effect, whilst one could paint around the edges of objects in a digital image to sharpen them up, making the “unsharp” filter redundant.

Keith’s fast talking, wide ranging, presentation was greatly appreciated by those present. The main distraction had been the acoustics of the Methodist Church Hall which made it difficult for those at the back to catch all of our speaker’s words. This is something the committee must consider for the future.

The Southport P.S Champions Competition

On Monday 6th October, nine club members travelled to Southport for this prestigious competition. Dave Akers set five of us the well known problem of how to get five elephants into a mini. In this instance we put Frank in the front, whilst Bill and Brian hugged Dorothy in the back. Frank was the navigator. At Ormskirk we discovered that the great traffic queue was occasioned by road-works and possibly broken down lorries. By detouring through a car park and driving down a pedestrian only road Dave managed to extricate us from our predicament. Nearer our destination Frank’s glasses steamed up and we steamed beyond our turning. But Dave had a plan - keep going in circles until someone recognises a road. Someone did and we arrived only shortly after the evening’s proceedings had begun. Alan Wild and wife had already arrived; Joyce and Hugh arrived well before the tea interval.

As we know Southport PS tend to get photography and football mixed up. Each of the eight invited clubs were requested to forward their image eleven, on CD, in advance, to be projected using Southport’s new Digital projector. Sitting on the back row we were impressed with the brightness and clarity of the images. We were equally impressed by the large audience, which must easily have exceeded 100. Having gone once through the 88 images the two Midland’s judges were requested to eliminate images 11 at a time (ie lose a teams-worth each round) – quite a task to be given cold on the night. Images would gain 1 mark if eliminated in the 1st round, 2 marks for the 2nd round etc.

NCPS sailed untouched through the first round, and only lost one image in the second round, Then disaster struck. Six images were lost in the third, and two more in the fourth round. But our last two images made it all the way to the final round Estelle Broomhall’s “Puddled” and Geoff Robinson’s “Love is in the Air” From the eight finalists the Judges chose Mike Lawrence’s image of a Boxer as their choice of the best image. But as they remarked – all of the images were good and it was always a question of choosing the best from a good bunch.

Southport PS are to be congratulated on their organisation, and the new digital projector system worked well. It allowed images to be projected, and changed in an instant, and as the rounds progressed rejected images could be removed at the click of a mouse. All the remaining images could be projected as thumb-nails to remind the judges and everyone watching, which images remained. The only question remained as to whether any images might have suffered in their impact by being scanned and projected at only 1024 by 768 pixels. Certainly this was not an apparent problem for us at the back of the hall.

Southport P.S. won the team competition, NCPS coming a disappointingly 6th.

Club Points

Southport 61

Wigan 10 59

South Liverpool 54

St. Helens 52

South Manchester 48

North Cheshire 46

SLIC

Lytham St Ann’s

Title Author Eliminated in:

Pennies from Heaven George Beaumont 2nd round

10 Meerkats” Steph Clack 3rd round

American Mural” Brian Turnbull 3rd round

Three of a Kind” Colin Pickles 3rd round

Long Division” Bill Chadband 3rd round

Reprimand” Dorothy Redford 3rd round

Liverpool Life Tony Redford 4th round

Lioness” Dave Clack 4th round

Boulanger - Patissier Gordon Robson 5th round

Love is in the Air” Geoff Robinson 8th round

Puddled” Estelle Broomhall 8th round

L&CPU Big Day 2003

On Sunday 19th October over 420 registrants enjoyed the biggest yet “Big Day” event organised by L&CPU. With so many people attending two halls were used, and each session was run twice, once in each hall. The speakers came mainly from “Digital Photo” magazine and included editor William Cheung FRPS, associate editor John Adams, regular contributors Barry Beckam, David Rowley and Barrie Thomas; and Dr Chris Wainwright FRPS, AFIAP, who was introduced as one of the UK’s best monochrome workers. NCPS members present were Sheila Edwards, Tony & Dorothy Redford, Frank Hutchinson, Jon Allanson and Bill Chadband

The Princess Margarethe Hall programme began with Barry Beckham who discussed techniques of digital audio-visual. His three A-V presentations were built up using the programme “Pictures To Exe” Barry noted that this programme was available for purchase from the internet for only £15 and was well worth it. A flow time-line allowed pre-recorded images to be shown at intervals determined individually on the time-line as the background music played. Modifications were easy to make, as Barry demonstrated. Music was best stored as .mp3 files rather than .wav files since the .mp3 compression made the files an order of magnitude smaller.

Chris Wainright claimed not to be a PhotoShop guru; rather he was a photographer steeped in darkroom practice who nevertheless found printing via PhotoShop and inkjet printers an exhilarating experience. Though basically a monochrome worker he demonstrated his use of photoshop to put a variety of tints, and other effects on his images.

The last of the morning speakers, Barrie Thomas, also considered the production of monochrome images, He suggested that all the images should be recorded in colour and then discussed the various methods of producing the best monochrome image from the initial recorded image. He noted that sharpening should be best attempted on the Lightness channel of a Lab image. He noted the importance of always using adjustment layers, and suggested that the channel mixer was the most versatile approach to the problem of manipulating monochrome images.

After a well-organised and well-presented lunch, David Rowley considered ways of adjusting portrait images. He preferred using two Gaussian blur adjustment layers (each set at 50%) to soften his image of the face rather than just using one, and discussed the various ways the final image could be improved.

In the final session Will Cheung explained that he had no formal training as a photographer. He was self-taught and simply loved producing good images, He had learned the hard way through the many things that went wrong. As if to emphasise this, his (the DP?) lap-top computer failed to drive the electronic projector correctly (nor the replacement projector which was found). Whilst the technical team tried to fix the problem Will spoke about DP and encouraged all photographers to send in good images for possible publication. John Adams finished off the “Princess Margarethe Hall” presentations with a talk about aspects of photoshop. In his vote of thanks L&CPU President Keith Suddaby noted that the day had been an undoubted success; he thanked the DP team and Chris Wainwright, the St Martin’s staff, and all attendees for coming. We, in turn, congratulate Keith and L&CPU on an excellent day.

A Slide Show of India

On Tuesday 21st Oct Tom Bowett FRPS gave a presentation detailing his trip to NW India (Gugaret?). Since few of us are likely to go there (and indeed Tom had originally booked to go to the East of India and Bangladesh til floods there upset plans) his slides were of interest to us all. We saw a range of buildings and landscapes, but particularly Tom captured a fascinating array of people (as portraits), and we were treated to some wonderful seascapes with boats, reflections and the setting sun. Thanks Tom for sharing your trip with us.

“Do we continue to support Poynton Show”? was the first consideration of the meeting, held at our President’s home – The Laurels.

In the past our contribution, as official photographers to the Show, has only been considered after our session has ended and this has caused difficulty in trying to make arrangements. The Show organisers require photographic records of the event, its prize-winners, and general events for their records and for possible publicity purposes. In return NCPS can expect publicity for the club from an event which attracts large crowds. The Show pays for the film and all developing/printing costs. Additionally our participants get free entry, a free Breakfast and free Lunch. NCPS has also sold a few enprints of the previous show to interested parties. NCPS has always taken a stand in the Creative Arts tent to show its wares and to encourage membership of the Club.

The Show has separately run a photographic competition, organised a judge (Jon Allanson), and given prizes. These prizes have been donated by NCPS in the form of £20 cash (to be distributed amongst several prize-winners) and a year’s free membership of NCPS to the overall winner.

But on August Bank Holiday Saturday many members who might otherwise help are away doing other things so that the burden of the day tends to fall on the same few shoulders. After a general discussion, with Jill present to give us the facts about the show, it was agreed that NCPS would like to continue with its support. But we must appoint a co-ordinator who would attend the Show organisation meetings (once a month?) and must secure a cohort of members who can agree, well before our session ends, to be at the show. Our first priority is to take the pictures. If man-power permits we can man a stand of our own. If we have a stand we must ask for sufficient space to put on our show. We have shown prints in the past, plus en-prints for sale (from last year’s show). It would be more eye-catching to have a continuous “slide-show”. If we had an electronic projector we could have several “shows” available on CD, though we would need to ensure security by having club members present at all times.

Joyce and Estelle reported on their researches re acquiring such an electronic Projector. Estelle produced a wad of information on these machines. It was agreed that we should make an application under the “Awards for All” scheme. Minimum requirements were a projector; an associated lap-top to control it, and a club copy of PhotoShop . We would use this system to put on courses (over Autumn and Spring terms) for newcomers to Digital photography, the use of computers in digital photography, and the use of Photo-shop in producing and improving images. The Club had a lot of in-house experience in this. Two scenarios then presented themselves: Either a large audience would attend a series of presentations, with back-up notes, or a small group would receive the same presentation with the chance of guided hands-on experience. The projected image would allow all present to participate in this process. The Artistic and Creative aspects of Digital photography were a great draw to young people and the offer of cheap local courses should also boost club membership. The first task would be to draw up a suitable syllabus.

Members could produce presentations on their own computer (using Pictures-To-Exe?); store them to disc, and then run them on the club’s system. It was envisaged that we could take such presentations to clubs or schools as required. Brian noted that Disley Grange retirement home was pleased to receive offers of such presentations, and he thought more liaison with local Art Groups was possible.

Alan Adshead a former member of NCPS, had died tragically in a climbing accident two years ago. His daughter Jill had approached the club with the idea of remembering her father through a Club Trophy. Colin had worked with Alan at Ilford and noted that Alan was a great “outdoors man”. His more recent work at Ilford’s had been related to producing paper for Digital Prints. Two possibilities presented themselves to the committee. One was that a fine trophy was required for the digital print competition at the Annual Exhibition.

The other was that an internal competition with the subject of Outdoor Life, or the Great Outdoors, could be instigated, to be judged in-house in a manner similar to our Rosalind Bramley monochrome competition. The President would discuss these ideas further with Jill.

Gordon reported that he had secured the services of Andy Harmar for our Annual Exhibition Friday night presentation on 6th February 2004,

Colin noted that the menu for the Christmas Dinner would shortly be available. Those attending would be asked to chose from the options available.

Jon Dixon commented upon the great number of competitions, all happening within a few weeks, and which we had agreed to support. Sending our images to one competition meant they were not available for the following one. It was agreed that external competitions should be accepted, or otherwise, only by the Competitions Sec, after liaison with the Selection committee chairman.

Richard Scaife sought member’s views on the type of programme they wished for next session. Was the present balance acceptable? Did the club want more or fewer themed evenings? When we advertized a themed evening as a club competition should we set up an appropriate judging mechanism in advance. The virtue of Smarties vs Counters was discussed at great length but no conclusion reached!!!