Digital Imaging Print Portfolio 2024

Foreword

This is the first annual DI Print Portfolio that the group has produced so our thanks go to those who entered, selected and produced the Portfolio.

When the DI Committee concluded that we simply could not continue to run the DIG Print Exhibition, we were loath not to hold an annual print competition. Printing is the ultimate output medium for our work –the icing on the cake as it were. The challenge was to find a way to encourage members to print, but with a different end result. We also wanted to have an annual collection of images showing the variety and quality of our DI members’ work. Out of this the DI Print Portfolio was born; a group exhibition in a book.

From the three prints members entered one was chosen to go through to round two. From there the selectors were asked to choose the top 50, then in round three to get this down to the top 30, whilst maintaining a good cross section of work. Images were selected on the basis of technical quality, aesthetics and story-telling; the appropriateness of paper used and the print quality were also taken into consideration.

We thank Simon Street FRPS, Marilyn Taylor FRPS and Edgar Gibbs FRPS for their hard work and diligence in selecting the top 30 images for this first DI Print Portfolio.

Marilyn Taylor

Marilyn Taylor, born in NW London, is now based in Woking, Surrey. She read Engineering Science at St Hilda’s College, Oxford before embarking on a career in computer software. She has been photographing since her teens, but when digital cameras became generally available in 2000, she started to combine photography with digital manipulation. She prefers to take photos of people and wildlife.

Her first major award was winning the Events Photographer of the Year at the SWPP awards in 2011, and later that year she won the Royal Photographic Society gold medal and PDI Raymond Wallace Thompson Trophy for the Digital Imaging Group with her photo of ‘Silverback Gorillas Fighting’. The next year won a judges’ ribbon in the same competition for her ‘Attack on La Haye Sainte’. Other ribbons have followed, from Sydney Salon, Australia, the SPA, the PAGB and she represented Great Britain in the FIAP Colour Biennial in 2021.

She has earned three fellowships –FRPS, FIPF and FSWPP. She is currently studying for a Masters in Fine Art Photography at UCA in Farnham.

Our Portfolio Selectors

Simon holds several Fellowships from the Royal Photographic Society where he is also an Assessor. He is a regular contributor to B&W Photography magazine. Simon is no stranger to Digital Imaging members as the initial editor of Accolade.

I started my interest in photography in 1977 whilst doing a degree in Civil Engineering, recording the results of a photoelastic analysis of a bridge model with an SLR and Kodachrome, going on to black and white in the darkroom. I’m now a retired chartered Civil Engineer living in Cardiff and I’m a member of Gwynfa Camera Club, just north of the city, which I joined in 1979. In March 1985 I saw an Audio Visual presentation for the first time. I was taken with the use of light and images blending together with a soundtrack, and began to make AVs jointly with my wife, Linda. I joined the RPS in the early 1980s and with Linda, took over running the South Wales RPS AV Group from 1989 - 1996.

I gained my FRPS in 2005 followed by a joint MPAGB in 2012. I have judged AV competitions at regional, national, and international level. I have been an RPS AV Distinctions panel member, Director of the National AV Championship and Director of 4 RPS International Audio Visual Festivals. I have been a member of the RPS AV Group Committee for 14 years, in different roles, including Chair.

Simon Street FRPS

Edgar Gibbs FRPS, MPAGB, AV-AFIAP

Derwood Pamphilon

Ashleigh

During the photoshoot with Ashleigh, we opted to shoot a more dramatic look with deep red lipstick and a black top. The effect was crowned, literally, by her black hat. I took several shots with her looking directly at the camera or off to one side as well as varying her hand positions on the hat. Although the image was strong in colour, I felt that monochrome suited it better. The camera settings were shutter 1/160 second, f/10 and ISO 100. Ashleigh was lit by an octabox to her front left and a smaller light from the right to provide separation from the background. The final image was produced in Photoshop.

Peter Hyett ARPS

Balanced

This is an image of a professional dancer, David Wall, who performs both in ballet and shows. He has great core strength, and can achieve a variety of very dynamic positions. I explained that I wanted to take an image of him low down in a ‘starting pose’, and for me to be at eye level with him, which is how ‘Balanced’ was achieved.

Exhaust Pipes

I am a member of Lichfield Camera Club, and the photograph was taken for the yearly inter-club competition with Fotoclub WeilburgLimburg.

It was taken at Silverstone and was a close-up of the exhaust pipes of a Royal, Royale V12 Coupe. It was taken on a Nikon Z6 with 24-70 lens, f/14, ISO 125, 1/10 second, and printed on Fotospeed Metallic Gloss paper, with pigment inks.

I chose this paper as I felt that it would best suit the stainless steel and aluminium of the exhaust pipes and bonnet and emphasise its shape and the raindrops helped show the curves.

David Bull LRPS

Fallen Aviators

I was absolutely delighted that my image ‘Fallen Aviators’ was accepted into the DIG Print Portfolio. The image was taken at Lake Trasimeno in Italy. The monument in the photograph is in honour of the Fallen of the Seaplane Pilots School of the Italian Army. I love taking and printing this type of photograph, using long exposure (in this case about 6 minutes), to smooth out the water and sky and producing this high key minimalist style of image, which is so well suited to printing on fine art textured papers.

My photography is almost all monochrome, my main interest is in producing monochrome prints on the many beautiful fine art papers which are available to us today. The printmaking is the part of photography I enjoy the most, I am always experimenting with new papers.

The paper I used for the prints entered into the Print Portfolio were printed on Canson Arches BFK Rives White; this is fine textured paper with a fairly bright white base. I have been using Canson’s Velin paper for many years, but recently I have been working on creating high key minimalist monochrome prints, and I have shifted to the Arches BFK paper as I think its brighter base is better suited to these images.

Hugh Rooney FRPS

Robin Claydon ARPS

Freshly Plucked

My intention was to spend a night in a hide photographing otters with flash. The location was near Rutland in Leicestershire. The otters had already obliged when this Grey Heron image was taken. The bird landed in a perfect spot where flash heads had already been positioned for the otters. I took around 50 shots of the bird over a period of around two hours. I chose this one from the series of shots due to the feather stuck on the end of its bill.

My equipment was a Nikon D750 with a 200mm–500mm lens at 200mm settings f/5.6, ISO 1600 and shutter speed of 1/250 second. The image was lit by three separate flash heads.

I printed the image on various papers before deciding on a lustre finish for the final entry.

Roger Hinton LRPS

Gas Giant

On a visit to the USA I came across a second hand car lot full of old American classic cars in various states of decay. Many had been cannibalised for parts and most were standing on blocks to preserve their old, flat, tyres. Clearly, they would not be going anywhere soon!

The ‘Gas Giant’ is a Lincoln Continental, a gas guzzler from the 1970s. I thought a low level, wide-angle, head-on shot would emphasise its dominating shape. The image was shot in RAW, minor corrections to exposure made in Lightroom, and the image passed to Photoshop for editing.

The background was busy with other cars, so I cut the Lincoln out with a mask in Photoshop. Using layer masks makes it easy to go back and refine the edges if needed. A bit of body-work repair was necessary as one sidelight was missing (copied over and reversed the remaining good one). A few dents were removed using the clone tool. If only it was so easy on the real thing!

The textured ground came from an area of crazed tarmac in an old car park. It was faded toward the back using a gradient mask. Then the car was grounded by adding a shadow with a soft, black brush on a layer beneath the car. The faint city skyline is a composite silhouette merged in with an opposing gradient mask. Finally, an image of clouds, extended with motion blur, added a misty light over the cityscape.

The car (originally a dark maroon colour) was converted to mono using Silver Efex Pro and printed on Archival Matt paper on an Epson SC700 printer with the Advanced B&W Photo settings.

Hawthorn Berries

In the Autumn of 2023 I wanted to photograph the abundance of berries adorning the hedgerows. My preferred method of photographing flowers is using my large homemade lightbox. I can then work slowly at home, and take lots of shots, often over exposing them to get a clean white background, in Photoshop I can then blend several layers. Rather then laying the specimens on the lightbox, I used it as the background and using a tripod with a ‘plamp’ attached I was able to arrange the branches to hang, so they looked as natural as possible.

For ‘Hawthorn Berries’, I used two different images layered, one was desaturated, with the opacity lowered, to just give a hint of more! In the digital version I added a plain textured background, mimicking a canvas. When printing the image I tried various textured papers to create a similar effect, finally settling on Fotospeed Natural Soft Textured.

I have a Sony a7ii, and used a 24-105mm lens, and the setting for this particular image was1/15 second at f/8.

I ended up creating a series of these images, using different types of berries adopting a similar processing technique for each study.

Melanie Chalk ARPS

Hong Kong Sunset

I took the original image from a cruise ship leaving Hong Kong harbour. I love creating images in Photoshop so I took samples of the original image and created additional layers which I then merge, multiply, merge, multiply and so on until I reach a look that reflects the mood of the scene that I was looking at.

Neil Milne ARPS

Steve Reynolds ARPS Hot Work

So in 2018 I went on a photo tour to Bangladesh, although I had been to few Asian countries, I had never been to Bangladesh. It was an extensive tour of the country but I was struck by the working conditions of the ship workers in the back streets of Dhaka and from a stone quarry in another part of the country. I spent an afternoon in Dhaka photographing the ship building work and tried to form a panel of images. The ‘Hot Work’ image is probably the best one of the set and, I think, ably demonstrates the extraordinary, difficult working environment (I often had to take a break from the heat and the thick black smoke). There were also young children working in this environment. In fact, I later read up that child labour in Bangladesh was common, with 4.8 million or 12.6% of children aged 5 to 14 in the workforce. Furthermore, an Overseas Development Institute survey found that 15% of six- to 14-year-olds living in poorest households work an average of 64 hours a week.

I took the image on a Canon 1Ds Mark II with a 24-105 zoom set at 24 mm, the exposure was 1/50 second at f/5 ISO 1000.

Christine Holt LRPS

Hummingbird Moth

Last summer we visited our friends who live in France. We have been there many times before and I knew that there are always hummingbird moths in their garden at that time of year and I always love the challenge of photographing them so I took my Nikon Z9 and 105mm macro lens with me. It was late summer and the salvias which attract the insects were in flower. I enjoyed spending some time every day trying to get the perfect shot. Early morning and late afternoon were the best times to do this because the light was better. I wanted a clean background but the salvias are quite bushy so it was very difficult isolating the insect. I learned to concentrate on the parts of the plants that could give me the background I wanted. The background here is the soil of a flower bed. I also needed the moth to be sharp from front to back so I had to capture it at the right angle. I kept my shutter speed high and used 1/4000 second to get the wings as sharp as possible. I used a high speed burst to make sure I could get the wings in the best position. They are unpredictable creatures and dart about quickly so are not at all easy to track but they do hover when they are feeding.

In post processing the image was cropped and highlights and shadows adjusted. For printing I used a Baryta Rag paper as I felt its satin finish enhanced the print.

Isle of Harris Colours

It was a dull damp day on The Isle of Harris so ideal conditions for a little experimentation. I was on the Luskentyre road on the way back from the beach at Rosamol and was making images using Intentional Camera Movement, but that’s not what this is. I know it’s very last century, but I tried a zoom burst and this is the result. For me it captures the colours of Harris in late April very well. On a sunny day the water is a vibrant turquoise, but in these conditions everything is more subtle. The zoom burst has had an interesting effect on the hills at Seilebost. It was processed in Lightroom to bring out the colours and the clouds. I chose to print on Fotospeed Cotton Etching 305 which is a textured matt paper with a neutral white base.

Camera: Sony A-6300, lens: 16-70 F4 ZA OSS, exposure: 2 seconds at f/8, ISO 100, ND Filter.

Paper: Fotospeed Cotton Etching 305, printer: Epson SC-P800.

Martin Tomes LRPS

Jess

I have developed many different styles in my post process over the years, and I gradually drift between them.

My current style is definitely ‘dark and moody’, but I believed that the current trend of minimalistic high key seemed to be very much in favour.

Generally I would never encourage a photographer to change their style to suit the moods of the judging fraternity, but I decided to do an experiment where I produced an image to specifically appeal to what appeared to be currently popular, and entered it along with my current style of dark and moody images.

The original image was on a 4:3 ratio, but I found that a square crop worked better.

Because it would be difficult to determine the composition on a square unmounted high key print, I also decided to add a double key line to delineate the edge.

The post process involved removing all the contrast and adding lots of brightness to the photograph, then using a brush and mask, I gradually brought back detail and contrast to important areas of the portrait.

To help reduce the visual impact of the large white areas, I added a ‘softlight’ layer (photo of a concrete floor) at a very low opacity over all elements which added a fine texture to the light areas.

I then printed on Pinnacle 310 Textured Rag (Matt White Textured Art Paper) to keep the contrast controlled.

Adrian Lines ARPS

This image is taken from a low motorboat on the lake in East Africa in the late afternoon. Used a Fuji XE3 and exposure 1/3200 second at f/5.6 and ISO 250. A Fuji 50-140mm lens with a Fuji 2 x converter gave an effective 280mm focal length (420mm in full frame terms). The RAW file was processed in Affinity Photo.

The lake was created by flooding which resulted in the trees dying and they are now a resting place for birds. However, the unusual landscape offers many opportunities for the photographer to make interesting images.

The image is printed on lustre paper by the RPS for international members who cannot send prints.

Ashok Viswanathan

Lake Navisha Sunset

Lepe

This image of the beach at Lepe was shot at Lepe Country Park, Hampshire, while leading one of the Talk-Walk-Talk meet-ups initiated by the RPS Landscape and Digital Groups. Lepe is a location I have photographed on several occasions. This meeting was organised to coincide with a high Spring Tide so that there would be water around the groynes. The beach is notable for its WWII relics, in particular the two steel structures, known as the ‘Dolphins’, seen in the distance in my picture.

The image was shot using a tripod on an Olympus Systems OM1 with a 12-40 mm f/2.8 lens at 22 mm, f/22, ISO 200 with a 4 second exposure. Several shots were taken using a variable neutral density filter. The aim was to soften the sea but not lose the detail completely. It was a dull day so post processing in Photoshop was needed to enhance the colour and contrast. This was done using small adjustments with masks. These included high pass filter to enhance the detail in the beach, groyne and Dolphins, Gaussian blur to slightly soften the clouds and a final curves adjustment to increase the overall contrast. The print was made on Permajet Fibre Base Mono Gloss Baryta 320 paper using an Epson Surecolour P800 printer. This paper is designed for monochrome images, however, I used it because of the detail and richness of tone it gives for this colour image.

Dr Barry Senior HonFRPS

Light and shade at the Mosque

I took this at Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque in Muscat Oman while on a 10 day tour of the country in January 2018. I saw the man in traditional Omani dress framed by the arches and fortunately not standing in direct sunlight. It was quite a hurried photo as he was perfectly positioned and I didn’t want him to look round or move. The recession of the arches and hanging lights lead you into the photo while the light shining through adds interest. I took it at 73mm f/7.1, 1/200 second and 160 ISO

It has been a successful photo for me. It was accepted in the 2020 SPA Biennial Exhibition. But I’m absolutely gutted in that I have lost most of my Omani originals while copying across to a new external hard drive except for a very few I kept in separate folder because I entered them into competitions.

I used my Canon EOS 6D Mark II and EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens, both now sold in favour of lighter mirrorless Canon camera.

Lynda Morris LRPS

Light Struggles Through, Lysefjord

I took this in September 2023 from the deck of a cruise ship nosing its way up Lysefjord in Norway. It had been a mostly dull, occasionally showery afternoon but, at that point, the sun broke through, giving a glow to the clouds and the recession of cliffs ahead. I shot the scene, resting my Canon 6D Mark II on the ship’s rail, at f/11, 1/25 second, 214mm, ISO 100.

I first printed it on my usual paper, Brilliant Supreme Lustre, and then thought to try it on a sheet of Fotospeed Natural Soft Textured paper. This seemed to enhance the image’s appearance, with a richer colour in the sunlight, so that’s what I submitted to the DIG Print Portfolio and I’m delighted it was accepted

David Alderson LRPS

Lindisfarne

This image is one of the classic views of Lindisfarne Castle taken with an upturned hull in the foreground. I deliberately kept a low perspective as I wanted the hull to dominate the scene. On the day I visited, the light was very soft with lots of light cloud but very little drama in the scene. I wanted to give the image the look and feel of an ‘Old Master painting’ and this was done by layering two separate textures over the image. The textures are my own and the inspiration for the textures came from a YouTube tutorial by Glenys Garnett. Additional edits were made in NIK to darken edges and add colour in the sky. The final image was printed on Fotospeed Platinum Etching 285, ‘a fine art paper with a velvety, textured surface’. I first came across this paper when I attended a talk by Charlie Waite and if it is good enough for him……

Alan Collins ARPS

Derek George Knight

London Skyline

This was a composite image. The plane was photographed in North Norfolk on a clear day as I thought it might be useful. f/9, 1/500 second, ISO 100. The building was photographed on a day trip to London. A building where everyone has a corner office. Only one frame was taken as I hurried to catch a train home. f/7.1, 1/1250 second, ISO 100. I printed it on matt paper to enhance the 3D effect.

Eric Begbie LRPS

Misty Morning in Venice

Venice has always been a photographer’s paradise and not just because of the canals and gondoliers. To avoid the tourist hordes, November can be a great time to visit and this month brings the advantage of softer, variable light. Taken on a misty morning, this photograph illustrates that feature.

The print submitted for Portfolio selection was printed on an Epson Surecolor P600 printer using Fotospeed Platinum Baryta paper. I like this paper because it gives a semi-lustre finish with excellent tonal range in both monochrome and colour. It has the advantage of requiring no special profiles, producing great results using the basic Epson printer driver settings.

The original image was shot as a RAW file using a Nikon D800 camera and 28-300mm lens at 92mm. Exposure settings were 1/200 second, f/5.6, ISO 200. Post-exposure processing was in Lightroom, cropping the image to square, converting to monochrome and cloning out some wires, antennae and other gubbins in the top left corner of the photo.

I like the sharp contrast and wet street in the foreground of the image, receding into the mist in the background. The use of a longish focal length allowed the picture to be taken from a distance that slightly compressed the perspective of that recession.

Trevor Pogson LRPS

Red Arrows Break

The image was taken at The Royal International Air Tattoo in July 2023

I have been a keen aviation photographer for a number of years and like many photographers I am always chasing ‘the best shot’. RIAT is always a good airshow and on this occasion I had managed to get a place right in front of the display centre and the Red Arrows didn’t disappoint. I have been trying for a while to get a clean and detailed image of the Red Arrows crossing over. I particularly like the vapour trails coming off the wings of the central aircraft and the little vortex to the left just behind it.

It was also the first year that I had the luxury of using an 800mm lens which meant that I didn’t need to crop in too much so that I could keep as much detail as possible in the image.

The image was printed on Canson Baryta Photographique 310gsm paper, using an Epson P800 printer. It is a paper I have been using for a number years. I like the weight of it and the lustre finish, I feel that it helps to enhance the final image.

What I really like about this image is that the position of the aircraft, the lighting, the weather and a little bit of luck all came together and I am very pleased and honoured that it has been selected to be included in the first DI Print Portfolio.

Standing Alone

The High Peak Trail runs from Cromford to Buxton in Derbyshire and was opened in 1831. It was designed to carry minerals and goods between Cromford Canal and the Peak Forest Canal. Following the closure of the line, the Peak District National Park bought the route in 1971 and turned it into a traffic free trail for walkers and cyclists. Over the thirty years of living in Derbyshire I frequently visited the trail taking photographs in and around Middleton Top where there are abandoned quarries full of nature and wild flowers and butterflies, together with old industrial equipment left over from the winding engine at Middleton Top and trails and paths leading to and from the trail itself.

Along from the visitor centre at Middleton Top, heading towards Buxton there is a long straight stretch of trail. To one side of the trail just before Hopton Incline, lay the subject of my photograph standing forlorn in the field at the bottom of a rocky outcrop. How it survived this precarious location is anyone’s guess. Between the trail and the field lay a rundown farm gate looking as if it had seen better days since being put there.

As I was on a bike and hadn’t planned a photo trip that day, I had left my Canon 5D MkIII at home and just had a Canon G11 compact with me. Not expecting much, I took what I thought was just a reminder image planning to come back at a later date to capture the scene properly ~ that never happened!

The final submitted print is printed on Permajet Photo Lustre 310 on a Canon PRO-300. The image is processed in my software of preference - Photoshop v25.6

Kenneth Ness FRPS

Superbikes at Paddock Hill Bend

I was at Brands Hatch Motor Racing Circuit in July to take some images for a specific rider who was competing in a single 10 lap race. Being on the public side of the circuit I needed to shoot over the high safety fence. Having photographed there before I was aware that standing at the bottom of Paddock Hill would give me a good opportunity to capture suitable shots as the riders take the corner at about 100 mph and then continue down the steep hill, this provides an uncluttered background of the track.

This image was from an earlier race where I was testing my settings. The distance to the bikes was around 100m and I was using a Nikon Z9 body with a Nikkor Z 400mm f/4.5 lens. The shot was taken at 1/1250 second, f/4.5, ISO 100. My aim was to have a relatively shallow depth-of-field. I was using back button focus and 3D tracking with a function button on the lens. Ideally I would have liked to capture the riders’ faces but with the bright sunlight they all had dark visors fitted to their helmets.

I used Lightroom for the post-processing. Overall exposure was increased slightly and highlights brought down. I applied a radial gradient mask around the bikes and decreased the exposure to slightly bring down the track and grass areas.

I printed it at home on a Canon ImagePROGRAF Pro-300 printer. The paper used was Fotospeed Platinum Baryta 300. Although it is a gloss paper the surface is unglazed and has a soft texture, I would describe it more like a lustre finish.

Roger Robinson

Sweet Peas in a Bottle

Sweet peas are among my very favourite flowers and I grow them each year, especially to bring indoors to enjoy their scent. A friend had given me three blue bottles that looked promising for flower ‘portraits’, and I thought they would suit a bunch of sweet peas. I like being able to make images at home, and use the floor, the garage and in this case the kitchen table where the morning light is often nicely gentle as my studio. I shot a few different compositions, and thought this one worked best. I have a particular treatment that suits flowers, giving them quite a watercolour look, and the addition of some of textures disguised the wooden staging and put some interest into the plain background. Some work to create a soft border which I generally like my images to have finished it off.

I’ve always enjoyed printing since my art school days, letterpress, silk screen, lino cut and the like and watching a photograph come out of the printer is still (usually!) a joy. Added to that, lovely papers are a weakness, and not just for photography, their tactile quality a beauty in its own right. I usually use matt finish these days and Fotospeed Natural Soft Textured Bright White is often my starting point for art prints. Its pure white base with a very gentle ‘bite’ to the surface works well with pastel colours. For a paper with a little more noticeable texture, I also like Hahnemühle Torchon with a similar bright white finish that works well with gentle colours.

Lorna Brown FRPS

Teetering

This is a favourite example from my ongoing series of images exploring the refractive effects of oil floating on water. I like the 3D effect here, giving the impression of solid objects. There is also a distinct sense of instability, and hence implied motion, like a pile of pebbles under gravity about to come crashing down. The smaller droplets are squashed by collision with the larger ones.

My entry was printed in monochrome on Permajet Portrait White 285 paper using an Epson SureColor P600 printer. This paper has excellent whiteness, giving strong contrast, and delivers the beautifully smooth tonal gradations essential for this type of image. The subtle surface texture adds extra visual interest to the print.

Nikon D850, Nikon 105mm f/2.8 VR macro, 1/160 second, f/5.6, ISO

400

Martin Parratt FRPS

The Blue Bottle

It is often said that the best camera is the one you have when you visualise an image. Such was the case when I used my iPhone to snap some pictures of lovely bottles that were on display in a corporate reception area.

Whilst waiting for my meeting I used the editing app Snapseed to create ‘The Blue Bottle’.

The final image was well suited to become a print and I used a matte art paper that proved to be a perfect choice for this picture.

I do firmly believe that images can be much enhanced if the right paper is selected. This to me is the joy one experiences when producing prints rather images for projection. One’s attention is held for so much longer.

Long Live Prints !

Robert Bracher ARPS

Thin Harvest

This image was inspired by a window display in a small bric-abrac shop in France. However, it was marred by clutter and stray reflections, so I decided to recreate something similar without the distractions. I collected some local grasses and stems and arranged them in a sandbox against a plain background. Then in postprocessing, I replaced the background and the sandbox with more interesting shading effects.

My two papers of choice (both Permajet) are the Photo Art Silk 290, and the Oyster 271. I used the latter as it has a silkier texture which seemed more suitable for this subject, but in truth either would have been fine.

Camera and settings: Canon EOS 700D, 43 mm, 0.3 second, f/11, ISO 100, no flash, indoor daylight.

Andrew Carothers ARPS

Today in Paris

‘Today in Paris’ was shot during a visit to the Paris Opera House. Walking out onto one of the balconies revealed this fantastic, elevated view of the hustle and bustle of life in the city streets. I was first attracted to the beauty and uniformity of the architecture but standing a little longer it was fascinating to see the sightseeing tourists mixing with those going about their everyday business, the former standing to stare and the latter rushing about frantically. I enjoy shooting in sunlight as I feel shadows add an extra layer of interest and here the shadows of the figures and the lamp posts add something to the front of the image. I liked the image immediately but it was the contrast from a mono conversion that really made this shot stand out for me.

The shot was taken on my Sony Alpha 7 (50mm; f/8; 1/640 second)

Lynda Golightly LRPS

Tulips

This image of three tulips was shot on a lightpad using my Nikon D750 with a 24-120 lens. I had been experimenting with this light source to see the different effects I could achieve with flowers, both fresh and dried, as my subject. Some of the images were really beautiful and some, like this one, caught me by surprise. I enjoyed the shadows created by the light which gave the image an artistic and abstract look. I took several shots using different exposures, close to the subject and handheld (I rarely use a tripod). I did some light editing in Photoshop before finally creating a border using a colour from the tulip to enhance the final piece of work.

The image was printed on a Canon Pro 300 printer using Canon Pro Lustre paper, a finely textured paper which produces a lovely sheen in a light source. I have used this paper for other flower photography and always been very happy with the results.

Sylvia Moorhouse LRPS

Unplugged

‘Unplugged’ is part of a whimsical body of work called Caged, in which figured but empty dresses have bird cages filled with nonsensical items for “heads”. The pairings often hint at relatable conditions or situations and, as such, can spark curiosity and ideally, amusement.

The figures are assembled and styled in my studio with the filled cages suspended above. Other elements are occasionally shot separately in the same space and lighting to be collaged into the final photograph.

The cage head in ‘Unplugged’ is filled with electrical and information cables which represent control, energy, and connectivity. They are, however, all unplugged - signifying a lack of each element. It is for the viewer to decide if this disconnection is intentional, desirable, and/or enjoyable.

Glossy photo paper is the optimal choice for this print. This emphasises the depth and slight shimmer of the aubergine trench coat.

Athena Carey ARPS

Woodland Walk

I love photographing dogs, and Woodland Walk is an image I took of my German Wirehaired Pointer, Eric, during a walk in a local woodland. I was wanting to try out my new Sigma 105mm f/1.4 lens, whilst also looking for good locations for photographing other dogs when I found a really interesting, twisted yew tree. I immediately knew that the tree’s crooked trunk could make a perfect frame, so positioned Eric beside it. Eric is not always a very co-operative subject, but luckily another dog running nearby caught his attention, getting him to look back over his shoulder, creating a shape with his body which mirrored the twist in the tree’s trunk.

I printed this image on Permajet Omega Rag paper, a cotton rag matte paper, which is my favourite paper for my dog photography. It allows me to create a painterly finish to my work as its smooth texture allows the fine details of the dog’s coat to be rendered sharply, whilst the matte finish complements the tones and very smooth backgrounds typically found in my images.

Gemma Burden LRPS

Short listed entries

Title Photographer

A Cold Day at Flakstad Cemetery

Amaryllis Shadow

Ashleigh

Balanced

Barn Owl In Snow

Beers & Shadows

Blue with Blue

Building Angle

Butterfly

Cayenne Hazel flower among the palm leaves

Chiaroscuro

Close Friends

Coastal movement

Courting Gannets

Dancing Octopus

Death Valley Dawn

Exhaust Pipes

Fallen Aviators

Fibonacci Beauty

Flooded Salt Flats, Utah

Fly Me to the Moon

Forty Winks

Freshly Plucked

Fungi Droplet

Gannet Profile

Gas Giant

Grandmas dressing table

Gull Landing

Handrail

Hawthorn Berries

Helictite

High Tide at Thornhsm

Hong Kong Sunset

Hot Work

Hummingbird Moth

Robert Johnston ARPS

Neill Taylor LRPS

Derwood Pamphilon ARPS

Peter Hyett ARPS

Peter Knight LRPS

Carol Olerud FRPS

Esther Serrano LRPS

Paul Bather ARPS

Manasa Ranjan Nayak

Sylvie Domergue

Susan Clark LRPS

Norman Wiles LRPS

Colin Douglas ARPS

Mallory Mercer LRPS

Jo Monro ARPS

Brian Connolly

David Bull LRPS

Hugh Rooney FRPS

Carol McNiven Young FRPS

Marie-Ange Bouchard ARPS

Janet Lee

Catherine Chetwynd LRPS

Robin Claydon ARPS

Deborah Hammond LRPS

James Foad LRPS

Roger Hinton LRPS

Susan Ashford Arps

Christine Ellison ARPS

David Pearson FRPS

Melanie Chalk ARPS

Tony Healy ARPS

David Turner ARPS

Neil Milne ARPS

Steve Reynolds ARPS

Christine Holt LRPS

Hunter Somdutt Prasad

In my beginning

In the Gallery

Into The Vortex

Isle of Harris Colours

Jersey Lilies

Jess

Lake Navisha Sunset

Lepe

Light and Shade at the Mosque

Light Struggles Through, Lysefjord

Lindisfarne

David Travis ARPS

Clare Collins ARPS

Dave Balcombe ARPS

Martin Tomes LRPS

Brian Cooke ARPS

Adrian Lines ARPS

Ashok Viswanathan

Barry Senior HonFRPS

Lynda Morris LRPS

David Alderson LRPS

Alan Collins ARPS

Little Owl

London Skyline

Lone Tree

Maud

Title Photographer

Ian Nicol ARPS

Derek George Knight

Les Loosemore ARPS

Cristina Pascu-Tulbure

Misty Morning in Venice Eric Begbie LRPS

Odins Revenge

On the Way Home

One Kid, one Ball a World of Colour

One Rose

People In The Market Space

Please save water

Quiet Contemplation

Red Arrows Break

Redwing with Berry

Reserved Parking

Reynisfjara Black Beach, Iceland

Rotunda stair

Sanctuary

Scooter Girl

Shadows on a Wall

Skimmers Dancing

Standing Alone

Superbikes at Paddock Hill Bend

Sweet Peas in a bottle

Taiwan Sunset

Teetering

The Blue Bottle

Thin Harvest

Those Sad Eyes

Through The Boardwalk

Today in Paris

Trwyn Du Lighthouse

Tulips

Two for the price of One

Ullswater boat house

Under Millenium Bridge

Unplugged

Venditore di Gelati

Warping Time

Water Drops

Wind blown coast

Window on the World

Woodland Walk

Selected entries highlighted in bold text

David Smith

Martin Addison FRPS

John Moore LRPS

Gavin Wallace LRPS

Alvaro Turner

David Wilson LRPS

Peter Merrick FRPS

Trevor Pogson LRPS

Maggie Bullock ARPS

Palli Gajree Hon.FRPS

Peter Orton

John Bull

Patricia Tutt ARPS

Brian Collins ARPS

Carol Wiles ARPS

Robin Price ARPS

Kenneth Ness FRPS

Roger Robinson

Lorna Brown FRPS

Dimitrios Theodorakis

Martin Parratt FRPS

Robert Bracher ARPS

Andrew Carothers ARPS

Claude Trew LRPS

Anthony Wright ARPS

Lynda Golightly LRPS

Keith Surey ARPS

Sylvia Moorhouse LRPS

Clive Dunkey

George Pearson ARPS

Lynda Piper

Athena Carey ARPS

Maggie Jary ARPS

John Jurics LRPS

David Scrivener LRPS

Janet Haines ARPS

John Tilsley ARPS

Gemma Burden LRPS