F CUS MARCH 2022
SHARING VISUAL ART
02 - MARCH 2022 COVER STORY BY VADIVELU TT
When I went on holiday with my family, this picture was taken at a resort in the Southern part of India. It was taken around 09:00 AM with an I-Phone 10S. When you are not printing the pictures in bigger format the mobile camera is the best for landscape. It’s handling of the dynamic range is extremely good. Greetings from India Vadivelu
CONTRIBUTE TO FUTURE ISSUES ANY MEMBER CAN SUBMIT MATERIAL FOR CONSIDERATION IN FUTURE PUBLICATIONS PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT IMAGES HAVE A MINIMUM RESOLUTION OF 1080 x 1925 pixels. Of course, we also have to adhere to the regulations for data protection and the rights of use according to the copyright law, therefore, we ask you to supply a declaration of consent of the person or website that you extracted your submission from. Please use the following email address to send contributions and consent letters hanlis54@gmail.com Proof reading of this magazine Kindly done by Clare Appleyard
EDENVALE PHOTOGRAPHIC CLUB IS A PROUD MEMBER OF THE PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY OF SOUTH AFRICA
MARCH 2022 - 03
DEAR MEMBERS This is the end of March and we are barely touching ground, we have so many things planned for the club calender that we may run out of weekends!! Edenvale is hosting the CERPS CONGRESS at the new premises of GODOX.SA on the 29th of October 2022. We are very excited about this as they will assist and offer a major contribution to the success of the day. We are looking for members to form an organising committee so that we can plan the best ever Congress, please email me if you are interested in assisting us. Your support isessentia in making the day a success. We are very proud to also welcome all our new members, the club has grown over the last 4 months and that is a sign to me that photography is alive and well. We will develop and grow with the changes in the industry. Photography has been evolving for centuries. Edward Steichen (1879-1973) and Alfred Stieglistz(1864-1946) were instrumental in establishing photography as an art form. With the beginning of the mass production of flexible film, Steichen and his fellow pictorialist pushed photography into the realm of ART. Pictorialists did not merely record,they created a new photographic reality. Photography today is going through the same challenges and changes, we must develope with it and keep on sharing our visual art and photographic creations. The cellphone today is doing to photography what Kodak did to the nature of photography in 1888
Hanli
Hanli Smit Editor & Chairperson
04 - MARCH 2022
Committee Members
BI-MONTHLY MEETINGS ARE CURRENTLY taking place at the Modderfontein Golf Course and we are also live streaming it via Zoom for our out of town and country members
David Wolstencroft 083 229 8066 davewol@gmail.com
Linda Carter 083 324 0702
Natasha Bird 082 920 8898 mnktrad@mweb.co.za
Andrew Mayes 083 417 2194
Hanli Smit 083 253 1034 hanlis54@gmail.com
Clare Appleyard 083 234 0247
linda@m-d-s.co.za
mayes.andy.1980@gmail.com
clare.appleyard@gmail.com
MEETING TIME AND PLACE 2ND AND 4TH WEDNESDAY OF THE MONTH AT 18H30 FOR 19H00 MODDERFONTEIN GOLF COURSE
Kenith Kubheka 082 671 8336 royal.kubheka@gmail.com
MARCH 2022 - 05
IN THIS ISSUE Page 6 Page 13
HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY- “PICTORIALISM”
9 MARCH 2022- CLUB NIGHT WINNERS
Page 27
23 MARCH 2022- CLUB NIGHT WINNERS
Page 44
HOW TO CREATE A LEVITATION PHOTO
Page 48
ZOOMING IN ON PSSA
Page 53
WHAT IS A LAYER MASK ?
06 - MARCH 2022
Source: Wikipedia
HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY
PICTORIALISM Pictorialism is an international style and aesthetic movement that dominated photography during the later 19th and early 20th centuries. There is no standard definition of the term, but in general it refers to a style in which the photographer has somehow manipulated what would otherwise be a straightforward photograph as a means of “creating” an image rather than simply recording it. Typically, a pictorial photograph appears to lack a sharp focus (some more so than others), is printed in one or more colors other than black-and-white (ranging from warm brown to deep blue) and may have visible brush strokes or other manipulation of the surface. For the pictorialist, a photograph, like a painting, drawing or engraving, was a way of projecting an emotional intent into the viewer’s realm of imagination.
Pictorialism as a movement thrived from about 1885 to 1915, although it was still being promoted by some as late as the 1940s. It began in response to claims that a photograph was nothing more than a simple record of reality, and transformed into a national movement to advance the status of all photography as a true art form. For more than three decades painters, photographers and art critics debated opposing artistic philosophies, ultimately culminating in the acquisition of photographs by several major art museums. Pictorialism gradually declined in popularity after 1920, although it did not fade out of popularity until the end of World War II. During this period the new style of photographic Modernism came into vogue, and the public’s interest shifted to more sharply focused images. Several important 20thcentury photographers began their careers in a pictorialist style but transitioned into sharply focused photography by the 1930s.
Photography as a technical process involving the development of film and prints in a darkroom originated in the early 19th century, with the forerunners of traditional photographic prints coming into prominence around 1838 to 1840. Not long after the new medium was established, photographers, painters and others began to argue about the relationship between the scientific and artistic aspects of the medium. As early as 1853, English painter William John Newton proposed that the camera could produce artistic results if the photographer would keep an image slightly out of focus. Others vehemently believed that a photograph was equivalent to the visual record of a chemistry experiment. Photography historian Naomi Rosenblum points out that “the dual character of the medium—its capacity to produce both art and document—[was] demonstrated soon after its discovery ... Nevertheless, a good part of the nineteenth century was spent debating which of these directions was the medium’s true function.”
MARCH 2022 - 07
Watson Schutze - Rose
These debates reached their peak during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, culminating in the creation of a movement that is usually characterized as a particular style of photography: pictorialism. This style is defined first by a distinctly personal expression that emphasizes photography’s ability to create visual beauty rather than simply record facts. However, recently historians have recognized that pictorialism is more than just a visual style. It evolved in direct context with the changing social and cultural attitudes of the time, and, as such, it should not be characterized simply as a visual trend. One writer has noted that pictorialism was “simultaneously a movement, a philosophy, an aesthetic and a style.”Contrary to what some histories of photography portray, pictorialism did not come about as the result of a linear evolution of artistic sensibilities; rather, it was formed through “an intricate, divergent, often passionately conflicting barrage of strategies. While photographers and others debated whether photography could be art, the advent of photography directly affected the roles and livelihoods of many traditional artists. Prior to the development of photography, a painted miniature portrait was the most common means of recording a person’s likeness. Thousands of painters were engaged in this art form. But photography quickly negated the need for and interest in miniature portraits. One example of this effect was seen at the annual exhibition of the Royal Academy in London; in 1830 more than 300 miniature paintings were exhibited, but by 1870 only 33 were on display. Photography had taken over for one type of art form, but the question of whether photography itself could be artistic had not been resolved. Some painters soon adopted photography as a tool to help them record a model’s pose, a landscape scene or other elements to include in their art. It is known that many of the great 19th-century painters, including Delacroix, Courbet, Manet, Degas, Cézanne, and Gauguin, took photographs themselves, used photographs by others and incorporated images from photographs into their work. While heated debates about the relationship between photography and art continued in print and in lecture halls, the distinction between a photographic image and a painting became more and more difficult to discern. As photography continued to develop, the interactions between painting and photography became increasingly reciprocal.
08 - MARCH 2022 More than a few pictorial photographers, including Alvin Langdon Coburn, Edward Steichen, Gertrude Käsebier, Oscar Gustave Rejlander, and Sarah Choate Sears, were originally trained as painters or took up painting in addition to their photographic skills. It was during this same period that cultures and societies around the world were being affected by a rapid increase in intercontinental travel and commerce. Books and magazines published on one continent could be exported and sold on another with increasing ease, and the development of reliable mail services facilitated individual exchanges of ideas, techniques and, most importantly for photography, actual prints. These developments led to pictorialism being “a more international movement in photography than almost any other photographic genre. Camera clubs in the U.S., England, France, Germany, Austria, Japan and other countries regularly lent works to each other’s exhibitions, exchanged technical information and published essays and critical commentaries in one another’s journals. Led by The Linked Ring in England, the Photo-Secession in the U.S., and the Photo-Club de Paris in France, first hundreds and then thousands of photographers passionately pursued common interests in this multi-dimensional movement. who had expert knowledge of and skills in science, mechanics and art.
George Seeley - Black Bowl
Alvin Langdon Coburn - Spiderwebs
Alice Boughton - Dawn
MARCH 2022 - 09
Clarence Hudson White Nude 1908
Clarence Hudson White Morning
Constant Puyo - Eingeschlafen 1897
To make a photograph, a person had to learn a great deal about chemistry, optics, light, the mechanics of cameras and how these factors combine to properly render a scene. It was not something that one learned easily or engaged in lightly, and, as such, it was limited to a relatively small group of academics, scientists and professional photographers. An advert for a Kodak camera, 1888 – “No knowledge of photography is necessary.” All of that changed in a few years’ time span. In 1888 George Eastman introduced the first handheld amateur camera, the Kodak camera. It was marketed with the slogan “You press the button, we do the rest. ”The camera was pre-loaded with a roll of film that produced about 100 2.5” round picture exposures, and it could easily be carried and handheld during its operation. After all of the shots on the film were exposed, the whole camera was returned to the Kodak company in Rochester, New York, where the film was developed, prints were made, and new photographic film was placed inside. Then the camera and prints were returned to the customer, who was ready to take more pictures. The impact of this change was enormous. Suddenly almost anyone could take a photograph, and within the span of a few years photography became one of the biggest fads in the world.
10 - MARCH 2022 Photography collector Michael Wilson observed “Thousands of commercial photographers and a hundred times as many amateurs were producing millions of photographs annually ... The decline in the quality of professional work and the deluge of snapshots (a term borrowed from hunting, meaning to get off a quick shot without taking the time to aim) resulted in a world awash with technically good but aesthetically indifferent photographs. ”Concurrent with this change was the development of national and international commercial enterprises to meet the new demand for cameras, films and prints. At the 1893 World Columbian Exposition in Chicago, which attracted more than 27 million people, photography for amateurs was marketed at an unprecedented scale.There were multiple large exhibits displaying photographs from around the world, many camera and darkroom equipment manufacturers showing and selling their latest goods, dozens of portrait studios and even on-the-spot documentation of the Exposition itself. Suddenly photography and photographers were household commodities. Many serious photographers were appalled. Their craft, and to some their art, was being co-opted by a newly engaged, uncontrolled and mostly untalented citizenry. The debate about art and photography intensified around the argument that if anyone could take a photograph then photography could not possibly be called art
G De Meyer-Casati
Robert Demachy Struggle 1904 Gertrude Kasebier Blessed Art Thou Among Women 1899
JosephKeiley - Lenore
MARCH 2022 - 11 Some of the most passionate defenders of photography as art pointed out that photography should not and cannot be seen as an “either/or” medium—some photographs are indeed simple records of reality, but with the right elements some are indeed works of art. William Howe Downs, art critic for the Boston Evening Transcript, summed up this position in 1900 by saying “Art is not so much a matter of methods and processes as it is an affair of temperament, of taste and of sentiment ... In the hands of the artist, the photograph becomes a work of art ... In a word, photography is what the photographer makes it, an art or a trade.” All of these elements—the debates over photography and art, the impacts of Kodak cameras, and the changing social and cultural values of the times—combined to set the stage for an evolution in how art and photography, independently and together, would appear at the turn of the century. The course that drove pictorialism was set almost as soon as photographic processes were established, but it was not until the last decade of the 19th century that an international pictorialist movement came together.
Jane Reece - Spaces
Steichen - flatiron
12 - MARCH 2022 For pictorialists, true individuality was expressed through the creation of a unique print, considered by many to be the epitome of artistic photography. By manipulating the appearance of images through what some called “ennobling processes”, such as gum or bromoil printing, pictorialists were able to create unique photographs that were sometimes mistaken for drawings or lithographs. Many of the strongest voices that championed pictorialism at its beginning were a new generation of amateur photographers. In contrast to its meaning today, the word “amateur” held a different connotation in the discussions of that time. Rather than suggesting an inexperienced novice, the word characterized someone who strived for artistic excellence and a freedom from rigid academic influence. An amateur was seen as someone who could break the rules because he or she was not bound by the then rigid rules set forth by long-established photography organizations like the Royal Photographic Society. An article in the British journal Amateur Photographer stated “photography is an art, perhaps the only one in which the amateur soon equals, and frequently excels, the professional in proficiency.” This attitude prevailed in many countries around the world. At the 1893 Hamburg International Photographic Exhibition in Germany, only the work of amateurs was allowed. Alfred Lichtwark, then director of the Kunsthalle Hamburg believed “the only good portraiture in any medium was being done by amateurs photographers, who had the economic freedom and time to experiment.”
Paul Haviland - Doris KEane
In 1948, S.D.Jouhar defined a Pictorial photograph as “mainly an aesthetic symbolic record of a scene plus the artist’s personal comment and interpretation, capable of transmitting an emotional response to the mind of a receptive spectator. It should show originality, imagination, unity of purpose, a quality of repose, and have an infinite quality about it”
M Sherling Portrait - A Golovin
MARCH 2022 - 13
Special Subject themes for 2022 We are very happy with the themes suggested and voted for by our members. The general idea of the set subject is to get us out of our comfort zone. It is not meant to be the place where we recycle our old images, although we are all guilty of just that. This year we want to ask you all to shoot for the theme, or if you do altered reality create for the theme..new images. If you use images older than November 2021 they are not eligable. Please make new images!!! Take another look at the talk done by Alta Oosthuzen on shooting for set subjects. Click on the link below https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WnMw6VtYrqnHbfot1BgsWwrwMB4bg4HG/view?usp=sharing
27 April ...Song Titles 25 May ...Glass 22 June ...Flat Lay 27 July...Levitation 24 August ...The road to nowhere 28 September...Speed 26 October...The power of nature 23 November ...Music
14 - MARCH 2022
ONE STAR CELLPHONE WINNER 9 March 2022
Bountiful Provisions
Kenneth Mukute
MARCH 2022 -15
ONE STAR NATURE WINNER 9 March 2022
CattleRhinos Egret Sacred
Peter Fine Leanne Stone
16 - MARCH 2022
ONE STAR PICTORIAL WINNER 9 March 2022
Hope Eternal
Brian Abrahams
MARCH 2022 - 17
TWO STAR NATURE WINNER 9 March 2022
On the lookout Peter Fine
18 - MARCH 2022
TWO STAR PICTORIAL WINNER 9 March 2022
A place to be alone Linda Carter
MARCH 2022 - 19
THREE STAR CELLPHONE WINNER 9 March 2022
Globl reflection
Caryn Wilson
20 - MARCH 2022
THREE STAR NATURE WINNER 9 March 2022
Grey Heron in flight Gavin
Duffy
MARCH 2022 - 21
THREE STAR PICTORIAL WINNER 9 March 2022
Baobab
Tony Wilson
22 - MARCH 2022
FOUR STAR PICTORIAL WINNER 9 March 2022
Skoppensboer
Christa Smith
MARCH 2022 - 23
FOUR STAR PICTORIAL WINNER 9 March 2022
Apple Basket
Stephen
Kangisser
24 - MARCH 2022
5* & 5 Star Honours NATURE WINNER 9 March 2022
Peek a boo
Cecil Mayhew
MARCH 2022 - 35
5* & 5 Star Honours PICTORIAL WINNER 9 March 2022
Exhale
Laetitia Kenny
26 - MARCH 2022
5* & 5 Star Honours CELLPHONE 9 March 2022
Beach Walkers
David Wolstencroft
MARCH 2022 - 27
ONE STAR NATURE WINNER 23 March 2022
Mom Watching over the Youngsters Brian Shaw
28 - MARCH 2022
ONE STAR PICTORIAL WINNER 23 March 2022
A cry for help
Brian Abrahams
MARCH 2022 - 29
ONE STAR CELLPHONE WINNER 23 March 2022
Calitzdorp
Leanne
Stone
30 - MARCH 2022
TWO STAR NATURE WINNER 23 March 2022
On a mission
Peter Fine
MARCH 2022 - 31
TWO STAR PICTORIAL WINNER 23 March 2022
Wait for me
Peter Fine
36 - MARCH 2022
THREE STAR NATURE WINNER 23 March 2022
Under The Branch
Linda Carter
MARCH 2022 - 37
THREE STAR PICTORIAL WINNER 23 March 2022
Curves
Tony Wilson
38 - MARCH 2022
FOUR STAR NATURE WINNER 23 March 2022
African Yellow Billed Duck Brian Kleinwort
MARCH 2022 - 39
FOUR STAR PICTORIAL WINNER 23 March 2022
Fiddler Portrait
Stephen
Kangisser
40 - MARCH 2022
5* & 5 Star Honours NATURE WINNER 23 March 2022
Pert Cisticola
Dino Bottega
MARCH 2022 - 41
5* & 5 Star Honours PICTORIAL WINNER 23 March 2022
Black Light
Gary Andrew Peck
42 - MARCH 2022
5* & 5 Star Honours Cellphone WINNER 23 March 2022
Lotus Pond
Vadivelu TT
MARCH 2022 - 43
SET SUBJECT WINNER
23 March 2022
Rain Beading
Brian Shaw
44 - MARCH 2022
For more ideas and tutorials go to www.photography.tutplus.com
How to create a levitation photo If you’re looking to bring some magic to your next photograph, this tutorial is going to help you do just that. With some creative planning and easy post-production, we’ll create a levitation photo that seems to break the laws of physics.
Planning and Creative Direction Before we dive into shooting our levitation images, let’s discuss how we can put together this effect. If you’re thinking that it requires Hollywood magic or advanced Photoshop skills, I think you will be surprised how easy it is to put this image together. To create a levitation photo, we will capture our subject standing on a stool, and then remove the stool in the editing phase. It’s a simple process with a stunning outcome. This is another image we captured during production of this tutorial. The sun provides a great shadow that enhances the levitation effect. Although the effect is unique, the work involved with producing it is easy for even novice photographers to tackle. Choosing the Time for the Shoot I worked with my friend Forrest Lane to help me create these images. Forrest is a talented photographer who can make the most of creative ideas. As we planned this shoot, we knew that the best results would mean using a sunny day that casted a shadow from the subject’s body. This would enhance the floating effect and enhance the sense of depth. We chose two days to produce these images, and the sunny images were definitely superior. These are the two images we will be combining to create a levitation image. We need to capture the scene without our subject or the stool, and then add them in for a second image.
The Shoot Getting the final, levitated image means snapping two shots then combining them in the editing stage. Using a tripod for this technique is essential. The two images must be perfectly aligned. The process is pretty simple, and with a bit of planning it takes only a few minutes to snap the two frames that we need. As we mentioned, you’ll want to use a tripod from the get go. It is simply much easier to make sure the images are aligned while shooting instead of attempting to align them in the editing stage later. The first of these images is the environment with no subject or stand. We do this so that we have a canvas we can use later. I recommend doing a little rehearsing with your subject placing him where you want him then removing everything from the scene. The first frame will just capture the scene. We will be painting out the stool later and we need the background to use for that process. As we mentioned, you’ll want to use a tripod from the get go. It is simply much easier to make sure the images are aligned while shooting instead of attempting to align them in the editing stage later. After you’ve shot the scene, go ahead and add in the subject on the stand. For extra visual intrigue, have the subject doing something interesting with their body. Unbalanced and dynamic poses will help capture your viewer’s attention. You might try having them spread their arms and have a leg lifted off the stool.
MARCH 2022 - 45 Be mindful of your angles In the second image, we added Forrest standing on his drum stool. One thing that Forrest noted while we were shooting is that it was impossible to shoot from a really low angle. Think about looking up at someone if you’re sitting on the floor and they’re standing on the a table. You wouldn’t be able see their feet or legs. The same applies to the stool. To avoid the low angle problem, be sure your camera is higher than the top of the stool. You can set up your tripod right next to the stool to get the height as low as possible if necessary. By utilizing the lowest angle possible, you exaggerate the height of the person making them appear to be floating even more. Conversely, if you went with a high angle, you might not be able to tell the person is off the ground at all. Two images later, we have everything we need to put together the levitation image. The process can be as creative as you imagine. Post-Production It would be great to put together this shoot entirely in-camera, but some post production is required to get this right. That tripod use is about to pay off. If you did everything right, the only difference between the two frames should be the subject and the stool.Even if you’re not a Photoshop expert, the editing phase of this tutorial is pretty easy to tackle and requires basic knowledge. One concept that’s important to understand is the Photoshop system of layers. Many beginners get overwhelmed by managing layers, but we need only two layers to recreate this effect. If you have another layer-based image editor, you can certainly attempt to recreate the effect in it. The first thing to do is open both images in Photoshop. Once you have them open, you’ll want to get them into the same file, as two different layers. Let’s walk through this process. We need to place the image with our subject on top, so take it, select all, and copy it. You can go to the Select menu and choose all, and then Edit > Copy to grab the image. Next, paste it on top of the “scene only” photo. This image shows how you should position your layers. Keep in mind that once you’ve done this, the background layer with just the scene will be obscured by the top layer. Make sure that the image without your subject is the bottom layer, with the subject image on top of it. Remember that we want to use the scene photo as a canvas for the image. Make sure that the layers are aligned. Now, we need to remove stool. Using layer masks is like cutting a window to a layer below. In Photoshop, I use layer masks to make this process easy and non-destructive. To add a layer mask, go to the Layer menu and choose Layer Mask, then choose “Reveal All”. This adds a layer mask. You won’t notice a change in the image, but if you look at the layers palette, you can see that a white box is shown next to the layer.
For more ideas and tutorials go to www.photography.tutplus.com
46 - MARCH 2022
SOME MORE LEVITATION IDEAS
SOME MORE LEVITATION IDEAS
MARCH 2022 - 47
48 - MARCH 2022
Zooming in on the PSSA: Martin Barber 2nd Vice President & National Director MPSSA
Zooming in on the PSSA: Martin Barber, 2nd Vice President & National Director, PSSA In the second of our interview series with key PSSA figureheads, we caught up with Martin Barber. Martin is a highly awarded photographer and has won many of the PSSA’s top awards, including the Impala Trophy. He is renowned for his incredible Photoshop skills and considers himself a creative photographer with interests in portraiture, altered reality, fine art, composites and monochrome photography. Martin is a Photoshop teacher and is one of the presenters at the 2022 PSSA Congress to be held in Greyton in August. Focus: Thank you for joining us, Martin. We’ll start with an article shared by one of our members in our Facebook group, entitled “Is photography dying?”. This newsletter contains an article on the history of photography Kodak revolutionised photography and virtually anybody could be a photographer. Now, with the progress of cellphones and visual media, some people think that photography is dying. Is photography alive and well, or is it dying?
MB: My view is that photography has never been better. In 2020, approximately 34 million photos are loaded per day onto Facebook, taken with all devices. The world has exploded as far as photography is concerned. Cellphones are part of my kit and at the 2021 PSSA Congress in Nieu-Bethesda I challenged myself to shoot for 2 days using only my cell phone. The cell phone is a camera and is part of photography. When the mirrorless cameras came out, everybody kicked about, and Canon and Nikon were saying it’ll never work and then they had to do some very quick catch-up. I’m a brand ambassador for Huawei and this cell phone is 50MB, it shoots better in the dark than my DSLR, and I’m all for it. I can’t wait for 5 year’s time when we don’t have big bulky cameras and can walk around with more streamlined equipment.
For me, a cell phone is a tool and in many of my composite images you’ll see, some of the components have been taken with a cell phone. I can take a photo with a cell phone anywhere, whereas many places will throw me out if I try to photograph with my DSLR. Photography is so alive and well, but we must embrace the change. Historically, film photography was very boringly technical, with smelly dark rooms, chemical processing, and the need to manually make notes about every detail of your shot (shutter speed, iso, aperture etc – metadata didn’t exist) and club photography was mostly very male dominated. Today, we have this incredible presence of women photographers, who are far more creative than men.
MARCH 2022 - 49 The digital era has welcomed in a more diverse group of female and young photographers who are creating extraordinarily beautiful work. I honestly think the top 30 photographers in the world must be women. I don’t think there is a better time in photography than there is now.I think clubs are doing one big thing wrong at the moment and that is not embracing cell phone photography. Focus: We’ve been saying for a while we need to change the demographics of club photography, and kids are using cell phones. Aust Malema is a Nikon ambassador who has shot advertising campaigns on a cell phone. Are cell phones making photography more accessible to people, or is it also giving them a false sense of mastery – I have a cell phone, therefore I’m a photographer? MB: I think where clubs have killed it badly is where we as photographers are too bent on the rule book. “This area is too bright” and so forth. The society is concerned because the judging quality out there is not of the best. There are three facets to judging – the first is at club, the second is at salons and the third is for Honours. Club is all about teaching and learning and we find that at some clubs, sometimes the judging is too harsh. Youngsters come in, hear the comments about bright spots and rules of third etc and go “I just want to take a photo and have fun”.
Cellphones now are our entry level for our new photographers. They’ll take photos, feel that they’re enjoying it and are good at it, then getting a better cell phone, and then progress up the scale to an actual camera. Youngsters tend to think there are too many rules at club. We’ve got to a stage at clubs where we think that silver is a terrible award. Gold is good, COM I’ve done well. We’ve reduced a 15 point system to essentially 3 points – COM, gold and silver. Silver is brilliant – in the days of film you were ecstatic with a silver. Bronze was still considered an award. We need to make club fun and enjoy it. Good awards encourage people so at club, I’m a lenient judge. Obviously at salon it’s much tougher and for Honours, even more so. Focus: The PSSA has noted that it’s clamping down on rules for competitions. Digital photography has provided us with many grey areas. Some photographers see themselves as “purists” who can’t (or won’t) do any digital editing. At the other end of the spectrum, you have people like yourself who are masters of editing. How much manipulation is acceptable? If someone is purchasing images off the internet to digitally drop in to a photo as a backdrop to a table top image, or studio portrait, is that permitted? Whether it’s a coloured or textured backdrop, or brickwork, or a fantasy castle or picture of the Eiffel Tower, am I allowed to use it? MB: You must understand the rules of engagement. Let’s say you buy a 1600 car, and you modify it; you strip it out, soup it up and put in a V8 engine
Provided it meets the rules of the road and is road-worthy, you’re allowed to drive it around. Now, you decide to go to a car racetrack, and you want to enter a race, and you enter the V8 category. But you’re not very good, and you don’t do very well, so you go to the race organisers and tell them you want to enter the 1600 class. They’ll tell you it’s not allowed – it’s cheating. You can’t put a 1600 badge on your modified V8 and pretend it’s a 1600, just because you want to be the champion. Now, take this metaphor to a photography competition, there are rules that apply to make it an even playing ground for everybody who is entering – be it for club nights or for salons. The first rule is it must be captured with a camera, and everything within that photograph has got to be your own or captured by you. When you have a digital backdrop that’s been purchased and now you want to compete with that, it’s not necessarily following the rules of engagement because it’s not your photo. I’ve always changed clouds and skies in photos, but with my own photos. Brushes in Photoshop are tools, and they are available to use. But let’s say you want to create your own brushes with a flock of birds, or a lightning bolt – you must create that from your own photo. You can’t take someone else’s photo of a bird or lightning bolt; it needs to be made by you.
50 - MARCH 2022 Focus: Commercially you can use anything. I can buy something on iStock and insert it into a client’s photo.
MB: It’s staying about the same size. The question is “Why am I part of the PSSA?”. I’m a photographer and if it wasn’t for the PSSA, there wouldn’t be a MB: Absolutely, commercially body who looks after us as you can. In competition photographers in the context of worldwide, not only in South creating Honours, that we can Africa and not only in clubs, achieve; creating clubs that we are there are rules. A judge might part of and creating events like not pick up that part of an Congress and CERPS. I’m not image is not your own, but asking what the PSSA can give me, following the rules of but what I want to give the PSSA engagement, other people’s as a photographer. PSSA stands work, or other people’s for the Photographic photos, shouldn’t be put into Society of South Africa and who is your photo. In birds, nature the society? WE are the society. and PJ, you shouldn’t be taking I believe I need to give back. Hanli, something of out of one photo you spent a lot of money helping at and adding it another photo. Congress last year, you helped all The rest of the time, in fine art those photographers. nature for instance, you can do What is the least we can do as what you want – there are no photographers? Pay the R500 rules to it. But, when you come membership a year and let’s have a to the racetrack and want to body who is elected. Being enter this modified photo in chairperson of your club Hanli is nature, you can’t. It’s against a huge gift to photography. The the rules of engagement. Don’t channel of giving back is the PSSA, enter things where you’ve and the rules of competitions that cheated. we adhere to are written by us and Focus: Photos have been our fellow photographers. manipulated since the 1800’s The society is us, as – people have been blurring photographers, wanting to make and modifying for centuries. things fair and we need a society that works for us. The society MB: Yes! But again, rules of has improved my photography engagement, you shouldn’t be through the putting other people’s photos judging and feedback and into your photos. Yes, suggestions on improving my Photoshop has clouds you can photos. I’m indebted to the PSSA use in sky replacement, but and motivated to give back you can put in your own clouds because of what I’ve received and you should be loading in knowledge and skills transfer your own skies, backdrops etc. to me over the years. When you realise the society is YOU, you’re Focus: Has the PSSA been willing to help and give back. increasing, decreasing or People complain about the PSSA, staying the same as far as but when the time comes for membership numbers go? nominations, nobody puts their hands up to help.
Focus: If the PSSA isn’t alive and well, it’s our fault as club members and photographers in South Africa. We are the society. MB: If all clubs could come to that conclusion, we’d be much better off. PSSA board members and directors want to give back; they could all be doing other things, but they’re not. Stop asking what the PSSA gives you, and look at what you can offer the PSSA, to help keep photography alive and well in South Africa. If a club chairperson stands up and tells members to be part of the PSSA, but he or she isn’t part of the PSSA, why should club members listen to him? If more people were part of the PSSA, we could start paying people like Hanli to speak at Nieu Bethesda, we could pay people when they are elected to the board, we could have a permanent secretary. Focus: Thank you so much for an interesting chat Martin. Written and prepared for FOCUS by: Clare Appleyard
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Closing dates for upcoming Salons 2022 find the information brochures on the PSSA website 2022-07-02 Witzenberg Photographic Society 2nd PDI & Pint Salon 2022 2022-07-16 Kosmos National PDI Salon 2022-07-30 Bloemfontein National Digital Salon 2022-08-13 PPS National PDI Salon 2022-08-27 7th Bosveld Fotografieklub Salon 2022-09-10 Krugersdorp Camera Club 17th National Digital Salon 2022-09-17 Amber Camera Club 2nd National Digital & AV Salon 2022-10-01 9th Swartland Salon 2021 2022-10-15 Kroonstad Fotoklub 65th Jubilee PDI Salon 2022-10-22 PSSA 22nd Up and Coming Competition 2022-10-29 International “Glass” theme AV Salon for 2022 2022-11-05 Tygerberg Photographic Society Salon 2022 2022-11-09 Danube Autumn Circuit 2022 (Edenvale Photographic Club) 2022-11-12 7th Centurion Camera Club Digital Salon
2022-11-19 2nd SANParks Honorary Rangers: Free State Region Nature Only PDI Salon
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What is a layer mask? Applying masks to a layer is a reversible way to hide part of a layer. This method allows for more editing flexibility as opposed to permanently erasing or deleting part of a layer. Step 1 Select the two images you want to mask and arrange them in two separate layers
Step 2 Select a layer in the Layers panel and click the ‘Add layer mask’ button at the bottom of the panel. A white layer mask thumbnail will appear on the selected layer, revealing everything on the selected layer.
54 - MARCH 2022 Step 3 Click on the layer with the tree and use the
Magic Wand Tool to select the tree silhouette. There should be a dashed white line to indicate the selection.
Step 4 Now, the aim is to replace the silhouette of the tree with the image of the earth, therefore the layer with the mask needs to be concealed. To do this click on the layer mask again and use the Paint Bucket Tool and paint the selection black. *Ensure that the FOREGROUND colour is BLACK.
MARCH 2022 - 55 Step 5 You have successfully applied your first layer mask! The resulting image should look like this: Save the image in .psd or .tiff format to retain the layers and layer mask for future editing. The masking tool can be applied to many layers. Simply, create new layers and then use steps 1-4 to create you layer mask.
Here are some You-Tube and website links to see how to create a layer mask https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3FkQAuqH8o https://www.photoshopessentials.com/basics/layers/layer-masks/ https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/how-to/layer-mask.html https://99designs.com/blog/design-tutorials/how-to-use-photoshop-layer-masks/ https://designshack.net/articles/graphics/a-complete-beginnersguide-to-masking-in-photoshop/