CameraTalk April/May 2021 by Photographic Society of New Zealand

NZ CameraTalk To p r o m o t e t h e w i d e r e n j o y m e n t o f p h o t o g r a p h y

T H E O F F I C I A L M A G A Z I N E O F T H E P H OT O G R A P H I C S O C I E T Y O F N E W Z E A L A N D I N C

April /May 2021

In this issue PRESIDENT Moira Blincoe LPSNZ t. 027 473 3038 e: president@photography.org.nz

VICE-PRESIDENT

Karen Lawton t. 021 143 7764 e. vicepresident@photography.org.nz

TREASURER Mark Lawson PO Box 462 Timaru e. treasurer@photography.org.nz

SECRETARY Patrice Nilsen 8 Raroa Terrace, Tawa, Wellington 5028 t. 04 232 1565 e. secretary@photography.org.nz

WELCOME TO THE second bumper edition of CameraTalk for 2021. It will also be my last as editor. Our special feature is on creating images in the camera rather than the computer. We outline all of the changes on the PSNZ Council that will come in later this month at the AGM. We review the first of the 2021 Workshops and show the winning club images from the four national interclub competitions. In addition we have the promised article on restoring old images and Bruce Girdwood FPSNZ provides an overview of the 2021 Honours assessments. Paul Whitham LPSNZ Editor

Key Dates for the Diary

Retiring PSNZ Councillors

Editorial

Introducing your 2021 Council

Changes to FIAP Distinctions

Changes to North Island Regions Need to reset your password

Regional Convention news

Honours Update Special Feature: Do it in Camera

New Zealand Camera 2021

AV News

Restoring old images

On the cover

Macro workshop review

Club news

Cascade Swirl by James Gibson APSNZ EFIAP winner of the H S James Award for best landscape print in the 2021 PSNZ SONY National Exhibition.

2021 National Interclub results

Why did we ask those questions?

Canon Online Results (round 1)

New Members

EDITOR, ADVERTISING & LAYOUT Paul Whitham LPSNZ PSNZ Councillor t. m. 021 644 418 e. paul@pwfotos.com

SUBEDITOR Lindsay Stockbridge LPSNZ 14 Poynter Place, Whanganui 4501 t. 06 348 7141 or m. 027 653 0341 e. dilinz@actrix.co.nz

CAMERATALK DEADLINE

The next CameraTalk deadline is 1 June 2021 Email your contributions to the SubEditor at his email address. Editorial should be sent as Word or .txt files. JPEG images generally should be saved at 300 dpi, compressed to high to medium quality. Include return postage if you wish material to be returned. The opinions expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily those of the Editor or of the Council of PSNZ.

AS I SAT down to write this final message as President of the Photographic Society of New Zealand (PSNZ) I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, where do I start?’ After almost 12 years on Council, having assisted so many previous Presidents with their messages and having written mine for the last three years, I feel almost ‘word-less’!!! Naturally I have been doing a lot of reflection over the past few months. When I first joined the Society in 2010 I had no aspirations other than to be an active participant with my camera in hand, and soak up as much knowledge as was on offer. And, of course, to meet and mix with like-minded people. Since becoming a member of Council in late 2010 my life, passion for and knowledge of photography has certainly changed, and for the better. Accepting the invitation to become Vice President with the knowledge that this would progress to President daunted me beyond words. I doubted my ability to rise to the role, however once I had completed a few ‘firsts’, like chairing my first Council meeting, delivering speeches, chairing an AGM and visiting clubs, I really grew into the role and enjoyed myself. It has been a great personal journey for me and there are many newly developed skills that will stand me in good stead for the adventurous years ahead. Assuming a governance role on Council is paramount to the successful running of any organisation, and PSNZ is no exception. This commenced with the challenge to tackle the long overdue rewrite of the Constitution and adopting a greater strategic direction for the Society.

A Note from the President The past 12 months have probably been the most challenging of all, mainly because of the disruption that COVID-19 placed on our calendar of activities and the interruption to the continued change and growth in delivering our services and member benefits. During my tenure on Council it was my aim to reposition PSNZ to be recognised as a strong brand built on its past, natural heritage. Over the years we have lifted our branding to become consistent and more professional across all elements of our activities. Our events have continued to grow and be successful, and the introduction of the successful PSNZ Workshop Series has been a highlight for me.

(continued overleaf)

Improving our communication with members was another objective and I’m sure you will agree that all of Council have achieved this through the various mediums we use to talk to you and share information. We publish a world class digital photography magazine full of the latest information, member successes and product news. Our website has been redeveloped to showcase more of your photography and we continually strive to keep the content fresh and vibrant. In the role of President we get to chart the strategic direction for the Society which often means bringing about change to some of the services and programmes that have been in place for many years. At times our recommendations have not been well received. Change management requires careful planning, transparency, communication, open and honest dialogue and an invitation for others to get on board. One of the things I am most pleased with is having been able to work with Chair of the Honours Board, Bruce Girdwood FPSNZ, to bring about changes in the operational aspects of the Honours Award programme. In 2019, when Bruce was assuming the Chairman’s role, he accepted an invitation to meet with Council at which time Council shared member feedback and concerns. Bruce also recognised that change was necessary and over the past two years we have worked together to effect these changes. From introducing the online submission system to advising the results within 24 hours, the positive feedback from members tells us these changes were overdue and welcomed. There are too many names to mention here but suffice to say working alongside many senior and respected members has been a privilege.

Following the Annual General Meeting I will step into the role of Immediate Past President for 12 months. I am truly looking forward to the extra time that I’ll have, which will give Chris and me more quality time together and to explore the country in our ‘soon to be delivered’ motorhome, while of course enjoying our photography to our heart’s content. To Paul Whitham LPSNZ as the Incoming President, the challenges will remain but I know he will meet them head on and manage them with the continued support of Council. Paul has a wealth of club and Council administration experience and I know the Society will continue to prosper under his mantle. A special thank you to all present and past Council members for the support provided to me over the years and who give of their time like many others because, ‘it is their Society’. To those members not attending the National Convention next week, thank you to the many who have shown me support and friendship. To those of you who will be in Christchurch I look forward to sharing those four days with you and to ….. party on! In closing my ‘final’ message and without getting all soppy ….. I truly feel blessed to have been able to complete the role of President of the Society, to have met and made so many new and genuine friends, and to have retained my passion for the wonderful art we call photography.

Thank you. Kind regards, Moira Blincoe LPSNZ

Key Dates for the Diary April 15-18 April 23-25 April 25 May 1 May 1 May 12 May 15 May 23 May 25 June 1 June 4 June 9 June 11-12 June 12-13 June 18 June 19 June 30 July 17 July 27 August 24 August 27-28

National Convention Christchurch Landscape Workshop with Graham Dainty Canon Online Round 2 closes Entries for Trenna Packer Salver Competition open Entries for Laurie Thomas NZ Landscape Salon open Entries for Tauranga AV Salon open Creative Photography workshop with Judy Stokes Entries for Laurie Thomas NZ Landscape Salon close Canon Online Round 3 closes Entries for North Shore Salon open Entries for Creative Focus open Entries for Tauranga AV Salon close Astro Workshop with Leith Robertson Judge Training Auckland Entries for Trenna Packer Salver Competition close Entries for North Shore Salon close Entries for Creative Focus close Portraiture Workshop with Aaron Key Entries for Whanganui Salon open Entries for Whanganui Salon close Landscape Workshop with Meghan Malony

We bid farewell to… By Moira Blincoe LPSNZ

TWO VALUED COUNCILLORS chose not to stand for reelection again this year. So, it is with great sadness that we say farewell to Councillor for Membership James Gibson APSNZ EFIAP and Colin Kropach, Councillor for Events. Having served on Council for two years James (right) has made an enormous contribution to Council and the Society overall. In particular he really increased the level of communication with members, liaising with anyone who made an inquiry and responding with thorough information, usually within a 24-hour period. James went out of his way to liaise and visit as many clubs as he could, often to make a presentation on landscape photography but also to share the benefits of club affiliation to the Society. With the PSNZ Workshop Series being so successful members can thank James for developing the programme and launching it in 2019. To say he has put his heart and soul into running the programme would be an understatement. I can’t thank James enough for accepting my invitation to join Council and for the contributions he has made. Hopefully, with more time on his hand James will continue to make stunning landscape and nature photographs as he and Helen explore and travel around New Zealand in their ‘Vanbulance’ campervan, and soar to greater heights in his latest passion of paragliding. James continues to be an active and valued member of the Christchurch Photographic Society and like PSNZ they too appreciate his enthusiasm and commitment to furthering the Society’s work. Colin Kropach from Auckland joined Council in 2019 and immediately began working with the Christchurch Photographic Society to continue steering them towards hosting the 2020 National Convention. Only COVID-19 got in the way and derailed it and everyone else. Regretfully Colin has been suffering ill health and although I’m really sorry to lose him, I am pleased he came to this decision because as we all know family and our health come first. Having chaired the successful 2017 National Convention in Auckland, when the Events portfolio became vacant we knew Colin would be the perfect man for the role. Especially with the move towards having sub-committees organise and implement the regional and national conventions.

Last but certainly not least we farewell our Secretary, Patrice Nilsen, who after seven years on Council has decided to retire. In a role which is appointed by Council, Patrice joined Council in 2014 and has been the ‘right hand’ woman to three Presidents and many Councillors during her tenure. Having Patrice by my side certainly has made the role of President much easier, as she has been my ‘go to’ person for much advice and has been invaluable with the organisation of all Council meetings, protocols and annual general meeting legalities. She is often the eyes and ears for Society activities and ensures nothing falls through the cracks when Council activities are running hot. With many recent changes, having moved house to the Kapiti Coast, resigned from her role at the National Emergency Management Agency and re-establishing herself as sole contractor, Patrice hopes she will have a more balanced lifestyle and time to return to her love of golf and photography. Thank you James, Colin and Patrice — your contributions to Council and the Society have been appreciated and valued by us all.

Editorial: Will it improve my photography? By Paul Whitham LPSNZ

GENERALLY SPEAKING, PEOPLE develop in an art at a rate whereby it is difficult to state that something caused the shift in the way they perceive things. There are of course exceptions to this, such as if you went on a workshop to learn a new skill that you didn’t have before. I started to write this at a time when the 2021 Honours Board had met, but I did not yet know whether I’d been successful or had failed in my attempt. In the process of putting the set together, there had been many occasions when I questioned why I was doing this. Putting the set together was a challenge, taking both time and money. At the end of the day, was it really important to have a bunch of people telling me whether my work met a standard that they had set? Equally, the letters that I would gain after my name had no real relevance beyond the amateur photography community. That would be different if I was doing photography as my career and seeking the honours within NZIPP. Therefore, there were lots of times when I questioned why I was doing this. In the first week of March, I finally managed to realise a concept that I had been developing for the best part of a year. I had visualised what the set would look like, and I had collected materials along the way. The shoot involved a makeup artist and a model, so I had to work with their availability. I wanted to incorporate fire, and that dictated that the shoot would be made outside. Additionally, the costume that I had made was quite minimal, so I needed to shoot when the weather was warm.

As I wanted to have full control over the light, I was shooting in the evening. Obviously, shooting outside meant that we didn’t know if the weather gods would comply or wash it out. Fortunately the day was fine, but as I was putting the set together the wind came up and substantial anchoring was needed so that it didn’t fall over. The wind actually died away by the time we started to shoot. As it turned out the shoot went without a hitch, and I shot around 270 images of which 65 were taken all the way through to final edit. This very high percentage was testament to the skills that the model brought to the shoot. It was during the editing process that I suddenly realised that I was deploying all of the tips that had been recommended to fine tune the images that I had included in my Honours set. It was a light bulb moment when I realised that in putting that set together, particularly in the polishing of the images, I picked up a new way of looking at my images and applying that to this shoot. As it turned out my set was unsuccessful, and now I await the feedback. Based on that I may choose to resubmit in 2022 — or simply put it down to a lesson learned.

Create more, carry less with the FUJIFILM X-S10

Introducing Your 2021 Council Members By Moira Blincoe LPSNZ

PAUL WHITHAM LPSNZ will assume the role of President of the Photographic Society of New Zealand at the completion of the 68th National Convention in Christchurch. As a member of Council since 2015, Paul has fulfilled a myriad of portfolios and contributed to all aspects of Society activities. These years stand Paul in good stead to manage all Presidential responsibilities. Karen Lawton of Christchurch continues in the role of Vice President.

Paul

Moira Blincoe LPSNZ becomes the Immediate Past President. Returning Councillors are Craig McKenzie of Dunedin who looks after National Competitions and Salons and the 4 Nations Salon and Jane Muller of Havelock North who manages the Communications and Marketing portfolio. Toya Heatley APSNZ of Lower Hutt decided she missed us all so much she stepped forward for nomination and will assume the role of Councillor for Events. Toya is also our talented webmaster so as well as working on her own IT contracts, she will be juggling many balls for PSNZ. Welcome to Auckland Photographic Society member Prue Scott to Council who will fulfil the portfolio of Publications. Prue’s professional experience in journalism and public relations will stand her in good stead for this portfolio, managing the production of CameraTalk and New Zealand Camera.

Karen

Moira

Craig

Obviously, with Paul moving into the President’s role, he has had to relinquish the editor’s role of CameraTalk. Prue will be working with two new members who take on the editor’s and the designers’ roles respectively. Chryseis Phillips of New Plymouth will be formally appointed to the role of Secretary at the Annual General Meeting at our National Convention. She has extensive administration and secretarial experience, gained by working in a variety of organisations including The Salvation Army, kindergarten, architecture and healthcare.

Jane

Congratulations to everyone and welcome to PSNZ Council.

Toya

Chryseis Prue

Changes to FIAP Distinctions By Ann Bastion FPSNZ EFIAP MFIAP

THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION is for any member considering applying for FIAP distinctions (in particular this year). FIAP has made a major revision to the requirements for their ‘distinctions’. These were due to come into effect on 1 January 2022.

• Working towards FIAP distinctions.

As Congress 2020 was cancelled, the new rules (DOC 31/2021) can no longer be applied on 1 January 2022 and their implementation has been postponed until they can be presented at the next FIAP Congress. Because of COVID-19 we don’t know when that will be. This means there will be no change to existing regulations DOC_011_2016_DistiReg for 2021 or 2022.

• FIAP changes coming and affecting 2021 submissions.

Applications in 2021/2022

• Titles can only be used on one application.

I emphasise that the new regulations DO NOT apply yet however, they do influence what should be done on applications in 2021/2022.

• No more than five results per image can be listed on an application.

The new regulations are marked by their change of focus to encourage photographers to produce and exhibit new works rather than rely on the success of a handful of very successful images to carry their Distinctions application. I have constructed a spreadsheet called FIAP distinctions compare old with new where you can see a comparison of the old and new regulations side by side which, for a visual person, can be quite helpful. You can find this and a more comprehensive explanation of all that has changed on the PSNZ website under the Honours tab.

Select ‘FIAP & FIAP distinctions’. From there you should be able to access the following documents:

• FIAP distinctions, old compared with new.

Following is a list of the major changes. Details of these are in the document ‘FIAP changes coming affecting 2021 submissions’ on the PSNZ website:

• Increase in the number of countries from which results are gained. • Distinctions certificate dates no longer render results unusable. • No cumulative distinctions levels. • Criteria for EFIAP and EFIAP levels Bronze to Platinum no longer differ. • Print acceptances no longer required for distinctions applicants. • Transition option for EFIAP Silver to Platinum. • Reduction in fees for 2021/2022.

Record Keeping After assimilating all this, you can see why I am advising applicants this year to avoid listing extra new images on their application unless they are needed to meet criteria that apply to 2021 (especially awarded new images). If you have any questions contact me at ajbastion@gmail.com In case you missed the last FIAP news publication you can find it here, on the FIAP website: https://www.fiap.net/en/fiap-news.

Photo by Eco Warrior Princess on Unsplash

Separate Northern & Central Regions are no more! IN THE DECEMBER 2020 issue of CameraTalk members were advised that the PSNZ Council proposed to amalgamate the two regions in the North Island into one. Feedback from members was sought by 31 January 2021. Very few responses were received, however all were in favour of the proposal, therefore Council amended the Bylaw and from now on there are only two regions in New Zealand. The immediate effect of this is that the convention planned for Taupo in September will be for the whole North Island and more importantly the salon that will run along side will be open to all members living in the North Island.

Need to Reset Your PSNZ Password? By Neil Gordon APSNZ

THE EMAIL ADDRESS and password that you use to log in to the Member area of the PSNZ website is exactly the same as the one you use to log in to the PSNZ Database. If you are logging in to the PSNZ website for the first time, or have forgotten your password, you need to reset it. Just go to htps://photography.org.nz/logins and click on the blue text “please click here to reset your password first”.

You will be taken to a database page where you can enter the email address you use to log in, and a password reset email will be sent to that.

If you don’t receive a password reset email within a minute or so, check your spam or junk folder as it could have ended up there. If it’s not there, you have probably entered an email address that isn’t used for logging into your Membership. Contact the Database Team at database-coordinator@photography.org.nz for help. When you click on “PSNZ Member Login” you end up on a page at https://photography.org.nz/ wp-login.php that looks like this. This is another opportunity to click on the blue text “PSNZ MEMBERS, click here to reset your password” if you need to do that. Enter your email address (first clearing out any strange username like FirstLast28f7 if it’s in the email address field) and password to log in.

You should not click on the text that says “Lost your password” at the bottom. This will not work — it’s for a Wordpress login that is not relevant for our website. You need to click on the blue text.

THE INAUGURAL NORTH Island Regional Convention is being hosted by the Taupo Camera Club, from Friday 24 September through to Sunday 26 September 2021. The organising sub-committee (the first under the new structure) is developing a fantastic range of workshops, field trips and an ‘early bird’ photo option. The interclub and individual regional salons will also be held and exhibited at the convention. Three workshops are planned. Join Eva Polak in her workshop, ‘The Magic of Slow Shutter Speed’ to practise your impressionist photography, or Annette Johnston APSNZ for a workshop on focus stacking to take your macro photography to new levels. John Cowpland will run a sports photography workshop and participants will be able to take action shots of a variety of sports including hockey, soccer and skateboarding. Four field trips will have participants spoiled for choice. Take a cruise along the mighty Waikato River to Huka Falls; then visit Lava Glass to photograph a glass blowing demonstration and spend some time in the Sculpture Garden (additional cost $37.00 per person). Visit Orakei Korako Geothermal Park to enter the world of gushing geysers, bubbling mud pools, and hot springs (additional cost of $31.00 per person). Photograph Siberian Huskies in action at Timberline Huskies and get up close to them for more photo opportunities (additional cost $30.00 per person). Or take a tour through the Wairakei Thermal Energy Station to two power sites that are not open to the general public (no extra cost for this trip). The convention venue is Suncourt Hotel and Conference Centre. It has a range of rooms available and is only five minutes’ walk from the lake. Check it out here: https://suncourt. nz/. Alternatively there are many other accommodation options in Taupo, from an unpowered campsite to a luxury suite with a lake view.

We’re Recruiting Council is looking to engage the services of an experienced bookkeeper or accounts person to assist in the day-to-day processing of various financial and administrative functions. The Society is in the process of changing its financial structure from MYOB to Xero so the role can be carried out from anywhere in the country. While experience in Xero would be preferable it is not essential as it can be learned quite easily (so I’m informed), and full support will be available. The role mainly involves processing transactions that come through the various bank accounts and recording them in the appropriate areas. This also includes member subscription payments, which also involves recording those payment in the membership database. As such the workload will vary from month to month depending on what is happening at the time. While a good understanding of financial and administrative practices would be preferable for this role, it is more important that the person is careful in the way that items are recorded. You will be working closely with the Society’s Treasurer who is an accountant. There is also an interface with the database coordinators and membership. This role is remunerated and if you think you have some time available and are interested in learning more then please contact Paul Whitham on 021 644 418 or Moira on 027 47 33038.

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

2021 Honours Update By Bruce Gidwood FPSNZ Chair PSNZ Honours Board

THE HONOURS BOARD would like to congratulate all PSNZ members who will be awarded PSNZ Honours this year. We are delighted to see the increased success rates relative to the previous five year average and hope it is related to the extensive education programme we initiated this year. Honour

% successful 5yr 2021 average Licentiate Print 86% 68% Licentiate Digital 65% 59% Associate Print 42% 34% Associate Digital 29% 24% Fellowship Print 75% 19% Fellowship Digital 0% 17% We held a Q&A webinar for each honour category in October 2020. Each session was recorded and made available on the PSNZ website for reference by all prospective applicants. We will do it again this year! In the 2020/21 year we focused our education on what it takes to make a diverse set that flows as a portfolio for the Licentiate and in particular the Associate. As a result, we saw more emphasis on greater diversity in the Associate applications. We are pleased that our message that an Associate is an advanced Licentiate and not a mini Fellowship seems to have been heard. This has been a stumbling block in the past and we are very happy to see a great step up in success rates, relative to the previous five-year average. I chaired my second Honours Board this year and we welcomed Ann Bastion FPSNZ EFIAP MFIAP onto the Board. On Wednesday afternoon we met to induct Ann, to refresh ourselves on the honours guidelines and make sure we all agreed on our approach to the assessment.

Our objective was, as always, to take a positive approach to the assessment and to be as consistent as we could be. We agreed to take all the time we needed to assess submissions and to talk whenever we needed to. The Honours Board developed a great vibe very quickly and we worked well together to assess your portfolios. We had many deep discussions about your work and in the end we all felt comfortable that we had been consistent and that your successes reflected a good standard, respected our existing and past Honours holders and rewarded good photography. We do not believe we raised the bar; we sought to reward those that demonstrated broad skills in photographic craft for the Licentiate level, broad based advanced skills in the Associate and mastery of photographic art at the Fellowship level. Once again the Licentiate applicants wowed us with their range of skills. Consistent with the guidelines, we looked for the demonstration of photographic craft in a diverse, cohesive set demonstrating your ability in a range of situations such as lighting, environment, genre and camera settings. Overall we felt that the applicants had a pretty good grasp of the guidelines and were doing well to put cohesive sets together. For the Associate, we looked for the same but at an advanced level. Overall, despite the better success rate this year, we feel that many Associate submissions did not show an understanding of the basics of photography and post processing. This year we will focus our education programme on what it takes to step up from a Licentiate to an Associate. We have also noticed over the years that people who have already achieved their Licentiate are more likely to be successful at the Associate. We would strongly recommend that applicants start with the Licentiate before attempting the Associate.

This year we were delighted to award three Fellowships. When we were doing the induction our new board members asked how we assessed a Fellowship. After much discussion we said “When you see a Fellowship you will just know as it will speak for itself”. And, so it was. After not awarding any Fellowships in 2020, we were wowed this year. A key to the success of a Fellowship is a demonstration of your mastery of photography through a thesis-like approach. For this we look for a highly developed exploration of your subject, an interpretation which is yours and reflects your style. I would like to assure you that we did not look for reasons not to accept applications, rather our approach was to find reasons why we should accept the application. We tried our best to reward good photography in line with the guidelines. We are sensitive people and, as fellow photographers, we fully understand the amount of effort, love and care you put into your work. It is never easy to turn down an application and we do not do so lightly. Another big change we made this year is the way in which we provided feedback on unsuccessful applications. Over the years we have been told that our feedback is not helpful. Last year we took our time to provide fuller, written feedback. If I were to be totally honest, writing those 70 letters was as equivalent to a custodial sentence! We received better feedback but in the end, written feedback is not the best way of communication and we believe the effectiveness was still low. This year I sent recorded feedback in an audio visual. I have received more positive comments on this method and I was able to reflect the Board’s thoughts much more fully. I sincerely hope this has made a difference to those who received this feedback. Our objective is to help you on your journey not to hinder you.

Always remember, we provide feedback for your consideration, it is always your decision to accept or reject that feedback. The successful sets will be posted on the PSNZ website in due course. Thank you to everyone for trusting us to assess your work. Congratulations if you were successful and we hope that if you were not that you will take feedback in the constructive spirit in which it has been given. Never give up the pursuit of your ambitions. For future applications I encourage you to read the guidelines and listen to our recorded Q&A sessions carefully. Then show us your creativity in line with those guidelines. I would like to say a huge thank you to the Honours Board team of Tracey Scott FPSNZ, Bevan Tulett FPSNZ, Ann Bastion FPSNZ EFIAP MFIAP, Helen McLeod FPSNZ GPSA ARPS and Paul Byrne FPSNZ for being such a great team to work with. Sadly we said goodbye to Tracey and Bevan this year. You have both been outstanding long term members; you will both leave huge holes of experience and we will miss you. To Stephanie Forrester APSNZ and her amazing Southland crew, thank you so much for all the hard work you did to make sure the whole process ran smoothly and for your awesome Southland hospitality. It was also great to have President, Moira Blincoe LPSNZ to observe us at work. We look forward to doing it all over again in 2022! I look forward to catching up with our successful applicants, those who want more feedback and future applicants at our National Convention in a couple of weeks.

Everlasting Charm by Eunice Belk LPSNZ

Nelson National Triptych Salon 2021 Put your triptych caps on and show us what you can come up with by August when entries for this year’s salon are to be submitted. All entries will be “Open” but the judges will make three Special Awards for the ... Best Best Best

Power of man: machines, nature, the universe, whatever you can imagine. “Love is...“ Use your triptych to complete the definition. Monochrome.

Only digitally projected triptych entries will be allowed for this salon, but we will make prints of the entries gaining high awards and display these at the Presentation Evening in October. To set you off on the right track, here are some important rules to remember for this event. • Your three images must be separated from each other with a clear division between each image. • Background colours and textures are allowed but they must not constitute a fourth image to the subject matter. • There must be no text on the background but text within any of the three images is allowed. Your triptych could tell a story, compare three similar subjects, depict a captivating design with the use of texture or colour, or be a combination of all the above. Please visit www.nelsoncameraclub.co.nz/salon-information.html for more information about this salon.

Judge Training Weekends for 2021 By Shona Jaray APSNZ Judge Accreditation Panel

Judge Training - Auckland Area 12 and 13 June 2021 Venue: The Centre Franklin Room, Franklin, Pukekohe The start time will be advised nearer the time but is generally around 10:00 a.m. Lunch, morning and afternoon tea are provided on both days. A comprehensive manual is also provided. This year we are charging PSNZ members $25.00. The charge for those who are not PSNZ members but are members of affiliated clubs remains at $60.00. This charge will become non refundable after 11 May 2021. Register here: https://photography.org.nz/salons-galleries/judge-training-weekendregistration/ The class is limited to 30 people and we often have a waiting list, so book your place now!

Special Feature - Do it in Camera In this issue’s special feature we look at tricks and techniques to create your images in camera and not rely upon the computer to do all of the work.

Creative In-Camera Photography With Destina Munro LPSNZ

PHOTOSHOP AND LIGHTROOM have added considerable diversity to the art and creativity of photography. This is a wonderful thing and so much fun (if you have the tools and time). Exploring creativity in-camera can also help develop your technical ability and extend your personal creativity. I would like to share a few tips for building creativity in-camera. This is using aperture, shutter speed, ISO, over and underexposing, and most importantly, finding the image. The examples I show have all been created in-camera. There is always a bit of basic darkroom editing done in Lightroom, such as adjusting the contrast, highlights, shadows, white, blacks, and perhaps a bit of saturation to enhance the colours. This takes all of a few minutes. It probably takes longer to go through and discover which of your images conveys the right message! So here’s to experimenting, embracing your mistakes, having fun, and exploring a bit of photographic art — outside the strict guidelines of creating a perfect image.

Find inspiration As a photographer you are most likely to look to an inspirational photographer, or two or three, but I suggest you look at artists as well. They still use theories of design, composition, colour and mood — which photographers use. Two of my inspirations are Uta Barth, who explores subject-less photography with an emphasis on light and shade; and New Zealand painter John Drawbridge, who expressed his art through abstract and colour, and the use of visual metaphors such as framing and concepts of memories. You still need to explore and develop your own style — but a few coffee table books from the library to gaze over from time to time will keep the creative thoughts flowing. Let’s look at a few examples and exercises to try.

Atmospheric - out of focus Lighting is pretty important, of course, and this is no different to taking images out of focus. The two examples here are both taken at dusk. They have no defined subject, yet the images still express an emotion through a point of focus enhanced by the colour, shadows and light. Using a telephoto lens, and a preference for aperture priority, set your aperture to the widest opening (F5.6 or less). Then, using manual focus — focus on the scene — turn your lens to take the scene slightly out of focus.

Take several photos at various stages of ‘out of focus’; it takes a few images to get it right. I have yet to successfully replicate these images, which makes them quite unique in their own right. The key is to think about colour and shape, as well as composition, such as horizons, thirds, and the typical elements you would consider when creating an ‘in-focus’ image. Once downloaded, do those tweaks in Lightroom and look to see if the image needs cropping (which is most likely in my experience).

Create a diffused image using reflections Diffused can mean several things… You may want to take an image through light fabric, a curtain or a window. The examples here are taken through a window to achieve the soft. diffused effect. The image challenges your perception of seeing, with the colours inside the building complementing the scene being photographed through the window. Open the aperture up wide such as F2-F5.6 (this softens the dirty windows in each of these images as well), and set a low ISO (depending on the lighting conditions).

Manually focus while looking through the window, and adjust the focus to ‘find the desired reflected image’. Think about how the colour impacts and also how the tonal range complements the set. Using the rule of thirds to place elements within the image may help to strengthen the composition.

Create images that tell a story Here I have taken photos of my daughter, from the outside looking in, while she is creating a garment. Again manual focus is best, enabling you to decide that right level of blur. Why blur? Why not? Look at the surrounding light, shadows, and glare, and take these into consideration when taking the photo.

Are you looking for colours that are soft and diffused, strong and bold, complementary or contrasting? Soft curves and vertical lines strengthen the composition of these images. Negative space adds an element of mystery and the images are subtle and incomplete yet still tell a story.

Over and under-exposing When you are wanting to do intentional camera movement, put your ISO to 100, using Aperture Priority with an F stop of up to F22 (or higher or lower) and the exposure to +1 or even +2. Those settings will enable you to have a slower shutter speed on a bright day, so you can pan your camera. On the back of my camera, there was really no image… But a tweak in Lightroom, pulling down the black

as shown, will give you some resemblance of an image. Overexposing drains the saturation and gives you pastel colours as shown in the third example (with minor tweaks in your editing software of choice). The third image was taken slightly out of focus and over exposed from a fast moving boat. The colours were then enhanced in Lightroom.

Dark tones and mood When using intentional camera movement, don’t limit yourself to sweeping the camera horizontally or vertically; try sweeping your camera around in a circular motion. The settings for these images were ISO 200, F22; the left had a shutter speed of six seconds and the right was 3.2 seconds.

The time of day was 7.00 pm in summer. It’s exciting, seeing what might evolve! The images were taken looking under a boatshed, with the sea foam contributing to the atmospheric elements.

Look for patterns, shapes, lines With patterns, shapes and lines, as suggested earlier try to limit yourself to photography around your own home, where it may be a bit more challenging. The top two examples are overexposed, slightly out of focus, and taken down my hallway.

Not the most exciting location, but it can test your ability to see and just focus on the evening light coming in from the windows, falling on the doorframes and door openings. It was cropped to square and the colour toned to blue. If you have been to the Len Lye Centre you may recognise the entrance to the gallery with very little editing other than a crop.

There is much more to explore than just these few simple techniques. See what you can find around your home and local area in the evenings or mornings when the light at its best, but you are not limited to this time either. Have fun and enjoy the creative process. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me at destinamunro.com.

Nature Photography Society of New Zealand

Exhibition

A showcase of members’ images

Colours of Nature 22 April – 2 June 2021 Art On The Quay, Ruataniwha Kaiapoi Civic Centre, 176 Williams St, Kaiapoi

Straight out of Camera By Paul Whitham LPSNZ

THERE IS NO doubt that software such as Photoshop makes it very easy to create images, but they are not the only means of doing so. In this article I’m going to give you four techniques for creating images totally within your camera.

Free lensing

This is a technique where you shoot through a lens that is not actually attached to the camera. It is not the easiest to master but the variability in the results adds to the appeal. Also, as the camera does not need to talk to the lens you are not limited in using lenses that will fit the mounting.

To give this a try, firstly make sure that your camera will allow it to take images with no lens attached, and also that it will allow images to be taken when it is not locked in focus. To do this varies by brand and model, so I suggest that you need to read the manual. Set the camera and lens to manual focus, and on the lens set its focus to infinity (normally denoted by an eight on its side). Then, looking through the viewfinder, position the lens in front of the camera and move it around until you get the result you want. A word of warning. This technique is best used when there is not a lot of wind around, as you are leaving your sensor wide open to the elements.

Shooting through objects

As the name suggests this technique simply involves putting an object between the lens and the subject. This will create an element that covers the whole image or simply a part of it. There is almost no limit to what you can place there. Sheets of glass are very popular if you want to cover the whole frame, while crystals and lights are great if you want to have it limited to one area. Generally, when using this technique, we will be using manual focus; otherwise the camera is likely to focus on the object rather than the subject. Therefore, it is often easier to focus first on your subject before you actually move the other object in place.

Double exposure

In a double exposure you take two or more images and combine them into a single frame in the camera. This technique was available in certain film cameras and has now been applied in the digital world. You’ll need to check your camera manual to see whether the model you have can do it, and also what it can do. This varies greatly between brands and models. In some cases you have to take sequential photos and you have no control over how they’re blended. Other cameras allow you to choose your original photo and give you control over the blend. In fact, some modern cameras give you the ability to preview the original image as an overlay in the viewfinder while you take the second one. This makes it a lot simpler to position the subject to create the effect you are after.

Special lenses All of the techniques mentioned so far involve no additional expense.

The final technique is to use special lenses, attached to the camera, that are designed to produce particular results. One of the most common of these lenses is the Lensbaby range. These enable you to dictate what will be in and out of focus within the same image. Another popular approach is to use old film lenses, particularly ones that were not known for their sharpness in the first place, such as the Russian lenses. To fit these to modern cameras you need adapters which are readily available and not all that expensive. While some people don’t like using adapters, as there is a perceived loss of quality, that is not an issue in this case.

Improving the Images that You Take By Paul Whitham LPSNZ

HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON said that your first 10,000 images are your worst. He was essentially referring to the old adage that practice makes perfect. Although Henri lived into the digital era (dying in 2004), he was referring to film. That would have involved some 300 rolls of film. Hence it would have taken you a long time to shoot (and be very expensive). However, with today’s high-capacity cards and rapid frame rates, I could easily shoot 10,000 images in a couple of hours and not actually learn much in the process. This is often referred to as spray and pray. Here are a number of exercises that can help you make those 10,000 images better.

Film challenge

There are several variations to this challenge but essentially what you do is regard the card in your camera as if it was a roll of film. You can choose whether you want this to be a 24 or 36 exposure roll. The other limitation is that you can’t delete any photos on the card to allow for a greater number to be taken. You have to keep every image.

The purpose of the exercise is to slow down your shooting and to make you consider each shot before you press the shutter. Some people take the exercise further by turning off the preview screen and not looking at any images in the field. I think this is taking the challenge a step too far. Another aspect of this type of challenge is removing the thought that you will “fix it in post”. Instead, try to get your settings as close to what you want when pressing the shutter. When he spoke to the National Convention in Queenstown, professional photographer Mike Langford said that he always shot in RAW and JPEG at the same time. He would expose to get the JPEG image on the back of his camera exactly how he was seeing and feeling the shot at the time it was taken. When he came back to his computer he would only ever use the RAW files if he wanted to significantly alter an image. Even then he would use the JPEG as a reference image.

One lens

This is a challenge that I will often take up when I’m going to an event that is not really important to me. Therefore, I am using it as practice rather than something I seriously want to record. I will choose to take only one lens, and quite often that will be a fixed length prime, rather than a zoom. Most of us have collected a bag full of lenses over the years and we will take them out on shoots and waste a lot of time swapping between them.

Photo by César Abner Martínez Aguilar on Unsplash

But we never really take the time to work out what each of the lenses can do on its own. This exercise lets you do that because when you are limited you need to adapt. You’ll gain an appreciation of how the focal length influences what you can shoot. You’ll discover how fast the lens is in terms of coping with different lights, and you should also be able to discover the sweet spot where the lens produces the sharpest results. The reason that I generally go with primes is that they require me to think about where I am standing relative to what I want to shoot. This generally means getting closer to the action rather than standing back with a long zoom lens.

Shoot blindfolded

My wife did this exercise as part of an arts diploma; initially I thought it sounded ridiculous until I tried it myself. You need to work in pairs with the photographer being blindfolded and the other person guiding them around an area. The point of the exercise is to not actually take pictures but for you to develop a muscle memory of where the most important buttons on your camera are and how to change settings without having to look at the camera. It is no coincidence that manufacturers have spent a lot of time and effort in the ergonomics of the camera design. On most cameras you will find that your finger and thumb will fit nicely over the most important controls. Generally, the wheel that controls exposure will move in a third of a stop. Therefore, three clicks in either direction is a full stop change. Being able to change your settings without needing to look at the camera will help, especially in fast paced shooting environments.

Photo by Houcine Ncib on Unsplash

Chatham Island Photo Tour 2021 8 Days, 7 Nights on Chatham Islands ex Wellington 10 – 17 September 2021

•

Professional Photographer Tutors teach at your pace with location shoots, workshops \ critique sessions and 1 -1 assistance.

• •

Local Guides show you their island. Onsite Tour Leader manages the tour full time from

departure to return to Wellington.

• •

All Meals and Transport Included. Optional side trips include a day on Pitt Island, Fishing, the outer Islands of the Chathams archipelago.

•

Return flights on Air Chathams, accommodation at Hotel Chathams

•

Limited places available

Costs (Inc GST) from

Contact

Single (Shared facilities) $5577

Nick Maitland

Double \ Twin $5677

E nxpxnz@gmail.com

Superior $5777

M 027 605 3447

25th Laurie Thomas NZ Landscape Salon 2021 By Kathrin Affeld

ONE OF THE most anticipated events on the country’s photographic calendar is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. The Laurie Thomas New Zealand Landscape Salon has been organised by the Christchurch Photographic Society since 1996, in honour of its former member, Laurie Thomas, who was internationally recognised for his photography of the New Zealand landscape. Since its humble beginnings 25 years ago, the Laurie Thomas New Zealand Landscape Salon has undergone a complete transformation from slides to digital images, and now attracts up to 700 entries from amateur and professional photographers alike. The salon encourages entrants to be creative and present their own interpretation of the New Zealand landscape; it therefore has no prescriptive definition of a “landscape”. The salon is unusual in that the winner will be presented with a unique trophy known as “Wind & Water” - to keep. The trophy was designed by Lesley Sales FPSNZ and symbolises the essence of the New Zealand landscape: water, wind, trees and light. Lesley says its shape suggests a mountain and the forces acting upon it to carve out the landscape. Mountain streams flowing down the mountainsides are depicted by paua shell inserts. The action of the wind is suggested by an invisible, implied line that begins as a curl on the outside edge of the mountains and flows across the landscape. Trees clinging to the mountainsides add another dimension, that of vegetation and plant growth. Light defines the shape of the mountain, illuminating the waters, the shapes, and the trees, silhouetting the shapes of the landscape. This year’s salon will be judged by South Island judges Jackie Ranken AIPP & NZIPP Grand Master, Mike Langford AIPP & NZIPP Grand Master and Tony Bridges ACPP (Dist.), FPSNZ. The 2021 Laurie Thomas Salon will open for entries on 1. May and close on 23. May 2020. It is open to all photographers, regardless of whether they are affiliated with a club or not. Entry details can be found at https://lauriethomassalon.com.

Fantastic Response to New Zealand Camera By Paul Whitham LPSNZ, Councillor for Publications

SUBMISSIONS FOR THE 2021 edition of New Zealand Camera closed on 31 March and the response far exceeded those received in 2020. In total, 387 photographers submitted 749 images for consideration. This is well up on the 274 photographers who entered 538 images in 2020. Members will be aware that only images taken after 1 January 2019 were eligible for selection, and those submitting were asked to confirm that the image complied. It was therefore very disappointing that seven images from six photographers were disqualified as their metadata indicated that they were taken before 1 January 2019. Our intrepid group of selectors - Toya Heatley APSNZ, Annette Johnson APSNZ, Suzie Whelan APSNZ and Daniel Wong APSNZ will have a mammoth task whittling the images down to the 150 that will appear in the book.

Table 1 by Brand Canon Nikon Sony Olympus Panasonic/Lumix Phones Fujifilm Pentax Leica DJI (drone)

As a first step, all of the images were put into a Lightroom catalogue and this showed up some interesting stats. Of the 751 images, Lightroom was able to recognise 574 which had been shot with a total of 119 different cameras brands/models. Table 1 below shows how the 574 were spread amongst the brands. The images were then categorised into their major groups and it was interesting to see what most people were shooting (Table 2). The selection process will take place through April and results will be emailed out some time in May. We hope to have the book distributed in September.

Table 2 by Category Total 228 153 112 28 19 11 8 8 4 3

% 39.7% 26.7% 19.5% 4.9% 3.3% 1.9% 1.4% 1.4% 0.7% 0.5%

Landscape People Birds Creative/Abstract Flowers & Plants Photojournalism Animals Still Life Structures Insects Transport

Total 209 127 111 103 56 37 36 27 20 13 12

% 27.8% 16.9% 14.8% 13.7% 7.5% 4.9% 4.8% 3.6% 2.7% 1.7% 1.6%

Audio-Visual News by Trish McAuslan AV-AAPS FAPS APSNZ EFIAP Coordinator of Audio-Visuals for PSNZ

Tauranga AV Salon THIS SALON IS open to all members of PSNZ and members of PSNZ affiliated photographic clubs. All the information for this Salon is on the Tauranga Photographic Society website: https://taurangaphoto.nz/ In the banner across the top of the home page, you will see Audio-Visual Salon. From there you can see the guidelines and rules. Complete your entry and use web transfer to upload your entries. Entries will open on 12 May and close on 9 June.

Audio-Visuals — from a Judge’s Viewpoint Judging an AV is not quite the same as judging a still image. Generally there is more time to watch an AV, which is just as well. The judge has to consider the interest of the concept or storyline and the way it has been constructed, the quality of the images and the structure of the audio - and how these three elements work together to provide the overall experience. To start with, the judge must be aware of the storyline or concept. Was it interesting? Did it hold attention right to the end? What can you do as the creator of an AV to hold the interest of the judge? Think about the audience and construct your AV to be interesting to your target audience. When you are creating an AV for a competition like the Tauranga AV Salon or the Jack Sprosen, your target audience may be strangers.

An AV about a family event will be of interest to members of the family but probably not to strangers. An AV about a local event to show to a local audience will include well known local people and possibly what they said. But an AV about that same event for people who were not there and who do not know the locals will be more factual. It will explain what the event is about and describe some of the things that happened. Be aware that the people watching your AV were not there and don’t know the people in the story. It is most likely to use impersonal style language. A story about a trip you did to Paris to show your family is likely to include something like, ‘Here we are, waiting in a queue for an hour to get tickets for the Eiffel Tower’. However, for a competition you can use the same photos but the narrative will be different. It may be something like, ‘The Eiffel Tower is the mostvisited paid monument in the world. Before the COVID-19 Pandemic, more than seven million people went up it each year.’

Know what the story is that you want to tell. Judges are often heard to mutter, ‘Less is more!’ In other words, tell the story concisely and resist the temptation to add just a bit more — because you have some good photos you want to use or to include some extra photos because you have not yet reached the time limit. The second part of an audio-visual is the audio, so at the same time as being aware of the concept, the judges are also aware of the quality and complexity of the audio track and how well it supports the concept. The simplest form of an audio track is to find a piece of music which supports the main idea of the AV and which is the length of the AV. If done well, a more complex audio track that combines, several pieces of music, a narrative and sounds should score more highly than the simple audio track. The emphasis here is on learning how to prepare a more complex audio track well. Judges are always very quick to notice problems with the audio track such as unsuitable music, music which stops and then another piece starts or music which comes to an abrupt halt, as well as poorly written and/or poorly recorded narrative. The third part of an audio-visual is the image quality. Judges are frequently still image photographers, and possibly also judges, and they are very quickly aware of images which are not quite sharp, have poor composition or have areas of over exposure.

When you are taking photos for an AV, take as many as you can and select the best ones to tell the story or illustrate the concept. Put them up on a storyboard such as Bridge or Lightroom, and remove any duplicates and poor quality images before putting them in order to tell the story. It is expected that the image quality will be of a good overall standard. Finally, post process all the images you plan to use to make them the best they can be, before importing them into your AV creation application. You need to have enough images to cover the whole story. For example, if your story starts at sunrise and you don’t have a photo of the sunrise, either change the storyline to leave out that bit or be creative, such as starting with just a sunrise sky (no land) you have just taken.Your viewers won’t know that you took it from the backdoor at home rather than in Mexico where your story takes place. Finally the judges will be aware how well the images, audio track and concept work together. For example, do the photos change quickly when the action is fast and more slowly in a quieter part of the story? Do the photos change with the rhythm of the music? Overall, an experienced AV judge will take a lot of things into consideration when judging. As the creator of an AV, being aware of how AVs are judged will help you to create an audio-visual that your viewers will enjoy watching.

Restoring Old Images By Paul Whitham LPSNZ

In early March I posted an image on the PSNZ Facebook group that I had restored. The image attracted a lot of attention, and quite a few members wanted to know how it was done. So, I promised to write an article, going behind the image. In many ways I felt a little bit of a fraud as, while the restoration looked impressive, it was relatively simple to undertake. Therefore, I have decided to expand this article to describe the process I followed, as this would show more about the techniques needed. We will start with a faded image, moving on to one with some damage and finally the image that attracted all the attention.

Firstly, a warning. In this article I will assume that you know the meaning of basic terms like opacity and layer masking. I am not going into detail about the Photoshop skills that you need to undertake restoration, but at the very least you should have a good understanding of the following tools: • Clone stamp. • Brush. • Healing brush. • Patch tool. A working knowledge of the Pen tool is also useful, especially if you are trying to fix a complex area. An understanding of Layer styles is also useful. So, let’s start.

1. Faded old image One of the biggest issues with old photos is that they fade over time. Several techniques can be used to bring these images back, but this is one of the simplest I have found. 1. Open the original image in Photoshop. 2. Duplicate the layer. 3. Change the blending mode to “Multiply”. This mode multiplies the colours of the blending layer and the base layers, resulting in a darker colour.

The original image

4. In all likelihood the resulting image will be too dark, in which case you can reduce the overall effect by lowering the opacity of the layer.

Image after Layer mode changed to Mulitply

Final image after Opacity lowered to 73%

2. Damaged image This is a more complicated restoration as the image was a lot older and had suffered physical damage. It was a photo taken of my wife’s maternal great grandmother Hannah (standing) and great-great-grandmother Ann (seated). We believe that this image was made between 1900 and 1910. As the original image was quite large, I decided to photograph it rather than attempt to put it on the scanner and then have to assemble multiple images. In an attempt to gain as much detail as I could from the original, I shot three images at slightly different exposures and then merged them as a single HDR file. There were two major areas of damage that I knew would need special attention and could not be done using the simple tools.

The most significant was that a good chunk of Hannah’s nose was missing. I knew that getting this right was crucial to the whole image, so it was the first thing I tackled.

I decided that the simplest way to deal with this was to assume that there were sufficient similarities with her mother; I copied Ann’s nose and then placed it on Hannah. I used the existing part of her nose to warp the replacement into a similar shape.

I then moved on and worked around the image, using a variety of tools to fix the problems. I tend to create a layer for each of the areas being fixed as this makes the file more understandable. The layer stack is shown here. Working from the bottom, three layers were used to remove the defects around the image and on Hannah’s face. In most cases the Healing brush was sufficient to handle these areas, although the Patch tool was used on some of the larger ones. I then created a “stamp visible layer” (Layer 1) which essentially merges all of the layers below it. This was then duplicated and the Multiply mode set on the duplicate layer. The overall effect was too strong, so a layer mask was applied so that I could tone the effect down. Next, I applied a Brightness/Contrast adjustment to push up the overall contrast. The Waterspots layer then used both the healing brush and patch tool on the areas of damage at the top. For the large area in the top corner I used a brush to paint over the area, and then above it brought the brightness down so that it matched the rest of the scene. What is hidden was the repair to the chair arm which was made as a group of nine layers on its own. For the wicker work on the side of the chair I used the Pen tool to define the shape, turned this into a selection and then used the Clone stamp to copy content from another area of the chair. The advantage of creating a selection first is that you don’t have to be precise with the clone tool, as it will not affect any areas outside of the selection.

3. Vicky & Paul And now for the image that I posted on the Facebook group, with a lot of positive feedback. To be honest, I am somewhat embarrassed by the attention, as in many ways it was not that difficult a restoration. The image is really damaged, especially in the hair, and to repair from scratch would have involved creating the hair using the Brush tool. As it turned out I was able to use a much simpler approach, as the damaged image was one from a set that was photographed at the same time. It was also an image that had been hand coloured. We were able to find a smaller version of the image that was in black and white. In the October 2020 update to Photoshop, Adobe introduced what they call Neural Filters, and one of the beta options available colourises black and white images. It made a pretty good job of the face and hair but of course had no idea what colour the eyes or clothes were. I copied the colourised image into the damaged file on a separate layer and was then able to use the Warp tool to match the heads with the existing image. As the two images were taken very close together there was not a lot of difference between them. It was then a simple task of putting colour into the eyes and using the Healing brush tools to fix any damaged spots on the clothes. There was little point in trying to repair the background and I simply painted a neutral colour over it.

Come a little closer… I’m your kind of flower! By Moira Blincoe LPSNZ

The first workshop in the 2021 PSNZ Workshop Series was held in Whakatane at the end of March, with Macro specialist Matt Leamy dazzling and confusing the eager delegates with his expert knowledge. The morning was dedicated to the technicalities involved in ‘Getting a Little Closer’ to the subject matter. He talked about magnification, focal lengths, distances, sensor sizes, differences in megapixels and the influence they have on macro shots, and much more. This was followed with ‘techniques’ Matt uses to ‘Get it Right’. If maths and calculations are not your thing, after hearing Matt’s details one would be left even more confused and possibly walk away from macro. The icing on the cake was learning about focus stacking and Matt demonstrated how he achieves this superbly with handheld techniques as well as using a monopod, tripod or focus stacking rail. The local Whakatane Rose Garden provided everyone with an abundance of subjects to photograph, from amazing full size dahlias to smaller blooms, butterflies, bees and decayed trees and flowers. It was a macro photographer’s dream. Like most macro photographers it’s so easy to get lost in the moment and truly absorbed with the beauty of the petals, flowers and textures. Using a focus rail for the first time was quite exciting and thanks to Brian Milner I discovered that my Nikon D850 offered in-camera focus stacking… Definitely something new to play with. The delegates all enjoyed themselves and, once again, Matt delivered a superb learning experience for us all. All images on page 37-39 by Moira Blincoe LPSNZ unless expressly stated.

Here are some comments from two participants:

Waverley Klein Ovink LPSNZ We were stoked that PSNZ held the macro workshop in Whakatane. At a distance from the main centres, it can be difficult and expensive for our members to get to events, so we miss out on the many learning and networking opportunities these events bring. I’ve been fortunate to have participated in two previous workshops, and really appreciated not only the wealth of information and experience the workshops afforded, but perhaps even more, the friendships and contacts made in meeting with other likeminded PSNZ members.

Image by Waverley Klein Ovink

I felt privileged to spend a day learning skills from a macro master as skilled as Matt Leamy. He is a great communicator and encourager, and his work is inspiring. I would encourage anyone that can to get along to at least one PSNZ workshop each year. Who knows what creative direction it could send you? On another note, Whakatane Camera Club sends a warm invitation to anyone passing through this area. Come to our club nights, on the first and third Mondays of each month, for our formal and then informal meetings respectively, and follow our public Facebook page to see what we’re up to. We’d love to see you. If you are interested in exploring macro photography Matt recommended some forums as good reference sites. • https://www.photomacrography.net • http://extreme-macro.co.uk • https://www.cambridgeincolour.com • https://zerenesystems.com/cms/stacker • https://www.heliconsoft.com

Trish Peddle, Tauranga. Having bought a macro lens a few years ago and not really having a good knowledge of how to use it effectively, I was thrilled when PSNZ offered this workshop in Whakatane (only an hour away). It was perfect timing to dust off the cobwebs and learn to use this lens. Matt is a great tutor and he knew how to reel us in right from the start by showing us some beautiful images he had taken over the years - and I was keen to delve in. He took us through the technical process of how macro works, what it is you need to have an understanding of, but not necessarily information you need to retain (thank goodness as some of it made my brain hurt). However, I found this technical side really helpful in understanding the overall concept of macro photography. Matt went on to explain techniques required in the field, using flash, handheld, monopod, beanbags, tripod - and even focusing rails. Simple subjects through to the more challenging moving subjects. Following a fabulous lunch, we ventured out to the Rose Gardens for some practical time. I loved putting what I had learnt into practice, and whilst some of it was challenging to achieve, I know I have come away with some wonderful tools to move forward with. The final session of the day was on focus stacking. I loved the session as I had only dabbled in this area and had no real foundation of knowledge here. I’m looking forward to trying this out.

Image by Anita Ruggle-Lussy

Thank you, PSNZ, for the opportunity to attend these amazing workshops. They provide an incredible opportunity to further our photography in a wonderfully friendly environment - and very affordable too. The food was delicious and plentiful!

Kapiti Coast Photographic Society Wins Wellington Interclub Print Competition EACH YEAR SIX affiliated clubs, making up the Wellington Region, hold an interclub print competition. Clubs take it in turn to host the event, and the host club sets ten topics. These topics are advised early in the year, with a special evening held between August and October. Clubs use different methods to select their ten images, and they bring them along on the judging night. As each topic is listed a club member places their image on the display easels. Rather than give a mark, the guest judge ranks the prints in order, with the ranking translating to points (1st equals 1 point, 2nd is 2, and so on). The club with the fewest points at the end of the judging process takes home the trophy. The 2020 event was hosted by Kapiti Camera Club, but like so many things that year it fell victim to COVID-19 and was postponed to March 2021. It nearly became the victim of a further postponement when alert levels were raised again, just a couple of days before the event. Fortunately the organisers had a plan to limit numbers to eight per club, allowing what is always an enjoyable, popular and competitive competition to go ahead. The judge for the evening was Wellington professional photographer Nick Servian. In many of the categories he admitted that separating the images was a difficult process. As always it was a tight race to the finish. At the end of ten rounds Kapiti Coast Photographic Society (KCPS) won the night with 26 points, five points clear of second placed Johnsonville Camera Club. While they only won one of the ten rounds, KCPS placed second in four rounds and third in four rounds. That consistency gave them fewer points than the clubs who had first and last placed images.

In addition to the main trophy, a secondary competition is run for the Stella Daniels Trophy for the best abstract image. When there is no specific abstract section, the judge is free to select images from all the prints entered. Jenny Setchell, a KCPS member, won the Stella Daniels Trophy with her image Crazy Pipes entered in the Musical Image category.

Enthusiasm at Awakino! Sue Morton reports on a successful Stratford Camera Club weekend away.

SIXTEEN MEMBERS TRAVELLED to Awakino for a great weekend of fun and photography in March. They enjoyed basic but comfortable accommodation at the historic Awakino Hotel, and over the weekend explored the beaches, rivers and hill country in the area. Awakino is a picturesque village, close to the Awakino River mouth with whitebait jetties, mud flats and diverse birdlife. Soon after arrival, members ventured out to explore their surroundings, with cameras and tripods in hand. Dinner at the hotel gave everyone opportunities to renew acquaintances with other members and to mingle with the locals. A wonderful end to the evening saw members venturing out for a sunset shoot, with vistas stretching over the Awakino Heads and south along the coastline to a distant Mt Taranaki.

the adventurous few did put on a show for our group who had to be quick to catch the action.

Up at dawn on Saturday morning, a smaller but enthusiastic group caught the first light on the river flats. After breakfast, driving up a narrow winding metal road onto the plateau, they overlooked the Awakino landscape and beyond as far as Mt Taranaki, and were rewarded with sparkling clear views.

There was fun, camaraderie and great photography for all. Getting stuck in river silt at low tide, being intimidated by roaming dogs which later proved very friendly, surf skis overturning on sandbars, fierce but friendly competition to claim the shot, feasting photographically on spoonbills in the evening glow - it was all laid on, with glorious sunrises and sunsets, clear skies and chilly mornings. On departure more than one asked, ‘Where are we going next?’ Thinking caps are already on!

The afternoon was spent at Mokau River mouth, photographing fishing boats venturing out over the bar. The wild sea unfortunately proved too much for most of the boaties but

The group made an early Sunday morning trip to The Three Sisters at Tongaporutu. Timing the tides right and walking around the river bank to the beach challenged some of our less agile members, but it was well worth the trek.

Club News If your club has information or events that you would like to share, email the details to Lindsay Stockbridge LPSNZ at dilinz@ actrix.co.nz.

Exhibition, 30 May to 10 June

Alison Viskovic FPSNZ A Photographer’s Story 1951 – 2021

Sarona – Maadi Cup Winner 1983

A retrospective show of prints selected from my first camera up to my present work.

Rod and Gillian Dean Community Arts Space, Paraparaumu Library, 9 Iver Trask Place, Paraparaumu • Mon-Wed 10 am to 5 pm • Thurs & Fri 10 am to 7.30 pm • Saturday 10 am to 4 pm • Sundays 10 am to 2 pm • Closed Monday 31 May (Queen’s Birthday)

If you are travelling in the area please feel welcome call in and see the images.

PSNZ Interclub Competitions 2021 THE 2021 INTERCLUBS were judged this year alongside the National Exhibition. Over the next 22 pages we display the sets of the clubs who came first, second and third in each of the four competitions. The print sets will be on display at the Christchurch convention.

Bledisloe

Bowron

Chance

Wiltshire

The George Chance Interclub 1st Auckland Photographic Society

Maori Bay

Waves Landscape

Shifting Sands

Muriwai

2nd Christchurch Photographic Society

Key Summit

Milford Sound

Cape Campbell Dawn

Mt Cook National Park

The Bowron Trophy 1st Auckland Photographic Society

Strong Winds at Piha

Tarawera Sunrise

Sunrise over Lake Tarawera

Hamiltons Gap Shrinking Icon

2nd Howick Photographic Society

Tongaporoutu Beach

Bethells Beach

Muriwai

View to Castlepoint Lighthouse Wairarapa Coast

3rd Queenstown Photography Club

Safe Return

Vale of Dreams

Storm clearing over Cardrona

Cold Water

The Wiltshire Cup 1st Nelson Camera Club

Three-a-Day

Red Dress

There is more than one type of beauty

Seeing-the-Light

2nd Auckland Photographic Society

North Wharf

Morning Light on the Marina

Wet Pavement

Reflections of Sarah

3nd Waikato Photographic Society

Chinese Scholars Garden Rembrandt Style

Gannets, Muriwai

Grey go away bird

It’s Time

The Bledisloe Cup 1st Auckland Photographic Society

Dancer in the Dark

Craigeburn Dawn

Sailing

Simpler Times

2nd Christchurch Photographic Society

Memories

Stairway Down

Retired

The Young and the Old

3rd Stratford Camera Club

Synchonised Yaks

Godwits in Flight

Accidentally Killed

Heart of the Bridge

Why did we ask those questions? By Paul Whitham LPSNZ, Councillor for Publications

IN FEBRUARY THE PSNZ Council conducted a survey to determine the opinion of members regarding the five-year time limit on national exhibition entries. As with most decisions that the PSNZ Council makes, a number of people were very quick to comment on the Facebook group about the questions asked. While the survey has been completed, we will be using similar surveys in the future to gauge opinions, so I thought it important to provide context around a couple of questions that people took issue with.

Have you entered the national exhibition in the last five years? In research this is referred to as a qualifying question. It provides more information in terms of the responses given to another question. In our survey question one asked whether you were in favour of the time limit. On its own it gives us a simple result. However, when you add the question about actual entry into the national exhibition, you were able to see if those people who had actually entered the salon had a different opinion to those that did not. Ultimately it was the second question, which some members regarded as irrelevant, that decided the overall survey. The results of Question 1 were as follows: In favour of a limit Against a limit No preference either way

Number 212 185 79 469

% 45.2% 39.4% 15.4%

This showed that a majority of members were either in favour or did not care that a time limit was imposed.

However, when you split these numbers using Question 2, we saw that the overall result was being driven mainly by people who had not entered the exhibition in the previous five years.

In favour of a limit Against a limit No preference either way

Entered the NE Number % 84 35.1% 128 53.6% 27 11.3% 239

Did not Enter Number % 126 55.8% 56 30.8% 79 19.5% 226

Without question 2, in all likelihood the Council would not have reversed the decision it had made to limit entries to the national exhibition.

What is your name? Most people were happy to provide their name on the form, however one person did question whether we were trying to be the police. To answer that question, no we weren’t. The reality with any survey sent out by email is that your responses are not truly anonymous. The system will be tracking the email addresses and it does record them with the responses. The reason for asking for the name was twofold. Firstly, it let us identify any duplicate responses quickly. In all surveys there are duplicate responses, quite often caused when the person’s internet is a little slow and they have pressed the submit button a number of times. To overcome this, survey software can let you eliminate duplicate responses; however, that would not work in the case of PSNZ. Of our 1400 members, some 140 share an email address with somebody else. Therefore, to only allow an email address to be used once is to deprive 70 members of their opinion. We will always ask for a name so that we can provide a voice to those that share email addresses.

PSNZ Canon Online Results from Round 1, 2021 THE WINNER OF the first round for 2021 is Lindsay Stockbridge LPSNZ from the Whanganui Camera Club. Lindsay is the sub-editor of CameraTalk. The judge is Craig Phillips LPSNZ who is an accredited PSNZ judge.You can find more about Craig at kceeimages.wordpress.com. This was a great start to the 2021 Canon Online competition, with a large number of entries of a standard that continues to impress. It is also good to see the number of entries for later rounds building up. I noted that most of the names in this round’s results are new to the top ten. It seems that the top placings are widely shared, so anyone has a chance of winning. This competition is free for individual PSNZ members to enter and has an attractive trophy for each round that you can keep. Top that off with an annual aggregate trophy, with one point for every round entered, so it is hard to see why you wouldn’t enter. Enter online in the members area of the PSNZ website: https://photography.org.nz/ Paul Willyams APSNZ AFIAP MNZIPP Canon Online Coordinator

Comments from the Judge Thank you for the opportunity to judge this competition. It was not easy to select just ten images from the 151 images submitted. There was a wide variety of subject matter and presentation, all of an excellent standard. The selections were chosen because of the impact they had on me personally, taking into account the objective of the Canon Online competition - to foster creativity. When I view an image, I am looking for an emotional connection/reaction, some sort of communication that I feel between me and the image. While I also look for a composition that supports the image, it is not as important to me that an image needs to be technically perfect. Rather, what I am looking for in the composition is how the photographer has arranged the building blocks of composition to support and complement the story and feeling of the image.

Entries for Round 2 close on 25 April 74

1st Flow by Lindsay Stockbridge LPSNZ I was drawn into the image at first with a sense of wonder at how ice could form in such a way. As I looked more I saw the creativity of the photographer that allowed me to see the textures of the flowing water in a way that resembled an ice sculpture. I found the choice of shutter speed combined with the lighting choice really emphasised the textures in the water in a way that led to my feeling the illusion of an ice sculpture.

2nd I’ll Still Play the Blues for You by Lia Priemus I loved the way in which the photographer creates a dynamic in the image with the blur of the hand, by a creative use of shutter speed. I loved the amount of blur on the artist’s hand as it moves to different chord positions on the fret. I really connected with this image because of the monochrome treatment which emphasised the relationship between the artist and the guitar that I saw in the gaze of the artist focusing on the chord positions. I also enjoyed how the photographer has used the light to draw attention to the hands and the guitar.

PSNZ Canon Online 3rd Beanie by Graeme Skinner LPSNZ Two elements of this image caught my eye; I perceived a strong feeling of both intrigue and naturalness. The intrigue feeling comes from the placement of the head, leaving part of it outside the frame, and for me that created a feeling of mystery and intrigue. The naturalness of the subject appears to me in the way the spectacles are slightly askew (which, having worn spectacles for years, is a very natural position). I found the image to have a strong creative feel.

4th Riding the Breeze by Iain Galloway LPSNZ I was immediately drawn to the bird by its prominent position in the image and the support of the tones in the surf that led my eye back and forth to the bird. For me the hues in the sand gave me a feeling of relaxation and this reinforced the gliding pose of the bird in which it appears to me as if little effort is being expended. I also liked the use of what seems to be intentional camera movement as it makes me feel that the scene is a bit divorced from reality yet at the same time it presents what I felt was a beautiful impression of flight. It reminded me so much of the book Jonathan Livingston Seagull, by Richard Bach, in which he explored the beauty of flight and the determination that goes with trying to be extraordinary in life.

5th Welcome Swallow Feeding by Dennis Tohovaka A precious moment in time is captured in a way that speaks to me of the role of parents in feeding and caring for their children, no matter what species we are talking about. I particularly loved the connection between the birds, the feeding movement, and the clarity and detail in the texture of the feathers and down of both birds. The trees provide a nice supporting element that tells me a little of their nesting habitat. I can only imagine how much patience is required to create such a wonderful image.

6th The Mud Wraith by Linley Earnshaw LNPSNZ I took time to view this image and I realised how insightful the photographer has been in taking time to capture the way in which boiling mud can create various shapes and characteristics. The photographer has reminded me that by looking carefully at the world around us, we can see personification elements in much of nature. I particularly liked the way you have composed this image to emphasise the personified elements through the use of dominance and perspective.

7th Lake Benmore by Alison Denyer LPSNZ What really appeals to me in this image are both the simplicity in the positioning of the ducks and the tree in the background to fit in a natural triangular frame, and the use of strong contrast in tone and shape to make these two subjects stand out. My eye kept moving around the triangular frame of the foreground tree and resting on the gentle curve of the line of ducks and the oval shape of the background tree. Really well seen and well composed to draw these building blocks together in a way that created for me a feeling of harmony and peace.

PSNZ Canon Online 8th Wash Day by Carolyn Hope FPSNZ This image spoke to me of the repetitive work that occurs to get clothes washed, on the line to dry and then back into the house. I particularly enjoyed the multiple exposure composition that spoke to me about the repetitive nature of this task and the various household chores that need to be performed to get sheets, towels and shirts into the wash and back into circulation. The placement of the multiple images on a horizontal line across the image created tension with the angles of the roads — suggesting to me that housework is never done and there is no time to relax and rest. A very creative approach to portraying a necessary household task. 9th Sunset in Solitude by Lyn Alves The monochromatic nature of this image really caught my attention. At first the softness of the golden hues made me feel at ease. As I explored the image, being led around by the slightly oblique lines, I found a peacefulness that exists for dead things like the tree. The emptiness of the landscape in the image gave me a strong sense of peaceful isolation yet at the same time the starkness and shapes of the tree limbs gave me a sense of destruction of living things as part of the natural cycle of life.

10th Hitching a Ride by Nel Davison LPSNZ For me this image and the title are like a double-entendre; it is capable of being seen in at least two ways. From my younger days I recognise that this could be a mating of two snails, but it could equally be seen as one lazy snail hitching a ride from another. My eye is drawn to the two main characters in the image by their position in the frame and the light which draws my eye to the shells and the tentacles and eyes. I also liked the way in which the lines of the branch repeat the lines of the two snails as this emphasises the subjects and their textures.

PSNZ New Members We have great pleasure in welcoming the following new members of PSNZ, who joined (or rejoined) between 1 February and 31 March 2021. Sarah Alloway

Simon Harding

Annette Palmer

Damian Andrews

Trevor Hardy

Inger Perkins

Anna Arrol

Greg Hughson

Geoff Popham

Alyson Baker

Anita Kirkpatrick APSNZ

John Stone

Peggy Carlaw

Tim Leyland

George Sutton

Malcolm Carlaw

Yunli Liu

Carol Tanner

Prosper Curtin

Jackie Lowry

Liddy Trotter

Denise Fastier

Imelda Marnane

Susan Vearncombe

Leslie Feasey

Anna McGregor

Anita Vermeer

Jannel Fisher

Helen Mclean-Knight

Charlie Yang

Lizzie Gilmour

Helen Oliver

Decaying Beauty by Moira Blincoe LPSNZ

PSNZ Membership Benefits Helping Photographers Grow As a PSNZ member you can enjoy a range of benefits, including: • Expert advice to help improve your photography. • The opportunity to achieve a higher Society distinction (APSNZ, FPSNZ). • A complimentary copy of New Zealand Camera, and the ability to submit your images for selection in this annual publication. • Access to member only resources, including a member only PSNZ Facebook page for social chat and updates with other members. • The opportunity to enter the Canon Online Competition, with trophies for each round and for the overall winner each year. • Discounts for Society activities, such as the annual PSNZ national convention, special workshops, international competitions and much more. • The opportunity to participate in regional club meetings and events, including the PSNZ Workshop Series. • A copy of our bimonthly magazine – CameraTalk, with news, reviews, events and some of the best photography around. • The opportunity to exhibit your work in exhibitions such as the PSNZ Canon National Exhibition, Regional Salons and other member only online competitions. • Access to judge training workshops at a reduced rate for PSNZ members. • Ability to promote your website on our website. • Receive our regular blog posts to stay up to date with the latest news on events, activities and special offers. • Product discounts and savings when they are offered from our corporate partners and associated companies. • Discounts for major NZIPP events as a PSNZ member.

Final Thoughts by Paul Whitham LPSNZ

IT IS WITH some sadness that this is my final issue of Cameratalk as editor/layout. I took over the role in June 2017 with the second digital edition and I am really proud of the part I played in turning a small newsletter into the publication that we receive today. I will be turning over the role to a small team that we will introduce in the next edition. Please remember that CameraTalk is your magazine and we love to see articles on what members and clubs have been up to. I want to personally thank Lindsay Stockbridge LPSNZ for all the effort he has given me on this journey.

The Last Image

The end of the golden weather? Oreti Beach 30 March 2021 by Stephanie Forrester APSNZ

CameraTalk April/May 2021

Articles inside

Canon Online Results (round 1

Macro workshop review

Club news

Why did we ask those questions?

AV News

New Zealand Camera 2021

Special Feature: Do it in Camera

Regional Convention news

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Editorial

Key Dates for the Diary

Retiring PSNZ Councillors

Honours Update

Changes to North Island Regions