Photonews Celebrating the Postal Photographic Club and its Members
Summer 2020 - the Lockdown edition
Summer 2020 - The Lockdown Edition 3. POSTAL PHOTO DEVELOPMENTS From the (English) Riviera. PPC News, Views and Updates from Mission Control, Torquay
25. ARPS Member John Histed shares his succesful ARPS submission - based on the images he shared with us in a series of articles during 2017/18
4. EDITORIAL Some opening words from your Editor - some of which even make sense!
26. HYELTON TRAVEL ADAPTOR A very useful accessory gets a critical review from regular David Ridley LRPS
5. AN ARTISTIC PHOTOGRAPHER Bill Stace celebrates the work of his late father Leonard (1895-1979)
28. BUYING SECONDHAND Some words of wisdom from Kieran Metcalfe
10. THE PAGET PROCESS A 100 year old photograph prompts some “googling” (other online search engines are available)
30. CANON 6OOD BATTERY GRIP A look at an after-market battery grip from David Ridley LRPS
12. CLASSIC CAMERAS - Head to Head! Geoff pits two Nikon classics against each other to see how they compare - and a bonus look at mercury batteries
32. THE HARRIS EFFECT First in an occassional series from General Secretary Roger Edwardes
15. 20 QUESTIONS (or less) Alan Phillips is the subject - will you be next?
34. SUPERMARKET ENCOUNTER A tale from the recent past with David Ridley LRPS
ON THE COVER: A Nice Pear by Dave Whenham. We would like your Lockdown Images - see my Editorial! [Bronica ETRS 75mm lens with extension tube E14 and orange filter. f16 4 secs Ilford PanF shot @ box speed. Developed in Perceptol (1+1) Scanned Epson V550 with Silverfast]
POSTAL PHOTO DEVELOPMENTS From the (English) Riviera PPC News, Views and Updates from Mission Control, Torquay Writing my notes for this edition of Photonews has been a welcome distraction. There’s no point in trying to emulate Basil Fawlty (appropriate for Torquay, but the hotel it was based on is no more) by “not mentioning the War”, so, to the background of a corona-shaped elephant not so much in the room, but trundling around the country, here’s how the club is fairing in these trying times. With “bricks and mortar” clubs very early on shutting up shop for the duration, PPC has kept calm and carried on! Well almost. While online Circles have not been affected, the same cannot be said for our print circles. C1, DP and C19 have moved online and, as I write, are coming up to their second folio, while CP1 has done its own thing with a mixture of email and Google Drive. A few members of each circle were only in print circles, so, for them, the learning curve was a bit steeper, but perhaps a bit more daunting in expectation than actuality? I also put in place an initiative to reach out to members’ local clubs, trialled with my own club, Torbay PS. The idea was to create a closed circle using our online system, to enable members to keep in touch and keep up their hobby during the current situation. A dozen TPS members took up the offer and it too, is coming up for its second folio. Our president, John Kay, has taken up the idea and Nantwich CC will have a circle running by the time you read this. Looking forward, v2 of the online software is edging closer to final testing and hopefully we’ll be moving on with that soon. The Travelling Exhibition is not far away, and I’m keen that we continue with the competition, in a modified form if needs be. With any luck, things will become a bit clearer over the next few weeks, but in the meantime, stay safe!
Roger Roger Edwardes
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Summer 2020 Welcome to what is hopefully a slice of “normality” in a topsy-turvy world. I start with an apology to Jeff Waters for incorrectly attributing his image in the FC Special to Peter Jarvis. The online version was swiftly amended and I also owe thanks to Peter for pointing it out so promptly. Apologies Jeff! Next what is probably the first “Letter to the Editor” of my tenure. Graham Dean’s piece relating to Rex Mason (Winter 2019 edition) prompted John Kay to write: “I was interested to see [the] article in Photonews and some of Rex Mason's prints turning up locally. I joined the HPPC in 1984 and remember Rex, a nice good-natured smiley man who lived in Bowness with his wife, Jean, whom was also a club member. I have been thinning out the club correspondence archive recently, so I didn't have too much trouble finding out some background information about Rex: He joined the HPPC in 1955 (C7) and contributed to the circle folios until the summer of 1991 when the circle closed and he transferred to C6. I have a note in the files stating that he hadn't missed a round in over 30 years (360+ prints), it also says that he was good at drawing / painting and sometimes put examples of his work in the notebook. I think Rex died early in 1992, I recall CS2 notebook entries from Jean updating us on his last few months in hospital.
From the left - Rex M, Jean M, Mr Hook, Doug Hook, Jack S, Rona S, Belle.
Jean Mason was in the colour slide circle when I joined, she was the Colour Slide Comp Sec for several years and dropped out as an active club member when she was in her 80's. Jean was made an Honorary Life Member and her last years were spent in an old folks rest home - she must have been well into her 90's when she died.”
So, what have you been doing over the last few weeks? One thing that I have been doing during the enforced house arrest my consultant has imposed upon me is to dust off the extension tubes for the Bronica ETRS and one of my efforts is the cover image for this issue. Which prompts me to ask - what have you been photographing during Lockdown? If enough of you provide me with images we could consider a Lockdown Images Special Issue perhaps or a supplement to the TE Special? All the best - stay safe! Dave Whenham Editor
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AN ARTISTIC PHOTOGRAPHER Leonard Stace (1895-1979) by Bill Stace My father was born in Ladywood, Birmingham in 1895. The family moved to Bearwood where he attended the George Dixon Elementary Mixed School on the City Rd. Just shy of his 14th birthday, at Christmas 1908, he left school and went to work for Deakin & Francis, a manufacturing jeweller as a trainee manager. His father, William (see bottom left) had been a highly skilled jeweller so it was perhaps unsurprising that Leonard should follow in his footsteps. His interest in photography dates back to his teenage years and we still have over two hundred glass negatives he took before and during WWI. He served in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve as a wireless operator mainly on a minesweeper in the North Atlantic. He even took photographs aboard ship although how he managed to obtain the photographic plates, process them and store them aboard a wartime ship on active duty we will never know. Some examples of these wartime images are shown overleaf on page six. Returning to Deakin & Francis after the war my father married and together with his new wife Edith moved to a new council house in Langley. Sadly Edith, who had been in poor health for many years, died in 1934. We do however have photographs of early family life in Langley. In 1940, Leonard married Winifred, my mother and it is amazing that for someone who loved taking photographs as much as he did we have no photographs of either wedding. My father continued taking photographs both of his family and his surroundings and consequently there is not a single year whilst we were at home that has no photographs of the family. He preferred his old plate camera for family portraits but in those early days used a Kodak Brownie for his “happy snaps”. The image quality irritated him immensely (nothing new there! ed) and he eventually saved the money to buy a used camera with a range of shutter speeds and apertures and a Zeiss lens. It gave him eight or ten shots on a roll of Kodak 120 black & white film but most importantly the picture quality he wanted.
2007: the first page of the Birmingham newspaper article Bill wrote - pictured is Leonard’s father in 1917 sending parcels and letters to his sons 5
1917 - clockwise from top left: HMT Sesostris (a Grimsby Trawler converted into a minesweeper) in the North of Scotland, Sailing ship (Danish) still being used for cargo, A peaceful scene in North Scotland, The crew of HMT Sesostries. 6
The great concrete blocks being erected in Birmingham during the 1960s fascinated my father and many photographs survive from this period. I think he found some of the new buildings, particularly those supported by relatively thin legs, quite astonishing technically. He would have been very disappointed to see how badly they have aged.
Early 1960s - the rebuilding of Birmingham city centre. Top, around Nelsons Statue and below left redevelopment sending pedestrians underground. Right, St Pauls Church in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter
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Clockwise from top left: Edwardian bathing huts (Llandudno 1954), Llandudno (1963), building of the road bridge over the River Conwy (1955), Llandudno tram (1955) and Llandudno (1963)
Every year, we holidayed in North Wales, usually Rhyll or Llandudno. He loved the scenery in north Wales but he was always restricted by financial considerations and the limited number of frames on a roll of film. Money was undoubtedly tight but we still have quite a comprehensive archive from that area over the years. Of course, these are more than simply an archive, they are precious memories too. Amongst them are a couple of the road bridge across the Conwy, built in the late 1950s and another example of his fascination with the new technologies being applied to construction.
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Dad never drove a car, but as I had passed the driving test he purchased a new Austin A40 (I crashed it within 24 hours but that is another story). He was well into his 70s by now and decided he was too old to drive, so to her eternal credit, my mother, Winifred, took lessons for twelve months and at the age of 57 passed her test at the third attempt and drove him around for the next few years so he could take his photographs. It was around this time that he decided to retire from Deakin & Francis after sixty years service. He was by then the Works Director and in his retirement he finally bought the camera of his dreams, a Leica 35mm film camera. It was used very extensively! All four of us children were married and there were also grandchildren, all of whom were faithfully recorded. In the last few years of his life he took fewer photographs, mainly because he had acquired an interest in genealogy. Before he died in 1979, aged 84, he had traced our family back to the mid 1600s in Sussex.
Whilst no images survive from Leonard’s weddings this one, from 1915 records the occassion of his eldest brother’s wedding.
My father loved beautiful things, both natural and manmade. In early life he studied at the College of Art and he approached the taking of photographs from an artistic viewpoint. It had to be framed, composed and exposed to his complete satisfaction - intensely irritating and time-consuming if you were the subject! In the days of the old plate camera we would be instructed to pose and hold that pose patiently whilst he disappeared under his black cloth to frame and focus the picture and decide on the exposure. I firmly believe that he would have revelled in the change to digital photography and its associated versatility - it’s a shame it came too late for him.
The wedding photograph above is a scan from the original 5.5x4.5 plate. In order to copy it I needed to make five individual scans and stitch them together in software. I think father would have loved the possibilities of the digital era. 9
The Paget Process There was one picture in the selection Bill sent that seemed different to the others so I asked him some more about it. The picture on the right was produced in 1921 and shows Bill’s sister (born 100 years ago this month). As Bill says, the original picture still shows good colour when you consider its age and the comparative rarity of colour pictures a hundred years ago. When you look closely at it, it reminds Bill of the old cathode ray tube early colour tv sets – its a series of dots – the close up of it shows it better. To quote Bill ”I can see what fascinated Pa, but sadly its the only one we have. Well before its time.”
… so … I consulted the internet for some further information …
The system used two glass plates, one of which was the colour screen plate while the other was a standard black-and-white negative plate. The colour screen plate comprised a series of red, green and blue filters, laid down in a regular pattern of lines to form a réseau, or matrix. Because the negatives of the time required long exposure times, the colours in the screen plate were diluted to let more light through to the negative, resulting in a quicker exposure. A viewing screen with more intense colour filters was used in combination with the developed positive to project a composite colour image. The colour screen plate was usually sold as a separate item to the panchromatic negatives. A single colour screen plate could be placed into the camera and used to expose many negatives in succession. The resultant negatives looked like standard black-and-white negatives, with a noticeable crosshatch patterning in areas of strong colour. 10
The Paget Process (contd)
Photonews
Transparency positives could be made from the system's panchromatic negatives by contact printing; these positives were then bound in register with a colour viewing screen of the same type as used for exposure, to reproduce the image in colour. Multiple copies could be printed from each negative, the resultant positives each being registered with their own colour viewing screens. If, on the other hand, a black-and-white print was required, the negative was used and the colour viewing screen ignored.
Needs You! The Autumn issue will, as has become traditional, be a showcase for the annual competition we know as the Travelling Exhibition. Therefore the Competition Secretaries and I will provide everything needed for your next issue … BUT!
Many surviving Paget viewing screens have faded or suffered colour shifts over the years, the purplish hues which some of these present no longer giving a true indication of their original colour fidelity.
Whilst I do have a few submissions on hand, courtesy of one regular contributor, if the Winter issue is to be anything like previous editions I need some help. One member has offered me the opportunity to plunder his website which I shall certainly do, and I will be contacting the regular contributors over the coming weeks but I could really do with some others stepping forward.
One advantage of the Paget system was that Paget plates were more sensitive than contemporary autochrome plates, allowing exposures of around 1/25 second (four times faster than autochrome). It was also a negative/ positive process with a separate colour screen, which meant that multiple prints were straightforward to produce.
It can be a themed portfolio of images, a report on a project or experiment you’ve undertaken, a review of your favourite piece of kit, a technique or other tutorial, an opinion piece, a humorous article … the opportunities are boundless! Perhaps you want to volunteer for the 20 Questions hot seat? Or you have some Lockdown tales and images?
The chief disadvantage of the system was that the colours were considered unfaithful and pale compared to the rich colours captured by Autochrome.
Now is not the time to hide in the corner, let your light shine brightly and boldly in Photonews for your fellow members to enjoy. Don’t forget I am happy to ghost write your article if that is easier and will supply as much, or as little, help as you need. So, what are you waiting for … davewhenham@aol.com is awaiting your suggestions!! 11
CLASSIC CAMERAS - HEAD TO HEAD! Geoff pits two Nikon classics against each other to see how they compare... This time two of Nikon’s classic 35mm. film cameras go head-tohead. They are the F, Nikon’s first 35mm SLR, introduced in 1959, and the F100 introduced in 1998. The F100 was the last of Nikon’s “affordable”SLRs (even in 1998 it was over £1000). The last film SLR Nikon made was the F6; it was silly money when new, and still fetches a fortune second hand.
The F is an all-manual camera with a normal pentaprism interchangeable viewing head. The later model illustrated has a metering system called “Photomic” built-in to the inter-changeable viewing head, and I have the waist-level finder that is one of many heads that can replace it (see below). The Photomic heads are infamous for not working in later life, and spares are not available. Fortunately mine works (at the moment!). There is an exposure meter needle visible on the top plate of the body, and another visible in the viewfinder. Everything else on the camera is manually operated. Being a Pro camera it is beautifully made, rather heavy (1.1kg), but is a delight to handle. Batteries are needed for the Photomic head, and these are the obsolete mercury 626 type. The adapter made by Polarbear uses 2 air batteries of the 44 button type (fits most hearing aids, easily obtainable).
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The camera back is not of the normal swing-open type (as on the F100), but slides off giving unfettered access (see left). The Nikon “F” lens mounting system was famous for allowing 99% of Nikon F lenses to fit any film body. Things altered when the Ai and AiS lens system was introduced. Cameras then had to have a tiny flip-up tap on the edge of the lens throat on the body, otherwise the early lenses will not fit. With the advent of autofocus lenses, this tab was eliminated, so only Ai and AiS manual lenses will fit later film and digital bodies. The F100 is both a fully automated or manual camera. It has power film transport, three types of metering, a multitude of exposure and flash modes, but doesn’t have an inter-changeable viewfinder head. It was intended as a back-up body to the F5 and F6 for Pro photographers, or for the well-off amateur. It has a digital display on the top plate, and information is also displayed in the viewfinder. Loading the film is conventional, the swing-out back can be removed and replaced with a data back. Four AA batteries power the camera. It weighs 1.2Kg, jus 0.1 Kg more than the F. It is covered in a nice “grippy” plastic that tends towards stickiness with age. All-in-all, the F100 is an extremely versatile camera that possessed most of the F6’s features for a lot less money. It has several
If, like me, you have a camera, or lightmeter that uses the now defunct mercury button batteries (any battery code ending in 625), you have probably put it in a drawer and have given up hope of ever using it again. Help is at hand! The mercury batteries produced a voltage of 1.3v. With the exception of the Wein air cells (expensive and recent examples have been unreliable), no other battery of this voltage is available. Some hearing aid batteries produce 1.4 volts, which is near enough, but they are far too small in size. The little device illustrated enables a hearing aid battery to exactly fit any device that used the old 625 mercury batteries. The manufacturers state that hearing aid batteries soon settle down to produce a steady 1.3 volts. Any exposure discrepancy can be compensated for by altering the ISO setting on the device's meter. The adapter and a set of 6 correct batteries costs just over £9 inc. postage. Look for www.polarbearcamera.co.uk, and go onto their Ebay site (NOT their own Company site, for some strange reason the same product cost much more!). The adapter arrives by return postage. If your device uses 2 mercury batteries (like my Nikon F SLR), you will need 2 adapters. Whilst our "Nanny state" has stopped us using mercury batteries, these batteries are still made in Russia, and are available direct from the manufacturer if you want to try.
Both cameras have many dedicated accessories, especially the F100. Now the mercury battery problem faced by the F has been overcome, which camera would I keep? Keep reading to find out! 13
autofocus modes, and will take the Ai and AiS manual lenses.
AND THE WINNER IS! The F100 is one of the most advanced and competent film SLRs ever made. The F is the camera that is the founder of a huge line of film SLRs, it is all manual in operation, and built to last. I don’t think the F100 will outlive the F because it is crammed with electronics that are infamous for dying. The F100 is more comfortable to hold, and most times you press the shutter release you can guarantee a good picture. The F is angular, the controls are more fiddly to use, and it is easy to make mistakes and ruin an image. For me however, the F wins every time. The solidity, more dramatic appearance, the unbelievably high standard of construction both internally and externally, the unquestionable level of reliability and engineering, all add up to what I think of as a “proper” camera.
The life of the famous war photographer, Don McCullin, was saved by his Nikon F camera, when a sniper’s bullet smashed into his camera and still remains there! Amazingly, the shutter and mirror mechanism still work! The picture (left) is scanned from the rear of his superb book “Shaped by War”, and shows where the bullet is lodged. Don has kept the camera, still covered in Vietnamese mud, and containing the bullet. The camera performed faultlessly throughout the war, under atrocious conditions. I can’t imagine a digital camera surviving such an ordeal!
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ALAN PHILLIPS In Twenty Questions (or less...) Please tell us a little about yourself and your background I’m a retired IT specialist – I spent 40-odd years working at a University, building and managing the corporate email systems and writing the software that ran in the background making lots of stuff work for everyone else. If I did my job right, no-one ever knew I existed … Photographically speaking, my background in computers means I can do the technical stuff easily; but I’m not good at the artistic.
How did you get started in the hobby? I began at school in the 60’s. The local chemist in town was a keen photographer and had a corner of the shop for photographic stuff – he rather took me under his wing and got me going with (I think) a Halina 35mm camera. From there I got to doing more and more – my dad had a little
ACER LIGHT darkroom built in the attic so I could play with chemicals. I gradually worked up the range of cameras – does anyone remember the Miranda F? I loved being able to change the pentaprism for a waist-level viewfinder, and the Soligor lenses were just gorgeous. Then I went into the world of Pentax, and my last film SLR was a Pentax Super A. I got to doing some colour darkroom work (not very successfully apart from developing transparency film), but then University and work took over and I lay fallow for quite a few years. 15
I started up again when retirement got near and I thought I’d better plan what I was going to fill my time with (Oh, had I but known…) Happily, DSLRs had become serious alternatives to film cameras and were getting affordable. I had to save up a bit to get Photoshop CS2 (in those days it was a one-off purchase), but that was love at first sight and I’ve never looked back.
AFFECTION
Who has influenced your photography the most? I’ve never done the following of the big names or the looking at the books of “the work of the great” – mostly because I’d get so depressed about never being able to do stuff like that. I have, though, learned from friends at Lancaster Photographic Society – my late friend Dave Bleasdale (also of PPC) shared his trained artist’s viewpoint and showed me how to do things with double yellow lines and drain gratings and rusty skips and street furniture … Coming from my tip a bit later about joining a club – just reading what other PPC members say in their comments, and talking to friends at a meeting is always interesting. Why did I leave that half-seagull cut off on the right edge? And though I sometimes wonder where the judge at the club competition has left his guide dog, there’s almost always something worth paying attention to in what he says! 16
Captions: on pages 20 and 21 you will find detailed captions for each image shown here from Alan’s porfolio.
ALIEN EYE
Which other photographers do you admire and why? Many of my friends at the local camera club, and many of my fellow PPC members, all of whom can turn out work far better than mine. I steal their ideas shamelessly but less successfully.
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COSMIC VEIL
CATKINS
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How long have you been involved with the PPC? I’ve been a member of PPC for 5 years now. My muchmissed late friend Sally Anderson introduced me to the club, and persuaded me to dip a toe into the cut-throat world of IC5. From there I added the critique-only IC12 circle and the themed-round IC10 circle. Sally was amazingly good at “persuading” people to join PPC, so many of my friends from Lancaster Photographic Society also turn up in the circles (Lancashire vastly dominates the geographical distribution of PPC members, mostly due to her evangelising!) Which gives me the benefit of an Internet-based club where we can also meet up all the time to pour scorn on each other’s work. And as I have been a software developer all my working life, I also got involved in writing various applications to manage the membership lists and automate the running of the digital side of the annual Founder’s Cup and Travelling Exhibition competitions. So if your images appear upside-down when the judge sees them, it’ll be my fault …
EASY
DEPRESSION
DROPLETS 19
Are there any types of photographic “genres” you specialise in? I’ve gravitated over the years to liking street photography, abstract images, minimalism and macro work. I like going to things like steam rallies and kite festivals, but the stuff I do there is as much about the people watching as what we are looking at. I don’t like wildlife work at all, and I’m rubbish at landscape (mostly because getting out of bed at 3am is decidedly unattractive). However, I do rather like taking “silly” pictures – strange street signs, incongruous juxtapositions of objects and such. I don’t do anything with these but post on Facebook, but it amuses me. And I’m also rather taken with the Akvis Neon filter for Photoshop. It has to be used with restraint (it’s very easy to go completely over-the-top with it) but with care, multiple layer conversions and different blend modes it can turn a completely uninspiring bland image into a surprisinglyinteresting abstract.
Film or digital? Purely digital. Film was fun when there was nothing else, but now I can do vastly more without having to have a darkroom (nowhere to put it in the house anyway).
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FLOWER IN VASE
What equipment do you currently use? When I came back into photography ten or so years ago, the most attractive option was the Canon EOS 350D. I liked it at once, acquired a variety of lenses and accessories, and that locked me into the Canon world. I have stayed faithful ever since. I went from the 350D to a 7D Mark I, and then to my current main camera, a 5D Mk III. With this I use mostly a Canon EF 28-105mm L Mark II and a Canon EF 70-200mm L II Mark II. The 70-200 is superb, and is absolutely the best bit of kit I’ve ever bought. I’ve recently added a Canon M5 mirrorless with a range of lenses (though I find I use the EF-M 18-150mm most of the time). The 5D is a superb camera but is heavy, and with the big white 70-200mm lens on it’s somewhat less than inconspicuous. That’s fine at events, where people tend to assume I’m “official” and let me through, but for general street work it does bring the risk of being thumped. The M5 is small, light and has a flip-screen, and beautifully complements the 5D for street work and quick carrying. In the darkroom I have a rather excessive Windows PC (64 Gigabyte memory, Intel i9-9900 processor) which can run Photoshop without even noticing. I recently splashed out on a 28-inch BenQ monitor that’s designed for photographic work, and that’s done quite a lot to make the workflow smoother.
TOP: GRATING BELOW: LUNCHTIME 21
Among the gadgets that you own, is there something that you wish you hadn’t bought? Why? I bought a Canon Powershot HS50 a few years ago, thinking it would be nice for street shots. I found it very disappointing – the 50x zoom was nice, but the sensor was very noisy, it didn’t have a proper manual focus mode, and worst of all there was a half-second lag between pressing the button and the shutter firing. It’s OK for what it does, but not for what I wanted. And a cheap Tamron 70-300mm lens, which is good for hitting people over the head with but not much use for imaging unless you’re into chromatic aberration.
What has been your favourite camera over the years? It has to be my current Canon EOS 5D Mark III. It does everything I have ever needed, it’s survived being dropped onto concrete a few times and it works the way I like to work.
TOP: SUNSET BELOW: VINDOLANDA BEFORE THE STORM
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What is your best photographic achievement?
About the images:
I think I’m most chuffed that I seem able to take images that sometimes score well in club competitions and in the PPC circles! It is nice when a judge says complementary things about your pictures – and if they don’t, I can moan in the pub afterwards.
Alien Eye
If you could pass on just one tip about photography to a newcomer what would it be? I have two, which probably rate about the same in importance. Number 1: Always carry a camera. You never know when you’re going to see something that makes a shot, and having a camera with you trains you to look for images in places you’d never otherwise consider. Number 2: Join a camera club. I joined Lancaster Photographic Society and PPC when I retired, and that opened up possibilities that I’d never even knew existed. You’ll never regret it. Oh, and Number 3 of 2 is to pay no attention if anyone says your images are rubbish. Do what you enjoy.
My favourite Photoshop plugin – Akvis Neon – got an airing with this image. It started as a dull, grey, boring image of some condensed steam on clingfilm, but with three or four applications of different filter options and some playing with layer blend modes it acquired some colour, if nothing else.
AcerLight Here we’re at the National Arboretum at Westonbirt, in the Acer Grove. The sun was shining through a dense canopy of multi-hued leaves, and with a touch of Akvis Neon the image ended up being all about edges and colours and lines.
Affection
Finally, what motivates you to continue taking pictures?
I like to just sit around in Lancaster’s Market Square and watch the world go by (when it’s not raining, which isn’t often). My recently-acquired Canon EOS M5 lets me shoot unobtrusively with the flip-up screen, so I just take what interests me. It’s the interactions that make street images interesting, in my view – remove the chap watching on the right and there’s nothing in this one at all.
The sheer fun of it!
Catkins
Photographically what do you think is in store for you in the next five years? More of the same, I hope. Getting better at the artistic side of image creation as opposed to the technical side.
I rarely do the “nature” thing, but I couldn’t resist these strongly-backlit catkins when I was out for a walk. A bit of manoeuvring to get a plain b a c k g ro u n d a n d i t w o r k e d o u t reasonably well. 23
Cosmic veil
Lunchtime It’s fun to catch expressions as people (and dogs) do things in the street. Composition is a bit cluttered, head a bit chopped, but who cares?
Take a wet day, some tightly-stretched polythene wrapping and a car reversing in the distance, and with a bit (a lot) of Photoshop work you end up with an image where everyone says “what is it?”.
Sunset Another “always carry a camera” image. For about a minute here the sun was in a tiny clear space above a roof and below cloud, and shining on a building clad in shiny black panels. No time to rush home to get the gear with that!
Depression My minimalist muse was in overdrive when I found this orange-painted wall with a brick-sized depression in it. How could I resist? This image makes a great tablet wallpaper image, too.
Vindolanda Before The Storm
Droplets
A rare landscape image, taken at the Roman fort at Vindolanda near Hexham in Northumberland. The sky really was dark and menacing; it’s glowed-up a little for effect.
A straight unadorned shot of some water drops on a plastic table, with lots of fiddly tone work. The original was grey and dull and completely uninspiring.
Wet Day
Easy
Just a fun street shot. I was standing in the dry, so I could stay there all day and catch wet people scurrying. With street shots I find I don’t really mind if people are walking out of the frame – that’s just what life is.
One of my “silly sign” images. Again, this sort of thing requires carrying a camera around all the time – you never know when a bit of incongruity will strike.
Flower in Vase A table-top image I used for IC10. I wanted to show just the left edge of a small wooden bud pot and flower, all the rest black. Some careful LED lighting and some blended exposures and it didn’t come out too badly.
Grating An entry for IC10 last year on the theme of “Triangles”. I do like shooting from odd angles – for this one I was lying face down on wet gravel. How we suffer for our art! WET DAY 24
JOHN HISTED ARPS Back in 2017/2018 John wrote a series of articles for Photonews about his ongoing project photographing tree bark. The ultimate aim of the project was an ARPS submission and John also gathered feedback from members of his Online Circle as he brought the project closer to fruition. I was delighted therefore to hear that John’s panel was passed at one of the last live assessments at the RPS HQ in Bristol. We have reproduced here the Statement of Intent which is a key component of an ARPS submission together with John’s hanging plan. Many of the original images can be seen in the relevant back issues of Photonews on our ISSUU pages.
John Histed LRPS Statement of Intent for ARPS Panel Assessment Date 10 March 2020 My approach comes from my natural leanings and working background. During my working life, I gained great emotional and intellectual satisfaction from identifying patterns which underly apparently tangled business processes and using them to define computer systems. I find the same satisfaction in identifying the forms, shapes and patterns that interested me on the trunks and limbs of trees in Western Europe and Southern Africa. Many of the images show perceptual ambiguity resembling a whole range of other objects from body parts to aerial photographs.
Congratulations John! 25
Hyelton Travel Adaptor - David Ridley LRPS A very useful accessory … Whilst not strictly a photographic accessory it can certainly have the role of an accessory in today’s age of electronics. Why? Well because we as photographers rely more than ever on having power to hand when needed and that naturally means not only having a suitable electrical supply but also being able to access the power from that mains supply via the ubiquitous socket on the wall that we all take for granted, and that’s where this little gem can be so useful! It must be mentioned straight off that this adaptor does not convert voltage and therefore one must ensure that the adaptor and any appliance to be connected to any power supply using the adaptor must be suitable for the voltage being supplied from any mains outlet, the details of which are given in the instructions that accompanied my purchase. Whilst first & foremost it appears that its primary use is whilst travelling abroad as it has connection pins suitable for mains connections in the EU, USA and Australia as well as the UK but it also has an outlet for devices with various differing attached plug types attached to equipment that was perhaps intended for use outside the UK which means that such devices could possibly be used in the UK utilising the adaptor, providing the devices themselves are suitable for the UK mains power supply. The three different groups of mains connection pins are cleverly housed in the body of the adaptor and can be extended out or retracted as required using the slide levers on one side, and when the required pins are extended for use it should be ensured that they are locked into place. It must be emphasised that one needs to check as to the power requirements of any equipment (including an adaptor) to be connected to the mains supply in the UK or elsewhere in the world before actually connecting such equipment. In addition a check should be made as to how many of one’s intended items can be safely connected to one main outlet supply socket at any one time, weather directly, or indirectly via any adaptor. If in any doubt as to the compatibility and safety of any electrical equipment to be connected to a mains power supply directly or via any adaptor, and/or with an extension lead, advice from a qualified electrician should be sought.
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When looking at photographic usage in particular, my main use for this adaptor is the utilisation of the four USB ports from which I can run the LED lighting I have available for my indoor photo efforts meaning that since such lighting can only be powered from USB outlets that I don’t have to start up my laptop in order to use the necessary ports to power them. A bonus for me personally is that I also use the adaptor to charge up the batteries in my ‘electronic cigarettes’ where again because I’m not relying on the computer it also means that if I am using the computer at the time I’m not reducing the number of USB ports available. In addition to the four USB ports the adaptor also sports one Type C port. The USB ports in the adaptor are not for use with devices that require or use power in excess of 5 V dc. as per the instructions that were supplied with it. This adaptor has a solid feel to it and is protected with an 8 amp fuse and is supplied together with one spare fuse. It comes in a well made zipped travel case of semi - rigid construction. Although I don’t have any of the following electrical gear, other than cameras and laptops which I naturally connect or charge without the use of any adaptors in the UK, the instructions supplied state that this adaptor can be used to power an i pad, i phone, tablet, android smart phone, digital cameras, MP 3 players, mobile phones, GPS’s & laptops. However, compatibility, suitability & safety are the key words as already said and always need to be checked prior to use. I am 100% happy with this well designed adaptor which for my requirements has for some time now performed faultlessly and therefore I naturally have considerable faith in it and has now simply become a part of my photographic 'bits & pieces'. It was purchased from Amazon at what I consider the attractive price of £19.99 and proved a very useful piece of kit indeed! A point about being able to actually connect, with or without any adaptor, any electrical item to a mains supply is the number and position(s) of the outlet socket(s) usually situated in/on a wall and sometimes the actual position/location and number of outlets. These days it’s common for hotels and other accommodation (certainly in the UK) to have numerous electrical socket outlets but it’s not always the case and often such power outlets aren’t necessarily in a convenient place combined with the possibility that the leads supplied for certain camera chargers etc., may not be of a suitable length. To circumvent this when travelling away from home I take with me, in the addition to the adaptor, a 6 ft. cabled twin socket extension lead which is of a type that’s surge protected and has its own on/off switch affording me not only the flexibility of extra working distance from an outlet socket but also importantly extra protection for my equipment which even at home I often make use of depending where I wish to work, and of course the extention lead only takes up one mains socket outlet. Unusually, not long ago whilst staying in a hotel where my room was in an older part of the building I only found one actual wall socket outlet, so as you can imagine I was very pleased I had my trusty extension lead with me! Once again it’s necessary to check that any piece of equipment to be connected to a mains power supply using an extension cable/lead is suitable for connection using such cable/ lead and applies weather solely using a cable/lead or using it together with an adaptor. 27
Buying Secondhand - Kieran Metcalfe I’m self-employed, but not as a photographer, so I can’t justify massive expense for my camera gear. I shoot a Canon 80D (bought used), with various lenses (all bought used too) to soften the blow somewhat. In building my kit collection, I’ve used four of the main retailers and never had a problem with any of them. The 80D was from Camera Jungle, two lenses from WEX, two from London Camera Exchange and one from MPB. TRUST & WARRANTY: Buying from private sellers and auction sites is by far the cheapest way to add to your kit. However, there are two main aspects for me which push me towards buying used gear from retailers rather than private sales: Trust and Warranty – and the peace of mind both of these give far outweigh the modest increase in cost. You will still save a packet based on buying new. It is a sad indictment of folk on auction and classified advert websites that I feel I dare not buy from strangers online. I’m sure 90% of sellers are upstanding citizens and their items are totally above board. However, the few certainly spoil it for the many, and I have heard far too many stories about faulty gear, incorrect items, even bricks in a camera box to be comfortable taking the risk. And if you do buy something, and it then breaks, what recourse do you have? Again, some sellers might be willing to reimburse you, but they are not required to do so in many cases. I would largely agree with that, unless the fault is easily demonstrated to be pre-existing. Buying used from a retailer, for me, sidesteps both of these issues. They have a reputation to uphold, and in most cases I have bought from them based on that reputation and have no reason not to trust them. (No to be confused with online retailers selling new kit at to-good-to-be-true prices… that’s a whole different ball game).
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They also back that up with a warranty – some companies offer 6 months, others a full 12. You have all the recourse you would reasonably hope for in any gear purchase. Typically, for me, the only time a lens has failed on me was weeks after the warranty ended (but isn’t that the way with anything?). A good insurance policy covering mechanical breakdown would have been the ideal solution here as the repair cost more than my excess would have been had I been insured at the time. DEPRECIATION: While this is not something I have had to do as yet, the other benefit of used gear (privately bought or from a retailer) is the lower level of depreciation of your item when you wish to sell it. Not all lenses you buy might be used, but all lenses you sell will be! Buying a new lens for, say £1000, will hit hard when you try to sell it. Suppose MPB are selling your condition of lens for £600. They’ll not buy it from you for that price – let’s say they offer £450. That’s a 55% loss in value. But, if I bought the lens used initially, for £600 and take care of it, selling it back at £450 is a much more bearable loss of 25% in value. Obviously, these figures are plucked out of the air, but the principle remains the same. While you’re not buying your gear to sell it immediately, it is certainly worth bearing in mind what might happen if and when that time comes.
London Camera Exchange (lcegroup.com) – One of the best aspects of dealing with LCE is that they’re a high-street retailer. Contrary to the suggestion in the name, they’re nationwide and have a branch in Manchester City Centre. When I was looking to buy my Sigma 150-600mm Contemporary, it was brilliant to be able to go in and try it out on my camera before committing to it. Equally though, being online means the stock from their entire network of stores is available online. My Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 ATX-PRO II came from their Guildford store (obviously much more post-friendly than the 150-600 above! WEX (wexphotovideo.com) – I bought two lenses from WEX in one order with money I received for my fortieth birthday (Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 and EF 100mm Macro USM). They have an extensive grading system, more so than others, although it is a little unclear what precisely differentiates a 9 from a 9or a 9+! When looking for gear on their site, it’s very helpful to be able to look at the item and immediately compare the new and used stock prices and availability on one page.
MPB.com – when I bought my EF 70-200mm f4L, I was in two minds. Bought new, this would set me back £590. Used copies from MPB topped out at £350 for one in excellent condition. But I also spied a ‘Well Used’ one for £260. The description stated there were “light marks to the front element which do not affect the image quality”. I did a fair amount of research into this and, based on feedback, I took the plunge – knowing that I could return it (how many eBayers would allow that?). When the lens arrived, I couldn’t see any marks on the glass at all. The only hint that it was “Well Used” was the faded black rubber on the focus and zoom rings. The lens is otherwise flawless and utterly pin-sharp.
Camera Jungle (camerajungle.co.uk) – When I bought my 80D from Camera Jungle I was very impressed with the price and the quick turnaround; it was with me in a couple of days. It taught me one small lesson about reading the details of the listing – there was no box with the camera. However, it was very well packed in their own box with folding supports (as opposed to a repair company which once returned an item to me packed with kitchen roll!). It was only after the fact that I discovered CJ are owned and run by Jessops.
An abridged version of this article appeared in Amateur Photographer magazine. https://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/latest/photo-news/secondhand-week-buying-used-specialists-natural-choice-131471
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Canon 600D Battery Grip - David Ridley LRPS In an earlier article I mentioned that I had acquired a second hand Canon 600D camera body which was purchased with the intention of mainly being used in conjunction with my Sigma macro lens, the idea being that not only did I have a ‘grab & go’ ready combination for macro photography but also the added advantage that since I’d only very rarely change lenses that possible sensor dust problems would be kept at a minimum. Once I had paired these two up and ‘played around’ with the combination my thoughts turned to balance & handling when it came to hand held operations. I came to the conclusion that my needs would be better served with the addition of a battery grip not only for enhanced hand held handling but also for the greater power reserve that two batteries contained within the grip would afford no matter if hand held or tripod mounted. Having had a battery grip permanently attached to my other Canon DSLR since it was purchased some ten years ago I can’t recall ever running out of power even in the days when it was with me for a full day’s shoot. Now my purchase of this secondhand 600D was based on the fact that for macro photography the ‘latest top - end model’ was for me quite unnecessary and the spec of the 600D seemed and is ideal. So a power grip was my next step and whilst I obtained the 600D at a great price, having a shutter count of under 4500 activations together with a one year warranty I soon became aware that secondhand battery grips were what I considered a little on the pricey side, and naturally there was the price of another battery to add to that which would have to be a new one as I’d never consider a second hand battery at any cost. THE £’s WERE MOUNTING! I decided that I’d have a look to see what the possibilities of obtaining a suitable independent battery grip were and soon I was looking on the Amazon website where I’ve previously purchased some accessories for my photographic activities. It wasn’t long until I came across a suitable 'new' 30
grip and naturally looked at the reviews by those that had already purchased one of these grips. Being satisfied that the particular grip would likely do the job an order for one was placed. Wow! What a snip at around £25. Sure it’s made in China, but upon checking my ‘Genuine Canon’ battery grip that I purchased for my 400D about 10 years ago that too was made in China. So what about the practicalities? Well firstly it fits the 600D very well, is comfortable in the hand, provides the enhanced handling I was looking for and naturally with two batteries from which power is drawn provides the camera with longer operative time. I found I’m able to recharge the batteries supplied with the grip in the original Canon charger that was supplied with the 600D which of course means that I’ve not in addition had to shell out for an independent charger and now have one spare ‘genuine Canon’ battery that came with the camera. The grip has a button for easy activation of the shutter and auto focus when held in the vertical position, also a wheel that when rotated can be used to alter either the shutter speed or the aperture depending which one has been set on the main camera top plate. On the bottom of the grip is a tripod thread for attaching a tripod, monopod or other accessory with a compatible screw size, and also on the base is a small metal bar which is slightly rebated for the attachment of a wrist strap if required. Although my purchase was for a Canon 600D it was listed as compatible with some other Canon models and I understand there is also the availablebility of some different grips designed for varying Canon and Nikon cameras, but as always it’s up to the individual purchaser to ensure any purchase made is compatible in all ways & fits the camera that it’s intended to be attached to, whilst not only should the suitability of any battery intended for use in any equipment be determined but also the suitability of any charger to be used to recharge that or any other battery whatsoever. If in any doubt about this and anything else electrical, a qualified electrician should be consulted. The grip came complete with two new independently manufactured rechargeable batteries (yes two!) and also the second interchangeable battery housing that can be used with ‘AA’ Alkaline batteries to power the grip in the event of running out of power from the rechargeable batteries.
I can only add that I am delighted with the battery grip which has performed faultlessly and the next time I'm in the market for an accessory I'll make sure I check out any independently manufactured possibility. 31
Techniq
The Harris Effect
Tim e!
Roger Edwardes presents the first in an occassional series …
ue
Back in the darkroom, there were two ways of getting colour negatives onto paper. A bit like VHS v Betamax, subtractive filtering won; the alternative, additive filtering, involved making three exposures through Red, Green and Blue filters. Subtractive printing meant just one exposure, but you had to balance the complimentary filters, Cyan, Magenta and Yellow, No faffing about changing filters, accurately timing three exposures and generally making a complete horlicks of it! As ever, though, human ingenuity turned this to its advantage. What if you took three images of something moving – water, clouds – then used additive printing? Print each negative in turn with a different filter. The result; anything stationary will (should!) come out the right colour – it’s had exposure through the three filters which has added up to the right colour. The moving bits though, they get a bit of Red exposure, a bit of Blue and a bit of Green exposure, and they smear nicely into a rainbow of colours! Ta Dah! The Harris Effect! (Though I’m still none the wiser as to who Mr Harris was!) So, can the effect be replicated digitally? Yes, quite easily – because digital capture/processing is actually pretty close to additive printing! Have a look at the Channels palette in Photoshop and what do we find? Red, Green and Blue channels adding up to a full colour image! Start by taking three images – choose your subject to ensure there are static and moving elements – expose to enhance the movement, so tripod and slow shutter speeds needed! From there, it depends on which version of Photoshop you are using – overleaf are basic procedures for PS Elements and PS CC. 32
Photoshop CC 1. Load the three images into PS 2. Open the first image 3. Go to CHANNELS, highlight the RED channel (CTRL+3); ensure the other channels are off 4. Go to IMAGE - MODE select GREYSCALE and OK to discard other channels 5. Open the second image and repeat, selecting the GREEN channel (CTRL+4) 6. Open the third image and repeat, selecting the BLUE channel (CTRL+5) You now have three images with a different RGB channel selected for each. 7. 8. 9.
With any of the images open and the CHANNELS palette active, open the palette menu Select MERGE CHANNELS and RGB COLOUR in the dropdown box labelled modein the dialogue Click OK at the next dialogue and a fourth image will appear. You can discard the original images at this stage if you wish.
You should now have an image where any elements that moved between your exposures at the taking stage have a "rainbow" colouring, caused by selecting a different channel from each image and recombining them. Static elements have the same level of each channel in each image and therefore are not affected when you recombine them. Photoshop Elements 1. Load the three images as separate LAYERS 2. Turn off the top two layers and with the bottom layer highlighted add a CHANNEL MIXER ADJUSTMENT layer 3. In the dialogue box set the OUTPUT CHANNEL to BLUE 4. Make the BLUE slider 100% GREEN 0%, Red 0% 5. Set OUTPUT CHANNEL to GREEN and all sliders to 0% 6. Do the same for Red OUTPUT channel 7. IMPORTANT - now go to the palette menu and select CREATE CLIPPING MASK. This ensures the adjustment layer ONLY affects the layer immediately below it. 8. Turn on and highlight the second layer. Add a CHANNEL MIXER ADJUSTMENT LAYER 9. Proceed as before, but this time set OUTPUT CHANNEL to GREEN and sliders to BLUE 0%, GREEN 100%, RED 0%. Set all sliders for the other output channels to 0% 10. Clip to layer as Step 7 11. Repeat for the final layer with OUTPUT CHANNEL set to RED and sliders BLUE 0%, GREEN 0%, RED 100% 12. Clip to layer as Step 7 13. Change the blending mode for the top two layers to LIGHTEN As before, you should now have an image where any elements that moved between your exposures at the taking stage have a "rainbow" colouring. 33
Enjoy!
And finally … from what seems a dim and distant past at present … A Supermarket Encounter - An Observational Piece Now we’re a country that’s never had any qualms about adopting foreign words & phrases into our language and indeed many such adoptions are commonly used in everyday communication. Personally I’ve never had any problems with using ‘borrowed language’ in fact I think that it only serves to enrich the already comprehensive and descript method of communication ... the English Language. However, what I do have reservations about is the seemingly current trend that everything that’s possible should be used in abbreviated form. I’ve noticed (but not accepted) this apparent laziness may well be down to a certain trendy vogue which probably stems from the American influence on our culture today, possibly combined with a lot of the population being unable to spell or even pronounce all but the simplest words, and their inability ... or unwillingness to consult a dictionary! This brings me to share a short conversation I recently overheard in a supermarket which I must admit gave me a little childish amusement (I do like a little, light cabaret to lighten the day). Whilst I was browsing in the fruit and vegetable department I noticed a well dressed older gentleman who, like myself, seemed to also be browsing but on the opposite side of the display counter to me when a younger lady, possibly in her late thirties, appeared near to him and seemed to be looking up and down the whole display. The lady got her eye on an assistant and asked ‘Don’t you have any Cauli’s?’ Before the assistant could reply the gentleman piped up and said to her ‘I don’t believe they sell any dogs here.’ The lady looked a little startled and after a few seconds to digest what the gentleman had just said she clarified her question saying 'No! I want a Cauliflower.’ Oh! said the gentleman ‘I thought you wanted a dog, a Collie.’ By this time I was almost riveted to the spot in anticipation of anything else to come, and I wasn’t disappointed! Before the poor assistant could scurry away this lady asked for further directions, saying ‘Now I believe you have a new deli, where is it?’ Once again the gentleman, whom she was obviously agitated with, spoke to her saying ‘As far as I’m aware there is only one New Delhi and it’s actually in India.’ This lady was by now finding the situation a little difficult and could only utter ‘No No! What are you talking about?’ The gentleman who obviously by now realised his tongue in cheek remarks about abbreviations and possible double meanings of the English Language were not appreciated by this lady. He offered her some understanding of context by saying ‘I imagine that perhaps you require the new delicatessen which is at the other end of the store’. At this point the lady glared at him, didn’t bother with a cauliflower, and briskly headed to the other end of the store, presumably to the delicatessen, whilst the assistant beat a hasty retreat. The gentleman then looked towards me saying ‘It’s terrible the way lots of people and indeed organisations these days routinely abbreviate many of the words they use when there’s not an actual need or a good reason for an abbreviation’. I could only smile and nod in agreement before I too took my leave.
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David Ridley LRPS
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