Royal Photographic Society Digital Imaging Group News April 2016

DIG News - April 2016

The Blue Window by Paula Davies FRPS

We have a couple of new ideas in this months DIG News for you. The start of a series of tutorials, which we hope will help some of you trying to master new skills. And an interesting article from a member on his experience of going ‘mirrorless’.

CONGRATULATIONS Distinction assessments lists are coming through again now and I am delighted that we have a healthy number of DIG Members gaining their letters after their name this month. So our congratulations to you all.

If you have posted your panels to your RPS Gallery please let me know so we can link to it next month for everyone to see.

David Burnell LRPS Peter Butler LRPS Raymond Yardley LRPS David Rae LRPS Colin Smith LRPS Richard Kay LRPS Peter Mitchell LRPS Michael Pemberton LRPS Julie Syrett LRPS

Gwent Devon Devon Dorset Kent Avon Devon New Zealand Dorset

Paul Clarke ARPS

Somerset Paul Clarke achieved his ARPS with a stunning panel of images from Cuba. The panel assessors see so many Cuban panels that it is necessary to ensure you get something more original than the normal scenes we see so often from there. Paul seems to have done that admirably – I feel as if I now know more about the real Cuba looking at his panel of work.

In Paul’s own words……….

I made a number of trips to Cuba and became fascinated by the country. I often found myself away from the usual tourists routes and met many very friendly local people. I kept hearing people saying that Cuba was going to change - and rapidly; and indeed some aspects need to. With my interest in the country I decided to make Cuba the focus of a submission for an ARPS Panel. I wanted to create a Panel of images that reflected how I saw aspects of Cuban towns and cities now and not get dragged into taking the ‘easy’, glossy travel brochure/tourist ‘snaps’. Indeed, my Statement of Intent does reflect my intentions with this project:

“This panel captures some aspects of the Cuban urban environment before major change take place. It provides a glimpse into the cities and towns as they are now; including transportation; the street art; the buildings - many in a state of decay and in need of repair but yet still reflecting the splendor of their past - and, most importantly, the people as they interact with each other and their environment, their culture and life-style, and as they go about their daily lives.�

DIGIT ONLINE I had emails from two people following the announcement last month that DIGIT will be going online and ultimately we hope to be able to offer a DIG Online membership. I hope I did not mislead you with my words as some seem to be thinking we were going to stop printing DIGIT and only offer online membership. This is not the case. DIGIT will still be printed and if you elect to remain a full member then they will arrive quarterly as normal. Plus you will have access to them online.

Only folks who elect to be DIG Online members won’t get the printed DIGITs. To read the latest DIGIT online via your iPad or tablet then don’t forget you need to be logged in to the RPS web site to be able to see our DIG Archive ‘hidden page’ (see last months DIG news for information about hidden pages). Once you are logged in then you will see the side bar looks like this

The link DIGIT Archive gives you access to the past 8 issues of DIGIT via easy to read page turning software from ISSUU.

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DIG FORUM Don’t forget we have started counting the points towards the Annual Forum Monthly Competition winner. The March entrants are on the spreadsheet and counting. But if you failed to participate in March then it isn’t too late as it is cumulative scores that count so plenty of months left to get good results and still win.

Just to demonstrate the diversity of work from DIG members this months winning image couldn’t be more opposite to the gritty mono from last month.

Congratulations to Paula Davies with her minimalist image “The Blue Window”. Paula has an exceptionally good eye for seeing something a little different to shoot when visiting much photographed locations.

I bet this looks wonderful as a large print.

Here are Paula’s own words about her winning image……

Anybody who has been to Santorini will know that it is full of beautiful white buildings with (mainly) blue paintwork. We were there in May 2015 on a photographic workshop. One of the villages we visited during the week was Imerovigli. Although I did take a few pictures of complete buildings I found myself getting in closer and closer to pick out small details such as this. It is the textures and graphic details that appeal to me.

‘The Blue Window ’ is on the cover page.

2nd placed is Graham Relf with a really unusual and interesting image titled ‘Luna Sol et omnia’. As Graham is a keen astrophotographer, which involves combining large numbers of exposures, I emailed him to find out how many were involved in this shot.

This is mainly a composite of four 15mm fish-eye photos. It evolved. The starting point was a photo taken in York Minster. After extending the left column downwards I replaced much of the dark north transept by a sunlit (fish-eye) seascape. The roof of Tynemouth Station is essentially Victorian and its structure harks back to medieval designs, the shapes even echoing the Minster's floor. So I wove the fish-eye curves together to make a semiplausible structure but with a glaring impossibility in the form of a green cast iron post appearing to support part of the church. Another impossibility ensued by incorporating a photo of a lunar eclipse, balancing the Sun. The terrestrial globe then completes a nice compositional triangle (to be honest, it also hides a mismatch in the flooring). So we have Moon, Sun and a lot else. The Latin quotation comes from a baroque choral piece I rather like.

‘Luna Sol et omnia’ by Graham Relf -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NIK SOFTWARE FOR FREE + TUTORIALS FROM KEN PAYNE I think word has gone round very quickly but in case any of you have yet to find out Google, owners of NIK these days, have now made the entire NIK software suite free to download. Available for MAC or PC users simply go to the following web site to take your download HERE.

So having got your new NIK plugins the next challenge is getting to use them and learning the software. That’s where our next coup comes into play.

DIG Committee set themselves an objective this year to bring some new tutorial links to the attention of our members. Yes there are plenty of tutorials out there in WWW-land, so many we are often bamboozled to know which to choose and whether they are ‘safe’. So we looked around for some we could happily recommend to you and will be giving you two links each month, in the hope that if you keep up with us and try them out so your confidence and abilities will grow.

The guy we have settled on is not an RPS member but is someone I know from another group of photographers I am involved with. What I like about his tutorials are that they are down to earth and honest. No fancy slight of hand or choosing images to make his point look easy, as is often the case with manufacturers’ demo videos. Ken Payne tells it as it is, shows us ‘how to’ and even makes the odd mistake on his video and isn’t afraid to let us see him falter – none of us are perfect and speaking and demonstrating simultaneously isn’t as easy as you might think. So we thank Ken for giving us permission to link to his videos for your use and enjoyment.

Another thing that is great is that Ken will often do videos based on Elements. Because the new NIK HDR plugin is not supported on Elements Ken has made a work-round video demonstrating just how Element workers can still use the NIK HDR plugin. Follow the link HERE

Ken has also done one for a single file into an HDR in Lightroom. So for you Lightroom fans here’s one for you….. HERE Many thanks to Ken Payne – we will be back next month for more from him. No doubt some of you will find you know everything on the video, whilst it will be new to others. We obviously cannot please all of the people all of the time, so we will try to vary the levels from month to month. Your feedback is welcomed.

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BOUQUETS AND BRICKBATS Hi Janet, Your latest e-mail about DIG News was awaiting me last night when I returned from a few weeks in India. Needless to say, the other 774 emails that cluttered my inbox were put on hold while I read DIG News.

This is really just a wee note of appreciation to you and your team.

Between DIG News and DIGIT magazine, you really set the bar at a very high level for the rest of RPS to try to emulate.

Well done.

Eric Begbie (Scotland) --------------------------------Dear Margaret My copy of the most recent edition of DIGIT magazine arrived in the mail today, and I'd like to congratulate you for producing such a magnificent publication. Not only does it live up to the usual high standards, but the layout of images and the articles therein speak for themselves and speak objectively.

Palli Gajree (Australia)

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ARE YOU WORKING ON LEADING EDGE PHOTOGRAPHY? We are sure some of our members will be doing some really amazing and different things with their photography – pushing the boundaries and exploring new possibilities.

Our Editor is currently putting together the special 20th Anniversary issue of DIGIT and would love to hear from anyone who is working in areas such as augmented reality, virtual reality, 360 degree panos, extreme iPhonography, or anything else really unusual. If you are ‘doing it’ (what ever ‘it’ is) then please get in touch via digiteditor@rps.org

---------------------------------------------------------------------------DIG CENTRES News from around the UK Centres

First bit of really good news is that we have a volunteer to take over as Centre Organiser for DIG Western Centre.

Welcome Paula Fernley. Thanks for taking this on. I am sure, along with the loyal committee there, you will make an excellent job of maintaining an interesting and varied programme for the benefit of DIG SW members.

We still need to find a volunteer for the Eastern Centre. If someone doesn’t step up then that one will inevitably have to close. So if you live in the area please consider if you couldn’t find the time to organize just four meetings a year to keep it operational. It doesn’t necessarily have to remain in it’s current meeting place, so if moving the venue makes it easier to find an Organiser then that too might be a possibility, subject to agreement with the remaining committee.

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MIRRORLESS Following up on last months short piece from John Bradford I have asked a past DIGIT Editor, Jim Buckley, to write a short item for us. He has literally just got a Fuji XT10 and this month he gives us his immediate thoughts and next issue will give us a view a month out on how things are progressing.

I am sure many are going over to mirrorless or considering it, so I thought a few members views might be useful for us all to learn from.

If you have already got a mirrorless camera of a different brand then I would be very happy to have a short piece from you for a future DIG News. We like to be impartial to brand whenever possible.

Going Mirrorless? 24 hours with the Fuji X-T10

by Jim Buckley LRPS

Easter egg hunt Fuji XT10

“I reckon all cameras will be mirrorless in the next ten years”, explained the affable salesman in Park Cameras as he saw the uncertainty on my face as I toyed with the Fuji X-T10. It’s tiny and feels cramped at first: but then it would do after lugging around a Canon 7D and two lenses when travelling.

Whilst you keep the interchangeable lenses and full information with the brilliant electronic viewfinder of the Fuji, the weight drops dramatically without the mirror, making it a lightweight travel and general purpose camera. With a suitable bag and some bits, it’s well under half the weight to carry You can find the technical stuff online so what are my first impressions?

Solidly made, compact but will feel fiddly if you are used to a big DSLR. Most controls are on the outside but the layout means at first it’s easy to inadvertently press some of the rear buttons when shooting.

Fortunately, they can be locked to avoid that. The Fuji’s multiplicity of functions - somewhat overwhelming and includes an interval timer - can

be accessed quickly and many buttons can be customised so you have, for example, the depth of field preview, just where you want it. You can simulate Velvia film, and many others. The instant video button is useful too, as is the ability to transfer images from the camera by wifi. On the rear is a Q (Quick settings) button where you quickly change a large number of shooting settings.

16 mega pixels is more than enough for my travel photos and will reduce the burden on my computer’s storage. Image quality is first class and the electronic viewfinder, with its comprehensive shooting information, is a real joy to use. As soon as you put your eye to the viewfinder it springs to life. Depth of field is seen clearly.

This is not a handbag/pocket camera: you’ll need a small bag too. It won’t suit sports and wildlife photographers - long lenses would unbalance the camera - or wedding snappers, although there’s a silent shutter mode. So, was the salesman right? We shall see. My 7D is going on long-term loan to my son-in-law so I can recall it should I suffer withdrawal symptoms.

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MEMBERS GALLERY This month I have chosen to present you with the gallery of Keith Mercer LRPS. Mainly mono and usually shot using a film camera, Keith produces some superb city and landscapes that are well worth linking through to and enjoying for a couple of minutes. Follow the link from HERE

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FOCUS ON OVERSEAS MEMBERS

Edmond L. Bridant ARPS, Santa Rosa, California I became a photographer in England at 15 when my father arrived home one day with a tenth-hand Ikoflex TLP. Three years later my family moved to San Francisco. I served as a US Navy photographer (1964-66) during the Vietnam War, chronicling daily activities aboard an aircraft carrier. Those two years were the last time I worked to someone else’s timetable and agenda. Since then I have photographed various eclectic subjects. During my wife’s Fulbright year (2000-01), I began to explore digital photography as a member of the Edinburgh Photographic Society. Gradually I made the transition from wet darkroom to digital ‘darkroom’. In recent year I have scanned and digitized some of my old film-captured images as well as produce new digital images.

My subject matter is eclectic; my approach to digital manipulation is dictated by the image itself. One of my university instructors lamented that I didn’t have a “focus”, a recognizable subject matter or style that would distinguish me from others. Well, so be it.

Some of my recent work that I share with you here includes character studies (especially street people), settings that create mood, settings that tell a story or ask a question, and subjects that inspire me to technological enhancements.

“The Girl at the Edinburgh Fringe’ caught my eye in a crowd of entertainers and visitors to the annual festival. The image initially presented itself as a monochrome character study, but as I considered it I realized that is was her lips and eyes that drew my attention, so I restored and emphasized their colour.

“Alcatraz” is a picture of the dining room in the prison museum. I wanted to capture the textures of the walls and especially the floor, but also to communicate the mood of the place. The loneliness is exacerbated by the barred window admitting only a view of the sky, and perhaps a sea bird.

“Waiting for?” displays a decaying room in an abandoned building. Like “Alcatraz” this picture shows a setting, but in addition to texture and mood, I felt it led the viewer to ask questions: “Why is the person here?”

“Why is the second chair empty?”

Finally “Angel-of-the-North Fantasy” is an intentional combining of real and imaginary elements in Photoshop. It is an example of what can be done digitally. There is no lake in front of the sculpture; the moon is never in that location. I know full well, as I was born within a few miles of where that statue now stands.

Waiting for?

Girl at the Edinburgh Fringe

Angel-of-the-North Fantasy

Alcatraz

I was fascinated that here was a member from California showing us images of the UK so asked Edmond for a little more of his background ……………

I was born in the UK (Northumberland) of American/English parents but emigrated to the US in 1957, where I have lived since. I spent a year in Edinburgh in 2000-2001 while my wife was teaching in Leith on a Fulbright teacher exchange. During that time I was a member, by invitation, of the Edinburgh Photographic Society. I was able to claim US citizenship, in 1957, through my father, who was born in Florida, and happened to be living in London while working for the Red Cross In 1939. Except for the Fullbright year and occasional holidays in the UK, I have lived in California continuously.

Thanks to all our member contributors this month. This is YOUR DIG News, so please do contact me with your latest achievements, your gallery link, information if you are holding an exhibition, or organizing a group holiday perhaps.

I have actually got an exhibition ongoing right now but as it is near where I live in Zeeland, south Netherlands, I doubt many of you will be passing this way. But if you are and you want to visit then give me a shout.

It is in an interesting location inside a rather up market furniture store.

They have a permanent exhibition gallery around the client chill-out zone, so my APRS panel of ‘Dreams’ are on display there for three months. The Dutch seem particularly fascinated with my art photography, as montage work is far less seen over here as they prefer what we might term ‘contemporary’ style of work.

Next month putting together DIG News might prove more difficult than usual as I am away and travelling for 5 weeks and may not have much web access. So bear with me if it is a little late next month…… we’ll do our best.

Regards

Janet Janet Haines ARPS DIG Chair digchair@rps.org