Royal Photographic Society Digital Imaging Group News March 2019

DIG News - March 2019

‘Frozen Lock ’ – Chas Hockin LRPS Winner of the DIG monthly competition for February

DIG PRINT EXHIBITION For this years exhibition 162 members participated, each sending in the required 3 prints. A great result and I think the highest number we have had since I became Chair. So well done everyone, especially the overseas members who took the opportunity to submit work which we had printed for them.

Our congratulations to our overall winner Sue Dixon LRPS for her beautiful print. There was absolutely no debate with the three selectors on which was the overall winner – an instant and unanimous decision.

Interestingly Sue was also the trophy winner in our DIG PI Comp 2018, so she is obviously at the top of her game at present. Well done Sue for another fab image.

Flamingo and Feathers – by Sue Dixon LRPS Each of the selectors had two RPS Ribbons to award. Eddy Lane is a well known nature photographer so it was no surprise that he chose two with animals in them – but so different as you will see.

Puffin Kiss by Allan Fisher LRPS (Eddy Lane Ribbon)

The Hairdressers by Janine Ball LRPS (Eddy Lane Ribbon)

Next we have the two ribbon winning images selected by Irene Froy.

Peaking Through the Mist by Ian Thompson ARPS (Irene Froy Ribbon)

Anemones by Eileen Wilkinson ARPS (Irene Froy Ribbon)

And lastly those selected by Roger Parry.

Concubine by Philip Barker ARPS (Roger Parry Ribbon)

Gardeners Question Time by Jonathan Vaines LRPS (Roger Parry Ribbon) It is interesting to see how some of the above names have appeared in other DIG competitions in the past 12 months. Some in the online monthly comps and others in the two annual print and PI member competitions. You will note there are no FRPS winners amongst the above. We also noted that a higher number than usual of our accepted images were from members with no RPS Distinctions at all. We hope these facts give hope to everyone that their work is just as valid and eligible for consideration in DIG run competitions.

Whilst all 162 selected images form our total exhibition and will all be hung where space permits, we also ask the selectors to choose the top 30. These get hung where we can only exhibit a smaller number of prints.

The top 30 were the seven above plus those that follow – Antony Yip ARPS (Hong Kong) Galloping Zoltan Balogh LRPS The Computer Scientist Malcolm Blackburn ARPS Little Owls Fay Bowles ARPS Warreners Cottage Antionette Castro LRPS (Spain) Linden A Lewis Alan Collins LRPS Bee and Lavender Clare Collins LRPS Puri Pot Porter Brian Connolly The American Falls, Niagara Alan Cork LRPS Boat of Remembrance Paula Davies FRPS Dales Winter Barbara Dudley ARPS All Set Glynis Harrison LRPS Two Chairs and a Lamp Roger Hinton LRPS Balancing the Books David Hughes ARPS Ermine Bob Johnston ARPS Icy Isolation Rob Kershaw ARPS (Switzerland) Beach Hut Rainbow Carl Mason ARPS Mommy’s Boy David Morement Timid Fallow Deer John Perriam ARPS Homeward Bound Michael Spurway LRPS Silver Birches David Thomas ARPS Dream Catcher Sue Vaines LRPS The Passage of Time Dee Wareham Decaying Tulip Again congratulations to everyone who entered. It will be a really good 2019 DIG Exhibition and we hope you will take the opportunity to visit if it comes to a location near you.

For information on the exhibition venues and dates visit our web page http://www.rps.org/special-interest-groups/digital-imaging/about/040-printexhibition

AGM For those of you unable to either get along to the AGM in person, nor able to join us via Zoom online, you can still follow what was said and voted on. Go to HERE where you can watch the PowerPoint and hear the audio from the day.

Our first ever offering of giving online access and voting was a pretty successful beta trial. We had a few gremlins with the audio to start with but stick with it as it got cleared after a few minutes. Overall we feel it was an 80% success and the DIG Committee hope to go on to deliver other online opportunities for members in the future.

DIG MONTHLY ONLINE COMPETITION Congratulation to our DIG web content committee member, Chas Hockin LRPS, for his 1st past the post winning image this month; as shown on the cover page. Here is what he has to say about this image.

This is the lock on my shed. I can’t remember why I was going to the shed – it was either to get my bike out – which is unlikely if it was frosty, or it was to get some garden tools out to clear up a load of leaves that had been gathering in my parking area for too long. I saw this as I approached the shed – and obeying the maxim of always having a camera with you – I snapped this with

my phone. I could have easily gone inside and got my “proper” camera – but I was probably just wanting to get on with the job at hand. I have boosted it with the Viveza plugin from the Nik Collection - probably pushing the Structure slider a bit (!). I have just recently sent this away to be printed for an upcoming camera club competition. I hope the judge isn’t a member of DIG.

2nd placed is ‘Early Moring walk’ by Jenni Cheesman

3rd place goes to Mike Cowdrey ARPS with ‘ Tracks’

WELCOME to our new members this month…

C Jeeves ARPS St Neots Margaret Dane LRPS Esher Martin Froggatt Ripley Nigel Higson ARPS Henfield Tom Cross Bedford Michael Cheeseman LRPS Cirencester Richard Webb Chichester Peter Weston Uckfield David Gold Shanklin Robert Simpson Dawlish Tamma Reddy ARPS India John Hughes London Naomi Galliford Bristol Stephen Bussey Chippenham

Roger Force FRPS Philip Hack LRPS Tim Nicholson LRPS Wendy North RPS David Sinclair Margaret Lewis Mike Lloyd ARPS James Owers Bas Meeuws Kevin Flanagan Judith Hicks LRPS Maggie James Francis Sandbach Urs Graf

Greenhithe Holmfirth York Sheffield Hartlepool Salisbury Northwich Uckfield Netherlands Aberdeen London Gerrards Cross Chichester Switzerland

DIG ACCOLADE FOR RPS ADVISORY DAYS The special edition of DIG Accolade is now available and looks exceptionally good – something for us all to be very poud of.

300+ copies have been delivered to HQ and will go out to Advisory Days.

We are asking that they respect the value of £3 but that the funds may be retained by the organising Regions. The whole idea is for DIG to support individuals who are aspiring to their Distinctions. Everyone is telling us how valuable it is to read the real stories behind the panels so to share this has to be good for DIG. Shortly we also hope to be offering copies of this publication through the RPS Online shop where a copy can be purchased for £3 (UK) and £5 for overseas.

DIG MEMBER GALLERIES Two great galleries to feature this month. Firstly, a great body of work from one of our Dutch members, Andre Bergmans. Then a fascinating trip into the mind of Mike Cowdrey and his interpretation of architecture.

Click on the gallery images to link through to the albums

DIG CENTRES All DIG Centre meetings are open to everyone. Each puts on a minimum of 4 meetings p.a., offering varied and inspiring content. All welcome to every DIG meeting; members and nonMembers alike.

By clicking on any of the Ads it will take you to the RPS Events pages where more information can be found about the meetings.

Eastern Centre

Thames Valley Centre

South East Centre

Southern Centre

Yorkshire & NE Centre

SIG LINK By clicking on any of the Ads it will take you to the RPS Events pages where more information can be found about the meetings.

Travel Group Springboard 2019

Creative Eye Members Exhibition

Visual Art AGM

A BLIND PHOTOGRAPHER We felt this was such an inspiring story and well worth sharing with you all. Click HERE to read more

KEN PAYNE TUTORIALS Greetings Members - If you have to work at a very wide aperture and need more depth of field why not take a series of images at different focusing points and stack them together. Check out my video. It’s very easy to do.

This cannot be done in Elements anymore as they have removed the feature.

Best regards Ken Payne.

Why spend time and expense cutting out a bevel mount for your prints when you can produce one in Elements. Check out my technique in Elements.

click on the images to take you to the relevant tutorial video on You Tube

LANDSCAPE GROUP WORKSHOP WEEKEND One of our DIG members recently went on a great workshop with the RPS Landscape Group and felt that perhaps others should consider attending other SIGs meetings. Note – there is nothing stopping a member belonging to more than one Special Interest Group. We are surprised more don’t as they cost so little and are a major benefit of Society membership.

LANDSCAPE GROUP WORKSHOP WITH JUSTIN MINNS AT TOLLESBURY, ESSEX

by Holly Stranks LRPS

Tollesbury Lightship 3.30am….my alarm goes off! Up I get, quick cuppa and breakfast and then out of the door to meet my friend David Penrose, a fellow RPS and Bungay Camera Club member. At BCC we had recently had an excellent talk from Justin Minns and David mentioned he had a workshop booked with Justin through the Landscape group. I was lucky to get a cancellation to be able to attend this workshop.

The workshop was starting at Tollesbury, Essex at 7am in time to capture the sunrise over the mud flats of Woodrolfe Creek just off the River Blackwater. Justin is local to the area and has been there many times before himself, so he knows all the places to go that are full of photographic potential.

The group was small – 7 in number, that way everyone gets good hands on advice during the day. David and I were surprised that our fellow attendees had come from far and wide – Buckinghamshire, Kent, Cambridge amongst them.

On the workshop

Daybreak at Tollesbury Creek

As you can see from my images we had excellent light at sunrise. Being in January it was very cold, and the wind blew right through me.

However, 3 hours passed quickly, and we all got some great images of the creeks. Time for a welcome cuppa and bacon roll, then we were heading off to Mersea Island.

Once on the Island we battled the harsh, contrasty bright sunlight at the pastel beach huts on the South of Mersea and then carried on to West Mersea for a photographer’s delight of old and dead boats!

The Beach Huts I got a great deal out of this workshop and Justin was a great mentor, and also interested in my Sony Mirrorless kit – so there were times when he was asking the questions!

He has years of experience and takes workshops worldwide. He is also just about to publish a book called Photographing East Anglia. This not only includes hundreds of his images, but useful information like sat nav and map co-ordinates, best times to visit, photographic tips, etc.

Having attended a camera club talk and a workshop with Justin, I would encourage anyone who can do likewise. Although his book is not yet published, I have pre ordered a copy and am sure it will be a good read and provide lots of tips.

Beached Wreck

Tollesbury Lightship B&W

My editing workflow for each image is a basic adjustment of the RAW image in Lightroom. Then into Photoshop and I use Define 2, Color Effects Pro 4 and Sharpening in Nik Collection. I then adjust levels and then use Lumenzia for Luminosity masking. Then a bit of dodging & burning and voila!

MY KIT: Sony A7R3. Zeiss Batis 18mm f2.8. Zeiss Batis 25mm f2. Lee Filter Kit. Manfrotto Tripod. Thermals, gloves and a big woolly hat!

New Jetty

The Red Buoy

A UK MEMBER You may recall reading about Allan Fishers’ LRPS in a recent copy of Accolade but as he is a member living in an area where we currently do not have a DIG Centre near him we invited him to contribute to DIG News this month.

A few years back my eldest boy sang on stage with Bruce Springsteen at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. At the time I was in a daze as to what was happening, but after the emotion had died down I realised I hadn't taken any images of my son singing onstage with my idol. Luckily through the power of Social Media I was able to acquire images over the coming days, but I vowed to myself to never miss capturing an important moment of my children's lives again.

Bluebell Wood

As a young adult I had attended a few photography courses and captured a few Weddings, but I lost my way with photography over the years, so after an extensive brush up on digital photography I began in earnest on my second photography journey and the forever learning path that it is taking me on.

Dancer

At first I realised I was drawn to portraits, both on location and in the studio. For the last few years I have run a successful portrait business in Bridgend, and am forever trying to improve my skills in this genre.

Kingfisher I also love landscapes, macro and wildlife photography and am currently in the process of creating a panel of birds for an Associate Panel in Natural History. I was recently delighted to discover I had won a Blue Ribbon at this year's DIG AGM for my Puffin Kiss image, and love being part of the DIG group.

Allan Fisher LRPS

Red Kite flight

AN OVERSEAS MEMBER When we look for an overseas member to feature each month we try to go to different continents and find members doing extraordinary things.

This member certainly meets that criteria with his life times passion for photography.

Alan Elliot OAM ARPS This month the DIG Overseas member we are featuring is an Honorary Life Member of the RPS from Australia, Alan Elliott OAM ARPS. Alan has had a lifetime interest in photography and was awarded the RPS Fenton Medal in 2013 for his outstanding contribution to The Society. In that year he also received the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM), a civil honour which recognised his major services to photography.

He has a particular interest in photographic history on which he has written extensively over many years. He has studied the life and work of the 19th century photographer and photographic inventor Walter Woodbury, he’s written a biography of Ludovico Hart who founded the Melbourne Camera Club in 1891, and he has a keen interest in early photographic processes.

The Optometrist Alan has been a strong supporter of the RPS Australian Chapter, formerly the Victorian Chapter, and the extent of his writings for the Chapter’s Newsletter is astonishing with 120-plus articles over some 15 years. They are wide-ranging, from accounts of early processes whether daguerreotypes, wet-plate photography, ambrotypes, orotones or many others, to hilarious articles on his introduction to digital photography in 2004 which he titled An Innocent at Home: Dabbling in Digital.

Solitude

Yes, he accepted that the darkroom was dead as far as his colour printing was concerned, and took up the challenge of the new digital technology saying, ‘For things to stay the same, things must change!’ At 97 years of age, Alan is probably the oldest member of DIG and possibly of the RPS too, but photography is still a major part of his life.

Fashion Exhibition

Meditation

RECRUIT AND WIN As a DIG member we hope that you will help us to increase our membership by participating in the following recruitment programme.

UPLOADING YOUR GALLERY Putting up your own album on the Society web site is easy and we would encourage more of you to do this and share you work with us all.

First step is to log on to My RPS. If you have forgotten your password you need to re-establish that. Knowing your login details not only means you can access My RPS but also the ‘hidden DIG pages’ only visible to

DIG members when logged in, such as accessing DIG Accolade and the DIGIT library.

Once you are logged in then here are the steps to follow to upload your images to your own personal galleries.

We hope that you have found this DIG News interesting and inspiring.

Enjoy the read – admire the images. And if you have anything you would like to see us include, or information to share with others, do get in touch.

Regards

Janet

Janet Haines ARPS DIG Chair digchair@rps.org