NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY 2009
FORTHCOMING PROGRAMME
Note change of date from Mar 10th to Mar 12th
Mar 12th: Monthly Competition - Fish
Presentation - Alex Mustard - subject TBN
Image of the Year award
Apr 14th: Monthly Competition - Abstract
Presentation by Trevor Rees - Manipulated Images – Using Photoshop Layers
Foto Forum - Monochrome - Arthur Kingdon
FORTHCOMING EVENTS
Mar 12th: Monthly Meeting
The Meeting (start time 2000hrs) will be at our normal venue - The Casson Centre, Rodway Road, Patchway, BS34 5DQ (map) It is easiest to access it via Durban Road, off Highwood Road - you can turn right at the traffic lights if coming from the Gloucester Road direction. The Casson Centre is the left hand part of the Patchway Community Centre, immediately next door to the Patchway Town Council Offices. There is off road parking adjacent to the Centre and further spaces along Rodway Road, near to the local Spa shop.
There will not be enough time for our normal Foto Forum but if you have any queries regarding the April Competition theme (Abstract) please let me know. Our 2009 competition programme has now been published but there are a number of gaps so, if you have any suggestions, please get in touch.
The monthly competition theme is 'Fish'. Send your digital files to Bob Anthony ( anthonyrez30@tiscali.co.uk ) and please include BUPG on the subject line. Unsure about entering? Even if you don't feel you have any winners, send some in to benefit from the audience feedback - it's an ideal way to learn.
We also have our 'Image of the Year' award. The best image from the 2008 Monthly Competitions, as judged by Dr Alex Mustard, will receive the award.
The main item on the programme is a presentation by Dr Alex Mustard. The theme has not been disclosed as yet but you can expect stunning images and an inspiring, informative commentary. If you are unfamiliar with Alex's work, take a look at www.amustard.com
RECENT EVENTS
February Meeting
The February Meeting was postponed one week due to adverse weather and this proved a popular choice, with the improved weather resulting in quite a large turnout.
Monthly Competition - Divers
The extra week allowed more time to get the entries in and there were thirty one 'Diver' images submitted.
| The clear winner with eight votes was this monochrome image of a diver in a cave - shot in Sardinia by Rob Bailey using a Nikon D70 |  |
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In Second Place with two votes was this striking image by 'tekkie' diver Chris Simons |
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Six images then picked up one vote apiece: A nicely composed image by Tamsin Eyles
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A dramatic monochrome diver and wreck by Jim Drake |
| A very interesting composition giving a real sense of space and depth by Ralph Mortimore |
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A very tidy deco stop group - by Charles Stirling |
| Another image by Tamsin Eyles - the monochrome treatment giving it a rather retro look. |  |
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An over/under from the Isles of Scilly by Arthur Kingdon |
Annual Print Competition
This turned out to be Rob Bailey's night as, fresh from his success in the Monthly Competition, he went on to take the Annual Print Trophy. It was a relatively close competition but Rob's emphatic win in the UK section meant he did not need to pick up too many points in the Overseas section to clinch victory. Results as follows:
UK Overseas Overall
1st Rob Bailey 40 points 1st Cathy Lewis 34 points 1st Rob Bailey 47 points
2nd David Stephens 16 points 2nd Trevor Rees 29 points 2nd Trevor Rees 44 points
3rd Trevor Rees 15 points 3rd Arthur Kingdon 20 points 3rd Cathy Lewis 41 points
Rob was presented with his trophy by Cathy Lewis, the winner for the past two years.
Presentation - Alor Island - Cathy Lewis
Cathy Lewis gave a presentation on a dive trip that she and husband Chris had taken last October. This was aboard Komodo Dancer, a Peter Hughes boat which, as the name suggests, normally tours the marine reserves around the island of Komodo. However, a couple of times a year, it makes exploratory trips to the Alor Islands. Situated east of Flores and north of Timor, it is a remote spot and rarely visited.
The boat itself was very comfortable and well organised, with all diving being carried out from two tenders..
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| A local fisherman visited the boat hoping to sell this tuna. Cathy took this picture just to prove that there were some pelagics in the area as they saw very few underwater. |
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The reefs were not teeming with life and what reef fish there were, were only found in small numbers. There were fish traps on some of the reefs but not much inside them. However, one spectacular reef was almost completely carpeted with anemones as far as the eye could see.
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The lack of shoaling fish and pelagics, and mixed quality coral sites meant that it was not ideal for wide angle photography but Cathy managed some great results. |
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Also, there were plenty of opportunities for photographing local people in their outrigger canoes |
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However, the best opportunities were for the macro photographer and some of the most exciting muck diving sites have recently been discovered in this area. Cathy showed some stunning images of which this is only a small selection. Shrimps galore..... |
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....plus plenty of gobies..... |
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...........and the occasional intermediate batfish. |
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This was a fascinating presentation with some great images - thank you Cathy.
Foto Forum - Fish - Arthur Kingdon
With 'Fish' as next month's competition theme, Arthur showed a selection of his own images which either did, or did not, fit the theme. The resultant discussion was a useful insight into how to capture the ideal fish image.
So when is a fish not a fish? Well, if it's a starfish, jellyfish, cuttlefish or shellfish it isn't. Also, whales and dolphins do not qualify but sea horses do. However, just because there is a fish in the image does not necessarily make it suit the theme. Preferably, look for images which have the fish as the main subject even if that means cropping the original image to remove distracting detail. Look for character shots, animal behaviour, non-distracting backgrounds etc - easy really!
Image Preparation_- Arthur Kingdon
Arthur reminded the audience of the image size requirements for our competitions:
1024 pixels max width, 768 pixels max height, and @ 72ppi resolution.
He advised that when an image is downsized from original to this smaller size, many pixels are discarded and the image can appear softer than before. Also, PowerPoint is used for our slideshows and this can soften the image as well - better to sharpen just a little more than you would normally do.
Our projector is used on a low setting but is still quite bright. If in doubt, make your images a little darker than normal.
One aspect of image projection that has not been discussed before is the colour profile. The projector uses SRGB, as does PowerPoint and images using Adobe RGB can lose colour and vibrancy when projected. This is quite an important point and it is recommended that all images submitted should be SRGB.
Note from Arthur: While preparing the Newsletter, I have always used the PS 'save for the web' option. However, when preparing this Newsletter, I noticed that Cathy's image of the soft coral goby looked very dull, compared to the original, after I had used 'save for the web'. A check of the EXIF data showed that Cathy had captured the image using Adobe RGB. I converted it to SRGB and then selected 'save for the web'. The result was an image that matched the original for colour and vibrancy. I have yet to explore this as far as printing goes but SRGB is certainly the way to go for images that will be viewed either on the web or projected
MISCELLANEOUS
BSoUP
A bit of success for Arthur in the February BSoUP 'Focus On'. The theme was Red Sea and this proved popular with 42 entries. Arthur's two entries managed Second Place and Fifth Place, so quite a result. It helps maintain the high profile of the BUPG, as far as other underwater photographers in the UK are concerned.
It's the 'Theme Portfolio' next month. Arthur won it last year so let's see if another BUPG member can win it this time.
Keep bubbling,
Arthur