NEWSLETTER April 2006

NEWSLETTER APRIL 2006

FORTHCOMING PROGRAMME

MAY 9th: Presentation by Alan Mildren

COMPETITION PROGRAMME

MAY 9th: British

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

May 9th Meeting

The Meeting (start time 2000hrs) will be at our normal venue (click here for how to find us).

Please try and be on time as we have to keep the main doors locked while we are using the building. However, there is an intercom entry system so you should be able to get in if you are running late.

The main event is a presentation by Alan Mildren. Alan is a videographer who has produced some excellent work, the Babbacombe Cuttlefish video being his most recent. Many of the techniques used by videographers translate across to still cameras so there should be something for everyone.

The monthly competition theme is 'British'. Send digital files to Bob Anthony ( anthonyrez30@tiscali.co.uk ) or bring your slides on the night (let Bob know if you will require a slide projector and screen).

BUPG Splash In

Our very own Splash In will be held over the weekend of 13/14 may. The venue will be Babbacombe, with Hope Cove as the alternate if there are any easterly winds about. Our Competitions Member will be out of the country, so Alan James has offered to act as the point of contact from May 10th onwards. Alan will make the decision regarding any change of venue, so please liaise with him. Providing we have at least three beginners taking part, there will be two competitions - Beginners and Experienced. See the Competition Rules for further information.

BSoUP Splash In/Plymouth Diving

This takes place over the weekend of 1/2 July. The boat has been booked and all places are taken on the Saturday but there may be a couple of places on Sunday. However, there may also be cancellations so, If you are interested in diving that weekend, get in touch with Pam Bowden who is co-ordinating our participation. You do not have to be a member of BSoUP to take part and there are some great prizes to be won - check out http://www.bsoup.org/Splash/intro.php

RECENT EVENTS

April Meeting

The highlight of the evening was a presentation by Dr Alex Mustard entitled 'Shooting Fish'. This had been the subject of a presentation given by Alex to BSoUP the month before.

The main aim of Alex's presentation was to encourage us to do more with our fish photography. Alex felt that the public were now more used to seeing pictures of fish, having seen Finding Nemo and Blue Planet amongst others, so we now needed to get something more than just a record shot. The presentation covered:

1. The X Factor - getting personality into scaly, slimy subjects. Not too difficult with the A list subjects eg sharks or seals but more mundane subjects need something else. Alex talked about getting those emotional shots and showed how fish portraits can be framed to appear almost human with the eyes, mouth and nose in the same positions as ours.

2. Angle of Attack - shooting on eye level to communicate with the viewer usually works best but try others eg shooting upwards against blue water or shooting downwards for some subjects eg stargazers or others with an interesting background.

3. Lighting - often fairly simple to light and usually best with twin strobes although some good images can be achieved with just a single strobe. Alex favours shots which show some of the environment to put subjects in context. Shutter speeds can be lengthened to achieve a blue background and apertures can be opened up to decrease the depth of field. Don't use TTL on silvery fish.

4. Subject Selection - choose the best subject for your camera and lens eg for compacts don't waste time chasing what will not work - choose the slower, more co-operative subjects. The compacts can get low down, the lcd screen can be used and they can be better than an SLR in some situations. Alex went on to suggest that some subjects are ignored or under-exploited and recommended photographing free-swimming fish eg anthias. Cameras coming onto the market, such as the D200, now have very fast autofocus and cope well with this type of subject.

5. The Right Approach - control breathing, hold breath (but keep diving safety in mind), no sudden movements. Fish have a very wide field of view and the best pictures are when the subjects accept you.

6. Types of Shot:

a) Standard ID shot - standard fish picture, fish large in frame, blue or black background. Try blue backgrounds with yellow fish, diagonal composition rather than side on. Alex often prefers to see the tail in soft focus and this can be good for magazine publication as text can be put over the soft areas.

b) Face Portrait - experiment with angles, centrally placed shots work well especially if the fish has human features. The three quarters front shot also works well.

c) Face Profile - very popular with German uw photographers in the 80's and 90's. Some fish lend themselves to it eg hawkfish.

d) Head On - very keen on this type of shot. A very nice way of showing fish, coming on to the camera looks relaxed. Persevere with this - Alex's well known shot of a goat fish took 200 shots over 2 dives.

e) Behaviour - one of Alex's favourites. There are endless species, many with different behaviour. Obvious scenarios eg cleaning stations but also try spawning shots at dusk when the fish are often more approachable. Try to show more - eg way of life.

f) Whole School - try to get the whole school with space around them (Alex illustrated this with a ball of snappers). Or go for wall to wall fish. This was a good area for including a model in the shot.

h) Creative Effects - Alex suggested a variety of different effects eg silhouettes, using filters on wide angle shots to get colour in foreground and background, using filters on flashguns. Don't be afraid to try was the message - although it was important to go down classic lines it was important to challenge them also.

This was a well received presentation with all points being supported by stunning shots and the resume above does it little justice - you had to be there!

After the presentation there were lots of questions for Alex covering subjects such as Photoshop use, sun shots (Alex's D2X copes very well), his 'trademark' beautiful blue backgrounds (no, not achieved in Photoshop - he looks for the colour, maintains that angle and waits for subjects to swim into it).

During the interval, Alex was kept occupied with a book-signing session for his new book - The Art of Diving (see www.artofdiving.com )

Thank you Alex - we look forward to your next visit.

Monthly Competition

This month's theme of 'Macro' proved popular and attracted a lot of entries. However, a couple of images dominated and it was Heather Hammond's excellent porcelain crab which took the honours with nine votes:

Only one vote behind was Alan James with his amusing shot of pair of eyes peering out of a shell:

In third place was Cathy Lewis with a very nice nudibranch:

Images from Bob Anthony and Arthur Kingdon picked up a couple of votes apiece:

It was good to see images being entered by some of our less experienced members: A very attractive image of feather worms by Jim Drake and good shot of a lionfish by Kathryn Rosling:

MISCELLANEOUS

New Website for Underwater Photographers

A new website, full of good stuff for underwater photographers, can be found at http://www.divephotoguide.com Check it out - it requires registration but could be very useful.

BSoUP Competitions

There is no excuse now for not entering the BSoUP competitions as they are now accepting entries via email. Also, our monthly competition programme mirrors and precedes that of BSoUP, so you can try out your images the month before. We have a great deal of talent within the group so why not give it a go? Let's show the London lot what we can do in the provinces! Check out www.bsoup.org for further details.

Arthur