NEWSLETTER MAY 2007

FORTHCOMING PROGRAMME

June 12th: Maldives Magic - Jim Drake, Pam Bowden, Fiona Bowles, Ian Blair

July 10th: TBN

COMPETITION PROGRAMME

June 12th:  Wide Angle

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

June 12th 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 presentation will be a joint one with four members covering different aspects of diving in the Maldives. Pam Bowden will give a slide show of images from her liveaboard - based trips, and Jim Drake will cover shore - based diving from a resort which has been a favourite of his for several years. Ian Blair and Fiona Bowles will show how compact camera users can get the best out of this location.

The monthly competition theme is 'Wide Angle' .  Send your 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).

BSoUP Splash In 7 July

Our boat is booked for the weekend of 7/8 July and entry forms for the Splash In will be available at our Monthly Meetings (or can be downloaded from the BSoUP website). Check out the details here http://www.bsoup.org/Splash/2007/intro.php  Please note that entries for the Print Competition had to be in by 23rd May.

RECENT EVENTS

May Meeting

Monthly Theme Competition - Divers

This was quite a popular subject and attracted a good number of entries.

In First Place with an over/under from Grand Cayman was Arthur Kingdon:

In equal Second Place were Anna James and Rob Kemp. Anna with an atmospheric silhouette and Rob with a very pleasing shot of a diver and boat:

Arthur's other two entries picked up a vote apiece - soft coral in the Similans, plumose anemones etc from where else but St Abbs:

Ascension Island - Bob Anthony

Bob gave an interesting presentation on an expedition he had recently taken part in to a dive location that is well known to most military divers but not to many civilians. Ascension Island has a strategic location in the middle of the Atlantic, just south of the equator. It is primarily used as a staging post for RAF aircraft flying between the UK and the Falklands. Civilian passengers are carried although the fare is quite high.

Squirrel fish are common as are members of the jack family.

Instead of cleaner wrasse, the juvenile grey angelfish are the main cleaners in this part of the ocean. These jacks seem perfectly happy with the valet service provided.

Cleaner shrimps are frequently seen and provide plenty of photo opportunities.

Large specimens of the grouper family are seen on most dives.

Also frequently seen are these comical blennies - but they rarely hang around long enough to be photographed. Not like our tompots as far as posing is concerned.

Its position in the middle of the Atlantic means that Ascension gets its fair share of pelagics. However, they did not put in an appearance during this trip and Bob had to be content with the normal reef dwellers, including millions of morays, plus a turtle or two. Photography can be quite challenging but Bob had some great images and this was a very interesting presentation. If you fancy somewhere different, I'm sure Bob will be pleased to provide all the details to enable you to dive this rare location.

Photoshop Tutorial - Tamsin Eyles

Tamsin aimed this presentation at the novice user of PS and started out by covering the basic aspects of post production work. Using good PowerPoint slides, Tamsin went through the process of improving an image, covering each step in a logical manner.

Cropping, auto levels, colour balance, brightness/contrast, hue/saturation, spot healing and sharpening were covered.

Most of us will have used the sharpening tools but Tamsin introduced the spot sharpen tool which will not be so familiar.

Healing and cloning, plus burning and dodging were covered. The example shown here combined these tools to good effect.

Correcting available light, predominantly blue, images can be disappointing - why not convert to black and white?

Tamsin used her creative talent to good effect in many of her examples, such as this one here.

This is a difficult subject to present to an audience of mixed ability but Tamsin handled it very well. There was something for all levels and I'm sure everyone learned something new - I know I certainly did.

MISCELLANEOUS

Cape Wrath Liveaboard

Several of our group, along with other Bristol divers, are visiting Cape Wrath and the Western Isles over the period 18 - 25 August. This promises to be a great trip and anyone wishing to go on it should contact Roger White on 01179 771 779.

Maldives Manta & Whaleshark Safari

Ocean Optics and Maveriks Diving are organising a rather special trip to the Maldives in late October 2007. Read all about it on their website (tell them you saw it here if contacting them) http://www.mavericksdiving.co.uk/events/20071027maldives.html

Fake Memory Cards

Two friends of mine have been caught out in an eBay scam where memory cards have turned out to be fakes. It is a big enough problem for eBay to have put out a warning. Click here for link.

Bovisand Diving

Sally Sharrock (who insists she is not on commission!) tells me that Bovisand is now open for diving seven days a week with air, shop, cafe etc and the rib shuttle is running. Shore diving is no problem and parking is £5 per day but that includes a free air fill (sounds a bargain to me). There is also B&B available in the accommodation block. See www.discoverydivers.co.uk

Arthur