NEWSLETTER JUNE 2008
FORTHCOMING PROGRAMME
July 8th: Monthly Competition - Monochrome
Photo Forum - Reflections - Alan James or Arthur Kingdon TBN
BUPG Splash In Results
Splash In Techniques - Arthur Kingdon
FORTHCOMING EVENTS
July 8th: 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.
The Photo Forum theme is 'Reflections' and this will be led by Arthur Kingdon or Alan James - details TBN.
The monthly competition theme is 'Monochrome'. Send your digital files to our Competitions Member - Kathryn Rosling (kathryn.rosling@blueyonder.co.uk) and also send a copy to Arthur Kingdon(akdiver48@hotmail.com). A word of caution - Kathryn's email box can fill up, so do not leave your submission to the very last minute. 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.
The BUPG Splash In images will be judged at this Meeting so get your entries in to Kathryn and copy to Arthur. Make sure you check the Competition Rules. If you qualify as a beginner please state this when sending in your entries.
With the BSoUP Splash In only a few days after this Meeting, this will be a good opportunity to discuss techniques and strategy for this type of competition. Final arrangements for the weekend will also be discussed.
BSoUP Splash In
The BSoUP Splash In takes place on Saturday 12th July at Plymouth. We have a boat booked for the 12th and 13th, and, at the moment, all places are filled.
See http://www.bsoup.org/Splash/2008/intro.php for all the details.
St Abbs Splash In
The St Abbs Splash In takes place on Saturday 23rd August. We have a boat booked for the Fri/Sat/Sun and, at the moment, the boat is full.
RECENT EVENTS
June Meeting
Monthly Competition - Wide Angle
There were thirty four entries for this popular theme:
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The clear winner, with five votes, was Arthur Kingdon with this image of a large gorgonian fan taken on Shark/Yolanda Reef in the Red Sea. Nikon D200, twin Inon Z240 - Bob Anthony doing a fine job as a model! |
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Another image from Arthur was amongst three images which tied for Second Place with two votes each. This barracuda shoal was off Richelieu Rock, Thailand. |
| Second equal was Anna James with this night shot of lionfish off the jetty at Nuweiba. |  |
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Also Second equal was Tamsin Eyles with this image from her Bahamas shark trip. |
| Five images picked up one vote each including this lonely hammerhead - a Red Sea shot from Tamsin Eyles. |
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Trevor Rees can always be relied upon to produce some excellent British images and this seal from the Isles of Scilly was one... |
| ...and another was this rock covered in jewel anemones - also from the Isles of Scilly. |  |
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Robert Kemp went for the letter box crop which showed this shoal of jacks to good effect. |
| An over/under Florida river scene by David Stephens |
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Galapagos sea lions by Steve Judd. |
Photo Forum/Tutorial - Monochrome - Arthur Kingdon
Arthur kicked off with a selection of images which showed the merits, or otherwise, of converting from colour to black and white. He emphasised that this was not intended as a quick fix for washed out colour images but it was better to think in monochrome when planning such shots. Those images that rely on colour for impact do not convert well but those images that have strong shapes, texture or tone will often work best when there is no distracting colour.
Arthur explained that there were a variety of ways to convert to monochrome; the simplest method of Mode/Greyscale was not ideal as it usually resulted in a flat, dull image. Much better was to use the Channel Mixer:
This retains all the RGB colour information which can be adjusted to suit.
The opening screen defaults to 100% red and needs the monochrome box ticked to see the result. Underwater shots will often have lots of blue in the images, which will be filtered out and will usually result in a very dramatic result:
However, selecting the Blue Channel will have the opposite effect and a very light coloured sea will result:
The Green Channel will often be pretty close to what we want:
However, a combination of all three channels will probably be best - note that they do not need to add up to 100%, anything higher will be lighter than the original, anything lower will be darker.
A few tweaks of levels or curves may be needed after the above conversion.
Monochromes can contain a colour element, similar to the toning processes used in traditional darkrooms, and this is achieved by following the above steps and then discarding the colour information in a mode change to Greyscale. This will then enable the Duotone process:
This will allow any single colour to be added and the amount of colour to be adjusted eg in this sepia effect (don't over do it!):
BSoUP Meeting June 18th
The week after our Meeting, BSoUP held their monthly Meeting with the Focus On competition theme of 'Wide Angle'. Arthur Kingdon achieved sixth place with his gorgonian image above.
See all the top six here http://www.bsoup.org/Gallery/87.php