NEWSLETTER NOVEMBER 2006

FORTHCOMING PROGRAMME

DEC 12th:     Canon 5D - First Impressions by Tamsin Eyles

COMPETITION PROGRAMME

DEC 12th:  'Symbiosis'  plus 'Open Portfolio'

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

DEC 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 evening will be a bit of a Christmas Gathering with a mince pie or two but there will also be a short presentation by new member Tamsin Eyles. Tamsin has recently upgraded to a Canon 5D, a 'full frame' digital SLR that could be the ideal tool for the underwater photographer. She has only done one trip with the camera but will give a presentation on how it has performed.

The monthly competition theme is 'Symbiosis'. 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).

We will also have our annual Open Portfolio competition - see Competition Rules. Send your entries to Bob as above - if required, he will help with putting the portfolio together but get in touch with him first to discuss. See below for more information on how this competition is run.

RECENT EVENTS

October Meeting

New Digital Projector

Following our recent award of £1950 from the National Lottery Awards for All scheme, a Canon XEED SX50 projector has been puchased and this was its first outing. The projector proved to be a big success, providing an image quality surpassing anything we have used to date. A new screen and a used laptop have also been puchased, the complete package being supplemented by some of our own funds.

Diving 2007

A boat has been booked for the weekend of the BSoUP Splash In (7/8 July). All ten places were very quickly taken but if you want a slot then get in touch with Jim Drake our Treasurer - jim@t-drake39.freeserve.co.uk   He will be maintaining the list and there may well be cancellations.

St Abbs for the August Bank Holiday is a regular outing for us and if you fancy the trip north for some of the best diving in the UK, then get in touch with Pam Bowden - cwb@globalnet.co.uk who will be maintaining this list.

A weekend or two at Bovisand should be fairly easy to arrange so, if you are interested, then get in touch with Arthur Kingdon akdiver48@hotmail.com and we will see what can be sorted. See last section for a bit more information on Bovisand.

Red Sea Magic - Ralph Mortimore

Ralph entitled this presentation as '2006 A Year of Learning' and confessed to having done nine Red Sea trips, with another one to come before the year end. Most of the trips had been liveaboards, which Ralph preferred, and he favoured the Tony Backhurst fleet. The trips included a photography workshop run by Alex Mustard and another by Mark Webster. Both had been highly enjoyable and informative.

Ralp's description of finning like mad around the coral to the left of this picture, in order to get in front of the shoal, and then being swept by the current through the shoal sounded quite exhausting. Ralph used a 10.5mm to get these shots - none of your standing off with a 105mm. Ralph has really fallen in love with the 10.5mm fisheye and has used it as his main lens throughout the year.

Ralph has also been experimenting with light, and with framing subjects as can be seen in these two images.

Ralph had been trying out Magic Filters but had found only limited success - then he read the instructions! Instead of shooting upwards and into the sun, as he had been accustomed to when using flash, he now tried shooting down and with the sun behind. His results improved markedly and, with frequent resetting of white balance, he was getting good, available light images down to around 15 metres.

Instead of snapping at everything in sight with his D100, Ralph now takes a more measured approach. Having watched other photographers in action, he now searches for different angles and pays more attention to composition.

A more patient approach has paid dividends and this was emphasized with an excellent image of a coral trout and cleaner shrimp. Ralph had observed this particular fish entering the cleaning station on numerous occasions but it always went in head first. Eventually, patience was rewarded and the more confident fish turned towards the camera and the shot was in the bag.

The coral trout image now adorns the front cover of Oonas Divers' impressive new brochure but it does not stop there, as the back cover features Ralph's dolphin and Giannis D image with which he has had some well-deserved success this year.

To achieve such prominent publication is a hearty endorsement of what has certainly been a very successful 'Year of Learning'. Well done Ralph.

Monthly Competition

The theme of 'Manipulation' proved less than popular and there were only eleven entries. This was dissappointing and suggests that we may have to be more conservative in our choice of competition themes. If you have any views on this matter, then please let me know.

Despite the low numbers, there were still some good images and none more so than the clear winner from Trevor Rees. His shot of a big eye with a diver 'reflection' was very well done. Although a relatively simple blending of a big eye from Nuweiba and a diver from Menorca, it was well observed and well executed.

In second place was Jim Drake with a monochrome version of a lunar tail grouper pectoral fin - a very colourful fish which still makes an impact in black and white:

In third place was Anna James with an over/under from Bali. What we did not appreciate at the time was that this had been achieved with a compact camera (without supplementary lenses). This was a combination of two images and Anna tells me - 'I then cropped them together and blended the edges using the rubber tool set to a soft setting. It took quite a bit of trial and error to make surface waters edges look natural. I tried to follow the natural line of the surface water. And found that dark sections of the surface water were the best place to blend the water. I think the important thing to get right when blending images are to concentrate on the colour tones and continuity of lighting. When that is done well it makes the shot perfectly believable'.

Charles Stirling injected some humour with his composite shot of divers and giant nudibranch - his dive buddies had lain down for a rest waiting for Charles to finish photographing something or other.

Portfolio Tutorial by Arthur Kingdon

With our annual Open Portfolio Competition due in December, this tutorial was aimed at the newer members who may not have entered this type of competetion. Arthur explained how to select potential images, how to size them, select borders or backgrounds, and how to arrange them to have the maximum impact. A good source of information is on the BSoUp website; see http://www.bsoup.org/Open_Portfolio/digiguide.php for information on resizing (note: this explains how to do it using Photoshop - some may find it easier to use PowerPoint). For information on selecting images see http://www.bsoup.org/Articles/Six_of_the_best.php  If you wish to enter our portfolio competition but are struggling to put the images together, then just send the six images to Bob Anthony, with a number on each and he will put them into a portfolio for you - couldn't be easier.

Visions in the Sea 2006

The Visions in the Sea festival was held over the weekend of 4/5th November and proved to be an excellent two days. Only three BUPG members attended, so the remainder missed out on some great presentations by internationally renowned speakers (including Peter Scoones of Planet Earth fame and Amos Nachoum - http://biganimals.com/ ). In addition, there were photo clinics, a free raffle each day for a new lightwight Passport BC donated by Aqualung, and the opportunity to enter a print competition which had fantastic prizes. Your beloved Secretary took First Prize with this image from a recent trip to Nuweiba:

The prize, a ten day liveaboard, was generously donated by Odyssea Divers and if anyone wants to join me on a North Sulawesi cruise next April, they will be more than welcome.

Even Second and Third prizes (both won by Len Deeley) were worth £250 each and were donated by Cameras Underwater and by Ocean Optics (the organisers). Don't miss out next year.

MISCELLANEOUS

Maldives Trip

Anyone interested in a Maldives trip next March (3 -17) may wish to get in touch with Bath33 DO Peter Plume (peter.plume@btinternet.com). It's aboard the well respected MV Sea Queen and should be a great trip. There are currently two places available following a cancellation.

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

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 is 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