Focal Points...........
Focal Points - February 2009
Edited by Peter Flower
The 2008/9 Season

The season has got off to a good start, with an encouraging crop of new faces as well as the return of many members who joined us last year. The following brief reports give a flavour of some of the events in the first part of the new season. I am indebted to Dennis Fletcher who recorded notes on some of these during September and early October whilst I was away on an extended holiday in Spain.

Members' Evening – 8 September 2008

This opening event of the season is a chance for members to show prints or projected images of their holidays or other interests. This was a highly successful evening due to the quality and variety of subjects presented.

Caught by Digital - Nenne Van Dijk - 29 September 2008

We had a visit from Nenne Van Dijk last year and were impressed with her insight, transferred from her earlier work as a sculptor, in finding pleasing, intriguing, shapes and tones from mainly everyday objects. In this presentation we started with more of the same. Many prints displayed for us to appreciate on their own terms with little discussion, mainly still life, flowers, bark etc. but there was much more to come. Some portraits, some remarkably good macros, many of insects and those who attempt this know that it is a world away from still life work. We had a series on tea cups, vases of flowers and even paper carrier bags. Finally some landscapes. Nenne knows what she likes and has the technique to convey it to us. The prints could be appreciated from a distance but really benefited from closer inspection when the subtlety of tone and detail became more apparent. In her final words she promised an excursion into audio-visual presentations - from what we have seen so far this is something we mustn't miss.
(Dennis Fletcher)

First projected Image Competition - Judge Walter Benzie - 6 October 2008

Another judge who radiates enthusiasm and gives the impression of enjoying our offerings We had about 50 digital images and nine conventional slides.. How much longer will we be having slide competitions? There was a good variety especially in the digital images and Walter took everything in his stride with useful comments. He made the point that digital images were even more prone to burn-out and lack of dynamic range than film transparencies. Notable images included a stunning capture of a kingfisher and an atmospheric corn field. I was particularly taken by the picture of three geese taking off - timing was spot-on.
(Dennis Fletcher)

Filters - Philip Duplock - 13 October 2008

This was very much a retro evening and Philip brought a selection of lenses and filters along with his Minolta film camera. He started by saying that in the digital age many of the functions of filters can be achieved in software but there are still some filters which are useful for digital cameras. Starting with a UV filter which can protect protect the outer surface of the lens and in the case of a 1B filter (a favourite of Philip's) add a slight warmth to a scene. The second most useful filter for all cameras is the polarising filter, mainly used for controlling reflections or for darkening blue skies. The graduated grey filter can be useful for reducing contrast between sky and ground in landscapes and the neutral density filter can be useful for controlling exposure times with normal lenses and especially in mirror lenses which don't have variable apertures. Philip also demonstrated the Cokin filter system which could be used on different sizes of lenses. The colour filters commonly used with black and white films are of little use with digital cameras but I think that
some of the more exotic filters such as the diffraction grating giving a multi order rainbow effect and used in many of Philips most memorable images would be difficult to emulate in software. After the break we were shown a selection of slides demonstrating many of the filter effects but also treated to some of Philip's superb images. An excellent offering. from one of our own members.
(Dennis Fletcher)

Digital Monochrome Techniques – Tony Riley LBIPP – 20 October 2008
This evening marked the welcome return of Tony (one-time chairman of the society) for another lecture in his series on different aspects of digital photography. Last season the emphasis of his talk was on the advantages of capturing images in RAW format and the greater control that this enabled in subsequent manipulation in Photoshop or other image editing software.
On this occasion he addressed the options available for creating monochrome images from digital pictures. As he explained, each of the three colour channels (red, green and blue) recorded only a degree of brightness for each pixel, represented by a number between 0 and 255. The 'colour' seen on the camera screen or computer monitor was created by software. Each channel could be viewed as a monochrome image, with the differences representing the effect of the appropriate colour filter for that channel. To demonstrate this he used a colourful picture of beach huts from Australia. (Members who were familiar with black and white film photography could easily understand the parallels, having used yellow filters to darken blue skies, or even a red filter for very dramatic effect) Tony stressed that, although most digital cameras had a 'monochrome' picture feature, this should be avoided as this effectively reduced the record to a single channel (losing user control) and presenting limitations at the printing stage.
Tony then demonstrated a variety of ways in which the images could be manipulated to remove the colour information and to choose the preferred balance between that represented by the three channels. Additionally, he showed how either the full image, or selected parts, could be adjusted by the use of the 'curves' and 'layers' functions. In the demonstration the linear gradient was converted into an 'S' shape. It was interesting for me to see that this adjustment, to modify the density gradient in the picture, resulted in a curve that was reminiscent of the characteristic curve shown in film technical literature. Throughout, Tony stressed that the objective, as with conventional monochrome darkroom printing, was to obtain an image containing good whites and dense blacks, with a full range of tones in between.
Annual Exhibition – 1 November 2008
Due to the fact that the hall we normally use in Reigate was fully booked, this year's event was held at the Redhill Methodist Church hall in Redhill. The displays were set out in a large room, with high ceiling and good lighting. Unfortunately the location in Gloucester Road is away from the town centre, and attendance suffered as a result.
Svalbard, Kingdom Of The Ice Bear – Mervyn Seltzer ARPS – 3 November 2008
and
Antarctica – Don Halliday – 10 November 2008
The running of these two lectures on successive weeks gave members an opportunity to experience the differences between travel at the opposing Poles – like polar bears at the north and penguins at the south. Quite some contrast! However, there were many similarities, like the extreme temperatures experienced and what appeared to be the universal use of robust Russian ships with suspiciously large arrays of radio antennae!
Mervyn was extremely fortunate in being able to experience, and photograph, so many close encounters with polar bears. It had been explained that this was not always the case, but this voyage was particularly lucky in this respect.
Don had a very different voyage, initially going on one ship from the tip of South America to join another on the coast of Antarctica, then sailing around this and finishing up on the south island of New Zealand. They went ashore at various points, using the Zodiac inflatables or, in some instances, the ship-borne helicopters. Visits were made to some of the research stations that are a feature of this part of the world. An attempt was made by the ship's captain to beat his personal record of getting closest to the South Pole, but this was frustrated by the need to navigate around a couple of island-sized ice-floes that threatened to block their path.
PAGB Slides – 17 November 2008
The Photographic Alliance of Great Britain (PAGB) holds an annual contest, and the results of the latest one were compiled onto a CD that is available to photographic clubs. Steve Lawrenson outlined the way in which the images were judged and the selection process. He explained that three judges had to sift through, perhaps, thousands of images. The result was that immediate 'impact' was almost certainly a strong factor in deciding which images made it into the final selection.
It has to be said that the pictures were, generally, of a very high standard. In some instances there were signs of very heavy manipulation in Photoshop or other editing programs, which may not be to everyone's taste. However, there was a great variety of subjects. There were superb nature photographs of birds and animals, stunning landscapes, and a pleasing array of portraits and 'people' photographs. It is likely that everyone would have come away with a number of memorable images in their mind. However, possibly one of the best, and most humorous, was a superbly timed photograph of a young lad on a horse at what appeared to be a 'crisis moment' in some competition. Not only did the lad have a startled look on his face, but the horse looked as if it had just encountered a lion in its path! Definitely a 'decisive moment' as Cartier-Bresson would have said! Although it was not intended, our 'Honorary Lanternist' ** (aka Dave Lyons) presented the images and titles in reverse order. This gave the added bonus that members had a chance to guess the title of each image before it was revealed. This also gave rise to a fair bit of humour.
Overall, the images presented were of a very high standard and with an interesting mix of subjects. Personally, I was pleased to see a good number of 'people' pictures. Perhaps this might persuade members to include more of this type in future competitions.
** Note: For the benefit of younger and newer members, the term 'Lanternist' was still used in our society to refer to our projectionist long after the old-style lanterns (perhaps with limelight) had been superseded.
Open Competition – Steve Lawrenson ARPS APAGB - 1 December 2008
This competition was open to non-members, and had been publicised at the time of the Annual Exhibition. The purpose is to bring the existence of the society to a wider audience and, hopefully, to encourage new membership.
The competition attracted entries from about twenty people, and these were judged by Steve Lawrenson. He sent these comments “You asked for a few words from the Judge's perspective about the Open Competition. As last year the words varied and impressive come to mind. This time we did not have any entries in the under 16 class but there was certainly plenty to choose from. There were some very nice enprints but also, encouragingly, some very nicely mounted and presented larger prints which would easily hold their own in any of our internal competitions. I was kept busy throughout the evening continuously finding new gems to put aside for consideration as potential winners. By the end of the evening the table was overflowing with potential candidates making my final choice an enjoyable but difficult task. I for one look forward to seeing many more pictures from our entrants over the seasons to come.”
The overall winner was Nigel Walters, and the runner-up was Nigel Clifford. Both received an award of Jessops vouchers.
Christmas Social & Chatham Challenge - 15 December 2008
This year's Challenge outing had been to Brooklands Museum, the event having been organised by Bob Boden. Bob was on hand to give his judgment and to present the cumulative total of marks awarded as the various competition categories were projected. The competition built up to its usual nail-biting climax when the overall winner could be revealed. This year's event was won by Carol Hicks who had the pleasure of being presented with the splendid glass trophy, and the added bonus of knowing that she would be privileged to organise next year's event!
The evening concluded with the traditional pre-Christmas social, giving members an opportunity to chat to one another, whilst enjoying the buffet food brought along for this event.
Web Sites & How to do it – Jill Flower - 12 January 2009
The objective of this lecture was to give members an overview of the various types of web sites available to photographers. To explain how to use these Jill drew on examples of web sites created by members. There were examples of sites used for travel photography, family news and photos, portfolio sites which allow comments, and photographic showcase sites that allow sales.
Most of the sites demonstrated were free, and some had a small charge. Jill used Photoshop to give a live demonstration of building a site from scratch.
The lecture gave rise to a great number of questions from the audience, and the evening concluded with a lively discussion of the points raised.
Set Subject “Glass” - Carole Speight ARPS APAGB - 19 January 2009
This competition received a large number of entries, both prints and projected images. The set subject had encouraged members to take pictures specifically for the competition, rather than digging out images from the 'archive'. In much the same way as the Chatham Challenge it challenged members to concentrate on technical aspects of photography (good glass pictures being quite difficult to image well) and to be quite creative. The resulting images were, generally, of a very high standard.
“The Way I See It” - Susan Hill FRPS MPAGB EFIAP – 26 January 2009
As it turned out this was the “Not The Way I See It” show, because Susan said that she had shown that particular set of prints and slides to us on a previous occasion. She had brought along another collection for us to see, and I doubt that anyone would have complained about the change.
The first half of the evening was taken up with a display of prints, followed by a selection of colour slides after the break. One after another a display of truly excellent quality images was presented. It is difficult to pick out the best images, and each member would have their own choice. However, for me there were some obvious highlights – images that will remain in my memory of this evening.
One of the techniques that Susan used involved soft-focus lenses. Notable among the photographs using soft focus were a set taken of a Thames barge event. The soft focus gave the images a dreamy quality, almost like impressionist paintings. Brilliant! Another 'genre' involved close-ups of trees, rocks and lichen. These 'pattern' pictures are not to everyone's taste, but Susan had used a technique, which I had not seen before, of wetting tree bark in order to give much more vibrant colours. She said that she got very funny looks from passers-by when doing this! As for rocks, she used the opposite technique of ensuring that they were dry, and using a brush to get rid of any distracting dust or sand on the surface.
One of the significant points that she made was that the quality of light was the most important aspects of photography. This is something that most of us realise, but too often ignore when we are actually taking photographs. The point was brought home most strongly by two sets of images that she showed. The first involved a lone tree in the middle of a field, photographed from a high angle so that it was surrounded by the colour of the crop. In the first shot, taken early in the year, the bare branches stood out against the greenish colour of the crop growth. A similar view, taken in summer with the tree in full leaf, showed it almost merging into the background colour. There was no doubting the superiority of the first shot over the second. The second set of images were of woodland scenes. Two factors came into play. Shots of the trees after rain, when the bark was darkened by being wet, increased the contrast of colour in the scene. Other examples were taken in the early morning, when the rising sun shafted through and highlighted some of the trees. In both instances it reinforced the point that timing and the quality of light were important.
Susan's talk brought home the point about 'no gain without pain'. The breadth and quality of her images demonstrated her determined approach, and one that has to be admired, especially by people like myself who don't have quite that measure of dedication!
Treasure Hunt results - 2 February 2009
Unfortunately, due to the heaviest snowfall in two decades, this event had to be abandoned.
For the record - despite the very accurate predictions of the weather men every public service seemed to be caught on the hop. Road clearance was inadequate, railways ground to a halt, London buses did not even leave their garages (Hitler failed to stop them before, as did the severe winters of 1947 and 1963, to name but a few!), airport runways remained snowbound, all Surrey schools were closed, and most workers spent a very pleasant day with their children sledging and building snowmen! I just hope that members got out there to capture the fun.
It had been intended to add a second subject to this evening's programme – a demonstration of colour balancing between computer screens and printers. Many members were looking forward to learning more on this topic. However, the good news is that this event will be rescheduled for showing on 23 March 2009.
And finally . . .
We have commented in these columns before about the problems of Jessops. Readers will be aware that a significant number of their High Street stores were closed some time ago, and those who keep in touch with the money markets will know about the slump in that firm's share price. At the time of writing the price per share was about 2 pence. This gives readers the option to buy 275,000 shares or a Nikon DX3 top-of -the-range digital SLR camera! I wonder which option will retain its value best in a year's time!
Another interesting news item concerning Jessops is that they will no longer stock Pentax cameras, and that the range of compact cameras stocked will drop from 150 to 50 models. The dropping of Pentax is very significant. It could well be the precursor to a much closer tie-up with a limited number of manufacturers. (According to a newspaper report there had been a denial by Jessops that it was seeking to team up with a single camera maker) In marketing generally there is an increasing tendency for suppliers to 'pay' for shelf space, and it could well be that a major player (such as Sony) could use its business strength to gain extra exposure in Jessops stores. Watch this space!

Peter Flower 5 February 2009