For those of you who like landscape images, Landscape Photography Magazine are offering a free download of their magazine this month:
Portraiture Evening
Another great evening for the club!
We managed to secure two models for the evening, the lovely Becky and fitness-instructor Josh. We had two lighting set up to maximise the shooting opportunities; one set up used continuous lighting which allowed multiple people to shoot at the same time, and one set up with Speedlight flashes... these need to be carefully configured and we had various camera types using the flashes, both with wired connection and being triggered by infra-red flash.
Becky has worked in modelling before so she knew the ropes and plenty of poses ready for us, Josh had no previous experience but took to the challenge like a duck to water!
Theme Competition - Mechanical
Another competition with some excellent entries! Well done to James for taking first place with his tractor shot (and it's a sunrise too, something which seems to be frowned upon by judges!) and Richard took second place with his shot of an old music-box taken through a glass ball!
Portait Lighting
Another cracking evening at the club, Richard bought in his lighting set up to show us how he approaches lighting for shooting portraits and while he has some good equipment the same logic can still be applied when using simpler gear.
We used two lighting set up during the evening, starting with a high-key configuration using all four flashes, and then switching to a simpler two flash setup for low-key portraits.
Posing Guide
In preparation for next weeks portraiture evening, this may give you some pointers about how to pose your models!
http://digital-photography-school.com/posing-guide-photographing-women-2/
Members Presentation
Wow, what a full evening of photographic goodness!
Peter started off the evening with some of his shots that he sells via local shops and his website, for more of his excellent work have a look at his site! http://www.capturedcornwall.co.uk/
Next up was Ted with a talk on his passion, Primulas. He showed us through the different varieties including how he won a Chelsea Gold Medal, a most impressive achievement!
Janet and John showed us the results of their day-trip to see the "Just Jane" Lancaster Bomber with http://timelineevents.org/, the events are set up specifically for photographers and include people in period dress who perform re-enactments through the day.
Finally, we finished off the evening with a tutorial of macro focus stacking from James and Richard, where they managed to achieve some stunning results like this... phew!
Rapson Cup
Well done to everyone who participated, there were some cracking entries his year and I think the judges had their work cut out to pick a winner!
It's always interesting to see what the judges have to say and there was plenty of feedback given, but there can only be one winner and this time it was the turn of Bill to take first and second place with his flower picture while Jon takes third place with Colliford Trees.
Congratulations to the winners!
The Wildlife of Dartmoor
Tuesday saw a fascinating talk by John Walters titled "The Wildlife of Dartmoor" featuring photos, video and his own sketches. It's amazing to think of the variety of species that I was completely unaware that are found on Dartmoor, and the lengths that you must go to capture such creatures!
For more of his work please see his website:
The danger of G.A.S.
I think that most of us have suffered with G.A.S. (or Gear Acquisition Syndrome) at one time or another where we lust over a new piece of equipment that could elevate our photography to the next level, but it's always worth thinking things through before we lay down our hard-earned cash as discussed in this via from PetaPixel:
http://petapixel.com/2016/09/26/four-dangers-camera-gear-obsesssion-one-benefit/
5 Nik Collection Filters to Improve Your Landscape Photos
By now I'm sure you will have all downloaded and installed the Nik Collection (now free from Google!) but you may be wondering where to start... Digital Photography School has a few pointers to get you going!
http://digital-photography-school.com/5-nik-collection-filters-landscape-photos/