Wednesday 23 May 2018

Tuesday 22 May - Monochrome conversion - Ian Wilson

What’s the best monochrome conversion method?  

Ask half a dozen photographers and you’ll probably get six different answers!  Last night we put that question to Ian Wilson from Cambridge Camera Club and his answer was a clear vote for Nik Silver Efex.  Before demonstrating the power of Nik Silver Efex, Ian showed other methods using Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop.  

Watching an expert like Ian transform a number of images very quickly with the tools available in Nik Silver Efex was an eye-opener to many of us and I’m sure many club members will be trying out the tips we picked up.  As well as a hands-on demonstration, Ian brought several of his monochrome prints which showed not only the results of different processing styles but also the influence of different papers.

Many thanks to Ian for an inspiring presentation.



If you don’t already have Nik Silver Efex, it can be downloaded for free via the Nik/DxO website here https://nikcollection.dxo.com/.

Sunday 13 May 2018

Macro and Birds of Prey Workshops - Saturday 12th May

We kicked off the day with tea, coffee and biscuits followed by Nigel Downer and Richard Walpole providing us with information about the hundreds of cacti and other garden flowers and how best to photograph them.

After a couple of hours of trying to capture the many amazing plants we stopped for a fantastic lunch provided by Jane, Richard’s wife - it really was a splendid spread finished off with giant slices of delicious walnut carrot cake.

We then made our way to the Fen Falconry, just a few minutes walk away where we were introduced to an amazing variety of birds of prey and owls including Peregrine and Lanner Falcons, Harris Hawk, American Kestrel, European Kestrel and owls including Barn Owl and Ural Owl.

We started with static birds and moved on to birds in flight which we soon discovered were a whole lot trickier than static birds (or cacti!).  Unfortunately, the light shower predicted turned into a bit of a downpour so we didn’t get to experience trying to shoot the Peregrine Falcon as, apparently, they don’t enjoy the rain.  Nevertheless, we did see the Lanner Falcons flying and swooping in to the lure - what a sight, amazing speed and agility.

It was definitely a day of extreme contrasts both photographically and weather wise but it didn’t put us off and the day was finished with yet more tea, coffee and biscuits.


Some of our images can be seen below:

Ural Owl Coming in to Land by Jack Mitchell


Clematis in Macro by Gella Ladner


Barn Owl in Flight by Mick Ladner


Red Flowering Cactus by Vanessa Robertson


Harris Hawk Landing by Andy Caws

Cactus Abstract by Sue Baldwin

African Spotted Eagle Owl Chick by Diana Graham

Cactus Macro by Diana Daniels


Steppe Eagle Portrait by Mick Ladner

Cactus Flower by Diana Graham

Lanner Falcon in Flight by Di Jackson

Clematis seen from below by Di Jackson

You Missed It! by Jack Mitchell

Ural Owl by Diana Daniels

Yellow Flowering Cactus by Vanessa Robertson

Barn Owl by Gella Ladner

Team Cactus by Andy Caws

Thursday 10 May 2018

Tuesday 8th May – "A Passion for Nature", a talk by Ann Miles FRPS

There was no doubt about Ann Miles Passion for Nature.
Ann's talk covered many different and very varied aspects of nature, from ants to spiders, from flowers to snakes, from examples close to home to images from considerably further afield, all illustrated by excellent photographs.
Ann shared not only her images but also many photographic techniques and information about lenses used, depth of field, not to metnion the many locations of where to find various species.  Along the way Ann also gave much information about the various images of the criters or botanical specimens. 
I am sure that all members left with an increased enthusiam to see what insects they could find in their garden or perhaps to try a more artistic approach to nature images.
To read Ann's daily blog please go to: https://pin-sharp.blogspot.co.uk
To see some fo her images please check out her website: https://www.pin-sharp.co.uk
Thank you Ann for a really informative and inspirational evening. Your passion for nature was very evident.

Wednesday 2 May 2018

Tuesday 1st May – "Insight into Judging"

We welcomed Paul Radden to our meeting this evening to give a talk entitled "Insight into Judging". Not only is Paul the EAF President but also the Judging Secretary for the EAF, with many distinctions, LRPS, DPAGB, EFIAP/b and PSA*2, so he was more than qualified to share some thoughts about judging.
His presentation included many essential elements on how to judge a photograph ranging from practical considerations to technical, composition to post processing and not least on how to be constructive so that the author is not totally demoralised by the judge's comments. His talk was illustrated by many examples and he frequently asked the audience what they thought of a particular image and why.
After the break several members were brave enough to stand up and "judge" some images which were displayed on the screen. This proved much harder than it seemed. However, true to his instructions in his talk Paul was very encouraging about our attempts at judging.
For those wishing to consider going further there is an EAF worskhop in November. Full details availble from the Club secretary or on the EAF web site (www.eaf.org.uk).
All members seemed to enjoy the evening and a huge thank you to Paul, who had travelled a long way to be with us.