Tuesday 25th October 2022 - Competition, Digital Round 1 'Open'

This was our first competition of the season and was very well supported. The judge, Steve Milner, commented on and scored 64 images over the evening. There was a wide variety of topics on display and Steve cast his critical eye over each image and offered suggestions for improving the images before giving his score.

We have returned to three classes this season. Below you can see the high scoring images from the Members, Intermediate and Advanced classes.

Members class:

RED ARROWS by Andrew Barnes 18/20

COMMON BUZZARD by John Laing 16/20

Intermediate class:

IVORY FLAME by Chris Kot 20/20

SHOWING OFF IN THE SHOW RING by Tom Thurston 20/20

HORSE AND MAIDEN by Chris Kot 20/20

SQUABBLING BLACK HEADED GULLS by Tim Leonard 20/20

THREE MEN AND A BOAT by Kim Scrivener 19/20

I BRING YOU FLOWERS by Graham Jackson 19/20

GHOST WALK by Pam Rutty 19/20

GERBERA by Di Daniels 19/20

Advanced Class:

A POL POT SURVIVOR by Jan Murphy 20/20

WINTER STAG by Robin Orrow 20/20

AUTUMN MORNING by Liz Blake 20/20

LIFES A BEACH by Stephen Gregory 20/20

PUFFIN IN THE EVENING LIGHT by Jack Mitchell 19/20

ROSEBUD AND ROSE by Diana Graham 19/20

CANOE SLALOM GATE 24 by Andy Caws 19/20

Thursday 20th October 2022 - Minsmere Nature reserve (RSPB)

Sightings were tricky and photography even trickier but we were fortunate to have Dennis Brown with us who, with his local knowledge, was able to guide us to the best possible options on the day.  The elusive bittern was spotted lurking in the reeds and making the occasional fly-past.  Marsh harriers were mostly distant and disappearing in the murky gloom.  The highlights of the day were a solitary purple sandpiper on a beach groyne and some very obliging stonechats flitting amongst the brambles.

Only 7 of us braved the rather damp, murky, windy conditions at Minsmere but everyone seemed to enjoy their day and it was lovely to be out and about with friends and fellow club members.

Some of our images can be seen below:

Purple Sandpiper by Dennis Brown

Bittern by Robin Orrow

Great White Egret by Christine Frost

Heron by Andy Caws

Stonechat, Female by Graham Frost

Bittern in the Reeds by Christine Frost

Stonechat, Male by Graham Frost

Great Egret in Flight by Di Jackson

Shovelers in Flight by Dennis Brown

Bittern in Flight by Di Jackson

Great White Egret in Flight by Graham Frost

 Harrier at Sizewell by Andy Caws

Andy, Beached by Christine Frost

Female Widgeon in Flight by Di Jackson

Great Egret by Robin Orrow

Tuesday 11 October - Macro and Garden Photography - Steve Hedges

Before his presentation in the evening, eight Club members met Steve Hedges at Hunstanton beach for a half day workshop.  Many of the tips Steve mentioned in the evening talk were ones that the group had practised and mastered earlier.  

Steve's presentation began by identifying different equipment for macro photography.  He then illustrated several techniques for achieving the correct depth of field - quite often this was a matter of millimetres.  For situations where you can't get the depth of field in camera, then Steve showed examples of focus stacking.  To finish off the macro section, we saw examples of different lighting and the effect they produced.  The evening finished with some examples of garden photography with emphasis on strong compositions.

Over the afternoon and evening, Steve shared his knowledge and now it's up to us to apply it to our own work.

You can see examples of Steve's work on his website here .

And here are some examples of photographs taken by club members during the afternoon at Hunstanton.

THE WRECK OF THE SHERATON by Jan Murphy

COLOURFUL BEACH DISPLAY by Tom Thurston

BEACH BOULDERS by Liz Blake

WATER PATTERNS IN THE SAND by Jan Murphy

SILHOUETTE by Liz Blake

HUNSTANTON CLIFF REFLECTION by Tom Thurston

PATTERNS AND COLOURS by Tim Leonard

REFLECTIONS by John Kerr

WIND POWER by Tim Leonard

Tuesday 4 October 2022 - Processing a Night Shoot - Joe Houghton

This meeting was via Zoom which enabled us to welcome back Joe Houghton in Dublin.  It was a year since his previous session on Lightroom and in that time there has been a major upgrade with several new features introduced.

Joe’s talk was titled ‘Processing a Night Shoot’ and his hands-on demonstrations took us through several different worked examples.  Along the way, he reminded us of keyboard shortcuts, introduced us to new features, demonstrated processing techniques, revealed image details from dark shadows and gave advice on tweaking the user interface to suit our preferences.  The detailed examples showing how the different masking options can be combined were very effective.

The last example involved creating different panel designs - something that might be useful for the club’s summer challenge in the future. 

Altogether an informative evening which was entertaining and inspiring too.