Tuesday 24th January 2023 - Focus On Triptychs + post-processing demos

Tonight's meeting started with Focus On ... Triptychs.  Two of our guest speakers this season had given tips on creating triptychs and with further help from Google and YouTube, club members sent in 30 entries.  Our Focus On sessions are more informal or relaxed than club competitions because it is the members at the meeting who vote for their favourite images, there is no critique from a judge.  

We had an array of different styles, techniques and topics across the triptychs on display and those receiving the most votes can be seen below. The chocolate prizes for the top three went to Andy Caws, Jack Mitchell and Stephen Gregory.

In the second part of the meeting, two club members, Francesca and Jan, demonstrated their basic workflows starting from a RAW file to a jpeg file ready for a club competition.  Francesca showed us how she processes her images using Affinity which was the first time most of us had seen this software in action.  Jan demonstrated her workflow using Lightroom and Photoshop.  What we learned from both demonstrations was that with just a few steps in a few minutes it is possible to transform an image from the camera into an eye catching photograph. 

Thanks to Jan and Francesca for sharing their knowledge with fellow club members.

Here are the triptychs which got the most votes:

1st BIRDS IN THE GARDEN by Andy Caws

2nd PROFILES OF A GREY SEAL by Jack Mitchell

3rd AUTUMN FOREST by Stephen Gregory

4th A ROSE MONTAGE by Stephen Gregory

=5th FISH FACE by Robin Orrow

=5th PAPER ROLLS by Francesca Shearcroft

7th DREAMY GARDEN FLOWERS by Jan Murphy

8th MASAI VILLAGERS by Di Jackson

9th GLASSWARE by Francesca Shearcroft

10th RUTLAND WATER BIRDS by Di Jackson

Tuesday 10th January 2023 - An Introduction to Wildlife Photography by Colin Edwards

After a long break over Christmas and New Year, our 2023 programme of meetings kicked off with a lively meeting with wildlife photographer Colin Edwards from Haverhill.  It was clear from the start that Colin’s main priority was the welfare of the wildlife he photographs.  The photography and fieldcraft tips he shared will encourage us to explore our local habitats and take our time to learn about the behaviour of wildlife on our doorstep.

We sat in the comfort of Wells Cole admiring the images Colin had captured at dawn, in the rain, in the snow, in fog, lying in fields etc.  His enthusiasm inspired us to get out with our cameras but we will have to wait and see if these New Year resolutions produce results!

© Colin Edwards

© Colin Edwards

You can see more of Colin’s images on his website here.