Archived Items
26th October 2020
Once again Thornbury camera Club welcomed a guest photographer Zooming in from his own home. George Reekie (DPAGB ABPE) is a photographer with many skills both in using his camera and in using his computer to present the results.
He started his presentation with a look at wildlife: mainly birds photographed in Spain and Costa Rica. Apart from the birds themselves, the main difference seemed to be that in Spain hides were on rails to be moved depending on the light. In Costa Rica, people rented out their house balconies (and would provide food and drink as well.) It also seemed to rain all the time in Costa Rica. As well as birds, a photographic favourite from Central America had to be recorded: the Red Eyed Tree Frog. Everyone, it seems has to have their take on these bright green frogs.
Always out to surprise are the Hummingbirds. To freeze their wings would take a shutter speed of one thousandth of a second or less. Flash would be a better option. George’s images of two hummingbirds captured together in the same frame were particularly special.
In the second part of the evening, George showed some of his other interests: railways and reanactments. In many of these images he admitted to having moved people about for the sake of the composition. One particular Victorian girl appeared twice.
Displaying more of his wide interests, he showed his sports photographs: from rugby to racing.
Throughout, George had one insistence: photography should be fun.
19th October 2020
Tonight we had another two members talking about their photography. Lorna Minshall talked about a holiday,
but first to speak was Rod Crabb with a demonstration of Affinity.
Everyone has heard of Photoshop. At times it seems as if this is the only option for manipulating digital images. This is far from the case. Affinity has been available since 2015 though originally only available for Apple. Today it is a fully functioning photo-editor with an interface similar to Photoshop. Its big attraction for many people is its low one-off price. Rod launched Affinity and showed off key features providing basic adjustments for images. It soon became apparent, however, that Affinity is capable of much more. The reign of Photoshop must eventually come to an end. Perhaps Affinity is the future?
In Thornbury Camera Club we get used to the idea of people travelling. We have grown used to seeing images from Australia, the USA and the Far East. Paris and Rome seem no more than our own back-yard. This, however, was a first for the club: the first time a member had ventured into central Asia to the Republic of Kyrgyzstan. Bordering China to the east Kyrgyzstan is one of the nations born out of the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Lorna’s daughter went to work there in 2017 so, in 2018, Lorna went to visit. She stayed initially in the capital Bishkek in the north. This is a modern city with tree-lined boulevards (they like to compare it with Paris.) The quality of the pavements suggests, however, that something could be learned from the French capital. The city has public squares and monuments: some held over from the Soviet era; Lenin and Marx were in evidence. Travelling east from Bishkek, the group arrived at Issyk-Kul Lake. This is the second largest salt water lake in the world after the Caspian Sea. In Soviet times the lake was used for testing torpedoes and submarines. Today, the shores seemed to be filled with “cultural attractions”.
As people travel further afield, perhaps one day we will have a meeting where someone describes a trip to the Moon!
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Tonight we had another two members talking about their photography. Lorna Minshall talked about a holiday,
but first to speak was Rod Crabb with a demonstration of Affinity.
Everyone has heard of Photoshop. At times it seems as if this is the only option for manipulating digital images. This is far from the case. Affinity has been available since 2015 though originally only available for Apple. Today it is a fully functioning photo-editor with an interface similar to Photoshop. Its big attraction for many people is its low one-off price. Rod launched Affinity and showed off key features providing basic adjustments for images. It soon became apparent, however, that Affinity is capable of much more. The reign of Photoshop must eventually come to an end. Perhaps Affinity is the future?
In Thornbury Camera Club we get used to the idea of people travelling. We have grown used to seeing images from Australia, the USA and the Far East. Paris and Rome seem no more than our own back-yard. This, however, was a first for the club: the first time a member had ventured into central Asia to the Republic of Kyrgyzstan. Bordering China to the east Kyrgyzstan is one of the nations born out of the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Lorna’s daughter went to work there in 2017 so, in 2018, Lorna went to visit. She stayed initially in the capital Bishkek in the north. This is a modern city with tree-lined boulevards (they like to compare it with Paris.) The quality of the pavements suggests, however, that something could be learned from the French capital. The city has public squares and monuments: some held over from the Soviet era; Lenin and Marx were in evidence. Travelling east from Bishkek, the group arrived at Issyk-Kul Lake. This is the second largest salt water lake in the world after the Caspian Sea. In Soviet times the lake was used for testing torpedoes and submarines. Today, the shores seemed to be filled with “cultural attractions”.
As people travel further afield, perhaps one day we will have a meeting where someone describes a trip to the Moon!
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12th October 2020
Thornbury Camera holds several competitions through the year. This was the first of the new year, and the first run by new Internal Competition Secretary: Brian McBride. All went well. The judge on this occasion was Bob Ryan (ARPS FRSA) from Tetbury. Bob has visited the club before: a couple of years ago. It was a pleasure to welcome him back.
Forty three prints were judged, and forty six projected images. Bob had judged the prints in advance on paper but, since the meeting was held on Zoom, the meeting saw projected versions of them. Bob commented on how different some images seem on a screen and on paper. He suggested that an image which works well projected may not work as a print. Images should be prepared differently for the two media: particularly with respect to luminosity.
In the print section, Steve Wells came first with “Honeysuckle”. In second place was Mike Ashfield with “Lonely Cottage”. “Taipei 101” gave third place to Dean Packer. Images which were highly commended or commended were from George Collett, Edward Kilmartin, Ray Lemin and Steve Wells.
In the projected section, Vincent Mann was placed first with “A Curious Look”. Rose Kemp gained second place with “Cotswold Lavender Fields”. Simon Meeds gave us “Incognito – pre COVID” to achieve third place. Highly commended and commended images were from Christine Crabb, Dean Packer, Vincent Mann, Graham Peers and Martin Nimmo.
The next competition will be judged on November23rd. The subject of this competition will be “Flowers”. Brian pointed out that this can be interpreted widely. It could be a single flower or just a small part of a flower; it could be an arrangement many flowers; it could be a whole field of vibrant colour.
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Thornbury Camera holds several competitions through the year. This was the first of the new year, and the first run by new Internal Competition Secretary: Brian McBride. All went well. The judge on this occasion was Bob Ryan (ARPS FRSA) from Tetbury. Bob has visited the club before: a couple of years ago. It was a pleasure to welcome him back.
Forty three prints were judged, and forty six projected images. Bob had judged the prints in advance on paper but, since the meeting was held on Zoom, the meeting saw projected versions of them. Bob commented on how different some images seem on a screen and on paper. He suggested that an image which works well projected may not work as a print. Images should be prepared differently for the two media: particularly with respect to luminosity.
In the print section, Steve Wells came first with “Honeysuckle”. In second place was Mike Ashfield with “Lonely Cottage”. “Taipei 101” gave third place to Dean Packer. Images which were highly commended or commended were from George Collett, Edward Kilmartin, Ray Lemin and Steve Wells.
In the projected section, Vincent Mann was placed first with “A Curious Look”. Rose Kemp gained second place with “Cotswold Lavender Fields”. Simon Meeds gave us “Incognito – pre COVID” to achieve third place. Highly commended and commended images were from Christine Crabb, Dean Packer, Vincent Mann, Graham Peers and Martin Nimmo.
The next competition will be judged on November23rd. The subject of this competition will be “Flowers”. Brian pointed out that this can be interpreted widely. It could be a single flower or just a small part of a flower; it could be an arrangement many flowers; it could be a whole field of vibrant colour.
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5th October 2020
The kitchen is the place to find a range of shapes which lend themselves to interesting photographs. On this occasion, members of Thornbury Camera Club were asked to take six photographs “In the Kitchen” (with a proviso that no images of people or food were allowed.)
The result was a collection of strange, in some cases other-worldly almost science fiction, images. A lot of arrangements of forks and spoons appeared as still-life setups: corkscrews appeared three times. I stopped counting the cheese graters. For me, a particularly attractive image was a honey spoon by Rose Kemp. An abstract twisted shape against a plain background.
A second theme which came out strongly was texture: natural wood contrasted with shiny metal and plastic.
Many items were small. So, macro photography was in evidence: in some cases providing the opportunity for guesswork. When this was combined with coloured lighting from LEDs and tablet computers the results could be very obscure. Members had a merry time trying to guess some of the subjects.
Having said that there were to be no people, one image did feature Teddy Bears. Stretching a point perhaps? After all, for my six-year old granddaughter, a Teddy Bear is a person!
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The kitchen is the place to find a range of shapes which lend themselves to interesting photographs. On this occasion, members of Thornbury Camera Club were asked to take six photographs “In the Kitchen” (with a proviso that no images of people or food were allowed.)
The result was a collection of strange, in some cases other-worldly almost science fiction, images. A lot of arrangements of forks and spoons appeared as still-life setups: corkscrews appeared three times. I stopped counting the cheese graters. For me, a particularly attractive image was a honey spoon by Rose Kemp. An abstract twisted shape against a plain background.
A second theme which came out strongly was texture: natural wood contrasted with shiny metal and plastic.
Many items were small. So, macro photography was in evidence: in some cases providing the opportunity for guesswork. When this was combined with coloured lighting from LEDs and tablet computers the results could be very obscure. Members had a merry time trying to guess some of the subjects.
Having said that there were to be no people, one image did feature Teddy Bears. Stretching a point perhaps? After all, for my six-year old granddaughter, a Teddy Bear is a person!
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The Pentaptych pictures for the end of term project can be found beneath the Members' Galleries tab HERE ********** |
There is a link to Digital Camera World cards to download/print on the 'Tips and Tricks' page These are 72 tips on different aspects of photography. ********** |
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Thanks to Simon Meeds for an interesting and informative talk via zoom on Creative Problem Solving . The slides and notes for the talk and also another section that Simon didn't have time to cover are in Tips and Tricks HERE ********** |
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The results and winning images for Comp 5 (Open) and the final results for the year are under the Competitions tab ********** |
The results for the 3 way Battle held on 16th September were as follows: Thornbury 464 points Crossbow 446 points Sodbury and Yate also 446 points Several of our members gained a maximum score of 20 points so special congratulations to them. Janet has sent a flyer to the membership containing our entry, the photographers and the individual scores. ***************** |
Following on from discussions at a recent club meeting there is a link HERE to an article in Amateur Photographer regarding the Law and Street Photography
Mark Hayward has shared with us a post processing site that he uses which is now free to download.
It can be found at http://www.dl-c.com/ - link HERE - (Digital Light and Colour)
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Oz Parfitt showed us how he used his images to fill text. His notes on this can be
found on the Tips and Tricks page HERE
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Following on from Simon Riches' talk on 'What catches the eye in DPIC,
Rob England has found 3 links on what judges look for in competitions. They can be found
in the Tips and Tricks page HERE
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Rob England has found 3 links on what judges look for in competitions. They can be found
in the Tips and Tricks page HERE
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3 Way Battle Results for 2018
The results of the 3 Way Battle were:
Thornbury 396 Points
Sodbury and Yate 384 Points
Crossbow 377 Points
A link to our entry is HERE
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Updates for this season regarding competitions
There will be no beginners pdi competition (Just one competition for all)
and
The 3 year restriction has been lifted for competition entries
Also, please note the new sizes for pdi competition images for the coming year
- 1600px wide x 1200px high (max)
If you need help with resizing, there is a link to Steve Wells' powerpoint
presentation HERE
There will be no beginners pdi competition (Just one competition for all)
and
The 3 year restriction has been lifted for competition entries
Also, please note the new sizes for pdi competition images for the coming year
- 1600px wide x 1200px high (max)
If you need help with resizing, there is a link to Steve Wells' powerpoint
presentation HERE
George Collett has obtained his CPAGB. The pictures and details can be seen in the
May newsletter update. Congratulations to George.
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3 Way Battle Results for 2017
The results of the 3 Way Battle were:
Thornbury 400 Points
Crossbow 386 Points
Sodbury and Yate 379 Points
Congratulations to George Collett, Janet Oxenham, Andy Gillingham and Simon Riches
who each scored 18 points for one of their pictures.
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Ian Cook's notes on his talk on Photoshop Elements 13 can be found HERE
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Simon Riches gave us a talk on how to mount prints. A link to his talk can be found HERE
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The results for the 3 Way Battle in September 2016 were:
Sodbury and Yate 449
Thornbury 441
Crossbow 428
Congratulations to Sodbury and Yate!
Below are the 3 pictures from TCC members that received the maximum of 20 points each. You can enlarge on the pictures by clicking on them
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Sunlight Through the Window by Janet Oxenham
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Historic Laycock by George Collett
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Lily by Barbara Gibbons
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Barrian Cup 2016
The Barrian Cup was held on Saturday 11th June in Barry. Congratulations to George Collett and Peter Howarth who both scored 19 out of 20 (pictures below). Out of a total of 26 clubs, Gwynfa Camera Club were the winners with 96 points. Thornbury scored 86 points placing us around the middle of the competition.
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Old Boats by Peter Howarth.
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Hunting Buzzard by George Collett
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Click on pictures to enlarge
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DPIC Results 2016
To see results and the winning pictures click HERE