FOCUS Sharing Visual Art
February 2019
The Official Digital Newsletter for Edenvale Photographic Club 2018 -CERPS -Winners
Proud Member of the Photographic Society of South Africa www.pssa.co.za
CONTENTS: Page
3
Chairman’s Chat
Page
4
Winning Images 13 February 2019
Page
11
Winning Images 27 February 2019
Page 16
Past Masters of Photography Edward Henry Weston
Page 20 Page 21 Page 22
Page 23 Page 24 Page 25
Submission Procedure for Club evening entries Member Focus Christa Smith Photographic tour to China with Johann van der Walt ITEMS FOR SALE Special Subject Calendar Road Show in Gauteng
Committee Members Chairman: David Wolstencroft 083 229 8066 davewol@gmail.com
Vice Chairperson: Scoring & Promotions
Heidi Broschk 079 886 8515 heidib@uj.ac.za
Treasurer: Ted Kinsman
083 461 2350 tkinsman@global.co.za
Secretary: Antonette Bezuidenhout 072 4426 317
antoinette1949@gmail.com
Salons, Judges and Outings: John Coumbias
079 1732 825 jcoumbias@telkomsa.net
Certificates & Awards Des Alexander
John Coumbias International Award
MEETING TIME AND PLACE 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month 18h30 for 19h00
EDENVALE COMMUNITY CENTRE Cor. Van Riebeeck & 2nd Street Edenvale
083 226 1452 neoncomp@webmail.co.za
New Members, Social Media & Website Clare Appleyard 083 234 0247
Newsletter & SocialMedia: Hanli Smit
083 253 1034 hanlis54@gmail.com
Chairman’s Chat As I sit here, staring at a blank sheet, waiting for inspiration (sometimes it just escapes me), my thoughts keep coming back to the club. I should rather say; the club is always on my mind. This may sound strange, but the recent events have improved my mindset regarding EPC. It is inspiring, as well as comforting to know, that all the members have the club’s welfare at heart, are so passionate about the club that they are willing to go to any lengths to make it better, to heal what needs to be fixed and to give of themselves to make it happen. This can and will make us a better club. I hesitate to say “stronger”. Stronger implies competition and although the competitive element will always be there, it should not consume and motivate everything we do. The club is for the members by the members. The focus of the club has changed to one that informs, educates and inspires members, to grow their skills and above all, to make their photography enjoyable. Yes, the spinoff could be that we are a “stronger” club, but that is not the intention. We need members that see value in belonging to the club, value to themselves as well as to the group as a whole. Only by working together can we achieve this. No, we must achieve this. It is for the long-term sustainability of the club and for everyone as photographers. In closing, allow me to rehash a previous statement. The club only consists of members. Everyone is a member, irrespective of position, rating or title. No one is more important than anyone else. Everyone has value to add through sharing of knowledge and skills, guiding and training, serving the club in some way and letting others know where improvements can be made. Thanks to all of you, this is now actively taking place. We are going to rock 2019. It is a year I am eagerly looking forward to. I would love to look back at this year and say “Wow, we did it. Everything we set out to do we did…. and more”. Let’s make it happen. Dave
Reminder
ANNUAL CLUB FEES ARE NOW DUE!!
1 Star Winners
13 February 2019
JUDGING CRITERIA FOR ONE STAR WORKERS 1) CORRECT EXPOSURE 2) IN FOCUS 3) ELEMENT OF COMPOSITION 4) PICTURE CLEAN AND WELL PRESENTED
POINT VALUES COM = 4points GOLD = 3 points Silver = 2 points Bronze = 1 point Winner plus 1 point
PICTORIAL Stargazer Atholene Liebenberg
2 Star Winners
NATURE Mom Dad & 2 Chicks Brian Kleinwort
PICTORIAL Hip Hop Johanda Oberholzer
13 February 2019
3 Star Winners
13 February 2019
NATURE Wearing my crown Christa Smith
PICTORIAL Pass me a light Kenneth Kubheko
4 Star Winners
13 February 2019
NATURE Lipizzaner Beauty Natasha Bird
PICTORIAL Hornbill Cecil Mayhew
5
and 6 Star Winners
13 February 2019 NATURE Dandelion Vicki Street
PICTORIAL Coming down John Coumbias
Key West Centre, Shop 8 14 Grobler Ave, Bedfordview Tel: 011 455- 1243 email: robponte@neomail.co.za www.photodigitalprolab.co.za Facebook: facebook.com/photodigitalprolab
WHY JOIN A CAMERA CLUB... Are you looking for like-minded people who are interested in photography *SHARING IDEAS *SHARING SKILLS *SHARING PROBLEMS *SHARING FRIENDSHIP
Even when we compete against one another we are sharing,testing ourselves against the work of others to see just how good we can be.
Most importantly it is about becoming more satisfied with our photographic work
1 Star Winners
27 February
Nature Dung Beetles at Work Andrew Mayes
Pictorial Stitch in Time Atholene Liebenberg
2 Star Winners
27 February NATURE Grooming cub Caryn Wilson
PICTORIAL Vintage Bianca Holburn
3 Star Winners NATURE Hello There Valerie Sampson
PICTORIAL Too Close Gary Atkins
27 February
4 Star Winners
27 February
NATURE Hornbill with snake catch Natasha Bird
PICTORIAL Sunset view from Elim Dune Namibia Natasha Bird
5 and 6 Star Winners
NATURE Sea Scape Kovalam Vadivelu TT
PICTORIAL The fall Trevor Tyler
27 February
Past Masters of Photography Edward Henry Weston Hopefully these examples will inspire all club members for our next Special Subject on the 24th of April I truly believe he is a master of Table Top Photography and the abstract Nude Extracted from wikipedia
Edward Henry Weston (March 24, 1886 – January 1, 1958) was a 20th-century American photographer. He has been called “one of the most innovative and influential American photographers…”[1] and “one of the masters of 20th century photography.”[2] Over the course of his 40-year career Weston photographed an increasingly expansive set of subjects, including landscapes, still lives, nudes, portraits, genre scenes and even whimsical parodies. It is said that he developed a “quintessentially American, and specially Californian, approach to modern photography”[3] because of his focus on the people and places of the American West. In 1937 Weston was the first photographer to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship, and over the next two years he produced nearly 1,400 negatives using his 8 × 10 view camera. Some of his most famous photographs were taken of the trees and rocks at Point Lobos, California, near where he lived for many years.
Weston was born in Chicago and moved to California when he was 21. He knew he wanted to be a photographer from an early age, and initially his work was typical of the soft focus pictorialism that was popular at the time. Within a few years, however, he abandoned that style and went on to be one of the foremost champions of highly detailed photographic images. In 1947 he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and he stopped photographing soon thereafter. He spent the remaining ten years of his life overseeing the printing of more than 1,000 of his most famous
Edward Weston-Wikipedia https://en wikipedia.org/wiki/ Edward_Weston
Some more Iconic Images from the lens of Edward Henry Weston
Edward Weston
Specifications for Submission of High Definition “E” Photography
RECOMMENDED PROCEDURE Maximum Pixel Size = 1080 x 1920 Maximum Data File Size = 2000 Kilobytes (2mb) Jpeg We use 2 Categories at Edenvale for our club submissions 1) NATURE...”na” 2) PICTORIAL....”pi” The image must be named as follows Star Rating_Category_Image Name_Persons Name EXAMPLE:...2_na_hornbill_joe blog (all lowercase)
1. Select Canvas [Frame] Size under the heading “ Image” in Photoshop if you wish to add the border to the image and make your adjustments. If you do not wish to add a border go to step 2 2. Select image size under the heading “Image” in Photoshop – Tick the following boxes : Scale Styles, Constrain Proportions and Resample image. 3. The maximum size of the image must not exceed 1920 pixels wide and 1080 pixels high 4. When resizing a horizontal image ( Landscape ) enter 1920 pixels in the Width box and the vertical size will be adjusted automatically if you have ticked the “ Resample Image” box . If the vertical size is 1080 pixels or less, the resizing is correct. If the vertical adjusts to a value more than 1080 pixels ( say 1096 pixels ) then adjust the vertical size to 1080 pixels and the horizontal size will automatically reduce below 1920 pixels if you have ticked the “ Resample Image” box. 5. When resizing a vertical image (Portrait) enter 1080 pixels in the Height Box. The value in the Width Box will change automatically to match the original image if you have ticked the “ Resample Image “ box 6. The maximum image data file size is 2000 (2MB) Kilobytes in the JPEG format . Note that if a border is added to the image, this must be added before resizing and reducing the file size to a maximum of 2000 Kilobytes to ensure that the image remains within the specified 2000Kb (2MB). 7. It is recommended that the image be displayed in the sRGB Colour Profile. This can be selected in the camera or changed in Photoshop under Edit/ Convert to Profile.
MEMBER
FOCUS
I was raised surrounded by the outspread plains of the Free State. June holidays, we visited the Northern Transvaal and summers we spent at the south coast. My love of changing landscapes took hold during these days, traveling.
Christa Smith
In the coming year I aim to sharpen my editing skills, even though the main aim will always be to take a flawless raw photograph, capturing the human spirit, and nature in all its multi-coloured splendour. I will always aim to honour the saying that when man creates, we need to take a step back to appreciate the whole; when God creates, we can move as close as possible and take a brilliant Macro.
Though I missed the era of the box camera, my parents used a Kodak to capture the big moments. The whole film had to be developed (both the good, bad and ugly), so as a youngster we did not have a lot of opportunities to take pictures ourselves. When we married, my husband purchased a Minolta camera, quite the luxury at the time. Raising children and starting my my own bakery, the snaps were few and far between. After the kids flew the nest, my passion for nature, colour and light made a welcome return. Paint and canvas proved too drawn out for my impatient heart, and a camera was the logical solution. My first “serious� purchase was a Nikon D310 with two kit lenses. My friend Marga Ley showed me the ropes and introduced me to the Edenvale Photography Club. My hobby just got quite interesting! With money inherited from my father, I purchased a Nikon D750. New lenses opened new worlds, especially the macro, telescopic and wide angle lenses had me transfixed. Hans van der Walt of the Edenvale Club provided critical input after every meeting, which taught me the finer aspects of the art. Thank you Hans!
The image below is also our cover story Title: Wearing my Crown as well as the winner for Nature in 3*
Cover Story............ I took the photo of the Mahem at the Austin Roberts Bird Sanctuary in Pretoria. It was taken with a Nikon D750, lens Tamron SP150-600mm F6, Iso 1000, Shutterspeed 1/4000. I had plenty of time that morning to take pictures and was blessed with this bird just walking perfectly into the scope of my lens!
Photoparadise
PhotographyTour to China in 2019
ONE PLACE LEFT Johann van der Walt still needs one male photographer for his China Photo Tour in May/ June this year. It is to share with another male photographer. That will complete the tour with the normal 10 people. Otherwise, if there is a couple who would like to come, it will also work, bringing the group to 11 - my biggest expense is the transport and 9 people is just not enough to share the costs!
Here are more details: https://steemit.com/photography/@ johannvdwalt/photoparadise-photography-tour-to-china-in-2019
FOR SALE
Previously loved equipment
Canon 600D camera with 18-55 mm lens and Camera Bag - R4650 Sigma 70 – 300 mm lens (not used) and bag – R900 Sigma 50 – 500 mm lens (not used) with Lens Hood and Bag – R10000 Sigma Lens Hood Extender – R150 Anyone interested can contact Ricky at durandlg@telkomsa.net or 084 652 7367.
THIS IS A FREE SERVICE TO MEMBERS OF THE EDENVALE PHOTOGRAPHIC CLUB ANYONE WITH 2ND HAND EQUIPMENT FOR SALE IS WELCOME TO SEND ME A WORD DOCUMENT WITH THE INFO AND THE JPEG IMAGES SEPERATELY TO: hanlis54@gmail.com
Special Subject Calendar
Note to NEW MEMBERS
We may enter 3 images for the special subject PLUS Your normal 3 club evening images All members will compete at 3* level for the Special Subject Definitions from https://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Photography
24 April Still Life / Table top
Still life photography is a genre of photography used for the depiction of inanimate subject matter, typically a small group of objects. It is the application of photography to the still life artistic style. An example is food photography. This genre gives the photographer more leeway in the arrangement of design elements within a composition compared to other photographic genres, such as landscape or portrait photography. Lighting and framing are important aspects of still life photography composition.
26 June Macro Macro photography, is extreme close-up photography, usually of very small subjects and living organisms like insects, in which the size of the subject in the photograph is greater than life size By some definitions, a macro photograph is one in which the size of the subject on the image sensor is life size or greater. 28 August Human portraiture Portrait photography or portraiture is photography of a person or group of people that captures the personality of a subject by using effective lighting, backdrops, and poses. 25 September Street Photography / Photojournalism https://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Photography
How to approach Table top Photography by Hanli Smit KEEP IT SIMPLE
Use the “less is more� approach; Minimalism is king; Make sure you have a main subject and that all the items have synergy. Always work with odd numbers - the use of an even amount of objects subconsciously make the image boring to the viewer.
KEEP IT CLEAN
Even when you create a messy food scene, carefully place the crumbs do not just sprinkle them everywhere. Tidy up the fine crumbs and dust and carefully place messy bits, also in odd numbers.
COMPOSE -
AS IF IT IS A LANDSCAPE Think about all we hear when a landscape photographer talks. Lead-in-lines, foreground and background as well as focal point, BUT with a table top you can move the mountain or the river to make the composition perfect. -Remember the rule of thirds: Placing the main object on one of the thirds -Make use of lead in lines i.e.: the stem of the flower or the string of pearls -Negative space can work but do not over-emphasize it... respect it -Focus...make sure to understand your cameras selective focus points. -Use a tripod, when you use interesting light, as it also often on the low (darker) side. Even if you enjoy the shallow depth of field images, the main subject must be sharp. -Remember: Colour can also play a big part, let your colours harmonise or let them contrast. Using colours that are opposite on the colour wheel can create punch in any image.
LIGHTING.
Last but not least with light you need to experiment, using a window or using studio lights. I always prefer one sided light source. It creates more of a mood, use a reflector to fill in the opposite side.
Tittle: The finale
With the image above I used a sheet of black Perspex, I had the Perspex curved at 90 degree angle by Mr Plastic in Bedfordview. It gets very scratched after a while but when you open the image in raw and push up the shadow slide bar, it removes most of the visible scratches. I am sure the lead-in-line in this image is clear as well as the minimalistic and clean composition.
Title: Pomagranite
With the image of the pomegranate and the pips you need to do a bit of cleaning, too many all over the place will not work and some tissue paper to blotch up all the messy bits. In this image the textured old wooden board is busy enough so you need it not to be messy. I used one light and a reflector otherwise the whole pomegranate would have been too dark. I wanted it to be moody, this is a trending style of food photography at the moment, look at any food magazine and you will see how popular it is.
Special Anouncements Well Done John Coumbias On behalf of all the members at Edenvale Photographic Club We are proud to have you in our club