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Your BPS Membership No:
Hello, Firstname |
Newsletter Copy - Thankyou |
A big thankyou to the members who rallied to the call for articles to fill the newsletter and so enable me to keep it going through these troubled times - these last few issues of have existed to a great extent because of their contributions. I have articles to cover the next few weeks, but looking into the future I am still going to need contributions, so please keep these wonderful collections of words coming and if you have anything you think other members would like to know about, such as special on-line events or exhibitions, photographic hints, tips and tricks, etc. please let me know at the usual address: bpsnewsletter@bristolphoto.org.uk
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On-Line Meetings
This week saw our first venture into the ether for a Wednesday meeting. This went extremely well, with Mike Martin showing us what he has been doing since his last talk to BPS and in particular what he has been doing during lockdown. This was an inspiration to all members to get off their proverbials and carry on creating pictures despite being confined to barracks - well done Mike! The evening was watched by a maximum of 63 members and an average across the evening of 61, so well done to all concerned. Particular thanks should go to the Zoom team who have been working hard over the last few weeks to perfect the system. The team are Matt de Beger aided and abetted by Ashwin Chauhan, Rob Stephenson, Brian McBride, Mike Hall, Jeff Hargreaves, Ken Clarke, David Alderson & Ralph Snook.
Next Meeting.
Next Wednesday, the meeting will be presented by Tom Peck, who says this of his talk:
The presentation is called Photography and the Sublime. Here’s how I describe it when clubs contact me for a presentation:
The Photographic Sublime - how artistic traditions of the Sublime influence photography of the past, present and future…Photojournalist Thomas Peck (B&W Photography, OnLandscape.co.uk) shows how the traditions of the Sublime influenced early landscape photographers through to the modern day. With examples from painters like Turner & Caspar David Friedrich & photos from Carleton E Watkins to M Kenna to S Salgado to A Adams to H Sugimoto, plus the author’s own pictures. A fascinating insight into a cultural trend which is sure to provoke some debate, especially when we look into the future at how photography and the Sublime might interact in the 21st century…
Login details of the meeting are:
Meeting ID: 820-0804-9933
Password: bps9875
Start time: 19:30hrs (Meeting will be open from 19:20hrs)
The links to all meetings can be found in the Members' Area of the BPS website, details at the foot of this newsletter
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Mike Martin - Notes From The Last meeting |
Twirl effect.
1) Open any image in Photoshop [Make sure it is 8bit – the effect doesn’t work on 16bit images in my version of PS – don’t know if this is updated in later versions.]
2) With your background layer selected, go to Filter – Pixelate – Mezzotint. I used the mode is set to “Long Lines.” Press OK. [Some tutorials, suggest other settings, try them out – the key point is to break up the image into discrete points for the next stage].
3) With your background layer still selected, go to Filter – Blur – Radial Blur. Amount (100) – Blur Method (zoom) – Quality (best). Press OK.
4) Repeat step 3 as many times as you like. I did it twice, others suggest 3 or more.
5) Duplicate your background layer. This will create a duplicate layer called “Layer 1” right above your background layer.
6) Select your background layer. Then go to Filter – Distort – Twirl. In the Angle number box, enter a positive number. I used 100. Press OK. You can always try different ones the more you experiment.
7) Select Layer 1 above your background layer. Then go to Filter – Distort – Twirl. In the Angle number box, enter a negative number. I used -100. [using the same figure as above, in the opposite direction will make the effect symmetrical. Feel free to experiment.]
IR Conversion
I used this company. https://advancedcameraservices.co.uk Despite the issues I had (mainly due to the internal construction of the Pentax camera I sent them, they did make good and supplied me with a replacement brand new converted camera within the original price. They have a solid reputation when it comes to converting the more common Canon/Nikon cameras!
Club member, Mike Salter, has also had IR conversions done and used the following company: Protech Photographic - www.protechrepairs.co.uk If you look on their web site you'll find that it`s full of useful info, costing etc.. Tel: 01285732730
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Simple Droplet Photography set-up
Camera on tripod with flash trigger
Plastic back suspended above with water. Pin prick to allow it to drip.
Decorators tray below, sitting on a towel (for inevitable splashes) placed on top of waterproof groundsheet)
Translucent Perspex sheet (its an old back projection slide screen!) with coloured gel sheet.
Flash places behind, with whiteboard to act as a reflector bouncing light forward.
Flash set to 1/256th power (this is shortest duration).
Note: the bag isn’t very good at ensuring the drops fall at regular pace so anticipating when the drip will splash is challenging – be prepared for lots of missed shots!
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Only Mono Print Competition |
Members may recall this was scheduled for May, but was deferred to 2021. However, a decision has been taken to host a “mini” mono comp for PDIs only with the judge viewing via Zoom and the proceedings to be broadcast via YouTube. This competition was restricted to half the number of clubs (just 20) and I’ve secured a place for BPS. The following images have been selected for our entry, details of how to watch the live judging will follow nearer the date.
Zebra Dance – Barry Mead
Defeated – Keith Wood
Alive – Mike Martin
Sorrow – Steve Taylor
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Win Stuff / Podcasts / Webcasts
Vanguard Photo UK have a weekly context on their Facebook page, to win £100 voucher or one of two £25 runners up vouchers. Simply post to their social media or email marketting@vanguardworld.co.uk your best new photo or reworked old image produced in the current week and tag it #beatthebordom #staysafe.
Fotospeed – Sign up for the Photography and Printing Tips and Tricks group on Facebook and submit your photos for a chance of having your image featured and printed on a variety of different papers. Vince from Fotospeed is doing a weekly blog in the group explaining which papers he selected and why – and afterwards, they will send the A3 prints to the photographer so you can see for yourself.
Photography News – fortnightly podcast – setting challenges as well as generally chatting re photography.
Andrew Appleton Photography – webcast every Monday/Wednesday/Friday with industry experts or interesting speakers (I’ve done one interview for them and will be back for some creative Photoshop stuff on 4th May).
London Camera Exchange (LCE) – Facebook Live events – regular features, challenges and competitions.
WEX – their Facebook page is the place to find / sign up to free training, gear reviews or demos / challenges, etc. They also have a weekly photo-competition (submission on Mondays) via their Twitter account for images in the preceding week tagged with #WEXMondays
Thanks to Mike Martin for these links - looks like this is turning into a Mike Martin special edition!
Keith Wood has sent me the following link which takes you to profiles of some interesting present day photographers - Fixation.
I have received the following from Chris Hirons, which just goes to prove that there is life outside photography:
My effort is simple in comparison with the submissions so far but may encourage others?
Being a knitter since childhood (and belonging to a Knit & Natter Group) how cool is that?? Over a period of about 6 weeks since ‘lockdown’ I have made 12 twiddlemuffs for Alzheimer sufferers. This started with an allsorts bag of different coloured wool and challenging myself to use all of it, hence the following ‘glasto style’ picture of these muffs (the colours, texture, buttons and ribbon etc inside and outside of these give interest and relief for Alzheimer sufferers’ anxious fidgety, twiddly hands), these will be passed to a medic friend specialising in this field.
The only advice I am qualified to give other members is that your daily exercise walk is the ideal excuse to just ‘keep snapping’ whatever the subject.
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CV-19 Competition - Week 2 |
This is week 2 of our fun BPS competition for pictures taken during this enforced lockdown. Pictures should be on a CV-19 theme and can be taken during the lockdown or dragged up from the depths of your archives! The pictures will be judged by yours truly (well, being newsletter editor has to have some perks!) and the top pictures will be reproduced in the newsletter.
Each week I will give you a CV-19 related theme and entries can be emailed to me at bpsnewsletter@bristolphoto.org.uk - this week's theme will be close to the hearts of the lady members of the club - HAIRCUTS
You can interpret "HAIRCUTS" any way you wish, but remember that it needs to be CV-19 related and you may well have guessed that I'm more likely to pick humour than photographic perfection - closing date Sunday 10 May. Image size not critical, but the usual club competition size will be fine; as for titles - just make sure that your surname is in the title somewhere.
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CV-19 PPE - BPS Face Mask: Model 34D |
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Following on from the recent article promoting the Venetian (Barry Mead) CV-19 face masks. Past BPS President, John Chamberlin has passed on his recommendation that members could modify old bras to act as suitable masks. Here John is seen modelling one of these himself, the 34D Model. However, John warns that you should only use the left hand cup as to use the other one may well result in you looking like a right tit! |
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And Finally .................. |
From BPS Newsletter November 1950:
Don't forget that the next set subject Competition is in December and a picture of a TREE or Part thereof is required. NOTE: There are plenty about.
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To download issue 254 of the PAGB eNews, please click here.
To download the latest edition (76) of Photography News, click here.
This is a new one: to download the latest issue of FIAP News, please follow this link.
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Mike Martin has continued to get acceptances in international salons, most notably his recent successes in Cheltenham (4 acceptances) and the German International Photo Cup (19 acceptances including two HMs) - Well done.
Jammy beggar, Mark Gilbert has won himself a Nikon Z50 + 2 lenses just by entering his name in a competition run by Amateur Photgrapher magazine.
Salon acceptances: BPS photographers are now achieving large numbers of salon acceptances and constraints on time and space mean we can't include them all. So please only advise of awards or other milestones.
Contrary to popular belief, I do not possess psychic powers and need you to tell me if you've had successes. If you want to blow your own trumpet (or someone else's), then this is the place to do it. Please let me know and I'll include details in a future issue.
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Make Money For BPS Every Time You Shop On Amazon! |
Now, if you so wish, each and every one of you can support BPS with every purchase you make on Amazon by using Amazon Smile. Click on the link below – then it’s self-explanatory.
It must be easy, even I managed it!
Ed
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If you have anything to sell, or you're looking for something to buy, just let me know and I'll include it here. Please bear in mind, we only advertise items for BPS members.
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PLEASE NOTE: ALL STUDIO BOOKINGS ARE SUSPENDED UNTIL THE LIFTING OF THE COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS.
Would all members please note that before you plan your shoot and book your model, you should check whether the studio/clubroom will be free. This can be done easily and at any time by viewing the Clubroom Bookings calendar in the Members' Area of the BPS Website. Bookings can be made by contacting Mike Bigger at bookings@bristolphoto.org.uk.
Log in details to the Members' Area are at the end of this newsletter.
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Please don't forget that if you change your address (home or email), or gain additional photographic distinctions, it would be appreciated if you could let the Membership Secretary know so that she can keep her records up to date, this will also ensure that you continue to receive your newsletters - please email all changes to membership@bristolphoto.org.uk
The distinctions we have on record are those shown at the top of this newsletter. If they are wrong, please visit the Members' Area of the BPS website where you can register any changes using the on-line form provided; this form can also be used for change of address, email etc.
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For those of you who aren't sure what MPAGB, EFIAP/s and many more such seemingly random collections of letters mean, just click here to download the list.
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Missed a Copy of the Newsletter?
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To view past editions of this Newsletter, please click on the following link and then select the date(s) you are looking for - BPS Newsletter Archive
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BPS Website - Members' Area "Log in"
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To enter the Members' Area of the BPS website you will need the following:
Username - chatroom Password - pixels
If you have any problems getting into the Members' Area, please contact Carol, either by email: membership@bristolphoto.org.uk or by telephone: 0117 924 1338
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Bristol Photographic Society,
Unit 13, Montpelier Central, Station Rd, Bristol, BS6 5EE
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