Author Archives: KCPS

Meetup and Development Group Reports

02 Tuesday Jun 2015

Posted by in Exhibitions, Meeting Report

≈ Comments Off on Meetup and Development Group Reports

National Geographic 50 Greatest Photographs

Around 15 people from the KCPS Meetup Group got together to view this Exhibition at Expressions Gallery in Upper Hutt last Saturday morning. Most stayed for a tea or coffee and chat afterwards. The Exhibition is highly recommended – it was great to be able to see all the images as prints – particularly this very large tree photo by Michael Nicholls.

IMG_3784

I was personally also very taken with this photo by Sam Abell.  It’s a brilliant example of composition, with many layers – maybe as many as nine. From the back there is the sky, the prairie, some cattle on the right, a single cowboy, two more cowboys grabbing another calf, the guy with the bucket for the Rocky Mountain Oysters, the cowboy with bloody scalpel in this mouth, the calf, and then the young guy on the left helping.

Montana Cowboys brand and castrate their livestock. (c) Sam Abell.

Montana cowboys brand and castrate their livestock. (c) Sam Abell.

Whether or not you make it to the Exhibition (which closes on 26 July) I recommend getting this iPad app (NZ$6.49) which allows you to view all the images, read the back stories, watch some videos, and see other photos taken around the same time.

Thanks again to Rachel Stevens for all she does to organise such outings.

DEVELOPMENT GROUP – ADVANCED SESSION

There are around ten of us at the session last night, where amongst other things I discussed the Sam Abell image above.  I also talked about some of the key principles which are common for time-lapse photography and my “Painted Skies” images.  These are:

  • Set everything manual (ISO, White Balance, Aperture, Shutter, Focus)
  • Turn off image stabilisation
  • Use either RAW OR JPG depending …..
  • Solid tripod
  • Intervalometer
  • ND filter? (can be useful for motion blur)

FIXING HALOES

At the end of the evening I shared a very useful Photoshop technique I’ve recently worked out for getting rid of haloes in images. They can occur at sharp edges with large changes in brightness, such as where the land meets the sky.  I’m sure I’m not the first to do this, but I don’t think the technique is widely known.

What you do is open the image up in Photoshop, then create a new layer, and set its blending mode to darken.  Then, working on that layer, use the clone stamp tool with a small brush, and set the origin of the clone stamp (Alt-Click in Windows, or Option-Click on a Mac ) to some of the lighter area just near the halo edge.  Brush along the light halo and it will be replaced by darker sky from above and near it (the clone stamp origin will move along with the brush), while not affecting the land because that is already darker than the sky.  You can do this without using another layer, and just set the blending mode of the clone stamp brush to darken, but I prefer to have a separate layer.

Below is an example for a portion of an image of mine, where the halo has been fixed in the central part, while it is still clearly visible to the left and right.

Halo Fix

2015 Autumn Salon Results

26 Tuesday May 2015

Posted by in Meeting Report, Salon Results

≈ Comments Off on 2015 Autumn Salon Results

Our judge for the KCPS 2015 Autumn Salon last night was Stephen Rowe from the local Photo School.  It was really good of Stephen to judge our salon – his first time. Unfortunately we were not able to see his presentation after the judging – we’ll have to have him back for that.  Meanwhile, you can find out more about Stephen here.

We had more than 30 members present for the salon judging. While the print set subject of “Backlit” was relatively easy, there was lots of innovation applied to the digital set subject of “10 Square Yards”.

The images which received either Highly Commended or Honours can be seen in the 2015 Autumn Salon Gallery which is now online.

Special congratulations to new members Craig Burleigh and Helena Fierlinger, for their  first appearance in the Gallery for their awarded images below.

“Light Pollution” – Honours, Novice Digital Image (Open) – ©Craig Burleigh

“Autumn colour in back and white” – Highly Commended, Novice Digital Image (Open) – ©Helena Fierlinger

National Competitions Now On

11 Monday May 2015

Posted by in Competitions, Reminder

≈ Comments Off on National Competitions Now On

Besides the KCPS Autumn Salon, for which online entries are due by 5 pm today – there’s three other opportunities to enter your images right now.

  1. The Laurie Thomas Landscape Salon – entries close on Sunday 24 May.  You can enter up to four digital NZ landscapes, and the entry fee is only $20.  Details at http://salon.cpsnz.com/
  2. The North Shore Salon of Photography also closes on Sunday 24 May.  There are four print categories and four digital categories.  Full details are at http://www.northshoresalon.co.nz/SalonDetails.
  3. PSNZ is going to enter some images into an international FIAP competition on the theme of “Autumn Colours”. Images can be submitted for consideration by any PSNZ member or member of an affiliated club (including KCPS).  Entries need to be sent by 25 May.  See all the details and how to submit in this PSNZ blog post.

PSNZ Canon National Convention – Exploring Pixels – Day 4 – Celebrating Photographic Distinctions.

04 Monday May 2015

Posted by in Reminder

≈ Comments Off on PSNZ Canon National Convention – Exploring Pixels – Day 4 – Celebrating Photographic Distinctions.

PSNZ Canon National Convention – Exploring Pixesl. Day Three – Fieldtrip to White Island.

04 Monday May 2015

Posted by in Reminder

≈ Comments Off on PSNZ Canon National Convention – Exploring Pixesl. Day Three – Fieldtrip to White Island.

PSNZ / Canon National Convention – Thursday – Day 2

01 Friday May 2015

Posted by in Reminder

≈ Comments Off on PSNZ / Canon National Convention – Thursday – Day 2

Great summary and photos from PSNZ of Day 2 of the Convention. Julieanne Kost is proving to be a real treat – a very entertaining and informative communicator, as well as an excellent photographer.

2015 Natex Results for KCPS

26 Thursday Mar 2015

Posted by in News

≈ Comments Off on 2015 Natex Results for KCPS

Results for the PSNZ National Exhibition (Natex) have just been advised. KCPS will be very well represented at the exhibition in Tauranga.   Ten of our members have had a total of 27 images accepted.  That’s up on last year when we had six members gain 25 acceptances.

Special congratulations to Alison Viskovic, who won the Shirley Peverill Trophy & PSNZ Gold Medal for Best Photojournalism Print for “Burger-Fed Locals”, and to Carol Molineux for her Honours Medal in Open Prints for “Facing the Storm”.

"Burger-fed Locals" - ©Alison Viskovic

“Burger-fed Locals” – ©Alison Viskovic

"Facing the Storm" - ©Carol Molineux

“Facing the Storm” – ©Carol Molineux

These are the KCPS members who had acceptances in Natex. (I think I have them all – sincere apologies if I missed any.)

  • Alison Viskovic – 2 (including Gold Medal)
  • Carol Molineux – 5 (including Honours Ribbon)
  • Gavin Klee – 7
  • Hugh Scott – 2
  • Katie Beddek – 1
  • Neil Gordon – 5
  • Rhonda Billington – 1
  • Roger Smith – 1
  • Shona Jaray – 2 (Shona also contributed as a selector for Open Digital, so couldn’t enter that section!)
  • Susie Whelan – 1

Well done everyone.  Don’t forget that it’s not too late to register for the PSNZ National Convention and Exhibition, in Tauranga from 29 April to 3 May. It would be great to see lots of KCPS members there. Check out the website http://exploringpixels.nz for all the details.

2015 Summer Salon Results – Glen Howey

26 Thursday Mar 2015

Posted by in Meeting Report, Salon Results

≈ Comments Off on 2015 Summer Salon Results – Glen Howey

Our judge for the KCPS 2015 Summer Salon on Monday was Glen Howey.  We had an excellent turnout of some forty members to hear his views on a record high for the number of digital entries – 41, together with 33 prints.  So the total number of entries was likely a record as well.

It was interesting to see the different interpretations on the set subjects of “Intimate Moments” for prints, and “Let’s Make Music” for digital.  Glen awarded Honours to five images, and Highly Commended to 24.  Congratulations to all those awarded, but especially to the newer members Susie Whelan, Jan Meese, Chrissy Garlick, Gary Key and Joy Svendsen.

The images can be viewed in the 2015 Summer Salon Gallery which is now online.

Following the judging, Glen showed around 90 photos from his current project “Please Demolish With a Kind Heart”.  This was a fascinating, slightly scary, very sad, look around many wrecked homes and buildings in Christchurch.  One example is seen below – there are more via Glen’s website and in recent news stories such as “Man risks death to capture quake memories“.

We are so lucky to have such talented local photographers who not only provide constructive thoughts on our Salon images, but also share their recent work like this.  Thanks Glen!

"OPEN AIR: A chair and table remain untouched in the rubble of this High St building." (c) Glen Howey

“OPEN AIR: A chair and table remain untouched in the rubble of this High St building.” ©Glen Howey

 

Report on Tabletop Photography Workshop, etc.

13 Friday Mar 2015

Posted by in Meeting Report, News

≈ Comments Off on Report on Tabletop Photography Workshop, etc.

Monday 9 March 2015 saw the whole meeting given over to a Tabletop Workshop. Jo Goudsbloom, Hugh Scott, Gill Mackersy, Gavin Klee and Alison Viskovic set up tables where they demonstrated ways of arranging different backgrounds and subject matter, and using various sorts of lighting.

Lighting included hobby lamps used with a light tent, ordinary table lamps, a more professional Bowens light setup, daylight bulbs from a copy stand, and an LED torch. Props included fruit and veg, driftwood, ornaments and glassware, Alison’s illusions materials, and some eggs and plastic netting.

People circulated round the tables through the evening, helped each other with ideas and techniques, and there was lots of photographic conversation. 22 people had a very enjoyable evening.  Thanks to Alison for the report on the meeting,  and to Alison, Jo and Bob for the photos below showing some of the action.

All go at the tabletop workshop - photo courtesy Alison Viskovic.

Photo courtesy Alison Viskovic.

Photo courtesy Jo Goudsblom.

Photo courtesy Jo Goudsblom.

Photo courtesy Bob Kessler

Photo courtesy Bob Kessler.

Op Shopping

KCPS member Chrissy Garlick featured in an article in this week’s Kapiti News, explaining what she found out about the background to three local Op Shops – Opportunity for Animals, Birthright Kapiti, and the Waikanae Baptist Church.

The Salt of the Earth

KCPS member Karyn Crocker recently saw this movie at local cinema the Shoreline, about the life and work of photojournalist Sebastião Salgado, and thoroughly recommends it.