The last members evening of the 2021-2022 season took on a very different format it was more of a ‘back to school’ evening ….. but ….. a most enjoyable and very informative ‘back to school’ evening as the talks given by the three members were ‘lectures’ on photographic and post processing techniques.
The first speaker was Peter Whitfield and his talk was entitled ‘Motion’. Each year Peter sets himself a project where he can explore different aspects of photography and use his creative mind to have fun with his camera. He split last year’s project into three sections and talked us through the camera settings, techniques and post processing operations he used to create stunning images of moving subjects, intentional camera movement (wobbly camera) and in-camera multiple exposures. His inventive mind and camera skills definitely gave us ‘food for thought’ on what we could all achieve if we only had a go at something different, which I am sure was Peter’s intention.
David Brookes was next to take centre stage and he spoke in great detail, giving tips and advice, about printing our own images at home. He explained that different papers and inks make a huge difference to the quality of the print and that calibrating your monitor to your printer and getting the correct setting on your PC are imperative to getting the colours correct. He described the different types of mounts for printed images and advised about cropping to fit pre-cut mounts. David is passionate about the printed image and feels this is the ‘proper way’ to view your photographs.
Steve Varman was the last speaker for the evening and he took us through some of the post processing techniques he uses when he ‘creates an image’ from photographs he has taken. By walking us through the different stages of adding a sky, moon and birds from one image onto another image, adding textures to an image to make it feel different and creating an image from several obscure objects, Steve showed us the power that Photoshop layers, masks and blends have when making a composite piece of art. He also demonstrated how to repair and put colour into old photographs who said ‘the camera never lies’?