On Monday 11th of May we will have a tutorial on Preparing Images For Competition and also conversion from color to black and white. This will be of particular interest to everyone entering the upcoming “Photographer Of The Year” on the 25th May.

A reminder that we’ll be collecting images for photographer of the year competition on Monday 18th may. A Total of 15 images in any format or mixture of formats, Color Print B&W Print or Projected images. Do not use the same image twice even in a different format.If you want to compete in the B&W Photographer of The Year your entry will have to include a minimum of 3 b&w prints. The end of year competition is judged by members of an other club and the winning photographers in the novice, intermediate and advanced section are marked on their best 5 images.In the event of a tie each 6th image is counted to decide the winner. The B&W photographer of the year competition is judged on the best 3 prints and there is just one overall category. There is also a prize for the best image on the night.

On next Monday night our usual meeting at the Arches is cancelled and instead club members are going to a model shoot in Cork which is being held at the Platform 3 studio at 19 Academy Street. Members who wish to participate in the first group will meet at the Paul street multistory car park at 06.45.   The second group should arrive at the studio before 8.30. Call Rodney at 086 8487875 or John Flynn at 086 3567653 if you need more information. Only members who have booked can attend as the studio is fully booked. It promises to be a very interesting and entertaining night.

Club members are meeting tomorrow morning (Sat) at 11.00 outside Brown Thomas for a street shoot in Cork city. The forecast is good, should be a great day.

Next Monday night some time will be given to explain the process of preparing and presenting an LIPF panel. A sample panel will be displayed and there will be a general discussion on competition type photographs versus “pretty” or “Holiday snaps.

The Licentiateship of the Irish Photographic Federation is the basic level Distinction.
Applicants put forward a panel of ten images, which is assessed by a panel of experienced photographers.  Successful applicants are entitled to use the letters LIPF after their name.  More Info at           http://irishphoto.ie/distinctions/licentiatship/

Some Images from our very successful Macro / Still Life  night.

Some Info On HDR Photography.

HDR Using Layer Masking In Photoshop.
Open Two images in Photoshop
Drag both onto screen
Use the move tool to drag the brightest image onto the darker image. Holding down shift key while dragging will auto align images or you can align them as below.
Select both layers .Go to Edit : Auto align layers.
Check layers for alignment by zooming in to the image and turning layers on and off.
Go to Layer : Layer mask : Reveal All. Click on mask in layers on right of screen.
Select soft brush : Set foreground color to white.
Reveal underlying dark image as required by painting with brush.
Set foreground color to black will allow you to undo what you have done.
The X key toggles the foreground from black to white.
When finished flatten image and save as jpg etc.

Two Utube links on HDR.                                                                                      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nirU7Vg9Nk4

Next Monday night Sean Murphy will give a presentation on HDR or high dynamic range photography. This is a very useful method for photographing in bright or harsh light and it is not that difficult.

Ever tried to photograph a high-contrast scene, only to be frustrated when you find that
the pictures you snapped just don’t do it justice? Don’t worry, it’s not just you. Even
with the perfect exposure, there are certain scenes that will always tend to get blown-out
highlights, flat shadows, or both. But despite the fact that it’s nearly impossible to
find a happy medium in these types of situations, there is a solution. This age-old
dilemma can be solved through the magic of High Dynamic Range processing or “HDR”.
This is basically what HDR is: a specific style of photo with an unusually high dynamic
range that couldn’t otherwise be achieved in a single photograph.

You’ve probably seen these types of images scattered across the Web. Depending on how
they’re processed, HDR photos can be anything from stunningly accurate reproductions of
what your eyes see to mind-blowingly surreal works of art that transform reality into a
high-def dreamscape.

This Monday 2nd March we’ll have a macro night in the arches so bring cameras, tripods,flash etc and also any small objects you’d like to photograph. Macro is normally small objects photographed up very very close, so with macro – size matters!!

A very big congratulations goes out to Blackwater Photographic members Pakie O’Donoghue and Kieran O’Mahony on their recent achievements at the Irish photographic Federation – Print & Projected finals 2015. Pakie’s image (Gone from our shores) was awarded an honorable mention in the Monochrome print theme Seascape section, and Kieran was also awarded an honorable mention for his woodland images in the themed Landscape Projected Images section. Well done Kieran & Pakie for this fantastic achievement – well deserved.

Tonight’s weather is looking too unfavorable for an outdoor shoot at Bridgetown Abbey so we’ll be going with plan B (the arches) instead, so bring in your laptops and photos from any recent outings and we’ll split up into small groups for one to one help on anything you’d like to do with your photos. Bring your camera too if you’ve anything you’d like help with on that side of things. See you later.

Next Monday night instead of our usual meeting in the Arches we are having a Night shoot in Bridgetown Abbey in Castletownroche leaving the Arches at 7.00 PM or meet at the abbey at 7.30. If the weather is unsuitable a group text will be sent and a Photoshop night will be held at the Arches. Bring your laptops.