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.

Thanks Dave for a wonderfully entertaining night and for bringing along your  home made time lapse equipment. I was most impressed with Dave’s use of his 3D printer to create the various bits of equipment required. Dave kicked off the night with a sample of his very impressive photography and Photoshop skills before moving  on to explain the various techniques and equipment used in time lapse photography. We also got to see Dave’s  library of wonderful time lapse clips taken around Ireland some of which have been included in Hollywood movies. Thanks again.

Dave Hunt will be our guest photographer tomorrow night. It should be a very interesting night and a great opportunity to pickup some photography tips as he’s also a gifted Photoshop user.Dave’s specialty is time lapse photography and designing and making the equipment necessary for same. Check out Dave’s site at http://www.davidhunt.ie/ and see some of his stunning time lapse photography. Also last chance to bring in images for the upcoming SACC comp.

Outing to Killarney Tomorrow Sat leaving Arches at 06.15 am or meet on road outside Hotel Europe in Killarney at 07.20. Weather looks good but bring suitable gear.

Jerry Creedons night on Aerial Photography was one of the best attended night in the club with forty five members attending on the night to see some of the most detailed images ever seen on our projector. We keep hearing that any camera over 12 mega pixels is unnecessary but it was obvious after seeing the presentation there is no substitute for pixels (40 meg in this case) with this type of photography. The battery powered image stabilizer Jerry used is also an essential piece of kit when shooting from a helicopter. A very informative and enjoyable night. Thanks Jerry for all the work.