Helderberg Photographic Society » Audio-Visual

Report: Evaluation Meeting 13th Jan.2010

nettie28 — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 08:15:56 +0000

At least 50 people turned up for our first meeting of the year … it was great to see old friends, and to meet new ones! Several folk have applied and paid for membership – we welcome you all and hope you will enjoy being part of this vibrant group of photographers! Susan and Harry are back here again from France, and Nicole is back after her ‘Artist in Residence’ sojourn in Paris. Bernard, as our new Chairman, started off with a number of notices, and Paddy and Irmel informed us of projected plans for outings and audio-visual workshops. A number of prints came up for Evaluation – Nicole and Ken Woods doing the honours. There were many digital images submitted -the quality of work was excellent, and we hope to see this standard following through into this new year. Members seem to be experimenting more and gaining good results – keep it up!

After tea Steve Crane gave a short talk on two aspects of Photoshop – changing digital images into Black and White; and changing a particular part of a B&W image into colour. Links to these techniques can be found here.

Details of the outings on 23rd January (US ‘Jool’) and 30th January (Full Moon) will be sent to members by e-mail.

Next month’s set subject is ‘Candy/Sweets’ – give it a try – you’ll be amazed at how creative you can be!

PicturesToExe Deluxe 6.0 | PhotographyBLOG

Steve Crane — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:29:36 +0000

The standard in our club has always been to use Wings for producing AVs but to move beyond the free version to allow multiple piture and audio tracks is quite costly. PicturesToExe is an alternative that some members might want to take a look at.

WnSoft has released PicturesToExe Deluxe 6.0, a photo slideshow software for Windows. Version 6.0 of the Deluxe edition brings new enhancements to the program, including 3D effects and the capability to create executables for Mac. Other highlights include multi-monitor support, Windows 7 compatibility, and the ability to add your own soundtrack, sound effects and text comments to each slide.The Deluxe edition is available for $75.

PicturesToExe Deluxe 6.0 | PhotographyBLOG

Audio-Visual Meeting Wed. 25th March ’09

nettie28 — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 12:39:09 +0000

This month’s task was sequences of zooms (last month it was ‘third images’), and next month it will be ’dark/light images’ (where a dark section on the image is substituted by a light one, using the fading technique). Nothing is as easy as it seems (!)… and one needs the time to play … we carry on as best we can! Irmel showed two travelogues – one featuring the city of Prague, and the other the city of Budapest – both contained excellent audio- visual work as well as beautiful ‘stand-alone’ images. Clive Kefford brought along an audio-visual made by a renowned av-maker, Barry Beckham (www.beckhamdigital.co.uk) on Yosemite – beautiful images set to Tony O’Connor’s music. Johan Beyers visited us from Paarl – he brought ‘pictures set to music’ on Botswana (some stunning images taken from the air), and is now going to attempt to learn Wings Basic for a more professional finish! After tea, Irmel took us through a few more tips on Wings … and sent us off with homework to be done (‘dark/light’).

Competition Meeting Wed. 11th Feb.’09

nettie28 — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 19:19:42 +0000

More than 50 members and guests arrived for our Competition Meeting, the set subject being ‘Energy’. After welcoming everyone, Nettie called on Marius Swart, and Pieter van der Westhuizen, who ‘Got their Feet Wet’ – each showing 5 favourite images. We look forward to seeing more of their work in competition and evaluation.

Paddy spoke about the Gansbaai/De Kelders outing on the weekend of 20 – 22^nd March, and Irmel explained the audio visual program. Should you wish to go on the Gansbaai outing – even if it is only for Saturday when you will need to be at the De Kelders gate at 4pm – please call Paddy on 021 876 2136 as soon as possible.

The competition subject was a challenge! JJ mentioned that it was one of his toughest judging exercises, and he is thanked for his effort and input. The Open section was once again well subscribed, displaying a wide range of subjects. Steve will put up the results on this website.

After tea, JJ gave a technical talk on histograms and exposure. Members had been invited to bring along their cameras, and a practical session followed which was quite illuminating to some (eg. Me!) Thanks, JJ!

All in all it was a good meeting at which we welcomed a number of new members, explored creativity, and gained technical knowledge.

See you next time!

Nettie

First Cape of Good Hope Audio Visual Salon – 2009

nettie28 — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:30:11 +0000

The salon has been cancelled.

Report: AV Evening Wed. 28th Jan.’09

nettie28 — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 21:49:27 +0000

A small group of members – including Harry and Susan who are once again out from France – attended the meeting. Contributors were Neels Beyers who presented two AVs – one on windsurfers, and the other on kitesurfers … he is a master at nailing the action shots. Elsa sent her AV on the Richtersveld (set subject slides by Paddy) using beautiful music from Lord of the Rings. Nettie showed an AV on ‘An Overberg Stream’ – depicting the waterfall and stream running through Volmoed. Furthermore, there were three AVs sent down from the Magaliesberg Foto Fun Club – one on the Richtersveld, one on ‘The Art of a Lily’ and one of a child eating an ice-cream. Finally we were shown a documentary audio-visual on the ‘Birkenhead’ - the informative and engrossing story of how the ship ran aground on what is now known as Birkenhead Rock, and of the men who sent the women and children out first in the lifeboats, knowing that they would probably lose their own lives with the sinking ship.

Irmel discussed audio-visual plans for the year – she and Paddy are finalising an excellent program which will shortly be put up on this website.

Audio Visual Evening Wed. 28th Jan ’09 7.30pm

nettie28 — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 04:21:48 +0000

All members are welcome at our AV-evening (AV-workers, or not) – why not join us at this casual and friendly get-together?

Audio-Visual Salon

nettie28 — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 19:51:50 +0000

Thomas Niemeyer has asked us to bring to our members’ attention an AV Salon being hosted by the Magalies Foto Fun Club. Details may be found on the PSSA Website: http://www.pssa.co.za . Do take a look and consider entering!

First MFFC Audio-Visual Salon – 2009

South African resident photographers are cordially invited to enter the first Magalies Foto Fun Club (MFFC) AV salon. Entrants may submit up to 3 AVs on a CD or DVD, two AVs in the Open set subject and one in the Africa set subject. Each AV must be between 1 and 3 minutes in length. The salon closes on 15th February 2009.

PSSA Patronage has been granted and Bronze medals will be awarded to the winners in each set subject.

Full details and the entry form are available on the salon website

Enquiries may be directed to the Salon Director: Jeff Morris LPSSA

Telephone: 012 803 2105 / Mobile: 082 840 5459

2008 HPS Chairman’s Report (short version)

nettie28 — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 07:16:46 +0000

Committee: I should like to thank the members of the HPS Committee for their continued commitment and input.

Bernard Seymour-Hall, our Treasurer, will be Vice Chair in 2009, which means that he will be our new Chairman in 2010. Irmel Dunaiski organizes the Audio-visual Section, and Paddy Howes is the Secretary and handles all the Outings. Steve Crane is our Computer and Digital expert, while Michele has been handling slide entries and tea, Marisa has been organizing print entries and JJ van Heerden has been our Technical Expert, as well as being the sponsor of our prizes from Picture Works, Stellenboch.

I am pleased to announce that Eric Palmer has agreed to serve on the committee – he is well known for his Photoshop expertise and teaching abilities, and brings young blood, as well as young ideas, to the Club.

I would also like to mention that Eric has won the Getaway Gallery’s First Prize for 2008 with his image of ‘Simonsberg’ … Congratulations, Eric!

Matters Financial: Bernard reports that we have a healthy balance in our account – this will be needed in the case of eventual upgrading of our equipment and for use when next we have to host Interclub.

Subscriptions for 2009 will remain the same as in 2008 ie. R220 per person with a discount of R20 if paid before 1^st April; R110 per person who are country members or students, with a discount of R10 if paid before 1^st April. Bank details can be found elsewhere on this site.

Tea and biscuits will be a minimum donation of R4,00 from next year.

Jannie, our car guard, is paid by us, and is reliable and helpful. Thanks to Paddy for organizing a Christmas hamper for him.

Outings: This year we enjoyed a number of successful outings, including one to Skurweberg (60kms from Sutherland) in winter. Paddy has quite a few ideas up her sleeve, including a weekend stay in Matjiesfontein. Other outings being planned are a visit to a wine farm, Gansbaai, McGregor and Camps Bay. Outings are a wonderful way of getting out to do photography in the safety of a group, as well as getting to know other members of the club.

Audio-Visual: Our AV department, steered by Irmel, has been active this year. As well as making our own presentations, we were asked to make an AV using 35 or so of Paddy’s scanned slides of the Richterveld, set to music of our own choice. The results were amazing in their diversity. 2009’s ‘set subject’ will be ‘Living from the Sea’.

Competitions: The list of competition subjects can be found elsewhere on this site. Our January subject ‘Silhouette’ will be judged by a lecturer from the Stellenbosch Academy.

Evaluations: A new twist will be introduced to the evaluation evenings next year. Hermanus Photographic Society has accepted our invitation to visit us on 11^th February, when we will hold a combined Evaluation Evening. Please note this date in your diary. We wait to hear from Tafelberg of their decision to join us too.

Slides: From next year slides are to be entered together with digital images under ‘projected images’. Bring your slides to Steve on the Wednesday evening so that he can add them to his list, and then show them on the slide projector, as normal.

Digital: Getting your digital images in to Steve by Tuesday 6pm is very important. Please follow the guidelines as set out elsewhere on this site.

Talks: It is not always easy to find speakers who are willing to travel all the way out to Somerset West – we do the best we can. Suffice to say that we hope to organize talks on ‘Judging’, ‘Calibration’ etc.

Prizes: Vouchers will be handed out to First Prize winners only. JJ has offered to sponsor vouchers for those who win First Prize in the four sections: Prints – Set Subject and Open; and Projected Images – Set Subject and Open. His business, Picture Works, is not a franchise – we appreciate his generosity. At the end of the year, a ‘Best Image of the Year’ will be selected (via the blogsite) and the winner will receive a print developed on canvas.

Interclub: Members recently discussed how Interclub could be improved. Our recommendations have been set out in a document which has been forwarded to all those clubs participating in Interclub. We do not yet know who will host Interclub next year. A new PSSA director still has to be appointed (Neil Swart has re-located to Gauteng), and when this happens we hope to be able to report to a facilitator who can evaluate and decide on a few new and improved guidelines for Interclub.

The R500 voucher received by HPS for coming joint second in Interclub 2008, was used to buy ‘lenspens’ for the 6 photographers who did well in Interclub – Andre(28 out of 30); Michele, Eric, Nicole, Ernst and Emma (all 27).

Blogsite: Instead of having a monthly newsletter, we are going to start a blog with WordPress.com, which is going to become our ‘ongoing’ newsletter. You will be able to click into it regularly, and will find all the information usually found in the newsletter, on the blog. Bear in mind that we also have a Flick site – http://www.flickr.com/groups/helderbergphoto to which all members may belong … Steve is the administrator and will ‘invite’ you if you indicate that you would like to take part … please join up – I seem to be the only one using it at the moment!

If you have your own flickr-site, or if you have a blog-site, or even a web-address, please let Steve know so that he can insert it as a ‘link’ on our blog.

Honorary Membership: It gives me great pleasure to announce that Nicole Palmer is being made an Honorary Member this evening. She is a past chairman of this club, and is well known for her teaching abilities, and presentation of popular workshops in Namibia and Stellenbosch. Congratulations, Nicole!