HPS Evaluation Meeting Wed. 9th June 2010

Despite the cold weather, some 40 members and guests arrived for the meeting.  Bernard had asked Sean Wilson – a professional photographer – to come and speak to us about his commercial and private work, and we were very happy to interact with him about his concepts and method of work. We thank him for being prepared to come out from Cape Town, and also for his sharing of different ideas with us.

A number of prints were evaluated by Sean, Rosie (the first-timer) and Antenie – they are thanked for giving reasons for their various comments … this is the only way that we can experience another angle on our photographs. 

Paddy gave a short report on the outing to De Doorns, which apparently was looking its best.  At next month’s meeting Steve will show the Rally pictures, and Kobus Barnard will be ‘Getting his Feet Wet’.  That will be on July 14th – see you there!

Please keep a check on our program under the Tabs at the top of the webpage.

RAW vs JPEG: An End to the War

In every photography conversation that takes place anywhere in the World, the subject will eventually come up. Someone will innocently ask: Do you shoot RAW or JPEG? And a friendly conversation turns into an ugly bloodbath, ending with photographers spinning their cameras over their heads held by the strap, as modern-day photographic flails, mouths frothing, shrieks of hate filling the air as they attack one another in defence of their chosen file format. It’s not coincidence that ‘RAW’ is ‘WAR’ spelled backwards.

It needn’t be this way. I believe photographers of all races, colours, creed and shooting format can coexist and live together, in peace. Seriously, I do.

RAW vs JPEG: An End to the War

OpEd: 10 Oeuvres Aspiring Photographers Should Ignore

The other day while reading the internet I came across “The 10 Most Harmful Novels for Aspiring Writers.” I wondered whether there could be a list for photographers as well.  I thought about it and then sent my list to Blake Andrews to see if he wanted to contribute and have some fun with it.

Here are Blake’s five.

OpEd: 10 Oeuvres Aspiring Photographers Should Ignore

Competition Meeting Wed. 12th May

Some 50 members and guests arrived for the Competition Meeting, the set subject being ‘Go Graphic’. There was a good selection of both prints and projected images, in the set subject, as well as in the open one.  Lanz von Horsten spoke afterwards on two particular images he was impressed with – a portrait by Marthinus and a landscape by Marietjie.  It was very interesting to receive feedback from an experienced photographer such as Lanz.  After tea Roger gave a talk on converting your slides to digital images using a slide projector and your camera (instead of scanning slides with a scanner).  He has an engaging way of explaining things, and we were highly entertained at the possibility of using ‘his’ method.  Thanks Roger! Before we all left for home, Steve showed a few instructional audio-visuals on various aspects of Photoshop … you learn something every time!

2010 May Competition Winners: Projected Images

Here are the projected image winners from the May competition for which the set subject was Go Graphic.

Set Subject

1

Desert Graphic

Paddy Howes

Misty Morn

2

New Life

Emma Finnemore

Misty Morn

3

Go Graphic

Frank Reuvers

Misty Morn

Open

1

Can You Hear?

Marthinus Retief

Misty Morn

2

Grass 

Neels Beyers 

Misty Morn

3

Misty Morn

Maritjie Kumst 

Misty Morn

The full list of projected image scores can be found in this PDF document

2010 April Competition Winners: Projected Images

Here are the projected image winners from the April competition for which the set subject was Carnival.

Set Subject

  1. Tuba Player 
    Marietjie Kumst 
  2. Stage of Light 
    Marthinus Retief 
  3. Fair Ladies 
    Marthinus Retief 
Tuba Player
Stage of Light
Fair Ladies

Open

  1. Red & Blue Drops 
    Marius Swart 
  2. My Upside Down Garden 
    Elsa van Zyl 
  3. In the Clouds 
    Irmel Dunaiski 
Red & Blue Drops
My Upside Down Garden
In the Clouds

   

Monitor Calibration – do we really need it?

OutdoorPhoto have an article on monitor calibration on their site. It begins thus,

I have been wanting to tackle this question for some time now and have been pondering the answer and from which angle to handle it.

A recent conversation brought it to a head, though. so here goes:

If: Colour is perceived differently by different people, and
If: Photography for the sake of Art can have some lenience as to colour accuracy,
then: Why do we need to calibrate our monitors?

Well the answer is actually quite simple.

Click here to read the article