Paarl MTB Outing

Here is some info from Eric Palmer on what can be expected at the 15 February outing to shoot mountain bikers in Paarl. We will show a preview of the types of images that can be shot at the meeting on 11 February.

Ok, so we will meet right up at the gate to the Taal Monument. The “Playground” is quite a large area just below the monument & it can be a great feature in the BG of your shots. You don’t have to walk far to get to some really good opportunities, but the terrain is quite slippery gravel so advise to take hiking boots or comfortable shoes with good grip.
As far as camera equipment goes, just about all lenses from seriously wide & fisheye to about a 200/300mm. Doubt you would need anything much longer than that, but can give it a go if you feel strong enough to carry it. Flashes for close wide shots if you have one, not a necessity. Bring a few cards as you often shoot quite a lot more with the action than you would anywhere else. Make sure batteries etc are charged & cards formatted.
Being in Paarl it will most probably be pretty warm, so bring a hat, sunscreen & lots of water!!! Up at the playground there is very little shade & no shops, so bring all your nibblies & drinks with you. I would like to meet there between 8 & half past because of the heat & shoot up at the top until about 10am or so & if people are still keen to shoot & the riders aren’t dead by then we can move further down under the trees where it is more downhill racing trails rather than big jumps & drops, but is still a lot of good photo opportunities.

Think that’s about it on the what to bring side & would just like to give a little warning as I don’t want any accidents. BE AWARE!!! These guys fly over things & down tiny paths & don’t want anyone in a collision. I will warn everyone when we are there, but in action photography (just like any other form of photography) you need to observe for a while before you start to shoot. Watch where the guys go & what lines they take so we can stay well out of their way & see where the main action is happening. I’m pretty sure the guys wont mind doing a few portraits too, the gear can look quite impressive & will be a nice change if the action gets too much for you.

Great, looking forward to it! Should be a good fun morning & the riders are keen too! Should have at least 20 guys there if not more.

George Hallett Exhibition ‘A Photographic Journey’

The Kalk Bay Modern will present George Hallett’s exhibition from 21st February until 15th March.  The gallery is situated on the first floor of the Olympia Building, 136 Main Road, Kalk  Bay, and is open daily from 9.30am untl 5pm. Tel.  021 7886571.

‘Hallett is a Cape Town based photographer. Born in Hout Bay he taught himself the art, beginning his career as a street photographer. After establishing close associations with writers and artists he gave up his clerical job and became a staff photographer with a local newspaper. Hallett made a poignant personal document of District Six, a part of Cape Town that had been declared white, forcing all black inhabitants to be removed and their property destroyed. In 1970 he left South Africa to work for The Times of London. Hallett took a personal interest in the exiled South African artists living in Europe and his collection houses a strong selection of those artists. Hallett has taught photography in Europe, America and Africa and continues to take a motivated interest in community-based arts projects in our country. He returned permanently to South Africa in 1995. In 1997 he was jury member of the World Press Awards. Hallett is currently working on various personal projects involving the Red Cross Children’s Hospital, Muslim families in Cape Town, and preparing an exhibition on Black Life in the city during the 1970’s’.

 

Our Flickr group — a note

When you send me a request for an invitation to our Flickr group, please make sure that you have made me a contact first. Flickr has a mechanism in place to prevent spamming through the group system by only allowing me to invite people that have me as a contact. Although I can also invite you via your e-mail address this is problematic as people sometimes use different e-mail addresses and if the address doesn’t match the one used to open your Flickr account you might still not be able to join the group, even after being invited.

HPS/Hermanus Joint Evaluation Meeting Wed. 11th Feb.’09 7.30pm

Our joint Evaluation Meeting promises to be a ‘not-to-be-missed’ event, and I hope that many of our members will take part.  Provisos and logistics are a little different from what we normally do, so please read the instructions carefully, and do not enter your images later than noon Friday 6th February!!!!  All the digital images are going to be sent by Steve to the two evaluators (Nicole Palmer – Helderberg and Max Leipold – Hermanus) on the Friday afternoon before the meeting, so that they have time to evaluate the images in the comfort of their own homes!  Slides and Prints will, however, be evaluated at the meeting.

Please read carefully …

1)  Up to two images each from only those members who are physically present at the meeting.
2)  The images may be prints, slides or digital images, and may be a mixture of these, if desired.
3)  Prints and slides should be brought to the meeting in time for them to be hung up or placed into slide trays.  The hall opens at 7.00pm. 
4)  AV’s should be brought on flash sticks and will be loaded either before the meeting starts (if there is time) or during teatime.
5)  The Helderberg evaluator will be Nicole Palmer, the evaluator for Hermanus will be Max Leipold, and the facilitator for the evening will be Nettie Warncke. 
6)  All digital images should be sent to Steve Crane at the followinging address by noon on Friday 6th February.  helderbergphoto+entries@gmail.com No late entries will be accepted.  Steve will mix the entries up so that there is no pattern in the projection of the (anonymous) images.  The evaluators will evaluate alternately.
7)  The following instructions refer to how members should submit their digital images. 

‘Image files must be submitted in JPEG format and must be no larger than 1400 pixels wide and 1050 pixels high.

When saving the resized image, an appropriate JPEG compression ratio must be selected in the photo editing software to ensure that the file size does not exceed 350 kilobytes.

The club uses IrfanView to display the images at meetings  It is freeware and may be downloaded from the IrfanView web site if you would like to use it to test the displaying of your images prior to sending them.

The following file naming format must be used;

DX_name_title.jpg where:

D is E for evaluation on evaluation evenings.
X is the number of your entry in the section, 1 or 2.
_ (the underscore character) is a separator.
name is the author’s name, maximum 12 characters including spaces.
_ (the underscore character) is a separator.
title is the photograph’s title, maximum 18 characters including spaces.
.jpg is the file extension, indicating a jpeg file.

The name and title need not contain spaces but each word must be capitalised. If the lengths of 12 and 18 for name and title are insufficient, you may use abbreviations; in which case you must include the full names and titles in the text of your e-mail message. These full names will be used on the scoring sheet.

Example:

 

D1_Mike Smith_Golden Gate.jpg

8)  Our club will provide tea, coffee and substantial snacks during the break.

9)  Audio-visuals from both clubs will be shown after the tea break.

10)  Our evenings generally end at 10pm.

 

WnSoft PicturesToExe Deluxe 5.6

Wings Platinum is the de-facto standard software for preparing AVs in our club but others use PicturesToExe and seeing this announcement prompted me to publish this, thinking that some of you might like to give the trial version a whirl and see how it compares to Wings.

WnSoft PicturesToExe Deluxe 5.6 – Digital SLR Blog – Digital Camera Reviews, Ratings of Digital Cameras & Comparisons of Popular Cameras – DigitalCameraInfo.com

WnSoft recently announced the PicturesToExe Deluxe 5.6 application that lets you create slides which can be executed as screensaver (.SCR) files, HD video, DVD video disc or iPhone video. It supports 3D effects and Pan/Zoom effects and one can also password protect a slide show or assign an expiration date. PicturesToExe Deluxe 5.6 runs under Windows 2000/XP/Vista and requires 256-MB RAM and DirectX 9 or higher.

DIY Photoshop Brushes

DIY Photoshop Brushes

One of the most popular searches involving Photoshop on the web is, perhaps not unsurprisingly, for free Photoshop brushes. Photoshop brushes can be used for a range of editing and creative tasks and while it’s fun to find and download great looking brushes it’s also possible to create them yourself and to do this very easily.