Didn't she do well.....

Camera Club Award Night 2016.

During my first season - I received a certificate for second place in the standard group colour print group. Yay for me!!

During my second season - I received...... Yay for me with a little tap dance.....

Vice Presidents Cup, with certificate - Colour Prints - Intermediate Group - 1st Place
Certificate - Mono Prints - Standard Group - 2nd Place
Certificate - PDI - Standard Group - 2nd Place
Cup, with certificate- Judges Award - Best PDI in Annual Exhibition - joint winner with Marian Guess
Trophy, with certificate - Public Award - Best Panel in Annual Exhibition
Susan Hill Award (Cup), with certificate - Newcomer of the Year, presented to a member of the club who has given their time to help the club and developed their skills as a photographer during their first two seasons.

In the word of Bruce Forsyth..... Didn't she do well......

I can't believe my name appears along side the club greats of Martina, Marian and Trevor. I am truly honoured.

Bring on the rest of this season - although once again, I may have peaked way too early lol. And I really feel with the quality of these three images you can see how I've done so well - snigger snigger - Note for 2017, learn how to take a good still life image.

Gloves for the raffle

Our annual raffle for the camera club is here again. Last year I made two camera bean bags (similar to the one I made myself) - here. This year, fingerless gloves. Hopefully someone will like them enough to pick them up for themselves or as a Christmas gift for someone else.

Very much like the second set .... may have to make another pair!!!

Christmas is coming....

So our annual secret Santa has arrived for our QQ group.  an early decision on what to make was easy - just a matter of what colour scheme depending on the recipient!

An advent calendar with a twist....

Soooooo, with cardboard scissors and a massive pot of glue off we go....

Can you see what it is yet...

Ta Dah......

 

Such fun.......I'm really not sure how robust the whole thing will be, and certainly wouldn't survive a household with little hands but I hope it will last for years to come.  I'm off now to collect all the little red beads that pinged themselves across the sewing room as they fell off!

One for the charity pile....

 Another bag of odds and sods.....

Ta Dah...... one more to keep the little one warm this winter.

CCC: Season 3 - PDI 2

That time again - second PDI competition of the season....

Both images taken in RAW

Just Resting: Laying face down on the floor again, much to D's embarrassment but to much amusement to the people stepping over me.  A whole family came past - with mum and dad hissing at anyone getting close.  The little one just stopped and sat down, while the rest of the family moved along. Not much to edit in this image - just a quick tidy up on the background, and the usual shadows and highlights.

Just Resting: Final

Judges Comments: Nice pictures. Sharp all the way through the image. Score: 9.5

Early Autumn Colour: ICM with three exposures - in camera. ICM is when you intentionally move the camera rather than just camera shake.  I need to loose the light bits in the image and enhance the colours. 

Early Autumn Colour: First draft - light areas removed but colour still not vibrant enough for autum colour.

Early Autumn Colour: Final - added the warm sunset filter in Nik Colour Efex. Much better.

Judges Comments: Bags of colour, Good contrast. No part of the images is sharp in any way. Score: 7.5

What a very odd night..... considering the judge went on and on - he didn't actually make much comment on many images.  The judge just didn't seem to mark according to his comments - one images he got very excited about - saying that is should be sold to a magazine, only to mark it an 8.   I also felt there were some very odd images displayed tonight (although this is only my personal) - not up to the clubs usual standard.

CCC: Season 3 - Mono Competition 2

Left it far too late to organise images - Saturday morning with three hours to spare and no images selected.  Mono is not my strong point anyway and need at least a week - hay ho....

The Hive:  My second attempt at photographing this 'structure'. Very much like the curves in this one. Hand held - slightly overexposed to get a 'clear' sky. Need to change to mono, adjust shadows and highlights, and a small crop.

The Hive: Final - really pleased with the details now I've adjusted the shadows. Printed on Permajet Oyster Paper. I think this makes a good mono image.

Judges Comments: Very defined shape at each corner. Very sharp image. Good detail. Details in the line draw the eye through the image from top to bottom.  However, no actual focal point, no safe point for the eye to stop, lots of lines - not allowing the eye to rest  - too much detail behind the main lines. Score: 7.5

Morning Beach: HDR - don't think I've entered an HDR before - and certainly never a mono.  Having processed it - decided I really didn't like the B&W and it really didn't work - so put it on the reject pile! Much prefer the Colour - so will 'maybe' enter as a PDI some time - without the sensor marks!.

Sooooo, a last minute replacement ..... processed in the very late hours of Saturday night.

Remember: The Battle of Britain - taken back in July - I tired a multiple exposure, in camera, for these two images but because of the harsh light on the day - just couldn't get the image I wanted. I took a few individual pictures 'just in case' and feeling inspired by a talk we had about Layers last week at club - thought it was time I had a go.

Both images need changing to B&W, shadow, highlights, clarity etc - a different crop perhaps - and then 'blending' the images into one - well that's the theory anyway.......

Remember: The Battle of Britain - Usual processing done - with the blending of the two images.... this is what I ended up with...

I think the image is OK but not as clear as I would have liked. I don't particularly like the top left of the image.... another play - taking the image into Silver Effect Pro...

This one I did like, however some areas are a little too dark for my printer (haven't got my head around the new printer yet).  but like the way the soldier is lit up.  One more 'play'....

And this is the final images. The main focal point is the soldier, the names are still clear.  Still see the background but not interfering like the first processed image.  Printed on Permajet Titanium Paper. Think I could improve on this if I had not left it so very late to select my images!

Judges Comments: Liked the treatment on the image, Image well conceived and well presented. Liked the square crop. Liked the positioning of the soldier in the bottom quarter of the image without interference with the names and medals. Score: 9

CCC: Season 3 - Colour Competition 2

Take Off: Wildlife is not really something I have photographed during my first two seasons at the club, so I have started going to the WWT in Arundal. This, I think, is my very best (!) moving shot to date. I find it hard to track - one image in about 200 (lol) is coming in shape-ish. The duck is most definitely sharp - need to work on my background! So..... image overexposed and in need of a good crop.

Take Off: Final. Shadows and highlights adjusted, clarity just increased slightly. Cropped square. Printed on Permajet Titanium Paper.  Like the metallic look to this paper but it does look like I've stuck the duck on!!  

Judges Comments: Suspicious that the duck wasn’t added to the scene (but noted that this was probably quite unfounded). Reasons for suspicions - absolutely pin sharp and no reflection of the bird. The sharpness gave a great 3-D effect, beautifully separated. Enjoyed droplets falling from feet. Score: 9.

Flowers in the Wind: Taken on a very windy day, using my ND filters.  It's not actually the look I was going for but happy with the accidental outcome. Need to increase colours in the image, not in need of a crop this time!

Flowers in the Wind: Final. Shadows, Highlight's, Contrast and clarity all nudged up. Printed on Permajet Oyster Paper

Judges Comment: Noted the long exposure and camera movement, giving a lovely effect but the scene would be best behind something (i.e. something concrete to look at). then he hesitated, decided to hold it. On review he noted soft and gentle effect and the technique was well done. Score:9.

I was away for the showing of these images so the comments were taken by a friend - I'm just a little disappointed not to have been in attendance (haha) for the two 9's in the advance sections - whoop whoop!!!

Royal Photographic Society: Membership Card

A very last minute decision to send five images to a RPS competition has resulted in a nice surprise.

Out of 1050 images - I was short listed into the top 20 with this little image ..... you may have seen it before!!

People then voted for their favourite -  the top three getting through to the final. With the president of the RPS choosing the winner.

The outcome - I came joint 4th - just missing out by a few votes - you just never know whats going to happen!! Feeling chuffed!

Birthday Gift

So back in 2009, I made these for the girls. Christmas gifts for the sewing room. I made myself one - which is most unusual, and use it a lot.  With a birthday coming up, I considered it a nice gift to make for our newest member of the QQ.  I always forget that E joined us part way through the journey....I always feel like she has been with us from the start.  I wonder if I could 'recycle' any more patterns from  the early days.... 

So with the hardest choice being what fabrics to choose, the making began.  I must confess there were several 'pattern changes' during the course of the day which had to be corrected - all part of the fun!!  

Pattern taken from Sew, Mama, Sew.....mmmm wonder if that's a franchise of Plate Spinning Mama.....

CCC: Season 3 - PDI Competition 1

PDI: This season the club has introduced, for the first time an intermediate group.  This is were I start the season. Objective - one ten!

Frozen Flower: A set of nine images - taken using my macro lens - with the idea of focus stacking.  I'm not sure if I really have the hang of this technique yet but willing to experiment some more.  Flower from the garden - frozen.  Taken on top of a light box so bleached a little. A suitable crop will be needed.

  

  

  

Frozen Flower: First draft - stacked in PS (CC), cropped - and then imported into LR for colour adjustment.  I enjoy this image. I liked 'creating' the image.  Freezing the flower will give you a different result each time.  On this, my first time of freezing - I froze three different types of flowers - being careful to label in case D mistook them for his tea!!  This was by far the most successful.  I particularly like the 'crack' just off centre - however I suspect the judge will consider that distracting.  

Frozen Flower: Final - just experimenting one step further - I have added a warm sunset filter to the image using Nik Colour Effect.  I very much like the warmth it has added to the image.  I truly think this is a marmite image. You either like it or don't.

Ps. A tip - when using water in photography - generally tap water does not give great results. Carbonated water is better for bubbles and this - ionised water, gives great 'extra long' bubbles. 

Judges Comments: Interesting and very different, but actually very little to the image. Love the colour palette. Very pleasing image. Bit more clarity required in the centre. Score: 9.5

Emerged: Taken at the NHM Butterfly House, through glass.  I very much like the whole image but the moth/butterfly on the far right just isn't sharp enough to include. So a good crop.

Emerged: Final Draft. Cropped (with a small amount of cloning on left) and clarity turned up a bit. Shadows and highlights slightly adjusted. In looking at this image closely - once again my DoF is way off - it's not sharp all over.  Really need to sort this issue now - have 'invested' in an off camera flash - but on this occasion this wouldn't have helped as taken through glass.

Judges Comments: Beautiful to see. Focus is where is should be  - on the insect and the cocoons. Detail in the image is interesting. Crop works well - although too close on the left and right hand side.  More space would have improved the image. Score: 9.5