PAN & TILT
October 2011
Common Pitfalls of working towards your LRPS
Dennis opened the meeting and welcomed all back to a new season. A tutorial provided by the Royal Photographic Society (RPS) was shown. This was used to test members’ skills in identifying faults in prints. Bob had provided a check list against which each image was to be judged. Each picture was first shown with no comment from the tutorial and members were invited to say what they felt was wrong or could have been done better. With little encouragement, members soon got into the swing of things and a lively debate ensued. Having discussed the image, the tutorial then showed what was wrong with the image and showed how it might have been better. The faults ranged over technical to compositional issues and occasionally found no fault. The whole object was to show the standards required to apply for an RPS Qualification of which the following are the main ones:
LRPS Licentiate of the Royal Photographic Society
ARPS Associate of the Royal Photographic Society
FRPS Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society
After the tea break, Martin Ridout took the floor to describe his experience of getting his LRPS (for which the members gave him a round of applause). He first looked at the RPS Website to see what was required. For the Licentiate, the RPS is primarily interested in the applicant showing his/her photographic skills. The applicant must submit ten images, be they prints or DPI’s and must cover a wide range of subject material and lighting. To get the feel for what is required he attended a RPS session in Orpington as an observer. Others present had brought along pictures for comment which not only included their panel of ten but several reserves. Martin listened to what was said and decided he would submit his panel as prints. He then started gathering a suitable selection of images which, when ready, he took along to another RPS session for comment. Following the judges’ comments he made a few minor changes to the panel. The big day then came and Martin described how his images were judged at the RPS HQ in Bath. He presented his panel as two rows of five prints. Five judges viewed the work. He described his feelings as he waited to learn whether he had been accepted or not. He need not have worried as he was granted his LRPS. To finish off the evening, Martin had brought along the prints which he used in his panel. Another round of applause for Martin and the meeting was closed.
13th September
An Introduction to Studio Lighting
What an evening! John Hill and Clive Rivers brought along their studio flash lighting system, complete with a backdrop screen. John explained the basic lighting set up, how the inbuilt lamps of the flash units are used to judge the lighting effect and how to set the power of each flash to give a balanced light output. Not only did John bring along his lighting set up but also a lovely young lady named Holly to pose for us photographers which she did with much enthusiasm. To make life easy, John also provided radio links to operate the flash units from members own cameras. At first there was some reluctance to come forward and start shooting but after Tony showed the way, a lot of pictures were taken. Bob got braver and started, with John’s permission, to try some different lighting set ups. Some members were persuaded to get in front of the cameras and one member let Holly have a go at taking some pictures. A very enjoyable evening thanks to John, Clive and Holly.
Saturday 17th September
Outing by Boat to Hampton Court
Well it was supposed to be a boat trip to Hampton Court but because there was a major boat race on the Thames that day, the boat to Hampton Court was not running. Instead of going upstream, our party of nine went down stream, taking a boat trip to the Thames Barrier. All very pleasant and though sunny and breezy, it was not very warm. The light until early afternoon was excellent for photography. Some of the party got off at Greenwich and explored the Town and Park getting some brilliant views from the Observatory whilst others remained on board to return to Westminster Pier where, because of the Boat Race, there were some delays in getting off the boat. During the afternoon there were some sharp rain showers which caught one or two out. The boat also gave plenty of opportunity to see the rowing boats taking part in the race. Not quite what was planned but a pleasant day none the less.
20th September
What I Did in the Summer
The idea was that a few members would submit up to fifteen DPI’s of photos they had taken during the summer and twelve members rose to the call giving those present a very full evening. First up was Alec who described how he had one of his older DSLR converted to shoot infra red images. Examples of infra red images were shown and Alec explained how the image is taken in colour and the converted to monochrome. He finished with some pictures of rare orchids taken at Boxhill. Next up was Andrew who showed some interior panoramas. Some of his pictures were a blend of three images at different exposures to create an HDR Image. A number of his pictures had been taken on club outings using a very small compact camera. After some wedding shots, he ended with a panorama from Greenwich Park made up of five seperate shots. Barbara offered a number of shots taken around London including some of the Mayor’s Carnival and last Saturday’s trip to the Thames Barrier. Bob started modestly with shots of Clifton Pier and then moved on to Estonia, then Russia and St Petersburg. On the way back we visited Copenhagen to end up at Whitstable. Denis showed his holiday shots based around Laycock from which he visited many of the ancient stone circles and burial mounds in the area. Derek showed what could be seen and photographed on what he called his Sunday walks. They were all taken in local parks and woods and covered the butterflies and flowers that he saw. John, needless to say, submitted a selection of his glamour pictures much appreciated by the (male) members. Joyce then came on with shots of Scotland including Balmoral Castle. Amongst the landscapes were shots of flowers, birds and insects. We occasionally got away from Scotland with shots of Mickleham Priory and the monsters in Crystal Palace Park. Norman’s selection was similar but did include some pictures taken in Portland Zoo where he attended a photographic course. Tony explained that due to his health problems, he had not taken many pictures during the summer. He then described how he had scanned dozens of old slides to put together his AV ‘The Stately Homes of England’. The time consumed scanning these slides had driven him to make a jig so that he could use his camera to copy the slides rather than the scanner. He then showed some of his B&W images copied from negatives dating from the 1950’s and 1960’s. He ended by showing what could be done to recover an underexposed slide of Concorde and the Red Arrows flying down the Mall. Martin rounded off the evening by describing how he had got into close up work using a borrowed close up filter lens. He showed how, out of card, he had made a ‘snoot’ to fit over the flash gun to concentrate the light in the right place. He then showed a number of examples using this tool. He is now going to buy a filter. So ended a very full evening which ended rather later than usual but no one was complaining.
27th September
Print Heat 1 Judge: Darren Pullman of Carshalton CC
Thought to be the first visit to the Society by this Judge, Darren started by saying how he set about Judging and how he expected some photographers would not agree with his views. As usual, the evening started with the colour prints. There were twenty seven entries made by nine workers. Darren’s comments were clear and revealed some of the problems we, the members, were having. Several images were criticized because of a lack of sharpness which lost those images some points. He also, where appropriate, suggested how the composition might have been improved. This at times became a little confusing when one image was said to be too central in the frame and another might be improved by being made more central. Six images were held back and the final results are given below. After the tea break, the monochrome images were shown. The entry consisted of fourteen images by six workers. Similar comments were made and five held back. In his closing remarks, Darren said how impressed he was with the overall standard of work being produced by the Society.
Colour Prints
| Place | Title | Author |
| 1st | Siobhan | John Hill |
| 2nd | Evening Solitude | Norman Bernard |
| 3rd | Fish Supper | Derek Miah |
| 4th | Navel Sunset | Mike Spurway |
| HM | Finger Licking Good | Derek Miah |
Monochrome Prints
| Place | Title | Author |
| 1st | Snowbound | Martin Ridout |
| 2nd | The Body | John Hill |
| 3rd | Gas Off | Martin Ridout |
| 4th | Not the Fisherman’s Friend | Mike Spurway |
| HM | Art | John Hill |