Newsletter

Hexham & District Photographic Society

Newsletter February 2010 - Issue 33

ASSIGNMENTS

Our “roving reporter” sent me this report below from Danny’s assignment to Durham.

The first assignment of 2010 was held on the 1^st February in Durham. Danny was the leader and just over twenty members met in the market place, eager to begin shooting. A certain lady was a little late having done a detour via Teesside but she is always bubbly and fun so no one minded.

There were three new members present and it was great to welcome them and introduce them to what assignments are all about.

After Danny had explained what usually happened, people drifted off in various directions, some to the riverside others to the cathedral by way of the little winding streets.

One member was using a new tripod for the first time and concentrating on the detailed stonework that graces the cathedral, others were taking shadow shots in the cloisters, after assuring the attendants that no shots would be taken in the building itself.

Those who went down by the riverside would have succeeded catching beautiful images of the cathedral reflected in the water after entering a gate that said ‘Private’ or even risking a dipping by standing on a very muddy slippery landing stage. Others may have turned their attention to skeleton trees decorated with snow. One member even managed to find a heron.

Most of the group met later, to have a little, or large lunch, and to have a chat about the mornings shoot. I heard people being give good advice and help as to which would be the best way to get the images printed. It was a good get together and hopefully knowledge was shared.

A spot of good advice I will pass on........When going to Durham, park in a park and ride, if you are over 60 the bus into the city centre is FREE one of the perks of being a senior citizen!!

Danny will need up to 3 images and comments from the Durham assignment by no later than 3^rd March. The images will be shown on 23^rd March 2010.

For the benefit of all our new members there is a code of practice for assignment prints and this can be seen on the club’s website http://www.hexhamphotographic.org.uk/competitions%20and%20results/competitions.htm

DILSTON ASSIGNMENT

I haven’t got a definite date yet but I hope it will go ahead on Saturday, 13^th March. Details will follow as soon as I find out.

MONITOR CALIBRATION TOOL

As most of you will know the Society has a Monitor Calibration Tool (Eye One Display) which may be borrowed by members for calibrating their monitors on their home computer systems.

The Eye-One device is a high-quality colorimeter with enhanced repeatability, faster measurements and higher sensitivity in dark areas for better control in shadow detail and a more neutral grey scale.

Getting accurate colour on screen is quite straightforward - after installing the supplied Eye-One Match software on your Mac or PC, plug the Eye-One sensor into a spare USB port and run the software. Specify your monitor type (CRT, LCD or Laptop) and following the instructions, place the sensor on your monitor. Depending on whether you have chosen the 'Easy' or 'Advanced' options (I recommend easy) , the software will determine the optimum brightness and/or contrast settings (along with a few other things) and then go on to measure the colour performance of your screen. At the end of the process, which takes between 5 and 10 minutes, it will have created an ICC profile (containing the digital characteristics of your monitor) which will be saved and made 'active'. Once completed, this automatically becomes your default monitor profile and you'll now be looking at images on screen that are as close to the original as your screen will allow. Calibration with LCD (Flat) monitors should last around 6 months or more but CRT Monitors may need calibrating more often.

The tool may be booked through me (Bob Turner) and if it is not in use I can let you have it straight away otherwise I will add you to the waiting list.

Please note the tool must be returned as soon as possible and at the latest within a week as it is in high demand.

HEXHAM PHOTOGRAPHIC WEBSITE GALLERY

Getting Your Work on the Hexham PS Website.

Bob Turner has asked me to include the following guide to getting your images on the club’s website.

As you are aware our Photographic Society has a website for advertising our presence on the Internet and as a showcase for members work. At the moment there is only about 20% of the membership who have images on the website so there is plenty of scope to for more people to be involved. A wealth of talent exists within our society as can be seen from the high quality of the images shown on the assignment and competition evenings.

Most of our members (all except one I think) work with digital images and have varying degrees of experience with computers and the internet. Some of the more advanced members even have their own websites to display their work. However any member without the skills to build their own site is still able to show their work on the internet as the facility exists for them to display work on the Society’s Gallery Pages.

There are two ways of doing this:-

If you already have a website then send the link for it to me (Bob Turner) at the societies email address which is hexhamps@btinternet.com
If you do not have a website then send a selection of your images (up to 20) to me via email or on a CD and I will create a page for you and add them to the site. Please follow the format of files no larger than 8ins on the longest side for landscape format or 6ins for portrait format with a resolution of 300dpi saved as a jpg with a quality setting of 8. If you are not sure how to do this please see below for instructions.

Don’t be afraid to send images in, the whole point of submitting your work for inclusion in the gallery is that it is not there to please a judge or be criticiced, it is purely what you like and to show others your work in a non competitive situation.

Tutorial for resizing images (example shown for Photoshop but this will be similar for most image editing software).

Open the file you wish to alter in Photoshop.
From the top menu choose image, image size and a box will open showing the size of your image.
Under document size change the value of the longest edge to 8ins (if it is a landscape format file or 6ins if it is a portrait format file.
Then change the resolution value to 300 dpi and click OK
Go to file save as and give the file a meaningful title which can be used on the webpage (not camera image names such as _DSC1234.jpg), if the name has more than one word please use an underscore character between them (such as My_Picture.jpg). This is very important as the name will not show correctly if the underscore is missing. Save the named file to your desktop or a new folder as a jpg quality 8.
Repeat this for the rest of your images.

You now have the images correctly sized and can then send them to me by either attaching them to an email or giving me a CD.

2010 / 2011 SYLLABUS.

AUDIO VISUAL (AV) PRESENTATIONS

Due to the success of the Audio Visual Presentation just before Christmas, Leo has included another night on next season’s syllabus. They will be shown on 7^th December 2010. Each AV should last between minimum 3 minutes and maximum 5 minutes. The presentations should have a theme.

Please let Leo know if you are prepared to have a go. He will need 10 people and it will be a case of first come first served.

AUDIO VISUAL/PICTURES TO EXE WORKSHOP

A number of members asked after the AV night if the club could run a workshop about AV and Pictures to Exe as they were very interested to learn more.

If there is sufficient interest we can run a half day workshop, probably about 3 hours. The cost would be £10 per person. We would aim to do this before the end of this season, possibly later in April on a Saturday or Sunday morning.

We will need a minimum of 10 people attending the workshop.

Please let me know if you are interested by no later than 28^th February.

PRINTS ON A THEME

Something new on next season’s syllabus is “Prints on a Theme”. Members are invited to submit 3 prints on a theme of their choice. The themes can be as obscure as you want or traditional as you like, we are looking for variety. Additionally the member will give some comments about their theme such as the what, why, when, how or where. The 3 prints will be displayed together (so please make sure you let us know which order to display them) and the comments along with those of the speaker will be incorporated into the evening’s talk.

This is scheduled for 21^st September and the prints will need to be handed in by 7^th September to allow the speaker to prepare for the talk.

Again please let Leo know if you want to volunteer. To make the evening a success we will need at least 20 people to sign up.

FOREIGN ASSIGNMENT

A number of members have been asking me about this year’s foreign assignment. I have been looking at various cities, airline schedules, hotels, dates, etc.

The city that appeals the most is Lisbon. It is a wonderful place with a great deal of history. It has fascinating architecture with many nooks and crannies. Good transportation, restaurants and plenty to see and do.

A Moorish legacy in the Alfama district with tightly packed alleyways and this quarter still retains its kasbah-like layout. Compact houses line the steep streets and stairways with washing strung on the facades of the houses.

The Baxia and Avenida districts were recreated in 1755 after a devastating earthquake. This area is the opposite of the Alfama district with wide streets with neo-classical buildings and wonderful street cafes and lots of street artists.

The hilltop Bairro Alto district is one of the most picturesque districts of the city. This was a run down area in the 19^th century much frequented by “ladies of the night” but today its small workshops, family run restaurants exist along side a thriving nightlife.

The other main area which I remember quite well is Belem. This is at the mouth of the Tagus River. It is linked with Portugal’s golden age of discovery. Two beautiful buildings are the Torre of Belem and the Monastery of Jeronimos. There is a distinct feel of the seaside to this part of Lisbon.

Some parts of Lisbon are fairly hilly but there are funiculars and lifts to get you up to Bairro Alto. The trams, buses and underground are all very good, although you can walk around just as well.

Another place to visit is Sintra which is a 45 minute train journey from Lisbon. Sintra is a UNESCO World Heritage site and although I haven’t been there I have heard it is well worth a visit.

Before I do any further research I would like to know if there is any interest. I have done some costing and the BA flight at the moment is £194, the flight times are very similar to our journey to Istanbul. We would leave Newcastle at 06-45; have couple of hours in Terminal 5 arriving in Lisbon at 12-50. We would leave Lisbon at 13-45, again have a couple of hours in Terminal 5 and arrive in Newcastle at 19-20. The hotel is advertised at about £69 for a double, less for a single but of course I would aim to get a discount if there were a number of us going.

My intention would be to go probably 1^st September for either 4 or 5 nights.

Please let me know if you are interested within the next two or three weeks.