On November 19th The Isle of Man Photographic Society held a Small Print competition followed by a practical session on flash metering and studio lighting. The small print competition is open to both standard and intermediate groups with prints no bigger than 5” x 7.5” and without mounts. This is less expensive than other competitions and encourages the less confident members to show their work and receive valuable feedback. The society trialled a new system for showing small prints – of projecting them, rather than mounting them on a board. Whilst the benefit of a much enhanced image visible throughout the room was immediately clear, a significant improvement to the lighting to give a better colour rendition of the images is anticipated when some additional lighting kit is received. Judging the thirty four entries was Seamus Whelan from the Southern Photographic Society based at the Cherry Orchard. Despite the initial difficulties with the new system, Seamuss experience and qualifications were quickly evident as he seamlessly critiqued each image in his softly spoken Irish accent. He conceded that judges were not his favourite people as they always disappointed everyone except the winner! Nevertheless, our audience found otherwise, his helpful comments and gentle humour providing a most enjoyable start to the evening. Seamus was impressed by the quality of the entries, especially those by newer members. His favourite and overall winning photograph from both groups was a stunning black and white image by Standard group member, Steve Meadows, of old stone arches titled “Moody Scarlett”. Seamus said that it had great exposure and was very sharp, and would make a great large format picture. The Intermediate groups winner was a sharp and well composed image of lakeside rowing boats by Shirley Lotfy. The evening finished with an excellent presentation by Tony Curtis on studio flash and the use of a flash meter to get an accurate exposure. Explaining the difference between incident and reflected light, and of average and spot metering, Tony showed with careful metering, how different power settings on two studio flash units can be used to achieve shadows (and therefore modelling and shape) in subjects such as portraits or objects. Indeed, the presentation finished with a demonstration of how even a black background can become almost white when using studio flash – and giving the photographer almost total control over the final image. RESULTS: Standard Group – 1st, & 4th . Steve Meadows 2nd Karen Norton. 3Rd & 5th Mark Thorsby. 6th Thomas Carr. Intermediate Group - 1st & 4th Shirley Lotfy. 2nd Mark Falconer. 3rd Anne Bidwell. 5Th & 6th Annette Slater. The Society meets at the Art Society Building (Thie Ellyn) in Withington Road, Douglas, with all meetings starting at 7:30pm. Full membership is £25 per year, with a guest fee entry of just £1. Meetings are open to the public, and all will be given a very warm welcome. Full details of our programme can be found on our website at iomps. Our next meeting on Wednesday, 3rd December includes an Open Digital Images competition. Anne Bidwell
Posted on: Thu, 27 Nov 2014 22:45:24 +0000
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