Our next meeting on June 17 is a competition night, the subject being "Night Photography".
We will be self critiquing and discussing our images this evening.
The following meeting on 1st July will be a presentation on Nature and Wildlife photography by Dennis Jones.
Dennis's knowledge on nature photography and all things wildlife will ensure an entertaining evening.
The following evening, 15th July is a competition night, the subject being "From Above - No Drones".
The judge for this night is Kerry Boytell, who is the current President of the Federation of Camera Clubs NSW.
All meetings will start at 7.30pm in the Pittwater RSL auditorium.
For competition nights, please refer to the Club website for definitions and ensure your correctly sized digital images are sent to [email protected] no later than 8.00pm the Sunday night before.
"There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are." Ernst Haas
Digital Image Titling
PLEASE ensure your digital images are TITLED and include your FULL NAME as per the instructions on our website. Use only lower case characters with no spaces. Use underscore in place of spaces. eg: the_shearers_ben_jones.jpg
All digital images are to be sent to [email protected] no later than 8.00pm on Sunday night (the day before the competition).
Les Walkling, Emmagen Creek 2018, Inkjet pigment print, 960mm x 1200mm
Presented by Les Walkling with Tony Hewitt , this workshop is for those wondering how to get to the next level. 19th to 26th August . Held in the Daintree Rainforest Observatory Education and Research Centre at Cape Tribulation in Far North Queensland. All information can be found at:
Don't forget - Momento offer a 30% discount to our financial members off their first order then all subsequent orders will receive an automatic 10% discount. Hop over to http://www.momentopro.com.au/ to sign up.
TIP 1 - Spontaneity Capturing that instant, that effervescent split-second is one of the secrets to bubbling portraits that capture the judge’s eye. Whether it’s a Mobile Phone or Camera shots of ‘un-posed’ people, that have a natural attraction.
TIP 2 - Aperture The most commonly used aperture from all FIPP 2017 finalists was f2.8. Why? Well, we’re not quite sure. It could be that photographers wanted the subject sharp and the background out of focus. It could also be that the most popular lens used by finalists was a 24-70mm zoom and f2.8 is the maximum aperture on that lens.
TIP 3 - Make it Memorable Abigail Harman, WA Commercial Professional photographer and FIPP judge says she looks for memorable images. ‘You know how some images just stay with you’ . These are images that evoke some kind of emotion and tell a story.
TIP 4 - Atmospherics Atmospherics mightn’t be good for your health but they are often great for portraits. Dust, smoke, fog, rain, drizzle, haze often create a tangible ‘mood’ in a portrait.
TIP 5 - Don’t be late! Entries close Midnight 7 July 2019. Historically, the numbers increase sharply in the last 48 hours leading to errors. Entrants are urged to avoid disappointment and to enter before the final 48 hours.
If you DON’T enter, you’ll never know! Take the leap!
For more information follow the link. fipp.org.au/
The Mono Awards is looking for the best Black and White photography from Australia and New Zealand. Why black and white? Because we love it and, while monochrome is as old as photography itself, we believe it is as relevant now in the age of digital as it was when Henri Cartier-Bresson was walking the streets of Paris with a Leica rangefinder. The Mono Awards is open from 14 March until 30 June 2019, with $10,000 in cash and prizes to be won. More information at: www.themonoawards.com.au/
Facebook
Not a member of our Facebook page yet? You are encouraged to join - this is the place to get lots of tips, advice and help, to see what other members are up to and be able to stay in touch between meetings. Just follow this link. www.facebook.com/groups/pittcameraclub/
Calls for entries for $50,000 Epson International Pano Awards
The call for entries for the 10th annual Epson International Pano Awards are now open. The competition, which aims to reveal the world's best panoramic photography, offers a prize pool of $50,000, which includes $12,000 in cash. Read more at thepanoawards.com/
31st Sutherland Shire National Exhibition of Photography
The Sutherland Shire National Exhibition of Photography will be open to take entries for its 31st exhibition on the1st June 2019, and entries will close on the26th July 2019.
There are 4 Sections in the exhibition where entrants can enter up to 4 digital images per section. They are Open Colour, Creative, Open Monochrome and Nature Awards. There will be 17 Major awards (Gold or Silver medals) & FCC Most Successful Trophas well as Highly Commended Ribbons -minimum of 6 ribbons awarded in each section.
Each entrant will receive an audio visual presentation of all accepted images. The Audio Visual presentation will also be shown at the following Photography Clubs October - Mosman Camera Club October - St George Photographic Society November - Ingleburn Photography Club February 2020 - The Entrance Camera Club. The exhibitions web site is ssnep.org.au/ where you will find details on the different sections and conditions of entry.
Camera Gear Sales
If anyone has camera gear or magazines or anything photographically related they would like to sell/donate please contact Bill with details and we can list them in the newsletter. [email protected]
Care Instructions for Fine Art Prints written by Cameron Cope from Image Science
Rule #1:Don't Touch The Printed Area. It's pretty simple: wherever possible do not touch any area on the page where pigment ink has been laid down (yes, even when wearing gloves!). This is true across all paper and print types, but especially pertinent to matte papers printed with areas of high ink density (i.e. dark areas) and areas with smooth tonality (i.e. blue sky in a photo or flat colour in a digital illustration). This is because matte papers achieve their matte finish by dispersing light with fine velvet-like fibres. And just like velvet, if you touch/rub/scuff it, traces of the contact will be left visible. Unlike velvet, though, you cannot reverse this by running your hand back the other way - the damage is permanent and very obvious in dark and/or smooth areas of your prints. In lighter and more scattered/patterned prints you may never notice any scuffing or finger marks from contact, but always best to play it safe. On a side note - if you're printing at home the same rules apply for handling your paper even before you print. It's not uncommon for example to make a print on a seemingly unblemished sheet, only to find ghostly finger prints or scuffs revealed in the denser areas. This means those fine velvet-like fibres discussed above have been imprinted from physical contact prior to printing.
Print With A Margin For Handling This really just goes to helping with Rule #1: don't touch the inked area of your print. If you set up your print with little to no room around the edges it becomes more likely that you (or your customer) will accidentally break rule number 1 at some point. This is a major reason why we advise against printing borderless too. In general the fine art market prefers prints with borders. These are more obviously art objects, less like posters, allowing the viewer's eye a bit of relief from the image while also giving a sense of the quality and physicality of the paper itself.
Handle With Gloves As discussed in Rule #1 wearing gloves while handling your print won't save it from damage if you still touch the printed area, this is non-negotiable particularly with dense matte prints. Though in fact even touching the non-printed area will leave impressions in the fine surface fibres of matte papers, though as these are not visible to the eye (unless printed on) it's generally nothing to worry about. Wearing gloves is still a good idea though, even if you're careful to only handle your prints at the margins with no pigment on them. They can prevent oils or dirt on your hands transferring onto the paper, not to mention finger prints on glossy papers. Standard white cotton art handling gloves are a simple, practical option for handling your prints as they provide basic protection against the transfer of oils, moisture and dirt from hand to print. They also become visibly grubby over time, clearly indicating when they need replacing. The draw back of cotton gloves is that they can potentially 'wick' moisture/sweat oils from your hands to the prints. With clean hands in a cool, dry environment cotton shouldn't prove much of an issue - though for more protection you might like to try powder-free nitrile gloves. Like cotton gloves these won't leave finger prints on gloss prints, but they won't wick moisture or oils from the skin either. Nor will they shed any pesky lint on handled prints like cotton can. The downside to using nitrile gloves is the potential for sweaty hands - particularly in warmer, more humid environments.
Use Archival Sleeves And Sheeting When storing and sending prints, your first layer of protection should be archival plastic or tissue to protect from scuffing and rubbing, particularly if you're stacking multiples together. We use and recommend Crystal Clear Archival Bags with adhesive on the bag - not the flap - to prevent the glue from coming into contact with your print on insertion/removal from the bag. Whilst environmentally we'd prefer to use tissue papers, you must make sure that the tissue paper is truly acid free and archival in its own right, and unfortunately some tissue papers have enough texture to them they can scuff the print. So overall inert plastic is the safer choice, and of course it leaves your prints visible too - a bonus if you're selling prints! See further info here for safe packaging and posting ideas.
Keep It Cool, Dry & Shady Despite the surface fragility, with correct handling the longevity of pigment ink prints on archival papers is truly outstanding. Indeed that's exactly what they're designed for: potential centuries of stability, ensuring that many generations can enjoy a given artwork - maintained visually just as the artist prepared it. Your best chance at achieving a long life for your print is keeping it dry, cool and out of direct sunlight. Big swings in temperature and humidity aren't good so avoid them if you can.
Spray Prints For Extra Protection For extra protection you can also spray your prints with a clear protective spray such as Hahnemuhle Protective Spray. This is super easy to apply, invisible on almost all prints (except high gloss prints) - and seals the printed surface and gives at least some extra protection against dirt, fingerprints, moisture and UV light. Ensure Archival Framing Framing behind glass (or perspex) is the ideal destination for your print and provides the ultimate physical protection for it. But be sure to discuss archival options with your framer before doing so, as cheaper quality frames often include non archival glue/acids that can damage your print over time. It's also advisable for gloss and semi-gloss prints to allow time for outgassing before framing, particularly in colder climates, where the evaporation of glycol in the inks can occur quite slowly and leave a slight oily fog on the glass inside the frame.
Ensure Archival Framing Framing behind glass (or perspex) is the ideal destination for your print and provides the ultimate physical protection for it. But be sure to discuss archival options with your framer before doing so, as cheaper quality frames often include non archival glue/acids that can damage your print over time. It's also advisable for gloss and semi-gloss prints to allow time for outgassing before framing, particularly in colder climates, where the evaporation of glycol in the inks can occur quite slowly and leave a slight oily fog on the glass inside the frame.
Other bits and pieces which should be of interest.
