Waterford Camera Club

NewsWCC 2014-15 Issue 2

Welcome to Issue 2 of the Camera Club news for the 2014-15 season. Thanks to allmembers which submitted items for publication, without you the newsletter wouldn’texist! This issues contains lots of hints on photographing fungi and taking night shots.Don’t miss the World Press Photographers Exhibition in CHQ, Dublin, details on thispage. Congratulations to all winners from out last two competitions, images on pages2 and 3 and many thanks to Tom Quilty and Terry Murphy for their input to the nightlycompetitions. We’ve also got some reading on watermarking your images and finallysonme offers on low cost and free photo editing programmes. Don’t forget to submitanything you think may be of interest to WCC Camera Club Members to me atdamien@djackson-images.com

From the Chair!

It’s the best time of the year for photographing fungi. The article below was submittedby George O’ Mahoney and is reprinted from www.ephotozine.com It offers 10 top tipsfor improving your fungi photographing skills.

1. Pick The Right Season The reason why this technique is something that'smentioned at this time of year is because fungi tend to like Autumn and Winter whenit's cooler and wetter.

2. Where To Find Them Think dark, damp places such as dense woodland areaswhere not much sunlight can get through. Search under piles of leaves and lookaround the base of trees.

3. Do You Own A Macro Lens? A good macro lens is a must as fungi isn't the largestof subjects and your shots will have more impact by getting in close.

4. Keep Your Camera Still Low light means longer shutter speeds so you're going toneed a support for your camera. Some tripods can be adjusted so they sit low to theground but you could just use a beanbag if your tripod isn't so flexible. Consider usinga remote / cable release so you don't introduce shake at the start of the exposure butif you don't own one just use your camera's self-timer.

5. Pack A Polarising Filter On particularly damp days shine can be a problem andmushroom tops can end up overexposed. To combat this, fit a polarising filter to theend of your lens which will reduce the shine. You may be wondering why you couldn'tjust head out on a dry day and there's no reason why you can't, however as DavidPritchard explained a blog post: "There’s no better time for photographing mushroomsthan after (or during) rain. The colours strengthen, and everything adopts a lovelysheen." Read the remainder of this article here

Many thanks to Mario MacRory for submitting the links below to a blog on on somemore tips and techniques for fungi photography Robert Cannis and a very informativearticle on the Fly Agaric which Mario refers to as the most majestic/photogenicwoodland shroom! Mario recommends the following locations to find fungi, CroughWoods, Colligan, Nire Valley Woodland, Ballyscanlon and Portlaw forests.

How to photograph Fungi!

Image: Pam Kiely

Upcoming Events

National Shield CompetitionThe above takes place in MalahideCommunity School on Saturday 8th

November. Apart from supporting ourclub panels, its a great day out! Over 20clubs from around the country will have2 panels of 8 images, a colour panel anda black and white panel. The panels willbe set up for a number of hours andyou’ll be able to browse through them atyour leisure. A day not to miss!

World Press PhotographersExhibition

Distinction SittingsThe next Distinction Sittings take placein LIT, Nenagh Road Thurles on 22nd

November. Photographers from acrossthe country will be attempting to gainformal recognition of their photographyskills as they seek to gain Licentiate (L).Associate (A) and Fellowship (F)Awards. Each panel will be placed onthe viewing stand and inspected by ateam of 6-7 judges who decide whetherthe panel is worthy or not.! The Venueis an Auditorium with the panelsdisplayed on the stage so get thereearly and get a seat near the front forviewing a feast of photography!

This not to be missed Exhibition takesplace in the CHQ Building, Dublin until15th November. This is the World Pressfolks, don’t miss it!!www.wordpressphoto.ie

Waterford Camera Club

NewsWCC 2014-15 Issue 2

Theme: ‘Seen better days’

Gerard BarronNovice

David O’SullivanAdvanced

Brendan HartleyIntermediate

Waterford Camera Club

NewsWCC 2014-15 Issue 2

George O’ MahoneyNovice

Benny AntoAdvanced

Eamonn Phelan Intermediate

Theme: ‘Open’

Mario MacRoryAdvanced

Tom QuiltyAdvanced John Croke

Advanced

All 4 winningadvanced membersscored 20 points each!

Waterford Camera Club

NewsWCC 2014-15 Issue 2

Smart Photo Editor

If you’re just starting into photographyand looking for an easy to useinexpensive photo editor you could doworse than Smart Photo Editorwww.smartphotoeditor.com It’savailable for download for a free trialand for a limited time can be purchasedfor €23.95Another totally free photo editor that’squite good is Gimp. www.gimp.org It’spacked with lots of tools and featuresthat work really well and best of all it’stotally free for good!

Night Shooting Brian Casey

Earlier in the month of October we missed out on the lunar eclipse that treated much ofthe rest of the world to great shots of a blood red moon. However all it not lost for theavid night shooter as later this month we are promised a better than usual Orionid me-teor shower. Visiable on the 20th through to the 22nd the shower reaches its height ofup to 25 shooting stars per hour in the hours before dawn on the 21st of October. Ap-pearing as the name suggests from the area of the sky near the constellation of Orionthe shower radiates from the point shown (see image below).

As with all night sky photography the darker the sky the better and with a thin newmoon there is a good chance of dark night away from light pollution. Advice for captur-ing these events is to use a fast lens at open aperture, focus to infinity, exposure aslong as possible that still avoids streaking to the stars and a high ISO. Use the 500thrule as a guide for maximum exposure without streaking. There are many great sites togive guidance on star photography and met or showers in particular.  I found this one agood starter with an excellent video.

Don’t forget your hat. You will always enjoy your photography more with a warmhead!!

Laptop /PC Repair

Laptop or PC woes!! For anyone who ishaving computer or laptop problems , mybrother Cliff Baldwin who lives in Tramoreis very efficient at doing repairs.  Hisnumber can be got from Pam Kiely.

Watermarking yourPhotographs

Thanks to George O’Mahoney for thearticle below from www.popphoto.com

Watermarking your photographs hasnever been easier. Lightroom andservices like SmugMug offer users theability to watermark images in just afew minutes. But an argument stillrages about whether adding one toyour images is protecting them, ruiningthem, or both. If and how you apply awatermark is ultimately a personaldecision. There is no right or wronganswer and industry standards varywidely. But we see a lot ofphotographs, and unfortunately, it’snot unusual to see good work beingobscured by unsightly watermarks.

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Programme 3rd November7.15pm: Intermediate Tutorial… ‘Composition, beyond the rules!…Damien Jackson8.00pm: Main meeting and news…Committee8.10pm: POTY… Abstract…Judged by Terry murphy8.45pm: Improve your images…Terry Murphy9.00pm: Photographing flowers indoors…Mags Lucas9.20pm Winter Photography…Terry Murphy