digit 2013 059 web

No. 59: 2013 Issue 4DIGIT

The Magazine of the Royal Photographic Society Digital Imaging Group

2 RPS DIGIT Magazine 2013 Issue 4

Volunteers needed for the DIGMidlands Centre

The DIG Midlands, previously one of the Group’smore successful Centres, needs both a Treasurer and

an Administrator to take the bookings for events.

Are you willing to help by volunteering for one of these roles?

If so please contact the Centre Organiser Tim Pile as soon as possible and by the end ofMarch at the latest. Tim can be contacted at [email protected]

If no-one volunteers for these roles the Centre willhave to close.

30 March 2014

Viveca Koh ARPS: UrbanExploration to Fine Art: aPhotographic Journey.From iPhoneography toPhoto Illustrations: MyContinuing Journey

Foxton Village Hall, HardmanRoad, Foxton, CB22 6RN

23 March 2014

Bob Moore Hon FRPS &Sue Moore FRPS

Ilton, Nr. Taunton, TA19 9HG

16th March 2014

Emily Hancock FBIPPARPS: The Business ofPhotography, Training, andQualifications

Woosehill Community Hall,Emmview Close, Wokingham,Berkshire, RG41 3DA

DIG Events

For further information, please see Events on page 4

3RPS DIGIT Magazine 2013 Issue 4

DIG COMMITTEEDr David F Cooke ARPS(Chair and Editor of DIGIT)01275 [email protected] Davies ARPS (Secretary)[email protected] Restall ARPS (Treasurer)[email protected] Beel [email protected] Cross LRPS07831 [email protected] Dufty LRPS (Exhibitions)01454 [email protected] Healy ARPS+61 (0) 2 9958 [email protected] Margetts ARPS (Website)01223 700147 [email protected] Barry Senior HonFRPS01425 [email protected]

DIGITNO 59: (2013 ISSUE 4)

CONTENTS4 EVENTS5 THE WAy I SEE IT

Gerry Coles ARPS

11 DEVELOP PRESETS FOR ADOBE LIGHTROOMRia Mishaal ARPS

16 My PHOTOGRAPHyPalli Gajree OAM HON FRPS

21 RAINBOW COLOURS FROM PHOTOSHOPDavid Eaves ARPS DPAGB

22 THE DIGIT CHALLENGE22 Moondance by Carole Lewis ARPS24 Plate of Plums by David Eaves ARPS DPAGB26 A Juicy Problem by Jeffery Bartlett OBE ARPS28 Poppy Seed Heads by Paula Davies FRPS30 I Love Rain by Peter Stickler ARPS

32 IN PREVIOUS ISSUES

FRONT COVER IMAGEAll at Sea by Gerry Coles ARPS

DIG CENTRE ORGANISERSEasternJohn Margetts ARPS01223 [email protected] Pile [email protected] Barry Senior Hon FRPS01425 [email protected] Hogg [email protected] ValleyLaurie [email protected] Janet Haines [email protected]

Centre Websites can be found on the DIG Website at:www.rps.org/special-interest-groups/digital-imaging

DIGIT is the magazine of the RPS Digital ImagingGroup and is provided as part of the annualsubscription to the Group.© 2013 All rights reserved on behalf of the authors.No part of this publication may be reproduced, storedin a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or byany means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,

recording, or otherwise without the written permissionof the copyright holder. Requests for such permissionmust be addressed to the Editor.

EDITOR: DR DAVID F COOKE [email protected] to Elizabeth Restall ARPS and to Anthony Healy ARPS for their invaluable help in theproduction of this issue of DIGIT.

Printed by Henry Ling Ltd, The Dorset Press, Dorchester,DT1 1HD

11 2816


16th March 2014Emily Hancock FBIPP ARPS: TheBusiness of Photography, Training, andQualificationsWoosehill Community Hall, Emmview Close,Wokingham, Berkshire, RG41 3DATime 10:00AM - 3:30PM Contact: Laurie PateEmail: [email protected]: 07785 256692Cost: £10.00, Members’ Rate: £6.00How Emily runs her photography business inthe niche equine area, provides photographictraining, and how she obtained herqualifications.About our speaker: Emily Hancock is aclassical portrait and wedding photographerbased in the heart of the New Forest. Withover a decade of commercial experience, shehas quickly become renowned for herbeautiful photography and desirable fine artpieces. Her most recent equine series hasbeen awarded the highest possible accolade ofa Fellowship distinction by the BritishInstitute of Photography and featured on theBBC.Inspired by her childhood passion, Emily hasalso become one of the UK’s leading equinephotographers, where she has photographedmany stars of the equestrian world includingOlympic British dressage rider and winner oftwo gold medals, Charlotte Dujardin.She is also a highly regarded photographytrainer, “I enjoy my work so much and mybiggest reward is passing my expertise andknowledge onto the next generation ofphotographers”. Emily offers a variety ofoptions when it comes to learning how to takebetter photographs, contact Emily to find outmore.ADVANCE BOOKING ESSENTIAL TO BESURE OF A PLACE. Please see Tickets forEvents page for more ticket details andinformation on Season Tickets for ThamesValley Centre events.Free tea, coffee and biscuits throughout theday. Bring a packed lunch.Note: the ticket price shown above against"Members’ Rate" is the rate that applies tomembers of the Digital Imaging Group only.It does not apply to RPS members who arenot DI Group members.PARKING: There is no parking at theCommunity Hall itself, except for speakersand judges, those disabled or anyone bringingheavy equipment to an event. Parking is inzones A and B of the Morrisons car park,accessed via Fernlea Drive - 200 metresbeyond Emmview Close, and just after the

entrance to Morrisons. For those usingSatNav, the postcode for Morrisons is RG413SW, and for Fernlea Drive it is RG41 3DR.

23 March 2014Bob Moore Hon FRPS & Sue Moore FRPSIlton, Nr. Taunton, TA19 9HGTime 10:30 - 16:00Contact: Janet Haines ARPSEmail: [email protected]: Group Member £5.00, RPS Member£7.00, Non RPS Member £8.00Bob & Sue Moore will be giving a PrintingSkills workshop for the morning session. Bobis an acknowledged master of printing andwill be showing colour and monochromeprinting techniques. The afternoon it will beour usual Show and Tell of Members Prints.Doors Open 10am and the workshop starts at10.30am. Lunch 13.00 - 14.00. Foodavailable. TICKETS AND FOOD NEED TOBE ORDERED IN ADVANCE.

30 March 2014Viveca Koh ARPS: Urban Exploration toFine Art: a Photographic Journey. FromiPhoneography to Photo Illustrations: MyContinuing JourneyFoxton Village HallHardman RoadFoxtonCB22 6RNTime: 10:15 - 16:00Contact: John Margetts ARPSEmailL: [email protected]: 01223 700147Cost: Group Member £5.00, RPS Member£10.00, Non RPS Member £15.00Urban Exploration to Fine Art: aPhotographic JourneyThis presentation encompasses myphotographic development over the past threeyears, which has progressed at a fairly rapidrate following an albeit slightly slower butlife-long love and practise of photography. Idiscovered Urban Exploration in 2009, andthis led to a series of visits to abandonedmental asylums and hospitals. In 2010 I wasawarded a Licentiateship Distinction, and inJune 2011 was successful in attaining anAssociateship Distinction following aunanimous vote from the judges. Since thenmy work has moved towards a very artisticand painterly style, which is why I now referto what I do as Fine Art Photography. Thispresentation is not so much about attainingDistinctions from the RPS, although I dotouch on the process briefly during the talk,but more about how I have developed in

terms of style and maturity of vision over thepast three years. There will be plenty ofphotographs, tales of Urban Exploration andthe attendant thrills and spills that are a partof this activity, and even something whichmay or may not be a ghost!From iPhoneography to Photo Illustrations:My Continuing JourneyMy second presentation follows on from myfirst, in which I will discuss my use of aniPhone to take photographs. The use ofcamera phones is on the rise, as the qualityof cameras integrated into these devicesimproves exponentially, and this happened tocoincide with my quest to find a new way toexpress myself from a photographicperspective. During this time I experimentedwith the phone camera, almost to theexclusion of my DSLR, and shot manyphotographs in the square format that I havealways loved but using lo-fi/creative cameraapps. This led up to the separate challenge ofillustrating a book of poetry and proseentitled ‘Star Blossom’, in which my imagesbecome more abstract and in some cases alittle surreal, utilising multiple layers,textures and double exposures, whilst usingthe written words as inspiration. The secondhalf of the talk will feature all 51 imagesfrom the book and I will describe theirinspiration and method of creation.About Viveca Koh ARPS: I am a self-taughtFine Art photographer, with a specialfascination for small details, for lost,abandoned, poignant and generally brokenobjects, and also for darkness contrastingwith light, both in a physical and emotionalsense. Many of my illustrative images simplyevolve as I am working on them - I start offwith a quite straightforward idea of what Iwant to achieve but am always willing toventure wherever the photograph wants meto go, as I overlay multiple images togetheror add textures, scanned documents as newlayers, and subtle shading. Two photographsmay blend together in a way that I could nothave previously imagined, and this is one ofthe things that I find so exciting and all-consuming when I work, to produce a finalimage that perhaps is a little bit different, thatinvokes emotion in the viewer and makesthem question their sense of the world asthey know it. I am a member of the RPSVisual Art Group and Digital ImagingGroup, Honorary Secretary of the former andin 2014 became joint Editor of the Visual ArtGroup magazine. To view my web site andfind more of my work please go tohttp://vivecakohphotography.photoshelter.com/

EVENTSDetails of all DIG events are available on the Group’s website at:

http://www.rps.org/special-interest-groups/digital-imaging/events

GERRY COLES ARPS


When he first started photography thirty years ago, Gerry Coles waslabelled as ‘creative’ by members of his camera club. With the advent ofdigital photography he realised the potential that was now open to amateurphotographers with a creative mind. Since then, he has been using thisnew opportunity to full advantage, as he shows in his article.

THE WAY I SEE IT

Going Home

work, as the director wanted the model so hecould move the scenery around and explain tothe cast how the finished set worked. Theexperiment wasn't a complete waste of timethough, as it made me question whether Icould build a photograph like I built a stage

When I first joined DustonCamera Club thirty yearsago, like most keen

amateur photographers at that time,I was producing black and whiteprints in the darkroom. Within ashort time, I was labelled by othermembers in the club as 'creative',although I had no idea what thatmeant! It was true that I triedvarious techniques to make mypictures look different, so I guessthe label was correct. Some of thethings I attempted included tearingthe edges of the print, moving thepaper under the enlarger duringexposure and adding colour andtone to a print using watercolourpaint in an airbrush, all the timetrying to create a look that wasdifferent.Moving forward several years to2007 and my first digital SLR, Idon't think many photographerscould believe the speed at whichdigital photography had progressed,and the quality of the prints thatcould be achieved with an inkjetprinter. I certainly couldn't, and wasconverted overnight. For the firstcouple of months I was happy justto produce A3 straight prints, that isuntil I dabbled in Photoshop andrealised the potential that was opento amateur photographers with acreative mind.I have always been interested in thetheatre, the technical side I hasten toadd, and have designed and builtseveral stage sets over the years. Itwas whilst photographing one of theset models I had built that Iwondered whether, instead ofbuilding a model, I could put thevarious elements together inPhotoshop and use photographs,rather than going to the trouble ofbuilding a model, to show thedirector and cast how the set wouldlook when it was built. It didn't

set.My first conscious attempt at this was 'GoingHome'. The floor was taken in Whitby, thebackdrop was taken in London on the banksof the river Thames; it was an accident, thecamera was on auto focus but, as sometimes

GERRY COLES ARPS


happens, I pressed the shutter as the autofocus was hunting. Although it is totallyout of focus, it gives me just theimpression of a tree in front of a buildingand maybe the blue area on the right-hand side somewhere for the cast, whowere taken at a living history event atKelmarsh, to walk into. I guess and hopethat different people will have differentinterpretations of what they are seeingand what is happening in the photograph.If that is the case, then I consider that thepicture works. Another effect used in thetheatre is a gauze which is hung at thefront of the stage and forms a barrierbetween the stage and the audience. Itadds mystery and depth depending onhow the scene is lit; the nearest thing Ihave found in Photoshop is a layer of

noise. So as I said, this was my firstconscious attempt at producing aphotograph using my experience in thetheatre of designing and building sets. My inspiration for a picture usuallycomes from the photograph I take of themain subject or subjects whom I amusing as the focal point in the picture. Ithen find a floor to suit and build abackground which I feel suits thesubject, ‘Gothic Charm’ is an exampleof this approach. In many of mypictures, but not all, the backgrounds aretaken out of focus so that they suggest alocation rather than being 'real'. I findthat taking the photograph out of focusproduces a different effect to softening asharp image in Photoshop afterwards.Some of my subjects are posed as is the

case in ‘Urban Glory’, ‘Life is but aDream’ and ‘Puppet in the Rain’. Thatway I can start to think of ideas at thetaking stage. In the example of ‘Puppetin the Rain’, the costume that Juliet waswearing suggested to me the idea ofpuppets, and, as Juliet is a traineddancer, no sooner had I suggested theidea than she offered several poses withthat theme in mind. There is no doubtthat people who are used to performingmake the best models for the sort ofphotography I enjoy. Then adding alayer of a photograph of rain on awindow just seemed to give the finishedpicture an additional element. Althoughobviously unreal, I think it gives thepicture more impact.My other approach is to photograph

Gothic Charm


Urban Glory

Life is but a Dream

Puppet in the Rain

GERRY COLES ARPS


Rainman

Passing By


people without them being aware, asin ‘Rainman’, ‘Passing By’, ‘All atSea’ and ‘Going Home’ (page 5).Sometimes this works but obviouslyis less predictable. Often, if thesituation when I take the picture is alittle odd, I find the picture worksbetter. I'm not sure if that is becauseof the effect it had on me at thetaking stage or whether it doesactually follow through to thefinished image. This was the case in‘Rainman’, as the gentleman had theumbrella up but it wasn't raining.Does that make a difference to thefinished image? I guess it does. Hadit been raining I may not have takenthe picture in the first place and as itwasn't and the sun was shining thelighting is far better on him than itwould have been.Several people have commented thatmy pictures are simple and fairlyminimal in content and again thisgoes back to my experience in thetheatre, my set designs were similar,as the more complicated I made thedesign the more I had to build!Most of my images have an elementof blur, either to show movement or

in the case of ‘All at Sea’ I have softened thewhole image using a layer of Gaussian Blur,which I feel adds to the emotion of thepicture. Not all judges appreciate the use ofblur and noise and that is understandable asmost photographers strive for pin sharp,noise-free images.An interesting point in relation to judging isin the case of ‘Rainman’, it tends to do well

in exhibitions where a judge makes aquick decision. At club competitions,however, where judges are invited tomake comments, they usually get roundto questioning why the floor isn't wet! Ihave found that if something doesn'tlook quite right in a picture, such as thedry floor, it can actually add to theinitial impact. ‘In Dark Places’ works in

All at Sea

In Dark Places

GERRY COLES ARPS


my opinion because the wall looksstrange, both in design and colour and thereason for this is the 'wall' is actually thecurved underside of a canal bridge thathas been transformed in Photoshop,which has affected the shape of thebricks, and the colour is caused by ground

water seeping through from above.‘Urban Glory’ (page 7) is probably themost realistic of my pictures here, but it isactually made up of five individualpictures, I often wonder how real I shouldtry to make a picture look, as it almostlacks the creative look that I strive to

achieve in my pictures.2013 was the first time I have beento the Edinburgh Festival and Ifound it a great opportunity to takephotographs of performers toinclude in my images. ‘Beyond theGate’ and ‘Singing in the Rain’ arethe first two pictures I haveproduced from this event. Myapproach was to take a largenumber of pictures of theperformers and then the inspirationfor an idea will come from theirpose and expression.So the theatre has had a biginfluence on my photography,probably sub-consciously untilrecent years. In many ways, Isuppose the stage is just like alarge photograph, especially inrelation to composite images,where we can control thebackground, what we put where,who we include in our pictures,how we light it and the atmospherewe choose to create.

You can see more of myphotography on my website at: www.gerrycolesphotography.com

Beyond the Gate

Singing in the Rain

RIA MISHAAL ARPS


Ria Mishaal is a professional wedding photographer who deals with manyimages on a daily basis. She uses presets in her workflow, because theyallow her to edit the files quickly whilst maintaining her own distinctivestyle. In her article, she explains how to make and use presets in AdobeLightroom.

DEVELOP PRESETS FORADOBE LIGHTROOM

Figure 1: The RAW Image

extensive array of editing tools at theclick of a button in programs such asAdobe Photoshop Lightroom. It is easy to spend hours experimentingwith these adjustment tools, and if theedit you particularly prefer involvesmany tweaks, it could be very timeconsuming to replicate on every imageyou edit. Luckily, you can save youradjustment settings as ‘presets’ whichyou can apply to individual images orbatches of images. This gives you anoverall starting point from which you canmake minor adjustments to finish your

Adobe Lightroom allows you tocreate Develop presets. Presetsallow you to save and apply

multiple adjustment settings at the clickof a button. IntroductionGetting a consistent look and feel to yourimages is really important for an artisticphotographer. When using film, youchoose a specific film for differentcircumstances to give you the look youwant, and get the film processed at a labthat uses a specific formula. If you shootin digital format, you have access to an

images. As a wedding photographer who dealswith many images on a daily basis,using presets has allowed me to editfiles quickly, while maintaining my ownediting style and consistency within, andacross, shoots. There are many presets available todownload from the Internet, both forfree and for purchase, but why not makeyour own?How to make a PresetTo make your own preset, the best placeto start is with an image you love. You

Figure 2: Preset Applied to Figure 1

RIA MISHAAL ARPS


can either take a newly imported image,making adjustments until you havecreated the feel you want, or access animage you have previously edited toperfection. Lightroom Adjustment SettingsLightroom 5 has very sophisticatedadjustment options, from the basicexposure, contrast and tone curves to radialand graduated filters (Figure 3). It isimportant to understand what each of theseadjustments does so that you can get themost from them.- The Basic Panel, Tone Curve andHSL/Colour/B&W panels allow you tomanipulate the light and colour balancewithin your image.

- The Split Toning panel adjusts the hueand saturation of the highlights andshadows in your image. This allows youto tone monochrome images or applyparticular effects to colour images. - In the Detail panel you can adjust thesharpness and apply noise reduction toyour image. - The Lens Correction panel allows youto make corrections to distortion, vignetteand chromatic aberration caused by thelens you used to take your image. - The Effects panel allows you to add apost crop vignette to your image and add afilm grain effect. - The Camera calibration panel allowsyou to apply camera profiles which match

your camera manufacturer’s softwareprofiles, to get your image closer to whatyou see on the back of your camera. Youcan also purchase profiles to emulate filmstock, which I will go into in more detailat the end of this article. Figures 4 and 5 show typical basicadjustments on import and afteradjustment.Saving Your PresetOnce you have made the adjustments youwould like to save, it is easy to create apreset. In the left hand column in theLightroom Develop module, you will seethe Presets panel. To the right on thePresets title, there is a ‘+’ button (Figure6). Clicking on this will open a dialoguebox, giving you the option to choosewhich adjustments you would like toinclude or exclude from your preset(Figure 7). Remember that if you havemade no adjustments to a parameter, andyou save that within your preset, it willreset any other image to this ‘zero’ setting.I find it most effective to check only theoptions in the preset that you have givenpositive or negative adjustments to (Figure8). Be aware that radial and graduatedfilters will be applied in exactly the sameplace as within the saved preset. For thisreason, personally, I exclude these frommy presets and apply later to individualimages as needed (and sync betweenimages if there are a number which requirethis same treatment). Make sure you choose a name for yourpreset that will help you remember whatthe outcome of applying your preset is.Then all you need to do is hit the savebutton. Once you have added a Preset tothe Presets panel it will remain there untilyou delete it and it will be visible in allcatalogues you open on the samecomputer. Update Your PresetAs you continue to work with presets, youmight find you want to adjust settings oradd extra adjustments, and so it is useful tobe able to update pre-saved presets. To doso, just right click on the title of yourpreset in the Preset panel and a dialoguebox will appear (Figuire 11). Select all ofthe options you want saving in yourupdated preset (not just the ones you havemade new changes to). Organise Your PresetsYou can create as many presets as you likewith as few or as many adjustments as youlike. I have presets for colour toning anddifferent editing effects, and also simplepresets to apply sharpening and noisereduction to images that had certaincamera settings, which I identify using theMetadata view. Having created a numberof presets, it is useful to be able to keepFigure 4: Basic Adjustments on Import Figure 5: Basic Adjustments after Changes

Figure 3: Lightroom Adjustment Panel


them organised. You can create folders to store differentpresets in very simply by right clicking anywhere overthe Presets panel and choosing the option ‘New Folder’ Preview and Applying Your PresetYou can easily preview how any preset will affect yourimage by rolling your cursor over the preset name andlooking at the way the image is displayed in thenavigation panel on the right hand side. Clicking on thepreset name will apply it to your image in an instant. You can also apply your preset on import, using thedropdown option on the right hand side settings panel inthe dialogue box. This is very helpful to apply presets tobatches of files on import from your memory card.

Figure 7: - New Preset Dialogue with Check All

Figure 6: Lightroom Preset Panel and ‘+’ Button Location for Creating aPreset

Figure 8: New Preset Dialogue with Options Selected

Figure 11: Preset Update Dialogue Box

Figure 10: Preset Applied to RAW Image (Changes made in One Click)

Figure 9: RAW Image

RIA MISHAAL ARPS


Figure 13: Bouquet,VSCO bought preset emulating Fuji 160Cfilm

Figure 15: Bouquet, VSCO bought preset emulating Ilford HP5black and white film

Figure 12: Bouquet, Ria’s Custom Colour Preset

Figure 14: Bouquet, Ria’s custom black and white preset(manually toned, not pure black and white. Compare with theVSCO black and white preset) which isn’t toned


Delete a PresetYou can delete any custom presets you have made by rightclicking on the preset name and choosing ‘delete’ from theoptions that appear. Be aware that you should not press thedelete key on your keyboard, as this will instead delete theselected photograph. Exporting and importing presets Importing and exporting presets is important if you wantto share custom presets you have made between computersor if you want to use presets others have developed. To export a preset, all you need to do is right click on thepreset name and choose ‘export’ and type a name for thetemplate file and save it. To import a preset file, first select the folder in the presetpanel in which you would like you preset to appear, andright click and select ‘import’. Navigate to where yourpreset template is stored, and double click it to import. Available premade presetsIf you are interested in using premade presets to ‘develop’your digital images, or to use as a starting point for furtherediting, there are a wide range available on the internet.Free preset templates can be obtained from sites such ashttp://www.presetsheaven.com. One of the most notable supplies of presets that emulateoriginal film stocks is the Visual Supply Co (VSCO). Youcan purchase sets of presets and camera profiles fromhttp://vsco.co/film that range from those that emulate slide,instant, classic and modern film stocks. These I havefound particularly interesting from the point of view of thecamera profiles, which give you a completely differentstarting point from the camera manufacturer’s profiles. ConclusionCreating and using presets in Lightroom’s Developmodule can be a great part of the digital photographer’sworkflow, supporting consistency in a time saving manner,promoting the photographers artistic style, or purelyenabling experimentation more quickly. It is a veryvaluable and simple tool to master, and well worth gettingto know.

You can see more of Ria’s photography on her website at:www.riamishaal.com

Figure 19: Ria’s custom black and whitepreset (same as for bouquet if you want tocompare)

Figure 16: Bouquet, The RAW Image

Figure 18: Cat, Ria’s custom colour preset(same as for bouquet if you want to compare)

Figure 17: Cat, The RAW Image

PALLI GAJREE OAM HON FRPS


Palli Gajree is a long standing member of the Digital Imaging Group and hasbeen a member of the RPS for nearly 60 years. His career has been bothvery successful and varied and has covered a range of photographic genres,especially portrait and wildlife photography. Here, he discusses hisexperiences and photographic interests.

of Technology (now known as theManchester Metropolitan University). Ipassed the Final Examination withdistinction and was awarded a CollegePrize for excellence. I joined the RPS in1954 while still a student at theManchester College of Technology.After the completion of studies, I turnedto London and joined the West-Endportrait studio with the well-knownphotographer, the late Walter Bird, FIBP,FRPS. He encouraged me to continue myphotographic studies part-time at theRegent Street Polytechnic (now theUniversity of Westminster), so I enrolledfor night classes there one evening aweek. Two years’ experience gained from

Iwas born and brought up in Kenya,my parents having migrated fromIndia way back in the mid-1920s.

My interest in photography began at theage of 15, when I saved enough pocketmoney to invest in a Kodak 127 foldingcamera, just after the Second World War.My enthusiasm for portraiture developed,and in 1951 I added a twin-lensRolleiflex to my equipment. Relatives,friends and anyone else who could bepersuaded were posing in front of mynew toy. Two years later, in 1953, thisinterest in portraiture took a new turnwhen I travelled to the United Kingdomto do a two-year full-time course inphotography at the Manchester College

this studio proved most beneficial, andany success I achieved in portrait workcan be attributed largely to this greatmaster of portrait photography. ThroughWalter Bird and the Regent StreetPolytechnic I was privileged to meet anumber of eminent photographers of theday and I look back with fond memorieson this period in London, a fascinatingand exciting time. Bird himself was a keen Salon exhibitor,which was to provide even furtherincentive in competing with otherexhibitors around the world. My firstexhibition success came in 1957 whenone of my portraits taken at Walter BirdStudios was accepted and shown at the

Pelicans

MY PHOTOGRAPHY


Walter Bird FIBP, FRPS

The Red Truck

Adjusting the Lines



Cabana Reflections

Ancient Door and PatternCarved Steps


my ARPS in Portraiture in 1956 and anFRPS in 1975 with black-and-whiteprints of African wildlife. Then in 1990I was awarded an Honorary FRPS, “forpromoting photography over manyyears, particularly in Kenya andAustralia, as an exhibitor, judge andteacher”. My work is represented in theRPS Permanent Collection as well as inthe collections of several otherinternational photographic societies.Exhibiting and lecturing, both locallyand internationally, have been a majorphotographic interest for me and I’vebeen a judge at numerous National andInternational exhibitions. My interest ininternational photography has led me tobeing an active member of several ofthe leading photographic societiesaround the world and, over the years, Ihave gained various skill and servicehonours from these Societies. I havealso been awarded the highest skill andservice honours of the InternationalFederation of Photographic Art (MFIAPand Hon EFIAP), the first and, so far,the only Australian to receive thisrecognition. In 1989, I was awarded mymost treasured award to date. That wasthe Medal of the Order of Australia(OAM) for “Services to Photography”.

Impressionism - Venice

London Salon of Photography. The sameportrait was subsequently selected andreproduced in The British JournalPhotographic Almanac 1958 as well asPhotograms of the Year 1958. In 1958 I returned to Nairobi to set upmy own portrait and commercial studiowith some degree of success. To be asuccessful portraitist one has to be verymuch aware of the importance ofrecording the human personality, coupledwith rules of composition, lighting,background and so forth. A couple of years later, a job offer as asenior cameraman emerged from theKenya Government Information Services,an offer too good to refuse. This gave megood exposure to various other branchesof photography such as Press,Photojournalism, Architectural,Industrial, Wildlife, and LandscapePhotography. Then, prior to Kenyagaining Independence in 1963, I wasappointed as Head of the PhotographicSection with the Kenya GovernmentInformation Services. I recall that whenJomo Kenyatta became President ofKenya I was asked to take the officialportrait, in colour, for circulation world-wide.The biggest surprise of my life came in

1964 when my wife, Shashi, gave me abirthday present of a Hasselblad 500Ccomplete with 150mm and 250mmlenses, magazines and prism finder. Thiswas to be a major breakthrough in doingwildlife studies in colour and black-and-white. From then on, most of ourweekends and annual holidays were tobe spent around the National Parks andGame Reserves of Kenya, Uganda andTanzania, an experience and thrill whichis still cherished today.In 1972, having made a momentousdecision, we moved to Australia forpermanent residence and settled inMelbourne. I joined Swinburne Instituteof Technology (now SwinburneUniversity) in 1973, and retired fromthe full-time lecturing position inPhotography some 22 years later.I found teaching immensely enjoyableand stimulating. The students broughtchallenging ideas to be solvedphotographically, and it is verygratifying to see a number of them goon to establish successful photographicbusinesses, some on the internationalscene.My membership of the RPS has been amost important part of my life. Afterjoining The Society in 1954, I gained



Charging Tusker

Giraffe Under Kilimanjaro

Inkjet Printer. At the time Photoshop 6 waspopular and that was installed on thecomputer.Over the years I have learnt a great dealabout digital photography. I now use aCanon 5D Mark III, and shoot images inRAW exclusively. It is indeed a big learning curve but, bybelonging to some of the Digital Groups,both local and overseas, things shouldbecome a little less complex in today’stechnological era. I have maintained my exhibiting interests byfrequently entering overseas International aswell as local Digital sections. My latestinterest has been converting a digital camerato take infrared images, a new challengewhich I’m enjoying immensely.Looking back over my many years inphotography, I’ve enjoyed greatly theopportunities I’ve had to make contact withinternational photographers and thus developan ability to assess constructively a widerange of photographic disciplines. And aboveall, I value the long-lasting friendshipsformed with other photographers, somegoing back for forty or fifty years. What apleasure and a privilege it has all been.

For some years now I have been involved with digital photography, taking onthe challenges of Photoshop and Lightroom. My interest was sparked by alecture at a conference in Tasmania in 1996, by a well-known photographerfrom Melbourne on 'Digital Photography'. The work he had on display was areal eye-opener. It wasn't difficult to gauge from his talk that it was only amatter of time before digital photography took over and played a major role inour everyday lives. I bought my first digital camera - a Canon PowerShot G2 as well as a PC and

Gum Trees in Infra-red


RAINBOWCOLOURSFROM

PHOTOSHOP

Figure 1 Fountain

the drop down menu select‘open files’ The three imageswill now be loaded into one filein three layers.- Select all three layers and goto Edit>Auto Align. This is notreally necessary if you used atripod but is essential if youdidn’t. This takes care of anyslight movement of the camerabetween exposures.- Crop out any mis-alignments.Then select the top layer andfrom the drop down menu‘Screen’ as the blend mode.Repeat for the second layer. You should now have a fullcolour image with any movingobjects showing up as blue, red,green, or a combination – seeFigure 2. You may not win anyawards but the results can beinteresting and intriguing,

In the (good?) old days when we produced imagesas transparencies or used colour negative filmthere was a technique involving ‘tricolour’ filters

to produce interesting colours in moving objects. Theprocess involved setting your camera on a tripod andtaking three images of the same scene on one frameof colour film (though not all cameras would allowthis). For each of the three superimposed images adifferent filter was used – red, green or blue. In thefinal image, if nothing was moving, the colourscombined to give a true full colour result. However,if anything moved between the shots then the coloursdid not register and moving objects ended up ascoloured shapes against a true colour background.The technique worked for cars and people movingalong a street but was particularly effective for shotsof fountains where the moving droplets of waterregistered as rainbow colours against the full colourscene.Photoshop allows this to be done without all themessing about with filters and indeed without the useof a tripod for precise registration – though a tripod ispreferred. Here is the method: -- Take three images of your scene – say a fountain(see Figure 1) – using the same exposure and with aslittle camera movement between exposures aspossible. Preferably use a tripod.- Import and open the three images and then selectthe first one and open the Channel Mixer(Image>Adjustments>Channel Mixer). Select the redoutput channel and set red 100% with blue and green0% (this is usually the opening default). Change theoutput channel to blue and set blue/red/green all to0%. Change the output channel to green and againset blue/red green to 0%. Your image will now be astrong red.- Keep the red image open and now select imagetwo to work on. Follow the same procedure but thistime set the green channel to 100% and the others to0%. Repeat for the 3rd image , this time keeping theblue channel at 100% with the others at 0%- You should now have three images of the scene,one in red, one in blue and one in green (these are theRGB components of the final image).- Save all the images (the next bit won’t work untilthis has been done) but keep all three images open.- Go to File>Scripts>Load files into stack and in

especially if the viewer has no ideahow it was achieved!

Figure 2 Fountain with Colours

DAVID EAVES ARPS DPAGB

CAROLE LEWIS ARPS


Moondance

she was progressing along a path. So Ineeded a path, which was convenientlyfound in an image from Corfe Castle.This was also added to the sand dunesimage. The background layer was flippedhorizontally so that the contours of thesand were in the same direction as thedance along the path. I wanted something to balance the lefthand side of the image and thought of themoon – don’t ask me why! This moonimage was one of a series taken in amotel car park in Florida during a totaleclipse of the moon. The other guests atthe motel gave me strange looks as Istood there in the dark with my cameraon a tripod. I positioned the moon in thecorner of the developing image and theaddition of the moon gave me the title,‘Moondance’.When all the elements were gatheredtogether in the image file, it needed a fewadjustments, each of which was done ona separate layer so it could be tweaked

Moondance by Carole Lewis ARPS:Most of my pictures in recent years havebeen ‘straight’ landscapes so I enjoyedhaving a bit of fun with this image.The inspiration came during a DigitalImaging Group Portraits, Fashion andNude workshop. The model’s angularfashion poses looked like dancing and sothe idea began. While she was posing forme, I asked her to raise her arms (to givethe feeling of the joy and celebration ofdancing). I took a number of shots of her,three of which are used in the finalimage.I started with the background for myimage, which came from the MesquiteSand Dunes in Death Valley, California,taken just before sunset as a dust stormapproached. Next, I removed the model from thebackground of each of the three images,put them onto the sand dunes backgroundand to imply movement I transformedtwo of them to make them smaller as if

later. The path layer was transformed inthe distance to follow the contour of thedunes. The shadow of the model wascreated in each case by making a copyof the model, filling it with black,flipping it vertically and reducing theopacity considerably.A blur layer was added to a copy of thesand layer with a gradient on a layermask to give the effect of recession intothe distance. The moon had a copylayer filled with a warm colour in Colorblending mode to match the backgroundcolour. A lighting effect was added over thesand to give the impression that themoon was lighting up the landscape. All the original images were shot on myCanon EOS 50D, apart from the moonimage on my EOS 10D back in 2004.My normal workflow is always to shootin RAW, expose to the right in camerato retain shadow detail and then importinto Aperture on my MAC to recover

This time we have five images from DIG members who explain how they were created. Ihope you’ll find them interesting and that it gives you helpful techniques to use in yourown photography.

THE DIGIT CHALLENGE


the highlight detail before editing in Photoshopusing Guy Gowan’s actions to produce the bestquality.

Model

Moon

Mesquite Sand Dunes

Corfe Castle

DAVID EAVES ARPS DPAGB


Plate of Plums

tones were further adjusted slightly inlevels and one or two small blemisheswere cloned out of the plums. The imagewas then saved as a psd file (see TheOriginal Image).The second stage was to give the imagean impressionist or painterly feel. I usedCorel Painter for this although there are anumber of other techniques which canchange a photograph to look more like apainting (such as texture montages, oruse of one or more of Photoshop’s ‘art’filters, or use of the Topaz ‘simplify’ plugin). Corel Painter is a programme writtenfor and used mainly by artists andpainters but there is one significantfeature which can be used to great effectby photographers – the ‘cloning’technique. Cloning in Corel Painter isquite different to the clone tool ofPhotoshop. The latter is used to removeand/or replace unwanted picture elementswhereas in Corel Painter cloning refers tothe production of a blank ‘canvas’ linkedto the original image. Cloning brushescan then be used to ‘paint’ on the blankcanvas with imagery and colours taken

Plate of Plums by David Eaves ARPSDPAGB: The ‘pre-visualisation’ for thisprint was to show a colourful bowl offruit in a painterly manner with aminimum of distractions; that is, the fruitwould be isolated on a plain plate againsta white background. We have a plum treein our garden and this was the source ofthe fruit. I chose plums with as fewblemishes as possible and arranged themon a white plate for the initialphotograph. This was done in ourconservatory which in late afternoon hasno direct sun and the translucent roofpanels give an even light very suitablefor copying or making recordphotographs. The white plate was placedon a large piece of thin white card whichwas curved round behind the plate toprovide a white background. Thistechnique obviates the usual hard linewhere a vertical background meets thehorizontal plane of a foreground. Theimage was overexposed slightly to ensurethe background was registered as almostpure white with full detail on the fruit.After opening in Photoshop (CS6) the

from the original source but reproducedin a wide variety of painting styles.Corel Painter is a comprehensive andpowerful programme and this isreflected in its cost – Painter 12 iscurrently £136 to £220 from variousAmazon based retailers. There is aPainter Essentials version available forsubstantially less (around £20 forPainter Essentials 4) which looks asthough it will do a similar job withfewer facilities. If I were starting againwith Painter this is the version I wouldbuy but I have no direct experience ofthe cut down programme. There is arelated technique which can be doneentirely within Photoshop which I willmention later.The actual process of using CorelPainter is rather complex to describe ina short article – anyone seriouslyinterested in the possibilities should takea look at Martin Addison’scomprehensive book ‘Painter 12 forPhotographers’ – but briefly the methodcomprises: -- Save the starting image in psd format


(or tiff or jpeg if desir ed - Painter will open all these). If you have a slowcomputer, consider reducing the file sizebefore saving as some of the brushes inPainter take a long time to render largefiles and since extreme sharpness is notrequired, up-sizing at the end is not asignificant problem. - Open the image in Painter.- Make a ‘clone’ of the image. InPainter 8 (which I use) the process is togo to File>clone which produces asecond image linked to the first. Thenselect all and then delete to produce ablank canvas. In later versions of Painterthis process has been streamlined to onestep – ‘quick clone’.- Go to the brushes palette and selectthe desired cloning brush, or in the colourpalette click on the clone symbol. (Forthe plums image I used the ‘wet softacrylic 30’ brush with the clone symbolselected in the colour palette). At thispoint you may consider incorporating atexture and Painter has a number ofchoices here.- Select a low opacity (less than 10%)

and begin painting on the blank canvas.A graphics pad is a ‘must’ if you areserious about using Painter but a mousecan be used to get some idea of theprocess. Use a large brush size to startand then reduce the size to rendergreater detail. Painter allows you to usea translucent mask with a faint copy ofthe original image (Tracing Paper) andthis is useful as a starting guide. As theimage forms this can be dispensedwith. - Gradually build up the image untilyou are happy with it and then save.- I normally import the image backinto Photoshop to resize, add borders,or perhaps bring back additional detailfrom the original image. For ‘Plate ofPlums’ I opened the ‘painted’ image inPhotoshop and made a rough selectionaround the plate of plums, inverted theselection and then applied a largefeather. The selected area was filledwith white to produce a white vignette,ensuring all details around the subjectwere eliminated. The canvas wasexpanded somewhat (with the

background colour set to white) toposition the subject in the bottom rightthird. The final touch was to add a thinline as a border to define the subjectspace using a colour taken from theplums. The final result was ‘Plate of Plums’. There is a poor equivalent to Painter inPhotoshop which is to use the ‘ArtHistory’ and/or the ‘History’ brush.Open the starting image, select all andfill with white. In the History Palettetick the box on the left of the first action(open image). Select a brush and brushstyle and paint on the white ‘canvas’using a low opacity. The original imagewill be reproduced either exactly (usingthe ‘History’ brush) or with painterlystrokes (using the ‘Art History’ brush).There are lots of variants in the brushpalette to try but I have not had greatsuccess with any of these and prefer touse ‘Painter’.

The Original Image

JEFFERY BARTLETT OBE ARPS


A Juicy Problem


Figure 4: BackgroundFigure 3: Glass

Figure 1: Juicer

A Juicy Problem by Jeffery Bartlett OBE ARPS: Forsome time I was fascinated by the clean lines and elegantdesign of the fruit juicer, almost looking like some giantinsect, which gave rise to imagining it on a larger thanlife scale. Therefore the final picture was very clear inmy mind before I considered how to photograph it.The starting point was to take 3 separate pictures: thejuicer, the lady with the lemon and the glass. (SeeFigures 1, 2 and 3). Separate because each was to beused on a different scale. Obviously the directionallighting had to be the same in each case. All were takenagainst a plain white background so that the item couldbe selected in Photoshop and the background removed.The lighting was tungsten but to the right of the set-upthere was a window with daylight coming through – thisgave the pleasing hints of blue in the highlights on thejuicer. In the case of the lady, the shadow had to beadded afterwards as there was not room to include it inthe original picture.A new layer in Photoshop was needed to form thebackground of the final picture which I did not want tobe plain white. On a white base the gradient tool wasused to produce graduated blue at the top and graduatedgrey at the bottom (See Figure 4). This formed the baselayer. Above this I brought across images of the juicer,the lady and the glass, each with a clear background.Some experimentation was needed to adjust the size ofeach image before bringing across to the assemblylayers. I ended with 4 layers therefore, which were combined toform the final image. This just left some adjustment ofpositions within each layer and balancing of thebrightness before flattening the layers ready for printingthe final image.

Figure 2: Lady with the Lemon

PAULA DAVIES FRPS


The Final Image: Poppy Seedheads 4


Poppy Seedheads 3

Poppy Seedheads 1

Poppy Seed Heads by Paula DaviesFRPS: Poppy Seed Heads is an imagewhich works best printed on an art paper.Permajet's Portrait White works well. Asthe picture has a painterly look, I havegiven the print a torn edge, by tearingagainst a serrated ruler, before mounting.For the basic photograph (PoppySeedheads 1) the seed heads werearranged on some garden fleece which inturn was placed on the base of a copystand. The photograph was taken indoorswith the arrangement lit by naturaldaylight from a window. A reflector wasused to bounce light back onto thearrangement.Using Photoshop CS6, I added an imagefile of some rusty metal (PoppySeedheads 2) changing the layer toOverlay blend mode at an opacity of66%. This resulted in an image whichwas too bright and too orange (PoppySeedheads 3) so a black and whiteadjustment layer was then added at anopacity of 43% to tone down thebrightness and colour.The final image (Poppy Seedheads 4) wascropped to a square format and a softwhite vignette added before printing.

Poppy Seedheads 2

PETER STICKLER ARPS


I Love Rain, Final Image


Figure 2

Figure 5

Figure 1

Figure 3 Figure 4

I Love Rain by Peter SticklerARPS: This is made up of morethan one image. The principalimage, Figure 1, is of a ladywalking in the park. It was shot atISO 3200 because the light was sopoor. I adjusted the image aftertaking the original NEF file intoPhotoshop. The most important ofthese was the reduction of theclarity slider.Figure 2 shows a shot I took insidea shopping precinct in Tenerife,showing water running down apiece of glass. The image waslightened using levels and flattenedbefore saving it as a psd file. Thisfile will act as a displacement mapand must be saved as a flattenedpsd file or it will not work.

With my image of the lady open, Ithen clicked Filter > Distort >Displace. I located thedisplacement map and clicked OK.It may be necessary to repeat thisprocedure more than once to getthe right amount of displacement.The result is Figure 3.The image was then copied and asepia tone was applied. This isdone with Photo filter, drop downto Sepia then click OK. The imagewas then flattened to produceFigure 4.With the image in Figure 4 open,press Ctrl A (Mac, Cmd A) toselect all, then Ctrl C (Mac, CmdC) to copy. Go to image in Figure3, then press Ctrl V (Mac, Cmd V).This pastes the sepia image on topof the colour image.The next step is to create a layermask, Figure 5, and expose part ofthe colour image which sits belowthe sepia image.The final image can now beflattened and saved.

IN PREVIOUS ISSUES

NO 57, 2013 ISSUE 24 EVENTS5 MY ASSOCIATESHIP: A

SPORTING CHALLENGEDerek Gardner ARPS

11 MOBILE PHOTOGRAPHYViveca Koh ARPS

17 SNAPSEED REVIEWAndy Beel FRPS

20 FANTASY IN FENTONRobert Albright FRPS

28 THE DIGIT CHALLENGE28 Beach Huts in the Snow by

Pam Sherren ARPS29 Raising the Roof by

Maurice Ford LRPS30 Lean on Me by Paramjit

Sandhu-Dickens LRPS31 Self-Portrait by Lamplight

by Mary Pipkin LRPS


NO 56, 2013 ISSUE 14 EVENTS5 WILDLIFE, WOODCUTS AND

INCIDENTAL LANDSCAPESMartin Chapman

11 THOUGHTS ON MYPHOTOGRAPHYJune Hoyle LRPS

15 STAR TRAILS PHOTOGRAPHYDavid Eaves ARPS DPAGB

18 THE DIGIT CHALLENGE18 Peonies by

Judy Knights LRPS

20 MEMBERS’ DIGITALPROJECTED IMAGECOMPETITION 2012Creative20 Call of the Wild, June Hoyle

LRPS (Gold Medal)21 After Monet, Valentina

Kulagina ARPS (RobertAlbright FRPS Ribbon)

22 No Fishing, Adrian LinesARPS (Robert AlbrightFRPS Ribbon)

23 The Clock Watcher, ColinHarrison FRPS (BobPearson FRPS Ribbon)

24 The Attack on La HayeSainte - 18 June 1815,Marilyn Taylor ARPS(Bob Pearson FRPSRibbon)

25 Bird on a Stick, HelenaBerney LRPS, (Joan RyderRathband FRPS Ribbon)

26 Field of Dreams, AdrianLines ARPS (Joan RyderRathband FRPS Ribbon)

27 Other Accepted ImagesOpen42 Merlin and Kill, Martin

Chapman (Gold Medal andRaymond WallaceThompson Trophy)

43 This Side of Loneliness,June Hoyle LRPS(Robert Albright FRPSRibbon)

44 Doc, Janet Haines ARPS(Robert Albright FRPSRibbon)

45 Twilight at Porth Nanven,Peter Phillips LRPS (BobPearson FRPS Ribbon)

46 Saharan Sunset, AnneMahany ARPS (BobPearson FRPS Ribbon)

47 A Portrait of a Tinker’s Kid,Fiona Senior FRPS (JoanRyder Rathband FRPSRibbon)

48 The Cavern, Rikki O’NeillFRPS (Joan RyderRathband FRPS Ribbon)

49 Other Accepted Images


A searchable, cumulative contents list of previous issues is available from the downloads section ofthe group’s website at:

http://www.rps.org/special-interest-groups/digital-imaging/about/digit-digital-imaging-group-magazine

NO 58, 2013 ISSUE 34 EVENTS5 FIRST CATCH YOUR HARE:

MY ASSOCIATESHIPJOURNEYJohn Margetts ARPS

11 THE WRONG THINKING, THERIGHT THINKINGGwynn T Robinson FRPS

16 FOCUS STACKINGDavid Eaves ARPS DPAGB

19 THE DIGIT CHALLENGE19 From the Mists of Time by

Reginald Clark LRPS 20 Smoke Dance by Ron

Holmes ARPS

22 DIG AGM AND PRINTEXHIBITION SELECTION 2013

26 DIG MEMBERS’ PRINTEXHIBITION 201326 Parking Up The Wong

Tree. Brian Beaney FRPS(Gold Medal andChairman’s Cup Winner)

27 A Mother’s Thoughts, JohnCooke ARPS (MarkMumford FRPS Ribbon)

28 An Old Testament, JohnShotton (Mark MumfordFRPS Ribbon)

29 A Long Road, Andy BeelFRPS (Margaret SalisburyFRPS Ribbon)

30 Eyewitness, Brian Burrows(Margaret Salisbury FRPSRibbon)

31 I Dreamt I Could Dance,Janet Haines ARPS(Graham Whistler FRPSRibbon)

32 The Kitchen Window, JohnLong ARPS (GrahamWhistler FRPS Ribbon)

33 Other Accepted Images

48 IN PREVIOU S ISSUES

digit 2013 059 web

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