natural history photographic competition

TENBY AND DISTRICT CAMERA CLUB The judging of the natural history photographic competition on Thursday 24th October was well attended by members for this the first visit to the club of Malcolm Kingswall who travelled from Tredegar. Malcolm told members he was a generalist in photography but his passion was natural history, and was pleased when he first looked at the images, to see the approach, freedom of expression and composition which was refreshing. The standard of photographs and digital images varied, but on the whole the standard was very good. In the print section there were over 20 entries with the subjects varying from sea birds, seal pups, caterpillars, Robins and Gold Finches, a stag, monkeys and fungi. Malcolm gave excellent critiques to every image commenting on both good points and failings of the photographs, good composition but poor contrast of light, strong image poor composition. He went on to say photography in the club is certainly up there with the best in Wales. 3rd place was awarded to Paul Richards for his ‘Pied flycatcher’, 2nd place ‘Tipping Point’, Gary Jenkins and in 1st place ‘The Stag’, Andrew Baxter. Following the coffee break Malcolm then continued his judging of the 32 digital images, once again the subject matter varied from all varieties of birds, Red Kites, Sparrow Hawks, Puffins, Mute Swans, Pheasants, Kingfishers even a Brown Pelican, a Hedgehog, Dragonfly, Bluebells and fungi; once again Malcolm gave constructive and useful comment on the images such as how the light plays on the subject, he continued to say that all images have merit, but of course some are better than others and this was evident in the final placings. Malcolm awarded joint 3rd to three members, Ann Batty, Mike Cullis and Gary Jenkins, in 2nd place Neil Thomas ‘Kingfisher with Catch’ and in 1st place Paul Richards ‘Barn Owl with Prey’. The overall winner of the competition was Andrew Baxter’s image of the ‘Stag’. 31st October – A Talk by Tom Dodd – More than Mountains. 7th November – Nigel McCall – The Falkland Islands – Wildlife and landscapes.

Alan Squires on Macro Photogaphy

TENBY AND DISTRICT CAMERA CLUB The chairman, Roy Packer gave a warm welcome to Alan Squires AWPF a member of the Gwynfor camera club. This is Alan’s second visit to the club to talk about macro photography. He introduced the subject explaining to members that he mainly uses a Nikon D3S camera and a Sigma 105 lens, with various flash guns and other pieces of equipment, such as bellows, focus rail and extension tubes. Alan showed a number of digital images of insects, fungi, flowers and even a wrist watch face. He commented that most people do not look too closely at flowers, they view them as a whole, but a flower viewed through a macro lens is fascinating. Flowers, fungi, insects and spiders are incredible creations of nature and Alan portrayed this in his images even in imperfect and damaged flowers and insects. Following a coffee break members were encouraged to have a go at the work stations Alan had set up. As members moved around Alan was on hand to give advice and helpful tips such as to ask yourself what is the main attraction, Is it the colour, the texture, the shape? Does it look better portrayed alone or in a group? Once you have decided, you can concentrate on that particular element, experimenting with different angles and viewpoints. Alan shoots in manual mode and mostly the camera is hand held, with the occasional use of a tripod. While out in the field, he uses his camera bag to rest his camera on to ensure the sharpness and no camera shake, he advocates using reflectors to even out the light and get detail in shadowed areas. 24th October – Judging of Natural History Competition and hand in of black and white entries. 31st October – More than Mountains talk by Tom Dodd and hand in of panels competition.

an evening of Aircraft and Bird Flight photography

TENBY AND DISTRICT CAMERA CLUB As the popular saying goes, less is more, and never more so than when it comes to adding impact to your images. It was easy to see a great shot when the club was entertained to an evening of Aircraft and Bird Flight photography. The guest speaker was Steve Littlewood AWPF an active member of Gwynfa camera club. He started his talk with stunning images of Red kites, each image was accompanied by information to what camera was being used, speed, aperture, ISO and what lens Steve used for each shot. The majority of his images shot using a Canon ID M4D camera and a Canon 400mm F/4.0 DO lens. He continued with images taken at the RSPB Reserve at Slimbridge. This time Steve mainly used a Canon 7D camera with a 100-400mm F/56 lens. For the images he told members that by using a high shutter speed this will minimise the movement of the bird of flight. To conclude his talk on bird flight photography Steve showed members an audio visual of the popular RSPB Nature Reserve, Bempton Cliffs which is home to more than 200,000 birds and is the only mainland breeding colony of Gannets in the UK, but is also home to Guillemots, Razorbills, Kittiwakes, Fulmars and Puffins. Following a coffee break, Steve resumed his talk with aircraft photography images taken at RAF Fairford, Gloucester during the Tattoo’s 2010-2013. It was an inspiring evening to see Steve’s own unique style of photography of flight. He finished the evening with an audio visual of images of birds, especially the Puffins on Skomer Island. 17th October – Macro photography explained – Talk by Allan Squires. 24th October – Judging night – Natural History and hand in of black and white entries

OPEN PRINT AND DIGITAL IMAGE COMPETITION

TENBY AND DISTRICT CAMERA CLUB OPEN PRINT AND DIGITAL IMAGE COMPETITION Before the evenings judging began chairman Roy Packer wished club member Harry Gardiner a happy birthday from all those present. The open competition was judged by John B Davies DPAGB, AWPF, CPAGB who travelled from his home in Swansea. John has been interested in Photography for over 50 years, but di

d not purchase his first digital camera until 2001, which he say’s ‘changed my life’ and since retiring from full time employment, photography now takes up a significant part of his life. He was a member of Swansea Camera club for several years. In the past 12 months John has visited 26 different venues giving talks on photography, judging and presenting numerous digital slide shows. The chairman thanked John for standing in to judge at short notice due to the fact that the appointed judge could not attend. John told the audience enjoy your photography, do not blame the tool it’s all in the eye of the photographer, he went on to tell members of the several hours he sat in a hide waiting to photograph a Kingfisher and did not take one image and was envious of the ones submitted in this evenings competition. He commented on the very high quality of images presented for him to judge, 29 prints and 49 digital images in total. Due to the very high standard of entries in the print image section John awarded 3 x 3rd places, 3 x 2nd places and joint 1st place winners, Roy Packer – ‘Severn Crossing’ and Paul Richards – ‘Hanging by a Thread’. After the coffee break, digital images were shown and once again because of an excellent selection of images John could not award an individual winner and gave 6 images the maximum score of 20 points, the photographers being, Andrew Baxter, Neil Thomas, Dave Bolton, Les Wallace, Gary Jenkins and Roy Packer. 10th October – Aircraft and Bird flight photography – Steve Littlewood 17th October – Macro Photography Explained – Allan Squires

Silver EF EX package (Viveza, HDR Efex Pro, Silver Efex Pro, DFine, Sharpener Pro, and Color Efex Pro)

Hi Roy, Thanks for your talk on Silver EF EX last meeting. Members of the club might like to know that at present (for a limited time) the whole Silver EF EX package (Viveza, HDR Efex Pro, Silver Efex Pro, DFine, Sharpener Pro, and Color Efex Pro) are being offered on eBay for £24.99. The link to the site is attached: I have purchased, and they all work well with Lightroom 4 (and 5). Perhaps you can send an email to all members? Regards Bob Lineker