Resumé of the Photography Group meeting on 17th October 2018

Seventeen members of the U3A photography group met at the Martillo Bar in Moraira at 1030 on the 17^th October. Group Leader John Snell welcomed new member Graham Whitelocks. Group members who had not been at the previous meeting added their subject choices for the monthly challenges, to go into the hat.

Unfortunately the planned group outing for 10^th October was cancelled as very few members were able to take part.

However, from the discussion today, it was clear that members did want to have a local photographic group outing. Laurence Baehr had recently guided a tourist along the route from Moraira to Teulada, Benimarco and Calpe salt lake before returning along the coast road, and it was decided that we would base the outing on this route. It was decided to meet at the Martillo Bar at 0930 on Wednesday 7^th November, and take about 4 hours on the trip, before returning to the Martillo Bar at around 1330 for a bite to eat for those that want to. Please let me know soonest if you would like to come, and whether you would like to stay for something to eat afterwards.

The dates requested for the Photographic Exhibition in La Senieta has been submitted to the Ayuntamiento; 18^th to 31^st May 2019. It’s not known when approval can be expected. The group decided that the main categories would be: Landscapes, Portraits, Architecture, Fauna, Flora, plus Members Favourites that don’t fit these categories. The production and mounting of the pictures will have to be at the member’s own expense.

At the last exhibition, some members used either Gorila Grafica, http://www.gorilagrafica.com  in Moraira to print and mount their images. However, some were a little disappointed with the quality of the image on the mounting board, although in previous years it had been OK. Others had their images printed by DS Colour Labs https://dscolourlabs.co.uk . This UK company will print the images but can also mount the images on board. An alternative which worked well was to have DS Colour Labs print the images and send them to Spain, then have Gorila Grafica cut mounting board to the required size, and then you put the print (carefully!) onto the board using spray glue. (Worked well for me.). If a group member has another alternative that they recommend, please let me know.

Many thanks go to Stephen Jones, who gave a very informative talk on “Exposure”. He explained how exposure, or the amount of light reaching the sensor, is affected by 3 variables, the aperture of the lens, the shutter speed, and the ISO of the sensor. He told the group how best to balance them to improve the quality of the images we take. A pdf file of his presentation is attached. Robert Verbruggen has suggested the following link, which also describes the three variables. http://flip.it/zlvYTY

The challenge for last month was Sunrise or Sunset, and many members brought along images to share and enjoy.  There were some lovely pictures of the many colourful sunsets we have recently enjoyed.

New member Graham Whitelocks, pulled this month’s challenge out of the bag, which is Things beginning with “H”. Please bring up to 8 images of things beginning with “H” to the next meeting, which will be held in the Martillo Bar on Wednesday 21^st November at 1030.

Next month, Dave Reynolds will give a talk on “Photoshop”, which a very popular and comprehensive photo-editing programme. Unfortunately it isn’t free!

Finally, I would like to put some images of the sunrise/sunset on the group’s web page. So can those of you who shared images this morning email just one to me that you are happy to go on the web page? Thanks.

Kind regards,

John