This weeks meet and does anyone want to go to the Fair?

Those of you who are new to the club get to experience your first practical night this Thursday and your going to love it. (Of course if you don't enjoy yourself then it's not my fault and you really shouldn't believe everything you read on the internet!). We have Steve Cox coming along to do a practical demonstration on 'Off Camera Flash'. If your wondering what it is then take a look through this Blog and the pictures in this Flickr Group.. Some of you may remember Steve from the very start of last season when he was a judge for one of the rounds of our Open Competition (I believe he's wearing a bullet proof vest when he visits from now on). It should prove to be a good night with the chance to take some great images. So make sure you bring along your camera and join in. If you want a quick peek at some of Steve's work he has a Flickr 'Stream and a Website.

It's also a chance to grab someone and ask questions on just about anything related to photography. Although I'm afraid we don't know how to get any supermodels to pose for you or their phone numbers.

Hanneke is interested in visiting the Bridgewater Fair on the 2nd October to try out some Candid Street Photography, before any of you ask no it's not some new kind of sweet. There's plenty of discussion about it taking place on our Flickr Group Forum. You can go straight to the relevant thread by following THIS link. Although to add anything to the conversation you will have to be logged in. Which also means you need to sign up for Flickr.

This week the Practical Night stars..........

This week we have Steve Cox coming along to explain the mystical skill of 'off camera flash'. It's a style of photography often called Strobism and takes its name from the Strobist Blog. It involves using your flash gun's as if they were studio lights and firing them using remote triggers. It should be a great night so be sure to bring along your camera, flash and some extra batteries.

I highly recommend coming along to get some great pictures.

If you would like to see some of Steve's work you can either visit his website or his Flickr 'stream.
...

Lost in Goblin Combe

Goblin Combe. Lovely peaceful gentle stroll in a circular route, not to easy but not to difficult either. It's a shame we didn't really get to see it. As at the very first turn we went the wrong way! Although if we hadn't then its quite probable that we would not have discovered the ancient and mysterious Porridge Mine. For somewhere dark and mysterious it was certainly well signposted. Although the going was tough and we had to evade trolls and an over active imagination. We made it in one piece.
If your wondering just what all this porridge mine stuff is all about, your not the only one!

O.K. back to reality. Even though we took a wrong turn right at the beginning, it was a really enjoyable afternoon. We took great pictures, but more importantly we all had fun. Keep an eye out on the club's Flickr Group or individual photostreams as it's a fair bet pictures will be appearing soon. I'm sure there will be another walk organised soon. Though this time we are going to pay more attention to where we're going.


The motley crew that went in search of the Porridge were (left to right) Jack, Rich, Steve, Mark, Ian, Louise, Vicky, (front row) Jack the dog, Barrie, Hanneke.

Last nights meeting was full of stars.... You!

Last night we had an evening to showcase members pictures and everyone of you that took part were the stars of the evening. It was great to see what you had been doing and some of the amazing pictures that you had taken.

Yet again we welcomed some new faces and I hope you all enjoyed visiting us and seeing the kind of things we get up to. Although I have to apologize for the Combine Harvester joke. We've tried to get that member barred but apparently the landlord says he is single handedly responsible for keeping the pub in profit on a Thursday night!

Next week we have to make our selections for the Ace of Clubs Competition. So please bring in what you consider to be your best shots and we will all go through them and try to decide on the ones we are going to enter. I know some of you try to hold back the ones you are planning on putting into the clubs open competition but please remember this is for the club. You don't have to tell anyone its something your entering for the internal competition.

So bring it in. Your picture could be the difference between us winning or losing.

Come explore the Legendary Porridge Mines!

Were going to explore the Legendary Porridge Mines of Goblin Combe on the 19th of September. Come along and join us in our search for the Sacred Spoon of Everlasting Porridge!

Ahh well OK were actually planning on going for a walk through Goblin Combe. Read on to find out the real details.

The plan is to meet at 2pm in Goblin Combe car park. Which is free, at Cleeve Hill Road (turn off A370 at Lord Nelson pub). The route is 5.25 Miles (8.4km). Which, apparently, should take around 2 hours and 20 minutes to complete. It consists of Path's, Track's and one steep-stepped ascent. Also there are two stiles to climb over. It's supposed to be an easy walk and if I'm willing to give it a go then I'm sure everyone else in the club are more than capable of completing it.
Here's a link to the car park on Google Maps. If your using Sat Nav then the postcode is BS49 4NR. Which will take you to the pub and the car park is just down the road. You should be able to get some superb Landscape shots and of course the compulsory candid's of club members either falling flat on their backsides (yes that will be me) or doing something strange.I've attached a PDF of the walk with notes that Hanneke provided. So you can have a look at the route. If you need a PDF reader then you can download Adobe's free one HERE. I recommend, if your downloading it, to remove the tick from the "Free McAffe Security Scan Plus"

If your still wondering what all that porridge talk was about then you should visit our Flickr Group.

I know what you did last summer!

This week its bring your summer photo's in and show us just what you got upto during the break. (See what I did with the title clever wasn't it!) Don't be shy pick out the ones that show your holiday, day at the park, whatever you got up to. Well maybe not everything. Just the legal and non perverted stuff! It might seem scary to have your shots on show to everyone but it's great fun and you'll not only enjoy yourself. You'll probably get some constructive comments that could make you think about how you take pictures. I know I have!

Also don't forget to bring in your Print entries for the First Round of the Open Competition. The rules and some walk throughs on how to resize your pictures have been posted on the Website and Blog. I've also sent out an email with them in. If your going to enter Digital Files for the Projected Image section then please email them in NO LATER THAN midday on Friday See if you use email you can get an extra day to prepare them. Of course you can bring your digital files in on a memory stick and hand them in on the night but the preferred method of entry is by email. So please, if at all possible, email them in. Also try to remember that they should be named Similar to the following examples

01_My Title_Fred Bloggs.jpg
02_My Other Title_Fred Bloggs.jpg
03_My Last Title_Fred Bloggs.jpg

Yep I still forgot it!

Well as usual my memory let me down again and for the second week running I forgot to take in the Arctic Butterfly. The club and I are not endorsing that product I only provided the link so those of you who thought I was lepidopterist know they are wrong (There now not only did I save you money the other day with that discount code I'm also teaching you new words!).Which resulted in getting told off yet again. My only defence is I have a lot on my mind. Blinking and Breathing take a lot of concentration.

Last night we had Ray Grace showing some of his landscape photographs and I'm sure you'll all agree the pictures were superb. He also gave a talk on Photoshop. Unfortunately he had a few laptop problems and was a bit flustered because of the terrible traffic problems on his trip to us. Despite that he managed to teach a few of us some new techniques. Although I'm sure more than one person who took notes will wake up today and look at them as though they are in another language.

It was fantastic to see all the new faces from last week back again and don't forget, at next weeks meeting you should bring in up to 10 of your most recent pictures. Digital files or Prints. Don't be shy I know it can be daunting and a you might feel a little embarrassed but it's a great feeling when you realise everyone enjoyed looking at your pictures. It's not just for the new people though. Anyone who is coming along should bring in work. It's going to be a night to show what you did last summer!

Also if your reading this and think you might like to be on the clubs mailing list. Drop me an email and I'll add you to it.

My pictures shrunk in the wash!

If your on the clubs mailing list you already know that we have a couple of PDF's doing the rounds on how to resize your pictures so they can be entered into the club competitions. I'm basically just going to bore the pants off you now by repeating myself. We've got, not one, not two but THREE! (see surprised you there didn't I) tutorials on the website dealing with resizing your pictures. Two of them you already know about, the one's for Lightroom and Photoshop. The third was created by our very own Steve Hallam (there now he gets the blame if any of it is wrong) and shares the arcane art of resizing in Paint.net. If you've never heard of it then you should check it out. It's totally free and very good. The have a great community on their forums with lots of people regularly posting help and advice to anyone using the software. If you need a good piece of editing software for your photo's the best free option, if your using a windows pc, is probably going to be Paint.net.

To find the tutorials on resizing visit our website and goto the links page. Find the Reflex member downloads part and all of them are listed there. At the moment you only have those three tutorials and the competition rules available but we are planning on adding more soon. So if you want to know how to do something in Photo Editing Software or what settings you should be using to take a particular shot. Basically anything photo related. Get in touch!

A fantastic offer for you

The kind folks over at Photopaper Direct have generously given us a Discount Code to use for the next YEAR!
It doesn't matter what you want to buy from them using our code will get you a 5% discount from their entire range of paper and cartridges. So if your like me and go to print something only to find that your kids have emptied the entire house of all paper. Visit their site and stock up. But don't tell the kids. What? I've forgotten something? OH the code. Well I'm not about to put it up on here am I! It wouldn't exactly stay exclusively for us would it. I shall be emailing it out to you all and also bringing it in to put on the notice board. Don't forget if you need paper check out Photopaper Direct.

See were even saving you money now. What more could you ask of us? Just thought, maybe I shouldn't have asked that question.

Reflex Camera Club Competition Rules

Below are the rules of entry for the Club Competitions. I know at first glance they seem daunting and confusing but they are pretty simple really. If you want to download them to your own computer to print or read them at your leisure then they are available to download in PDF format from the club website HERE. If you need it then Adobe's free PDF reader can be downloaded HERE. Make sure you remove the tick in the box that says you want the McCaffe Security Scan Plus.
Please do take the time to read through the rules if you are planning on entering. As there is important information in there. They tell you everything you need to know on HOW to enter the competitions. What they don't tell you though is how to prepare your images. However, if you keep an eye on this blog then you will see over the course of the next few days a series of articles explaining how to resize your pictures using Photoshop, Lightroom and how to resize them for printing if you are planning on entering prints this year.

If you have any comments or need something explained you can either get in touch at the usual email address or ask on a Thursday night. There are two other ways that you can get help though. One is to sign up to Flickr and ask in our Clubs Group page (you will however need to be a fully paid up member of Reflex to join our Flickr Group), or you can ask in the Comments section of this Blog as we have now turned comments back on.



Open Competition

1. Members may enter up to three prints and/or three digital projected images in each round.
2. Prints and Projected Images are judged separately.
3. Prints may be of any size as long as they are mounted on card not larger than 50 x 40 cm.
4. Digital projected image entries: see Appendix for conditions of entry
5. Entries should be handed to the competition secretary by the closing date, as displayed on the notice board and in the programme.
6. An entry that has been awarded 1st, 2nd, 3rd or Highly Commended may not be entered in the Open competition again. Any not placed may be entered once more in another round.
7. Entrants are awarded points according to the scheme shown below.
8. At the end of the season, the entrant with most points in the print section will be awarded “Print Photographer of the Year”. The entrant with the most points in the projected images section will be awarded “Projected Image Photographer of the Year”. Points gained in print and projected images sections will be accumulated and the entrant with the greatest number of points overall will be “Photographer of the Year”.
9. Entries should reflect the entrant’s recent work.
10. All entries must be the work of the member. However, trade-processing of prints is permitted.
11. Any variation to these rules will be announced at club meetings and shown on the notice board.
12. The Competition Secretary’s decision is final, and he/she may:
a. Refuse to accept any entry that they consider does not comply with the spirit of these rules.
b. Vary the rules in exceptional circumstances provided the spirit of the Club is not prejudiced.
Points system
1. Entrants will be awarded one point for each projected image or print on the first occasion it is entered in the open section.
2. Additional points will be awarded for “placed” entries:
First - 8 points, Second - 6 points, Third - 4 points, Highly Commended - 1 point.
Trio Competition
All rules as “Open” but with the following changes:
1. The competition is judged “live” on the night.
2. Points awarded count towards print, projected image, and overall photographer of the year.
3. You may enter up to three sets of three projected images and/or prints, to be judged as sets. See appendix for special rules for digital projected images.
4. Entries may be brought on the night, but earlier submission will help the Competition Secretary.
John Hankin Shield (prints) & Stan Scantlebury Shield (projected images)
All rules as “Open” but with the following changes:
1. Each member may enter prints, projected images or both, up to a maximum of 3 each.
2. The judge will select the best image, print & projected image.
3. No points will be awarded.
4. Only images that have been entered in the Open section during the current season can be entered, including those that have been “placed”. Individual images from Trio entries are acceptable.
September 2010

Appendix
Digital Projected Images – conditions of entry for all Club Competitions

1. Images will be projected in a landscape format of 1400 by 1050 pixels maximum and should be sized accordingly.
2. Portrait (vertical) images should be no larger than 1050 pixels high.
3. Images must be correctly aligned for projection.
4. The image must be in jpeg (.JPG) format with sRGB colour space. The JPG should be saved at maximum quality (this is not a requirement but is in your own interests!)
5. A title MUST be provided for each entry – the title will form part of the name of the file.
6. The file name will consist of:
a. A serial number (01, 02 or 03) followed by an underscore (_)
b. The title of the entry (which may include letters, numbers and spaces but NO other characters) followed by an underscore
c. The name of the entrant (which may include letters, numbers and spaces but NO other characters)
d. As an example: “01_My wonderful image_Fred Bloggs”
7. Entries may be submitted by email, on CD, or on a memory stick.
a. PLEASE ENTER BY EMAIL IF POSSIBLE! Send an email to reflexcc@gmail.com with the image files as attachments.
b. If you have to submit entries on CD or memory stick, you MUST create a folder with your name (e.g. “Fred Bloggs”) containing your entries. This allows rapid copying of entries on Club nights
Digital entries for Trio Competition
1. Your sets of three images must be contained within SINGLE jpg files.
2. The overall projected image size limits are the same as for all other Club competitions
3. As long as the above rules are observed, you are free to do what you like with your images.

NOTE
External competitions (such as the WCPF inter-club digital image competition) have their own entry requirements which are different from ours. PLEASE READ THE RULES CAREFULLY before submitting entries.

A great start to the season!

So we've had the first meeting of the new year. It was a great night. Lot's of new faces and returning members from last year. We had members prints on show and presented a slide show (digitally, not slides so sorry to disappoint!) of members pictures. Which everyone enjoyed and as usual ribald comments and in jokes were thrown about when some of the pictures went on screen.

The meet also marked a change in leadership and Rosie certainly enjoyed giving Kevin the horn! No I'm not going to explain you should of been there. As it was his first meeting as Chairman Kev naturally got a bit of stick and was duly presented with his very own whip to complete his Indiana Jones look. Although as he gave Ian a squashed pig biscuit I think he came out of it about even.

I've already had quite a few comments on how the meeting went and I'd like to share one of them with you. Although I won't let on who said it unless they want to be credited that is.

"Thanx for a great night - the club was all you said it would be - friendly, fun and easy going. You underplayed the amount of talent within the room which has given me something to aspire to. I'm glad I made the effort ( I  wouldn't normally walk into a strange pub on my own ) and will def come again - Thanx !!!!!!"

So it would seem that despite having a Werewolf (again you should of been there) who stalks club members at night we're a friendly lot!

I'd like to thank everyone who attended and I hope to see you all again next week when we have Mr. Ray Grace, who I'm led to believe is a member of Crown Monochrome Group, giving a Photoshop Workshop and presenting a selection of his images. So please, if you have any Photoshop related questions, send them into me at the usual email address or, of course, you can ask them on the night.

Something Wonderful and New

I know your all expecting me to put up something about how the club is starting back tonight after its Summer Break. Well I'm afraid your going to be disappointed!
 
Instead I want to tell you about a website I've found called Strobox. Recently some of you went on a Studio Lighting Course held by Andy Milne. What have the two of them got in common? Well Strobox is all about lighting. But it's not just a site that says you should light your subject like this and do that to make it look a certain way. It's much better than that. When someone uploads a picture to Strobox they HAVE to upload a lighting diagram to show everyone just how they used studio lights, strobes or even the living room lamp. So this means that if you like the way a picture looks on the site and want to know just how it was lit all you have to do is look at the lighting diagram the photographer has supplied! How cool is that. So those of you that want to learn how to use various lights and light modifiers can visit the site and see great examples on how to use them.

www.strobox.com

Oh and in other news Reflex Camera Club starts its regular weekly meetings again tonight. So be at the Langton Court Hotel for 7.30pm