Competition - Ted Coleman Digital Image Knockout 01/06/21

19 clubs took part in digital image knockout run by Rochdale Camera Club on 1st June 2021. HPIC entered this long-standing knock-out competition after a break of several years. It is run in memory of former Rochdale CC club member, Ted Colman, and this year 19 clubs took part including 3 from Yorkshire.

Our 13 images had been selected from those which had done well in external competitions and salons. The four for the first round were identified in advance with the aim of ensuring we progressed to the second round. Experienced judge, Richard Speirs from Northern Counties, gave a critique of each image and scored them out of 20.

After the first round we surprised ourselves by being in pole position. The HPIC team (Richard Fulcher, Harry Wentworth and Alan Stopher) entered their own ‘break out room’ to determine which images should be put into rounds 2 and 3.

We got into the third round by two points, coming 6th out of the 13 clubs then remaining. In the final round we came a creditable 6th and were the last of the four Yorkshire Clubs in the competition.

The play off for first was between Chorley PS and Bury PS and Chorley ran out the winners. Particular credit goes to them for choosing 13 images from 13 different authors. That’s strength in depth for you.

Our highest scoring images were Richard Fulcher’s Jetting in and Paul Campbell’s The Dancer, each with 19. Well done to them.

Talk - The 'Art of Composite Photography' 09/06/21

Over 40 members witnessed another stunning Zoom evening, arranged by Sue Gibson, entitled: The 'Art of Composite Photography'' presented by Sharon (MFIAP, MPAGB, ARPS, FIPF, ABPE, EFIAP/p) and Robert Prenton Jones (EFIAP/p BPE5, AWPF)

Both presenters were very generous and open with the tips they gave to members throughout the evening and made it clear that their philosophy was to share the knowledge they had acquired through their work.

Robert batted first and gave a detailed account of the tricks of the trade he deployed in the creation of his master pieces e.g., hidden light sources, lighting techniques inspired by classical artists such as Rembrandt and Vermeer.

Sharon, who only took up photography in 2012, also told us about past Welsh and Irish Celtic myths and legends that inspired her magnificent creative composites. Sharon too, took us though examples of her compositing techniques, live, from start to finish.

For a real appreciation of the evening’s content, you must watch the recording downloadable from the Members’ area on the club’s website when it becomes available. However, from notes made during the meeting here is a list of some of the tips from Robert. 1. It is the artists job to direct the viewer’s gaze. 2. The composition must tell a story, all the elements must be compatible with the story. 3. The direction of the light falling on the elements of the composite must come from the same direction. 4. Paint faces brighter than the light source. 5. If the dark side of a subject’s face is to be partially illuminated the light must come from a believable source. 6. Use a big light source near the face for soft lighting. 7. The secret of soft lighting lies in the diffusion of the light from the source 8. Light sources can be occluded in the composited scene. 9. Don’t let the environment catch the eye and become a distraction. 10. Shoot windows from a shallow angle to avoid the scene beyond the window being a distraction. 11. Shoot your models from a variety of angles. 12. Apertures in the range f8-f11 usually induce fewer optical errors. 13. The black on black technique: When creating a composite it is easier to blend foregrounds and backgrounds if both have black backgrounds

The AGM of HPIC 26/05/21

For the second year running our AGM was held on Zoom. This year reports were given by all the officers and members of the committee which meant that a good turn out of members went away well-briefed on a wide range of club matters.

Picking out some examples we were reminded that:

• Club membership had been maintained despite the inability to meet in person.

• The special interest groups (SIGs) in four themed areas had engaged members in sharing and learning opportunities outside the regular Wednesday meetings.

• Our club and its members had taken part in a number of regional, national and even one international competition all with encouraging results.

  • Nearest to home the West Yorkshire Interclub had proved competitive as ever with us retaining the trophy by one point.

  • Individual members have had success in the 2020 and 2021 YPU Annual competitions.

  • Our international foray was in the 15th FIAP World Cup for Clubs 2020 where our PDI entry came a very creditable 26th out of 213 participating clubs.

  • We took part in a one off Cymru digital mono competition and out of 49 clubs came 4th.

• A varied programme had been maintained throughout the year and many good speakers from afar had presented their work and shared information on their methods.

• The website had been improved in a number of ways and regular reports such as this provided to keep it topical.

• A successful exhibition had been held in a shop unit on the Piazza.

• A start had been made on the cataloguing of our archive in readiness for it to pass to the local branch of the West Yorkshire Archive Service.

Subsequent discussions took place around the challenges of preparing a programme not knowing when a return to physical meetings would be possible.

It was decided to maintain our half-price subscriptions until such time an increase was needed to fund a meeting room once more.

Well done to the committee all of whom were re-elected and to the membership for taking part in our annual business meeting.