As we start the new season we start with our first competition, the informal Oatey Cup!
This is judged in-house by the other members of the club and gives us a chance to show off a few images that we've been working on over the summer break. Congratulations to Peter, Jon and Tim for coming first, second and third respectively!
Peter Levers
Jon Burtoft
Tim Gilbert
Any camera with interchangeable lenses has the potential for dust to stick on the sensor, and even with modern anti-dust self-cleaning sensor occasionally the inevitable happens.
Recently I rather foolishly managed to pick up my GX7 with no lens and managed to get a finger-print right on the sensor itself; some gentle wafting with a lint-free cloth just proceeded to move the print around and while some progress was made there was plenty of evidence of the residue when taking shots with a small aperture (f16-f22).
Here I shot a blank wall at f22 and the evidence is clear:
before
Shooting at a small aperture makes the spots far more noticeable, while a large aperture (f2-f4) hides the problem, it’s not always possible or desirable to shoot with the lens open.
After much investigation I settled on green swabs from Visible Dust; while a little expensive (£20 for 4 swabs) they seemed to have a good reputation.
These turned out to be a really simple solution, a small amount of the cleaning fluid is added to the swab and with a smooth wipe most of the dust was removed. One particularly obvious mark actually turned out to be a piece of dust on the rear element of the lens which was cleaned with a lint-free cloth.
The final results seems much better, there are still a few spots so I may have another try in a few days to get the last few stubborn leftovers.
One site that a few members speak very highly of is Digital Photography School, with pages of information that cover a wealth topics it's well worth a look:
http://digital-photography-school.com/
http://digital-photography-school.com/digital-photography-tips-for-beginners/
http://digital-photography-school.com/15-best-cheat-sheets-printables-infographics-photographers/
The next time your significant other asks you "do you really need another camera" just point them to this short film about Dilish Parekh, who holds the world record for the largest camera collection with over 4,500 cameras... see how happy he is!
Hailing from Brixham, Neil has been creating some excellent minimalist landscapes recently, well worth checking out his portfolio at:
I’ve been described by some of the other members of the club as a “stunt photographer” as I’m often the one who’ll climb down a bank or clamber up and over rocks to get a shot. This technique often serves me well as I get into positions that most can’t or won’t get to, but sometimes this can lead to trouble.
I was at Gwithian over the weekend with the sunset starting to form over Godrevy Lighthouse so I set off looking for a composition; anyone who knows the location will know that around the cliffs near the lighthouse there are lots of large rock formations making it difficult to transverse.
I reached the edge of one cliff and it was a good 15 feet down… looking to my right I noticed the beach went behind the rocks so I though “I’ll get back that way” and climbed down. After more clambering over slippy and unforgiving rocks I found a nice lead-in line and took my shots, and we were in for an amazing sunset.
Soon the light faded I made my way back, over all the slippery rocks and to the back of the beach I walked around the corner to find the path lead straight into a cave… I was stuck! With the light fading fast I had to find a way up, and after a few minutes I managed to locate a way up and climbed up the 15ft rock-face back to civilization… so the moral is, look before you leap!
It's always sad when the acts of the few reflect badly on the masses... I came across a few images of Dorset's iconic Durdle Door on fire recently, which was apparently caused by photographers using the wire wool technique to create photos without thinking about where the wool would end up.
This photo from Steve Balcombe gives you an idea of the damage caused.
Steve is a nature photographer from Taunton and his images are well worth a look:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevebalcombe/
A recent blog post by Melvin Nicholson got me thinking about my local knowledge; even though I've been ardently visiting the local beaches around Whitsand Bay and spending many evenings on the moors around Minions I still feel like I've only just scratched the surface of the photographic opportunities on my own doorstep.
Killmar Tor, north of Minions
To get good at landscape photography you really do need to put in the leg-work and know where to go, and more importantly when to go there!
In addition, it's also good to remember your gear... on a recent outing I arrived at the beach to find I'd left my favourite wide-angle lens and 10-stop filter on my desk at home!
Melvin has some tips to get you planning in his latest blog post which can be found here:
http://www.melvinnicholsonphotography.co.uk/5938-2/
I've been following Dave on Flickr for some time and I'm always amazed at how he manages to get access to such a wide variety of classic and vintage cars.
Those of you with access to Sky Arts might be interested in their new show "Master of Photography", which 'aims to do for photography what American Idol did for singing'.
For more details, please follow the link to the article at PetaPixel:
http://petapixel.com/2016/07/08/master-photography-major-new-photo-competition-tv-show/
![masterofphotographyhead-800x448[2].jpg](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/568d978705f8e2ada3459475/1468311693496-GNBK7X7PBEQAP9UKWKRV/masterofphotographyhead-800x448%5B2%5D.jpg)