We covered some ground this evening. First we had 3 lots of five-(ish) photos from Michael, Grace D and Robert, which were about as different as it's possible to be. First, Michael gave us a mini-essay on "Harnessing the Wind" , featuring images of yachts and sailing craft from 1906 to 2015. There is a distinctly nautical side to the club which has emerged in the last year or so; we have a submariner , a fishery protection officer and an offshore oilfield hand and at least two more members with sailing and seagoing experience- and there may be more I don't know about.
Grace D said straight up that she doesn't know yet what her favourite kind of photo is, because she's busy having fun finding out. Painting with light looks like it may feature strongly, which is great, because you can do it in the dark- her guitar being a fine example. I was very impressed with the close up eye shot, even if it did give Colin the opening for the pun of the week. "Light in the eye" indeed!
Robert, another light painting advocate, showed us some of his own classics. The "Warp speed" shot from inside the car always impresses me, even though I've seen it several times. The effect is great, but it's the lateral thinking behind it that is most impressive. It's one of those "Why didn't I think of that?" ideas. As for the portrait of the astonishingly handsome dude with the long flowing locks, remember- what goes around, comes around.
We then had a look at some members' ICM images, which hinted at the range of techniques it is possible to use for this. I was interested to see that the classic seascape / landscape shot which featured strongly in Sally's talk last week may be done just as well at Yellowcraig as at Luskentyre, saving a long drive and a ferry ride. The method is as important as the subject. The Woodland shot with the trees which were both blurred but clearly outlined, I assume used a photo filter effect as well as (motion?) blur, giving a really unusual result. A judge might ask "Where does the eye rest?" in that one, but why does it have to rest anywhere? Nice stuff.
Andy C then showed us how to use "Snapseed" and other , very cheap, software for phones and tablets, to quickly achieve some interesting effects. (Incidentally, photographing hospital incinerators is not something to try if you find yourself in Wuhan this year. Wasn't it SHINY though?)
Grace H tried the same from her iPad, but as many corporations and governments learned this week, if you leave Windows open, gremlins get in. You can't win them all. The point is, there's a lot of very cheap software available for phones and tablets and it doesn't hurt to know about it. Now all I need is someone to explain how to switch the phone on.
We then had the sort of discussion that would be better over a beer, at least until someone knocked a glass over. We talked about the syllabus of this most odd year and actually we all felt it had gone incredibly well.
We have all got to know one another rather better than in the hall. The names being right on screen is a big help. (We did try name badges a while ago, but we all lost them by week three and you had to look round , in the dark, to see who was talking). Our attendance has stayed very constant because we don't need to go out on a rainy night. We could get speakers and judges from Kinlochleven and East Anglia. "Zoom" works. We may well use it for special events next year even if we do get back in the hall. You can see what's on the screen better than you can from a back row in the hall. I think we should have lockdown again next year.
On competitions, it emerged there is a widespread feeling that the score "out of twenty" has advantages over the experimental scoring system of the last two years. It acts as a gauge standard to let members judge how they are doing, which the new system is not so good at. The comp sec. will have a think about how to build that into next years's scoring, while retaining the category system and preserving the cumulative year-long scoring system. (This may require borrowing IBM's AI system, but we'll see what Sally comes up with).
Various ideas popped up about things for next year's programme. These were noted. If you have any other suggestions , ideas, or requests, email them to Grace, or any committee member .