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Contents

Chairman’s Welcome

This Week’s Programme

Contemporary Group

Dehaze in Lightroom

Welcome to New Members

Tony’s Travels

Diary & Competitions

Around the Web

Help & For Sale

Commercial

This Week - Tuesday

31|AUGUST|2015|

WCC NEWSWorcestershire Camera Club Editor:w-news@worcscc.uk

Hello, and a warm welcome to the very special 125th season of the

Worcestershire Camera Club.

By the time you read this, our lovely month-long exhibition of mem-

bers’ work and vintage photographic equipment at The Hive will be

over. The Club has received a real boost from the event and together

with publicity from Worcester News and BBC Hereford & Worcester

local radio people will have a greater awareness about the Club and its

activities.

To everyone who participated in the exhibition, whether as an exhibi-

tor or part of the exhibition team, a really big thank you!

Our Programme Secretary, Maddy Pennock, has been tirelessly working

to bring a wide range of most interesting talks, lectures and presenta-

tions for us to enjoy this coming season. The programme veritably

glows with riches from the world of photography. There’s something

for everyone and we look forward to enjoying your company.

Header image Wind and Wave by Eric Williams

Contemporary Group

The WCC Contemporary Photog-raphy Group meets as usual on

Thursday, 3rd September at7.30pm at Claines Royal BritishLegion, Cornmeadow Lane,Worcester.

See page 2 for more details.f fig-

ures.  When I have found

We are delighted to open the new

season with Viveca Koh FRPS, who is

presenting Urban Exploration to FineArt – A Photographic Journey.

Chairman’s Welcome

The continuing success of our three

Thursday Groups continues to offer

opportunities for detailed discus-

sions about practical queries and

lots of time to talk about pictures.

Welcome to our quasquicentennial!

Clive Haynes, Chairman

Your Smiling Face by Viveca koh FRPS

Help to re-awaken your creative

photography skills by joining us

on Thursday Sept 3rd for the Con-

temporary meeting. (See p 1.)

After a summer of showers, sun,

events, rain, and more showers,

enrich your enthusiasm for pho-

tography by enjoying an evening

of image discussion, appreciation

and understanding. With our mem-

bers happily getting into self expres-

sion we usually have heaps of laughs,

amongst moments of quiet revelation.

Most of the time is spent discussing

our own work but we always make

time to see examples from the web.

This image is from a series of subver-

sive art seen around London. We shall

have more examples on the night.

I also hope to share some 'dra-

matic moments' that I saw during

the re-enactment at Spetchley

Park last weekend.

Hopefully Clive and I will see you

there.

Tessa

Contemporary Group

…for I am a sign…

Spetchley scenes by Tessa Mills FRPS

It may be that I am the last in the club to catch up with a new feature of Lightroom (Creative Cloud only) -

the Dehaze slider. I understand that Martin has demonstrated it at a DIG meeting but if, like me, you missed

that evening this is something that you too might find really useful. With care I have had some pleasing

results. I tried it first with some images I took in Africa last year and it improved some of them remarkably.

So I then went to my pond and took an image of a backswimmer: they swim just under the water and clear as

the the water appears to the naked eye that is not what the camera appears to see, without a lot of tweaking.

To pierce the haze I have used a polarising filter in the past - but the problem with that is that I lose two stops

and don't always see clearly enough to focus well (auto focus not really being suitable when taking 1:1 shots).

Here is shot of that backswimmer taken without the polarising filter: before and after using the dehaze slider

- with a few additional adjustments after using the slider - pulling back the blacks and increasing the

exposure. Not my best images, but they are illustrative.

I have tried to replicate this in Lightroom without using the new feature and have come close, but that was

a couple of hours experimenting with a variety of other sliders, including, sharpness, contrast. clarity plus

both tone curve and saturation by channel). This new feature means that I never have to do that again!

I can see clearly now…A useful tip about Dehaze in Lightroom and example images from Douglas Gregor ARPS

Before…

and after…

For newer members who may not

know Douglas and his photography,

why not take a peek at his website

and discover some super macros,

great birds in flight shots and more…

My husband Richard & I recently moved to Pershore

from Sheringham in Norfolk for family reasons.  I

bought my first DSLR in 2004 and joined North Norfolk

Camera Club the same year.  My interest in photogra-

phy increased as did the club membership and I was

their Secretary for 9 years.

Never liking to feel I am standing still, in 2009 I

submitted prints for my LRPS, which luckily were ac-

cepted. I am a member of the RPS Digital Group.

Unable to get my head round an ARPS panel in 2013 I

entered DPI's for the DPAGB which scored well. I have

also entered DPI's for External Exhibitions.

I am a bit of a grasshopper - I do not really specialise

but guess  my main interest is Landscape photography,

Welcome to… Judy Knights LRPS DPAGB

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sometimes with a 'twist' as I love

working in Photoshop & Light-

room.

I currently shoot Canon - the 6D

is my main camera but I also

have an IR converted 350D -

though I am considering chang-

ing to a lighter, mirrorless sys-

tem!'

Here are two of my images , Silver

Light & High Tea. plus one of me

'in action' - much better than the

recent driving licence pic!

Hi, I’m Nick Court.

I live just outside of Bromsgrove, towards the Lickey Hills. During the week I run

my own IT Support Company, but at weekends photography takes over. I’ve only

been pursuing photography as a hobby for around 6 months, so am still unsure

which direction I will take up.

At the moment I’m concentrating on wildlife and landscapes, but I have a keen

interest in all topics.

Welcome to… Nick Court

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Welcome to… Andrea Holmes

Hello, I’m Andrea. Previously employed as a Lecturer at Kidderminster College, teach-

ing numerous forms of shorthand, typewriting, word processing, and business adminis-

tration, I am now retired, and am trying to get to grips with photography. My other

interests are gardening, Sudoku/crossword puzzles, knitting, crochet, walking.

Having been a member of Kidderminster Camera Club for the last couple of years, my

bridge camera has now been abandoned, as I grapple with mastering an SLR in the

hope of being awarded with a photographic accreditation (one day) – I am addicted to

monochrome!

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Time flies

Birmingham Basin

Birmingham Library

Sunday Afternoon

Tony’s Travels

Club member Tony Gervis FRPS is still doing his 365 photo-a-day. He has just returned from the USA where

he has been photographing rodeos, rocks and random stuff! Here are a few more of Tony’s recent images…

Saturday Night Out Sunday Shoppers

Challenged by another member to be more creative,

Tony’s response was this shot ‘Eureka’!

No Gervises were harmed in the taking of this picture…From the Outside in and the Inside Out2 images of the same cacti. The 1st, taken with a fish eye (very wide angle ) lens

taken with the camera placed inside the cacti using remote control to take the

image. Couldn’t get my arms inside the cacti without much damage, The cacti

don’t pay doctors’ bills or provide medical aid to torn skin.

The 2nd, a straight image of the cacti.

Dates for the Diary / Out and AboutWhat’s on, exhibitions to go and see, photo-opportunities... Send in your events.

Competitions & Exhibitions

The Philip Laney & Jolly summer/autumn calendar competion hand-in

date is 13th October. Have you entered yet?

Last chance! The Aesthetica Art Prize, now its eighth year, is open for

entries, presenting an opportunity for emerging and established artists

to showcase their work to an international audience. Register by 31August to be in with a chance of winning £5,000 courtesy of Hiscox;

group exhibition; publication in an anthology of 100 contemporary

artists; editorial in Aesthetica Magazine (186,000 readership worldwide);

£250 art supplies vouchers courtesy of Winsor & Newton and art books

courtesy of Prestel. Work in all media is accepted. Judges include artists,

curators and directors from National Portrait Gallery, Design Museum

and Yorkshire Sculpture Park among others.

You might just catch the teddy bear parachuting and zip wires at

Pershore Abbey today if you’re quick!

5-6 Sept Middle Earth festival around Sarehole Mill.

7-19th September London, Exhibition

SEBASTIÃO SALGADO: SERRA PELADA from Workers: an Archae-

ology of the Industrial Age. Do have a look at the online gallery,

and for fans there's an in-depth interview with the man himself.

Until 13th September at Media Space is Revelations - will tour

later at National Media Museum Nov 2015 - Feb 2016.

Lee Miller: A Woman’s War opens 15th October at IWM London.

Club Competitions

You should have had an email alert about the first club competition of the season Please do join in any or

all of the club competitions; it’s a really useful way to get some (usually friendly!) critique of your images

- and it’s fun. The full timetable is on the website now, in downloadable form and the dates including

hand-in periods are on the monthly calendar.

See the website for all rules and guidelines - and results!

IWM Perspectives

by Ruth Bourne LRPS

Around the Web

Using Humour in Street Photography

Landscape POTY 2015

Enjoy some unusual animal pix.

Tips for wide-angle photography

And lots, lots more in the new season’s Flipboard

magazine . Click on Follow to be notified of new

content. Flipboard is free to use and a handy tool.

Commercial

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Our programme sponsor, Midland Fine Arts, supplies mount

boards, pre-cut and bespoke size mounts and frames at a

generous club discount on the standard prices of up to maxi-

mum of 15% for frames and sundries, and 40% for the mounts.

Do please support them in return if you can. Quote WCC when

ordering (please show your club ID card if requested).

As MFA are often out and about at weekends, should you have

trouble getting there midweek to collect orders, contact me in

case we or another member can be of help.

Clive writes to tell us about a Topaz Offer on ReMask5Topaz has a special offer for the new and updated version of ReMask – A great tool for creating seamless

montages. From 25th August until 18th September it’s on offer at £31.74 (normal price £44.50). These are

dollar-converted process and can fluctuate but represent about £13 ($20) off. It’s excellent value.

Use this Coupon Code: GetReMask5More information from Topaz: ReMask is designed on one simple idea: To create the best quality mask with minimal input. By using

ReMask’s simple 3-color tri-map technology, users have the power to quickly and easily extract even the toughest elements — hair, foliage,

and transparent materials — in their photos. The new updates to ReMask 5 make it the most powerful masking software on the market.

The two biggest additions are standalone capabilities and background replacement tools.

Olympus - Can you Help?

We’ve received an enquiry from Mike Hasted, who’s the Heritage Project Officer at Spetchley Gardens. He’s

considering buying an Olympus OMD EM5 MkII and he wonders if anyone can give him any insights,

comments or feedback about the camera. Please contact Mike at: activities@spetchleygardens.co.uk

iMac For Sale

iMac: 21½" screen Processor: 2.78GHz Core i5 Memory: 8GB Hard Disk: 1TB

Bought: Late 2012, currently selling on eBay for about £525: Looking for £425