Category Archives: Club Nights

Competition Judging – February 1st 2022

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Our third and penultimate competition for the Mayor’s Cup for projected images was judged on Zoom by Bruce Hobbs from St. Agnes Photographic Club. The competition comprised two categories: an “Open” section and a “Water” themed section which was viewed first.

The judge gave both thoughtful and constructive feedback and noted the challenge of comparing those images that had a strong immediate impact with those that yielded more meaning the longer they were viewed. He added to the tension of the evening by holding back his winning selections until the end of each judging session.

The wining Water themed image was “Ripples” by Robert Slade and the winning Open image was ” Jay in sunbeam” by Dave Garmont.

Ripples

Ripples

Jay in Sunbeam

Jay in Sunbeam

 

 

 

 

 

Oue next meeting will be the Annual General Meeting on February 15th and held in The Angel Hotel ballroom.

 

Competition \”Open\” & \”Water\” – The Angel Hotel Ballroom – 01/02/22

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What
Competition "Open" & "Water"
When
Tuesday, February 1, 2022
7:30pm - All Ages
Where
The Angel Hotel Function Room (map)
47 High Street
Royal Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire SN4 7AQ

The Function Room is located on the first floor at the hotel. It can be accesssed either through the front entrance and up the stairs by the bar or through the rear courtyard where there is a set of metal stairs on the left hand side.
Please note that there is unfortunately no Disability access to the Function Room.
Other Info
Third round of competitions for the Mayors Cup

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Zoom Presentation – Photographing the Night Sky – January 18th 2022

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Pete Colley explained the process and techniques to follow in order to obtain the best results when photographing different aspects of the night sky and illustrated his talk with his own impressive images. He included lots of practical information that will have prompted many of us to experiment with some astro-photography.

He started by explaining how he had prepared to obtain an image of the moon over his local town jetty and the range information used to ensure that the height and positioning were optimised.  For moonscapes, using a 400mm+ lens and focus stacking images gives more detail and a partial moon, as opposed to a full moon, exposes the moon’s surface detail better.

Star trails are best captured with a 14-20mm lens combining about 14 exposures at 5 minute intervals. Time lapse techniques are also very effective.

Essential kit includes a sturdy tripod, remote control, spare battery and red head torch. This can extend to an intervalometer or equivalent phone app. Shoot in RAW and practice camera adjustments in the dark. Lens misting can be prevented by using a dew strap and/or a kagool over the camera.

Planning and preparation are key to improving results and many factors need to be considered including the darkness of the sky, light pollution and visible lights at your chosen location along with detailed weather conditions and phase of the moon. Fortunately there are now some very useful apps to help with this – e.g. clearoutside.com and Photographers Ephemeris.

There are endless subjects in the sky to observe and photograph from shooting stars, aurorae, noctilucent cloud, zodiacal light, comets and the Milky Way to the major galaxies. Stacking hundreds of shots using specialist software improves the signal to noise ratio and hugely improves image quality.

Whilst all of the above is possible using reasonably common photographic equipment, more specialised items such as Equatorial Tracking Mounts, Refractor Telescopes and Reflector Telescopes will take you to the next level and he recommended some reasonably priced items to start the journey with. In summary, an intriguing and informative talk that has opened our eyes to what can be observed when you do look skyward.

 

 

 

 

Talk – Photographing the Night Sky – Pete Colley (Note\\\”A\\\” and Note \\\”B\\\”) – The Angel Hotel Ballroom – 18/01/22

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What
Talk - Photographing the Night Sky - Pete Colley (Note"A" and Note "B")
When
Tuesday, January 18, 2022
7:30pm - All Ages
Where
The Angel Hotel Function Room (map)
47 High Street
Royal Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire SN4 7AQ

The Function Room is located on the first floor at the hotel. It can be accesssed either through the front entrance and up the stairs by the bar or through the rear courtyard where there is a set of metal stairs on the left hand side.
Please note that there is unfortunately no Disability access to the Function Room.
Other Info
Our eyes can only glimpse a tiny fraction of the incredible lightshows and the beautiful objects that our night skies have to offer. But with the cameras and lenses that most photographers already have we can capture the stunning displays and many of the amazing astronomical objects that will only reveal themselves after the sun sets. In this talk I’ll present nightscapes that include our moon, noctilucent clouds, aurorae and zodiacal light; stars trailing around the celestial pole, comets and meteors flying through the night; the intricate beauty of our own galaxy; and distant nebulae that we can, at best, barely see with the naked eye. And I’ll share useful resources to help you plan your night time outings and advise you on lenses and camera settings. Following the talk I’ll try to answer and discuss whatever questions you may have.

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Tri-Battle – January 11th 2022

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We engaged in our first Battle of the 2021/22 season which was against Swindon Photographic Society and Highworth Camera Club and hosted by Swindon PS. This was an unscheduled event due to the previous combatants having been unable to take part due to the impact of covid upon their Clubs activities.

Each Club submitted 20 Open subject images and the challenging task of judging the entries went to Tony Oliver from Salisbury Camera Club. After the first half in which 10 images from each Club were viewed randomly and scored out of 20 points, RWB lay comfortably in second place. After the remaining images were judged the final scores were;1st Swindon PS 337 points; 2nd RWBCC 320 points and 3rd Highworth CC 317 points. So a closely fought and enjoyable evening that included some very high quality images.

Finally congratulations to Jon Bastin from RWBCC who achieved a maximum score for his image ” Wiltshire hare without a care”.

Our next meeting on January 18th is a Zoom presentation of Photographing the Night Sky by Pete Colley

Members Evening – The Angel Hotel Ballroom – 04/01/22

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What
Members Evening
When
Tuesday, January 4, 2022
7:30pm - All Ages
Where
The Angel Hotel Function Room (map)
47 High Street
Royal Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire SN4 7AQ

The Function Room is located on the first floor at the hotel. It can be accesssed either through the front entrance and up the stairs by the bar or through the rear courtyard where there is a set of metal stairs on the left hand side.
Please note that there is unfortunately no Disability access to the Function Room.
Other Info
To be more fully defined but aimed to share expertise and thoughts on photographic matters

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Christmas Meal – The Angel Hotel Ballroom – 14/12/21

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What
Christmas Meal
When
Tuesday, December 14, 2021
7:30pm - All Ages
Where
The Angel Hotel Function Room (map)
47 High Street
Royal Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire SN4 7AQ

The Function Room is located on the first floor at the hotel. It can be accesssed either through the front entrance and up the stairs by the bar or through the rear courtyard where there is a set of metal stairs on the left hand side.
Please note that there is unfortunately no Disability access to the Function Room.
Other Info
Our annual Christmas meal (covid permitting) to be held at the Angel Hotel, RWB

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Competition Judging – November 30th 2021

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Our second round of competitions which contribute towards the Mayor’s Cup were judged using Zoom Meeting by Keith Spicer from A1 Camera Club in Weston-super-Mare. We started the evening looking at the “Open” submissions and then after a short interval we moved onto the “Textures” competition.

Keith delivered considered and constructive feedback on our images which will have given members lots of food for thought and hopefully moved us all another step forward in our photographic journey.
His emphasis on the benefits of carefully planning and visualising the image that was being sought is a good discipline to adopt and gaining control over as many of the variable factors as possible enhances the likelihood of a pleasing outcome. His attention to detail was evident and the practical demonstration of some simple image editing tools and cropping ideas to improve the impact and narrative of some images was particularly helpful.
Keith’s helpful and supportive critiques made the evening all the more informative and thoroughly enjoyable.
The winning “Open” image was ‘Paragliders’ by Robert Slade who also won the “Textures” competition with ‘Bricks and Things’
Bricks and Things

Bricks and Things

Paragliders

Paragliders

Zoom Competition \”Open\” & \”Textures\” – The Angel Hotel Ballroom – 30/11/21

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What
Zoom Competition "Open" & "Textures"
When
Tuesday, November 30, 2021
7:30pm - All Ages
Where
The Angel Hotel Function Room (map)
47 High Street
Royal Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire SN4 7AQ

The Function Room is located on the first floor at the hotel. It can be accesssed either through the front entrance and up the stairs by the bar or through the rear courtyard where there is a set of metal stairs on the left hand side.
Please note that there is unfortunately no Disability access to the Function Room.
Other Info
Second competion round with judging of both open subject mattere and texture themed images

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Zoom Presentation – November 16th 2021

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Mike Martin from Bristol Photographic Society gave us a presentation entitled “It’s not what you take…..it’s what you make” which was both very enjoyable and highly informative.

Wth many years experience and an undiminished passion for photography, Mike outlined his overall approach which was based on three steps namely  1) Simplify and critique your own images; 2) Make the most of what you’ve got and 3) add Stuff. He then gave several example of his mantra in action, mainly using portrait images. His advanced processing skills, coupled with his acute attention to detail and an extensive image library allows him to discover the image that he visualises at the outset of the process.

Mike then showed the processes that featured in compiling his panel submission which achieved Associate membership of the Welsh Photographic Federation. After the interval, Mike shared some of his lockdown images before giving a practical demonstration of manipulating an architectural image using Photoshop. His imaginative approach and creativity will hopefully inspire us all to experiment further with our photographic endeavours.