7th November 2020

IPF National Shield

The entries for the National Shield have been selected and the necessary admin required to submit our entry has been completed. The club would like to thank all members who submitted entries  and especially the Selection Committee whose efforts are such a key component to a successful entry. The authors of the successful entries will be notified over the weekend by email.  We will display the panel on Monday night and may display the individual images at the end of our Zoom session, time permitting. 

Nepal Afer The Earthquake

Next Monday night, Liam Haines will share his experiences and images following his trip to Nepal after a devastating earthquake.

Members In The Press

Robbie O'Leary had his image of a female Kingfisher on the Dodder river printed in the Irish Times last week. Yesterday this image was also selected for inclusion in the 2021 Calendar being produced by the RTE afternoon programme 'Today'. Derek Mooney was the judge.

Also this week, Paul O'Brien had his image of the blue moon over the Lighthouse in D/L printed in the Irish Times. 

Great to see the creative talents within our club recognized and a great source of inspiration for us all.

Accessing Video Recordings of Meetings

We've added a new feature to the website. You can now access the recordings of past Zoom meetings from the OffShoot website.

These videos are available in the Videos section of the Member's Area at https://www.offshoot.ie/member-area/. You will need to login to the website to see the content of this section of the site.

Every member has a login to the site. If you don't remember your login details go to https://www.offshoot.ie/login/ and select the 'Forgot your password?' link. Enter the email address you received this newsletter with and reset your password. Once you've reset your password you can login and catch-up on speakers you missed. Happy catching up!

Outings

We are suspending official outings for the immediate future.  Our priority is to protect the health of our membership.  We will keep our members informed and  re-introduce as soon as we can.  In the interim our hardworking  Outings committee have compiled the following suggestions.

Ideas for personal photography outings while club outings are suspended.

Autumn Colours: there are plenty of parks/wooded areas/individual trees or shrubs/leaves to be photographed – but hurry – autumn is well underway. Squirrels are also plentiful as they collect and eat fallen nuts from beech trees especially.

Coastal images: for some members living within 5km of the Dublin coastline, there are endless possibilities: sunrise/sunset/seabirds/stormy conditions etc

Rivers also offer many opportunities to photograph wildlife: look out for birds especially: herons/kingfishers/wagtails/ dippers/ cormorants etc.

Dublin City: For those within 5kn of Dublin City the cityscape offers endless possibilities as well as street photography. Also many of our local villages have buildings or monuments of architectural interest. Again remember street photography.

Signs of Winter: frost/ snow/flooding/ bare trees etc

Moon: for those who missed the blue moon on October 31^st there is a Full Moon every month. The next full moon is November 30^th.

       The Outings Committee.

Weekly Flickr Theme: Emotions

Remember to include the Theme Name at the start of the image title.  

See more about how the OffShoot Weekly Flickr Theme works at https://tinyurl.com/flickrthem.

This is a potentially challenging theme, but we do need to challenge ourselves from time to time. Think of happiness, pride, joy, frustration, satisfaction and more.  Also, consider emotions expressed by our pets or indeed by animals in the wild. A laughing donkey or the unbridled pleasure a pet dog might enjoy with its favourite toy. Maybe capturing the emotion of an election result.

Images that convey emotions or stir emotions within us tend to be more powerful, and stay in our memories longer, that those which do not. So how do we capture and convey emotion?

Let's start with images of people. This article has some great suggestions:

8-tips-for-capturing-genuine-emotion-in-your-photos.

These suggestions include capturing people in a familiar environment, giving people something to do than waiting for the magic to happen.

This article contains some great examples in a street style which highlight the need to be aware of what's happening in around you and be ready with your camera:

emotional-photography.

Post-processing is also used to good effect here.

For landscape images, it's important to be aware of your own emotions, then try to capture some of that within the image and try to bring it out within post-processing. this article explains how atmospheric elements - light, fog, shadow - all add to the mood and emotion within landscape images. how-light-creates-emotion-in-photography

Some photographers create still life images to symbolise emotion. See: marshall-gray-seven-7-deadly-sins-still

Finally, an image that has a story element to it will always create a stronger emotional connection with the viewer than one without. Be aware of the story within your image.

So now it's over to you - show me anger, joy, pride, fear, ...........  

Upcoming themes will include the following:

(Dates are approx dates for when images can start to be posted to Flickr, usually a Friday night or Saturday morning)

13/11/2020 Night - e.g. Astro / cityscapes / light trails / night portrait etc.

20/11/2020 Street (candid images of daily life)

27/11/2020 Creative selfies

04/12/2020 Literature

11/12/2020 Winter wildlife

18/12/2020 FIRE

25/12/2020 Christmas

Shoot With Me News

The second part of our SWM is now in progress. We look forward to the Showcase in December.

As always, the safety of our club members is paramount and everyone should follow the recommended guidelines and club protocols.

Speakers and Outings

Here are the next scheduled meetings and events for the Society:

Members will be able to attend our outings by registering for specific outings. Keep up to date with the latest events at https://www.offshoot.ie/whats-on/.

Just a note for new members – if you want any of your pictures considered for the photo of the week, you just have to post them to the OffShoot Flickr group at:

https://www.flickr.com/groups/offshoot_society.

There’s also the latest images published on Flickr that are displayed on the OffShoot home page.

[Note. To join the Offshoot Flickr group, you must first be a Flickr member. Then send the email address used to join Flickr to webmaster@offshoot.ie. You will get an email when you have been added to the group. Please be patient as this is a manual process.]

Recreate A Painting. Me as Him.  by Hilda McInerney 

Into The Light by Richard Boyle

If you come across one you want to share let us know at newsletter@offshoot.ie.

PiXimperfect: Top 21 Photoshop 2021 New Features in 21 Mins!

PHLEARN: Testing the NEW Sky Replacement Tool in Photoshop!

Free Photoshop Workshop

Here is a link to an interesting Photoshop Training Summit / Seminar.  There is a comprehensive programme, to suit all skill levels. Lectures will be available during live streaming of the events and for 48 hours afterwards.

Link

We will announce a competition shortly. The entry date will be after Christmas.

Irish Photographic Federation Web Site:

https://irishphoto.ie/

IPF Shield to take place in November. Details circulated by email and above in the newsletter. 

Most recent news and articles posted:

https://irishphoto.ie/news/

Distinction Sittings and Availability:

https://irishphoto.ie/distinctions/assessment-dates/