8th May 2021

Last week we had a bank holiday with prospects of release from this dreadful plague. From 10th May we can travel between counties with a limit of 15 people outside. There is even talk of international travel! Is this the beginning of the end or just the end of the beginning? 

This means that we can resume our outings schedule and the outings committee has been busily organising activities for your delectation. See dates and details below.

Next Monday Night

On the 10th and 17th of May, we will once again enjoy, the images from the participants in Shoot With Me projects. It has been the one activity that we have maintained throughout Covid. While there were restrictions, all credit is due to all participants, to the leaders and to George Balmer and Emily Gallagher who organised and kept things running.

This is always an enjoyable evening so come and be entertained and marvel at the selection of images. We have invited the members of Enskedde Fotoklubb, Stockholm to attend the evenings. You will recall that a group from Enskedde Fotoklubb judged our competition in January and they will be most welcome.

Learn With Me

In April, Kevin Grace gave us the benefit of his considerable experience on the techniques of how to produce a superb landscape image. Our thanks go out to him for his presentation which was so well attended.

Our next Learn With Me will be led by Barry Dillon on 27th May. The subject will be "Photoshop Crash Course - Introduction".

Barry will give an introduction to Photoshop to give you enough knowledge to get started with Photoshop.

Because of the interactive nature of the proposed sessions, it will be necessary to keep numbers low, but we will do our best to fit everyone in.

For those interested in attending please email lwm@offshoot.ie. 

Outings

There are still restrictions but, at last, we can announce that outings can resume from 10th May with inter-county travel and a limit of 15 people outside. Our first outing will be Tuesday 11th May to the National Stud and Gardens in Tully, Co. Kildare. Booking is required on their website. (Details are in the event below and the email sent from the Outings Team.)

See What’s On below for all other outings.

Don’t forget to carry your camera with you on your stroll between outings. 

Ideas for personal photography outings 

Bring your camera and a single lens with you for a walk this week and see what you can discover.

Spring Flowers: The Spring flowers are coming to an end but the floral year is one of endless colour. Look around natures garden and shoot its glorious coloured mantle.

Garden Wildlife: Life is abundant around us, the birds are nesting; the bees buzzing; butterflies in all their glory and insects crawling etc

Coastal images: The Dublin coastline offers endless possibilities: sunrise and sunset, rocks and seabirds, stormy conditions and even hardy bathers etc

Rivers: also offer many opportunities to photograph wildlife: look out for herons, kingfishers, wagtails, dippers, cormorants, otters etc. 

Cityscapes: From Dublin City to Dalkey to Donabate the cityscape offers endless possibilities as well as street photography. Also, many of our local villages have buildings or monuments of architectural interest. 

Indoors: Still Life and smoke photography; macro on the kitchen table or shooting the fantastic colours of oil and water etc.

IPF National Club Championships

Thanks to all who submitted images and Barry Dillon and his team have spent time looking at some 330 splendid photographs from members. The decision on a panel has been stimulating and difficult but we are ready to submit the panels. Each panel is 10 images and we have to submit 2 spares. Here’s your preview of the panels – colour and mono:

It has been agreed that each member included in the panel will receive a mounted print of their image.

Accessing Video Recordings of Meetings

The Video of the last meeting and Learn With Me are now available in the Member's Area of the website.

You can access this and other recordings of past Zoom meetings in the Videos section of the Member's Area at https://www.offshoot.ie/member-area/. You will need to log in to the website to see the content of this section of the site.

Every member has a log in 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 log in and catch up on speakers you missed. Happy catching up!

Composite

When photographers say “composite” – they refer to an image that was constructed from two or more different photos. Most composites these days are done by layering images one on top of another and then masking out the unwanted pieces.

Another option is blending the layers together using various blending modes. A third option is to create a double exposure if your camera has this feature.

Links

Introduction to composite photography: https://www.wix.com/blog/photography/2017/03/06/what-is-a-composite-photo-and-how-to-create-one/

What is composite photography?: https://www.shuttertalk.com/composite-images/

and

https://www.pagecloud.com/blog/composite-photography

Layer masks basic intro: https://www.photoshopessentials.com/basics/understanding-photoshop-layer-masks/ 

Double exposure effect: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMjl1HLxITE&t=29s 

Examples/Ideas

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/search/?text=composite%20photography

or Google "Composite photography ideas"

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

See more about how the OffShoot Weekly Flickr Theme works by clicking here.

Future weekly projects are:

14/05/2021 - Window Light

21/05/2021 - Night Photography

28/05/2021 - Frame within a Frame

Our next competition has as its theme 'Up Close and Personal'. You can use almost any lens to make close-up images. We very rarely look at everyday subjects up close but just get your camera up close to the subject use manual focus and suddenly a cup of coffee can be fascinating! 

Flowers, an aged piece of wood, electronic goods, insects in the garden, even a knife and fork, just about anything can become a subject for Up Close and Personal so you can interpret the theme as broadly as you like.

A Dropbox is set up for your images. Andrea Hunt from the Dublin Photography School will judge your images on 31st May. 

Please upload your entries before Monday 23rd May to:

https://www.dropbox.com/request/rcbi1oltkDnkOxIS4itv

Make sure to name your images in the following way Level - Membership number - Title

e.g. "L2 - 987 – The butterfly.jpg"

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.]

Theme: Low Key - Fender Stratocaster by John Brew

Lapwing by Deirdre Irwin

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

PHLEARN - How to Replace the Sky in a Photo with Photoshop

PiXimperfect - Create a Double Exposure in 74 Seconds with Photoshop

Another interesting video is Shoot for the Stars.

Irish Photographic Federation Web Site:

https://irishphoto.ie/

Congrats to all our members who contributed to the wonderful results at the recent Shield competition.

Most recent news and articles posted:

https://irishphoto.ie/news/

Distinction Sittings and Availability:

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