Recent meetings log
Adderbury, Deddington & Dist Photographic Society
JANUARY 2012. At this month's meeting, Roger Crocombe LRPS gave an inter-active presentation entitled 'From brief to image.' Explaining that the taking of an exhibition photograph was the end result of significant preparation, Roger discussed his approach for achieving the quality photographs needed his accreditation to the Royal Photographic Society. He outlined a typical work flow starting from a conceptual image, and considered the various scenarios and choices that have to be made in the preliminary planning, before taking the actual photographs. Then finally, Roger reviewed the criteria for selection of the chosen photograph and how its quality may be optimised by the choice of paper and printing technique. He then divided his audience into small working groups, asked each group to develop the concept for an imaginary photo-shoot, and encouraged the groups through a work cycle to arrive at a finished photograph. Although theoretical, this approach revealed the aspects that have to be considered in a very practical way, giving members an appreciation of what is involved in the production of a quality photograph.
DECEMBER 2011 - This month, Tonya Fitz-Johnson of the Thames Valley Police gave a presentation on 'Police photography' to the Society's largest audience of the year - 44 members and visitors. Introducing the subject, Tonya stated her responsibility was the Forensic Investigation Unit in the TVP and, although a photographer by inclination, there was little opportunity to practice her skills within this work environment as the photographic and other work was undertaken by trained 'Scene of Crime' officers. Her role was the detailed examination and analysis of evidence recovered, and the subsequent preparation and presentation of evidence deemed as acceptable to the Crown Prosecution Service.
Tonya explained that the scope of the technical and forensic work undertaken by the Unit was very broad, ranging from DNA, fingerprints, shoeprints and firearms through to X-rays, infra red, chemical treatments, electronic equipment analyses, CCTV and imaging. After showing examples in each category, she concentrated on the Unit's photographic work and showed a typical SOC camera set-up. This enables a 360 degree photograph to be made in both the horizontal and vertical planes, using stitching software, to produce a completely spherical image of the crime scene. She also described another computerised and more sophisticated SOC camera, in which points of interest can be identified and stored on the spherical image. By clicking on a relevant point in the image, pre-prepared records of such things as bullet hole details, crime scene notes and film clips can be down-loaded to the computer screen. Additionally, by measuring a single distance between two objects, the entire image can be
determined by simply clicking on those objects in the image - effectively creating a virtual reality crime scene.
Tonya concluded her presentation by discussing 'image mannequin' techniques, whereby a three dimensional sectioned image is prepared of a corpse on which injuries are electronically superimposed. This avoids the need for unpleasant photographs to be shown in Court during prosecution proceedings. Tonya then finished by inviting questions from the audience and, such was the interest, the Chairman had to intervene after 45 minutes to allow her to depart. A fascinating and most interesting presentation, containing an immense amount of detail, that was much appreciated by all presen
NOVEMBER 2011 - There were two events in November. The first was a presentation by David McGill entitled 'The photographers workflow - processing of images.' Introducing his subject, David explained that he started work as a commercial photographer in 1990 following an earlier decision on a career change. Initially this involved working as a member of the 'paparazzi' in London, photographing celebrities and other newsworthy events, and selling his work through an agency. However, after gaining confidence in his abilities, David moved away from London in 2000 and based himself at Hook Norton where he began to specialise in photographs for the picture libraries used by editors of magazines, books, calendars, greeting cards etc. He now sees himself pr-eminently as a photographer of a wide variety of eclectic subjects in Oxfordshire and the surrounding counties. Following this introduction, David showed examples of his work that ranged from the early 1990's through to the present day. As a photographer generating an enormous number of images, a major problem is the cataloguing of images to allow retrieval by relevant subject matter, and David gave a practical demonstration of how he achieved this using Adobe Bridge software and metadata/keywords. David then described his techniques for the subsequent processing of images, demonstrating how he used Photoshop software to enhance his photographs, and also discussed the printing possibilities of sepia and other tinted monochrome photographs for the art-based marketplace. Overall a most interesting inter-active presentation, given candidly by an experienced commercial photographer, that was greatly appreciated by his audience. For the second event in November, Simon Lutter gave the third in his series of Workshops on camera controls and creativity in taking photographs. The subject this time being 'Exposure modes' and its effects on metering and programmed controls.
OCTOBER 2011 - There were several events in September. The first was the 5th annual Exhibition of member's work, that took place in the Adderbury Institute over the weekend of 1 and 2 October, and which was well-attended by both villagers and people who just happened to be passing by. Then on Club Night, Chairman Philip Rigby LRPS gave a personal presentation entitled 'Lightroom and a photograph from start to finish.' Introducing the subject, Philip explained that Adobe Lightroom is his preferred software program for the workflow control of his photographs. He gave a practical demonstration of the software, starting with the cataloguing of images - a considerable task, as he has many thousands of photographs to store, index and retrieve. After selecting a photograph and dragging it to the active window, Philip showed how this image could be developed and improved using the various tools available within the program, such as the balance histogram, angle leveller, graduated filter, curves profiling, white balance adjustment etc. Finally, he showed the various options available during the printing process. An absorbing and inter-active presentation, that was much appreciated by his audience. Subsequently, in the middle of the month, Simon Lutter gave another in his series of Workshops on camera controls and creativity in taking photographs. The subject being 'Aperture' and its importance in photography. In addition, two further events also took place during the month. One was the annual exhibition of member's photographs at the Parish Church, Deddington, which reflected the earlier exhibition at Adderbury. The other was a selection of member's work that, by invitation, was displayed as part of the annual Craft Fair at Kings Sutton. Overall a rather busy month for members.
DECEMBER 2011 - This month, Tonya Fitz-Johnson of the Thames Valley Police gave a presentation on 'Police photography' to the Society's largest audience of the year - 44 members and visitors. Introducing the subject, Tonya stated her responsibility was the Forensic Investigation Unit in the TVP and, although a photographer by inclination, there was little opportunity to practice her skills within this work environment as the photographic and other work was undertaken by trained 'Scene of Crime' officers. Her role was the detailed examination and analysis of evidence recovered, and the subsequent preparation and presentation of evidence deemed as acceptable to the Crown Prosecution Service.
Tonya explained that the scope of the technical and forensic work undertaken by the Unit was very broad, ranging from DNA, fingerprints, shoeprints and firearms through to X-rays, infra red, chemical treatments, electronic equipment analyses, CCTV and imaging. After showing examples in each category, she concentrated on the Unit's photographic work and showed a typical SOC camera set-up. This enables a 360 degree photograph to be made in both the horizontal and vertical planes, using stitching software, to produce a completely spherical image of the crime scene. She also described another computerised and more sophisticated SOC camera, in which points of interest can be identified and stored on the spherical image. By clicking on a relevant point in the image, pre-prepared records of such things as bullet hole details, crime scene notes and film clips can be down-loaded to the computer screen. Additionally, by measuring a single distance between two objects, the entire image can be
determined by simply clicking on those objects in the image - effectively creating a virtual reality crime scene.
Tonya concluded her presentation by discussing 'image mannequin' techniques, whereby a three dimensional sectioned image is prepared of a corpse on which injuries are electronically superimposed. This avoids the need for unpleasant photographs to be shown in Court during prosecution proceedings. Tonya then finished by inviting questions from the audience and, such was the interest, the Chairman had to intervene after 45 minutes to allow her to depart. A fascinating and most interesting presentation, containing an immense amount of detail, that was much appreciated by all presen
NOVEMBER 2011 - There were two events in November. The first was a presentation by David McGill entitled 'The photographers workflow - processing of images.' Introducing his subject, David explained that he started work as a commercial photographer in 1990 following an earlier decision on a career change. Initially this involved working as a member of the 'paparazzi' in London, photographing celebrities and other newsworthy events, and selling his work through an agency. However, after gaining confidence in his abilities, David moved away from London in 2000 and based himself at Hook Norton where he began to specialise in photographs for the picture libraries used by editors of magazines, books, calendars, greeting cards etc. He now sees himself pr-eminently as a photographer of a wide variety of eclectic subjects in Oxfordshire and the surrounding counties. Following this introduction, David showed examples of his work that ranged from the early 1990's through to the present day. As a photographer generating an enormous number of images, a major problem is the cataloguing of images to allow retrieval by relevant subject matter, and David gave a practical demonstration of how he achieved this using Adobe Bridge software and metadata/keywords. David then described his techniques for the subsequent processing of images, demonstrating how he used Photoshop software to enhance his photographs, and also discussed the printing possibilities of sepia and other tinted monochrome photographs for the art-based marketplace. Overall a most interesting inter-active presentation, given candidly by an experienced commercial photographer, that was greatly appreciated by his audience. For the second event in November, Simon Lutter gave the third in his series of Workshops on camera controls and creativity in taking photographs. The subject this time being 'Exposure modes' and its effects on metering and programmed controls.
OCTOBER 2011 - There were several events in September. The first was the 5th annual Exhibition of member's work, that took place in the Adderbury Institute over the weekend of 1 and 2 October, and which was well-attended by both villagers and people who just happened to be passing by. Then on Club Night, Chairman Philip Rigby LRPS gave a personal presentation entitled 'Lightroom and a photograph from start to finish.' Introducing the subject, Philip explained that Adobe Lightroom is his preferred software program for the workflow control of his photographs. He gave a practical demonstration of the software, starting with the cataloguing of images - a considerable task, as he has many thousands of photographs to store, index and retrieve. After selecting a photograph and dragging it to the active window, Philip showed how this image could be developed and improved using the various tools available within the program, such as the balance histogram, angle leveller, graduated filter, curves profiling, white balance adjustment etc. Finally, he showed the various options available during the printing process. An absorbing and inter-active presentation, that was much appreciated by his audience. Subsequently, in the middle of the month, Simon Lutter gave another in his series of Workshops on camera controls and creativity in taking photographs. The subject being 'Aperture' and its importance in photography. In addition, two further events also took place during the month. One was the annual exhibition of member's photographs at the Parish Church, Deddington, which reflected the earlier exhibition at Adderbury. The other was a selection of member's work that, by invitation, was displayed as part of the annual Craft Fair at Kings Sutton. Overall a rather busy month for members.