Ravenshead

Photography For Fun

Group LeadersTerry Moore and Judith Moore
Meets 1st Wednesday 1.30-3.30pm in the Brammer Room of the Village Hall
Group Full? NoActive Yes

- Photography for Fun is a wonderful way to express your creativity and capture beautiful moments!
- You don't need expensive equipment or professional skills to enjoy photography. All you need is a camera (or a smartphone) and a sense of curiosity.
- There are many types of photography you can try, such as landscape, portrait, wildlife, macro, street, and more. Each one has its own challenges and rewards.
- You can also experiment with different settings, angles, lighting, and editing to create your own style and mood.
- Photography for Fun can also help you relax, learn new things, meet new people, and explore new places. It's a wonderful hobby that can enrich your life! Why not join us?
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To see up to date information about meetings click on the Calendar link here!
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Themes for 2023 – 2024
These are the themes we will be tackling from September to July next year:

PFF Photography themes 2023 – 2024
September 2023 3 viewpoints
October 2023 Black and White / A pop of colour
November 2023 Faces
December 2023 Beautiful Blur
January NO MEETING
February 2024 Capture the Night
March 2024 Patterns
April 2024 No meeting but Visit to Felley Priory
May 2024 Macro Magic + Felly Priory shots as a slideshow
June 2024 Sports
July 2024 Seasons
August NO MEETING

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Reviews of recent meetings:
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Review of the Ru3a Photography for Fun meeting 7th February 2024

We had a good number at our meeting on Wednesday with only a few absent or ill.

Visit to Felley Priory Gardens

The plans for our visit were decided first. We will cancel the meeting in April for the Brammer room and instead go to Felley on the same date, Wednesday April 3rd. We will meet at 12.30 pm in the Village Hall Car Park to sort out car sharing, unless you need to go independently in order to get back early. We anticipate being able to arrive around 1.00 pm and have a couple of hours if needed to take photos, finishing in the café about 3.00 pm (or earlier if desired!) as it closes at 4.00 pm. Alternatively you could do it the other way round of course! There is a charge of £6.50 to enter the gardens unless you are a member. Finalised details to be confirmed at our next meeting.

10 Minute Talk: Andy

Andy had prepared a talk for us outlining the basics of the development of photography, starting with a pin hole camera and how it worked and relating it to how all cameras have worked in principle since! The addition of lenses was explained along with terms we now all use such as ISO, aperture and shutter speed. An understanding these elements are still the basic requirements for all photography, no matter what camera or phone you use! Well done Andy and thanks. Judith and I are keen that you get involved in the sessions so if you fancy sorting out a 10 minute talk yourself on any Photo related subject (no matter how loosely) then get in touch.

Photos sent in: Theme: Night time

We had quite a few to look at, although some members had found the rainy and cold weather a bit off-putting! Nevertheless, some interesting shots were seen with contributions from Andrew T, Andy B, Heather, Charles, Judith, Maureen and Terry, which gave us plenty to talk about! I’ll create a PDF of some of these and add it to the website later on.

Every Photo Tells a Story: Heather

A different slant on this idea from Heather this week who had been exploring the photographs of Sir Don McCullin. You can read more about him on Wikipedia here: Don McCullin - Wikipedia. Heather explained his background as a photojournalist and showed some of his well-known photos such as “The Guvnors” a well know London gang who Don had gained trust from. The publication of this photo in the paper set him on his journey of success. This is another way to get involved! Can you contribute to this section? Do some research and have a go!

Shots of The Month

Elizabeth had managed to capture shots of some rare ‘rainbow clouds’ over Ravenshead and there were also more sunset or sunrise shots too. Maureen had been photographing Waxwings and a Great spotted Woodpecker in her garden. Mandarin Ducks on Ice were shown by Heather, a good shot in difficult circumstances. Well done to all.

NEXT MONTHS THEME: Patterns

We viewed a couple of videos and many examples of how patterns can be used in photography. The slide show is attached to this email as a pdf and the video links are here:

CREATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS & TRICKS - Seeing And Using Patterns (youtube.com)

Composition Pattern: You Keep Shooting with Bryan Peterson (youtube.com)

Have a look again at these before you start to take your shots this month. You can find suitable subjects inside your house, in your garden or further afield! Try and think about what will make the photo interesting rather than just taking a photo of a pattern. Compositional techniques such as a pattern disturbed by a focal point was one of the ideas from the videos as well as mixing natural and artificial subjects. Don’t forget to consider the rule of thirds or the use of diagonals and leading lines and other things to help make the picture stronger. Best of luck!

We hope to see you all on Wednesday 6th March 2024 1.30 pm Brammer room.

Terry and Judith
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Review PFF WED December 6th 2023 Theme: Beautiful Blur!

Judith welcomed members to the meeting and collected a £10 sub per person for the room hire next year. There were a few recorded absences and others that were missing without anyone’s knowledge. Let me know if you are unable to come to the meeting in February, please.

Photos sent in. Theme: Beautiful Blur
We started by looking at photos that members had sent in to view on the theme of Beautiful Blur. There was a variety of types of blur being used in the photographs many of which we highlighted as possible at our previous meeting in November. There were good examples of background blur where the subject really stands out as well as various ICM shots that produced interesting effects and a couple of ‘motion bLur’. Well done to all those that had a go.
Heather showed us a photo taken in camera that uses a ‘double exposure’ mode. “Double exposure photography is a technique that involves layering two different exposures or images on top of each other to create a single image. The overlaid image is less than full opacity, so a bit of both images can be seen, producing an almost ghost-like image.” This is exactly what we saw from Heather. I checked my camera, and it is too old to have that feature, but yours might. If so, give it a go!

Visit to Felly Priory
Elizabeth showed us some of her own photos taken at Felley Priory at various seasons during the year. This gave us a good idea what the visit might entail for us, and we all thought it would be worthwhile. The date and time will be confirmed once we know dates of opening for some of the key events so this will be discussed further at our meeting in February.

Every Picture Tells a story.
We viewed a photo of a mural taken by Charles on holiday whilst at Invergordon. Entitled “Our Legacy”, it showed environmental issues in the locality and had a strong message: “Take nothing … but pictures.” “Leave nothing… but footprints.” “Kill nothing… but time.” Charles also explained some of the history behind the mural and its making.

Judith also showed us some photos and a video about photographer Elliott Erwitt. He had an interesting approach where he took sequences of photos, a bit like a story board, sometimes with an amusing finale. If you missed the meeting, watch the video here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/magazine-17295728

Maybe some of you can come up with some sequence photos of your own?

Shots of the Month
A robin, blue tit, and Tawney owl were seen (with good background blur) from Andrew, Maureen and Heather, whilst Andy showed a couple of lovely Landscapes from his recent holiday to New Zealand. Charles showed a nicely framed photo of a beach scene (with a bit of correction needed to straighten the horizon!) Thanks for sending them in.

Night time photography

The remainder of the session was spent looking at the possibilities for Night Time photography. The presentation is attached to this email so please check it out. There are lots of possibilities such as ‘Light trails’, ‘Nightscapes’ and ‘Christmas Lights’ but read the presentation to get the full options and tips. Also attached is a more complex Action Card for those with more experience to follow. Geared for DSLR/Mirrorless cameras particularly using Manual mode. Give it a try!

Helpful tutorial pages are here:
The Ultimate Guide to Night Photography (digital-photography-school.com)
Light Trail Photography: A Beginner’s Guide (+ Examples) (digital-photography-school.com)

And the final video link is here:
How to Photograph Christmas Lights! (part 1) (youtube.com)

There are many more videos and tips on Night Photography on the web so explore yourself to get them.

Finally.
We hope to see you all on Wednesday February 7th 2024 1.30 pm Brammer Room to view your Night Time Photography shots. Hopefully you will all have time to ‘have a go’!
In the meantime Judith and I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and look forward to seeing you in February.

Judith and Terry

SEE THE GLASSSLIDESHOW/VIDEO below:

"GLASS" themed photos by our members.

 

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Antiques Armchair Travellers
Belly Dancing Book Reading
Canasta Chair Yoga
Chess and backgammon Cinema and Theatre Visits
Country and Folk Dancing Craft Group
Creative Writing Cryptic Crossword
Dog Friends Family History
Food and Cookery French Conversation
Garden Group Guitar
Hikers (5 - 8 miles) Holiday Spanish
Knitting and Crochet Latin
Local History Mah Jong
Meet and Eat Pétanque
Photography For Fun Pickleball
Salsa Science and Technology
Scrabble Cribbage Rummikub Sprich mal Deutsch
Table Tennis The Weekenders
Thursday Walking Group Topical Discussion Group
Weekenders Sunday Lunch Wine Groups
Writing for Fun! Yoga