OffShoot Photography Society We believe that the image is everything!

3rd October 2020

News

Support Your Committee.

Our AGM is approaching on the 7th December. We are therefore calling for members  to join our committee.  Some existing committee members have reached the limit of the time they can spend on the committee, others may be able to rotate certain roles. Regardless, we always need new blood within a committee to keep the vitality required, especially in the current climate.  There are a variety of roles available or other roles who need support. If interested, please contact any of the existing committee (see the committee section on this page https://www.offshoot.ie/about-us/ ) or send an email to committee@offshoot.ie if you have any queries or to express an interest. The rules for how our committee is formed are in our constitution (link).  

 

Shoot-With-Me News

It’s great to hear that several of the Autumn  SWM groups are under way.  Well done to all involved.  

These are anxious times still and they create additional challenges for our facilitators.    Groups must observe Government or HSE guidelines and our club protocols.   Each participating club member should feel comfortable with his/her own personal safety arrangements.

We will once again be presenting our SWM Showcase over Zoom.   In order to give members the opportunity for a realistic input it has been necessary to limit the number of participants to about 50.    As a consequence, the majority of the groups taking part will be those that found it impossible to complete the SWM Spring programme earlier this year due to Covid restrictions.   Unfortunately, this time,  it has not been possible to invite further participation from club members.   The SWM programme will be reviewed early in 2021 at which time we hope to have a clearer picture of the year ahead and we plan to maximize participation in the programme accordingly.

Members seeking further information should contact George at balmer.george@gmail.com.  

 

FIAP Salons.

Our complements to Joe Doyle who, last Monday night,  provided an insight into the workings of FIAP Salons as well as sharing a selection of his super images to demonstrate various aspects as to how FIAP Salons work. This is therefore another avenue by which some members may wish to expand horizons, get to participate in events where they are exposed to high quality images within a community keen to improve existing skills and seek inspiration and ideas to explore their hobby further.

Nature Critique Next Monday Night.

Robbie O'Leary has assembled a panel of members to critique Nature Images submitted over the last few weeks.  We received requests for more critique sessions, so we look forward to viewing images from our members on the subject of Nature as well as constructive critique, which can inspire us to try a different genre, expand our ability to understand what goes into making a good image and pick up tips, tricks and ideas to continuously improve.

 

Call for Submissions of Images for the IPF National Shield 2020

Deadline for Submission: 20th October

Submission Link: https://www.dropbox.com/request/4T4qTv9gx5fK9VRd4GAL

What is the National Shield?

The IPF National Shield is an annual inter-club competition which is open to all clubs who are affiliated to the IPF.  The competition is designed to cater for members of Photography Clubs who are just beginning their photography journey, so advanced photographers are specifically excluded.

We won this competition last year, so we have a responsibility to maintain the standard of our entry going forward.

Who Can Enter?

It is easier to describe who cannot enter. The following are excluded:

  • If you have won a prize or a medal in an IPF competition. (If you have won one you will know). You can win our internal OffShoot competitions or any other (non-IPF) external competitions but still be able to enter the Shield. Participation in last years entry is not a barrier as that is not an individual prize or medal).
  • If you have achieved Associate Distinction (AIPF) or similar
  • If you have achieved a Fellowship Distinction (FIPF) or similar.

The IPF also stipulate ‘’anyone whose club considers him or her to be of an advanced standard in any discipline of photography’’ should be excluded from entering.

Any other fully paid-up member of OffShoot can submit images for selection.  So, if even if you have an IPF Licentiate Certification (LIPF) you can submit images.   Each club will select the best 8 mono and 8 colour images from their eligible members to form two panels.  You can enter images which you have entered in our club competitions or activities, even if you have won or been placed in our own competitions.

To promote entries from photographers at an earlier stage of their development, we are limited to just 2 images per panel from LIPF qualified members. This complicates the selection process for the selection committee but does not limit in any way LIPF holders from entering as many images as the club rules allow.

Call For Images

We are looking for entries from our members.  Please forward your best mono and colour images to this link above. A maximum of 5 colour and 5 mono is allowed per entrant. The images should be in jpg format, with approx. 2000 pixels on the long side and named as follows. 

999_MyPictureTitle.jpg    

Replace 999 with your membership number.  Please do not use your own name as part of the title, as the selection committee needs to review the images anonymously. Please do not use punctuation such as commas, apostrophes or strange characters. Please avoid using spaces. You can use a Capital letter to identify the beginning of a Word (eg My Picture Title becomes MyPictureTitle).

[Please, please, please rename your images as per this format. Not doing so adds massively to the administration of our entry]

We will form a selection committee and shortlist of contenders to represent the club.

We will later seek full resolution images for the shortlisted entries to select our Mono and Colour entry panels.  While we won the overall competition last year, our Mono images were a long way behind the quality of our Colour images, so we ask our members to make an extra special effort submitting Mono images.

To simplify the process,  images can be uploaded to the link https://www.dropbox.com/request/4T4qTv9gx5fK9VRd4GAL.

The photographer retains full copyright.

Why Should I Enter?

  • An opportunity to represent your club.
  • As a club, we have a track record of success in this competition. The more images we receive from our members the higher the quality of entry.
  • The IPF uses these competitions to select entries for other international competitions. It might be you.

Weekly Flickr Theme: People

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.

Our Flickr group photostream distinctly lacks people photos, so our goal this week is to change that! Here are a few tips to help you on your way:

1. Depth of field: For portraits, a shallow depth of field (f2.8-f5.6) is very effective to isolate the subject and reduce distractions in the background.

2. For an environmental portrait or street scene, the background/environment is important and so an aperture of f8-f11 works well.

3. For groups of people, e.g. a family group, f8 should ensure that everyone is in focus.

Light is another important element. If you are shooting indoors, make good use of natural window light. North facing windows tend to result in the softest, most diffuse light. How close you place your subject to the window, and at what angle, will significantly impact your image. Expose so that the highlights are not blown out. Perhaps turn off the indoor lights and use a window to the side to give you dramatic result with beautifully soft deep shadows. Alternatively, you may wish to use a flash. If you can, bounce the light from the flash off a roof or wall before it hits the subject. Or use a softbox or umbrella to soften flash/strobe light.

Finally, the eyes are very important. Make sure that your subject’s eyes are sharp.

Here is some inspiration for you:

National Geographic Portrait Photography Tips

Irving Penn

Wisdom by Andrew Zuckerman  

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)

09/10/2020 Bridges

16/10/2020 Autumn colours

23/10/2020 Sunrise/Sunset

30/10/2020 Recreate a painting

06/11/2020 Emotions - happiness/pride/anger/…..

13/11/2020 Night - eg 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

What's On

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/.

Member's Photo of the Week

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.]

Fruit and Veg by Hilda McInerney

Misty Morning by Richard Boyle

From the OffShoot Website
Club Outing – War Memorial Gardens
Well, it was definitely thanks to Google Maps that we found our way to the War Memorial Gardens yesterday for our outing, so if anyone is going themselves we’d advise…
Read more...
Club Outing - Glasnevin National Botanic Gardens
On Saturday 5th September 10 members arrived for our outing, we were greeted with a great array of colour, plant species and cultivars. The gardens were an oasis of calm…
Read more...
Interesting Video

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

PHLEARN: How to Create Skin Texture from Scratch in Photoshop

PiXimperfect: Turn EXTREME BLACK into White with Photoshop!

 

Club Competitions

Complements to David Sisk for completing the judging phase of our most recent competition. He has circulated a note to all members with details.  The judging has been captured and is available at this link.

 

 

Details for the next competition will follow soon.

IPF Links & Events

 

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/

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