27th March 2021

Last Monday we enjoyed three excellent presentations by members. Mary Hahn showed us how she produced a stunning Jelly Fish image, Joe Tully demonstrated the use of layers and masks in constructing his Covid Party photo (with little social distancing) while John Brew described how he shot his Prism Imagery.

Many thanks to all three for their efforts in putting together entertaining and informative sessions. 

Next Monday Night

Next Monday, we will have live judging of “The Natural World” club competition by Harry Wheeler-Brand in conversation with David Sisk.

IPF Club Competitions

We still have no dates for the IPF National Club or National Shield competitions. However, we would like to ask members to gather some possible images (colour and mono) from their existing catalogue of images (over any period of time) to be ready for the competitions when they are announced.

Please gather them in a folder or collection as lower resolution JPEGs – between 1600 and 2000 pixels on the long edge and maximum file size of 2MB.

Please exclude images previously used in any prior IPF competitions. We will let you know how to get them to us as soon as possible.

Exhibition

We miss the craic at Deansgrange Library and the display of images but we are working on having a virtual exhibition. Watch this space. 

Shoot With Me

Congratulations to all SWM groups. Everyone seems to be getting involved and making good progress with their various themes.  It’s still rather strange to be involved in a group project at a time when we are precluded from meeting and all the more thanks are due to our twelve leaders for making things happen under the current restrictions.

We are all looking forward to the Showcases on 10th and 17th May. 

As you can see, we are breaking from tradition this time in having two Showcase evenings. It was felt that each photographer deserves a little more time to speak and should be offered the chance to show two images in cases where this would help with the presentation of their work.

“Size matters” and in our situation, we believe that a single over-long showcase would neither provide our club members, nor those taking part in the SWM programme, with the best experience.  Consequently, we have decided to have two Showcase evenings which will be more enjoyable for all and can give our photographers’ work the recognition it deserves.

What do we all look like?

We have 1 new entry to the 'Meet our Members' page this week. (Please log in to the site to see the profiles that are Private.)

Please check out the page at https://www.offshoot.ie/our-members/.

We invite all that have not previously submitted an entry to complete the form at the bottom of the page and add your mug to the gallery. (If you choose to keep your details and image private it will require the members to be logged in to see them.)

Accessing Video Recordings of Meetings

The Video of the 'How they did it' talk is 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 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 log in and catch-up on speakers you missed. Happy catching up!

High Key Photography

High Key photos generally have a white/light background and a bright, evenly lit, shadow-free subject. They can be black and white or colour shots. Colour shots tend to use lighter toned colours.

Links

What is High key photography?

https://thelenslounge.com/what-is-high-key-photography/

The essentials:

https://www.iphotography.com/blog/high-key/ 

High key in natural light:

https://shutterstoppers.com/high-key-photography-natural-light

High key Macro Flowers:

https://www.jaymesdempsey.com/high-key-white-backgrounds-macro-photography/

High key colours:

https://www.sensationalcolor.com/high-key-low-key-colors/

Examples: 

https://www.photopoly.net/18-beautiful-bright-examples-of-high-key-photography/

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:

02/04/2021 - Spring / Easter

09/04/2021 - ICM Creative Blur

16/04/2021 - Mono

23/04/2021 - Light Painting

We will publish details of the next competition shortly.

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 - Where I Live: Local Green Grocery just opened up the road by Taryn Barling

Sandymount Reflection by Kevin Grace

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

PiXimperfect - I Applied Adobe's New "Super Resolution" 5 Times! Works?

PHLEARN: How To Convert a Low-Resolution Image To High-Resolution In Photoshop | Quick Tips!

The current Government Covid-19 Guidelines stipulate there must be 'no outdoor gatherings'. We are obliged, therefore, to suspend official outings for the immediate future.  Our priority is to protect the health of our membership.  Continuation of the Level 5 limitations look like lasting for some weeks/months yet and the social benefits of outings seem like a forgotten dream.

That doesn’t mean you can’t carry a camera with you on your stroll. It just means we can’t photograph together.

Ideas for personal photography outings while club outings are suspended

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

Garden Wildlife: You will be safely ‘cocooned’ and the birds will always visit if you leave some food out; goldfinches, the tit family, robins, sparrows, starlings etc.

Coastal images: The Dublin coastline offers endless possibilities: sunrise, sunset, seabirds, stormy conditions etc.

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

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

Spring Landscapes: Frost, budding trees, etc.

Indoors: Bokeh with your lights, still life, smoke, using a mirror, oil and water etc

Food photography: Everyone has some. Everyone on Facebook and Instagram takes millions of these pictures. However, it is not as easy as you think to get a great shot. Have a go! 

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/