10th April 2021

Last week we had a bank holiday with prospects of release from this dreadful plague. From 12th April the 5km travel limit will be relaxed so that people can travel around their county or within 20km of their residence if crossing county boundaries. Is this the beginning of the end or just the end of the beginning? 

On a more downbeat note, David Sisk has advised us that he wishes to resign from the committee as he is finding difficulty in giving the sufficient time needed. We have with deep regret accepted his resignation and we would like to pay tribute to his enthusiasm and contribution in the role of Competition Secretary. He will be a sad loss and we hope he will continue to offer us advice in the future. 

Next Monday Night

On Monday Robbie O’Leary and Joe Tulie will talk to us about basic editing and Layers and Masks. Photo editing and Layers and Masks are broad subjects and Robbie and Joe will only touch the surface of the subjects. Anyone who has used editing software will be aware that there are often a number of different ways of doing the same thing and this will be an introduction to two vital tools for post-processing. This is sure to be interesting for even the most advanced practitioner so come and join us; be educated and entertained.

IPF Club Competitions

As Barry Dillon has told you the National Club Championship competition will be held online in May this year. To compete, a club submits a panel of 10 monochrome digital images and a panel of 10 colour digital images. A maximum of two images from an individual may appear on a panel.

Deadline for Submission:  Sunday 18th April

Your images should be resized to 3,000 pixels on the longest edge, 300 PPI, jpg quality 10.

This is a prestigious competition in which OffShoot has done well so please send your best images Monochrome and Colour with your name and image title to the Dropbox address: https://www.dropbox.com/request/WDPjvJhVgZ1oUCWt8VaW

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

The Shoot With Me programme is progressing in the most difficult of times and members are toiling away at their chosen theme. We hope you are all enjoying the challenges in spite of the limitations of Covid. Oh to be together again!! 

We will see your images at showcases on the 10th and 17th May.

Learn With Me

In our survey, a number of members expressed an interest in learning more about the techniques of Landscape Photography. On the 29^th April at 7 pm Kevin Grace will give us the benefit of his considerable experience on how to produce a superb landscape image. No question will remain unanswered no matter how basic!

If you would like to partake of Kevin’s wisdom, please contact us at lwm@offshoot.ie. 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.

Congratulations

To Frank Kenny for his winning image in the Spring in St. Enda’s Photo competition and to Jimmy Freeley for his honourable mentions in the ST. Enda’s and Botanic Gardens competitions. Their success should be applauded and recognised. It is an inspiration to us all.

What do we all look like?

We have 0 new entries 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 'The Natural World' judging 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!

ICM - Intentional Camera Movement

This involves using a slow shutter speed and deliberately moving the camera. This causes blurred streaking which conveys the idea of movement or gives your image a dreamy moody look. Panning in sports photography blurs the background while keeping the sports person reasonably sharp. Zooming while shooting adds radial streaks to the image while shaking the camera results in photos that look like impressionist paintings.

Try with any lens and set f stop high to get slow shutter speed. Set shutter speed between 1/10th of a second to 4 or more seconds depending on how much you want to move your camera. Do slow movements give different results to fast movements? To get some ideas Google "ICM photography images" 

Links

How to use ICM: https://expertphotography.com/intentional-camera-movement/

Mastering ICM: https://www.apogeephoto.com/mastering-the-art-of-intentional-camera-movement/ 

Flickr group for ICM: https://www.flickr.com/groups/intenionalcameramovement/pool/page1 

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:

09/04/2021 - ICM Creative Blur

16/04/2021 - Mono

23/04/2021 - Light Painting

30/04/2021 - Low Key

07/05/2021 - Composite

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 - Spring/Easter: Marley Park 2021 by Jean Hartin

Paddling through the Darkness by Jerome Fennell

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

Mark Denney - Does It Matter HOW YOU EDIT Landscape Photos? Results may SHOCK you!

Zack Arias: Why You Aren’t Winning

An interesting article (related to the above video) to read by Thorsten Overgaard: The Story Behind That Picture: "How to Win Photo Competitions".

We are still, alas, under the Government Level 5 Covid-19 Guidelines even though things may be looking more optimistic. Our priority must be to protect the health of our members.  We are obliged, therefore, to suspend official outings for the immediate future.  Continuation of the Level 5 limitations looks 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! 

The Outings Committee will also distribute some suggested Seasonal Photography Outings for you.

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/