2nd May 2021

As it is a Bank Holiday Weekend this week's Newsletter will only cover the result of the 'Member's Photo of the Week' and a couple of important news items.

As we come out of lockdown we will be starting up outings again. See the Outings and What's On sections below for full details.

Last Monday we enjoyed an excellent presentation by Matt Emmet whose goal is to rediscover the forgotten worlds all around us. Matt presented his work under the title Architecture – Forgotten Heritage. 

Next Monday Night

This Monday is a Bank Holiday so we have no meeting. We hope you and all your family are having a great bank holiday weekend. However please note the EGM below on Tuesday.

EGM – Tuesday 4th May at 8 pm

You will already have received email notification of an EGM of OffShoot to take place on Tuesday 4th May at 8 pm to ratify the appointment of a new Competition Secretary. Katherine O’Boyle (proposed by Steve Crozier and seconded by Emily Gallagher) is the sole candidate for the position.

So please put the date in your diary as we are required by the constitution to put the appointment to a vote of members.

We should also note the thanks of us all to David Sisk for his excellent work as Competition Secretary, particularly during the difficult covid circumstances.

Accessing Video Recordings of Meetings

The Video of the 'Architecture - Forgotten Heritage' 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 log in to the website to see the content of this section of the site.

Every member has a log in 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!

Low Key

A low key image is one that contains predominantly dark tones and colours. Like high key images, low key photography conveys atmosphere and mood. But where a high-key image feels airy and light, a low-key one is usually dramatic and full of mystery.

• Subject – dark clothes
• Background – dark
• Lighting – minimal, from the back or side and on the part of the subject you want to highlight
• Expose for the highlights and let the shadow areas go dark (use spot metering)
• ISO – keep it low to avoid noise

Links

Intro to Low Key: https://www.iphotography.com/blog/low-key-photography/ 

Low Key for beginners: https://photography-for-beginners.com/blog/low-key-photography-a-beginner-guide

Low Key tips: https://thelenslounge.com/low-key-photography/

Another Low Key for beginners: https://www.lightstalking.com/low-key-photography/ 

Check Flickr or Google "low key images" for image ideas

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:

07/05/2021 - Composite

14/05/2021 - Window Light

21/05/2021 - Night Photography

28/05/2021 - Frame within a Frame

Happily with the lifting of national COVID restrictions we are resuming our Outings programme. We urge all members to keep to the national COVID protocols and at all times keep safe.

Please take note of the Outing & Events Protocol at the link below and we ask members to follow them for the full protection of all the members. We will update these as HSE & Government Guidelines change and the latest version can always be found at https://www.offshoot.ie/outing-event-protocols/.

We are asking members to pre-register for all outings. This is required so that we have accurate records of attendance should this be needed for contact tracing purposes.

The latest and most up to date list of events can be found at https://www.offshoot.ie/whats-on/. 

If you follow this link, click on the Outing you wish to attend and scroll down the event details you will find an option to register for the event.

We hope to see many of our members over the late Spring / Summer at either the Outings or Virtual Meetings.

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

A maximum number of 2 images are allowed per member.

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: Lightpainting by Liz Roulston

Dying Tulips by Mike Smith

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/