President’s Report

October Fun, friendship and Learning

OFFICE BEARERS President: Trevor Faulkes Vice President: Gail Douglas Secretary: John Van Rijswijk Treasurer: John Van Rijswijk Publicity: Narelle Howard Events Organiser: Narelle Howard Shutterbug: Gail Douglas Public Officer: John Van Rijswijk Supper: Moya Van Rijswijk

Buy, Swap, Sell

Presidents monthly report Hi everyone, Larry Wordsworth judged the match between Young and Wall Heath England and I am delighted the report that Young were the winners this year. It was very close. Only three points in it. Many thanks to all who sent in images. WDACC is only a few days away so you are going to enter the print competition you only have short time to prepare you photo. Entries will be taken on the day All the details can be found on the Club Website, the event will I am sure will be worth attending so please come along and meet up with like minded photographers.

Cheers Trevor

Next meeting is the 13th Sept. August subject/challenge is— Agriculture/plants. Colour Just a note. Can members please bring a prize for the club night raffle (under $10.00).

UPCOMING EVENTS Western Districts. ______________________________________________

A GRADE – Open A GRADE – Subject—Portrait JUNIORS— Open JUNIORS – Subject— LARGE PRINT No results this month Please note the change in the club competition: B Grade will be suspended. A Grade only subject/challenge and open class. Meta Data to written on back of photo. Junior and large print remain unchanged. Subject/challenge to be announced at previous meeting and included in Shut-terbug. All photos must be taken within one month of comp. Photos must be sole work of entrant. Member must present photo in person or via a sibling only. Monthly comp to be judged/critiqued by guest presenter. Print sizes and presentation to remain unchanged.

Results —Camera Club Comp

Four Ways to Generate Stunning Bokeh in Your Images A Post By: Jaymes Dempsey

Bokeh refers to the blur in the background of an image, and for photographers, stunning bokeh is like gold. We want it, struggle for it, need it. Yet how do you generate stunning bokeh consistently?

Fortunately, there a few simple ways to create high-quality background bokeh.

In this article, you’ll find four ways that will enhance your abil-ity to produce pleasing bokeh, and therefore increase your photographic versatility and skill.

I’ll first discuss techniques such as increasing the subject to background distance and shooting wide opened. Then I’ll ex-plain bokeh-enhancing situations such as backlighting. You’ll finish with the knowledge to creatively generate stunning bo-keh in your own images.

What is pleasing bokeh? A quick word on great bokeh: In general, bokeh simply refers to the background blur generated by a lens. However, there are two types of bokeh that I’m going to focus on here.

The first is what I will call geometric bokeh. Geometric bokeh is out of focus highlights that actually take on a geometric shape. This particular shape depends on the nature of the lens, but circles, hexagons, heptagons, and octagons are all fairly common.

When properly utilized, this type of bokeh can add an impressive edge to your images. The lights in the background of this image produce geometric bokeh.

I will refer to the second type of bokeh as creamy bokeh. This is the smooth, out-of-focus look that photographers often strive to achieve.

This daisy image has very creamy bokeh.

Both types of bokeh can be generated, but require slightly different methods. Let’s take a look at each.

Four Ways to Generate Stunning Bokeh in Your Images (Cont)

1. Shoot wide opened This is really the bread and butter of creating stunning bokeh. Regardless of whether you want geometric or creamy bokeh, shooting wide open (that is, with an aperture in the f/1.2-2.8 range) will greatly increase your chances of achieving it.

I will focus on creamy bokeh here. A wide aperture assisted me in producing a really creamy bokeh background.

If you stop down your lens so that the depth of field is far less shallow, you’ll find that you lose the possibility of nice, creamy backgrounds.

This is because a larger depth of field means that the background is rendered less blurry. To generate the creamiest bokeh, you want to blur the background as much as possible. It’s as simple as that.

To generate better creamy bokeh, widen your aperture to decrease the depth of field. Only then will you start to achieve that beautiful, creamy look and stunning bokeh. 2. Maintain a good subject to background distance Another essential aspect of producing pleasing bokeh is keeping a good distance between the subject and background. As in the first tip, this applies to both creamy and geometric bokeh, but I’m going to focus on creamy bokeh here.

When I talk about the subject to background distance, I’m referring to the distance between the elements of the photo-graph that are in focus—your subject—and the elements of the photograph that are out of focus, i.e. your background.

Why does having a good distance between the subject and background enhance the quality of creamy bokeh?

It has to do with the depth of field. A greater distance between the sub-ject and background means that the depth of field (the area that is sharp within the image) ends far before the background. The back-ground is then rendered in the form of a lovely blur, rather than as a more in-focus mess.

So in order to increase the creaminess of the bokeh, increase the dis-tance between your subject and your background.

3. Find bright highlights behind the subject I’ve talked a bit about generating creamy bokeh, now it’s time to turn briefly to geometric bokeh.

Impressive geometric bokeh is created by highlights. One way to get strong geometric bokeh is to look for bright lights in the background.

Four Ways to Generate Stunning Bokeh in Your Images (Cont)

The water behind this flower was reflecting the setting sun.

You can achieve this in a few ways. For instance, you might look for objects that filter sunlight, such as leaves. They break up the rays of the sun and turns them into small pin-pricks of light that then become impressive geometric bokeh.

You can also look for elements that reflect light. Water is a great option. Another is water droplets. Areas that are wet with morning dew can generate beautiful bokeh when placed behind the subject.

Third, you might search for small light sources in the background. Car lights, street lamps, or Christmas lights all work well, especially when shooting after sun-set.

Fourth, if you really want to create bokeh but are struggling to find the proper conditions, you can create them yourself. Bring a string of fairy lights with you when you’re shooting, and place them behind the subject.

I used fairy lights to create the geometric bokeh in this image.

Geometric bokeh is not all that common in photographs, but can be fairly easily pro-duced. Just follow the tips discussed above! 4. Put the subject in the shade, with a bright background This method of generating stunning bokeh is unique, in that it can produce amazing creamy bokeh when used one way, and amazing geometric bokeh when reversed.

Both ways involve making sure that your subject is in the shade. Both methods also involve having a bright background. Ide-ally, you should be shooting in the early morning or late evening when the sun is low in the sky.

Four Ways to Generate Stunning Bokeh in Your Images (Cont)

Where the techniques diverge is in the placement of the sun.

If you shoot with strong front lighting—that is, if the sun comes from behind you, over your shoulder—position your subject so that beautiful golden light spills onto the background behind your subject (while your subject remains shaded).

Then that golden light will often render the background similarly golden, and you’ll find that your bokeh becomes wonderful and creamy.

If you shoot with strong backlighting—that is, if the sun comes from behind your subject—position the subject so that the sun must go through trees, leaves, branches, or grasses. As mentioned above, this creates bright highlights behind the subject.

These are then blown into beautiful geometric bokeh.

Feel free to experiment. Try to vary the amount of shade on your subject, moving from complete shade to direct backlighting.

This flower was more directly backlit.

Whether you choose to shoot with front lighting or backlighting, by placing your subject in the shade and working during the “golden hours” of sunrise and sunset, you’ll generate beautiful bokeh. Conclusion

While photographers often struggle to create beautiful bokeh, it doesn’t have to be hard. By shooting with a wide aperture, using a large subject to background distance, by positioning the subject so that bright highlights exist behind it, and by using special types of lighting, you can begin producing images with stunning bokeh.

Tips for Taking Better Pictures from a Moving Vehicle

A Post By: Hannele Luhtasela-el Showk

Have you ever been stuck in a car or a bus and seen all this great photographic potential passing you by? Fantastic land-scapes, funny signs, unusual animals, and stunning compositions seem to always appear when I’m stuck in the passenger seat of a car. It’s frustrating, especially if the car can’t stop to let you capture the view. A fantastically colourful landscape by the highway in the Atlas mountains of Morocco.

The Challenge

For someone who actually doesn’t like the idea of just driving through an area and taking photos of it through the window (maybe because it feels so impersonal), I’ve done a surprising amount of it. Often because it’s a now-or-never situation; the view won’t be there later, or I won’t be returning in the near future.

Sometimes I’m on a highway and can’t stop, or there are so many photos I’d like to take that I feel bad asking the driver to stop over and over again. Also, taking photos from a car or bus can be great for people who have a hard time walking.

I couldn’t resist this view seen through a bus window in Iceland.

In a car, bus, or train, there are many contexts in which it’s inappropriate, difficult or impossible to take a photo. Fortunately, there are also many situations in which you don’t have to leave completely empty-handed. It is possible to take photos from a moving vehicle, but it takes a bit of knowledge and planning.

It’s a suboptimal situation but sometimes you just have to find a way to make the best of it. Most likely it’s better than not trying at all! In this article, I hope to give some tips to help make your trips more enjoyable and creative. Let’s begin! The amazing houses and views in the mountains of northern Morocco were difficult to resist, even though it was a bit tricky to compose well.

Tips for Taking Better Pictures from a Moving Vehicle (Cont)

When to try and when not to shoot Safety is paramount Even though trying is almost always better than not, there definitely are situations where you shouldn’t be taking photos from a moving vehicle. Remember that you’re sitting in a metal box moving through space at high speeds!

It goes without saying that you shouldn’t be doing any photography if you’re the driver. But as a passenger, you also need to be aware of how your photography may pose a danger to you or others. In short: think about safety.

Make sure you don’t block the driver’s line of sight or disturb them in some other way. Communicate with the driver and the other passengers. If you’re on a tour bus, don’t block other the passengers’ view through the window. A very old photo I took through a car window. There are clearly some issues in terms of sharpness and composition, but it’s still a lovely memory.

If you’re in a car and planning to open a window, make sure nothing can fly out and be aware that there might be branches or objects by the side of the road that can hit you or your camera. Also be aware of oncoming traffic, and don’t lean out! Only slow down if it won’t disrupt the flow of traffic and if you convince the driver to stop the car for a photo break, make sure it’s in a safe place. Is it worth it? Even if everything’s okay in terms of safety, there are a few other things to consider before you start photographing.

Can the car stop for a little while instead of you attempting to take pictures through the window? If not, can the window be opened? Is there enough light for photography? Will doing so mean that you’ll miss out on seeing and enjoying the view?

There may also be places where I wouldn’t recommend photographing through a window. Driving through a city or village pointing a telephoto lens at people could be considered a bit creepy.

Tips for Taking Better Pictures from a Moving Vehicle (Cont)

This is how you do it Enough of the don’ts and the warnings. It’s time to learn how to take great photos in this challenging situation. Expose right

Not surprisingly, the most challenging part of this kind of photography is dealing with movement. In a moving car, your sub-ject matter might swoop by at very high speeds.

In practical terms, this means using a shutter speed that can freeze that movement, finding an aperture that allows for enough depth of field, and choosing the ISO that makes all of that possible.

Here, the car was moving quite slowly so I got quite a sharp photo with a relatively wide angle. The dark and rainy weather made exposure a bit challenging, but it also made the sky much more dramatic.

The desired exposure depends a lot on what kind of a photograph you want. To get a sharp landscape photo from a moving vehicle, it’s im-portant to have a fast enough shutter speed.

How fast depends on how fast you’re moving, but faster is generally better. I would suggest using at least 1/400th, but preferably faster.

Be aware that the foreground is more likely to reveal signs of movement, whereas photographing something that’s further from the road is more likely to be successful. A photo with a lot of depth, taken from a moving car.

If we continue with the example of a landscape photo, it’s also important to have a large enough depth of field to get a sharp capture of the whole view. This means you’ll need to use a small aperture, preferably around f/8.0, also depending on the sweet spot of your lens.

If you have the chance, try different settings, but if you can only take one or two photos, aim for a small aperture. Again, this depends a lot on what kind of photograph you’re aiming for and light levels.

I was aiming for a sharp photo of these beautiful geological features rushing past the car in the Moroccan Atlas mountains.

Tips for Taking Better Pictures from a Moving Vehicle (Cont)

The last element of exposure, ISO, doesn’t make as much of a difference to this kind of photography as shutter speed and aperture do. ISO has the effect it always has, so the lower it is, the better.

Still, with modern DSLRs, using a higher ISO might be the key to allowing you to use the shutter speed and aperture you need while not adding a lot of noise. It was cloudy and rainy, but by aiming for silhouettes and a dark atmosphere, this industrial view turned out sharp enough.

Plan well It might seem difficult to plan in these situations, but there are usually some things that can help you create as good a pho-tograph as possible. Even before you take your photo you can observe the light levels outside, which can help you with ex-posure.

You may also be able to get a good composition by observing the landscape outside and imagine what it might look like be-hind that curve or beyond that next hill. You can also see when there will be power lines appearing in your photo. I find that one of the most annoying parts of this kind of photography is power lines. They always get in the way! Also, remember that this is one of those situations where taking a lot of photos is not a bad thing.

Really annoying power lines! Still, I decided that I wanted to document the aftermath of a pretty bad storm outside Rabat, Morocco.

Optimise To get as good a photo as possible, you should open the window to avoid unfortunate reflections or dirt in your photo. A closed window will also limit your movement and your options when it comes to composing.

There are many situations in which opening the window isn’t really a great idea, though. Remember that the most impor-tant thing is safety. If you can’t open the window, use the viewfinder and possibly a polarizing filter to try to avoid getting reflections and dirt in your photo. Conclusion Have you taken photos out of a car, bus, or train? I find the hardest part to be composing the photo.

What do you think? What benefits and challenges have you noticed? Do you have any tips for better photography on the road?