Sharp Focus October 2022

MESSAGE FROM THE VICE 

Greetings, everyone

Geoff is currently swamped, so I said I would step in and write a brief message, as there was something I wanted to  follow up on.

Two months ago when I was converting the winning images for the Website, I noticed that three of the winning images were 300 dpi, something I have often warned against, due to file size considerations.

First, let me tell you: I was wrong.

I have run some tests, and having the image at 300dpi does not increase the file size, as the image has exactly the same amount of information in it as a 72dpi equivalent (it would just print smaller). And while digital viewing typically restricts us to 72dpi, having a higher resolution does not affect the viewing quality of the image (unlike viewing, e.g. a 40dpi image on your 72dpi viewer).

However, what that DPI did tell me is that people were simply saving their images at print settings, which means more often than not they would end up with the wrong colour space, as web browsers and Irfanview render your photos as if sRGB, and so tones and colours would not render the way they looked in your editing software when you exported them.

I have spoken before about exporting for Web (from Photoshop), but allow me to run it by you once more. This is accessed by clicking file > Export > Save for Web (Legacy), or, if your fingers can bend like pretzels, simultaneously pressing alt + control + shift +’S’. If you look at the first image below (click to view large), this is the dialogue that pops up.

I have hi-lit several areas:

1. At the top, you need to select JPEG as your output (this will then be the default the next time you use this tool).
2. Leave the quality at 100 if the file size – which can be viewed on the bottom LHS below the image (2.097 meg in this example) – is low enough, else bring it down till that number is low enough for club submissions
3. tick the sRGB tick-box – again, you only need to do it once, after which it will be ticked by default.
4. When happy, click Save.

The second image below is of the LightRoom export dialogue, for those of you who only use LightRoom. I have highlit the part that says what the colour space is, and as you can see, I have selected it to be sRGB. Note, this does not neccessarily remain the default, so get in the habit of checking it each time you export.

See you soon at club!

Cheers
Peter

From your Editor’s desk

ANIMALS IN PHOTOGRAPHY

Animals are part of our world in one shape or form or another. Some we love and care for, some we’re terrified of, others see us hanging around a water hole waiting, waiting for that stunning shot. And those who have the time and patience produce international award-winning images to be proud of for the rest of their lives! And our patience, yours and mine, is sometimes rewarded, but quite often not.

Those of us, though, who can’t get closer to wild life than a dassie on the mountain, leap into animated, if not frenzied, action at the sight of a whale breaching in our bay. We rush off to Simon’s Town to find someone to take us to sea. The whale, of course, would be classified as wildlife photography, but who has a boat ready to roll at the drop of a whale or dolphin?

However, sometimes things with a special kind of magic happen to us, which we couldn’t have predicted! Believe it or not,  we have in our club a giraffe-smooching member – our lucky and deserving Coral Surtees! Yes, she who kissed a wild (??) giraffe and lived to tell the tale; the giraffe appears to be loving the interaction and ducking its head for more. Just look at the tenderness between those two living creatures.

Fascinating, and unlikely to be repeated any time soon. Savour those pics, Coral, hang one or two on your wall, framed and treasured.

Maureen

 

Winners of Image of the Month 

IMAGES BELOW: THE WINNERS OF THIS MONTH’S  IMAGE OF THE MONTH (September)  CONTEST – CLICK ON IMAGES TO SEE ALL AND VIEW DETAILS

 

Evaluation of Digital Photography
Digital Entries
Title	Category	Author	Star	Score	Award	Points
A prickly affair	Nature	Marielouise Cardwell	2	12	COM	4
Arrival of Autumn	Nature	Lynn Toms	3	8	Silver	2
Beauty and the beast	Scapes	Malcolm Watson	1	9	Gold	3
Besties	Wildlife	Dante Parisi	MB	11	Silver	2
Cloud over canola	Landscape	Maureen Miller	3	10	Gold	3
Colours and lights	Street	Peter Brandt	MB	11	Silver	2
Cycle tour rain	PJ	Mike Wesson	3	9	Silver	2
Deep in the forest	Open	Jane Bursey	3	11	Gold	3
Delicious pomegranate	Still Life	Ceridwyn Jamieson	3	11	Gold	3
Frozen	Wildlife	Lorne Sulcas	4	10	Silver	2
Golden Breasted Bunting	Wildlife	Dante Parisi	MB	12	Gold	3
Gorgeous kind of chaos	Open	Betzi Pierce	3	9	Silver	2
Having fun	Open	Ceridwyn Jamieson	3	9	Silver	2
Idiot stunt rider	Open	Lynn Toms	3	9	Silver	2
Last light	Nature	Didi Franklin	3	12	Gold	3
Lawrence tells a tale	Open	Greg Williams	1	10	Gold	3
Making friends	Open	Geoff Jamieson	4	9	Silver	2
My rock	Nature	John Douglas	3	10	Gold	3
Needs must	Street	Peter Brandt	MB	12	Gold	3
On your mark, set, go	Sport	Derek Goldman	3	10	Gold	3
Pizza chef	Open	Betzi Pierce	3	11	Gold	3
Racing away	Wildlife	Peter Franklin	3	11	Gold	3
Rare feast	Wildlife	Lorne Sulcas	4	11	Gold	3
Red sky Sea	Scape	John Douglas	3	10	Gold	3
Riders in rain	Sport	Mike Wesson	3	8	Silver	2
Storm on Etosha pan	Nature	Didi Franklin	3	12	Gold	3
Tale of the crocodile	Wildlife	Peter Franklin	3	11	Gold	3
The eyes have it	Open	Jane Bursey	3	11	Gold	3
The pied piper	Open	Greg Williams	1	11	COM	4
The viewpoint	Mono	Derek Goldman	3	12	Gold	3
Tide bird patterns	Abstract	Marian Shinn	1	10	Gold	3
Tiny Hesperantha	Macro	Malcolm Watson	1	9	Gold	3
Yacht Indaba cruising	PJ	Mike Wesson	3	11	Gold	3
Zand estuary cloudy am	Landscape	Marian Shinn	1	10	Gold	3

 

Winner of Theme Image of the Month

IMAGES BELOW: THE WINNER OF THIS MONTH’S THEME IMAGE OF THE MONTH (September) CONTEST – CLICK ON IMAGE TO EXPAND IT AND VIEW DETAILS

 

Evaluation of Theme Photography
Digital Entries
Title	Category	Author	Star	Score	Award	Points
A room with two views	Theme	Greg Williams	1	11	COM	4
A toxic meal	Theme	Marielouise Cardwell	2	10	Gold	3
Africa burns in UK heart	Theme	Peter Franklin	3	11	Gold	3
Asbestos danger removed	Theme	Geoff Jamieson	4	11	Gold	3
Daily grind reduce waste	Theme	Dante Parisi	MB	8	Silver	2
Elderly beggar	Theme	Peter Brandt	MB	11	Silver	2
Help on hand	Theme	Lynn Toms	3	12	Gold	3
Homes and homeless	Theme	Derek Goldman	3	11	Gold	3
Invasion of parking lot	Theme	Ceridwyn Jamieson	3	10	Gold	3
Mapuche protest plinth	Photojournalism	Marian Shinn	1	10	Gold	3
Monday is washing day	Theme	Betzi Pierce	3	9	Gold	3
Record temps hit UK	Theme	Didi Franklin	3	9	Silver	2
Sports media	Theme	Mike Wesson	3	11	Gold	3
Taking pets for a walk	Theme	Malcolm Watson	1	8	Gold	3
The Cheetahs’ arrival	Theme	Coral Surtees	4	10	Silver	2

 

Salons