Sharp Focus March / April 2023

MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN

Greetings, everyone

In two weeks time Ceridwyn and I will be going on holiday to England for five weeks. Two weeks of that time will be spent with family, but the other three weeks we will be on our own, moving from B&B to B&B from the Lake District down the west coast of England and Wales. The decision I’m wrestling with is what lens to take. I can’t take all the lens I have as that would weigh more than my suitcase. So what lens or lenses should I take? Maybe just take the kit lens it’s very versatile and doesn’t weigh anything. But does it have the range I might need?  Well, what about my Canon 18-200 – its light and it is a great walk-about lens, it’s not too heavy – but again will it be sufficient for some of the long shots I know I will want to take. Well, what about the Tamron 18-400 it would give me the widest range of lens for any possible situation. But someone suggested it was too heavy to lug around England.

I’m starting to get a bit paranoid so I went on to YouTube for advice because that’s where the experts are. The first ‘expert’ suggested all I need was a ‘Nifty Fifty’ – Ceridwyn has one but I don’t – so it would mean spending more money which I just don’t have – not at R21 to the pound. So I went on to the next ‘expert’ and she suggested a Canon 24-70 as THE best lens – but that would set me back R20,000 – a lot more than the ‘Nifty Fifty’. So I went from one ‘expert’ to the next – and do you know what – now I am totally paranoid.

So, after weeks of worry I’ve decided not to take my #$%^& camera at all – I think I’ll be a lot happier. Only kidding.

Geoff

From the Editor’s desk

Hi, all

The theme for this month is “Partial Desaturation“, which can be a lot of fun to experiment with, and can have results ranging from highly impactful to super-cheesy!

Essentially the idea here is that you desaturate most of your image, allowing a key focal / narrative / graphic element to retain colour, in this way simplifying the composition while center-staging the most important component.

Take a look at the images below for some really creative approaches to partial desaturation (the images are thumbnails, so click on them to see them properly):

The last thumbnail is actually from a Photoshop tutorial that tells you how to do this – you can see it here. It is 10 years old, but the principles remain unchanged. While it uses “colour select” to isolate the red ribbon, note that later versions of Photoshop offer a lot more ways of selecting items, be it “color range”, “focus area”, “subject” or “sky”, or through smart selection tools such as the “quick selection tool” or the “smart selection tool”.

Here is a link to a Lightroom Tutorial demonstrating something similar. This tutorial is also pretty old, but the principles remain. Again, the recent versions have made major advances on how you select an area, ranging from “object selection” to “brushes” to “gradients” to “colour, luminance or depth ranges” to not just “people” but also “face”, “skin”, “eyebrows” and so on!

A final note
While the theme is “Partial Desaturation” and not “Single Colour plus mono”, you would be well advised to simplify your colour area to either a single colour, or to complementary colours (4th thumbnail, above). Also, while some may be tempted to leave larger areas of colour, ask yourself the question: is the result simplifying the image, or is it bringing complexity to it by interfering with an intuitive reading of the scene / my intentions?

Cheers
Peter

Winners of Image of the Month (October 2022)

Evaluation of Digital Photography
Digital Entries
Title	Category	Author	Star	Score	Award	Points
A Duck Tale	sport action	Keith Lyle	4	10	Silver	2
Abandoned	Scenic	Coral Surtees	4	9	Silver	2
Abstract#1	Open	Kate Graham	1	8	Gold	3
Attracting females	Wildlife	Didi Franklin	3	10	Gold	3
cute cat	wildlife	Lorne Sulcas	4	12	Gold	3
Evening Tranquility	Landscape	Didi Franklin	3	12	Gold	3
Firefighter	photojournalism	marielouise cardwell	2	11	Gold	3
Fishing flash	Scape	John Douglas	3	8	Silver	2
Flower Power	Nature	Lynn Toms	3	8	Silver	2
Forest Floor	Nature	Derek Goldman	4	10	Silver	2
Frozen beauty	Landscapes	Peter Franklin	3	11	Gold	3
Hanoi sidewalk basics	Travel	Marian Shinn	1	8	Gold	3
Help Mom, I’m stuck	Open	Mauren Miller	3	10	Gold	3
n The Dunes	scenic	Coral Surtees	4	10	Silver	2
Jailhouse rot	Open	Keith Lyle	4	9	Silver	2
Magic forest	open	marielouise cardwell	2	10	Gold	3
Nearing the End	Open	Ceridwyn Jamieson	3	9	Silver	2
neck and neck tussle	wildlife	Lorne Sulcas	4	12	Gold	3
Now You See Me	Open	Kate Graham	1	8	Gold	3
Owling around	nature	patrick cardwell	2	10	Gold	3
Patiently Waiting	Open	Geoff Jamieson	4	10	Silver	2
Ripples Rock Reflection	Open	Maureen Miller	3	9	Silver	2
Roman Baths	Open	Lynn Toms	3	9	Silver	2
rush hour	sports	Peter Brandt	MB	12	Gold	3
Sheep cave kraal	Landscape	Marian Shinn	1	8	Gold	3
Sunrise walk	Mono	John Douglas	3	10	Gold	3
Takeoff	Nature	Derek Goldman	4	9	Silver	2
Total devotion	portraiture	patrick cardwell	2	10	Gold	3
View from the Ruins	Open	Ceridwyn Jamieson	3	8	Silver	2
Where Oceans meet the dawn	Landscapes	pFranklin	3	8	Silver	2
worn out	portrait	Peter Brandt	MB	10	Bronze	1

Winners of Theme Image of the Month – Cityscapes (October 2022)