Sharp Focus April 2025

FROM THE CHAIR

April 2025

Dear Fish Hoek Photo Club Members.

April certainly brought its share of challenges with all the public holidays making it tricky to get everyone together. Despite this, the spirit of our club remained strong and adaptable—something I continue to admire and appreciate.
Although we had to cancel our planned photographic outing, we were fortunate to have Geora step in with a fantastic and in-depth tutorial on long exposure photography. It was both inspiring and informative—thank you, Geora, for sharing your expertise so generously.
With our regular judges unavailable, Peter Franklin stepped up from observer to judge—and did so with great insight and skill. Thank you, Peter, for your willingness to jump in and help when needed.
Our monthly meeting may have been a smaller gathering than usual, but the standard of work remained high. A big thank-you to Keith and Peter Brandt for offering valuable feedback and keeping the session meaningful and constructive.
Looking ahead, our next theme is Pet Portraits—and we can’t wait to see the creativity, emotion, and personality you’ll capture through your lenses. Let’s continue to embrace the unexpected, support one another, and grow together.

Photography, like life, is as much about adapting to light as it is about capturing it.

Warm regards,

Betzi

PSSA Photography & AI Statement

A crucial part of the photographic creative process, traditionally done in the darkroom, is these days undertaken using software tools. With Artificial Intelligence (AI) becoming more prevalent, in some cases invisibly so, the PSSA has issued a statement with a “Q and A” section.

Photography and AI FAQ

Design a new PSSA logo and win R15,000!

The competition is open to all creatives working in South Africa, irrespective of age, gender, professional status, or photographic competence. A prize of R15 000 will be awarded to the designer of the winning entry.

Further explanation, history of current design and an entry form are available here https://pssa.co.za/pssa-logo-competition/

Themes

Upcoming themes you could/should be researching and working on….

June – High Contrast Mono. July – Nightscape. August – Churches and Graveyards. Click here to view themes, workshops and outings

Theme for May – Pet Portrait

From Cute to the Outrageous – everyone has a favourite pet picture. But use some of the skills we have been developing in the club with our monthly themes – Long exposure; Multiple exposure; Monochrome and Humour, and possibly Levitation?

Take a look at this site for some unusual and stunning dog portraits.

How It Was Done – Unbridled Spirit

How I created a painterly effect image in Photoshop by Betzi Pierce

Quick Summary: This tutorial shows how to create a painterly horse image with Photoshop. I’ll guide you through enhancing the original photo, isolating the subject (the horse), adding textures and colours, and blending them together to create a soft, painterly effect. You’ll learn how to work with layers, custom brushes, and blend modes, while also using various tools to refine the image.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

Open the Original Image in Camera Raw Filter:

Original Image (Before) Original Image (After)

- Start by opening your original image in Photoshop. Go to Filter > Camera Raw Filter.
- Increase the Exposure, Contrast, Texture, and Clarity to enhance the horse.
- Use a preset to blur the background, which will make the horse stand out more.
- Once satisfied, click Okay.

Remove the Rope Harness:
- Use the Spot Healing Brush Tool to remove any unwanted objects, like the rope harness. Make sure to set the brush size small, as a larger size may accidentally remove parts of the horse’s face.
Select the Horse (Subject)
- In the Beta version of Photoshop – which does a better job, use the Select Subject feature (found under Select > Subject). This will automatically select the horse.
- If needed, add or subtract, and refine the edges using Refine Edge Brush to clean up the selection, especially around the horse’s mane and tail.
Copy the Horse:
- After selecting the horse, go to Edit > Copy.
- Then, click on the Move Tool, go back to Edit > Paste. This creates a new layer with just the horse.
  Viewing Layers:

In the Layers panel (on the right side by default), make sure you can see your layers. You’ll be working with different layers, so always check that the right layer is active (a little frame will appear around it).

Open and Add Background Image:
- Open your background image. It will appear in a separate window.
- Use the Move Tool to drag the background into the working canvas.
- If prompted, accept the different depth warning by clicking Yes. (This is often relevant when importing colour pages or textures).
- Once it’s on your canvas, drag the background layer below the horse layer in the Layers panel.

Background

Delete the Original Image:
- Since you no longer need the original image, click on its thumbnail in the Layers panel and drag it to the trash bin to delete it.
Convert the Horse to a Smart Object:
- Click on the horse layer (make sure it’s selected).
- Go to Layer > Smart Objects > Convert to Smart Object. This preserves the image’s quality when resizing or transforming it.
- With the Move Tool, you can now move the horse into position. Lock the X and Y perspectives by clicking the ∞ symbol to prevent any distortion when moving.

Resize and Position the Horse:
- Adjust the size and angle of the horse so that its front hooves are positioned against the sky, or wherever you prefer within the composition.

Duplicate the Horse Layer:
- Press Ctrl + J to duplicate the horse layer. This will help when you start adding colours and textures between these two horse layers without hiding the subject completely.
Create Colour Backgrounds:
- Create a new file by going to File > New. Set the width and height to match the background image.
- Choose Custom for the background content and pick a colour. I used dark grey for one and bluish grey for the other.
- Once the colour page is ready, drag it into your working image just like you did with the background.

Colour Backgrounds – grey and bluish

Work on the First Colour Background:
- Click on the colour layer and add a Mask (bottom of the Layers panel, the rectangle with a circle inside).
- Use a soft brush with low opacity (around 20-30%), and low flow (around 18 – 25%) to paint with black on the white mask to “make a whole in the mask” and reveal the horse layer below the colour background. If you make a mistake, or have overdone it, just change the black to white with the X key and build it back.
- Adjust the opacity of the colour layer by changing the Opacity slider above the layers until you can see the background. You can also reveal the background with a softer setting of the cloud brush above.
Add the Second Colour Layer:
- Repeat the same process for the second colour layer, using the steps from point 11-12.
Create Custom Brushes:
- I used cloud photos to create my own custom made jitter brushes for adding softness to the image. You can follow a tutorial to make your own brushes if you wish or I can make arrangements to show you how to do so.

Custom Made Cloud Brush

Apply the Textures:
- Open your texture images (I took photos of canvases that I painted).
- Drag and resize each texture layer to cover the image.
- In the Layers panel, click on the Blend Mode (Normal – which is the 1^st blend mode) dropdown (above the layers) and scroll through options to find one that suits your image.
- Adjust the texture layer’s opacity to blend it seamlessly if needed.
Repeat for All Textures:
- Go through the same process for each of the texture layers, applying them in the desired order and blending them with the rest of the image.

Textures (1 – 4)

Final Image Copy:
- Once you are happy with the composition, create a flattened version of the image by pressing Shift + Ctrl + Alt + E. This creates a new merged layer of all visible layers.

Save Your Work:
- To save, go to File > Save As. First, save your work as a Photoshop document (.PSD) to preserve the layers.
- Then, save another copy as a JPEG for sharing or printing.

That’s it! You’ve now created a painterly horse image by combining creative use of colours, textures, and blending techniques in Photoshop. The key to this process is working with layers, masking, and adjusting opacity to get that soft, artistic look. Happy editing!

Download a pdf of the instructions here if you prefer.